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THE SUNNY SOUTH
FIFTH •PAGE
Georgia Soil Produces Many Familiar Life-
Giving Medicines
By DR R J MASSEY
Written for B/>» Sunny South
I'MONG the unwritten re
sources of Georgia, her
medicinal indigenous herbs
take a foremost rank. It
is wonderful how rich her
hills and valleys are with
these valuable treasures.
Even her “red old hills”
and worn-out field's pay
vast tribute in this line. It
is really interesting to note
that from small beginnings
some of these medicines
have assumed such inter-
ui: >nal importance that now they
a rc not only proscribed by all
I physicians in the United States, but
t foremost physicians of the nation's of
jv:rope. The administration of them is
1 a precedence over many old and wel'l-
II i <1 remedies.
Take, for instance, the Jamestown weed,
t.ii.'h grows all over Georgia in great
I : fusion in her rich lots and fertile fields.
T discovery of the use of this as a
medicine dates back to the seventeenth
futury, when soldi oils at Jamestown, Va.,
were defending the town against Indians.
On one occasion thev became short of
v retables, and, having plenty of this
vegetable with its large leaves growing
around the fort, they experimented with
it, giving it the place of cabbage. At
1!uir meal they v partook of it very freHiy.
la consequence of which they soon be-
, mie drowsy, slept for many hours and
woke up perfectly refreshed as though
me harm had been done. This so im
pressed the surgeon in charge that, he at
once adopted th^ use of this weed in his
practice where he wished to use an ano
dyne, especially in the place of mor
phine. During his experiments he soon
found that this weed, to a great extent,
■not only took the place of morphine, hut.
In a modified manner, was more or 'less
an antidote for morphine when taken in
too largo quantities. Up to this time, so
f ir as we know, this weed had no com
mon name, hut thi's occurrence, happening
at Jameslown, the doctor, among otherts,
gave it the name of “Jamestown weed,”
known in common parlance among us
Georgia crackers as “jimpson” weed. No
where in the world does it grow in more
profusion than it does in Georgia. A\ e
also note the yellow jessamine, known
among the practitioners of medicine as
the gclsininum sempeir-virents. This vine
grows mo'it abundantly in Georgia, and
has become a most valuable medicine. It
is also a favorite with the housekee]^ r,
on account of its beautiful yellow flow
ers, imparting rich perfume to the sur
rounding atmosphere and luxuriant foli
age. affording pleasant shades.
The coast Georgia darky hafs used it for
the last hundred years to drive off rats,
and can be seen every spring gathering
many beautiful wreaths of it for this
purpose. The discovery of its medicinal
virtues was purely accidental.
A Mississippi planter, laboring under
an obstinate bilious fever, had tried many
remedies, all to no purpose. Wishing to
produce a profuse perspi-
Discovery ‘ation from a well-known
of garden herb, he sent his
Jessamine servant out to got some of
Medicinal the roots. The roots were
Qualities brought in, a strong tea
was made according to di
rections and the invalid drank freely of it.
Soon after this he was attacked with
great prostration without stupor. He also
had a profuse perspiration, attended with
such muscular debility that he could not
raise a limb. This condition of affairs
remained a short time, when he rallied,
fever entirely gone. The patient was so
Impressed with the prohipt and efficient
manner in which ho was cured from the
upon examining the place where the no
fever that he began an invefctlgaition, and,
gro dug the roots, he found that, instead
of his getting his favorite herb, a mis
take had been made and the yellow jessa
mine root substituted.
After 'this he employed this root very
often with great success, not only upon
his own plantation, but upon those of his
neighbor 1 .'. From this it passed into the
hands of the regular profession, and has
become very popular and very successful.
It is a most valuable remedy in fevers of
all kinds and grades, neuralgia, fits, etc.
It has superseded, to a very great extent,
the use, of older and harsher remedies.
About the year 1854 Dr. T. W. Norwood,
of Cokesbury, S. C., brought prominent
ly before the profession the medicinal vir
tues of veratrum viride. He claimed for
1t such an arterial depressant as to be
a perfect substitute for blood-letting. The
experience of the profession for the last
forty-five years has so fully sustained all
that Dr. Norwood claimed for this remedy
that blood-letting has almost entirely
been dispensed with and the thumb lancet
laid upon the shelf. The hills and dales
and fields of Georgia teem with veratrum
viride, which has done more to revolution
ize the practice of medicine than almost
any other discovery.
During the spring of 1S50 there settled in
Greene county, in the fork of the two
rivers. Oconee and Appalachee, a young
doctor. Dike every other young M. D.,
iho felt that, with an old-fashioned pair
of saddle bags full of medicine, a bottle
of brandy and a lancet, that sickness and
sorrow, pain and death should bo no more,
especially in his bailiwick. Being thrown
nt once into a heavy practice, he found,
to his great surprise, that he hadn’t even
learned the first step toward Wisdom;
that is, that he knew nothing. About the
time he was learning this first step he
was called to see two negro women, and
Was very much puzzled how to treat them.
As he was coming from- his patients one
day he met the old negro woman nurse
•which was kept on- every well-regulated
[plantation.
She hailed him, saying: “lift's Boh,
flow’s dem ar gals?” The young doctor
fcald to her: “They are no better, Aunt
Rhody.” She said to him: “You ain’t
no doctor, nohow, you can’t cure ’em, but
I kin." “What do you give them, Aunt
Rhody?’
Aunt Rhody says: “I won't tell you,
but tomorrow you bring me itwo bottles
so long” (meaning about 4 ounces). He
did so. She filled them up with a dark,
thick fluid, very much of the consistence
of Cuba molasses. Her directions were to
“give them a teaspoonful four or five
times a day.” The directions were faith
fully carried out. Within a week the
negroes were fully restored.
He asked Aunt Rhody what it wais, and
she told him it was a strong tea of black
haw root hark. This young doctor was so
Impressed with the quick manner in which
WIFE’S INGENUITY
Saves Her Husband.
The author of the “Degeneration of
Dorothy,” Mr. Franklin Kinse.lla, 22G W.
I5th st., New York City, was the victim
of a little by-play—but he can best tell
it.hf story himself. “I must confess that I
have been the victim of an innocent de
ception which turned out all Yor the best,
however.
“I had been resting under the belief, for
Borne years, that coffee served as a lubri
cant to my Oerebral convolutions, in other
words, ‘made the wheels, go round,’ and I
had an idea that I could not work with
out tt as a stimulant.
“1 soon paid the penality in nervousness,
loss of flesh, insomnia and restlessness,
none of which troubles would yield to
any or all medicines. I finally got in
rather a bad way and my wife took a
hsnd in the affair all unknown to me.
She purchased a package of Postum Cof
fee and first gave me one-half Postum
and one-half coffee. In a little time she
had me down to clear Poslurn, and I was
none the wiser.
“I noticed that I was getting better, my
nerves were steadier, and I began to
gain flesh and sleep nights. My work
was performed far better than in my old
condition.
“Commenting upon my gTeatily im
proved health one morning I was told
thie truth. ‘ ’TIs to laugh,’ so I submit
ted gracefully and joined the Positum
ranks.
“Experience teaches that boiling is one-
Jialf the game. When the directions are
carried out the result will be as fine a
cup of rich, fragrant coffee as ever de
lighted the senses without ruining tBe
nerves.”
Dr Lindsay Durham
the patients recovered, he ever afterwards
used this remedy in such cast*. He im
parted the secret to scores of his medical
friends, many of whom adopted it; among
others, his old classmate, the late eminent
surgeon. Dr. Willis F. Westmoreland, of
Atlanta, who begged him to give the pub
lic, through the medical journals, the ben
efit of his experience, which, however,
was never done. This valuable remedy
was afterwards introduced as an officinal
preparation through the writing of Dr.
Pharis, of Mf.-sissippi, during the year
1871, twenty-one years after “Aunt
Rhody” gave it 'to this young doctor.
“Aunt Rhody” says that when a girl, all
of fifty years before that, when associat
ing with the Indians, she learned the
value of this medicine. Today black haw
is regarded as being the most valuable
anodyne and tonic by certain specialists
in the known world, fifty-two years after
Aunit Rhody imparted her knowledge to
the young Georgia doctor.
In the same manner and at the same
time Aunt Rhody acquainted this young
doctor with the valuable properties of the
bark of the cotton root. This was at
least twenty years before this article
found Its way in the books of the regular
practitioner. At this writing, fifty yeans
after this incident, thousands of pounds
of cotton root bark are being shipped an
nually from Georgia to northern and
western establi'shmenits to he converted
into pharmaceutical products.
Tt Is said that “poets are born, not
made.” Sometimes, in other departments
of life, we feel that probably the force of
this remark might refer
Doctors to others. For instance.
Are why not say sometimes
Born, “Some doctors are horn.
Not not made.” In this con-
Made noetion it might he well
to state that during my
early professional career, I had the honor
of often meeting a moist distinguished
medical gerut'ieman, one of the most lea ru
ed men Georgia over produced. He was
truly scientific, a grand lecturer, and one
of the most beautiful word painters that
ever graced any profession. He could sit
and talk learnedly by the 'hour of %11 of
the principles of the arts and sciences,
and yet, as a practitioner of medicine, lie
was a complete failure. It seemed as
though he never really fully appreciated
the routine and details of the practice of
medicine. lie was wonderfully unfor
tunate; his patient's often suffered from
this irregularity; so much so that fatality
followed in his wake more than that of
any other known doctor in the state. He
was forced to relinquish active practice,
but to the day of his death Geoirgla never
had an abler divine or a more interesting
lecturer than ha was on scientific sub
jects. He ably filled the chair of a pro
fessorship in many medical college^.of the
south, hut he never could make a prac
tical doctor of medicine.
While within 20 mile's of‘this able, learn
ed divine, .there started In life in Clarke
county, a poor Georgia school teachor. a
Mr. Dindsay Durham, who, when he mar
ried, .possessed nothing in the world hut a
Georgia mule. After marriage he brought
his wife a distance of 4 miles on the
back of this mule to a rented farm. With
out ever attending a lecture, and with
very little training this man became one
of the best known and most successful
doctors that ever lived In Georgia. He
was a natural-born doctor. Ho met a Dr.
William's, who had gained a great deal of
information concerning the indigenous
herbs of Georgia from the Indians. About
this time this young married man was
taken sick. Dr. Williams was his physi
cian. From this a lifetime intimacy
sprang tip between them. This young
man’s attention drawn to the practice of
medicine, and especially ti> the efficacy
of the medicinal herbs of Georgia, wais in
duced by Dr. William's to stay with him
and learn to practice. He did so. He
always gathered his own herbs and pre
pared them himself.
His wife was to him a true helpmeet.
She assisted him In his new enterprise in
every way. Her special province was to
make his pills. Then there were no pill
machines, and all pills had to he made
by hand. Hence pill making In the coun
try doctor’s office, and especially his, was
an important department. This young
doctor developed Into a very successful
practitioner. His fame soon extended far
beyond his Immediate neighborhood and
patients flocked to him for hundreds of
miles. He began to prosper in finances,
so much so that he soon bought the place
that he rented when he was first married.
He added to it many hundreds of acre's.
He gave undivided attention to the In
digenous herbs and brought prominently
before the profession at least twenty dif
ferent herl>s, all of them very valuable,
thait now find place In Ihe physician’s
office. It Is wonderful to relate, without
chemicals or a chemical apparatus, this
country doctor developed in knowledge
and proficiency concerning the secretions
of the body that scarcely the present sci
entist, with all hits improved parapherna
lia. has acquired. I remember distinctly,
when a boy, I visited this old gentleman
with my father when there were patients
there that day from South Carolina. Ala
bama and Mississippi. The old gentle
man never measured or weighed a medi
cine. His experienced eye and educated
fingers served to dish out the remedies
successfully. Before his death he pos
sessed many slaves and many broad
acres. Once during a nanic among the
banks of Georgia he helped the Athens
bank from utter failure by a loan of a
large amount of money which had accu
mulated from the dally recicpts of his
practice.
▲bout the time Dr. Durham commenced
the practice of medicine bilious fever and
otherinflammatory diseases raged very ex
tensively in middle Geor-
The New gia. and it was the cus-
System tom of the regular prac-
Oppesed tltioner to meet those
to diseases with the most
The Old heroic remedies, such as
bleeding, vomiting, purg
ing, blistering, etc., to suclf an extent
that if the patient was alive at the end
of a week he was vtry much reduced
in strength. Dr. Durham, with his vege
table tonics and alteratives and general
builders-up of the system, would he
ca'led in and soon restore the patient to
strength and activity. This circumstance
contributed largely to the popularity of
the doctor. He was known to build up
so many patients whose systems seemed
to be wrecked from the treatment so
heroic by the ordinary physician.
It has been erroneously stated that he
adopted to a large extent the theories
of the botanic school, when the facts in
the case are that he really was the in-
ciplency of the botanic school. Dr. Bind-
say Durham hal been in the practice
twenty years and was known for many
states around when the botanic school
was void and without form. The begin
ning of the botanic practice originated
with a certain Dr. Thomson, who gave
much attention to this line of drugs and
issued a small book, to which lie had a
patent right. lie would sell his book
and the right to practice medicine accord
ing to the Principles laid down in this
book for $20.
I remember myself, when a hoy, that
an old neighbor bought this book and
start ?d to practice medicine. He was a
farmer. In the morning he would go
out to plow with an old-fashioned pair of
traveling saddlebags full of roots and
“> arbs.” and there the old man would
plow till somebody would come after the
doctor. He would jump on his plow
horse bareback and go to see the patient
and administer according to Dr. Thom
son. Within two or three years after
this “ready-made doctor” lost so many
patients ho quit in disgust and went
back to the plow handles. With the ex
ception of anoth-r old man. this was
the end of this form of Thomsonianism
In middle Georgia. This second old man
read Dr. Thomson's book and digested
i's thoroughly. One of I)ir. Thomson’s
pet theories was that heat was life and
cold was diath; that the more heat you
infused into a man we
pects for t-is living,
kept a “piggin” of hi
himself to drink all
had cayenne pepper in '
had his corn bread
Once upon a time one ol
got sick and he consul]
Thomsen said give he’i
of cayenne Topper, and .
the better pros-
much so that he
pepper tea for
time. He also
1 his foods, even
ed up with it.
•his negro women
sd Dr. Thomson.
tablespoonful
his old man did
so, and for many hours there was “music
1 he negro
Indians in middle
In that part of the t!
woman got well. and* this old man re
nounced this practlce f of medicine, but
as long as he liveiT lie clung to his hot
pepper tea. <
Dr. Durham subscribed to no such
foolishness as the above, while without
regular medical training he was thor
oughly practical in eve’ty way, and now,
forty years after his 'Aef.th. the regular
profession through-out tjie whole United
States has adopted scoring of his remedies.
These remedies he got fjgbm Dr. Williams,
who got them from the '
Georgia. ,
After the vagaries of the Thomsonlan
system fell to pieces fbv virtue of its
own inconsistencies, some good and
strong men, impressed $y the legacy left
them by Dr. Lh.dsay Durham, adopted
>the botanic system of rnedicine, and from
this has eventually anil gradually evolut-
ed the present rapidbl growing eclectic
school of medicine.
I state one other fket in connection
vlth the Georgia roots and herbs: While
I give Dr. J. Marlon Sims, formerly of
Alabama, full credit for bringing into
active use the valuable remedy known
as succus alterans. I am going to state
a fact not generally known, that there
is being manufactured in Georgia a pro
prietary medicine almost identical in
composition and proportions to the suc-
eus alterans. This fact has probably
never been made public before, and I
give this history of it: that in 1870 the
proprietor proposed to myself while in
the drug business to manufacture it for
him. He disclosed to me its composition.
Certain circumstances prevented my man
ufacturing it. and I was very much in
terested in finding with a slight excep
tion it almost the same as Dr. Sims’
preparation which he found in Alabama.
This middle Georgian obtained the recipe
from an old negto doctor, who got it
from the Creek Indians seventy-five years
ago. Vll of the herbs composing it grow
in profusion in Georgia and are gathered
by the hundreds of tints from the hills
and valleys of Georgia. The proprietors
have established Important depots In Eng
land. France and Canada, where hundreds
of thousands of dollars of this remedy
are sold made from the roots and herbs
gathered in Georgia.
Time'Yellowed Record Explains Origin of
"Hard-tShell” Baptist Church
When Morgan Captured Troops
Sent to Hang His Command
By JOHN F BEATTY
Written for Sunny youth
N 18fi2 Morgan’s command
operated in Tennessee.
Whenever a ’ small force
of federals became sepa
rated from the main body
Morgan, with his regiment
(he was only a colonel
then) would charge the
pickets and capture the
outfit. This occurred so
frequently that a Colonel
Johnson was sent with a
crack regiment expressly
to capture Morgan and his
command. We learned this fact from a
few of Johnson’s men we had captured
while they were out foraging. Colonel
Morgan and Captain Boh Alston, now of
Atlanta (later lieutenant colonel), and
the other officers of the regiment made
an appeal to the men to do all they
could to surprise and capture Colonel
Johnson and his regiment. There was
not a private in the ranks but became
enthused with the idea, and officers and
men had the one object in view, viz:
the capture of Johnson's regiment.
The opportunity to test the valor of
each regiment soon offered itself. Colo
nel Johnson with his crack regiment rode
into Gallatin, Tenn., with pennants fly
ing, cartridge boxes full, carbines glis
tening in the sun and boasted that he had
"come to capture and hang that guer
rilla, Morgan.”
Johnson reached Gallatin about 5
o'clock in the afternoon of a sweet May
day. Hardly had his troopers unsaddled
their horses when Morgan, who was en
camped a few miles away, heard the
news. The people were our friends and
Johnson's enemies. Early the next morn
ing our command was on the mpve for
Gallatin. We charged and captured the
enemy’s picket and ail thought we would
get the whole force easily. But not so.
Colonel .I thnson was a bra ve man. We
had been so quick and silent in our
movements that we had partially sur
prised him. and he came from his head
quarters buckling on his sword, and gave
orders at once for battle.
As a general thing Morgan attacked a
smaller force than his own, and with
a larger force and surprising the enemy,
we nearly always whipped the fight. In
our light with Colonel Johnson, how
ever, the forces were about equal. But
we had a decided advantage in being
the attacking party, and as I said, par
tially surprised them. But, although
they fought like demons, we finally de
feated them.
Do you ask if we felt elated? Yes, we
did feel proud of our dearly bought vic
tory, but our hearts went out in sym
pathy, too, foi; those whom we had whip
ped. and parolled. After the boast they
had made of capturing and hanging Mor
gan and his men, they seemed deeply
mortified to surrender to us. They seem
ed doubly hurt when we took posses
sion of their fresh horses and new outfit
of side arms, blankets, and in fact every
thing they had except the clothes they
wore.
After parolling them wc rode away to
Dresden, Tenn., singing:
“Have you heard of the gallant affray
Where Morgan whipped Johnson, the peo
ple all say?
It commenced at 8 and lasted till 2,
When the yanks ran away with the red,
white and blue.
CHORUS.
“HurralX Hurrah! We’re the nation they
dread;
Three cheers for Jack Morgan and the
southern confed.”
Secretary Hay O, tHe Federal At
tempt to Pacify Florida
By V P SISSON
By HENRY F BEAUMONT
Written for Gibe Sunny South
ERE accident recently
brought to light a most in
teresting find, and one
which at the same time
does not lack an historical
Importance. It Is a time-
yellowed, but well pre
served copy of the min
utes of the meeting of the
Baptist association which
was held in Greene coun
ty, Tennessee, In Septem
ber, 1839, and it relates, in
words entirely too brief,
the story of the dissension which arose
then, causing the formation of the
branch of the original Baptist church
known as “Hardshell Baptists.”
Throughout east Tennessee Colonel
Boh Sammons is known by reason of
♦ he interest which he takes in any
thing of antiquarian or historical In
terest, and for him to obtain a rare lot
of autographs, valuable papers or old
hooks Is not an Infrequent thing, because
he is recognized as an authority on such.
A few days ago a countryman, whose
name is unknown, approached him and
asked what he would pay for “this,” ex
tending the article toward Colonel "Bob.”
It was but a few minutes before a dollar
had changed hands, for “this” was the
same valuable pamphlet which this arti
cle Is written about.
It is but a two-leaved. four-paged
pamphlet, 3 by G in size, printed in the
phraseology of that day, nearly sixty-
three years ago. and with type some
what different from that used by Be
Mergenthaler, but at the same time is
in an excellent state of preservation a nd
every word of it can be deciphered. The
heading and introductory are as fol
lows;
“MINUTES OF THE OBD SCHOOB
NOBACTIUCKY BAPTIST ASSO
CIATION.
“Proceedings of the twelfth anniver
sary of the Old School Nolachucky Bap
tist Association, held at Concord meet
ing house, in the woods, Greene county,
east Tennessee, on the fourth Friday in
September, 1839, and following days. In
troductory, by Elder Jeremiah Hale,
from Nahum, 1, 7.
“1. '.\ie association proceeded in the
usual order and read the letters. The
institutionist side nominated a moderator
and clerk and violently rushed into the
stand, over the head of the old moderator,
and commenced reading their letters
again, and we retired to the woods and
proceeded to our business there.
"2. Read letters from thirteen churches.
Two not having letters were represented
by delegates, and the following accounts
taken, etc.”
In those few words are traced the hard
feelings, the wrath, the diverging opin
ions, the obstinacy of thought, which
caused a certain faction of the original
Baptist church to cleave apart from the
parent body and organize as the “Hard
shell Baptist” church. This was the dis
sension which culminated in the with
drawal of the Hardshell Baptists, of
whom there are only a few now in Ten
nessee, only a half dozen or so churches,
from the Baptist church, strictly speak
ing, and more properly speaking, from
tlie larger part of the chureh. the “mis
sionaries,” and the subsequent downfall
of the “Hardshells.”
The point at Issue between the two
factions was “missions and theological
seminaries.” The “Hardshells” did not
believe in ei^ier; the missionaries, as the
name Implies, did—hence the rupture
which was never healed.
The delegates who were present at
the meeting are all recorded. The full
list is as follows:
County Bine—Nathan Gray and Wilson
Oliver.
Bent Creek—William Anderson, P. A.
Witt, J. Witt and T. Horner.
Antioch—A. Hill and William Denton.
Union—Better and no delegate.
Sulphur Spring—George Johnson and
William Brown.
New Prospect—John B. Oliver and Hill-
yard Bird.
Robertson’s Creek—Francis Walker am
Thomas Roberts.
Slate Creek—T. Smith, J. Buckner, D.
Hurly and S. Smith.
Concord—C. Haun, N. Dunagan, Join
McMillan and Elisha Bong.
Bong Creek—James Allison and Martin
Allison.
Friendship—Henry Randolph, Daniel
Witt, George Crosby, Thomas Hicky and
William Vinyard.
Big Pigeon—Thomas II111, Jeremiah Mc
Coy and T. Sisk.
The fourth paragraph says:
“Received a corresponding letter from
the Old School Tennessee Baptist Asso
ciation by the hands of its delegates,
Humphrey Mount, Sr., and Humphrey
Mount, Jr., and Obediah Gibbs, who took
their seats with us, and our association
coming on again before theirs, we ap
pointed no delegates to it."
And so on for nine more paragraphs
the minutes are devoted to the regular
routine of convention business, such as
appointing messengers, writing letters,
hearing reports, selecting “David Boude-
back to preach the next introductory ser
mon and in case of fqilure, William
White,” and ordering 500 copies of the
minutes to be printed. The last para
graph reads:
“13. Adjourned with prayer by Brother
David B. Shackleford to the time and
place above named.
“(Signed) HENRY RANDOBPH,
“Moderator.
“PLEASANT A. WITT, Clerk.”
The time and place selected for the
next meeting was "Friendship meeting
house, Jefferson county, to commence
Friday before the first Sunday in Octo
ber, 1810.
But the most interesting part of the
ancient old “minutes” is the last, but
longest; it is self-explanatory and is
given in part:
“Reasons for declaring a non-fellow
ship with tlie institutions of the day,
falsely called benevolent, viz: Baptist
state conventions, tract
Reasons and missionary societies.
Given Sunday school unions,
For theological seminaries,
tHe home, missionary and ab-
Break olition societies and trib
utary branches to the
present plan of missionary operation now
in use in the United States.”
1. One article of the constitution of all
Baptist churches reads thus:
“We believe the Scripture of the Old
and New Testament is the word of God,
anil the only rule of faith and practice.
We find neither precept nor example in
the word of God by which the institu
tions are supported.
“2. We are directed in II Corinthians
G and 7 not to be unequally yoked with
unbelievers, and by reference to their
own documents we think all will see
that the society system, introduced and
carried forward, is a practice diametri
cally opposed and in violation of that
passage of sacred writ. » * •
“3. We believe that theological semi
naries are calculated to aid and. abet
in the corruption of the church by offer
ing an inducement to designing charac
ters to seek after and obtain the ad
vantages to be derived from same. And
through their Influence as false teachers
corrupt the church, of whom the Bord
made us bewart?. * * •
"4. Our Bord, in His Infinite wisdom,
placed the light on the candlestick (or
church) and we are bound to believe
that it is a more advantageous station,
and conspicuous, than the temperance
society, which is an amalgamation of
professor and world and Christian and
drunkard. Anil to say it is not is degrad
ing to the divine character and a direct
reflection on His infinite wisdom.
“5. And thus is fulfilled that prophetic
passage which says: ‘And through cov
etousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you.’
“6. The introducing and advocating of
the society has been the source of much
trouble and distress to the people of
God.”
Seventh and last, but not least:
“The fact does exist that in the north
ern section of the United States there
is a direct connection existing between
the society system Baptists and the abo
litionists. Now, if there are four out of
five of the northern Baptists abolitionists,
is it not obvious that they control gome
of the most important societies with
which the southern Baptists are united,
and for which they are going such lengths
to support? And is it not also obvious
that the money drawn from the pockets
of the southern people through the me
dium of the triennial convention and
otherwise under color of sending the
gospel, etc., goes directly Into the pock
ets and for the support of those whose
aim seems to be to undermine the very
pillars of the constitution?”
Then there follows a volley of Scrip
tural quotations, concluded by the words:
"If you will not believe from these pas
sages that we are justifiable in what
we have done, we say would you believe
though one arose from the dead?”
So the story of a schism in a great
church is told. For the first few years
after the formation of the “Haedshell
Baptist” church it prospered and grew,
hut it was founded upon a charter possi
ble only for a retrogressive people, not a
progressive one, and it has been growing
weaker fast and faster. It is only a
matter of a few short years before the
mother church will reclaim its own. Just
within the last week an old and well
established church of the “Hardshell'
type in this city was absorbed by its
parent.
The discovery of this little pamphlet
has excited a good deal of interest
among two classes, those interested from
an historical standpoint and those from
a religious standpoint, and many efforts
have been made to obtain possession of It
by means of purchase, but Colonel Sam
mons had sold it to a gentleman who
valued it too highly to part with it for
ordinary compensation and the plan to
have a second or souvenir edition of it
printed by the church will doubtless
fail.
Some Historical Facts as to Real Invention
of tHe Cotton Gin
Written for Ghe Sunny South
T HE recent address of Secretary Hay
in the halls of congress on the occa
sion of the McKiniey memorial re
calls an incident in confederate history.
The address was beautiful almost to
classic, candid and fair in its allusions
to the south, where it has met generous
appreciation.
I spent .on afternoon here with Colonel
George W. Scott at his winter residence.
He had just finished a perusal of Mr.
Hay’s address and It seemed to have
aroused in him a reminiscent mood. Bike
a flash of lightning through his brain
ran the stirring events of a distant past.
I 'hope to violate none of the proprieties
if I recount some facts given to me In
his modest, careless wav. with never a
thought of their appearing in public
print.
Colonel Scott’s legions of friends In
Atlanta, accustomed to seeing him pass
to and fro amor.g men In such a quiet
and unobtrusive way as to attract little
attention, are not aware that in tho
sixties he was the gallant commander of
a confederate regiment on the coast of
Florida. That was forty years ago. At
the memories of these days the colonel’s
eyes sparkled and flashed as If IB Ing
over again a period in his life when
young blood ran rampant through his
veins, and he was aulek In response to
the demands of duty as he saw it. Of
that duty to his section I give but one
Incident, brought to the front by Secre
tary Hay’s address.
In the command of his regiment on
the Florida coast Colonel Scott was co-
temporaneous with Generals Colquitt,
Howell Cobb, Finnegan and Montgomery
Gardner. In the shifting of commanders
and troops, it so happened at one time
Colonel Scott was in command of a large
part of the Florida coast. And if he
did not exactly capture Secretary Hay,
he got possession of some interesting of
ficial documents that gentleman aban
doned In his precipitate flight to escape
personal capture as a prisoner of war.
In nis humorous wav. and modest in
every sentence. Colonel Scott recites that
a federal force had been sent to drive
the c >nfederates out of Florida, and to
restore that state to Its place in the
union. It had been thought at Wash
ington that the scheme was plausible
and easy of accomplishment. It appears
that President Bipcoln sent along with
the military expedition our present secre
tary of state, then plain John Hay, a
trusty young man of ability and private
secretary to the president. He was made
the custodian of carefully prepared of
ficial documents designed for use In the
restoration of Florida to her 'status in
the union.
The papers embraced an address to the
proffering such aid and comfort from
Iho military and the government at
Washington as the situation would war
rant. This, of course, to become effective
after the federal force had obliterated all
confederate authority and obstructions.
But the expedition was not successful.
The confederates had contrary views.
The advance movement was iriven back
anil defeated. Secretary Hay was along
to discharge the duties assigned to him,
anil no doubt would have done so faith
fully, but the oppertunitv did not ma
terialize. It was a beautiful sentiment
on paper, that hearing olive branches
of peace in the' wake of artillery
and the tread of battalions, but men
are not always accord in sentiment, and
there v ere rude confederates then and
there.
Seeretary Hay’s official paper fell into
their hands and afforded Colonel Scott
much amusement when he found time
for their perusal. He kept his spurs hot
in driving hack the invader, hut they
were fleet of foot in their exit, and the
secretary escaped with them, but his
papers did not. General Guy Henry,
latterly conspicuous in the Spanish war,
was in the federal force and made a gal
lant efTort to accomplish President Blti-
coln’s design, but the confederates could
not at that time consent for Florida to
take such a step.
The two men personal to this incident
are now full of years and honors. One,
being on the winning side, has occupied
a larger space in the public eye and has
rendered his country distinguished serv
ice at home and abroad. The other grace
fully yielded to the pitiless logic of the
heaviest artillery, and if not conspicuous
in public life, bears a record rich in all
that constitutes true greatness—success
ful in all things—a true gentleman—sans
puer et sans reprcche!
Should Secretary Hav find It conve
nient to visit Florida again, here at
Clear Water he would find a warm wel
come at the palatial winter home of Colo
nel Scott and royal entertainment. The
evolution of time brings us peculiar con
ditions. The confederate has no apolo
gies to make, but Is content under the
one flag and will vie with any in his
assertions of loyalty to ,it. A distin
guished member of the mresident’s cabi
net, whose service was rm the opposite
and victorious side, in al public address
concedes to the confederate a conscien
tious performance of dutand the cour
age he displayed to beccjrne a rich herit
age of American valor!
Clear Water. Fla.
POSITIONS! <t e P«*Iy[money m bank till
fvwiiiwnoi position is secried or give notes. Car
tarepaid. Cheap board. Sen diorlSO-p Catalogue.
'd ritce)
.« rr '^ la . bama an<J W'hUehJUl Atlanta; Nash-
Montgomery)’ uttle Rock, Fort
VVorth. Galveston and Shrleveport. Indorsed
by business men from Maine 'to Cal. The most
p r actlcal and pro ( 'iicssive schools of
,n the world. We eakpend more money
. . colleM^v-fV 0118 than moat,| any one business
people requiring a return to loyalty and hawk taaght‘by'matU'^ okke * pn *' short ‘
' t!
By HENRY P MOORE
Written for CAc Sunny South
HE invention which pro
duced the greatest revolu
tion known to history in
agriculture, in manufac
tures and in commerce was
that of the cotton gin. The
greatest stimulus to the
world’s progress was cre
ated by the cotton gin.
England and the continent
of Europe flourished under
Us influence as they had
never flourished before; the
wilds of America were
transformed by it and a pathless wilder
ness became, as if by magic, fields of
fruitfulness, blooming gardens and popu
lous cities that rivalled the proudest cap
itals of the old world in wealth, power
and magnificence. The direct result of
|his simple machine was to render a com
modity hitherto but little utilized readily
merchantable and almost in a twinkling
it became king of the world's commerce
and finance. Hence it becomes a very
who resided at Augusta, called to pay
their respects to Mrs. Greene, and during
the course of conversation the fact was
mentioned that agriculture would be very
profitable if some one would invest a,
machine for cleaning cotton. Thus the
matter was brought to Whitney’s atten
tion.
Subsequently Mrs. Greene married
I’hineas Miller, and they, accompanied by
Whitney, moved to Augusta, where Miller
anif Whitney associated with them Cap
tain James. Toole, the firm becoming Mil
ler, Whitney & Toole. They purchased
two tracts of land on Rocky creek, in
Richmond county, from Thomas and
Mary Glascock, September 23, 1S07, now
known as the Phinizy place, and estab-
lished their gin factory. A patent had
been issued to Eli Whitney March 14, 1794,
signed by George Washington, president;
Edmund Randolph, secretary of state, and
\\ illi.im Bradford, attorney general. Sub
sequently Whitney returned to Connecti
cut, leaving his partner, Miller, to look
after his interests in the south, while he
established the Whitney Arms Company
at Whitneyville, Conn. Toole seemed to
have dropped out of the concern for we
hear no more of him. Whitney died at
important question, who Invented the cot- j Now Haven January 8, 1825, leaving
ton gin, and one that has not received
the consideration from historians that it
deserves.
The great Macaulay appreciated the
marvelous results of the invention and
expatiates at length upon its beneficial
effects upon the civilization of his time.
But he seems to have treated with un
wonted neglect its authorship, and ac
cepted, contrary to his usual custom, the
common version without investigation. In
all the histories of the United States that
it has been my privilege to read, in all
tho 'histories of Georgia, while noticing
the fact that Whitney's claim was con
tested for a period extending more than
a generation, neither the grounds for the
litigation nor the ’circumstances attending
nor the name of the unsuccessful claim
ant appear in their pages, and although
Georgia did not escape the charge of in
gratitude in the doubtful Issue of the
causes tried in this state, there is no
defense set up.
Eli Whitney, according to the best ac
counts obtainable, produced the first de
vice for separating lint cotton from the
seed. His machine proved, after testing
it. to be impractical. It consisted of a
cylinder into which annular rows of spikes
were driven, revolving so as to pan the
spikes through intervals between wires
which formed the breast of the gin.
Eli Whitney was born at Westborough,
•lass.. December S, 1765. He was a nail-
smith by trade and during the revolution
ary war, when nails were in demand and
wages remunerative, he managed to save
enough money to take him through Yale
college. General Nathaniel Greene, prior
to the war, had been an anchorsmith at
Providence, and it is quite likely, in the
light of subsequent events, that the two
had been thrown together. At any rate,
so It is related, as the widow of General
Greene was returning from a visit to
Providence, her old home, to Savannah,
she chanced to meet on shipboard young
Whitney, who, ostensibly, was coming to
Georgia to enjer a private family as tu
tor. He also proposed, it is said, to em
ploy his spare time In studying law. Be
ing disappointed in his expected engage
ment. he accepted the Invitation of Mrs.
Greene to accompany her to her planta
tion—Mulberry grove, a few miles up the
Savannah river.
The production of cotton was then in
Its infancy. There was no way of sepa
rating the lint from the seed except by
hand, which was a very
tedious process. A good
day’s task for a negro
was 4 pounds of lint cot
ton. Under these circum
stances it is obvious that
growing cotton could not
be very lucrative. Hence it was not en
gaged in extensively.
About this time Colonel Robert For
sythe, the father of John Forsythe, the
noted statesman, and Majors Pendleton
and Brewer, comrades of General Greene,
Cotton
Industry
Was in
Its
Infancy.
large estate. A handsome monument was
erected to his memory, which was un
veiled with elaborate exercises, the dis
tinguished United States senator. Charles
Sumner, delivering the eulogy.
Hodgen Holmes, the inventor of the
saw gin, the same that is in use at the
present day. nnd for which no substitute
has ever been found, was
Hodgen a Scotchman by birth, but
Holmes when quite young he went
Inventor with his father to live at
of Gfte Cork, Ireland, where the
Saw Gin. elder Holmes acquired a
bleach-green and engaged
in the manufacture of linen. Robert
Holmes wished Hodgen to marry contrary
to his inclinations. consequ«ntly he left
home and set out for the New World.
He finally settled in Augusta, where he
purchased from Thomas and Ann Cum
mins 1 acre of land in the city, fronting
on Reynolds, Houston and Bay streets,
March 20, 1804, as shown by the records
of Richmond county. His will, duly at
tested and recorded, shows that he also
pwned several pieces of country property
and some negroes. He married Elizabeth
Hill, of Columbia county, Georgia. He
died in 1S01, leaving a widow nnd one
daughter, Margaret McCleary Holmes,
who married Dr. William Cloud, of Ches
ter, S. C. From this marriage there
sprang the following: Mrs. J. R. Aiken,
Mrs. Samuel Dubose, Mrs Elias Earle.
Mrs. R. B. Boyleston, Mrs. William Cal
houn, Miss E. R. Cloud—names that will
be recognized as among the most promi
nent in that aristocratic state. Mr. John
Hill, of Macon, brother of Mrs. Hodgen
Holmes, was the grandfather of Mrs.
Senator A. O. Bacon.
On May 12, 1796, letters patent were Is
sued to Hodgen Holmes, signed by George
Washington, president; Timothy Picker
ing. secretary of state, and Charles Bee,
attorney general, “for a new and useful
improvement, to-wit: new machinery
called the cotton gin.” The improvement
consisted of “the cylinder, from 8 to 14
inches in diameter, and 6 feet long, with
one row of teeth to I inch, which runs on
two iron gudgeons,” etc. It was attested
by W. Urquhart and Seaborn Jones, both
well known citizens of Richmond county,
prominent In the revolutionary period,
and men whose numerous descendants
stand high in the affairs of the state to
this day. This patent is still In existence
and Is in the possession of Mrs. S. A.
Boyleston.
Hodgen Holmes, having received his
early training in his father’s linen fac
tory, it is but natural that he should
have acquired a taste for textile manu
facturing, and that the knowledge ac
quired from the manipulation of the fiber
of flax Should have suggested the Idea of
the saw gin, the machine which fulfilled
the south’s greatest requirement. It Is
equally natural that Whitney, schooled in
the calling of making nails for a liveli
hood, should have bit upon the device
of spikes driven into the cylinder instead
of teeth or revolving saws.
The patent office at Wushington was
destroyed by fire in 1S36 and all the models
and drawings lost, including Whitney’s.
But for a certified copy of the original
specification on file at the United States
court house in Savannah, there would be
no data concerning them in existence. The
patent office authorities appropriated $100,-
000 toward the recovery of the originals,
but failed to obtain Whitney’s.
But in 1841 there was filed, instead, an
entirely different set of specifications, dif
fering materially from the original and
showing the complete
Duplicate working of a saw gin. The
Drawings draughtsman that execut-
Etxtiwely ed the substituted copy
Different was evidently ignorant of
from Old. the modus operand! of the
gin for he put the crank
°n the brush shaft instead of the cylin
der shaft.
There were twenty-seven suits brought
by Miller and Whitney in the United
States court at Savannah for infringe
ment of patent, in most of which they
were unsuccessful. Among the defendants
are found the familiar names in the early
history of Georgia, Ignatius Few and AVil-
Iiam Few, Arthur Fort and John Powell.
Holmes was not a party to any of the
litigation, although a certified copy of his
patent was introduced as evidence, and
v ha t the defense mainly relied upon was
the fact that Holmes, not Whitney, in
vented the saw gin. Whitney wrote from
New Haven to Josiah Stebbins, asking
his depositions to the effect that fourteen
years before “he (Whitney) repeatedly
tofd him that he originally contemplated
making a whole row of teeth from one
plate or piece of sheet iron." Whitnev
writes in the same letter: “I have a set
of the most depraved villains to combat
and I might almost as well go to hell in
search of happiness as apply to a Georgia
court for justice.”
AY. B. Seabrook. president of the South
Carolina Agricultural Society, in a work
on cotton, published in 1S44. speaks of a
Holmes saw gin used by Captain James
Kincaid on Mill creek, near AVinston,
Fairfield county. South Carolina, in 1795.
and says “it is reported to have been
the first saw gin used in that state.” Tt
is related that Holmes and Kincaid were
fast friends, both being Scotchmen by
birth. On one occasion Kincaid chanced
to visit Hamburg, opposite Augusta,
where he traded, and where he met
Holmes. Holmes induced him to take his
gin home with 'him and test its merits
nnd at the same time cautioning him to
be careful lest the secret of the mechan
ism be discovered and utilized by others.
When the gin was set up in Kincaid’s
mill and tested it was found to work
satisfactorily. Shortly afterwards Kincaid
had business in Charleston and left the
mill key with his -wife with the injunc
tion to let no one enter it. On his re
turn, to his great consternation, he
learned that a young man on horseback
had asked for and obtained permission
to Inspect the mill and had spent some
time In examining the new machine. He
realized instantly that the young man was
no other than EH Whitney and that the
damage wrought upon hlmsglf and his
friend tvas irreparable.
The old mill, and with it the gin, was
destroyed in 1865 by Sherman's army. The
shaft of the gin was sent to Macon to be
exhibited at the first state fair held
after the war, and was in some way
lost.
There is a story told of Whitney’s gin
that emanates from Wilkes county* Geor
gia, and which bears a striking resem
blance to the foregoing. In 1793 Phineas
Miller purchased a plantation on Upton
creek. 9 miles southeast from Wasrtiinsyon.
on which there is a fine water power, and
set up one of the Whitney gins. Many
visitors were attracted thither to witness
the performance of the wonderful ma
chine, but only women were admitted, as
a patent 'had not been granted. Nathan
Byons donned a suit of tils wife’s clothes,
gained admittance, and being a tolerably
Continued on etghtn pmgo