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SEEING THE EARTH
DISAPPEAR
H. Y. Tillman, of Valdosta, S*e*
Tree*, Buthot and Ground Plunt
d Out of Silght Before Hi* Eye
In The Lime-Sink Region* of
South Georgia.
<By Katherine Pope Merritt, in
Atlanta Journal)
While riding over his farm a short
while ago, H. Y. Tillman, a hanker
and business man of Valdosta, Ga.,
suddenly saw a section of earth in
front of him disappear. Trees,
bushes and ground plunged out of
sight.
Such startling phenomena occur at
rare intervals in what is known by
geologists as the lime sink regions
of south Georgia, hut seldom has
there been an eye-witness to an
actual occurrence.
Mr Tillman’s farm is situated
near Mineola, six rr : les north of Val
dosta, on the national highway. He
was riding horseback, and had come
to the point where his land joined
that owned by Clarence Smith, well
known lawyer of Valdosta, when he
heard a loud rustling noise which
seemed to come from a point just a
head of him. Immediately he dis-
mounted to investigate.
He had advanced about fifty feet,
all the time hearing the peculiar
rustling, when some yards ahead of
him bushes began toppling over, and
suddenly a large lump of under
growth swayed back and forth, and
finally disappeared, leaving a wide
cave-in visible. From where he
stood, he could see into this hole to
a depth of about twenty feet down
on the opposite side.
He walked back to where he had
left his horse, and at a safe distance
watched to see what would happen
next.
In a short time, to his amazement,
a large oak tree, fully sixty feet tall,
and not far from the cave-in, began
to quiver from its base to its top
most branch, swayed for a few mo
ments, then with a loud crackling
noise disappeared completely from
his sight into the ground! The
astonished young man then, very
wisely, decided that “discretion is
the better part of valor,” and that
it was a good time to leave for home!
Later, when he hoped Dame Na
ture had finished her extraordinary
and spectacular show, he went back
to investigate. Hi l estimates that the
aink into which the bushes and large
tree had fallen is about 7. r > feet long
Ly 50 feet wide, and at least 75
feet deep. This hole is now filled
with a tangle of uprooted trees and
bushes and water, and the depth
can only he guessed. It is probable
—at b ad, not impossible—that the
hole is connected with an under
ground stream, of which there are
many in that part of the state.
Mr. Tillman recalls that while
hunting last fall in this same neigh
borhood, he noticed a small cave-in
about eight by twelve feet, with
brush and water.in it, and believes
now that this is an enlargement of
that sink, probably begun some time
before.
It is known that in this particular
.section, which is on the national
highway from Atlanta to Jackson
ville, there is a series of lime sinks
—at least eight of them—some of
which are connected above ground
by u small flowing stream. The
others are not so connected, but as
they all lie in a nearly straight line,
it is believed that they are joined to
gether by a subterranean stream.
Some of these sinks are of good
size, two of which are known as
“Black Pool" and “Shadrach Pool.”
They are all very beautiful lakes of
clear water, surrounded by a lux
uriant growth of shrubs and trees.
The little flowing stream referred
to above—a harmless looking ripple
of silvery water flowing over the
white sand—is not so innocent as it
appears to be. Connected with it is
some interesting history of this part
of the well-known and much-travel
ed national highway, and there is no
road commissioner of Lowndes Coun
ty who does not stand in awe of it!
Just south of the station at Mine
ola the highway parallels the South
ern Railway track, which runs for
some distance on one side of it, while
on the other side is an ordinary
swamp of some extent.
When, some years ago, the road
was first paved, where the little
stream crosses the highway, and
flows into the swamp, a small cement
bridge was built—a bridge similar to
hundreds of others in the lowlands
of south Georgia.
lu the course of time, cracks ap
peared in the pavement near this
bridge, at first thought to he caused
by a settling of the bridge founda
tions. But they increased in num
ber, then it was noticed that the
bridge was perceptibly lower, until
the conviction was forced on the
Highway Commission that something
had to be done about the little
bridge at Mineola.
So the pavement at that spot was
taken up, and on top of the founda
tions of the now much lower bridge,
a largd, strong metal culvert was
placed, and the builders were certain
that the difficulty was overcome.
But they reckoned without yet
fully knowing the power of the little
stream. After some months it wys
again seen that the pavement at
this spot, for the distance of about
fifty yards, was lower, and when
this sink had reached the danger
point, another cement bridge was
built, directly above the culvert and
first bridge!
And in the Course of years this
process has been repeated, at regu
lar intervals, and so well has the lit
tle stream put in its mischievous
work, that the pavement at this
point, over which the tourist so
blithely spins, now rests on bo less
than five cement bridges and a metal
placed directly above its predecessor!
The trouble may be caused by
quicksand, or by a subterranean
stream. Avery similar difficulty
was encountered at Mud Swamp,
when the Georgia and Florida Rail
road was being extended south of
Valdosta. This swamp lies just be
low the city, and is of considerable
extent, and the railway authorities
thought it would be better to build
through it than around it.
But they probably regretted this
decision, for when they undertook
to put a trestle through the swamp,
in many places they were compelled
to place thirty piles, one above the
other, before they reached a firm
foundation! They had met the
same obstacle here that the highway
builders encountered when building
the long bridge which spans this
swamp—a bridge, the tourist notes,
of most peculiar shape, almost a per
fect letter S. This unusual course
was followed in order to find a firm
spot, here and there on which a foun
dation could be made—a very diffi
cult feat in this swamp with the
quicksand bottom.
Lime sinks occur also in some of
the lake sections of Florida, parti
cularly in the north and northwest
territory.
A most interesting experience—a
really lucky escape from being en
gulfed in one—is related by W. M.
Pope, formerly of Gainesville, Ga.,
now general manager of interests
owned in Florida by the well known
Plant family, of New York.
‘‘l was driving to Green Head
Lake, in Bay County,” said Mr.
Pope, “for a day and night at my
fishing cam]), and was crossing a
high sandy plateau region in which
there are a number of lakes with
areas of from forty to two hundred
acres. 1 met a wagon team, driven
by two negroes I knew.
“Returning next day by the same
route, I barely escaped driving my
car into a large sink in the road,
which had certainly not been there
the day before. This sink was about
fifty feet in diameter and probably
fifty feet deep at the edges, taper
ing down to a considerably greater
depth in the center, in a manner
characteristic of both large and
small lime sinks.
‘‘l drove on to the home of the
negroes I had met just beyond this
spot the day before, and inquired
if they knew when the sink occurred.
They were surprised that I did not
know about it, saying that when
they arrived at the place the day
before, the sink was there. Not
more than fifteen minutes could
have elapsed between my passing
over the spot, and their reaching it,
so it was evident that the ground
caved in just after my car passed
over it—probably as a result of
vibration. 1 have always thought
myself very lucky to have escaped
the cave-in.”
Geologists and oil experts have
long been interested in the lime sink
sections of the south, and while in
vestigation directed towards estab
lishing connection between this
phenomenon and the presence of oil
has been made, nothing of note has,
so far been accomplished.
The generally accepted theory is
that lime sinks are the result of the
cavin-in of the earth above subter
ranean streams. All of these streams
contain fish, and the fact that fish
are found in newly-formed sinks,
bears out the theory that they come
from an underground passage of
water.
The center hole in sdme of the
larger lakes of lime-sink nature
seems to be bottomless. This is
true of Blue I.ako, a very beautiful,
sky-blue pond, a mile in extent,
situated in northwest Florida. A
line three hundred and fifty feet
long was lowered from a boat in the
center of the lake, but even this did
not touch the bottom.
It is well known that the wonder
ful flowing artesian wells of south
Georgia and Florida are obtained by
drilling to a considerable depth, and
reaching an underground stream,
whose current forces the water to
the surface. The height to which
the water of the well is thrown de-
Some Causes And Some
Remedies For Church
Members To Study
A Presbyterian publication re
cently carried the following as some
of the causes of the falling off of
church attendance, and some things
that will bring about a cure:
(1) Many rivals to the church
which did not exist a generation
ago.
(2) About twenty-five years ago,
Christian parents began t<# be indif
ferent to regularity in attendance,
and now their children go not at all.
We are reaping what was sown earl
ier.
(3) Segregation into groups. In
some churches a half dozen groups
meet, but few attend the church
services. We saw a group of fifty
six Christian Endeavorers, all but
one or two young. On the wall was
a large framed pledge, “I promise
to support niy own church in every
way, especially by attending the re
gular Sabbath and mid-week ser
vices.” The vigorous young woman
leader started the meeting at 6.50
—twenty minutes late. There was
a good orchestra, and very hearty
singing. Except the “Lord’s Prayer,”
there was no prayer. About a doz
en or fifteen rose and read assigned
quotations very rapidly, and one
young man made a very excellent
talk. The leader only led, giving
neither prayer nor comment of her
own, and at 7.20 closed the meeting.
Then the orchestra played a tune or
two and all chatted vigorously, but
not one joined the audience of thir
ty-six who attended evening worship.
Without disparaging the good done,
we maintain that church attendance
has been depleted by separation into
so many groups.
(4) The spirit of “onceness.”
We mean the idea so widely preval
ent that to be in church one hour a
week is fulfilling all obligations, and
satisfying every spiritual need. We
know elders and missionary presi
dents who have no more thought of
entering the church door more than
once a week than they do of taking
a trip to the moon. They may sus
tain financially, but witness-bearing
by presence is not in their list of
duties.
These are some of the causes
working among Christians. Of
course a multitude of other reasons
could be given to explain why the
people of the world do not attend.
The cure? Now that is a question
hard to answer. Let us mention
some things that might help.
(1) Sound gospel preaching. We
know of some great chbrches filled
twice on the Lord’s day, week after
week, because the preacher is able
and willing to put forth all effort to
proclaim the whole counsel of God.
We have known preachers in small
churches and places who had steadi
ly increasing audiences by preach
ing the gospel as it is in Jesus Christ
in fullness and after diligent study.
(2) Unfailing regularity. Church
open when it ought to be open, with
few outsiders to “present causes” or
be guest preachers. No one is more
acceptable to any congregation than
the pastor whom they know, love and
trust.
(3) Diligent pastoral work. Never
mind the conferences and plans and
organizations. Stay on your field,
Bro. Pastor.
(4) Pray and get others to pray.
The best way to ‘‘compel them to
come, that the house may be full,”
is to pray constantly for individuals
by name.
(5) Have alert and competent
ushers. They are rare “birds.” Not
anyone can usher. Some are gifted
for it. We believe those men ap
pointed to serve in the vestibule to
greet and usher can do much to fill
or empty a church. We had one
handsome, godly man who with his
dignity and genuine courtesy, caused
many to come again. He was not
an usher, he was a deeply interested
man, who loved the church and loved
people. Any position in church is
important, but we believe the place
as usher is superlatively important.
These people who. simply idle and
talk, and let a person stand indefi
nitely without attention, will not fill
the place. One young man was urg
ed to serve as usher. He had little
interest, but he did, and became in
tensely interested, and people said,
“I like to go to church just to see
his smile and get his cordial greet
ing.” The excellent effort of many
good people has been destroyed by
an inefficient usher. Equally a good
usher can do much to build up.—
Presbyterian.
pends upon the force of the current,
and sometimes this is very great.
When, a few years ago, the Atlantic
Ice and Coal Company, of Atlanta,
which has plants in many cities, was
drilling a well for their large plant
at Jacksonville, they struck a sub
terranean stream which had force
enough to hurl all the drilling ma
chinery many feet into the air.
Brief News Items
Atlanta Man Lose* Life After
Rescuing A Boy
St. Simon Island, Ga.—Robert La
mar Brooks, 27, Atlanta, lost his life
in the surf here Tuesday after res
cuing Early Caldwell, 11, also of At
lanta, who had been carried beyond
his depth.
Brooks swam to the boy and
brought him part way back to the
shore, witnesses said, where he turn
ed him over to others. A few minu
tes later Brooks was missed. The
body was found shortly but efforts
at resuscitation failed.
Physicians attributed death to a
heart attack since little water was
found in Brooks’ lungs. His widow,
parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Brooks,
two sisters and a brother survive.
• *
Sherman Aide’* Saddle Is Still Seeing
Service
Owensboro, Ky. A saddle in
which one of Sherman’s officers
rode from Atlanta to the sea is still
in service. Colonel James S. Wright
is 99 years old, but be still rides for
exercise in his old Army saddle.
* * *
Georgia Firm Supples Pink Granite
To U. S.
Sparta, Ga.—The Macken Granite
Company of this city has just closed
a contract for furnishing a large a
mount of “pink” granite for the new
post office building in Rock Hill, S.
C. One of the quarries here furn
ishes this pink stone and it matches
beautifully with limestone. It is
said that the local quarry is one of
the few in the United States fur
nishing granite of this color.
Sun Hatched Egg
Vincennes, July 30.—A heat story
which defies science and precedent
was told here by Clarence Deem,
farmer living south of here. Deem
said a chicken laid an egg in the
yard which he neglected to pick up.
It remained there several days, he
said, until one afternoon he saw that
the egg was gone and a newly hatch
ed chicken was in its place. Deem
claimed the egg was hatched by the
sun.
* * *
$15,000 Pulled From Ala. River By
Youth, Fishing
Bessemer, Ala.—Fishing in the
Warrior River near here, Virgil
Burchfield, Bessemer youth, pulled
out a money bag containing between
$15,000 and $20,000 in currency.
The money was turned over to
the sheriff’s office, and, after being
examined by Bessemer bankers, was
forwarded to Washington.
The money bag was wrapped with
wire and the bills ranged from $1
to SSOO denominations.
Second “Siamcso Twin” Dies At
Baltimore
Baltimore.—Death of the second
Siamese twin today brought an end
to one of Baltimore’s strangest medi
cal cases.
Dorothy Forster, the surviving one
of the conjoined pair, died at the
Mercy hospital, where she and her
sister, Mary, were born July 7, to
Mrs. Albert Forster. Mary died last
week.
Death came to both of the chil
dren when they were reported to be
gaining strength for a second op
eration, planned by physicians to
restore them to normalcy after their
strange birth.
When born, Mary and Dorothy
were joined by a common intestinal
tract. It was severed and the baby
girls parted by one or the few such
operations known to medical science.
“Tomato” Truck Yields 160 Cases
Of Liquor
Macon, Ga.—A northbound truck
loaded with cardboard boxes labeled
“hand-packed tomatoes” was stopped
by federal prohibition agents on
Vineville avenue this afternoon, and
yielded 160 cases of bottles labeled
“rye” and “Scotch” —about $5,000
worth, at retail prices.
One man, who gave the name of
Fred Martin, was captured. An
other man jumped from the truck
and was quickly picked up in a pas
senger car which was trailing the
truck, and spirited away.
The contents of the bottles was
almost as mislabeled as the contents
of the cardboard boxes, the agents
said, for instead of real Scotch and
rye liquor, the bottles held “synthe
tic” liquor or “redistilled denatured
alcohol.”
The truck was driven to the
swamp, where its liquid contents
was used to strengthen the water of
the river.
* * *
Casket Wrapped In Flag
Lawrenceville, Ga.—His casket
draped in the first American flag re
quisitioned by the Atlanta Soldier a
Home from the supply donated for
the purpose by the veterans bureau,
Samuel A. Freeman, 88, Confeder
ate veteran, was buried at Pleasant
Hill today. Freeman died at the
soldier's home yesterday.
Worthless Advertising
Far be it from this newspaper to
say or do anything that would en
courage any merchant or executives
nf other business concerns of Elber
ton or elsewhere, to cut down on
legitimate advertising efforts and ex
penditures, particularly at this time
when it is so necessary to keep ever
lastingly after business if sufficient
volume is to be had to make ends
meet. Yet, there are some forms of
advertising, or supposed-to-be- adver
tising, that local business men are
often high-pressured into using, that
are nothing more or less than hold
ups. To be specific, we refer to the
fly-by-night solicitor who comes in
with some proposition predicated
upon what he terms “loyalty to the
community and its worthy institu
tions,” and through such an appeal
sells worthless advertising at ridicu
lously high prices.
We have fresh in mind the efforts
of a pretty young woman who evi
dently thought so much of Elberton
and particularly the local hospital,
that she made a special trip here re
cently to “give” that worthy insti
tution 2000 printed letterheads, put
up in twenty pads of 100 to the pad
,vith twenty blotter covers on which
was printed advertisements of a doz
en Elberton merchants. The Star
handled the job for sl7, which was a
fair price for the work. We would
have printed 2000 letter heads for
the hospital without the 20 blotter
covers with advertisements for SB.
The twelve Elberton merchants paid
between S6O and $65 for the two
thousand letter heads, $45 of which
probably will never see Elberton a
gain for that represents the share
going to the pretty young lady for
her day’s work.
Of course the hospital gets two
thousand letterheads with no cost to
the hospital; The Star gets sl7, the
pretty lady $45 or more, while, in
our opinion, the local business houses
who paid the total bill for their ad
vertisements printed on twenty blot
ters, get as nearly nothing as it is
possible to give and not actually reg
ister zero.
However, if the merchants are
satisfied with their “buy” after know
ing the facts, which we felt obligat
ed to give them, we have no com
plaint to make. They no doubt
thought they were rendering the hos
pital a service, and, in a way they
did, but much hetter would it have
been if the hospital could have had
all they contributed, including the
sl7 which The Star got.—Elberton
Star.
Well Fumes Kill Two On Carolina
Farms
Asheville, N. C.—Deadly fumes at
the bottom of wells they were clean
ing cost the lives of two western
North Carolina farmers within 24
hours.
Robert Logan, 45, of Marion,
moaned and writhed for an hour at
the bottom of a 60-foot shaft while
workers stood helplessly by and
watched him die. His body was
later recovered.
Arthur Wright, of Buncombe
county, was immediately overcome
when he was lowered into a well in
the Leicester section yesterday. He
died today without regaining con
sciousness.
I BILIOUS n
:1 “I have used Biack-
B Draught. . . and have
fj not found anything
J that could take its
jpjj place. I take Black-
N Draught for bilious
fi ness. When I get bili
fl ous, I have a nervous
B headache and a ner-
B vous, trembling feeling
H that unfits me for my
B work. After I take a
1 few doses of Black-
II Draught, I get all I
9 right. When I begin I
■ to get bilious, I feel |
B tired and run-down, fl
|§ and then the headache B
g and trembling. But ||
1 Black-Draught re- I
H lieves all this."— n. c. B
33 Hendrix, Homerville, Go. |p
H For indigestion, con- t ||
fl stipation, biliousness, I
jjsl take k*i7> I
SiE Thedfords |
B BLACK-I
■DRAUGHT
1 Women who need a tonio should 1
take C.vrdui. Used over 50 years. [
APPOINTMENTS TO
GAINESVILLE DISTRICT
CAMP MEETINGS— i93j
Mossy Creek Camp Meeting—,
guest 10: Rev. W. H. Coop r, y'
Fletcher Walton, Rev. Z. (_ H r ’
Jr.; Rev. D. P. Johnson. “ ye, ’
Louisville Camp Meeting
25: Rev. R. B. Hawkins, R, p H
Shackelford, Rev. W. W. Cash
Antioch Camp Meeting Aug Ust
18: Rev. J. A. Langford, Rev. p, q'
Echols.
Lebnon Camp Meeting August
6; Rev. R. B. Hawkins, Re\ \\ y
Cash.
Lawrenceville Camp Meeting—
August, 1931: No appointments; to
be supplied by pastor and trustees.
The presiding elder, Rev. H. C
Emory, appointed the pastor of the
charge in which the camp meeting j (
located to be in charge of th. tamp
meeting.
Correspondent.
EVANGELISTIC CLUB MET
Sunday, July 26, at 3 p. m., The
Business Mens Evangelistic Club met
in the auditorium of the First Bap
tist church, J. C. Turner, president,
in the chair; and Dr. J. C. Bennett,
secretary, at his post.
The Athens and Commerce Clubs
were invited guests, and Elder C. A.
Rowland, of Athens, the principal
speaker. Others were J. H. Logan,
L. W. Cooper, A. F. Hood, C. E.
Little, Rev. P. M. Webb, Rev. T. D.
Johnston, Rev. T. H. Shackelford, R.
L. Sanders and W. M. McDonald.
Family Devotion was the main sub.
ject discussed.
Others from Commerce, were
Doug Bolton, R. M. Davidson, E.
Runion, Dr. A. A. Rogers, F. E.
Durst, F. H. Aderhold, C. A. Goodin,
and G. T. Rice. Also, H. J. W. Kizer,
L. F. Elrod, C. M. Barnett, L. H. Is
bell, W. P. Frost, W. H. Smith, R.
R. Hitchcock, G. W. Bailey, Dr. E. M.
McDonald, and Harry McDonald,
from Jefferson.
THE END OF DIVERSION
There will be no diversion of
highway funds at this time. Inci
dentally, the administration showed
its strength when the motion to re
consider last week’s action, taken
by the House while sitting as a com
mittee of the whole, was carried by
a vote of 105 to 57. Then, when the
proposal to divert 15 per cent of the
Highway Department’s funds for the
next two years was again put on
passage, it was defeated 107 to 60.
On neither vote did the diversionists
muster anything like the strength
developed last week when a surprise
vote approved diversion 83 to 62.
There may be several right ways
of obtaining the money the state
needs, but seizing money paid by mo
torists to enable the state to get its
highways paved, is one wrong way.
—Albany Herald.
COWS
Several good milch cows, fresh in,
for sale or trade.
Y. D. MADDOX.
BANK STOCK FOR SALE
Ten (10) shares of First National
Bank Stock (of Jefferson) for sale.
Price very reasonable for quick
sale. Address: Box 633, Athens,
Ga.
GENERAL INSURANCE
STOREY ELLINGTON, Agt.
Represent Standard Companies,
and write all lines, Fire, Tornado,
Life, Auto, Surety Bonds. Shall be
glad to serve you.
GAINESVILLE MIDLAND
SCHEDULES
No. 2—For Gainesville 8:40 am
l o. 11—For Athens 8:40 am
.<O. 12—For Gainesville—l2:4s P®
No. I—For Athr-s __ —3:5 1 P®
-SEABOARD-
Arrival and Departure of Train*
Athens, Ga.
To And From South And VV
Arrive: Dep rt '
10.05 P. M. Atlanta 6.52 A. &
Birmingham
1.00 A. M. Atlanta 4.45 A. •
2.25 P. M. Atlanta 2.25 P
B’ham.-Memphis
To And From North And Ea*t
Arrive:
4.45 A. M. N. York-Wash. 10.05 P
” Rich.-Norfolk
6.52 A. M. N. York-Wash. 1.00 A- M
” Richmond
2.25 P. M. N. York-Wash 2.25 P
" Rich.-Norfolk
For Further Information write
C. G. LaHATTE, TPA
Atlanta, Ga. ‘