Saturday, September 29, 2018

FROM DAYS GONE BY Oct.2, 1920

October 2, 1920.

    The Potato House is completed and an opening date to be announced soon. Mr. J. Johnson has been hired on to manage it. Anyone wanting space to store their taters needs to see him at once. The house is built in three sections with each section having a capacity of 5000 bushels. When filling a section it is essential that it be completed in six days, then closed and the curing process begun.
    Dr. C. E. Brinson who has recently gained prominence in this section as a Hampshire raiser, hosted members of the Sunshine Sale Circuit at Idylwild where around 25 breeders came to enjoy a meal by Brinson. The sale circuit was set for sales to be held throughout the year at Cochran, Wrightsville, Statesboro, Midville and Waynesboro.
    Farm Demonstration agent M. E. Crow hosted a bbq at his home celebrating his 46th . Capt. T. J. Brantley, U. R. Jenkins, W. C. Chester and G. V. McCray will go to the old soldier's reunion in Texas. Mr. & Mrs. W. O. Davis announced the birth of a daughter on September 24th. Mr. W. J. Carter will marry Miss Annie Catherine Lee of Americus on November 7th. Mr. & Mrs. G. A. Faircloth had a daughter on September 18th.
    Mr. Daniel H. Tuttle of the eastern part of the county came to the city calling on the Wrightsville Hardware Co. and after trading a nice bill, he left some corn with Mr. George Smith to go in the fair this fall here. This corn is of the Lockdale variety and was worked by Mr. Tuttle himself in 1919 and does not have a weevil in it.
    He is 91 years old but is still farming. He made 60 bushels per acre last year. He told Mr. Smith that this years crop will be the last that D. H. Tuttle will ever raise. Mr. Tuttle did not have any glasses on and while trading he kept a record od his purchases and calculated it himself. He has raised this corn for 40 years and has always had corn for sale. He is a produce farmer and lives above board all the time. All the young boys will be able to meet Mr. Tuttle at the fair.
    The banks released their statements of condition. Exchange Bank $384,574.10; The Bank of Wrightsville $442,366.18; The Farmers Bank $192,553.19; The Bank of Adrian $238,177.93; The Citizens Bank of Kite $235,884.75.
    Mr. J. R. Moore is calling on every farmer in the county, white and colored, land owner or tenant to come out an take stock in the Johnson County Selling Organization. A method by which we can sell our stock and farm products direct to the consumer. The organization will come under the head of the Farm Bureau. In Sumpter County, the agent reports he saved the people over $75,000 by selling hogs on the co-op movement,  above the market price and saving in freight. He says peanuts and other products can be ha dled the same way.
    At last there are plenty of signs of a return to good living conditions. Automobiles, clothing, shoes, flour, sugar, furniture and many other things have gone off anywhere from ten to fifty per cent within the last 15 days. Let the good work go on, if only cotton and farm products could remain up at a price commensurate with the cost of production and supplies the last part of the year. But even cheaper cotton will go further at a cheaper price for merchandise.
    Wrightsville needs among many other things earlier mail facilities, a telegraph office up town, a few streets worked and a section of weeds cut. Also a lot of old, grouchy prejuices killed.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

From Days Gone By September 25, 1920

September 25, 1920.
    Mr. Bill Hall, a white man who lived with Mr. Duncan Wheeler near Kite, on Monday, the 13th, lost his life in some manner as he was riding with four white men along the Soperton road from Norristown by Gillis Springs. The men said to be with Hall at the time of his demise were Roy Durden, Daniel Davis, Wiley Smith and Lisha Coleman and they are now being held in jail without bond, the outcome of a peliminary trial at Soperton last Saturday.
    Details are lengthy and meager here, only reports of various character coming. Some variance being in them they are not given. A number of witnesses from Kite and that section of Johnson were summoned to testify at the hearing on Saturday. Insurance agent Charles L. Claxton and Mr. J. Duncan Wheeler of Kite were two of the witnesses. A number from that community went down to the hearing.
    It is said that Hall had consented to have $15,000 insurance placed upon his life and some of the fellows who are charged with the killing was to pay for it and have their names on the policy as the beneficiaries. If Hall should be killed accidentally the amount was double the face of the policy. It is said that this insurance caused Hall's death.
    When Baliff C. T. Mixon and Mr. W. T. Kitchens went to arrest one Prince Edwards, colored, Prince called to his wife to bring him his shotgun which was hid in a bunch of bushes down in the field where they were picking cotton. The woman lunged for the gun and pointed at the officer and Mr. Kitchens with an oath that she was going to kill them. Mr. Kitchens made a dash for the gun, caught it and wrenched it from the woman's hands, but in the meantime the colored man was in a scuffle with Baliff Mixon, who fired his gun at Prince, hitting him three times. He was brought to town last night and is now in jail.
    Homer Rowland, the town policeman in Chester, claims that he shot and killed his first cousin, Freeman Rowland in self defense. The shooting occured on the streets of that little town. It is said that Freeman was drinking and engaged in a tussel on the streets. A pistol shot was heard and Freeman Rowland dropped to the ground a dead man. No arrest has been made. At last account Homer was still on police duty. The affair has caused a lot of comment and no doubt the Dodge County grand jury will investigate.
    Rev. A. F. Smith will preach revival at Brown Memorial next week. Mt. Gilead will hold the Primitive Baptist Association of the old line type. The Upper Canoochee Association will meet at Oaky Grove. The National Confederate Veterans Reunion will be in Houston, Texas in October.
   Judge Kent has decided again to hold over until December to have Superior Court due to unavoidable circumstances. Mr. E. F. Veal has moved his family to Miami, Florida for their new home. On September 12th Miss Eunice Gatlin of Wrightsville married Mr. Clarence W. Veal of Dublin.
    The Woodmen of the World issued a memorial for Mr. Otis Fortner, born November 24, 1899. He joined New Home church at age 13. On May 27, 1918 he married Miss Ida Mae Harrison and they lived happily together until his death on March 5, 1920.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

From Days Gone By Sept. 18, 1920

September 18, 1920.
    Roger Gamble, colored, about 30 years old, was killed in cold blood Sunday at Mount Pleasant church near Bray's store and three colored men are being charged with the murder. The details are scant and varied. It seems that one negro came upon the church grounds with some 'shine and was dishing it out promiscously. Roger and one of the liquorites got into a fight over the whisky.
    Pistols were here brought into play. Two other men came into the fight against Gamble, and soon his his body was full of bullet holes. Levi Hightower, Isadore Hood and one other colored man whose name has not been learned was charged with the killing. So far as is known yet no warrants have been sworn out for either.
    Deputy W. T. Rowland arrested the one who it is said brought the shine to the church and he is now resting safely behind bars in the county jail. The dead man has a family. Bad liquor is the cause of it all, no doubt.
    If you haven't been to Donovan, in Johnson County, you have missed going somewhere well worth going to. It is only a wide place in the road, but it posesses a few families the best in the country who live at home and board at the same place. Happy, contented, prosperous and energetic, these people are what one might call "living".
    Just to mention the one big particular thing in Donovan is the Jackson Dairy and the stock and agricultural farm in connection. This is an enterprise that is unsurpased anywhere in the state so far as information goes. The sixty tony milkers of the largest producing kind all lined up for milking is a pretty sight. The milker weighs each cow's bucket of milk each time and a record is kept. A non-productor is thus ascertained and banished from the herd. Everything is so neat and clean around therr even tho its a cow barn. And in the creamery you ought to go. Then wind up all of this, see his silo and machinery and the fields of growing grain, and then visit his hog farm, Durocs are his favorite. One in particular he had at last years fair, he is sending off to some of the big state fairs. This is a farm operation Johnson County can be proud of.
    New Home hosted a fine Singing Convention and Beulah will host the next one. Mr. J. O. Lake sold his meat market to Mr. James Hooks of Spann. Mr. Lake is now running machinery for Mr. B. Vickers. By the way new homes are going up in Wrightsvlle one would judge that hard times isn't staying around here much. The town is on a building boom. Mr. & Mrs. Quergeon Martin had the arrival of a baby girl on September 10th.
    Mr. J. Morgan Layton has opened a new shoe repair shop in Mr. F. C. Lords grocery store just in front of the Cotton Exchange. Judge Wiggins is now collecting the road tax for 1920. Mr. John R. Moore has been shipping some of his fine stock hogs off where he has been made the seller lately. He is improving his farm which he has named "The Willows". He is putting up new stock barns. The farm is located down on the Brasington saw mill tract.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

From Days Gone By Sept. 11, 1920

September 11, 1920.

    The Wrightsville High School began its 1920-21 session with a high rate of speed on Monday morning. A number of interesting speeches were given on opening day. Among those Prof. A. J. M. Robinson, Rev. A. F. Smith, Rev. W. E. Arnold, Col. W. C. Brinson, Clerk J. B. Williams, Mrs. B. B. Blount and Mrs. E. L. Stephens. Hearty co-operation from the parents was stressed and the duty of the pupils towards their teachers set out plainly by these speakers.
    The second session of the Johnson-Washington Singing Convention meets next weekend at New Home church. Mr. T. L. Chester has the contract for remodeling the Methodist parsonage. Chester is also building the home of Mr. Duggan. The Linder Horse & Mule Company of Wrightsville will open up a sales stable for horses and mules in Columbia, South Carolina and at an important point in Florida. Mr. J. E. Linder has long been a recognized leader in the mule market.
    There will be no court in Wrightsville next week. The Superior Court, September Term, has been suspended and postponed until sometime in October. Judge Kent issued this statement Sunday morning as he was leavinv for Talbotton where he is holding court for Judge G. H. Howard. Judge Kent stated he had failed to get a man to preside in the disaualified cases that have been of such long standing and the fact the farmers are busy trying to save what little cotton they have.
    Hon. Thomas E. Watson seems to have won all over the state and will be no run over for U. S. Senate. Roundtree is State Senator, Sumner is Representative, and Stephens is Solicifor. Larson carried everything everywhere, it seems. Peacock loses Dodge, his home county. Johnson County polled very light vote. The consolidated county returns were: Watson 1012, Smith 195, Dorsey 157; Governor- Hardwick 995, Walker 268; Congressman- Larson 918, Peacock 451; State Rep. Sumner 806, Pope 579; State Senator- Roundtree 946, Saffold 423; Solicitor- Stephens 777, Kea 404, New 212.
    Dr. J. Gordon Brantley is headed to Tifton to make his home and practice. Dr. Brantley graduated from Atlanta Medical College of 1920 and took graduate courses in the latest sciences of medical surgery. He has been the W. & T. Railroads surgeon for 6 years. Hon. Morris T. Riner of Meeks returned from a trip through the northern states. Mr. Wren Spell is on vacation in Orlando visiting relatives.
   A big stump puller demonstration will take place at Moore's Chapel on the J. B. Wombles plantation. The Williamson Stump Puller Company represented locally by Mr. Thomas E. Jenkins and Mr. L. A. Lovett of Stephens Hardware Co. of Dublin will have the Hercules Portable Puller machine on site. This is the first step to power farming.
    Many farmers are having their cotton picked, ginned and put into their barns or warehouses instead of selling it. They see the shortness of the crop and believe there will be a scarcity of it elsewhere. They believe its selling too cheap and will go up in price. The Commissioner has urged holding it for at least 40 cents and seed for $60 per ton.
    Mr. J. E. Glisson, who went to Tennessee for the Mathis man (colored) last week, succeeded in getting the proper papers from every point and returned with his prisioner and put him in jail to await trial. Dr. R. E. Butterly had gone on the colored man's bond for a large amount and he had fled the country. There are three cases against him.