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> Watch Newnan Grow */>0 1 °Oic Ox JVewnan (jQcckl>> |Mcws Watch Newnan Grow VOL. VI. NEWNAN, GA., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22. 1905. NO. 37 Read the Christmas Stories and Poems to be Found in This Week’s News Mr. J. W. Bowers was placed ou the witness stand and testified that he heard Pinson’s dying statement in reference to the difficulty. There was also present Messrs. W. E. Richards, W. A. Steed and Ray mond Pinson, all of whom heard Pinson’s dying words. Mr. Bow ers read these words to the court. , The commitment trial of Taylor j Pinson’s statement was substan- Pruitt, who killed Joe Will Pin- j tially the same as the story told by son, was conducted liefore Justice witnesses placed on the stand. SENSATIONAL CASE IN JUSTICE COURT Pruitt Commitment Trial Furnished Unusual Inci* dart Last Tuesday. Thomas Swint, in the superior court room at the court house, last Tuesday morning. A large crowd of spectators was present and •watched the trial with interest. Attorneys W. 0. Wright and H. A. Hall appeared for the prosecu tion, and Attorney W. G. Post ' conducted the defense. The prose cution introduced four witnesses; ‘ the defense introduced none. The witnesses for the prosecution who testified were Annie Truitt, White- law Reed and Spencer Caldwell, all colored, and Mr. J. W. Bowers. The first witness was Annie Truitt, a young negro woman, who t testified that she and a negro wo man named Mary Bryan were with Pinson the night of the shooting, at Mary Bryan’s house, which was next door to the Truitt woman’s house. The negroes live on Savannah ‘Street, between the railroad junc tion aud Robinson Street. Annie Truitt testified that Tay lor Pruitt, Tom Bolton aud Dan . Montgomery came to the Bryan woman’s house and Pruitt knocked on the door.demanding admitance Mary Bryan went to the door, re fused to admit Pruitt and his friends, and then.closed it. Pinson left the house by the back door, >weut around the house, and met ( ,the men outside in the front yard. A violent quarrel ensued; Pruitt , threatening to shoot Pinson. Pin son picked up an ax in the front yard, and while holding it in his hands and talking to Pruitt, and while standing from 25 to 40 feet ‘from the latter, Pinson was shot by Truitt. These facts in regard to the tragedy, the Truitt woman said she learned by looking through the front door. • The second witness examined was Whitelaw Reed, a negro bo.y and son of Jim Reed, proprietor of a restaurant in this city, said he passed J. W. WILCOXON IS TAX COLLECTOR. Was Appointed by Commis sioners to Serve Until Eleotlon Is Held. After hearing short arguments from counsel, Judge Swint decided to bind Pruitt over to Superior Court on the charge of voluntary manslaughter. This decision was so unsatisfactory to the prosecution that it was finally determined to dismiss the warrant in the case, swear out another warrant and bring the case to trial before Jus tice A.H. Bohannon. Judge Swint refused to dismiss the warrant, after he had heard and passed upon the case; and he proceeded to fix the sum of Pruitt’s bond at $1,000. Pruitt has not succeeded in making the required bond and is now being held in jail. After the sensational ending of the trial before Justice Swint, the attorneys for the prosecution pro ceeded at once to the office of Jus- tice Bohannon and secured another warrant for Pruitt, charging him with murder. Since that time there have been no further de velopments in the case. At a meeting of County Commis sioners held last Monday morning, Mr. J. W. Wilcoxon was appoint ed to fill the office of tax collector until his successor has been elected and qualified. The election occurs on Feb. 3rd, at which time a tax collector will be elected to fill out the unexpired term of Rev. H. R. Davies, de ceased. Previous to the election a primary will be held for the pur pose of nominating a candidate for the office. Date for holding the primary will be named today at a meeting of the County Democratic Executive Committee. There were several applicants for the position to which Mr. Wil coxon was appointed. The News is informed that he was elected on the first ballot. In Jess than two hours he had his bond for $25,000 ready, and immediately took cnarge of the office. It is rumored that several can didates for the unexpired term of tax collector will enter the field. Rook Spring. Whitesburg. genia Watkins, who are attending the Smith College in LaG range, will be at home for the holidays. Roy Alinon and his sister, Miss Ruth, who are teaching at Haral son, will spend Xmas at home. Mrs. P. A. Boykin and her two little boys will leave last of this week for East Point, where she will enjoy Xmas with her mother, Mrs. Lively. Prof. R. C. Mullens and Bro. Oscar Timmons were with us last Tuesday night at the Baptist church and rendered some very fine music. We expected a full house, but the rain kept many away. Bro. Timmons is blind. All present were delighted with the music. Prof. Mullens is very popular here aud has many close friends. Fathers and mothers ought to hold a tighter reign over their children, keep them at home and not allow them to meet trains un less accompanied by their parents. Boys should not be allowed to stroll and idle aliout the streets. Some parents do not seem to real ize how bad their little boys are getting to be in Whitesburg. If parents wish to entertain their boys with fireworks they ought to keep them at home and not per mit them to use the fireworks on the streets. A mild but strict surveillance should be kept over children. $500,000 COTTON MILL FOR NEWNAN Mr. and Mrs. P. C. Smith and little son spent Saturday last in Atlanta. Miss Dollie Swanson has return ed to her home at Flat Creek, af ter several weeks spent with rela tives at this place. F. M. Parrott and Willie Mc Gee attended services at Coke Chapel last Sunday. Mrs M. D. Thurmond and daughter, Miss Lucy, and Miss Lizzie Parrott spent Tuesday last in Newnan. Cicero and Tommie Parrott, of Flat Creek, were the guests of relatives here Friday. Lehmann Hudson and Jim Banks, of Sharpsburg, visited friends here Sunday. Stockholders of Newnan Mills Will Build Another Big Mill Here. At a meeting of stockholders of the Newnan Cotton Mills, held last Monday, it was decided to erect a $500,000 cotton mill near this city. The mill will las owned by the cor poration owning the present mills and will l>o under control of the same l>oard of directors. All the capital will !>e furnished by citi zens of this city aud county; pref erence Imiug given in the distribu tion of the stock to stockholders in the old mill. The new mill will be located on the Central Railway about two miles southeast of Newnan, on lands purchased from Cupt. J. A. Hunter. Work on the mill will begin early next Bpring. It will contain 25,000 spindles, ladng same size as the old mill. The Newnau Cotton Mills is otic of the most successful industries of the city, and one of the leading cotton manufacturing plants of the State. The corporation was or ganized seventeen years ago; and since that date has more than doubled its capital out of its earn ings, la-sides paying lilieral annual dividends to stockholders. complishcd through his influence. Bro. Gaines has received one member by experience—Mr. Char ley Walker who joined on last Sunday. The Lovejoy Sunday School is growing right along now, witli from 55 to 80 present each Sunday morning. The officers are as fol lows: E. B. Lovern, Supt.j T. It. Lovern, Sec.; W.M. Pogue, Treas. The teachers are Messrs. B. A. Field, W. M. Reynolds, M. E. Hpraggin, and Misses Jennie Lou Bowen and Hessie Hamrick. Four of our best singers have formed themselves into a quartett. They are Messrs. W. M. and J. H. Reynolds, M. E. Spraggin ami Boyd Stevens. They sang at Love joy Sunday morning and at Boyd Stevens’ Sunday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Alton Royeton The boy j )ave j^^d j n this community, down Savannah gladly welcome them ^Street on the night of the shooting, j ^ ndrew ]{ a iley and Alton Roye- d riving a horse and buggj. He ton made a business trip to New- drove home and came back up the nan ]ast Tuesday, street in about ten minutes. Asj Messrs. T. G. and J. W. Haines he passed the houses ot Marj Bry-j a(i d m # D. Thurmond spent last •-*’* and Annie Truitt, going home, ;g a t; Urday j,, Palmetto. it.. saw two or three men standing j MTlbur Houston spent Sunday in the yard, talking. They were with relatives at Palmetto. , white men but he did not recognize jj r and Mrs. A. F. Parrott and them. Coming back he saw two ■rmen standing on the sidewalk, 30 or 40 feet from each other; and as .he arrived opposite them, one fired his pistol at the other and the man subscriber;' shot at fell. The third witness examined was Spencer Caldwell, a negro man. j ‘He was in a negro house next door j Covin£ , toll Ga> , Dec . H).—Hon. to the Bryan woman’s house on S. O. Houston were shopping in Newnan one day last week. A merry Christmas and a pros perous New Year to the News and Died in His Office. Covington, Ga., Dec. 11) T. .1. Shepherd, one of the old k night of the shooting. Hear-1| land . marks of Covington and for ing a shot, he immediately opened many years a prominent citizen the door, and saw a man coming ^ leading merchant, died sud- across the street with a pistol m ^ while alone in his ofri(!e here 'his hands. This man, whom he; Mond affceru00I1 . identified as Pruitt, came to the j Mr 8hephei . d organized the first door and ordered him to go out bank that did business in this city , and get an ax. He accompanied.^^ before the civil war he was a Pruitt down the street a distance; cotton buyel . and merchant of 25 or 30 yards, where Pinson h<jre ‘was sitting in the gutter. Pruitt. jj e is survived by his wife, one commanded the negro to take the ^ an(J tWQ daughters . W> B . ax into the negro house. This he :g hepherdj the oldy 80nj j s a we ll *iid; and, as soon as possible, left knQwn merchant 0 f this city. The the place. Caldwell was positive that Pruitt was standing almost immediately in front of the house he was in, but across the street, daughters are Mrs. J. E. Maddox and Mrs. George Akers,of Atlanta. —Atlanta News. Mr. Shepherd was a relative of when the shot was fired; and. e ^ Robinson and Ramey families fonnd Pinson 25 or 30 yards is- ^ jj ewnan> and bas a number of tant, wounded and sitting in e f rfend3 among the older citizens of street gutter, the ax lying about three f«*t distant. ! this city. Christinas is now even at the door. Who can say they have done all they could for God, for those who need aid and for them selves during the year 1905! We extend hearty wishes to the editor of the News, the local scrilies and all the happy readers of the Newnan News, and wish that they may have a pleasant time, and great joy in giving and receiving and in returning thanks to God for his priceless, number less and indispensable blessings. Preparations are being made to have a nice Xmas tree, well deck ed with presents, for all the chil dren that attend Sunday school. There will lie appropriate devo tional exercises in the Baptist church where the tree will lie dressed, before distributing the presents to the children. Bro. MeBrayer will deliver a short ad dress. Our sure enough Santa Claus will l>e there to entertain with his comical appearance and words of wit. Miss Nellie Wortham, of Heard county, and Mr. Ned Cavender, of Coweta county, will be joined in wedlock on the 27th inst. Miss Wortham is quite pretty and has many enviable and charming traits of character. • Mr. Cavender is a nice Christian gentleman of intel ligence, with industrious and frugal habits, which are always essential to prosperity at home. Miss Kate Lou Duncan, of ltotherwood, and Mr Parks, of Whitesburg, will marry next Sunday. Miss Duncan is one of our prettiest and most in-j telligent little girls of the younger set. She has been a student at j Hutcheson College for some time, j She is greatly admired by every body and has many friends here. Mr. Parks, who is yet in his teens, but with a man’s head, is an ener getic merchant of Whitesburg; member of the firm of Welcome Parks & Sons. Miss Kate, daughter of Mr. Tom Houston, and Mr. Tom Duncan,all of Rotherwood, were married last Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Welcome Parks will give a dining during the Christmas holidays in honor of the r ’ young bride and groom, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Parks. Masons Elect Officers. Newnan Chapter, No. 34, Royal Arch Masons, held a harmonious convocation Tuesday evening last It was the occasion of the annual election of officers for this body as well as for Hiram Council Royal and Select Masters. Following were elected and installed chapter officers: P. T. McCutchen, High Priest; W. S. Copeland, King; J. L. Brown, Scribe; G. L. Johnson, Treas.; J. H. Powell, Secy.; E. I) Fouse, C. H.; John Askew, R. A C.; L. A. Perdue, J. A. R. Camp, C. J. Owens, Masters of the Veils. COUNCIL OFFICERS: G. L. Johnson, T. I. M.; L. A. Perdue, D. M.j J. J. Keith, I*. C. W.; E. D. Fouse, Treas.; E. II. Bowman, Recorder; P. T. Mc Cutchen, C. G.; VV. S. Copeland, C. C.; .1. L. Brown,Steward; 'I'. M Martin, Tyler for both bodies. The Council will have open house tonight, when the degrees will be conferred and stew served. Mllltown. Thousands in Taxes Remain Unoaid. The tax payers made a run on Tax Collector Wilcoxon and his assistant, Gary Summers, on last Tuesday and paid over to them about $8,000 in one day. It was the largest day’s collections made Richard Hie last day allowed by law for the payment of taxes, As announced elsewhere,the tax hooks will be finally closed at five o’clock tomorrow (Saturday; af ternoon. Coweta’s total State and county taxes amount to about $77,000 this year. About $70,000 of this amount is on the digest, and about $7,000 is railroad taxes. The rail roads have already paid their taxes. Total taxes collected up to noon of Thursday amounted to about $05,000; including railroad taxes. Of the $70,000 on tax digest, about $58,000 had been collected; leaving the large sum of $12,000 uncollected. It is profrable, how-1 that the major portion of; this amount will have been paid' i by five o’clock Saturday afternoon. still being made j Collections are Mr. J. A. Kelley, of Atlanta, i rapidly, will be here next Sunday to spend j .. ■■■ a few days with home folks. Dr. Anderson Dentist, Salbide Misses Oneda Askew and Eu-> Building. tf Mrs. T. It. Lovern was sick two or three days the past week. Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Reynolds have a new girl at their house. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lewis have moved from Moreland to* this place. The little kindergarten folks were entertained with a Xmas tree Thursday night. Little Miss Josephene Richie spent last Saturday and Sunday with her sister, Mrs. I). W. Estes, out in the country. Mrs. Hugh Parker and little daughter, Nancy, hbve been con fined to their room the past week with chicken pox. Mis. Taylor Pye and family, with Andrew Watts and wile,have moved from the Brewster house, near the cemetery, into the rooms recently vacated by J. J. Hendrix. Mrs. Nancy Brown has been real sick for several days. Mr. and Mis. Drue Goins will begin housekeeping light soon in ; one of the new houses. I Clam, infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Richie, lias been j real sick the past week, but is | thought to be some better. Mr. Osborn Adamson and Miss Lillie Newsom were united in mar riage last Sunday afternoon; Rev. J. E. I). Taylor officiated. We wish for the young couple a long and useful life. Miss Ima McGehee has been on the sick list for several days. Mr. Will Cash, from Villa Rica, came down one day last week and carried his sister, Pollie, back with him. Mrs. Frank Barton, who has been confined to her bed for so long, is thought to be improving a little. Mr. A Ivan Powell has gone to Athens to spend the holidays with his mother. Mrs. Everett Parks has been sick in bed for several days. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Wood lost their little six months old girl last Sunday at 4 o’clock p. m. The be reaved parents have the sympathy of their friends. This was their only child. Bro. W. S. Gaines preached two interesting sermons at Lovejoy Memorial last Sunday. Our peo ple are very much pleased with him. Hope great good may be ac- Death of Miss Handrlck. After a lignering illness of sev eral weeks of typhoid fever, Miss Nora llendriok died Sunday morn ing last, and was buried from the First Methodist Church Monday afternoon, Dr. J. W. Quill ian, the pastor, conducting the services in a most impressive manner. Miss Hendrick was a charming and lovable young woman. While only nineteen years of age, she possessed all the admirable quali ties of mature character, a woman ly disposition, and a pleasing na ture which made friends of all acquaintances. In the recent long illness of her mother she was constant in her attcutions night and day, really taxing her strength to meet the actuations of filial love, so that when the raging fever seized her, she was too enfeebled to withstand its ravages, and was soon called to the reward that awaits the faith ful and loving and tender daugh ter. Bhe was a member of the Meth odist church, having Ijeen since early childhood, and was known to the writer 4s well as all others who had known her through child hood as a true and earnest Chris tian. The death is a sad blow to the devoted family circle, but the blessed assurances of a better life beyond the sky for the deceased daughter and sister should l>e sweetly comforting in all such hours of bereavement. Death of Rev. H. R. Davies. Rev. II. R. Davies died at his home in Turin last Friday, after being in ill health for several years. He was a superannuated itinerant Methodist preacher and tax col lector of Coweta county. lie was 54 years of age, and is survived by his wife and one daughter, Miss Nannie Davies. The funeral oc curred at Turin Methodist church last Saturday; the service being conducted by Rev. M.J. Cofer, of Atlanta, and Presiding Elder B.P. Allen, of LaGrange. The burial was in Tranquil cemetery at Turin. Mr. Davies was a native of South Carolina. For many years he served as an itinerant preacher; was twice in charge of the Turin church; and lieing superannuated during his last service there, con tinued to reside at that place un til his death. Last year he was elected tax collector of this county. He was a prominent Odd Fellow, and an ex-officer of the Georgia Grand Lodge. Mr. Davies was a consecrated minister, a man of unquestioned integrity of character, aud one who was sincere and courageous in every relation of life. He was al ways faithful to duty, and never counted the cqsj; in personal sacrifice of any action he believed to be right. He was making a record as one of the most faithful and efficient officers this county has ever had.