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VENIN vF
By Quimby Melton
Anyone writing a series on
Hymns We Love dare not leave
5 out the story of Fanny Jane
Crosby, the American woman,
who though blind from her birth,
wrote more than 6,000 sacred
« songs, according to John Julian,
great English Hymnody author
ity.
We have chosen ‘‘Blessed As
„ surance” as typical of her best.
Some authorities say that Fan
ny Crosby’s friend, Mrs. Joseph
Knapp, a talented musician sat
down at the piano one day in
1873 and composed a “tune”.
Fanny Crosby, who was present,
was asked "Fanny, what does
that tune say to you?” After a
t few minutes thought she replied,
“Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is
Mine”, and the song that was to
be sung round the world was
j born.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is
mine I
O what a foretaste of glory div
ine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of
God,
Born of his spirit, washed in his
blood.
This is my story, this is my
song,
Praising my Savior all the day
□ long!
Fanny Jane Crosby was bom
in New York state Mar. 24, 1820.
* When she was born her eyes
were inflamed and those in at
tendance ignorantly applied hot
compresses to her eyes. She
■ was blinded for life.
Historians say that when the
blind child was but eight years
old she began to “make up and
recite verse”, some of which
was written down by friends
and published.
She received her education at
the New York State School for
' the Blind, and on graduating be
came a teacher. It was while
teaching there that she met Al
exander van Alysgyne, a blind
• musician, who came to the sc
hool as a student. It was also at
the Blind School that she met,
and formed a lasting friendship
■» for Grover Cleveland, who was
to become President of the Uni
ted States. Cleveland went to the
school as a secretary.
Robert Guy McCutchen in
“Our Hymnology” chose seven
of Fanny Crosby’s hymns to be
included in the list of hymns dis
cussed. The only other writer
of sacred songs who had more
chosen than Fanny Crosby is
Charles Wesley, who had 72 se
lected. (One does not count the
’ 12 hymns written by the myst
erious author “Anonymous.”)
It is interesting to note that
the same authority on Hymno
, dy — Julian — says of Charles
Wesley, “taking quantity and
quality into consideration, Char
les Wesley is the greatest hymn
, writer in all ages.”
The Crosby hymns chosen
were: “Pass Me Not, O Gen
tle Savior,” “Thou My Everlast
ing Portion,” “Savior More Than
Life To Me”, “Blessed Assuran
ce Jesus Is Mine”, “Near The
Cross,” “Rescue The Perishing,”
and “I Am Thine, O Lord.”
Historians of sacred music say
that Fanny Crosby’s songs be
came so universally loved that
she was signed to contracts by
several publishing firms. She
was commissioned by one firm
to write three original songs a
week, which she did, and the
firm published a "New Fanny
Crosby” song book every week.
They led the “best sellers” re
port year after year.
Fanny Crosby, who began wr
iting sacred songs as a small
girl continued to write them for
some 80 years. She died at Brid
geport, Conn, on Feb. 12, 1915.
» As long as hymns of “Blessed
Assurance” live in the hearts of
men, her songs will continue to
be sung wherever men of faith
■j assemble.
May we suggest? Sunday, Feb.
9, three days before the anniver
say of the death of this “sing
er of sweet songs” she be honor
-5 ed by Fanny Crosby hymns be
ing sung in all our churches and
at all our Sunday Schools.
Weather:
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Cloudy to partly cl
oudy tonight and Sunday with
widely scattered showers.
LOCAL WEATHER — Esti
mated high today 62, low today
56, high Friday 61, low Friday
55; sunrise Sunday 7:34, sunset
Sunday 6:14.
B ■■ wwWt
Gavel Passing
S. R. Morris, (1), New Orleans, was elected chairman
of the Entomological Society of America, southeast
ern branch, as the group convened in Biloxi, Miss.,
receives gavel from C. M. Beckham, Experiment, Ga.,
retiring chairman. Morris is supervisor of the Gulf
Region Plant Quarantine Division, United States De
partment of Agriculture. Beckham is head of the De
partment of Entomology at the Georgia Experiment
Station.
Violent Deaths
Kill 4 In Atlanta
ATLANTA (UPD—An Atlanta
business executive was mur
dered Friday with a blast from
a pistol when he opened the
front door of his home in a
wealthy neighborhood.
James W. Hammond, 51, died
of a gunshot wound to the
chest, allegedly fired by one of
two men who then fled the
scene.
Police investigated four vio
lent deaths in the Atlanta area
Friday—all of them within an
eight-hour period.
Mrs. Mildred Hammond, wife
of the murdered man, who was
head of the Capitol Office Sup
ply Co., .related that her hus
band answered the front door
bell as she stood in a hallway
Friday night. The couple had
just returned from a grocery
shopping trip.
Mrs. Hammond said that af
ter her husband opened the
door she heard him cry: “Oh,
my God, no!”, then saw him
step back. She said she saw a
flash and heard the sound of a
pistol.
She said she ran to her hus
band, who slumped to the floor
ran outside and grabbed the
hand of one of the men, but
was thrust aside as the men
fled.
Detectives said they had no
leads as to the motives in the
gangland-type murder.
The body of a 37-year-old
waitress was found Friday in a
wooded area off a road in
northwest Atlanta. Investigation
showed Mrs. Lurine Lawton
died of a ruptured larynz, but
it was not known how the in-
Country Parson
gEB.
“Good behavior is contagious
— and, unfortunately, so is
bad.”
Copyright 1%9, by Frank A. Civic
DAILY NEWS
Daily Since 1872
jury was caused.
Police estimated the woman
had been dead 12 to 16 hours.
Her car and purse were miss
ing.
An Atlanta mother died Fri
day of a gunshot wound suf
fered when a bullet intended
for her son struck her. ’Homi
cide Det. Roland Lane said
John Henderson was booked on
a murder charge after the
shooting. Henderson alleged
ly got into an argument with
the son of the victim and fired
a gun at him.
Mrs. Marie Harris, 47, of
northeast Atlanta, died of the
bullet wound.
An apparent shooting accident
killed Mrs. Dorothy Jean Ken
ner of southwest Atlanta after
her husband, Miles Charles
Kenner, took a pistol from his
pocket and it went off, police
said.
Terrorists Wound
S. Viet General
By JACK WALSH
SAIGON (UPI) — Terrorists
riding motorscooters wounded a
South Vietnamese general in a
bombing attack near Saigon’s
presidential palace today. Com
munist gunners fired powerful
rockets into the city of Hue,
military spikesmen said.
Near the northern coastal city
of Da Nang, South Vietnamese
infantrymen aided by American
aircraft and artillery killed 189
Communist troops in a two-day
battle, spokesmen said.
Four terrorists riding two
motorscooters attacked a car
carrying Maj. Gen. Nguyen Van
Kiem, South Vietnam’s pres
idential military adviser, with a
plastic bomb and a grenade less
than four blocks from the
presidential palace.
The explosions wounded Kiem
and six other persons, and the
terrorists dodged police bullets
as they sped away. It was the
second terrorist attack against
a high government official in
Saigon in a month. Education
Minister Le Minh Tri was killed
by a grenade thrown into his
car Jan. 6.
Communist forces marked the
first anniversary of the start of
last year’s fierce battle for the
former imperial capital of Hue
by firing five six-foot-long
rockets into the center of the
5-STAR WEOCEND EDITION
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Sat. and Sun., Feb. 12,1969
Irvin Requests
$1.6-Million
For Inspection
ATLANTA (UPI) — Georgia
Agriculture Commissioner Tom
my Irvin requested $1.6 million
Friday for a program allowing
the state to take over pultry in
spection from the federal gov
ernment.
Irvin made his request as the
Joint House-Senate Appropria
tions Committee wound up its
first week of budget hearings.
The committee has another
week to meet but Chairman
James “Sloppy" Floyd of Trion
has indicated the work will not
be completed by the end of that
period.
The Agriculture Commissioner
charged the federal inspection
program with inconsistency and
called for a plan which would
neplace federal poultry inspec
tors with state employes.
His proposal would also call
for inspection of chickens which
do not travel in interstate com
merce.
Under the Talmadge - Aiken
Act, passed last year by the
U. S. Congress, a state may
take over its own inspection
program with the federal gov
ernment paying half the expen
ses.
Irvin made it clear that his
plan was designed to protect
the poultry Industry as well as
its customers.
The Game and Fish Depart
ment also appeared before the
committee Friday. Director
George Bagby said the num
ber of registered boats had
jumped from 35,000 in 1966 to
100,000 in 1968, necessitating ex
tra personnel in his department.
Chairman Floyd said the joint
Appropriations Committee will
probably not vote on a budget
until the legislature enacts con
crete tax laws.
Judge Whalen,
Christopher
Take Over
Judge Andrew Whalen Jr. will
preside at his first regular ses
sion of Spalding County Super
ior Court Monday.
The former Griffin Circuit dis
trict attorney moved up to the
judgeship this week, succeeding
Judge John H. McGehee of Tho
maston who became judge emer
itus.
District Attorney Claude
Christopher of Griffin who suc
ceeded Whalen will function in
his new office for the first time
at Monday’s court session, also.
No civil session of court will
be held this term. Grand jurors
will meet when court opens at 9
a.m. to hear a charge from
Judge Whalen. They will consi
der indictments and make grand
jury investigations of county of
fices.
Indictments returned at this
session of the grand jury are ex
pected to be put on the criminal
session the week of Feb. 10.
city today. The attack, the first
on the northern city since the
Nov. 1 bombing halt of North
Vietnam, wounded seven civi
lians, spokesmen said.
An estimated 500 Communist
troops early today attacked a
U.S. artillery base 45 miles
north of Saigon, but they were
driven back.
American casualties were
listed as two killed and 31
wounded. Three Communist
dead were found outside the
base perimeter.
President Thieu said today at
Ban Me Thout in the Central
Highlands that he has “agreed
in principle” to declaring a
truce in fighting during the Tet
holidays which begin Feb. 17
and end Feb. 20. The Commu
nist already have announced
plans for a Tet truce starting
Feb. 15 and lasting seven days.
Thieu said he would hold a news
conference in Saigon next
Thursday.
Thieu attended ceremonies at
which more than 5,000 Montag
nard tribesmen pledged their
loyalty to the government.
American 852 bombers flew
six raids over South Vietnam
Friday night and today. They
struck twice in the Central
Highlands, once in the Mekong
Delta and three times in
provinces around Saigon.
Jackson Man Burns
In Auto Accident
Demonstrators
Spend Night
At Chicago U.
By United Press International
Three-hundred demonstrators
spent a second night in the
administration building of the
University of Chicago—their
morale buttressed by a blues
jam session and S2OO worth of
food.
The final day of the semester
at San Francisco State College
Friday saw some 600 student
strikers and supporters —of
whom 456 were appearing court
after arrests nine days ago—
sing, chant and jeer for four
hours before the judge threa
tened them with contempt.
Hopes were dim the strike,
begun Nov. 6 by two minority
student groups, could be settled
by Feb. 17, when the new
semester begins.
At the University of California
at Berkeley, striking minority
students formed two lines of
about 400 each and conga
danced on Sproul Plaza to
chants of “On strike, shut in
down.”
Striking students at St.
Peter’s College in Jersey City,
N.J., staged a teach-in Friday
to demonstrate their demands
for a greater say in policy
mattes. A handful of teachers
joined about 50 to 100 pickets
who 'marched before two
buildings of the 2,500-student
campus.
At Chicago Friday, demon
strators strengthened their oc
cupation of the six-story Admi
nistration Building of the 8,600-
student school to show their
displeasure at the administra
tion’s firing of Mrs. Marlene
Dixon, a sociology professor.
The students said she was fired
for her political beliefs; the
university denied it.
Student spokesmen said S2OO
more worth of food was brought
in and the demonstrators— who
began their occupation about
noon Thursday—were prepared
to stay indefinitely. A guitar
and blues-singing were heard
until the morning hours.
At San Francisco State, which
has 18,000 students, Friday’s
occurences seemed to indicate
there was no settlement of the
trouble that led to the arrests of
hundreds in clashes with police
was in sight.
At Berkeley, with 28,000
students, Dean of Students
Arleigh Williams watched the
conga dancing, and said, “our
strategy of limited police
action” seemed to be working.
There were no arrests.
Maddox Outlines
Plans For Six
Region Prisons
By MARCIE RASMUSSEN
ATLANTA (UPD — Gov.
Lester Maddox Friday outlined
plans for six new regional pri
sons which he said would bring
about “a real prison reforma
tion.”
The half dozen new institu
tions, which would be funded by
the governor’s newly - proposed
budget, would contain 150 in
mates each. Three similar pri
sons are already under con
struction.
Maddox said he hoped about
25 per cent of the prisoners
would hold full-time jobs in a
special work - release program
that would encourage good be
havior among the inmates and
cut back on state expenses for
maintaining their families.
But Maddox, meeting with his
legislative leaders, State Cor
rections Director Robert Carter
and highway department of
ficials, was more emphatic
about placement of the prisons.
He said choice of the sites
would not be “political or hap
hazard.” There was talk during
the meeting of placing the six
complexes near interstate roads
so inmates, if placed on the
state payroll, could maintain
the highways.
Vol. 96 No. 27
Man Surrenders
Wife, Hostages
By DREW A. ROY
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (UPD—
A man who held his wife, a
doctor and a nurse at gunpoint
Friday and threatened to kill
them and himself was in an
Arkansas hospital today at his
own request.
James Sweet, a chemical
employe in his early 30s,
handed his gun to his friend,
Russ Harris, and walked out of
the sixth floor office with
Harris and his three captives.
Harris and Dr. Stuart Harris
Cairo Paper
Says Hangings
‘Badly Handled’
By WILBORN HAMPTON
United Press International
The semi-official Cairo news
paper Al Ahram said today
Iraq’s public hanging of 14
persons was "certainly not a
heart-warming sight” and the
whole thing was badly handled.
Israeli religious leaders said
Jordan had sentenced to death
two persons as spies.
Al Ahram, which usually
reflects opinions of President
Gamal Abdel Nasser’s govern
ment, wan replying to Baghdad
Radio charges that Arab nations
had failed to take Iraq’s side.
Al Ahram said Iraq had a
sound case for convicting the 14
persons including nine Jews as
spies. They were hanged
Monday.
“But what makes us hesitate
is the manner in which the
whole thing was handled ...”
Al Ahram said.
In Rabat, the Moroccan news
agency Maghreb Arabe Presse
said the Baghdad hangings were
“a lamentable spectacle and a
monumental psychological er
ror."
It said the hangings were for
Israel “a golden chance ... to
arouse in its favor world opinion
that had started to realize the
extent of Zionist crimes and
incline it towards the Arabs.”
Baghdad Radio said in a
broadcast heard in Beirut that
it had begun no new spy trials
although it was investigating
some espionage cases.
Iraqi Information Ministe
Abdullah Salloum Samarrai
denied Western reports that
from 35 to 62 men were already
on trial as spies.
In the United Nations the
Iraqi delegation said Israel may
be deliberately waging a
propaganda campaign against
the hangings to prepare the
climate for an attack on Iraq.
Stock Brokers
To Move Office
Thomas and McKinnon, Inc.,
will move its New York Stock
Exchange office from Griffin
and merge it with the Atlanta
office, 230 Peachtree street, ef
fective Monday.
The office has operated in Gr
iffin on West Taylor street with
Carl Kelley as manager.
Nixon May Visit
Paris Peace Talks
By GEORGE SIBERA
PARIS (UPD—Western diplo
matic sources said today
President Nixon’s expected visit
to Paris would allow him to
take a first-hand look at the
talks on Vietnam and discuss a
solution to the conflict with
French President Charles de
Gaulle.
De Gaulle is following the
talks closely. He is the official
host. His foreign minister,
Michel Debre, is in close
contact with the four negotiat
ing parties—North Vietnam, the
Viet Cong, the United States
and South Vietnam.
For Nixon to start his planned
European trip by stopping first
talked to Sweet for s '/a hours
after the gunman walked into
the University of Arkansas
Medical Center about 3:30 p.m.
to see his estranged wife,
Theora.
At about 9 p.Sn. he gave
himself up.
“You’re not afraid until it’s
all over," Harris said. “After
ward I was scared to death.”
Police said Sweet visited his
wife, who worked at the
medical center, after she had
filed for divorce earlier in the
afternoon.
When they met, police said,
Sweet pulled a gun and forced
her and Polly Wilson, a nurse,
into a nearby office. Dr. Jerry
Jones was held as a hostage in
an adjoining office.
After repeated conversation
with the Dr. Harris and Harris,
Sweet agreed to let the women
go and kill only himself. He
eventually handed Harris the .22
caliber pistol.
Sweet then was detained for
, tests in another part of the
[ medical center. Police said
t charges will not be filed until
. after the psychiatric examina
tion tests are completed.
i
i
r Man Wounded
t
■ Cleaning Rifle
A Williamson man was acci-
J dentally shot in the chest Frl
; day night when a rifle he and
j another man were cleaning
accidentally discharged.
Roger S. Huff of Route One,
' Williamson, was admitted to the
' Griffin-Spalding County Hospital
where he was listed in fair con
dition this morning.
Huff and Larry Malone of 176
Grady street, Griffin, were cl
eaning the .22 caliber rifle In
the back yard of the Huff home,
according to Spalding Coun
ty deputies.
Col. Sanders,
Maddox Swap
ATLANTA (UPD—Gov. Les
i ter Maddox swaped fried
’ chicken talk Friday with a
former competitor, Col. Har
• land Sanders of Kentucky.
i
; “He tried to be a competitor
r of mine,” said the 79-year-old
colonel who created the popular
. “Kentucky Fried Chicken”
r chain.
S’ “I’ve admired so many things
‘ he (Maddox) has done. Georgia
' is not a laughing stock any
’ more, nor a speed trap,” he
said.
Sanders was here attending a
chiropractors convention and
■ dropped by to see the governor,
■ whose chicken he used to eat
1 at the Pickrlck Restaurant.
“That was mighty good chick
en," said Sanders, talking
■ about Maddox’s Pickrlck brand,
i “It helped put him in the gov
ernor’s chair.”
in Paris, the home of the
Vietnam peace bargaining,
would have worldwide psycholo
gical impact, Western diplomats
said.
De Gaulle lately has refrained
from commenting publicly on
Vietnam to keep neutral while
the four are engaged in the
difficult talks. But he still is
reported to consider as valid his
1966 proposal to neutralize the
whole strife-torn Indochinese
' peninsula. De Gaulle has
1 claimed that peace would be
restored rapidly in Vietnam if
[ the United States committed
. itself in advance to a firm date
Fatality
Was Eight
In January
A Jackson man burned to dea
th Friday afternoon at 4 o’clock
when he was pinned in the wr
eckage of his automobile two
and a half miles south of Juliet
te on Georgia 87 in Monroe Co
unty.
Dennis Michael Reese, 19, of
Route Two, Jackson, was dead
on arrival at the Macon City
Hospital.
Troopers from the Griffin Post
of the Georgia State Patrol said
the car apparently ran out of
control and overturned several
times. Reese was trapped inside
the car when it caught fire and
burned.
The fatality raised the toll in
the five county area covered by
the Griffin Post to eight for Jan
uary. This compares with six
for the same period last year.
The five-county area includes
Spalding, Lamar, Butts, Monroe
and Henry Counties.
Survivors include his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Reese of
Jackson; two brothers, Eddie
Reese of the U. S. Army station
ed in Germany, and Rickey
Reese of Jackson.
He was a graduate of Jackson
High School and a member of
the Macedonia Baptist Church.
He was employed by the Avon,
dale Mills of Jackson.
Funeral arrangements are in
complete, pending the arrival of
his brother from Germany.
Sherrell Funeral Home will be
in charge of arrangements.
Farm Bureau
Backs Local Cut
For Education
MACON, Ga. (UPI —The
Georgia Farm Bureau Federa
tion said Friday it would sup
port a House bill to decrease
the local share of the state ed
ucation burden because it would
make life easier for property
owners.
Farm Bureau President Wil
liam L. Lanier said the bill, in
troduced by Rep. Hines Brant
ley of Metter, would “restore
confidence in a person”s want
ing to own a home, business or
land” by easing the pressure of
property taxes.
Brantley’s bill would increase
the state’s share of the educa
tion burden to 90 per cent, a
10 per cent jump over the re
quirements set by the Minimum
Foundation Program.
At present, counties and cities
must pay 18 per cent of the
cost and the state 82 per cent.
“The present trend lessens a
person’s desiring to own prop
erty,” Lanier said, adding that
the politically powerful Farm
Bureau would support the bill
with chapters in 157 of the
state’s 159 counties.
at which it would withdraw its
expeditionary force.
The impact of Nixon’s visit on
the development of the Vietnam
talks was being studied while
the four negotiating teams were
preparing for their third session
next Thursday.
Meanwhile the Paris talks
remained in a blind alley with
the Communist side urging top
priority for the discussion of
political problems and the Allies
insisting that military deescala
tion must be negotiated first.
Observers predicted it may
take six months to break the
deadlock over whether political
or military issues will be
discussed first.