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i i. i \t •' : ‘ THE SUNNY SOUTH. THIRD 'PAGE JULY9, 1904 Commercial Montgomery Makes Large ^Strides Toward Municipal Greatness Sunny South’s Southern Municipal Series New Mabson Hotel. Merchants and Planters’—Farley National Bank. Exchange Hotel. " Moses Building. COURT HOUSE SQUARE, THE HEART OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT OF MONTGOMERY. HERE IN THE EARLY DAYS, IN THE CENTER OF THE SQUARE, STOOD THE COUN TY COURT HOUSE. A BEAUTIFUL FOUNTAIN NOW OCCUPIES THE SITE. THE VIEW IS LOOKING NORTHWEST DOWN COMMERCE STREET. THE EXCHANGE HOTEL IS ONE OF THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS OF THE CITY. By MARIE BANKHEAD OWEN. w—Wr- for Sunny South HERE are five good rsr ■ output of 180.000 brick, which find a operand! of this oil-making- enterprise i ready market in the city of Montgomery I may not fail to interest those thou- ' rea son why Montgomery is growing industraily: First, the Alabama riv er, which is navigable the year around from this point (where bills of lading are ino'e frrr any point fn development, the world) to Mobile bay, insures reasonable freight confidence in its surplus at rates. Second, being surrounded by tile fertile black belt it is the beneficiary of agri cultural prosperity. Third, local capital ha: its future and is investing home. Fourth, foreign capital, which always puts its coin in dividend paying quarters, is proving its faith in Montgomery by Its works. Fifth. The plentiful supply of raw ma terial. intelligent and ample labor, salu brious climate, health giving water ana favorable laws granting tax exemptions on new industries for a number of years. A summary of a few of the leading Industries will give an idea of their scope. There are three cotton oil mills here, hav ing a total investment in plants of nearly a half million dollars, and giving em ployment to five hundred men. Another oil mill is in prospect, with a grist mill adjunct, which will add $125,000 to the total, and give employment to over a hundred men. THE TEXTILE FACTORIES. There are two textile factories here, in which are invested S400.000. giving em ployment to 500 operatives, running 16.- 000 spindles and 470 lor-.-.s. A cordage factory represents an additional $40,000. and is operated by state" convict labor. The Montgomery brewery, established at a cost of $240,000. employs 125 men. Tie Kohn Distilling Company and two separately organized bottling works rep resent atygther handsome sum. The value of the red clay about the city has already been appreciated by onter- priring citizens and four prosperous brick plants are in active operation, repre- and Its vicinity. Tills one fact is in itself q, gauge of Montgomery's building growth. There are a nuaiher of ginneries here. The three cotton compress companies represent over a quarter of a million dol lars, employing 200 men and a daily ca pacity of 3.000 hales of cotton. The lumber business here, as in tile entire south. Is just coming into its full Jntiguous to tin's point are to be found hickory, poplar, ash, sweetgum. cottonwood, elm. sycamore, beech. Cyprus and pine. Already a num ber of hardwood and veneering factories are in operation here, as well as cooper age plants, making headings, hand!/’ and baskets ,>J ail kinds, factories for turning out sash, doors and blinds, and planing mills, of course, whose plants represent a total of half a million dollars, giving employment to a thousand men and hav ing markets all over the worst. Here are also several establishments devoted to carriage building, represent ing a iiand-ome aggregate of local cap ital. The adjacent coal and iron district has a generous patronage 'from Montgomery foundries, boiler work* nr.a r -.nv. shops, enterprises of great promise to the local capital which founded them. The ice factories are numerous an.l prosperous, ;is well as cold storage estab lishments. Here are also a number of candy fac tories .me of which has a hundred em ployees. Among the lesser industries, of which there are a hundred and fifty not in cluded in those already particularized, may be mentioned cracker factories, broom factories and an evaporating en- terprijg-s. la Montgomery is located the largest of the twelve oil mills district belonging to tli Oil C >mpany, which posed principally of holders, the nephew being president. The company lias also forty ginneries jn the Alabama district from which the seed in part supply the oii mills. The Montgomery plant represents an investment of nearly $200,- 000, and employs 200 men. It is situated among a great number of industrial establishments and railroad sands of people who grow cotton and |consume the numerous compounds made from the oil as well as the other by products of the mill. From the car shed beside the plant where the cars are sidetracked, the seed are hoisted and distributed by means of cup-elevators and distributing conveyors. The first step after localization is delinimis the j seed. This cotton or "linters,” when j baled is put in the ware house of the j plant, and becomes the first marketable item of tliis manifold industry. 3 lie j seed are then run through a hopper equipped with rollers and blunt-edged knives, where the rapidly revolving ma- j cliinery crushes the hulls in such wise. , that when thrown into perforated sift ers called “separating tables" or “shak ers.'' the kernel passes below and the 'husks are thrown aside and become “hulls" for cow food, or article No, 2 ready for tile market. EXTRACTING THE OIL. The kernel, or, to speak technically, the ' “meat'' is then run through powerful rollers and comes out in sheets as thin as paper. It is then put in steamers and cooked with a .212 temperature, i From the heater the meat goes into press cloths, and thence into the oil put a r- i ■ press, where, under a hydraulic press- remains ure of 4.000 pounds, the oil is extracted. The cake is laid on scraping tallies or “cake strippers, an.l from there it goes into a dbk-eqtiipp'd pulverizer, where the cot ton seed m* al is manufactured, automat ically weighed into 100-pound sacks. :,im1 now is become article No. 3 of the by-products. The crude oii. the e lor of red claret wine, goes through the old Exchange hotel gives place to a modern, up to elate successor, Montgom ery will become a winter resort for a great number of ihese tourists. Inade quate hotel accommodations have been one oi the main deterrents to the city’s advancement. That defect is soon to \i overcome by the investment of local cap ital in the proposed new hotel, the name for which j* giving the non stockholding citizens numerous “Ideas,” and great pains. “Hotel Historic,” “The Exchange,” ftlie present cognomen), “Ecupchatte,” the old Indian villn.g#. the city’s pre decessor, are among; some of tile most plausible-suggestions. The stockholders have reserved their views until the chris tening occasion. The modern power util ity known as “nlagnlcs.” has been adopt ed for the motive power with which to generate the electricity that supplies the i city’s lights, street cars, and a number ! o£ Industries. Tl«e Tallasee Falte. and a dam across the Tallapoosa river, thirty miles from the city, creates the current, having five thousand horse power con veyed to the city by copper cables. f'otton and corn are grown on the black prairie lands around Montgomery, wlille the red land with clay subsoil ts used extensively for numerous truck farms and orchards supplying the local market. The third kind of soil, the pine lands denuded of their forestry, when properly fertilized, produce almost any kind of crop. The river bottoms and lowlands contiguous to the several creeks near the city furnish pasturage for stock an Item of industry rapidly de veloping In dairy farms and grazing pas turage. for cattle intended for the .'-laugh ter pen. A prospective investor will find Mont gomery a favorable site from every point of view, for while the material advan tages have been somewhat stressed In these lines, the intellectual, philanthro pic and religious life of the city are equally as noteworthy. HOSPITAL AND CHURCHES. St. Margarets, the handsome and ex cellently appointed Catholic hospital, erected at a cost of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, is conducted by the Sisters of Charity, while the city infirm ary, a free hospital, doing a wonderful I Christian kindness among the destitute and suffering, is maintained and con- I ducted through the heroic efforts of a zealous band of young Protestant wo men and girls under the organic title of the “Infirmary Aid.” The annual "Don- nebrook fair,” which these young women hold for a week each spring, is Mont gomery's social affair par excellence. It is inaugurated with a bal poudre. which the beaux and belles of Pirmtngham and Mobile attend in numbers. The public schools of Montgomery are patronized by all sorts and conditions or citizens, the child of the humblest fruit vender having equal opportunity for life's educational equipment with the sons and daughters of the most affluent capital ists. There are also a number of pri vate schools for giris and also for boys, whose certificates admit holders to the great eastern colleges without examina tion; business colleges whose alumni go into responsible positions by the score. There are in Montgomery musicians and artists of a wide sphere »? reputs.t’CtV- The beautiful Carnegie library tjas —- May 2d thrown open to the public ana is meeting universal approval under the modem library methods t^ith which it is administered. This library cost $50.- 000, and is to be maintained by the city at a cost of $5,000 per annum. The social life of Montgomery bears the hall-mark of gracious security. The patriotic societies of the Colonial Dame.-, Daughters of the American Revolution. Ladies' Memorial Association, and Daugh ters of the Confederacy have each flour ishing chapters here. The society of the. Sons of the Revolution in Alabama har recently removed its headquarters to thv place. Possibly the club organization with its dual functions of social and intellectual exchanges is the most popular social vehicle. The half dozen women’s clubs, three stag clubs and one authors club have about annihilated the old custom oi Individual social exchanges, and the questionably convenient “day Rt homo In addition to the strictly social clubs mentioned the city is wellnigbt top-heavy with military, fraternal and social clubs, many of which have luxurious homes. The Masonic temple, state headquar ters for that order, is an imposing struc ture, built of yellow brick. The Elks own the beautiful old Murphy homestead, and the Beauvoir Club owns the equally handsome ante-bellum home stead of the Knox family. The Standard Club, a Jewish organiza tion, during the past season moved into Its imposing and spacious new home on the corner of Montgomery and Moulton streets. The religious organizations have either recently built handsome new edifices or are planning to do so. or improve their present possessions. It was proposed within the past week from the pulpit of St. John, that that church ought to he located in a suitable uptown section Allis historic old Gothic building of sand stone, with its beautiful stained glass windows and immovable associations, must eventually yield to iconoclastic ex pediency. Montgomery has an historic past, a prosperous present and a future of limit less possibilities. Men Who Trade in Death PI mi* N Jamaica, the most beau- bred in a rotting hitter cassava. These tiful of the TVest Indian were dried and then reduced to p-wder. Islands, there slumbers be- His confession revealed the fact that neath the smiling exterior dmong his clients were numbered several of the most respected planters of the island. He had a large collection of jew elry and watches, all given him, he as serted, in payments for obeahs and pois ons. Equally dreaded with the ob'-ahmen aid th» “mial people.” or the “fan-eyed.- The mialman is believed to injure his own op his clients' enemies hm depriving them of their shadows. It is believed the shadow of anyone is tak< n Court House of Montgomery, Aia. of things a volcano of dark superstition and sav age fanaticism, which oc casionally becomes active with deadly results. The high priest of Obi, or the obeahman, as he is more commonly called, wields a power in the land that the stringent measures adopt- that one cd against “him by the’ British govern ment have been unable to put down. 0*0 may rend in the Jamaica papers five separata trainer cloths. This is invested $300,000 1 for the purpose of he can never he healthy, and in tie- event of his falling to recover it j he must in evitably pine away and die. >The shadow , j. r ,, when taken is supnosed to talSlSs' 1 " Vv * tuite frequently of the Imprisonment, habitation in the giant cotton and. where trump in the Ai.ib.’tmu aoing rrndy for its p.i rticuiar m: Southern Cotton iHM-oinos ;irticlo X i). 4. The Mi.ntgt ompiiny Is corn- mill is th«! only one in the Ain northern stock- district belonging to the Southern f J. I’. .Morgan tun <>il Company equipped with a renting an aggregate Investment of near- j shops, whose smokestacks have given ly a hundred thousand dollars, employing this part of north Montgomery the fip- a total of 200 men and averaging n dally \ pellatlon of “Vesuvius.” The modus and rerm- Tho crude oil is run into a tank which j- furnished insid* with coils of steam pipes. Into a given quantity of crude oil a given proportion of liquified caus tic soda is poured. After tliis mixture becomes heated to a required point, which is ascertained witli thermometers, it is left standing for twenty-four hours, nfter which time the top is pumped off and clarified by passing through thir- ■, a fifth article. There still the sediment of the refinery tank Which is sold to manufacturers for “soap stock." Inside the mill are three huge tanks holding each twenty-five thousand gal lons. In the yard is one hold ins gallons, another holding 2C0.000 and two more with a 75.000 each. Tile season embraces about live months, during which time the daily output amounts to from $20,000 to $30,000. Tee York sales are r agent, and t the states. . The cotton oil compar to $15 per ton for cott farmer practically “thr a half dollars worth < every ton of seed is a ■ of lint which the o/i ’’linters.'’ Despite the short staple it is sold at cents a pound.-for the German market where if. is spun into yarns and manu factnred into hats. The Virginia-Carolina. Chemical Com pany, employing two hundred men, lit niiinuf phatos. The Alabama Phosphate Company is erecting a tremendous establishment here at a cost of a half million dollars. The economic argument for I ills class of en- tiiis point is that the local consumption of product makes a big freight saving between the row material and the finished article. The same economic reason, local market for finished product, will cause a large number of cotton factories to remain in the east, despite the fact that rhe new ones are being built in the cotton pro ducing centers. ho gianf. cott los- Of some member of the deadly £ ^ ^ I 00.000 11 rprist 'a lions, »paoity fifty pounds regins with proved, the turing fertilizers and acid brotherhood of Ob The practice of oheah is said to have fi"st arisen in Egypt, taking its name from 1 he idol t lb. From t here it spread over the whole continent of Africa, and with the importation of slaves from the Guinea coast to the West Indies was transplant- (.’■* to a soil in which it flourishes with ever-increasing virulence. The old plant ers were well aware of the deadly char acter of the obeanman, and, as it was supposed that he carried his magic, or oheah, under his hair, all slav sliaved before* being landed. One of the most noted men of Jamaica, Judge Joseph Hurlhurt. in sentencing an obeahman convicted of the poisoning ot an entire family, to death recently, said; “It is my belief that a special statute should be put into effect against this baleful practice. I do not doubt that many men quite as dangerous as this pris- ■ >■ ,„ - , are at large today. Oheah is the chanting: r s t a _ most serious problem the modern West In- I dies have to face. No man can he said to be safe from sudden death until tin's ! tiling is stamped out by the most strin gent measures.” Outwardly there is nothing to distln- ! g’tish the obeahman from the ordinary j villager, unless It is perhaps his sinster i look and peculiar slouching gait. as. car rying in one hand a long stick and in i the other a cotton bag containing bits of ( broken bottles, eats’ or dogs' teeth, nails, bones, pins, bits of cloth, etc., he shuffles along the country roads or back trails on some deadly mission. Besides his nlargements will most likely as- | morP sinster trade of death t*ie obeah- form of wings on either side | m3n deals in love philters and charms. It is, too, a well known fact that in cases of lawsuit an obeahman is retained as well as a lawyer. T’suaily he "works’* at home on the case; but occasionally he accompanies "nls client to court for the purpose of casting spells on the prose cutor and his witnesses and influencing the judge and jury. Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Ala., Looking East, with the State Capitol Crowning the Hill In the Background. Principal Retail Street of the City. The Atlanti” Coast Line, the Louisville and Nashville railroad, the Mobile and Ohio railroad, and the Western Railway i.7 ATTah7Ti.i have shops here, giving em ployment to over a thousand mechanics, and well nigh three hundred men in their transportation departments. There are fifty passenger trains released and re ceived daily at the union passenger tion. which was erected a few years ago at a cost of a quarter of a million dol lars. The fast mail service and cannon bull trains leading directly to the gulf, the Atlantic coast and all points, putting Montgomery in rapid transit communica tion with the wo rid, giving it unequalled railroad facilities. Tile state house crowning the historic eapito] Hill is soon to he enlarged and greatly improved, although the authori ties arc determined that the present building ziiall in no wise be molested. The enlargements will most likely sume with porticos supported by gothic col umns to conform to the central build- i big. The federal government building on Dexter avenue is also being enlarged to ; meet the requirements of the federal court, and other federal utilities housed in tliis building. The Advertiser, the 1 leading morning daily of middle Alabama, has recently built and newly equipped a $50,000 plant. Few newspapers in the south are so handsomely provided with all modern appliances of the craft as is The Advertiser, whose entire three story building is ramified with its own offi- ; ees. presses and operatives. There are two afternoon papers here also, both of which are prospering. There are two publishing houses and a number of printing establishments In Montgomery. The Alabama Rankers' Association lias just held Its annual meeting ip Mont- i gomerv arid elected Mr. Bonis B. Farley, i a young banker of this city, president for the ensuing year. Here there are five l urks with a. total capitalization of SI.- | -Tafl.OOO. POSTAL RECEIPTS INCREASE. The postoffice receipts for 1903 were £84.960.15, an increase over 19C2 of $6.- 805.90. Montgomery Ss the healthiest place in the south having 50.000 inhabitants. Mor tality rate, 12.3. Is surpassed by only ten e.ther cities of like population in the United Slates, those ten being located on the Pacific slope and the middle west. While the equlble climate, the thermom eter in winter going below zero only onee In its history, and the summers tempered by the gtlf breeze, is one rea son for this’ sii'endid shoving, the ar tesian weil water Is the chief factor. These wells, seventeen in number, vary ing in depth from 250 to 650 feet, have a combined capacity of five million gal Ions per day. When analyzed chemically the water shows that it is composed of salts and calcium sulphates, calcium ear-' bonates, magnesia and sodium. Many northern tourists, bound for the furthe- south, .stopping in Montgomery for a day’s visit to its historic spots, have tarried through the entire winter on account of this crystal clear, health giv ing water. It is confidentially believed that when sac rifice;: are offered at its roots to appease the wrath of the “duppies’’ or evil spir- So great is the Jamaican venera tion for the cotton tree that r.~re •■= rm-.-er cut down, it being the belief that in such a ease "the deaths” dwelling in Its huttresslike roots, would enter the nx- wielder’s soul. The ceremony of recovering the “taken” shadow is very curious. Tim “shadow catchers’’ are known as “angel men.” They charge exorbitant prices for their work and are the aristocracy of their profession. The person desirous of re gaining hts shadow must neither drink nor smoke for several weeks. CHANT OF THE “ANGEL MEN.” When he is declared “fit” by the “an gel man.” the whole village troops to the nearest cotton tree, and. forming a ring, dances about the “worker” and his client. “Lord, have mercy, oh I Chris* have mercy, oh! OheaTT pain hot. oh! Lord we come fe (for) prill he. oh! A no v#e put he oh! A pirit tek he. oh! An* we came fe pull he. oh! Shadow, you fadder want you. oh! Bwoy, you fadder want you. oh’ Rwov. vour muddor want you. oh!” CULTIVATING DEADLY PLANTS. Faster and faster the ring circles till many fall exhausted. When the “angel man” concludes things have gone far enough he gives the signal to stop and do- clrvoiF his client restored to health. Then the cotton tree is pelted with eggs and newly killed ehirkens placed .at its roots to compensate “the deaths” for the lo-s of their shadow A most curious test is still applied in the ease of a death in whi *h obeah is sup- po-ed to have played a part. A member of the funeral party carries the lid of the deceased's coffin on his head while he dances through the village singing or howling a mournful dirge, in which every Tile obeahman la well versed in all the minute circumstance of the late lament- vegetable poisons of. the island, and some- ed’s life is recited. It was supposed that timt« cultit ates in some remote valley in the coffin lid would impel its hearer to the mountains a pateli of deadly plants. He knows that the presence of vegetable as poison .is much harder to detect than that to of mineral. One of his favorite methods of poisoning, which is dfctholieal In its the guilty person, who was regarded not murderer, but a personage entitled onsidcratfon and respect. a full- fledged obeahman. However childish the obeahman and ingenuity, is to soak the undergarments his devices may qpnear to the enligMen- of an intended victim in a strong de- ed American reader, lie is a very real and eoction of poisonous herbs. The poison very serious menace in the West Indies. is of course absorbed by the perspiring body of the owner of the "doctored" -nr- ments and his mysterious death soon fol lows. A -notorious ohenhman named Ebenezer Shelley, who was recently executed al Mkmtego bay, confessed to employing this means of ridding his clients of their |enemie t s. He also revealed a curious se cret of his craft. His most deadly poison. With a compound of the fine fur front the inside of the bamboo he inoculates his white enemies wit It the seeds of tu- becculasls. With ground glass placed in their food he prepares the way for an agonizing death. So .skillfully does he work that the victim, while conscious of feeling ill. does not realize till too late that he has incurred some servant's hat red for some probably fancied ’njury and j fit* said, was compounded from maggots that the obeahman has been t 'led in. $21,00 PRICE EXPLAINED FOR $21.00 TO $23.00!$r4.ooV$i7m TOP BUGGIES.almllar leant Illustrated. SURREYS at HAVE BEEN WIDELY ADVERTISED.I$34.,QQ 10 $38.00. HOW BUOOIKS can fee after** at these prices and why wo ran •ell buggleB and all other vehicles at much lower prices than any other house Is all fullv explained in our Faur Rim Free Yehicte Catalogues. Cot this ad. out and send to u- * you will rereive hr return mail. Free. Postpaid Four Big Vehicle Catalogues showing the mos# complete line of everything In Budgie*. Road Wsgony, Carts, Surreys, Phaetons, Carriages, Light and Heavy Wagons, Vehicles of all kinds, also everything in Harness, Saddles and Sad dlery, all shown in large handsome halftone illustrations.fell Ifierlptlou mmd all prlcrdatprlcN aiaeli lower thaa any other ban* caa possibly ar.k«. WITH THE fOUR FREE CATA- I AfillCC fau will racalve «tia moat aaton- LUUUE* Ishlnt Bum? Oflar aver Itcard of. anew and astonlahioz proportion. How pf-hora can offer top baggies at ttl.OO ti UN and why wo caa sell at much lower prices than all other, will be folly explained. We will explain why we ehlp so as to make frrlgt ‘ — We will explain why we are the only makers or dealers In the wortd th -TOUT order. OUR FREE J-RIAL OfPt* OUR RAY APYER RECEIVED IStE* ARE ALL EXPLAINED WHEN' WE SENI HAVE YOU AMY USE FOR A BU66Y? icb lower prices than an otnera win do dffht chargee amount to next to nothin;?, that can ship buggies the day we receive IEIVED TERM. OUR RlNOlNO GUAR- * WWW A HlWIa Was Bw -VwR rS I srn»n HKVwIVKw V KHMW* WH WlWWIIatP w wmn EXPLAINED WHEN WE SEND YOU THE FOUR FREE CATALOOUES. If yea here, den t fall ts cat this ad. eat Wdar and mall teas. Ilyea can't aaa A TOP SUOOY AT AHY PRICE. call roar neighbor's attention to this announcement. Don’t bny any kind of a buggy until after you cot this ad. out and tend to na and get THE POUR RIO FREE CATALOOUES. THE HOST LIBERAL ^,^Vr^^7^M“wrTr; r T^‘ SEARS, ROEBUCK ft CO., CHICACO. ILL.