Newspaper Page Text
DEDICATED TO THE PROGRESS
OF CUMMING AND FORSYTH COUNTY
CUMMING, GEORGIA
Top of
THE NEWS
Cumming Fights Speeders
The City of Cumming is cracking down on speeders.
Cumming Police Chief Thurman Green said the crackdown followed Gov.
Jimmy Carter’s request to hold down speeds and conserved energy.
The chief said 23 violators of the city’s speed ordinance were apprehended
last Friday night alone.
Chief Green said speed limits will be strictly enforced. The maximum
speed anywhere in the city limits is 45 miles an hour and limits are con
siderably lower near schools and the city park.
Brother Killed Accidentally
A ten-year-old Forsyth County Youth was killed last week as his older
brother accidentally discharged a shotgun.
Rodney Jeff Nix of Route 7, Cumming, was fatally struck by a ,12-guage
shotgun blast as he handed the gun to his brother, Bobby Frank Nix, 15,
according to The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials said the older boy was going hunting and asked the victim to get
him the gun. Bobby didn’t know the gun was loaded and pulled the trigger as
Rodney handed him the gun.
Frank Nix, father of the two boys, was killed in June in a motorcycle ac
cident.
Local Man Dies In Wreck
A Forsyth County man was killed and two local persons were injured
Friday afternoon in a one-car accident on Sharon-Shakerag Road in South
east Forsyth County.
State Patrol Corporal J.D. Spurgeon identified the victim as Howard
James Knight, 23, of Route 5, Cumming. Knight was pronounced dead on
arrival at a Duluth doctor’s office.
Injured in the wreck were Patricia Ann Williams, 16, of Cumming; and
Kenneth Ingram, 25, of Cumming, Cpl. Spurgeon reported.
The accident took place about 3:30 p.m. Friday 11 miles southeast of
Cumming.
FCHS Bulldogs Lose Again
The Forsyth County Bulldogs fell 45-12 Friday night to the Class AAA
Cherokee Warriors of Canton. The loss gave the Bulldogs a season record of
no victories and ten defeats.
The Forsyth County Athletic Boosters Club selected Eddie Pruitt as
Bulldog back of the week for the game. Lineman honors from the Boosters
club went to Stanley Hudgins.
Courthouse Was Built For $25,000
Editor’s Note: Garland
Bagley is a local historian who
is currently working on a
history of Cumming and
Forsyth County.
By GARLAND BAGLEY
Forsyth County, created by
an act of the Legislature in
December 1832, has had a
dumber of courthouses and
jails.
The county’s first court
after becoming a county was
held at the Indian courthouse
and stockade located near
Frogtown, then called
Hightower. The county also
held court at Ashland, a
Village in the eastern part of
the county, between Bethel
Baptist Church and the
Chattahoochee river, now
flooded by Lake Lanier.
Ashland was referred to as
“Courthouse East” in White’s
Statistics of Ga.
The village of Cumming
already existed when the
survey of the Cherokee Nation
was made in 1932 and was
located on land lot 1270—3rd
District, Ist Section which is
how in the area where Kelly
Mill Rd. joins Ga. Highway 20
and W. Main Street on the
‘west side of the present town
(>f Cumming.
In 1833 the county took over
the log town hall and log
Stockade belonging to the
town of Cumming and used
them for county buildings for
several years.
; In 1834 the present cour
thouse square and town lots
were surveyed. It is not
known just what year the first
courthouse was built in the
present courthouse square,
but it is reasonable to assume
that it was finished by 1840, or
there abouts. This was a brick
structure, about 30 by 40 feet.
The jail was also constructed
of brick and located in the
vicinity of the present jail.
V|l|||l FORSYTH MfllHg
lllli county IlLvvd
LXVI
This first brick courthouse
was used until 1905 when the
present burned courthouse
was built. The jail was used
until 1892 when it was burned.
This account of the burning of
the jail was found in the April
2, 1892 issue of the local
weekly newspaper, “The
Baptist Leader”, which was
pumisned in Cumming:
Forsyth County Jail Burned
Loss $4,000!
“About 3:30 o’clock
yesterday morning our Jail
was burned down. Three men,
one white and two colored,
were confined in it, and were
got out by Sheriff Strickland
and others just in time to save
their lives.
“The white man, John Hall,
formerly of the county, but
late of Cobb county, was put
in the day previous, charged
with selling whiskey. The
negroes had been in jail for
sometime.
“The negroes say that they
had commenced in the early
part of the night to bore and
chisel out with tools which
were left in the hall-way by
workmen who were building
the iron cage, and were
making good headway when
the bit with which they were
boring broke, and then they
gave up the idea, and then
the white man built a fire
from the chips and intended
burning a hole large enough to
get out and then extinguish
the fire. The white man
claimed he could have given
bond, and that the negroes
were well wishers to the af
fair.
“The prisoners gave the
alarm when the fire got
beyond their control, and
Sheriff Strickland and the
citizens generally were soon
on the ground, but only had
time to rescue the prisoners
and a few small articles.
Arson Probe Continues
As Trailer Use Planned
The Forsyth County Commission,
which met nearly every day last week to
discuss matters arising from the cour
thouse fire, handled some ordinary
business Monday at the regularly
scheduled commission session.
Commissioners named a new member
Big October Drop
In Building Permits
Building Permits issued in October by
the Cumming Forsyth Building and
Zoning office topped sl-million but the
total was scarcely more than a fourth of
the sum issued in October 1972.
The Oct. 1972 total of $3,743,000 was
swelled, however, by the $1.5-million
value of the new middle school and an
SBOO,OOO commercial building.
The October 1973 total of $1,033,200
included $574,300 for 17 permits issued
for single family dwelling units. Other
catgories covered in October permits
included: Industrial buildings, one
permit, $36,500; residential garages, one
permit, $12,500; offices, one permit,
$80,000; public works, two permits,
$13,600; stores, one permit, $4,500; ad
ditions, eight permits, $98,600; and
others, two permits, $201,200.
The month of October 1972 also in
cluded $200,000 for five four family units
Continued on Page 20
Requiem For A Building
worth but little.
“No blame is attached to
Sheriff Strickland who did all
he could to save everything
possible from the flames.
“The jail cost the county
about $3,700 and there had
only recently been put in an
iron cage at a cost of about
SBOO.
“The three prisoners will
probably be taken to
Gainesville, Canton or
Marietta jail for safe keeping,
until a new jail house can be
erected here.”
The April 14th 1892 issue of
The Baptist Leader carried
this item regarding the
building of a new jail:
Judge Hawkins will likely
rebuild the jail at once. He
has a plan by which he can
build and use the same walls
and build one story high at a
small cost and not cost the
county more than S6OO more.
This plan was evidently not
followed as the walls of the
jail were left about 2 stories
high and the cells or cages
were built in the center of the
room, and there was only one
large room reaching up the
ceiling and roof which was 2
stories in height. This
remained the jail until it was
completely rebuilt in the mid
1920’s while Judge W.J.
Tidwell was ordinary.
The jail was remodeled by
placing the cells and jail
upstaris on the second floor,
and the first floor became
living quarters for the jailer
and the jail office, all much
the same as it is at the present
time.
The first brick courthouse
was in use about 65 or 66 years
which is the age of the present
burned courthouse. It was not
as well built as the present
one and agitation began about
1900 to build a new and larger
courthouse. In 1904 a com
mittee was appointed to
County Deals With
Regular Business
explore the possibility of a
new building and to make
recommendations to the
Ordinary. On Nov. 26, 1904 a
referendum was held to
determine if bonds should be
issued in the amount of $25,000
to build the new courthouse.
Architects J.W. Golucke
and Co., Atlanta Ga., drew up
plans and rendered a drawing
or picture of the new proposed
courthouse and this appeared
in the “North Georgian” on
Nov. 30, 1904 together with a
plea from George L Pat
terson, local, noted lawyer
and later Judge of the Blue
Ridge Circuit, for the passage
of the bond issue.
The bond issue election
was favorable and this item
appeared in the Dec. 2, 1904
issued of the “North
Georgian”:
At a meeting, last Tuesday,
of the Court House Com
mittee, it was unanimously
agreed to build a new court
house, at a cost not to exceed
$25,000, to be completed by
December 1, 1906. By
reference to the ad
vertisement, which appears
in this issue, it will be seen
that the contract will be let
January 3, 1905.
Then a notice to contractors
was published in the
December issues of the North
Georgian inviting bids to be
placed with the Ordinary to
build this building. A contract
was let on Jan. 3,1905 to Fred
“Fritz” Wagener & Son to
build the new courthouse.
The old courthouse was
immediately torn down and
the new one started. The new
building was to be finished by
Dec. 1, 1905.
The Forsyth County blue
granite for the foundation and
steps was quarried just east
or left of the bridge on Tolbert
Street and the brick was
made just west of Tolbert
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1973
to the planning board, picked a new bank
for next year’s business and voted to put
the question of a county police force to
the people by referendum.
The Commission opened bids from the
Continued on Page 20
Holiday
Deadline
Announced
The Forsyth County News is going
to press a day early next week so we
can reach all of our area subscribers
before the Thanksgiving Holidays.
To meet production deadlines,
classified advertising, church news,
community news and an
nouncements should be in by Friday
afternoon to insure publication in
next week’s issue.
We will revert to our regular
schedule the following week with a
Monday afternoon deadline for the
above newspaper items.
Street and south of the public
housing rental homes, near a
spring on the property of Dr.
Ansel Strickland.
Two citizens of the county
who worked on the courthouse
as boys are still living in the
county. Emory Phillips, now
81 years old and Joel Whitt,
85, worked as laborers, and
remember quite a lot about
the construction of the
building. There possibly could
be others living who worked
on the building.
Later in the year it was
decided to call on The Grand
Lodge of Georgia Masons to
lay the comer stone and this
was done on June 24, 1905 and
this account of the program
appeared in the “North
Georgian” issue of June 30,
1905. Four thousand people
attended and a basket picnic
lunch was brought and served
by the citizens of the county.
THE PICNIC
A call communication of the
Grand Lodge of Free and
Accepted Masons of the State
of Georgia, was held in the
Chapel Hall in the town of
Cumming, Ga., opened at 9:30
o’clock, a.m., June 24th, A.L.
5905.
The Grand Lodge was
called to order and opened by
Thos. H. Jeffries, acting
Grand Master, in ample form,
on Master’s degree. Prayer
was offered by Rev. Elias
Cochran, acting Grand
Chaplain.
ACTING GRAND OFFICERS
PRESENT.
Thos. H. Jeffries, Grand
Master.
Geo. M. Napier, Deputy
Grand Master.
N.T. Pirkle, Senior Grand
Warden.
T.L. Lipscomb, Junior
Grand Warden.
Continued on Page 20
Investigators continued a “day and
night” investigation into the burning of
the Forsyth County Courthouse as
county officials made plans for tem
porary facilities which will include three
trailers on the courthouse square.
Meanwhile the reward pot for in
formation in the case has been
sweetened to $3,250—52,500 from the
county commission, SSOO from an
Atlanta television station and $250 for the
governor’s office.
Larry Cornette, investigator from the
Georgia Fire Marshall’s office is
working with a team of Division of
Investigation (DOI) agents out of an
office at the bank of Cumming.
Cornette said the blaze which
destroyed the 68-year-old courthouse last
Monday night is considered to be arson.
The fire started as local volunteer
firemen fought a house fire on U.S. 19
about a mile north of the square.
The fire was out of control for several
hours but was finally controlled early
Tuesday as 75 local volunteers assisted
by firefighters from adjoining counties
battled the inferno.
Cornett made little comment on the
progress of the investigation. “We’re
working on it night and day until it’s
completed,” he said. “It still looks like
arson.”
Cornett added that other recent local
fires are included in the investigation
which is being conducted by Cornett,
DOI agent Ray Pinyan and two other
agents.
The rewards for information leading to
the arrest and conviction of the person or
persons responsible for the fire began
with the county commission’s promise of
$2,500 Gov. Jimmy Carter, acting on the
request of State Representatives Joe
Wood, Bill Williams and Doug Whitmire,
whose three man district includes
Forsyth County, added $250. The
governor’s office, in a press release to
The News, called the $250 “the
maximum legal reward.”
The additional SSOO is from WQXI-TV
AN ARTIST’S DRAWING OF THE THREE-STORY PROPOSED COURTHOUSE IN 1904
THE COURTHOUSE IN CUMMING AS IT APPEARED IN RECENT YEARS
ISSUE 46
which has a secret witness fund for
information on sensational crimes.
The fate of legal records stored in the
chourthouse was in doubt for several
days but very little was destroyed.
Records stored in the vault adjacent to
Continued on Page 20
Lingerfelt
Conviction
Overturned
The Georgia Supreme Court has
reversed a murder conviction for James
Lingerfelt, convicted last year in con
nection with the shooting deaths of two
Forsyth County deputies.
Georgia Supreme Court officials said
Saturday a new trial had been ordered
for Lingerfelt, convicted April 15, 1972,
for the shooting deaths of Forsyth
County Chief Deputy Bill Cantrell and
Special Deputy Larry Mulkey.
The Supreme Court overruled all of the
defendant’s exceptions except one, and
went further to say there was sufficient
evidence to warrant a verdict of guilty, a
court official said yesterday.
The Supreme Court officials said
Lingerfelt was not given the opportunity
to cross-examine evidence introduced in
his case by Herbert Dean Smith.
Smith, along with Lingerfelt, Charles
Bennett and Marcus Wayne Ratledge,
were convicted for the double murders.
Court officials said Smith gave a
statement at his own committal hearing
and said that statement was given as
evidence in court. When Smith was put
on the stand in Lingerfelt’s case, he took
the fifth amendment, refusing to answer
questions. However, his statement was
given, and the defense could not cross
examine his statement, court officials
said.
15 CENTS
PER COPY
TELEPHONE 887 3>27