Newspaper Page Text
OUT ON A—
LIMB
by Bo McLeod
I hate to admit it, but I
have not seen anything of
the escapee that was suppos
ed to be visiting in Southwest
Georgia and County Seminole
this week. That doesn’t mean
Ben Mathis wasn’t here, but
simply that I haven’t seen
hide, hair or scar of him.
According to Gil Kelley, law
officers have Mathis sur
rounded in the vicinity of the
Florida-Tennessee border, so
I guess things are in pretty
good hands.
—o—
I don’t understand why
President Johnson sends so
many men into Mississippi to
search for those Civil Rights
workers, but expresses no
interest at all in apprehending
an escaped convict accused of
murdering an elderly couple
who were at home, minding
their own business.
It must have something to
do with votes, I guess.
—o—
to Miz Dot You
mans, for any inconvenience
we caused her by printing the
item about babysitting serv
ice on Saturday afternoons.
The item was reprinted
from The News of June, ’44,
an 4 it was printed last week
under that head, but it is
ea c v to see how it could be
misunderstood.
Dot didn’t get angry and
fussy about it, and we appre
ciate this. Gyp was pretty
Calm about it. too.
But, shucks, it would be all
right with a lot of us who are
parents, if Dot would reacti
vate her babysitting bureau.
I have two or three she could
sign up as customers-
Had a note from C. J. Pat
terson the other day, saying
he has arrived in California,
and things are looking good
out there.
I knew the letter was from
Mr. Carl before I read it, be
cause a long clipping of small
type weather info fell out of
the envelope before I read the
message he wrote.
I’m glad to hear they have
weather in California. It’ll
give Mr. Carl something to
do while he waits for his
violets to start blooming.
—O—
The city has purchased an
insect killer machine. That s
the oily smell you have notic
ed at various times of late.
Tim Williams and Jack
Wright are pretty pleased to
have the machine- They say
it will put out enough fog to
cover D’ville in no time at
all, and just a little while ago
I overheard a bug say “This
stuff just kills me!”
Two things are of interest,
as we gaze at yon fogging
machine:
It can pift out enough fog
to hide Donalsonville, making
it easier to elude bill collect
ors. and I like this. It looks a
lot like a Kool cigarette com
mercial after the machine
goes by.
The city is not assessing an
additional charge nr the fog
ging, something they may
have overlooked, and I like
this part of the program most
of all.
Have a happy, safe, care
ful, cautious Fourth of July,
that’s an order!
Unless you want to have a
sad, drab, dreary one, that is.
D’ville stores will close Saturday
The stores and business houses of Donalsonville will
be closed all day on Saturday, July 4th, in celebration of
Independence Day, according to Charles Burke, president
of the retail merchants association.
Burke says the decision to close was made at a re
cent meeting of the organization. He says he expects 1
most of the stores to join the move to close.
Also to be closed are both banks and the post office-
©nnalfionuillr Nma
Single Copien: Ten Cento
VOLUME XLVI
Summer: Lake Time
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Like many Georgians, these Milledgeville girls are taking
advantage of Georgia’s many recreational facilities this
summer. Here, from left, Nicki Spase, Patsy Rogers and
Diane Woodard enjoy the sun and pleasant breeze at Lake
Sinclair in Middle Georgia. Second largest lake wholly
within Georgia, it is one of 18 reservoirs formed by
Georgia Power Company’s hydroelectric developments.
Seminole is declared disaster area
because of heavy rain of April, May
SEMINOLE COUNTY has been designated as a disaster area
by the United States Department of Agriculture, and is
eligible for emergency conservation assistance because of
excessive rainfal and flooding of farmlands in April and May.
This was announced by
Senators Richard B. Russell
and Herman E. Talmadge.
The department of agricul
ture has approved allocation
of SBO,OOO in funds to the
Georgia Agricultural Stabili
zation and Conservation Cob
mittee for use in Seminole
County, in bearing with farm
ers the cost of emergency re
storation measures under the
1964 Agricultural Conserva
tion (Program, the senators
said. Restoration measures
will include smoothing and
grading land areas; recon
structing terraces and water
ways. and repairing drainage
ditches.
Leon Barnes, manager of
the ASCS office here, says as
soon as the funds are received
a special program will be set
up and farmers can apply for
the assistance. The aid will
not be a loan, but the farmer
must pay for one-third of the
cost of the work on his farm.
A Seminole disaster com
mittee, headed by Rayo King
Official Organ of County of Seminole and City of Donalsonville, Georgia
DONALSONVILLE (GA.) NEWS THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1964
'is chairman and composed of
Royce Hall, county agent, and
Kenneth Reynolds, FHA di
rector, had requested the aid
in early May- Barnes is l the
committee’s secretary, and
R. P. Armstrong, soil conserv
ation service, is a consultant.
Barnes' says the committee
estimated the damage to the
county’s crops and farmland
at $862,000. and they had
asked for $382,309. He ex
plained the rains of late April
had already filled the ditches
and saturated the land, and
when the early May rain fell,
it caused great damage.
Barnes says work under the
plan submitted by the local
committee could be started
this year, but it will take sev
eral years for completion.
The focal committee asked
for 912,825 cubic yards of
drainage ditches, 5,470,000
linear feet of terraces, 684
acres of .waterways, and the
leveling and grading of 10,940
acres.
AU available men will be on duty on the state's high
way during the holidays, says Sgt. R. R. Floyd, who say®
the predicted holiday toll is 16 deaths and 204 injuries
in 525 accidents, from 6 p.m. Thursday until midnight,
Sunday, July 5.
No special programs are planned for the holidays
here. The Seminole Boating Club will make its annual
sojourn to Panama City during the week end.
Search for escaped convict moves to
Seminole as reports continue coming
THE SEARCH for an escaped convict charged with the
murder of an elderly Enterprise, Ala. couple, spilled into
Seminole County Wednesday.
Donalsonville police, the
state highway patrol and GBI
agent Cecil Franklin searched
an eastbound freight train
a mile east cf Donalsonville
Wednesday morning but they
did not find the fugitive, Ben
Mathis, a negro who escaped
from Camp Enterprise on
June 21, where he was serv
i a 10-year sentence on a
manslaughter conviction.
Police here were notified
Mathis had been seen on
train at Gordon. When
f'e train arrived at Donalson
w’lle it was stopped and
searched.
Sheriff Dan White says the
escapee had been reported
seen by a Seminole fisherman
Tuesday afternoon and an
intensive search was started
then. W. F. Avant was fish
ing near the Florida side of
’ the lake when a man answer
ing Mathis’ description called
to him and asked to be car
ried to a doctor. Avant start
ed his motor and went instead
to Neal’s Landing. There he
told Wilson Patrick about the
man and Jackson County of
ficers were notified- Blood
hounds were brought in and a
search was made of the area
north of Neal’s Landing on
the Florida side until dark
forced an end to the search-
Police Chief Spurgeon North
says the man seen on the lake
and the one reported Wednes
day morning in Gordon, Ala.,
could be the same one, or it
could be different people.
Sgt- R. R. Floyd of the
state patrol has received word
from the Alabama patrol that
Mathis definitely had crossed
the river into Georgia, but
no further information was
known.
Law officers have been re
ceiving m - s of Ma-
tnis’ be: , e he es-
caped. T . . Dprehen-
THIS YE t AL j
At <*■
The tota, ' Sem
inole County ,t six
months of 196^ds at
an official 35.46 inched, says
R. P. Armstrong.
Armtsrong says 4.92 inches
were recorded by him in June.
During the first six months
of ’63, 23.34 inches were re
corded. Normal for the entire
year is 52 inches, thus the
county lacks only 16.54 inches
of a full year’s rainfall.
$3.00 a Year in Advance
sion difficult, but each “lead”
must be checked, for one may
prove to be correct.
An armed posse, including
National Guardsmen, have
been searching the area a
round Ozark for over a week,
seeking some trace of Mathis.
The bodies of Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Edward Morgan were
found in their Enterprise
home June 23. They had been
knifed to death.
Only a few minutes earlier,
Ozark Policeman Arn ice
Cooper said a negro ansiwer
i ir.g Math'js’ description leaped
i from an automobile and ran
I when he stopped him as a
suspected drunk driver.
There were reports that
Mathis 1 had been seen in the
area of Ozark since the Mor
gans’ bloodispattered automo
bile was stopped by Cooper
I and the negro ran from it.
A prison shirt, heavily
stained with blood, was found
in a creek near the Morgan
home three days after the
murders were discovered by
policemen checking on the
possibility that their car had
been stolen-
The negro suspect is be
lieved to be wearing some of
Morgan’s clothing.
Mathis, 43, has served a
number of prison sentences.
He is about five feet, eight
inches tall and weighs about
126 pounds. He has 1 deep scars
on his cheek, chest and both
elbows. He is armed and con
sidered extremely dangerous.
Morgan, 67, and his wife
Estelle, 63, apparently were
knifed to death in the den of
their home by someone who
entered through a bedn'tm
window after partially remov
ing the screen. They had been
stabbed repeatedly, according
to Dr. Paid Sohoffeit, state
toxicologist who performed
an autopsy.
The Morgan home is less
than (half a mile from Camp
Enterprise, where officials
said Mathis pulled wire from
a solitary confinement cage
and escaped.
Dogs trailed the negro to
within several hundred yards
of the Morgan before losing
the scent on the pavement.
Mrs. E. H- Lord spent sev
eral days recently at Fort
Rucker, visiting her son and
family, Sgt. and Mrs. Calvin
Lord. Shannon Lord returned
home with her for a visit.
NUMBER 10