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PEARSON®TRIBUNE VOL. 3—NO. 8. GLEANINGS OF COFFEE COUNTY Items Gathered From Various Sources By Our Lynx-Eyed Reporter Roddie Davis, who won dis tinction at the State university, as a member of the class in ournalism, has returned to his home in Douglas for the summer vacation. The Tribune is informed there was a big social party at the home of Mr. \Y. L. Thompson*.in the Harmony drove neighborhood, last Saturday night and the young poo plo who attended enjoyed a splen did time. Mr. Frank Fielding, son of Mr. and Mrs. X. Fielding, of I>ouglas, who is attending school in Chicago, has been reported seriously, if not fatally, hurt in an automobile accident. It is thought he w ill be out in a few weeks. The Broxton Sunday schools w ill picnic at the spring near Sparks to-day, and the schools at Douglas, \\ illacoochee and Nashville are in vited ‘ join, Them. The Georgia & Florida railroad will run asufii eient train to accommodate all who go. The City Court of Douglas con venes in an adjourned session the fourth Monday in July and con tinue two weeks. The first week w ill be devoted to civil business and the second week to criminal business. The jurors drawn and summoned for the May Term w ill be used at this term, also thecal endar arranged for the May Term - 4ritl be used. The State prison commission has declined to recommend C. W. Lott totiov. Harris for pardon and. it is probable, this great legal battle is at an end and that the aged prisoner w ill have to remain at the State prison farm until death shall claim him as its victim. It is un derstood that Attorney Cooper will not carry the case before the Gov ernor, as the denial of Mr. Lott’s plea by the prison commission was unanimous. The Court of Appeals has af firmed the decision of Judge W. C. Bryan, sustaining the Defen dants demurrer, in the case of The Downing Company vs. Pearson Banking Company. This case was filed in the City court of Douglas prior to the death of the Bank's first cashier, Mr. James S. Roberts, and has just reached its finality. The facts in the cast' were some w hat peculiar: One Fisher, identi fied by Mr. Byrd—the son-in-law of B. H. Tanner —presented two bills of lading, with draft attached purporting to represent shipments of Naval Stores by the Douglas Naval Stores Comnany to The Downing Company, to Cashier Roberts, who discounted the draft and forwarded it and bills of lad ing for collection; the Downing Company paid the draft. It after wards developed the bills of lading were forgeries and The Downing. Company made demand ujion Pear son Banking Company for a re turn of the money paid it on the faith of the draft and bills of lad ing. The Bank, on the advice of its counsel, refused to do so, and then this suit was filed to recover the amount. The full text of the decision has not yet been publish ed. The Downing Company, plain tiff, was represented ut trial by Bennet, Twitty &. Reese, of Biuns w iok, and Lankford & Dickerson, of Douglas; Pearson Banking Com pany, defendant, Quincy & Mc- Donald, of Douglas, and Benj. T. Allen, of Pearson. Hon. B. H. Tanner has written a lengthy card on the subject of high taxation in Coffee county. Every citizen is feeling the burden of high taxation. llis remedy is to discontinue the chain gang and to abolish the board of county com missioners and tlie city court of Douglas, and thus retrench tin 1 ex ponses of the county. The Tribune thinks the' powers that be should study the question thoroughly be fore doing any of these tilings. There is such a thing as being “Penny wise and ixiuiid foolish.” The real trouble comes from the $40,000 debt in connection with the agricultural school, and the high rate of interest —8 per cent — being paid to carry it. The Tri bune would like to see this debt wi|)ed out, either by private sub script ion, through the medium of bonds or direct taxation. The ed itor of the Tribune is ready to ac quiesce in whatever method that may be adopted to consummate tin' desired end. But let this in debtedness be wiped out in some way. Miss May Cheatham, Coffee county’s canning club demon strator, has gone to her home in Macon for the summer. 'l'he examination of teachers, for license to teach in the public schools of Coffee county, will lie held at Douglas on Friday and .Sat urday, August 3rd and 4t h. Clerk Haddock lias been busily engaged all this week transcribing the selective draft registration papers, but with efficient help lie has it well in hand. The boll weevil is getting in his deadly work in alt sections of Coffee county. Nome of the farm ers are fighting him and some are not. What the Cotton harvest will be in Coffee county depends <‘|x>n a strong fight against this pest. Program of the Smyrna Sunday-School Convention 11:00 A. M. Friday June 20, In troductory ,Sermon. R. W. Bugg. 12:00 m. Dinner. 1:30 P. it’ Devotional, T. H. Brown. 2:00 p. m. Organization for Ses sion. 2;15 p. M. Reports of the Sunday School. 2:45 p.m. The Benefits of the Sunday School Work to the Home. I). M. Douglas, H. T. Clifton. 4:00 p. m. Appointments of Com l m i ttees. Adjo urn men t. SATURDAY, JUNE 3()TH. 9:30 a.m. Devotional, J. F. Dent. 10;00 A. m. How to create and Maintain Interest in the Sunday school, Judge T. A. Parker. 314)0 A. M. Sermon, T. S. Hubert. 12:00 M. Dinner. 1:30 p. m. Devotional, W. B. Smith. 2.4)0 p. m. Sunday School Work on Home and Foreign Fields, T. S. Hubert, Geo. W. Andrews. 3;00 p. m. Report of Committees on Place and Officers. Adjourn ment. 7:30 Sermon, Jno. F. Smith. SUNDAY MORNING, JUI-Y IST. 9:15 A. M. Devotional, S. E. Biitch. 9:45 A. M. Exercise, Stokesville Sunday School. 11:00 a. m. Address, Jno. W. Bennett. Everybody invited to come and bring baskets. PEARSON, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1917 REMINISCENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR The writer was twelve and his older brother fourteen years old in the spring of 1864. His father, after about six months service with the Dixie Boys down on the Georgia Coast, the most of the time at Savannah, had received honorable discharge from the Confederate army and returned to liis home in Thomas villi' in an exceedingly feeble con dition from an attack of pneu monia. He remained al home some months lecupemting and t hen engaged in farming on a big plantation in Brooks county, on the Ocopilco creek six miles north of Quitman. To escape the annoyance of the ever present conscript officer he gathered a force of negro laborers and went to Savannah to construct defense for the city, including the building of Fort Jackson, a short distance down the river. Upon the completion of this work he sent the negroes back to the farms of Brooks county and entered the service of the Atlanti" & Gulf railroad, w hich had been comple ted from Savannah to Thomasville just prior to the beginning of the war in 1861, as purchasing agent — his special duty being to provide supplies for the hands engaged in keeping up the track. Thus, the spring of 1864 found him, with his family and the railroad comissary stores, at. Doctortown on the west bank of the Altamaha river. There was a regiment of home guards stationed at Doctortown. composed of old men and boys unsuited for the regular army, and commanded by Col. Arthur Hood of Cutbbert, Ga. The soldiers were equipped with a variety of war guns but mostly carbines. They did picket duty at the Alta maha railroad bridge at Doctor town, the Black swamp railroad bridge two miles cast of Doctor town, and at Battery Morgan (im provised earthworks where guns were mounted to command the river) about four miles south of I loetortown. The Federals had taken posses sion of Darien at the mouth of the river and established a strong army post there. They would oc casionally make raids into the in terior on foraging expeditions and, ever and anon, rumors would reach Doctortown that Federal spies were lurking in the vicinity for the purpose of locating and plan ning an attack upon the Doctor town garrison. These rumors kept Col. Hood wide-awake and he promulgated stringent rules for the conduct of the people, and re quired double diligence at the picket posts to prevent being sur prised by the enemy. Besides the picket of soldiers armed with carbines the railroad employed a watchman whose duty it was to watch the bridge at night. He was armed with a muzzle loading shotgun, and his ammunition was composed of per cussion caps, black powder and cut shot, made by beating the lead flat and cutting into squares about the size of BB shot. This watch man. aliout sundown, would build n small fire in the centre of the track at the west end of the covet ed railroad bridge and here was th<‘ established picket post, The writer and his brother w-ere of the proper age to be inquisitive and to acquire knowledge—not al ways by asking questions but by staying with the game and wit nessing results. So frequently they would keep company with the watchman and soldiers until ten or eleven o’clock at night. On the occasion in question it was about eleven o'clock when the watchman and soldiers discovered SYRUP IN BOTTLES MUST BE LABELED. “When a farmer bottles his syrup for sale, he becomes a manu facturer and comes under the pro visions of the Pure Food laws,” holds S, O. Lee, Food Inspector. “Each package must be labeled, and the label must state the amount the package contains. This amount can be understated but must not be overstated. For instance a package containing twelve ounces can be labeled ten ounces, but one containing ten ounces must not be tabled twelve ounces. This will come as quite a sur prise to many of the farmers. A number of t hose in the vicinity of Pearson have labeled their syrup for several years as an advertise ment, and guarantee of quality, but this label did not state the amount the package contained. In the future it all must be labeled. PUBLISHER’S NOTICE The editor is sending out this week a number of sample copies of the Tribune to people who are directly or indirectly interested in Pearson and all this section of Coffee county, also to some whom he is pleased to number among his personal friends. Tnis is an invitation for them to subscribe for the paper. It will be a news letter that will cost them but 2c. a week and all can afford it, A strong effort will be made to produce a paper that will be in teresting and desirable to all. Let us have your subscription; only $1 a year? B. T. Allen. SPECIAL NOTICE. To the Colored People of Coffee County; The nation of which you arc a part is up against it, and no one can see the end. You have a duty to perform, you made good regis tration day and I hope and believe you will make good June 23rd and 24th we want every colored person in the county to be presnt. The race leaders w hose services we have secured will be here and will be glad to tell you jusf why the negro should remain in the South. Let everyone urge the importance of this meeting. A big barbecue and a free dinner fin al 1. J. B. Ellis. two shilling eyes apparently coming up through the bridge. It was at once in the minds of all that the eyes were those of a Federal spy. The intruder was haled but no reply came. This struck consternation to the hearts of the boy soldiers and, after par leying for some minutes, they de termined to fire upon the eyes. Twelve carbines were aimed and at the command, fired; the shin ing eyes disap]>eared. Then an investigation must be had but no one, not even the veteran watch man, desired to go into the bridge and See to whom or to what t host* eyes belonged. The volley brought the writer’s father to the scene and there was more discussion of the investiga tion. The writer assured that his father was the bravest of the brave, agreed to make the investigation provided his father would go with him. This was settled and to gether they went into the bridge and found —what do you sup pose! —a great big raccoon pierced with twelve carbine balls. The boys were frightened and a bit nervous but their aims were true. However, the garrison was aroused and hastily formed into battle line to receive the enemy that —never came. Among Our South Georgia Neighbors ,AL&. READABLE PARAGRAPHS ICARNERED BY THE JPENCIL AND scissors process It is now generally known that the Moultrie packing plant has been sold to Swift & Co., of Chi eago. It is understood that the new- owners will double its capaci ty- Thomasville will entertain three conventions during the month of July. First, the second division of Odd Fellows on the 4th; second, the second district Masons on the 11th and 12th; third, the Georgia Weekly Press Association on the 16th and 17th. This is the kind ot things that puts towns and cities on the map and keeps them there. The Diamond Match Company, of New York, one of the largest match manufacturing concerns in the world, will establish a factory on the twenty acres of. land on the Savannah river, above the city, known as the Hermitage. The company will spend $250,000 in buildings and equipment. It will aed much to Savannah’s already large manufacturing interests. The little city of Sparks wild hold an election July 10th to au thorize the issuance of bonds with which to erect a public school building. This is made necessary by the divorcement of public and sectarian schools throughout the state. The Methodist school there, Sparks Collegiate Institute, has heretofore taken over the entire educational interests of the city. The law forbids this and iu -.future it will be enforced. Sparks, Nor man Park, Blackshear, Mcßae and Mt. Vernon will all be fed from the same spoon. Mr. Bradley Slater, living six miles north of Alapaha, on the Oeilla Southern railroad, planted thirty acres to Irish pototocs this year and reaped a profit of $7,000 on his crop of potatoes, which was sold to Savannah men who har vested the crop in their own way. Mr. Slater now has his thirty acres planted to com. Those peo ple who were solicited and urged to plant Irish |>otatoes last spring, if only five or ten acres, and de clined to do so, doubtless feels like going aside and kicking themselves. A marriage of interest was that on Sunday the 10th intstant, of Miss Lonnie Smith, daughter of Mr. Ben Smith of the Mud Creek district of Clinch county, and Mr. S. W. Elliott, deputy sheriff of that county. It was an elopment and the marriage ceremony, was performed by Judge B. A. Harper near Homcrville- while the couple were seated in an automobile. The bride is well known as a most amiable and accomplished young lady; is a sister of Attorneys W. R. and J. C. Smith, of Nashville, and a niece of Elder John F. Smith, of Pearson. May the hap py couple live long and prosper, The authorities of Mitchell and Baker counties have reached an agreement whereby each county is to pay one-half of the cost of bridging Flint river at Newton. Baker is one of the few Georgia counties without railroad facilities, and the building of the bridge with a good road to Newton, the county site of Baker, will prove a great commercial convenience to the people of Newton and Baker county and open up a splendid ter ritory to the merchants of Camilla. Flint river being a semiuavigable stream Congressman Park had to obtain authority from congress be fore the bridge could be built. 81.00 A YEAR Milltown will entertain the 1918 annual session of the Valdosta District Methodist Conference. Capt. Walter A. Gray’s com pany of pioneer engineers, at Way cross need ten more recruits to complete its enlistment. The Darling Manufacturing Company, of Waycross, is being moved to the old car factory site. To the novelt y works will be added a crate factory. South Georgia melon growers are now shipping their products to market and are realizing good prices. The partial failure of the Florida crop has inured to their advantage. The officials of Lowndes county are makfng much noise because it is getting back from the state a much less amount from the auto mobile tax road fund than the county paid into it. A Waycross girl creaieil quite a sensation by appearing on the streets in overalls during her shopping tours. Well, she’s in troduced a new fashion and the other girls will follow —rather be dead than out of fashion. The Tribune regrets to learn of the death of Mrs. Culpepper, wife of Dr. A. H. Culpepper, of Homer ville. She was a splendid woman and well-beloved by all who knew her. The doctor and his family of children have the Tribune’s sincere sympathy. The contractors have turned over the main building of the Brunswick Shipbuilding Company to the owners, who will begin work within the next few- days. It is said to have contracts for live schooners, three 3 masts and two 4-masts. Charlton county people are al ready busily engaged making pre parations for the 1917 fair, to be held at Folkston. The success of the fair last fall has encouraged them to undertake greater tilings, despite the war, for the fair this year. The premium list has been approved and will soon be ready for distribution. If the amount of her subscrip tion to the Liberty Bonds is any indication Brunswick is the big gest little city in not. only Geor gia but the United States. Her pro rata share would have been less than SIOO,OOO, blit she put $1,100,000 on the altar. The Tri bune is glad Brunswick is in South Georgia; proud of her. Hon. Judson L. Hand, lately de ceased, of Pelham, left in his will a bequest of twenty thousand gal lons of mellow old grain* wine to the University of Georgia. This wine is wortn au least $40,000, and the money is sadly needed by the university. Just how toevade the “bone-dry” law, so the University can get this $40,000, is puzzling the brain, it is said, «f Gov. Har ris, the board of trustees and al umni of the university and a num ber of Atlanta,s astute lawyers. It is also suggested that the legis lature, soon to meet, will lx*called upon to straighten out this knotty South Georgia anomoly. Will there be some more legislation akin to that forbidding the para lelling of the State road? Is there to be so soon a demand from Gov. Harris and fiis prohibition followers that their “bone-dry” creation be strangled? “We will B*e w hat we shall seel”