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THI/NEWS, GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, AH& 16, 1922.
The Next judge Looms Up Prominently in
COL. J. C. EDWARDS
Bis Splendid Record of Achievement
By BARBARA WOOD
©. 1921. by McClure Newspaper Syndicate.
Suddenly and quite unexpectedly
the stillness was broken by a quick
gentle sigh. But was it a sigh? It
seemed almost like a sob to the’man
sitting upright in his chair in the li
brary, straining his eyes to pierce the
darkness, and his ears to catch the
next sound that might break the si
lence. But no sound came, and after
sitting tepse and motionless for a few
seconds he loosened his grip on the
arms of the chair, rose, and walked
quietly and unhurriedly to the open
window opposite. The scene from the
window was as peaceful as could be
imagined.
Somewhere out there In the dark
ness was a human being—a girl, or a
woman—who had crept up to his win
dow with what intention it was Im
possible for him -to guess;
With a sudden determination to find
her, Roger Tilton put his foot over the
window sili and in a moment more
he had dropped noiselessly to the
ground and was ready to begin his
search.
“Oh, for a clue!” he whispered to
himself. And then, gradually, it came
to him that the air seemed to carry
a very faint, sweet perfume.
He drew a flashlight fi;om his pocket
and threw its rays about the place
where his feet had landed in the soft
earth. Not two inches from, the toe
of his polished oxfords lay a crumpled
little white handkerchief and-with a
qpeer thrill of excitement he picked
it up, smoothing it • out between his
fingers to see If there might be an
Initial in the corner. It was a small
white square of- linen, and it was still
damp.
after all,” he
Danville Railroad, Cornelia was known as “Rabun Gap/’ and the
post-office here was named “Blaine,” in honor of the late James G.
Blaine, the great statesman. Colonel Edwards moved here in the year
1883, where he lived for several years, and was engaged in the mer
cantile. business. In the year 1887 the name “Rabun Gap” was
changed to Cornelia, in honor of that estimable lady, Mrs. Cornelia
Barrow, wife of the late Judge Pope Barrow, a prominent lawyer abd
jurist of Athens, Georgia, who frequented this section of. the state in
the pursuit of his profession. In the year 1887 an act of the General
Assembly was passed creating the city M Cornelia, and among the five
commissioners composed of James M. Biggers, C. H. Sellers, Worth
Grant, I. T. Sellers and Colonel Edwards, the official body‘of the
new created city, was Colonel Edwards, who, by his fellow-commis
sioners, was named the chairman of the commissioners, such office
corresponding to the present mayor’s office, and consequently Colonel
Edwards became Cornelia’s first mayor.' It is noteworthy that while
it has been thirty-five years since these commissioners were appoin -d
hy that act, all are living except C. II. Sellers, who died in 1889, ana
all who are living reside in Cornelia at present time except Colonel
Edwards. It was while Colonel Edwards / resided here that he had his
first inspiration and love for the law, he having held the office of
justice of the peace of a militia district, which then embraced the ter
ritory of Baldwin, Cornelia and Mt. Airy districts. He practiced law
here for a year and moved to Clarkesville in 1890, where he has _sinee
resided. ,
Colonel Edwards was born and reared in Habersham county, and
has always made it his home. He came of poor and humble parents,
and had very little opportunity to get an education in- the scattered
Schools of the rural sections of that day, but by hard work,'efficient
study and perseverance, lie has reached his place at the top of the
ladder among the leading members of his profession in this section
of the state. .,
In the year 1905 lie was elected a member of the Georgia legisla
ture from Habersham county, and made a record as a member of
the General Assembly that anyone might be proud of. One instance
of his legislative accomplishment was the prominent stand he took
on remedying the penal system of Georgia. At that time the state
•was in the^throes of the convict lease system. Cqtonel Edwards was
given a prominent place on the legislative committee appointed to in
vestigate the conditions of penitentiaries and chain-gangs of the state
which was then operating under the lease systems, under which sys
tem conditions were had and convicts inhumanly treated. Upon
his arrival in Atlanta from his inspection trip with the committee,
he drafted a report on the conditions then existing in the convict
gang that opened the eyes of the people of the whole state, and a
great movement followed which resulted in the abolishment of the
iniquitious leasing system, with the result that today, though a man
he punished, he is not tortured, and the reasonable amount of labor _
required of convicts flows to the benefit of the state in improved roads • °° every s ^ e P ^ 00k '
^ 1 tho hfiwloet hxx hnd nvi
•and highways.
Colonel Edwards has served several terms as mayor of the city of
Clarkesville.
While Colonel Edwards has for a long time been a resident of our
•sister city, Clarkesville, yet he has always manifested a keen inter
est in the welfare of his old home town and its people. He was one
We represent eleven
standard old-line compan
ies with assets over two
hundred million dollars,
writing every form of
"So It was a sob,
thought, and then his eyes caught the
monogram—three letters embroidered
very neatly and obscurely in one cor
ner: It LB. Thg man looked as though
be had been struck and after a mo
ment he, too, caught his breath in
something very like a sob.
“Ruth!” he whispered.
He felt as though someone had
gripped his throat in a vice. At last,
almost desperately, lie breathed this
prayer:
“Oli, God, if it is Ruth, please let
me find her. Please; for 1 can’t let
her go again.”
He moved slowly toward the west
wing of the house.
It was then that' one might have
noticed the slight limp that was al
ways with him, and perhaps, if his
thoughts could have been read, one
would have found a world of suffer
ing and sorrow behind those clear,
blue eyes that were eagerly search
ing every shadow and/hiding place.
For his memory had gone back to that’
day two years ago when he had come
back from France—a victim of shell
shock and bearing in his thigh an ex
ceedingly disagreeable wound which
would thereafter place an Impediment
• 1 ’ " 'c. That day was
the hardest he had ever faced, for the
thing he wanted most in all tire world
to do he could not do—to see Ruth
Bradford; to go to her and to feel
the comfort of her hot tears on his
face.
He remembered with a twinge of
pain the contagious ripple of her laugh
ter, and he wondered whether she had
408-9-10 Jackson Bldg.
Telephones 319 and 616
years. She lay face down in a patch
of moonlight. Her hair was loosened
so that it lay like a pool of gold about
her shoulders. One foot was unmer
cifully twisted in the gnarled root of
u tree; that had been the cause of her
cry of pain. Roger knelt beside her
and with fingers that trembled he
loosened the strap of her slipper and
very, very gently removed the Injured!)
foot from its Imprisonment. He lifted )
a strand of her hair- In his fingers and j
pressed it to his lips.
. “Oh, little girl, I didn't know; I—
didn’t know!" he sobbed.
At lust, while he \yas watching her
closely, her eyes' opened, slowly, qulv-
eringiy, and looked up At him with a
questioning, far away look.'
“Ruth!” he whispered, and again,
“Ruth!”
His llph sought hers agajn and
again, and It was many minutes be
fore either of them remembered that
they hud Voices.
“Roy," she said .when She finally did
remember, and the old familiar nick
name sent a thrill of joy right straight
to the man’s heart, “Hoy, you’ll i»v-
er hide from me again, will yob? Oh,
promise that you won’t, for it’s been
almost too much to hear.”
“No, dear, for I couldn’t. I couldn’t
if I would; arid. I wouldn’t If I could.
Does-that, make you feel better?”
Ruth closed her eyes to hide the
great wave of happiness that went
surging through her heart, and if;
soemed to her that she could hear tho
music of children’s laughter rlnglnf
in bar ears.
When All Vour Insurance
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WALTER C. HAM
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W. G, HUMPHREYS.
Room 4 Granite Building.
BYRON MITCHELL
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