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The Fort Valley Leader VOL. XIX. NEW METHODIST MIN ISTER FOR FT VALLEY The South Georgia Conference, which hsis b°on in session at •Quit mail S'TH'H i» •dnesday last, adjourned Monday nighi, when the appointments were announ ced By,Bishop Galloway Rev K. Read was appointed Presiding Elder for this district. Rev. C R Jenkins, who has been with Wesleyan College, will till the Fort Valley pulpit. Rev T G Lang will go to Blakely. Did you know there was a great sale now on in Ft Valley at Miller’s Store in fact the greatest sale this known? country If has^ did ever not you know it, we are surprised, for you are the first per¬ son we have heard of who did not know. Hundreds of people from all sections are daily carrying off loads of choice dry goods for a mere song. Episcopal Church Notes Sunday School 9.45 a. m. Service 7 p. m. Cordial invi¬ tation. There will be no sersices at the morning hoar. Rev LGH Williams and Mr Geo Harrison are delegates to Episcopal Convention in Atlanta. The magnificent stock of Dry Goods, Shoes, Mil= linery, Ladies’ Suits, Cloaks, etc., of W. F. Mil¬ ler, at Fort Valley, has been turned over to the Chicago & St Louis Sales and Auction Co., for sale. the stock has been turned upside .down and marked at figures that will startle you. Bargains are here galore and if you want a share of them you must come at once==you can’t afford to delay. K. P. Elect Officers. At the regular convention of K of P’s last Monday night the following officers were elected for ensuing term. C. T Eberhardt, C C, J W Hill, V c Rev LGH Williams, Prelate, TMAntboin, MofW.H ONeil, Mat A, JE Bledsoe, K of RandS. W L Snow, IG, Abe Glass, 0 G, L P Gray, Trustee, C E Martin, M of Ex. The gossips are after the boys at the little Boarding around the corner. “They say’ that one of them is a Born Dancer. another is a poker player, and that the oldest rat in the barn has been seeretely married the last eighteen years, The boys bring it up at the table and take great delight in (i each other,” at their six o’clock dinners. They mix it up with their dining room ediquettin the following manner. The “secretly married man,” would thank the ■it poker player? 11 for the gravy, it The Born Dancer tt will please pass the pepper to the player, 11 The “Born Dancer 11 would thank the “secretly mar¬ ried man” for the salt. Even cat under the table laughs. Mr Edwin Martin spent days in Atlanta this week. PORT VALLEY. HOUSTON COUNTY. GEORGIA,“FRIDAY. DECEMBER ,ll 1908. FOR SALE OR RENT House and lot on Miller St-, for sale or rent. Good offer. R. M. Reynolds. Mr AlexPhar of Marshallville was in the city Tuesday. Mr and Mrs W R Brown has gone to Atlanta to attend the marriage of Miss Allice Landrum daughter of Rev W W Landrum Pastor of the First Baptist church of Atlanta. •---- 50 brand new coat for ladies just received and marked up for the sale absolute factory cost. Ev* ery color and material. Ail sizes. If you have not bought your suit this is a chance you can’t ignore. Miller’s Store, Ft Valley. Mr W K Eubanks and family have moved to Fort Valley. They have a cordial welcome to our town. Mr C L Shepard has returned home from Florida where he has been some time- 3 Rooms for rent. Apply to Mrs. M. A. Brown. 50 brand new sample coat suits for ladies were delayed in shipping. They have just reached us, and we are going to pass them I on to you at exactly what they cost. Don’t fail to see them. V Miller’s Store, Ft. Valley. Mr J M Jor/es, Louis Prater, Fred Shepard, Dr M S Brown and Sim went on a big squirrel hunt last Tuesday, Miss Stella Glass leaves Tues day for an extended trip to Cali I - fornia. Her many friends wish fyer a pleasant trip and a safe return home, MrNashMurph of Marshall¬ ville visited our city Tuesday. A TIP Take a tip from those on the inside==“It will pay you to spend every dollar you can raise, beg or borry in the sale now going on at Miller’s Store at Fort j Valley. These goods are now selling cheap==very cheap-cheaper than mer chants can buy them at wholesale today. 1 he op¬ portunity is yours and it is an oppportunity that comes but once in many years. The many friends of Mr OH Sammons regret to learn that he expects to leave Fort Valley as he has accepted the Agency” at Oglethorpe”. MrsL M Pau l'arid'littl6'da ugli ter of Perry visited her cousin, Mrs M S Brown in the city last week. Dr M S Brown visited Atlanta this week. FOR SALE CHEAP One residtpee lot on church Street. Four residence lots on College Street. A. D. Skellie. Sergant G E Martin was elec¬ ted 1st Lieutenant of the Perry rifles to succeed Lieut. R. L. Marchman, resigned. Condemned to Die * In Suoerior court last Tuesday Fletcher Willis, a negro ex penitentiarv convict, was convic¬ ted of murder and sentenced to be hung privately in the jail yard at Perry on Monday, the 28th of December, 1909. As our readers know, Mr .Tames H Hal! was killed Friday night. November Pith, 1908, at his-store, just across the public road from his home, near Small Academy, about 5 1-2 miles west Perry on ihe Marshallville road, A special term of Houston Superior court was conveyed last Monday morning to investigate this murder, After the jurors had been empanelled and Judge Felton had charged the grand jury, and in¬ sisted that decently and order the law should take its course, the court and grand jury was obliged to wait until Solicitor Brunson could examine the wit¬ nesses and prepare an indict¬ ment. At about 1:15 an indictment was plaeed before the grand jury, and within an hour a true bill charging Fletcher Willis with the murder of Mr James H Hall was returned to the court. Tho grand jury was then discharged until 9 o’clock Tuesday morning. The actual trial began at about 2.80 p. m. and the sentence was pronounced at about 1. p. m. Tuesday. The testimony of the state’s witnesses was substantially as follow: At about 7 o’clock Friday even¬ ; ing, November loth last, a man called Mr James Hall at his home and asked him to go to the store, just across the public road, A few minutes later a gunshot was heard and Mrs Hall was very much frightened, The night was exceptionally dark and rain had been falling. She called her husband and recelvnig no reply, went to a cabin nr the house and called Scott Jones, an old negro man, to go with her to the store. Scott entered, with a lamp, and saw Mr Hall on the floor, dead. Then they went to the home of her father, Mr James E Cheek, and told him of the murder. Neighbors and Sheriff Cooper were notified, and fin inquest was held. The store had been robbed of money and goods. Next morning a money drawer was found in a field, with tracks leading to and from the spot. Fletcher Willis was arrested,and in the house was a pair of of old muddy shoes, belonging to Willis. These shoes fitted the tracks perfectly. The prisoner had come to Mr J j J Culler’s place, where his parents lived, Tuesday of tha f week, with a woman. This woman testified that early Friday night Willis left her at the c’owpen, say¬ ing he was going to Mr Hall’s store, and he carried a single barrelled shot gun with him. About an hour later a gun shot was heard in the direction of the store. About 9 o’clock Willis returned to the house where the woman was but didn’t have agun. He had no money when he left to go to the store, but he had $2 00 when he returned. He said that Mr Hall had been killed, that two other negroes,Henry and George, were with him, and that he got part of the money and some 4 *#' '• goods, naming the articles, say¬ ing he had hidden them. Next morning this woman saw Willis burn the articles named in the room of his parents By other witnesses it shown that on the road from the northwest border of Houston the man and woman had been seen by five or six white persons, and that the man had a single barrel shot gun was within less than 8 miles of Mr Culler’s farm. The statement of defendant was a denial that he did the shoot¬ ing, that he did not go to the store that night, or at any other recent time, that he did not have a gun, and that he was at the home of his parents when the gun shot was heard. Harry Willis, father of the defendant, said that his son was within his sight when the shot was heard. In answer to questions he contradicted himself and contradicted statement of the defendant. The jury returned a verdict within about 45 minutes and the sentence followed directly. The result of the verdict was received quietly. During Monday afternoon Solicitor Brunson was notified by telephone that his daughter, Miss Bessie, was critically ill with appendicitis, and that night he went to Macon. Tuesday morning Mr JP Dun¬ can was appointed solicicitor pro tern, and Mr Jule Felton, already associated in the case for the state, conducted the evidence.— Perry Home Journal. Miss Electra Weeks of Atlanta is expected to spend the Xmas holidays with her sister, Mrs O M Houser. Mrs Ell is, Mrs John Baird and little daughter spout Monday and Tuesday in Macon. Masters Fred Withoft and Harris McArthur spent Saturday in Macon with their friend Master Fred Crandall. Mr and Mrs NH Massey, Dr and Mr* Martin of Marshallville were in the city Monday shop¬ ping. Mr W W Henderson is in Americas this week on business. We are all delighted to have as our new pastor, Mr C H Jenkins of Macon. An Appreciation I will write a fuller appreci¬ ation of the substantial and kind¬ ly people of Fort Valley at my earliest convenience. At this time I will express only two re¬ grets. One is that I have not served thorn better. The other is that by reason of the time limit I can not serve them longer. I have enjoyed every month of the four years spent among them and leave them without any sense of personal unpleasantness. While a bird of passage by reason of itinerancy, still by whatever force of character I may possess I abide with the people whom I serve. I am hanpy to have lived among you long enough to see a spirit of material progress in these parts, a forward movement in your educational interest, and, in the church, the wine of a new life bursting dead limitations. And may this spirit live among you. May your young men see visions and your old men dream dreams of e verlasting better ment. ,, T. G. Lang. NO. 42 Mr Earl Sammons of Marshall ville 1ms acce l .ted a position here with the Central road Mr Amt s Murray of Dawson has accepted a position here with his uncle, Mr W D Murray. Mr Leighton Deuer was in the city Sunday. Mr and Mrs Dawson Kendrick of Minna were in the city Mon¬ day the guests of Mr and Mrs W R Brown. A Great Sale now on at Miller s Store, Fort Valley (la., is attracting the blg» gest crowds that have ev¬ er come together in Hous¬ ton county. Mrs McArthur and Miss Kate McArthur have returned from Atlanta. Mr Charlie Rountree met the Southern train Fr day night. Mrs Felder Frederick of Marshallville was in the city Tuesday. No man or woman with¬ in 20 miles of Fort Valley can afford to miss the great sale at Miller’s store Thousands of people are daily carrying off loads of fine Dry Goods, Shoes, etc. at prices that were here¬ tofore unheard of. Mrs Dr White spent the day Saturday in Macon. Miss Ola Harwt 11 has returned from a pleasant visit to Macon. Mrs John Everett left Monday for Waycross. Mr Stonewall Hose of Perry who has been very ill for some time is slowly recoverin r < r > ' WANTED Four or five room house in Apply good locality by Jan 1st. to Leader Office. The Baptist Church The Pastor who has been away from his pulpit for two Sundays will be present Sunday and preach at both tho morning and evening hour. The subject for the If o’clock service, A dead church. Text thou hast a name to live and art dead. Subject at 7 p. m. Is there any difference in the life of one who is a Christian and one who is not } a Christian, These two subjects will be of unusual interest to the people of our town at this time. All are most cordially invited to both of these services. The Great Forced Sale now on at Miller’s Store, Fort Valley, is in the hands of the Chicago and St Louis Sales and Auction Co. Nothing to compare to the redicuious low pric¬ es has ever been known in this section. Miss Marie Parham of Stinson is the guest of her sister, Mrs Dawson Kendrick at Miona. Misses Bessie Singleton and Mansfield spent Sunday in Marshallville. Presbyterian Chuich Next Sabbath Dec. 13, is the regular day for preaching at onr church at 11 a. m. and 7 p. m. Prayer meeting Tuesdays 7:lo p. m. Sunday School 3 p. m., ..