Winder weekly news. (Winder, Jackson County, Ga.) 18??-1909, June 03, 1909, Image 1

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VOL. XVII. SO SAYETH THE LAW. Prominent Citizens Sentenced to Ten v Days on Winder’s Streets—A Card From Mr. R. L. Rog ers Concerning Trial Monday night the mayor’s court room was crowded to hear the trial of cases docketed against prominent citizens for alleged violations of the following ordinance: ‘‘Be it ordained by the mayor and council of the city of Winder, and it is hereby ordained by au thority of the same “That on and after the psssage of this ordinance it shall be un lawful for any person, firm or corr poration to empty water or filth of any character through any water pipe, sewer or other drainage pipe from any place of business or from a private residence on any private lot in said city, or into any street or ditch in said city of Winder, and it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to use a pipe or sewer or other drainage conveyance for the disposition of water or other matter unless such drainage conveyance empties into a running stream of water.” It will be noticed that a strict en forcement of the above ordinance makes it unlawful for a business man to serve soda water through a straw, but the authorities were de termined that every one should live up.to the letter of the law, and cases had been made against the following well known citizens and firms: L. M. Leathers, R. L. Rog ers, Gem Grocery Cos., Turner’s Pharmacy, Herrin Bros., S. E. Sharpton, A. E. Bush, Mrs. Z F. Stanton, N. J. Kelly, Job R- Smith, W. T. Robinson, D. D. Kesler, T. A. Robinson, W. O. Perry, A. Y. Eavenson, W. L. Bush, N. M. Gomez. The cases came up for trial before his honor the mayor Monday night and Judge W. C. Thomas and Col. T. J. Shackelford, of Athens, were on hand to represent the defendants while Col. Johns, city attorney, did the oratorical stunt for the city. Three cases were tried before the mayor, Turner’s Pharmacy, N. M. Gomez and R. L. Rogers, and each defendant fined $5.75 or ten days on the streets. It seems to be all right to scatter slops over the streets of Winder, but all wrong to run them through a pipe, and as a con sequence some of the public thor oughfares are becoming very offen sive in spots and a menace to the health of the town, the First Na tional Bank block, for instance. By request Mr. R. L- Rogers furnished us with the following synopsis of his case and the trial thereof: “In justice to myself and for the information of those who are inter ested in the welfare of the city of Winder and especially in the inter est of those who have put in water works, I wish to make a statement in regard to my arrangements be fore the mayor for violation of a sanitary ordinance by putting wa ter through a drainage pipe on a private lot without the approval of the sanitary committee. Now in the beginning I wish to say that I made no fight, but simply tried to put my case in the hands of a just and fair minded mayor and asked for an investigation. The mem bers of the board of health and the tUinfter U)cchlu iXcius. WINDER. JACKSON COUNTY. GEORGIA. THURSDAY. JUNE 3. 1909 sanitary committee visited my premises making a thorough inves tigation of the situation. When the case was called Chief Policeman Copeland was called first to testify as to the sanitary conditions. The mayor had just previously stated that the sanitary conditions and general laws of health were the only things for his consideration in these cases. Mr. Copeland stated in a general way that the sewer pipe and drainage leading out from my residence was in very good condi tion and that he did not think it would endanger the health of any one- Then the star witness of the evening, Mr. M. J. Griffeth was called, the first and only witness who testified under oath in any case that he was seriously damaged. He stated that the health of those living in the vicinity was endan gered from the foul odor arising from the sewer and that his prop erty was damaged from the filth that poured out over it. His evidence had great weight with the mayor, for upon his evidence alone the charges against the defendant and all other evidence were absolutely ignored and a fine imposed for an offense with which the defendant was not charged. It was clearly proven bv such members of the Board of Health and sanitary com mittee as Dr. S. T. Ross, Messrs. C. M. Ferguson and H. T. Hodges ih it the sanitary conditions with the sewerage system and water works were very much better than they were under former conditions and that there was no foul odor to endanger the health of any one- It was clearly proven that the prevailing conditions were greatlv improved, and yet the sole state ment of Mr. Griffeth in his own behalf absolutely set aside all the charges in the indictment and all the evidence. The mayor in render ing his verdict told the defendant that he was a “mighty fine man and a powerful good citizen” and that he knew there was no inten tion of doing wrong and that the sanitary conditions on the premises were good. Yet the mayor says “Here’s where we’ve got you. Mr. Griffeth says you have damaged him and I will fine you $5.75 or ten days on the streets.” The astronomers say this whole universe is moving toward the constellation Lyra at the rate of 2,262,000 miles a day. I wish some of the wise men would visit our city court a time or two and tell us which way it is moving and with what veloc- ity. ’ ’ Mr. Rogeis lives one-half mile from the center of the city and had fited up a sewer age system of his own, running his drainage pipe to a patch of woods some two hundred yards fiou the house, and there are charges just as unreasonable against other citi zens of Winder. There is only one solution to the whole affair and that is an early installation of a sewerage system. To our mind the death of one citi zen or the reputation of the town as a healthy place to live overshad ows all the howling against high taxation. Let the “Chinks” in Corea take care of themselves just for a short space of time —until we look after the health and schooling of our own children. Miss Runette Wescott, who has been visiting her sister, Mrs. W. H, Toole, returned to her home in Macon. VIOLETT AND CHARITON AT WINDER From Georgia Christian Messenger. On April 18th, Brothers Yio lett and Charlton began a revival at this place with bright prospects, this being the first meeting held in our elegant new church. The church was united and hopeful. Judicious advertising was done and large crowds came to hear the evangelist. Just as the interest began to grow and souls began to accept the Saviour, organized sectarian opposition began and continued through the entire meeting of 25 days. This op position was lead by the secta rian preachers of the town, yet we won a signal victory in every way —there were 39 added to the body and the church filled with enthusiasm- Bro. Violett is one of the very best evangelists in our brotherhood. He knows the Bible, believes the Bible and relies on the Bi ble as God's power to save a lost world. He is eloquent, force ful and attractive. He keeps sweet and is kind under all cir cumstances. No church will be disappointed in E. E. Violett. Our people are delighted with out an exception. This was a great meeting for Winder, when you consider we have only 3,000 white people and that one field was w r ell gleaned a year ago. Bro. Frank M. Charlton is a sweet singer and led the music to the delight and satisfaction of all. We take pleasure in com mending him as worthy in every way. Georgia would like to adopt these men as her very own. J. H. Wood, Minister. PATHFINDERS EXPECTED HERE. The Journal-New York Herald pathfinders are having a rough time in Georgia today on account of the heavy rains of last night and this morning. Yesterday evening Mayor Ca rithers received a message from the Journal that the pathfinders would spend Thursday night here, and about the same time Mr. W. H. Toole received word that a party of four from Atlanta left Lawrence ville at 6:30 o’clock bound for Winder en route to meet the tour ists. The Atlanta party, composed • of Hon. Charles I. Ryan, R. C. Clarke and Ralph Smith became lost in Gwinnett county and finally rolled up to the house of Prof. Williams,about ten miles from town and spent the night, arriving here at 10 o’clock this morning. They are stopping at the Granite hotel, and when called upon by the edi tor seemed to be taking life easy- Mr. Ryan had just received a tele gram from Mr. Cohen stating that the pathfinders would be here this morning, but at the time we go to press there is nothing doing. The mayor had made arrange ments to send an escort to Com merce to meet the Herald-Journal party and pilot them to the city and had expressed an intention of killing a mule and having it barbe cued for the occasion, but the heavy reins seem to have washed away every vestige of all programs. The cars are expected to arrive hourly. About fifty bushels of whippoor. will peas on hand. Order now- They are going fast. June H. Wood, Carl, Ga. A STRENUOUS WEEK. Board of Educatton Holds lip Robe son’s Appointment as School Su perintendent and “Religious Brethren” Get Busy. Winder is having a circus and the bear dance is on- With prominent citizens being ar rested and arraigned before the may or for the alleged improper disposi tion of their soapy waters and the board of education up in the air as to the election of a school superin tendent, Winder is filled with excite ment and the erstwhile good Gov ernment League has taken to the tall timber. Personal and religious interests are so closely woven together around Winder’s center circus pole that it is mighty hard to clear away the rub bish without touching a live wire. The consensus of opinion is that the main cause of the present bear dance is the fierce struggle for po litical supremacy being waged by the three principal church organiza tions of the .town. About a year ago Willis Perry, now a memlier of the board of ed ucation, published an article in the News intimating that sectarianism dominated the board. Immediate ly the “leading religious brothers” raised their bristles and the air be came murky with disorder and dis sension. Matters grew from bad to worse until it was feared by some that Prof. J. T. Walker, Methodist, then pincipal of the school, would lose his mind. At the conclusion of one year of Walker’s superintendency the board l>egan searching for a Moses to lead it out of tire wilderness and fell upon Prof E- J. Robeson, Methodist, of Gainesville. He refused to come at $1,250 unless the board guaran teed his appointment the next year at $1,500, provided his work proved satisfactory. This the board did unanimously, and it is so stated on the minutes, reading as follows: “Salary of Prof- E. J- Robeson $1,250, for the first yer and if ser vices satisfactory, to be retained at $1,500 second year.” The board was composed at that time of G. W. DeLaperriere, A. A. Camp, T. A. Robinson,Methodists; R. L. Carithers, Baptist; W. H. Quarterman, Presbyterian; R. H. Cannon, Christian church; G. A. Johns, no affiliation. During the year Messrs. A. A. Camp and G. W. DeLaperriere, Methodists, were dropped from the board and W. 0- Perry, Deciple of Christ, and S. W. Arnold, Baptist, elected in their stead by a very “re ligious council.” The school year under the guid ance of Proffessor Robeson had been marked by its harmony and discip line and the members of the board individually and collectively dec lared that his work was perfectly satisfactory. There was rotadtud alcng th horizon until after the commence ment exercises. Then the board met to select teachers for the sue. ceeding year and refused point blank to honor its contract with Proffesor Robeson, not even giving him the courtesy of an appearance to state wheth' rhe would accept the posi tion at the same salary he had been recieving, but appointed a distant day upon which they would meet to select a superintendent. Then it was’that small clusters of YOUNG MEN ENTERTAIN. The Winder Young Men’s Club gave its initial entertainment Fri day evening from 9 to ll:30o’clock at the club rooms over Turner’s Pharmacy. The rooms had l>een tas tily decorated for the occagsion with potted plants and cirt flowers nd varied refreshments and delicacies were served throughout the evening. In the receiving party were Mr. and Mrs. W. L Blasingame, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Carithers and Mr. and Mrs. W- L. Jackson- The punch bowl placed in the hall ad joining the club rooms was presided over by Misses Starr Blasingame and Annette Quillian. The invited guest were profuse in their expres sion of appreciation to the young men for the pleasures of the evening, and many were the words of praise they rcc ived for handing them selves together for mutual benefit and entertainment of their friends. The directors of the club request us to thank those who so kindly as sisted in making the reception a suc cess —the ladies in decorating the room, the receiving party, the girls who presided at the punch bowl, Messrs. Flanigan & Flanigan for the loan of a handsome piano, and to Jim Saunders for his thoughtful ness as to every detail of entc r ain ing, than whom there is none bet ter. Those enjoying the hospitality of the club were: Misses Ruby Ca rithers, Callie Saunders, Ruth Ca rithers, Ethel Jackson, Maggie Ruth Phipps, Estelle King, Gussie O’Neal, Ora Lee Camp, Johnnie Lou Smith, Pauline Camp, Lizzie Cooper, Starr Blasingame, Annette Quillian, Messrs. B. A. Julian, M. E. Sisk, J. W. Saunders, F. J. MeKibben, Cupid Potts, L. E. Her rin, Carey Downing, G. C. Moseley, C. S. Hipp, R. H. Nowell, G. D. Ross, Rev. and Mrs. W- T. Hun nieutt, Rey. J. H. Wood, Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Furguson, Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Jackson, Mr- and Mrs. W. L. Blasingame, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Carithers, Homer Smith, Mr. and Mrs. G. A- Johns, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bush. men could be seen here and there upon the streets jesticulating and “argufying” and the common sin ners stood in open-mouthed wonder watching the blue smoke as it as sended from the bunches of “reli gious brethren.” They demanded that something “be did” and “did’, immediately, but the board contin ued to spar for time and feel the pulse of the people until petitions and counter petitions were circula ted from house to house. A glance at the signatures upon the partisan petitions reminded cne of being called upon to read the roasters of the different churches- The board made two umsuccesful attempts to adjust matters and on the third day the cock crew, Professor Robeson being selected as superintendent at SI ,200 and given until today to send • in his reply. We have it upon good authority that Professor Robeson has accepted the appointment at the reduced sal ary and will act as the balance wheel for another year. It is now openly charged that their is religion and “religious com bines” in the board. Mayl>e so, but for the life of us we fail to detect either the spirit of the golden rule or an imitation of the life of the lowly Nazarine in the actions of “the brethren.” NO. II