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About The Dade County times. (Trenton, Ga.) 1908-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1955)
Dade County’s Only Newspaper. VOLUME LV DALLYIN’ IN DADE Charles Bible Reminisces. . . After the Indians were out cf this part of the the state of Georgia held drawing in Matherville in •to deter mine how the would be divided. One cf the homesteads ed in Dade County went to latin Stephens of County, who was Mr. Bible’s great, The property, which now eludes 226 acres o f and cultivated land, has in the family through five erations. Indian Mill ..... on. Farm c, An old Indian mill, built proximately in 1819, w r as on the farm when Mr. came to the county. It w,as only one of its kind twenty-five miles, s o came in wagons to get com ground into meal, times camping for weeks the work was done. During the Civil War, ern troops camping in Clover- dale tore down the mill. It repaired after the war and e r a t e d by Guy and Stephens until the flood of completely destroyed it. ous .arrowheads and other In- dian relics have been plowed on the farm since it has cultivated, and Mr. Bible has a tomahawk and a used for grinding corn his pcxssessions. Born im 1884 An interesting fact about Stephens and Bibles is through each generation oldest child has been a Mr. Charles Bible was the son born to Phillip Gallatin Louisa Jane Forester Bible 1884 cn the Murphy place Head River. Although his .ents lived at Cloverdale, were staying with the Foresters at the time of birth. His first year in school spent at the Cloverdale as a pupil of his father. He members that the only pings he ever got in school these his father gave him. attended the state line for some time. It was a school, unusual in those since the other county were taught cn a basis, but since the school built exactly on the state Alabama paid half the while Dade County paid other half. His last year school was spent at Tenn. Mr. Bible recalls the school teachers he had the years: Mr. George Cole History Began With Successful Test tor Coal Before the turn of the centu¬ ry and a few years afterwards, Dade County went through a period which old-timers cal' “the boom”. Two major industries were in operation in the county and businesses flourished. Trade was centered at Rising Fawn, where the iron furnace was located, and at the coal mines on Sand Mountain. The Dade County Times will attempt to give its readers a stcry of the county as it was from the years before the Civil War up to 1907, beginning with the stcckade a t Cole City, or Coal City as it was originally called. With the help of the county’s older r e s i dents, we were able t o begin compiling facts which eventually will be written into a history of Dade County. We are indebted to the follow¬ ing who assisted cur first efforts to gather a history cf Cole City: Mrs. W. G. Morrison. Sr., Mrs. Janie A. Blevins, and Messrs. Charles Prince, W. P Cole, W. H. Dugan and Virgil Stewart. Coal Mines Worked By ConFicts Following a successful test . for coal on Sand Mountain at a place which is new known as Cole City, it is believed that a company headed b y Gov. Joe Brown, called the Dade Coal wli Devoted to the Best Interests of Dade County and Georgia. TIIE DADE COUNTY TIMES, TRENTON, GEORGIA, THURSDAY JULY 28. 1.955 By Myrna McMahan the same time Mr. p. g. Bible a Mr. Massey and Misses Bonnie Blevins, Effie street, Pace and McGuffy. ; Worked 7 l'ears in Michigan j From 1907 to 1914, Mr. Bible worked in Michigan, first at a wagon and furniture factory, t-hen a.s a sawmiller on Lake Boisblough. During this time, he owned a small passenger boat an d was licensed as a captain, He was a goed swimmer, too, sc the years he spent on the lake were very pleasant, I It was i n Michigan that he met Miss Edith L. Warren who was to . , become . his . wife ... m ... 1914, . j us j. before Christmas. The COU p] e journed to Cloverdale on £be j r wedding trip and upon their return to Michigan, found the Mackinaw Straits com- pietely frozen up. The remain- der 0 | their honeymoon was S p erd traveling by train, dory and s ] ed hack to Boisblough. The place was too isolated to raise a family> so t he Bibles moved to cloverdale at the end f. be year. Mr. Bible was in m health and wan ted his son |_ 0 ^ ake c harge of the farm, they settled in a house Mr. Charles Bible bad he i psd to build when be was sU11 a boy . Nine children were bern to them. The third child drowned at the age o£ twenty-two mon ths in a half-barrel of wat- er in the frunt yard . M r. Bible feels it is ironical that he has saved four persons from drown- during his life. Operates Sawmill on Farm 1925, he bought a sawmall an 'd has operated it ever sinle cn f arm - The community has changer considerably since Mi. Bib e came back to the faim. The change has been all f o i the , J better, he thinks, with the farms, roads and churches all sioAint, marked improvement. He and Mrs. Bible try to do their part in the community, and art members of the Clover- dale Baptist Church. Both have served as Sunday School sup¬ erintendents and a s teachers. He was trustee of the Clover- dale school before it was dis¬ continued. He w as a charter member of the Farmer’s Co-op, serving as director .for three years. He has been a Farm Bu¬ reau member since its organi¬ zation, and his opinions- and advice o n farming have long been respected. With The Armed Forces Pvt. James A. Price has com¬ pleted basic training at Fcrt Leonard Wood, Mo., and is now stationed as a panel bridge in¬ at Fort Bragg, N. C. Co., was the first to begin min ing for coal. Gov. Brown was an cld man at the time and ai so owned the Rising Fawn fur¬ nace, and it is said that before his rise in politics, his career began with the raising of col- lards. Otjier compani^ which oper¬ ated the mines were Southern Steel, owners of the furnace, the Gordons of Atlanta, who intro¬ duced slave labor to the mines, apd the Georgia Minerals Co. The Gordons operated the camp before the Civil War, closing down during the skirmish to re¬ open after the war. The Miner¬ als Co. was the last outfit to cwn property before the coal supply ran out. The mines were worked by white and colored convicts, the majority of the latter race. They were leased from the state of Georgia along with a few color¬ ed women prisoners who sewed the traditional striped prison garb and performed household and maid duties for the wives of company officials. Stockade On Bluff The prisoners numbered from 500 to 1,000 and were housed in a stockade built of pine planks and located near a bluff. The encircling wood fence was of vertical 2 inch boards sharp¬ . ■ v*,.----- " - Wyjr* . (FCDA Photo) ‘CALAMITY JANE,’ the Federal Civil Defense when disaster strikes, and people must be dug Administration’s rescue truck, packs a wallop from debris. The $ 9,000 truck contains 300 pieces more potent than its namesake’s six-shooters of rescue equipment of 99 different types. Blevins Youth Self Rosroe Blevins, sen of Mr. and Mrs. Noah ins of Rt. 1, Rising Fawn, cidentally hanged himself Fri- day afternoon in the woodshed. He died from cation after being knocked conscious by the sudden of a leather noose against jawbone. It was believed that he been swinging on a hitching rein which was tied Farm Week 24 Thru 30 This week has been pro- claimed as National Safety Week, 1955, by the President the United States o f America. This is the twelfth year that a week has been pracla.med . . , as Farm Safety Week. Ycur Safety is in your hands: In your Community, in home, on your farm and on the highway. 1 In the home, accidents should not happen. Fatal falls are ‘ ■ 3 ®t by broken steps, slippery floors, weak ladders, by toys and cther objects left on stairs and other I* Place* where „ ;horp they thpv should , hn „i d not be. Burns and scalds are caused b y carelessness w i t h stoves, burning trash, cigarettes kerosene, gasoline cleaning fluids and by leaving matches cr hot water in reach of child- ren. More fatal home accidents to farm children under 5 ened at the top to form points, . 1 The:e were barely enough guards tc keep order and enough company officers to get the out when the prisoners were first brought to the Each day they were marched . down the buff ° ^ wearing leg shackles Trenches were worn through the on the limestone steps mine entrances b y the heavy legs and waists and fastened together The trustys were al- low'cd to walk about freely. One lrUSty l a a janitor at the , school years ’ daily , ,, marches, . During the heavily-armed guards • s ^ :r ° an ded the men who were further watched by guards in hacks around the mine trances. Among the Dade guards still living today Charles Prince, oldest member of the group, W. Cole, Joe Dcyle, W. H. Dugan and Chris Avery. Mrs. W. Cole’s father, William was a convict boss for several years. Given Tasks For Day Each prisoner was given “task” for the day. Most of the a rafter of the woodshed. noose had been fashioned ; cne end of the rein and jonly a few feet from ground, indicating that the could have freed himself he been conscious. Mr. and Mrs. Blevins* awa y from home at the time jthe ac cident, which took about 4:30 p. m. They | around five-thirty to find boy dead. Me was found by years ci age that occur to other faim residents in the combined group to 45 years, How does this apply to you and your loved ones? Your hands on the farm? ^ ^ accl(Jents? Tralnlng j n j; rac tor operation and super- vision of work with machinery save the lives of youths and provide future protection. on the highway, safety is in many hands. Drivers of automo- biles, busses, trucks, tractors and 0 n ier farm equipment, as wed cs pedestrians are respons- j b j e j- or £ beb . own uvv “ safety “““ and that of others . speed driving on be wrong side of the road, fail- ure ^ observe driving rules at and weather con- db j ons have accounted for most 0 j, {- be highway accidents, Always be alert Avoid farm Accidents.___ wardens . . . .1 were lenient with f the men, but Ed Cox, who all the old-timers remember to be the vicious, was inclined to beat the men for shirking or not completing tasks. | He harbored grudges against gQme Qf ^ men and would I beat them without reason. On cCcadon he had a pri50ner he]d while he drowned him by pouring water down his mouth ; jnite dates of th ® * ™>t been completed at this time, .. | but among those we know work- We’i at ^ ^ ^ The first camp doctor was Dr. i Jlm Brock w ho practiced at Co i e CJty at the same time his . brotherj Duke> was warden, Mrs. Janie T „„ io DUoi Blevins „ e recalls ^ a ii s t that when she attended Sunday School at Cole City, a coloi'ed woman prisoner always came with Dr. Davis’ wife to help her witn her wraps and overshoes. On Sundays the convicts ga¬ thered to hear cne of the foil wing ministers: Bro. Quarles, a Baptist, Bro. Campbell, who al¬ so preached a t Trenton, and Brothers Leslie and McCracken. All conducted baptisings on oc¬ casion which were watched by I the small fry of the encamp¬ Published Weekly — Since 1901 cider sister, Allie, and was still aiive when she brought him in the house. She said he had been ■gone from the house only about ten o r fifteen minutes after listening to the radio with the other Blevins children, Cleo, Bobby and Winnie Marie. They were in the house at the time cf the accident, and none re¬ ported hearing any outcry. Funeral services were held at the Deer Head Cove Baptist Church Sunday morning. Progresses On Dial System Work is progressing © n the new dial system which is being installed in the county by the Trenton Telephone Co., laccord- ing to reports by W. R. Tatum. Cable has been strung about three and a half miles south of Trenton and holes are being dug toward Rising Fawn. A few poles have already been set in the community. The found¬ ation for the exchange there was poured last week, but fur¬ ther work will cease until bricks for the walls are delivered. Right of way in Piney has been cleared, a few holes dug, and nnp one pole nnlp set , pt at thP the intPr inter . section of the Lookout Moun- tain-Piney Grove road. Practically all the poles on Sand M untain have been set, with the construction company expecting to wind up the entire job at one time this fall. There 'T' H o r n uro was o o a r*r\r\\r graveyard where the deceased if j prisoners were buried some relative did not claim them. The non-denominaticnal com-! pdny church was built by con¬ victs, who also tended an enor¬ mous garden behind the stock¬ ade. Occasionally farmers from the valley would peddle fruit, vegetables and beef inside the stockade as well as to the free laber. Small boys were often hired by the convicts as a past¬ time to pick butterflies off the cabbage in the garden for a cent each. There was a sick bay inside the stockade for treatment of prisoners and a pest house out¬ side the walls for those who had smallpox, a common dis¬ ease a t that time, and other communicable diseases. They were never allowed to stay near the other prisoners. Convicts Often Tried To Escape i There were many attempted and .successful escapes, hence the heavy irons that the men jwore. The company kept blood¬ hounds which were .used to track the escapees down. Many tried to get away by digging out of the mines where ever they felt an air current. Those who succeeded in losing NUMBER 28 Adams, E.J. Bibles Attend TVA Test Meeting With confidence born of ex¬ perience, and enthusiasm gene¬ rated by success, 500 leaders of test-demonstration work in 90 counties of seven states at the second annual meeting of their Tenessee Valley Association of Test-iDemonstration Pami Mes took action to strengthen the work in the Valley and go to bat for its continued service to the nation. Attending the meeting from Dade County were: County Agent L. C. Adams and Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Bible of Cloverdale. They represent 30 active and inactive test-demonstration families who serve and have served the county in this capa¬ city The Association passed a res¬ olution reaffirming “our whole¬ hearted support for the pro¬ gram of the Tennessee Valley Authority,” .and recommending that “TVA, the Congress, and the people concerned diligently work to see that s u f f 1 c i ent funds be made available for its operation and expansion as re¬ quired for the best interest of the Tennessee Valley and the nation as a whole.” The resolu¬ tion pointed out the progressive usefulness of test-demonstration work as a “tool for abundant rural living as a result o f the knowledge and skills gained through 20 years’ experience in the program,” and directed that “county and state chapters of the Association work diligently to strengthen and keep It an effective educational program.” Describing the effectiveness of test - demonstration work in using TVA-produced soil nutri¬ ents and combined Extension and farm family know-how to spark complete farm-home planning for soil building for better living were farmers and their wives from several states. A panel of 11 test - demonstra¬ tion men and women from Washington County, Tennessee, described the operation of the pregram in that county through their county test-remonstratlon association. The county grouip selects the demonstration fam¬ ilies, impresses upon them their 1 responsibility for service to their communities and county, guides special research projects and studies carried on by these fam¬ ilies, helps conduct some 50 meetings and tours per year to spread proved p r a c tices, and | stimulates effective work by se¬ lecting a "Demonstration Fam¬ ily of the Year” on the basis of I the excellence of their work. on the shortest route down the mountain. This road led to what is now the Raulston home in New England. W. G. Morri¬ son, Sr. built the house for his bride, and the family had many experiences with escaped pris¬ oners who usually wound up at their back door asking for some¬ thing to eat. Once, Mr. Morrison was awak¬ ened by dogs and sensed a pris¬ on break. When he tried to find his trousers he found that the run-away had been in the house, stolen h i s watch and pants and had also taken his horse. Several Killed In Major Break Prisoners George Warden and Wilson Palmer were responsible for a major break which began at dawn one summer day. There was a lot of shooting with sev¬ eral killed and wounded. The men got as far as Slygo when they were tracked down by the bloodhounds. Another escapee kidnapped a young girl, but it is uncertain just what his fate was. Lee Treece, who was an accomplice of D. F. Walker who was hang¬ ed for murder i n 1883 served out a prison sentence in the coal mines. By Myrna McMahan (NEXT WEEK: The Mines)
