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'dade County’s Only Newspaper.
VOLUME LIV
Here ‘n’ There...
...
By FRED HARTLEY
gv r been lost in a strange
trwn and couldn’t find anybody
Y.o would give you directions to
v going?
2 et where you wen
That happened to the two car¬
loads of Dade Countians who at¬
tended the State Farm Bureau
c nvention this week. Arriving
in Augusta, the delegation be-
ran to scout auditorium about for where directions the j
to the be
opening exercises were to
held. Nobody seemed to be any
help. . Morrison hit
Then Col. D E.
upon a most ingenious idea. He
suggested someone take a taxi to
th/place and let the ton others volun¬ fol¬
low. Miss May Cure
teered .
The plan worked. Following a
taxicab is no easy work, but they
r'l got there on time. The
group split Miss May s cab fare
between them.
We are happy to welcome a
new correspondent 'to The
Times family this week. Mrs
and “—raw sending
news frem Sand Mountain.
We are also glad to welcome
Mrs. R. G. Peterson back into
their ranks of Times corresp¬
ondents. The Floral Crest
news is always quite interest¬
ing and well written. Mrs. Pe¬
terson was ill for some time,
but has recently regained her
health sufficiently to be able
to get about and gather the
news again.
With the New Home news,
that makes three Sand Moun¬
tain local news columns com¬
ing to us.
Along that same line... we
had a letter recently from Jer¬
ry Mclnnis, a former Lockout
Mountain resident now living
in Cuisberstcn, Nebraska. He re¬
marked that he enjoyed read¬
ing The Dade County Times,
but wished we had more New
Salem nerws.
We do too.
The Hallow’en paintings in
the window of the Trenton
Drugstore were done by Dade
High students Eddv Sims Ter- ;
rv e'tte Dickers ^n-n-ci-ui Mf'h^frnm'th^ "n" j. and an ^ Shelbv auciu y uvci- Ever- i !
one tonth ’
tenth and eleventh p-rades ,
It was a contest °ponsored «e“ed
by Bill Fanner ciasa who a|
.re to t, represented
trato
The prize: Five dollars tc go
into the class treasury.
.
Speaking cf Hallowe’en, seems .
we • w liivu had a a iciawvciy relatively quiet ctuicro crxiv one'
ftrnn around „ / i here. , rrv, There was the i.
ZngsS ,
v„. “ “ —,
teTexr . .
b.rl, a 7 perhaps '“7 * * ,ew
hannlea, pranlts. C But the van- . ;
<Ml*m that has accompanied
some ~ celebrations here ncre in m the
Past was relatively absent.
Over 500 Prisoners ity Mines Before Turn of Century
( Ed. note— The Times is in¬
debted to Charles T. Prince, a
pioneer resident of Sand Moun¬
tain for the following account
°f the coal mines and the pris¬
on the ,abor Cole that city worked them in
area in the late
Nineteenth century. It is print-
e d here as told to a Times re¬
porter by Mr. Prince and his
son Paul, W ho took the reporter
n a tour to one of the desert¬
ed mines.)
T'e day was dawning peace-
f -a.ly juat
Hjjg a ny other—at
; p Slope Camp. The prisoners
‘ a d been roused and were being
‘ pared by the guards for their
daily trek to the mines. Sud-
- _r “y a shot rang out. Then
: - a7 °c broke loose.
i-'ere was no doubt about it.
’ w ’ as a riot—the most dread-
cosiness that can come to
a prison camp.
George Ward, one of the
Prisoners, had somehow mon-
to get a gun, a .32 revol-
The carefully planned es¬
Bill d tmes
Devoted to the Best Interests of Dade County and Georgia.
IHfc DADE COUNTY TIMES, TRENTON, GEORGIA. IHURSUAX. NOVEMBER 4, 1954
Council ftirs Plan For New Hall
The Trenton City council,
meeting in regular session here
last Monday night, gave its
unanimous approval to a p.o-
pasal to e:ect a building which
would serve as a city hall, com¬
munity house, recreation cen¬
ter, jail and fire engine gar¬
age. It would be located cn
the city-owned property next
to the telephone exchange
The proposal was presented
by Mayor A. L. Dyer as a long
term project. He said he felt
that the present and ex-
pected city income would be
adequate to finance it.
With the beard’s approval,
Mr. Dyer agreed to inve ligate
the possibility of securing a
loan for the unde:taking He
pointed out the need for such
a building, reminding the conn
cil members that most, cf the
other cemmunities in the coun¬
ty now have, or are construct-
ing, meeting houses for their
residents.
The mayor also hoped such a
building might serve as a re-j
creation hall for the youth cf
Hallowe’en Snow
It wasn’t exactly what you’d
call a White Hallowe’en, but
almost. Sunday morning
Dade County residents were
greeted by the unfamiliar
sight of snow in October. It
continued to'fall on them as
they went to church .that
morning, as the minister
preached his sermon, as they
sat down to their fried chick¬
en or pot roast, and even
after they had washed and
put away all the dinner
dishes.
It melted quickly in the
valley, but lay all day on the
fields and trees on both the
mountains. The sight of snow
Heanng Survey ™. tests 1,832 Students * vs iiere I
During the month cf October,
1,832 Dade County school child-
ren underwent a hearing screen
ing survey, sponsored by the
County Public Health Dept. showing! Sev j
enty-seven of these
- .
hearing . defect, . n were _ ___
ferred to their doctors for fur-
ther examination.
The teste were conducted by :
Health spent two days insiruct-
them in the use of the aud-
the instrument used in
givin ° the i- ests -
The audiometer is _ an elec-
tronic tr device ae . that , giveo . out f a
nlc
“edT The ir ,_
head of the
, rrry.p ar o C noted t
“ Chart
After the initial , sercemng. the
was
two additional tests. Thn Those cp nof no.
cape attempt began when ne
shot a prison guard jim More¬
land, in the neck. Moreland f 11
but did not die. |
The prisoners streamed out of
the stockade gate and ran to¬
ward the mines' main office.
There they hoped to find an
arsenal with enough guns and
ammunition to arm themselves j
and the whole camp. They hop¬
ed their rebellion would spread
to all the other camps on Sand
Mountain and set free the 500 ■
convict.s who were working out
their sentences in the mines.
Hffpes Dashed
The little band of rebels
1
got to the main office all right,
but they didn’t find the arms
they expected to. They did *ind
some trouble, I
enough to cause
though, and to try to shoot their
way cut of the net of guards [
that had begun to close in on
them. j
The desparate escapees fned
again and again, killing sever ii
guards. One guard, John Luns-
It was expected that some
saving might be made by the!
city having its own jail, thus (
being spared the expense of a j
board bill fer use of the county !
Also at the meeting, the'
gave its approval to a
request by the Trenton Church
of Christ to use a one and om
inch line in piping
the church. The additional
of the larger line was to be
offset b >’ the church bearing
the expense cf digging the
ditches. The council also agreed
to go ahead with its plan of tak-
ing water to the American Le-
gion Hall. *
Dade Fumbles Give CS 6-0
Playing for the first time this
season on a wet field and
plagued by fumbleitis, the Dade
High eleven went down in ... de-
f ea t, 6-0, to Cave Spring here
Friday night before approxi-
mately 300 chilled fans.
After an uneventful fir t half
which both teams threaten-
ed several times, the third
clinging tot he evergreens was
familiar, familior hnf but - . In to see cpo the fh# 3 fire firp j
coicred autumn leaves laden
with the white stuff was un-
usual indeed—and Unbeliev¬
ably lovely.
M nday the weather nu-
derated a bit. But Tuesday
snowflakes came swirling in-
to Dacle again, borne by cut
ting winds. The flurries con-
continued to plague voters
throughout the morning and
early afternoon, sending the
mercury plunging to record
lows by nightfall. Reading cf
18 degrees were reported from
several places in the county
on Wednesday morning.
coming up to minimum stand-
ards were given notices suggest-
they see a doctor for fur-
examination and correct-
ive measures.
The two audiometers used
^Tv borrowed fr v>~> m t the Vi n state cfnfiN
Health Department. Miss
McWhorter, County
Health nurse pmised the
SS S
omcla]itorthcir
To Crown Homecoming Queen Friday Night
Dade High School’s game with
6 n heTP h p Fririiv l -p r'o-ht °^ L will '
the occasion cf r the second
homecoming celebration.
crowning of the queen at
half time internmaion will
*• 8 »t the festivities.
. t „, |es h a ve
nominated to wear the
and ana will be voted upon
ord by name, shot and mortally j
wounded Ward, the ringleader
of the affray. Shot in the fore-
head with buckshot, he lived
till nightfall. Another bullet
wounded Wilson Palmer, also a
leader of the riot. Two escaped
but were picked up later.
The guards closed in f/ round¬
ed up the insurgents and
marched them back to the
stockade. The mutiny was
over. It had failed miserably.
All this happened toward the ;
dose of the last century. It was
only riot that ever occurred
at the six prison camps on the
mountain, although several es-
caped from time to time, some¬
times terrorizing residents of
■the mountain and valley.
The prisoners were Geergia
convicts who were leased from
the state to the coal mine
The practice was l
common threughout Georgia
then. These working the pri¬
soners paid the state $100 per 1
day, as well as feeding, cloth¬
ieorgia Voters Ratify Amendment 4
Dade Opposes School Plan
The private school amend-
ment was ratified by Georgia
voters Tue day by a majority
of over 20,000. Unofficial re-
from 1803 precincts out of
1810 listed 208,399 votes for the
amendment and 181,850 against
it.
Dade County, along with the
rest of northwest Geergia,
voted against the measuie. The
vote here was 275 for, and 321
against. Other counties in the
fumbles which resulted in the
Yellow Jackets’ lone touchdown,
The Wildcats . ....... lost the ball on
the f coiad play after the third .
J ua r ter kickoff, The invaders
J; 0 ° ver ’ 11 e 1
.
1 ya ? ^ our °^ n
'
Bn , ac r s u ae
’
next play, Dade dropped the
Johnson, broke away for a 16- ,
yard run and a first down. j
The Wildcat line stood like a
brick wall and four plays later
(ha the Yelkw IT^-,,, Jackets were still ^‘ cn
the ten-yard line. But the next
r,ic, play, r>v,ii Phil Ryan’s pass intended
for Bobby Lee, was intercepted
by Cave Springs’ center, Bill 1
Three- plays later John
son carried the ball across the -
three yards for the TD.
attempted extra pcint was
unsuccessful, and the score
stood at 6 - 0 .
A fourth quarter scoring
threat was nipped b y Terrell
McCauley as he covered a Cave
Spring fumble on the Dade 28.
Dados usually snappy aerial
attack never quite got under-
way, due partially to an ailing
pas-Jng arm of quarterback
[larold Shankles - The Cats
were m so handicapped by the j
c ‘ «yan 101 most oi
second half, due to an in
j ur y- Carl Steele, however,
made an able substitute.
During the half time in er-
mission, the high-stepping dnim
majors and n rh r] majorettes mo inroff nc of n f Vf Nrrth - v f Vi
Dane S-hocl put on a show [
acrobatics and a ba-
ton-twlrllng routine The him-
irjM
routl
by the entire student body. The |
one receiving the highest num-
, ber of r voters , will ni or f course K be
,
named The npxt five
wiU act as her iadies in waiting,
The coronation will be per-
formed by the seasonal football
captain, who will also be elect-
fd thls weck previously, a dlf-
ferent captain has been named
for each game. ;
ing and sheltering them,
Each prisoner was given a
certain amount of work to do,
railed a “task.” Whenever he
finished his task, he was
through for the day. A husky,
hard-working prisoner might
complete his task before noon.
Laboring in the mines was
not easy work. But the prison¬
were not mistreated. They
were quartered in large stock¬
ades walled in with heavy lum-
nailed together to form a
fence 16 feet high.
The prisoners slept in bar¬
built inside the stockade
perched high cn pillars.
from the barracks was
almost impossible, since no one
try it without being
The most troublesome of the
were kept in chains,
most were allowed freedom
inside the barracks. On Sun¬
all were allowed to roam
about inside the stockade at
area, except Catoosa and Gil-
mer, also polled majorities
against it.
In Dade County, amendment
f ur failed to carry by 46 votes.
The solid ma j 0r ities against the
measure in the Trenton and
of the Sand Mountain
boxes were large factors in its
defeat. In most of the pre¬
cincts, the count was close. New
England gave the private school
proposal its strongest support
percentage-wise in the county
where voters favored it by a
seven-to one majority.
Other Amendments l’ass
All the other statewide amend-
merits, however, carried in Dade.
The first amendment, the home
rule proposal, , passed , . by a
was
vcte of 149 to 69
Number 2, providing for regu-
lar annual sessions of the Gen¬
oral Assembly, was approved,
137-69. The third amendment,
to exempt property owned - ■ by
zsrs
d here> 124 _ 68
Thg f . fth amendment appear-
j a g ballot carried by a
slim majority here, 93
__ 70 . it provides ... for a firemen’s
system. Number 6 , pro
... for slum clearance and
redevelopment, passed by a vote
of i 0 4 to 54. The seventh
permitting counties
to remove the 15 mill limitation
on taxation for 2choo l purposes
also carried here, 147-99.
Vote Light
Despite the interest generat¬
ed by the controversial private
amendment, voting was
light in the county. Only 595 or
less than one-sixth of . the ..
reg-
jeered voters bothered to cast
ballots
^ study of the breakdown on
aj j ame ndments in the var-
US boxes reveals some inter
eSt ing results. The New Home
p rec j nc t wen t strongly against
each of the first seven amend¬
ments. The same was true of
Hooker.
Wildwood, on the other hand
gave heavy majorities .in faver
of each amendment. Voters in
the Cole City district showed al-
most no interest in any other
a m e „ d m e h t except numoer
“
te
all " the boxes
indicated that a considerable
number of ballots had nothing
e \“oo\ h ^o.S ce Sih“a
Cam amendment, ® J n with or-against a ea each ^
one UIie -
i n on i y a few cases were the
names_ struck from
the ballot. Three write-in votes
were recorded, one each for
Catherine C. Morrison, M. J.
Hale and Herman V. Moore, for
state senator, representative to
the legislature, and U. S.
Surfday “Freedom”
The convicts took advantage
of their Sunday “freedom” and
made it a real holiday. Singing,
dancing and playing on their
fiddles, banjos and harmonicas
—all were part of the Sunday
fun. Many others, tired of the
prison chow, would cook their
own meals. Saving their money
received for doing extra chores,
they flocked to the commissary
to buy their grub and prepared
it to suit their own tastes in
the stockade kitchen.
Free from abuse, the prison¬
ers were treated fairly and al¬
lowed some recreation, and
knew as much contentment as
one could in prison. Such was
the picture of prison life under
the head warden, Capt. W. O.
Reece. But the picture changed
when a man named Ed Cox of
Atlanta replaced the well-liked
captain.
Cox had been first a prisoner ■
and later a trusty at one cf the
Cole City camps. When he re¬
Published Weekly—Since 1901
How Dade Voted
* ■ , j
yj] /\lT16flCllT)6Ilt 4
>
's
s
Slygo.............. 9 5
Byrd’s Chapel...... 4 6
Trenton............39 110
Wildwood. 46 13
New England. 56 7
Rising Fawn . 40 •1°
Hooker....... 40 30
Sulphur Springs. 11 0
New Salem..... 18 10
Cole City. ., .. 18 64
New Home..... 17 29
West Brow..........11
TOTAL..........275 321
Blevins Boys Get
$25 Savings Bonds
Rex and Russell Blevins, sec-
ond and third place winners in
the 4-H Fat Calf Show at the
recent county fair, were pres¬
ented with $25 U. S . avings
bonds in a special assembly
program last Wednesday.
The bonds were presented to
the two boys by school super-
intendent Roy W. Moo:e and
were the gift of the Main Street
branch of the Hamilton Na-
tional Bank, whose manager is
I. A Anderson.
Mr. Anderson’s idea in giv-
ing the bends was t: recognize
fche achievement of the pair
and to encourage them to con-
tlnue their past efforts along
the same line.
Governor s Order Bans Hunting. Fishing 4
All hunting (with the excep¬
tion of Marsh Hen hunting) and
camping and most fishing and
p 1 c n i c k ing (except in ouauc State
Parks and ways ide parks) have
been banned threughout Geor¬
gia by proclamation of Gover¬
nor Herman Talmadge due to
the extremely critical forest fire
situation existing in the state.
The Governor issued the pro¬
clamation this morning at the
request of the Georgia Forestry
Commission, the Georgia Game
and Fish Commission and the
U. S. Forest Service.
With daily fire occurrence
over the state reaching the rate
cf nearly 100 blazes a day, and
with much of the ifre supres-
gressman, respectively. Election
managers said some write-in
vnt.Ac votes could not. not he be p.nmtted counted since .since
they did not mark an “X” in
the square above the space
where the name was written in
The complete vote by pre¬
cincts on the first seven amend¬
ments has been posted in the
window at The Times office for
to examine.
as warden, he sought to
take out his bitterness on the
convicts. According to reports,
he was cruel and arrogant,
beating the prisoners unmerci¬
fully for the smallest offenses
The prisoners were segreg¬
ated according to race, but not
as to the crimes they had com¬
mitted. They were serving sen¬
tences fer every thing from
murder to chicken stealing.
When they left the confines
of the stockade in the morn¬
ing, they were chained together
until they were safely under¬
ground in the mines. At the
Rattlesnake Mine, the rough
stone steps leading into the
deep ravine are dragged grooved where j
the chains were across
them twice a day for marry
years.
Air Shafts Still Standing
The entrances to most of the
mines are covered up now. A
little stream out from 1
runs one
of them. But the tall, obelisk ’
shaped stone towers that werd
NUMBER 43
Soil and Water Loan
Program Announced
Probably the most far-reach-
ing financial assistance to farm¬
for establishing soil and
■ water conservation practices has
been launched by the U. S.
government. Talmadge R.
Tucker, Farmers Home Admin-
jistration Supervisor from La
Fayette, announced the program
here Tuesday in a meeting with
j the county FHA committee.
The purpose cf the program
is to encourage and facilitate
the improvement, protection and
j proper us of farm land by pro-
viding adequate financing for
soil conservtion.
Loans will be made available
to cover costs of:
(1) Constructing terraces,
ponds, wells, pumps and irri¬
gation .
(2) Sodding, subsoiling, pas¬
ture improvment, basic appli¬
cation of lime, seed, fertilizer
and fencing
(3) Tree planting for sustain-
yields, erosion control and
shelter beds.
(4) Incidental expenses in¬
curred, including labor, gaso¬
line and technical assistance
where necessary,
All farm owners and oper-
ators are eligible to receive the
Application will be made
with the local ASC office and
will be acted upon by the local
FHA committee.
The loans will be made by
private lenders, ,but are in-
10 per cent by the gov-
eminent. They may be repaid
with 4’/2 per cent interest over
a period as long as 20 years.
sion equipment in the southern
part of the state engaged in
confining swamp fires which
have burned for weeks, the for¬
est fire situation has become l
“potentially d i s a s t r ous,” the
Gov n incr explained.
The full force of the law was '
placed squarely behind the pro¬
clamation with Game and Fish
Commission 1 a w enforcement
personnel, the Forestry Commis¬
sion 1 a w enforcement branch,
and a 11 peace officers of the
state directed to enforce the
ban.
The ban, which will continue
in effect until “weather condi¬
tions have changed to a degree
sufficient to reduce the present
critical forest fire situation to
normal,” states specifically that
“all forms of hunting (with the
exception of Marsh Hen Hunt¬
ing), and fishing, camping, pic¬
nicking and hiking be terminat¬
ed with the following exceptions.
Fishing is permitted from boats
only on the public and private
lakes and streams provided no
form of fire be allowed cf any |
nature.”
once air shafts are standing
yet. They carried fresh air deep
into the earth.
When the mines were ex¬
hausted around the turn of the
century, the long, deep shafts
honeycombed the mountain.
The tunnels are still there, but
are dangerous now, because of
the pcisoncus gases that seep
through the earth.
Carried By' Rail
The coal was carried from the
mines on narrow gauge rails
known as* trams. They went
this way to the switching yard,
called Dade Yard. Here they
were transferred to a broad
gauge track to be carried down
the zig-zag path thoough Ta¬
tum Gulf to Shell Mound.
Little remains now to testify
Cole City was once a bustl¬
ing mining area. Thre are only
ruins and old-timers like Char-
les Prince to tell the story of
the industry that has disap¬
with scarcely a trace.