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CARTERSVILLE AMERICAN.
VOLUME 11.
Tie Cartersville American.
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF BARTOW CO.
PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY MORNING
* XT
American Publishing Cos.
CA BTERSVILLE, ©A,
OPPIOEI
Up-SUlr*, Nortli-Kast Corner of West Main
and Erwin Streets.
All communications or letters on business
should be addressed to
AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO.
Cartenrille, Os.
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TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION:
One Year, Cash In Advance |1 60
six Months, “ “
Three “ “ 60
If not paid in 4 months, 12.U0 per year.
Papers sent outside ot the County, 15 cents
additional for postage.
RATES OF ADVERTISING:
For each Square of 1 Inch or less, for the first
insertion, $1.00; each subsequent insertion, 50
cents. Special contracts made lor larger space
or longer time. All contract advertisements
most be paid quarterly. , . .
Local Notices, 20 cents per lino lor the first
insertion, and 10 cents for oach subsequent in
sertion.
Special Notices ten cents per line.
Tributes of Respect uud Obituaries over six
lilies, 10 cents per line.
All uersonul cards in Local Columns 25 cents
per line. ®
DIRECTORY.
COURT CALENDAR—CHEROKEE CIR
CUIT.
J.C. Fain, Judge. J. W. Harris, Jr., Solicitor
General.
Bartow County—Second Monday in January
ai.d July.
Catoosa County—Second Monday in February
and August
Murray County—Ttaiid Monday in February
ami August.
Gordon County—Fourth Monday in February
and August.
l ade County—Third Monday in March and
September.
Whitfield Coin, i,y—Fit st Monday in April
and October.
BARTOW COUNTY COURT.
G. S. Tunilin. Judge. J. J. Conner, Sol. Gen.
Geo. A. Howard. Clerk. J. U. Broughton,
Bailiff.
Quarterly Terms—First Monday in Murcb,
June, September hih! December.
Monthly Term—First Monday in each month.
JUSTICES COURTS.
Times for holding Justices Courts in the dif
ferent Militia Districts of Bartow county, Ga,:
Cartersville— No. 822d.....5ec0nd Tue days,
Adair* ville “ 850 th.... Fourth Fridays,
Cussvillo “ 828th....second Fridays,
Kingston “ 952d First Fridays*.
Kuhtrloe " 8515 t.. ...Sec’mlSutuidays,
Allatoona “ 810th.... Third Saturdays,
Wolf Pen “ 1041st....fourth Saturdays,
Stamp Creek “ 9ti3d Third Saturdays,
Sixth Disti ict ** 030th... Fourth Saturdays
Pine Log “ 827th.... First Saturdays.
COUNTY OFFICERS.
J. A. Howard, Ordinary.
F. M. Durham, Clerk Superior Court.
11. W. Cobb, Treasurer.
John A. Gladden, sheriff. A. M. Franklin,
Deputy Sheriff.
itaney A. Barton, Tax Collector.
VV. \V. Ginn, Tax Receiver.
A. M. W illingham. Coroner.
D. W. K. Peacock, Surveyor.
Commissioners—S. C. Prichard, T. C. Moore,
A. Vincent, John 11. Wik.e, T. S. Hawkins.
CITY OFFICERS.
A. P. Woft'orJ. Mayor.
James I>. Wilfcerson, Marshal.
Geo. S. Cobb, Clerk.
it. It. Mountcastie, Treasurer.
Aldermen—First Ward, J. C. Wofford, A. R.
Hudgins' Second Ward. G. Harwell, VV. il.
Barron; Third Ward, John Stover, Jfilihu
Hall; Fourth Ward, W. C. Edwards, Aaron
Colli in.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
Street—Collins, Hudgins. Barron.
Finance—Stover, Edwards, Wofford.
Cemetery—Hudgins, Collins, Edwards.
Public Hall—Hull, Wofford, Barron.
Relief—Edwards, Barron, Harwell.
CHUKCU DIK KOTO ICY.
Methodist.— Put.tor, Rev. J. B. Robins. Ser
vices, every Sunday a 1 11. a. in., and 7:30, p. m.
Prayer meeting, every Wednesday at 7:30, p.
m. Sabbatli School, every Sunday at 0:30, a.
m.; Jiio. W. Akin, Sunt. Youi-g men’s prayer
meeting, every Thursday at 7:30, p. m.
Baptist.—Pastor, Rev. E. M. Daniel. Ser
vices, every Sunday at J0:45, a. m. and 7:15, p.
ni. Prayer meetiug, every Wednesday at 7:15,
p. m. Sabbath School, every Sunday at 9:30,
a. m.; D. W. K. Peacock, Supt. Young men’s
prayer meeting, every Sunday at3. p. in. Ser
vice of song, every Sunday at 3, p. m. Month
ly conference, third Sundry ot each mouth at
3, p. in,
Prbsbytkkian.—Pastor, Rev. T. E. Smith.
Services, every lirt and third Sundays at 11, p.
in, sabbath School, every Sunday at 9, a. in.;
T W. Milner, Supt. P-nyer meeting, every
Wednesday at 7:30, p. m.
Episcopal.— Church of the Ascension. Min- j
ister in charge, Rev. W. K. McConnell. Ser
vices. every Sunday, except third in each
month, at 11, a. m. Sabbath School, every Sun
day at 10, a. m.
Professional Cards.
T. W. MILNER. J. W. BARKIS, JR.
MIMKR <V HARRIS,
Attorucyii-At-Lan.
Office over Howard’s Bank.
Cartersville, Ga.
JOHN U. WIKLK. DOUGLAS WIKLK.
UIKI.E ,C WIKLK,
Attomsys-at-Law & Real Estate Agents
Offices at Court House and on Main Street
above Erwin, Cartersville, Ga.
OEOROE S. JOIIASOA,
A Uormj-ttt-Law,
Office, West Side Public Square,
CARTERSVILLE, GA.
JSr Will practice in all the Courts.
A. M. FOUTE. WALTER M. UYALS.
FOUTE A RIl ALS,
Attorueys-At-Law.
WILL PRACTICE IN ALL THE COORTS
of this state. Prompt and faithful at
tention given to all business entrusted to us.
Office, corner Main and Erwin Streets, up
stairs. Cartersville, Ga.
1. U. NF.BL. J. J. CONNER. W. J. NEEL.
IEEE, COMEK fc NEEL,
Attorneys- AtdLraw.
W ILL PRACTICE IN ALL THE COURTS
of this state. Litigated cases made a
specialty. Prompt attention given to all bus
iness entrusted to us.
Office on Erwiu Street, between Main and
Market. Cartersville, Ga.
J. T. BHEFHEBD,
Phynician and Surgeon,
Office on Main Street, above Erwin,
Cartersville, Ga.
Railroads.
KENNESAW ROUTE!
WESTERN & ATLANTIC R. R.
The following time card in effect Sunday,
Dec. 30,1883:
NORTH BOUND
NO. 3-WE3TKRN EXPRESS—DaiIy.
! Leave Atlanta 7 30 a. m.
Arrive Marietta 8 20
“ Cartersville 0 25
“ Kingston 952
| “ Dalton 1123
“ Chattanooga 109 p. in.
NO. I—FAST EXPRESS—DaiIy.
i Leave Atlanta 2 35 p.m.
Arrive Marietta 3 27
I *• Cartersville 4 29
“ Dalton 6 22
“ Chattanooga. 800
NO. 11—LIMITED EXPRESS-Daily.
Leave Atlanta 11 40 p. m.
Arrive Marietta 12 39 u. m.
“ Cartersville 1 48
*• Dalton , 3 41
“ Chattanooga 515
Rome Express—North—Daily, except Sunday.
Leave Atlanta 4 05 p. m.
Arrive Marietta 3 00
“ CarUsrsville 8 03
“ Rome .. 7 20
No. 1 carries Pullman cars from Atlanta to
Louisville, Jacksonville to Cincinnati, New
Orleans to Washington.
No. 11 carries Pullman cars from Savannah
to Chicago and Atlanta to Nashville.
MOUTH BOUND.
NO. 4—FAST EXPRESS.
Leave Chattanooga 8 00 a. ui.
Arrive Dalton 9 33
Kingston II 10
“ Cartersville 1142
“ Marietta 12 48 p.m.
Arrive A thin ta 1 45
NO. 2—SOUTHERN EXPRESS.
! Leave Chattanooga 2 55 p, m.
I Arrive Dalton 130
“ Kingston 002
“ Cartersville 8 31
“ Marietta 7 47
Arrive Atlanta .'1... 8 40
NO. 12-LIMITED EXPRESS-Daily.
Leave Chattanooga .... 10 15 p. m.
Arrive Dalton 11 49
Cartersville 1 47 a. m.
“ Marietta 2 50
“ Atlanta 340
Rome Express—South—Daily, Except Sunday.
Leave Rome... 8 30 a. in.
I Arrive Cartersville. 9 45
j “ Marietta 10 >9
“ Atlanta. 11 45
No. 4 carries Pullman cars from Cincinnati
i to Atlanta, Washington, New Orleans, Louis
ville to Atlanta.
No. 12 carries Pullman cars from Chicago to
Savannah and Louisville to Atlanta.
B. W. WRKNN, Gen’l. Pass. Agt.
IL A. ANDERSON, Superintendent.
EAST & WEST R. R. OF ALA.
ON and after Sunday, Nov. 14, 1883, trains
on this road will rim as follows:
GOINu WEST—Daily, Except Sunday.
no. 1. no. 3.
Leave Cartersville 950 a. m. 430 p. m.
“ Stilesboro 10 92 4 42
“ Taylorsville 10 37 5 17
“ Rockmurt 11 10 5 50
Arrive Cedarlown 12 00 8 40
GOING EAST—Daily, Except Sunday.
NO. 2. NO. 4.
Leave Cedartown 205 p. m. 715 a. in.
j “ Roc km art 300 807
“ Taylorsville 3 35 8 39
j “ Stiesboro ... 353 855
I Arrive Cartersville .4 25 925
SUNDAY ACCOMMODATION—Going Eest.
Leave Cedartown 8 00 a. m.
“ Stilesboro 8 52
“ Taylorsville 9 21
“ Rockmart ...... 0 40
| Arrive Cartersville 10 10
SUNDAY ACCOMMODATION—Going West.
Leave Cartersville 2 50 p.m.
“ Stilesboro 8 21
“ Taylorsville 3 37
“ Rockmart 4 1J
Arrive Cedartown 5 80
ALABAMA DIVISION.
Daily, Except Sunday.
Leave East Sr. West Junction 2 55 p. m.
Arrive Broken Arrow 8 1.4)
Leave Broken Arrow— 9 00 a. in.
Arrive East & West Junction 1 15 p. in.
ROME RAILROAD.
The following is the present passenger
schedule:
no. 1. no. 3.
Leave Rome 610a. m. 415 p. m.
Arrive Kingston 8 53 5 30
no. 2. no. 4.
Leave Kingston. 920 a.iu. 555 p.m.
Arrive Rome 10 25 a. m. 650
NO. 5.
Leave Rome 8 00 a.m.
Arrive Kingston 9 00
no. 6.
Leave Kingston 9 20 a. m.
Arrive Rome 10 10
Nos. 1,2, 3 and 4 will run daily except Sun
days.
Nos. 6 and 6 will run Sundays only.
No 1 will not stop at the junction. Makes
close connection at Kingston for Atlanta and
Chattanooga.
No. 2 makes connection at Rome with E. T.
Va. A Ga. It 11.. for points south.
EBEN HILLY Eli, President.
J. A. SMITH. Gen’l. Pass. Agent.
IF YOU ABE
GOING
■MVcartt
NORTHWEST
OR
SOUTHWEST.
BE Sl.' RE
Your Tickets Read via the
U., C. &, St. L. Ry.
The McKenziellou^e
The First-class and Emigrant Passengers
FAVORITE!
Albert B. Wrenn, W. I. Rogers,
Pas. Agent, Pas. Agent,
Atlanta, Ga. Chattanooga v Tenn.
W. L. DANLFF,
Gen. Pas A Tkt. Agent,
Nashville, Tenn,
r7e. CASON,
dentist,
CARTERSVILLE, GA.
■ Office, over Curry’s Drug Store.
CARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA; TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1884.
The Cartersville American.
Entered, at the Poet Office at Cartersville ,
Ga, May lit A, 1882, as second class matter.
TUESDAY, APRILS, 1884.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
(jS No. 2.
WARREN AKIN.
BOHN 1811—DIED 1877.
Warren Akin was born in Elbert coun
ty, Georgia, October 9th, 1811, and died
in Cartersville, Georgia.,December 17th,
1877. His parents, Thomas and Kathe
rine Akiu, were originally Virginians,but
removed to Elbert county in early mar
ried life, where they reared a large fami
ly, Warren being the youngest son.
Thomas Akin was a well-to-do farmer, a
laborious,steady man, who lived freely,
never denying to his family any of the
comforts afforded by the time and coun
try in which he lived. He believed in work.
His children were trained to labor and
inured to toil. Under the influence of
such teaching, Warren Akiu lived with
his father on the old homestead until the
latter died, when the former was eighteen
years old. In early youth, and until his
father’s death, Warren was a toiler upon
the farm. His business was to work, to
plow, to hoe, to pick cotton, to help about
all the farm work. The first pair of boots
he ever had were bought with money
earned from the sale of cotton grown on
a little patch which he had for his own.
This he tended with his own hands,
working by torch-light after dark, the
daylight having been spent in labor for
his father on the farm. The writer has
heard him relate with what pride he wore
those well-earned boots to church on Sun
day, taking them in his hands as he
walked barefooted the miles that lay be
tween the old homestead and the country
church, and stopping near the church to
bathe his feet in a wet weather branch
and pull on the boots that they might be
fresh and clean when he walked into the
house of God.
Often, when the plowing was to be
done at some distance from the house,he
took his breakfast in his hands and ate
it in the field, sitting on the plowstock,
waiting for enough day-light to see the
corn rows. And in work-times, the first
light of the rising sun always found this
sturdy youth working away with the
same energy that made his life honorable
and great.
When about ten years old, his father
took him to Eiberton one day while court
was in session. Entering the court house,
he heard the lawyers speaking, saw the
witness on the staud and the judge on
the bench, and all at once he formed a
determination to be a lawyer. The fami
ly were much provoked with mirth when,
at supper that night, this unlettered
plow-boy announced that he was going
to be a lawyer and make speeches in the
court house. His mother died when he
was four years of age; but if she had been
there, this speech would have been
greeted only with love and pride by that
mother’s heart. Her big brown eyes
would have seen, instead of a boastful
child, only a little hero in this untutored
youngster. The long struggle which
preceded his elevation to the first ranks
of his profession proves how much of
laborious toil it cost liim to keep his
youthful vow—to be a lawyer.
At the death of liis father, the estate,
after paying debts, was divided among
nine heirs. His part was necessarily
small—a few hundred dollars. He spent
it all in sending himself to school in
Walton county. The rudiments of a
common school education thus ac
quired, he continued through life a stu
dent, teaching himself. When this
pittance was exhausted, he clerked in a
store in Monroe for seven months. But
measuring off ribbon to the women, and
weighing up sugar and coffee to the men,
did not suit him. He had no ambition
to become a knight of the yardstick. The
state about this time was in a fever of ex
citement over the Dahlonega gold mines
The adventurous from all counties were
hastening thither in search of wealth in
this new Eldorado. Wonderful stories
of fortunes made in a day were floating
aliout in the county of Walton, and every
repitition gilded them anew. What
wonder is it that the village store grew
wonderfully dull, when people said the
old fields around Dahlonega teemed with
treasure waiting only to have the dirt
shoveled off the gleaming gold. But
this village clerk had not forgotten the
vow of his childhood, and he knew that
money was necessary to a friendless
young lawyer, who had not even a Black
stone. His wages in the store were only
eight dollars a month. His scant patri
mony was exhausted in his seven months
schooling. Something must be done, or
else the cherished dream of his youth
must remain only a dream. So he
turned his footsteps toward Dahlonega,
as the Mecca of his ambitious hopes.
There were no railroads in those days.
No stage coaches plied between quiet
Monroe and excited Dahlonega. The
young clerk lxad neither a conveyance nor
money enough to buy one. With a knap
sack in his hands and a roll of bed clothes
on his shoulder, given him by an elder
sister, he walked all the way, except such
■natches of rides as here and there a
passing wagon might give him. Arriving
at Dahlonega, he bought a week’s provis
ions, and ■with his last quarter he hired a
negro to build a rough bed against the
walls of a log cabin, Here upon a straw
mattrass he rested after the day’s toils
were ended. With his own hands he
cooked the coarse food which, he always
said, was sweeter to him, weary with work,
than the bounteous fare which in the
years of prosperity crowned his hospi
table lxiard.
At Dahlonega, he worked with the
pick as a common miner, receiving a cer
tain proportion of the gold he “panned
out” from the dirt. His family have
now some of the gold he thus dug from
the earth. The fortune of the mines
gave him, not riches, but enough money
to move to Cassville and prepare himself
for the bar. While immersed in the
lore of Blaekstone and Greenleaf, he
rented a field where, by his labor, he
raised a com crop. This helped him to
pay some expenses attendant upon his
studies and to buy anew suit of clothes,
in which to be admitted to the bar.
But his struggles did uot eud with ad
mission to the bar. The Cherokee bar
were then among the foremost lawyers "of
the state and the Cassville bar was the
first in numbers, ability and reputation
in the circuit. Without friends, unknown,
poor, with only seven month’s schooling,
with but three or four law 1 looks, Warren
Akin commenced his professional career
in competition with lawyers whose repu
tation for learning and advocacy was co
extensive with the limits of Georgia. By
manual labor he earned money to buy a
lot hi Cassville, on which he built an of
fice. The lumber with which it was
built came from saw-logs cut by himself,
and hauled to the saw mill by a yoke of
oxen loaned him by a kind neighbor.
With the help of a hired carpenter, the
labor of his own hands reared the
structure in which the after years found
him a noted lawyer with a lucrative
practice.
Shortly after his admission to the bar
a certain prominent lawyer sent him
word to come to his office with his books.
The lawyer looked at Akin’s few well
worn books, and remarked that he was a
young man without money, books or
practice; but that he seemed to like
work, and he (the lawyer) needed a part
ner who was not afraid of work. He
then proposed a partnership. To this
the friendless young attorney gladly
assented and asked the lawyer tq proper 3
the terms. “Well,” the latAryt.*- < ‘l ,
will allow you a liberal percentage of the
fees, but you will be a silent partner; j
your name will not be known in the firm. ” j
Akin arose, trembling with indignation, |
gathered up his few books, and replied, j
“Sir, my father and his people were j
always honorable. My name is not dis- ;
honored by my poverty and my toil. If j
you think its connection with your own
will make you less honored, I reject your j
offer and beg to decline the honor of any ;
further communication with you on the
subject.” It was years before the cool
ness between them passed away.
The first few* years of Warren Akin’s
practice were very unprofitable in the
way of fees. Five dollars was the total in
come for the first year. But they were
rich in the days and nights of study. He
reviewed all the books which he had
studied at school. Finding many law
terms taken from the Latin language,
he bought a Latin grammar. In nine
days he completed its study. These
nine days study stood him in good stead
through forty years of practice.
He was twenty-five when he came to
the bar. After the first five years of his
practice his rise was rapid. In 1845, at'
the age of thirty-four, he had saved and
laid by about seven thousand dollar's.
He then married Miss Eliza Hooper,
daughter of Judge J. W. Hooper, at
that time presiding on the Cherokee
circuit. As the fruit of this union, one
daughter grew to womanhood, and, after
a few years of married life,died.
During Gov. Crawford’s administra
tion, the Georgia militia had regular or
ganization and frequent musters. Many
old citizens of Cass will remember the
old muster ground near Cass Station. At
this time, Warren Akin was appointed
colonel, by which title he was generally
known through life. Col. Akin’s first
wife died very young, and in 1848 he
married Miss Mary F. Verderv, whom a
recent writer in the Sunny South de
scribes as “a beautiful and accomplished
woman of rare natural intelligence, *•
daughter of A. N. Verdery, esq., then
of Floyd county, but a Frenchman. Col.
Akin himself was of Irish and Welsh ex
traction. Thirteen children were l>om
to them, six of whom died in infancy and
early youth, and the oldest being killed
by a fall from a horse at the age of fif
teen. The remaining six, with his widow,
still survive.
In this some year, 1848, he was made
elector for the state at large on the Whig
ticket. This was his first appearance in
politics, and his speeches in this cam
paign created wide-spread comment.
Those were stirring times in Georgia.
The day before he was to speak at one
appoiutment, he received an anony
mous letter from some democrats, noti
fying him that he would be killed if he
attempted to speak the next day. At
the commencement of his speech, he re
lated the incident, and remarked that if
the authors of the letter were present, it
was a good time to carry their threat
into execution. No sooner had he ut
tered the word# titan three meu with
heavy bludgeons advanced toward the
platform. Col. Akin quietly drew bin
pistol, presented it, and said: “I’ll blow
the brains out of the first man who puts
his foot ou this platform.” The valiaut
democrats at once retreated amid the
jeers and laughter of exultant Whig*.
Hon. A. R. Wright and Col. Akiu
once formed a partnership aud practiced
law together until the elevation of Judge
Wright to the bench. Their ledgers
show a large and lucrative practice.
Indeed, Col. Akin’s professional success
from 1850 to 1860 was phenomenal for
a lawyer in as small a village as Cassville.
He practiced in all the counties of the
Cherokee Circuit, then much larger than
it is now. His income from fees alone
sometimes reached iu the ten thousands
yearly. He also practiced regularly in
the Supreme court of Georgia. The
records and reports of that court show
that he was the first lawyer who ever
made a speech in that court. Its first
five decisions were rendered in his cases.
The first point on Supreme court prac
tice was made by him. The decision
was adverse to his position, but the court
subsequently adopted the doctrine then
enunciated by him. In every volume
of the Georgia Reports las name appears
as counsel. No other one lawyer’s name,
it is believed, appears so often in the
records of that court.
In 1859, against his wishes aud in his
absence, he was nominated by the
opposition party as their candidate for
governor. His disinclination to enter pol
itics was so great, that when first urged,
to make the race he positively declined.
His party friends insisted that it was a
duty he owed to them. He knew not
what it was to disobey a call to duty.
He, therefore, finally accepted the
nomination and made a thorough canvass
of the state. It is remarkable that, in
so heated * a campaign, his opponents
made not a single charge against his
personal, professional or political purity.
The democratic party was then very
strong in Georgia, and their candidate
hail then, as he has now, a stroug hold
on the masses. Governor Brown was
elected. He had,at the previous election,
defeated Ben Hill; aud in 1861 and 1863
he defeated his opponents by large
majorities, serving four terms as gov
ernor.
It was a political doctrine o . Warren
Akin that “the office should the ,
man. ”* Accordingly, when importun'd;
to become a candidate for the legisla
ture, in 1861, he declined to now, >• lus
name announced. But thee r>ou people
of Cass felt the need of eir best men
in that critical period, when the union
was dissevered, anew federation formed
from remnants of the old, aud the clouds
of war were gathering over their homes
and firesides. Without candidacy, they
sent Col. Akin to the House of Repre
sentatives. On the first ballot, he was
elected speaker. It was his first term.
The writer has never heard of another
instance in which a representative was
chosen speaker at his first term.
In this race, Col. Akin never announ
ced his candidacy nor asked a single
man for his influence or his vote. This
was Georgia’s first secession legislature.
Col. Akin had strongly opposed seces
sion. But so great was the public con
fidence in his character aud ability, that
this house chose a union mau for its
chief officer. So conspicuous were his
services in this body that at its dissolu
tion, he was, in 1863, without candidacy,
elected to the Confederate congress from
this district. His opponent was a pop
ular lawyeY of Whitfield county, then a
colonel in the Confederate army. The
soldiers were allowed to vote, and Col.
Akiu beat his opponent in the latter’s
own regiment.
The sessions of the Confederate con
gress were mostly secret. The necessi
ties of war demanded secrecy in the na
tional councils. The public, therefore,
knew little of the services of their rep
resentatives. His colleagues, who knew
his labors, pronounced Col. Akin’s con
gressional career honorable and able.
He was a warm friend of President Da
vis, and in all the conflicts between the
administration and its enemies, he was
like the lamented Hill, an earnest sup
porter of the government. Some Con
federate soldiers who read this sketch
will remember services he was able to
render them by his influence at Rich
mond. They will also remember his
regular visits to the hospitals, where he
prayed with the sick and dying, and
spent much of his salary in alleviating
their wants.
When Sherman’s army first reached
Cassville, he at once inquired for Col.
Akin’s house, and had it immediately
burned. This was sometime before he
issued orders for the destruction of the
town. The family had refugeed to Ox
ford. Here, the Federal officers tried
by threats and brilx* to induce his faith
ful servant, Bob, to betray his master’s
whereabouts, but to no avail. Col.
Akin happened to be on a visit to his
family, when a raiding party of Federal
troops came unexpectedly to Oxford
about daylight one morning. He es
caped in his shirt sleeves through the
front gate as the soldiers, with shouts
and curses, came in at the back gate.
They had declared that they would hang
him to a tree in his own yard. Bob
alone knew of his place, and un
der coyer of night he carried him food.
At one time, lying hid under a brush
pile, iu a swamp ou Yellow river, a squad
o# blue-coats passed within a few feet
searehiug for him, but they never found
him.
He then refugeed to Eiberton. His
family had been half starved at Oxford,
the Federal soldiers destroying every
tiling they could find, iu mere wautou
ness, even killing the little chickens and
leaving them dead in the yard, emptying
the sorghum upon the ground, and burn
ing the “potato coffee” (the people who
lived in war times know what that is).
The day after his arrival at Eiberton,
wagon loads of provisions rolled up to
his gate, generously donated by the
friends of his early youth. They had
escaped Sherman. Thenceforward, hun
ger was a stranger to his hearthstone.
In October, 1865, he returned to this
county. Like nearly all of us, the war
had swept away all he had, except twenty
eight acres of poor land. He had not
money enough to pay freight on the
remnants of household goods saved from
the war. The railroad authorities kindly
credited him for that. Routing a farm,
he worked in the field at all times lie
could spare from his practice, which he
had resumed in a rented office in Car
tersville. Everybody was poor. Fees
came in slowly. Those were hard times.
When the wheat crop of 1866 was
threshed and ground, his family had
cake for dinner, for the first time in
many weary days.
The gloom that overcast the south in
the terrible days that succeeded the war
is comparable to nothing in history ex
cept the despair which stupefied the
Carth agenians when the victorious
Scipio sowed their city in salt and burn
ed the last temple of their gods. Men ,
who knew no fear in battle stood aghast
at a spectacle of ruin greater than the
havoc inflicted by the Duke of Alva in
the Low Grounds. By the fortuity of
circumstance, this gloom fell heavily
upon Warren Akiu. Such was his de
spondency that if he had had the philos
ophy of Seneca, without the religion of
Christ, he would have followed Seneca’s
example and ended the bufferings of ad
versity.
Toil heals trouble. Work is an anti
dote to grief. And so, in the labor of
his profession, Warren Akiu found solace
to the misfortunes which had crowded
upon him. With the energy of his
youth, he devoted his advancing years
to recuperating his shattered fortunes.
With a large family, hospitable habits,
expressive surroundings and unstinted
liberality to his family and the church,
he yet saved enough money after the war
to die out of debt and leave liis family in
comfortable circumstances. He was an
earnest advocate of education, and be
lieved it was the best capital a young man
could have for the business of life. Asa
member of the Board of Trustees of Em
ory College, he inaugurated a reform in
discipline which did, as he predicted it
would, “remove temptation from the
students and increase their devotion to
duty.”
Li 1870, Col. Akin moved from the
country to Cartersville, where he lived
until liis death. He devoted himself,
during this period, entirely to his profes
sion. In 1874, upon the retirement of
Col. L. N. Trammell, he was urged by
many to allow his name to be put before
the convention which nominated Col.
Dabney in Trammell’s place as the dem
ocratic. nominee for congress from the
seventh district. This he positively
declined.
When the question of calling the con
stitutional convention of 1877 was agi
tated before the people, a number of citi
zens wrote him a letter, asking his views
for publication. In response thereto,
Col. Akin wrote a carefully prepared let
ter advocating the call and giving liis
views on the proposed constitution. In
a recent sketch of Col. Akin’s life in the
Sunny South , tlie following is said of
this letter: It “attracted a marked de- !
gree of attention. The newspapers all j
over the state copied it. Hon. Robert
Toombs was also urging the call with
great force and ability, and the names of
Toombs and Akin became the watch
word of the advocates of the convention.
The call was sustained and the conven
tion held. The result was that many of
the ideas iu the Akin letter were incor
porated in the new constitution. Some j
of them made great encroachments on
the old law. * * * Those ideas of
Mr. Akin which were incorporated in the
constitution can easily be discerned after
reading his letter. They have saved
and will save to the people countless
sums, and if he had lived to no other
purpose, his services in this would have
entitled his memory to reverence.”
Twelve days after this constitution
was adopted, Warren Akin died the death
of the righteous. When in the feeble
ness of long illness and approaching
death, the news was told him of the con
stitution’s adoption, “Thank God,” he
replied, “the people have at last made
their constitution.”
He was buried at Cassville, where he
always loved so well to worship and whose
people were so dear to his heart. He
had been,since early mannood.a member
of the Methodist church, and since 1852
a local preacher in that communion. His
piety was deep and fervent. Nothing
but sickness ever prevented the morning
and evening prayers at his family hearth
stone. And he lived liis religion. In
NUMBER 49.
lm every deed the Spirit of God directed
him. A diary kept by him in 1857 shown
the unusual religiousness of his nature
and his close communion with God.
None but those who saw his inner life,as
it was revealed in his daily walk to thoi e
most intimate with him, know hi w
thoroughly he was “rooted and grounded
in the love of Christ. ”
Asa lawyer,he was laborious, studious,
strictly conscientious and thoroughly hon
est. He was absolutely fearless in the
discharge of his ditty, and had a con
tempt for mere popularity. Iu Avery’s
History of Georgia, he is thus described:
“He was a self-made man, possessing
decided ability and very effective speak
ing power, and as much purity of pri
vate character as any public man we
have ever had iu Georgia. He was a
local Methodist preacher. Col. Akin
was rather n small man in physique, but
bad a voice cf remarkable compass, both
shrill and deep, with peculiar ringing
quaky in its high notes. He had unusu
al fervor and sincerity of conviction ami
earnestness of character. He could not
l>e called a popular gentleman, on ac
count of a certain unyielding vigor and a
forcible impatience at what he con
demned. Asa laborious student, in a
clear comprehension cf the law’, and in
strong argument, Col. Akin had no supe
rior and few r equals in liis circuit. No
man in his section enjoyed a larger share
of individual and public esteem than he.”
“He was a strong speaker and * * *
made much reputation in the state for
eloquence and ability.”
At bis death, tlie newspapers all over
the state had extended notices of his life
and character. In a leading editorial,
the Atlanta Constitution said: “It is dif
ficult to w*rite truthfully of Col. Akin’s
private character without seeming exag
geration. The purity cf it was unques
tioned. All who knew him will testify
that no living man was more truthful, no
man more sensitively honorable, and
none of more incorruptible integrity.
His name was the synonym of honesty,
and his charity life-long and beneficent.
* * * The state has lost one of the
best and greatest of her citizens. * * *
Religiou w as the corner-stone of his char
acter and upon it was built the splendid
pyramid of Christian virtues which he
leaves for the imitation of his children
and his countrymen.
This was the tenor of the press upon
Iris life and character.
In the memorial by the Cartersville
bar, his professional brethren say: “The
brightest ornament of the profession at
this place and its acknowledged leader
in the circuit is no more. * * * It
will be no discourtesy to any, we appre
hend, if we venture the assertion that,
by the bar and the county at large, ho
was regarded, and justly, too, as the first
man in his profession iu North Georgia.
* * * To the great and . acknowl
edged talents which marked liis career,
w T as added the brighter and sweeter lus
tre of the sincere, humble, devoted
Christian. Asa friend, no man was
more faithful and true. * * * A
great lawyer and a good man has left us.”
This sketch is intended to give only
the salient points of Warren Akin’s
life. That life illustrates the all-con
quering power of labor. The toil and
struggles of his youth bore their natural
fruition in the splendid achievements of
his maturer years. No honest boy,
though poor and friendless, need de
spair of success, in the light of the les
sons of Warren Akin’s life. There seems
a great gap and a long distance between
the illiterate plow boy, sitting on bis
plow stock waiting for daylight to show
him the corn row's, and the able lawyer
with a lucrative practice, respected, ad
mired, loved, dying at a ripe age, crowm
ed with the yearn and honors of an uj>-
right and successful life. But the one
is merely the logical sequence of the oth
er. Such youth is prophetic of such age.
The wTiter of this sketch pauses at its
conclusion to find one sentence w'hich
describes its subject; and as he ponders
there comes drifting back from the
memories of classic studies, that inim
itable epitaph which the poet Laureate
of the eternal city wrote of his life-long
friend; and it is more beautifully truo of
Warren Akin than it was of Maecenas:
“Integer vitae sceteruque purus. v
THE HOME PAPER.
Some writer with a level bead has
these words of truth to say about the
local paper:
The local newspaper is like a
church; it wants fostering; then it
can r< fleet credit on its location.
Take your home paper. It gives you
more news of immediate interest than
New York or other papers; it talka
for you when other localities belie
you; it stands up tor your right*;
you always have a companion la
your home paper, and those who
stand up.f->r you should certainly be
well sustained. Your interests are
Kindred and equal, and you must rise
or fall together, Therefore, it is to
your interest to support your home
paper; not grudgingly, but in a lib
eral spirit; as a pleasure, not a dis
agreeatde duty, but an investment
thv*t W'll more i ban pay the expenses.
A clergyman who recently held service
in Auburn prison preached from the text,
“Go home to thy friends.” And for
once in their sin-stained, crime-haunted
lives, the audience expressed a desire to
follow a good man’s advice.