Newspaper Page Text
PEARSON#TRIBUNE
VOL. S—NO. 14
SOUTH GEORGIA.
News of Our Neighbors Told
in Pointed Paragraphs
Statesboro, Bulloch county, and
Sylvester, Worth county, have
tied for the first bale of 1919 cot
ton. Both were marketed August
Ist.
Boat master W. 11. Bennett, of
Tifton, lias resigned. The salary
was not commensurate with the
work and responsibility. He gave
satisfatorv service.
*
The case of the Slate vs. B. S.
Brice, charged with embezzlement
in Ware superior court, has been
transferred to the Muscogee super
ior court, at Columbus, <!a.
Breparat ions for teacher's exam
illations were made in Chatham
county last Friday, but not a
single applicant appeared. The
teachers are getting better pay in
other lines.
Reports from all tobacco sections
of South (ieorgia state that prices
are grow ing more satisfactory and
the outlook is now t hat altogether
tobacco growing in South (ieorgia
is not the failure expected two
weeks ago.
Bacon county was about to lose
her Farm Demonstrator; the Alma
Board of Trade got busy and will
arrange sufficient funds to keep
him. Every county should have
not only a Demonstration agent
but a veterinary surgeon as well.
An extra session of Colquitt
superior court has been called to
try the case of the State vs A. W.
Robinson charged with the murder
of .1.11. Collier. The grand jury w ill
have to be called together at the
same time as the crime was com
mitted only a few days ago and
Robinson has not been indicted.
The Enterprise' says that the
Douglas street pa ving is to be com
menced in about two or three
weeks; that hogs and cattle are to
be kept off the streets; that the
government is advertising for bids
for furnishing the materials to be
used in t he building of the Baited
States postoffice there. That's
good news, enough for one week.
Nashville is to pull off a 2 day
Berrien county fair this fall. The
premiums are to pe paid by the
w ide awake business men of the
city/ Mayor Luke and Editor
Sweat are t he committee to arrange
the* details. Nashville has a Board
of Trade, and it is behind the pro
ject and pushing it to success.
There is nothing like a city having
a live Board of Trade.
One four hundred and ninety
acre lot of land in Tift county has
an unusually interesting history.
It cost the original grantor from
the State the sum of $5. He swap
lied it for a sow and litter of pigs.
It was again swapped for a flint
and steel i i Ho. The original gran
tor then acquired it at the cost of
a home-made horse cart, ft was
sold a few days since for enough
money to buy a bunch of Fords.
Lanier county will have two
hundred and sixty-eight square
miles of territory —taking one hun
dred and fourteen from Clinch;
fifty-five from Lowndes and ninety
nine from Berrien counties. The
population will be approximately
five thousand, two hundred and
sixty-two —taking two thousand,
seven hundred and forty-one from
Berrien; one thousand, five hun
dred and fifty-nine from Clinch
and nine hundred and sixty-two
from Lowndes. It is believed the
tax values will reach $2,000,000.
The territory taken from Lowndes
county is covered, in large part,
by the famous Banks millpond,
supposed to be the largest in the
State of Georgia.
Wust Have Colic.
The Moultrie correspondent of
the Savannah News writes his
paper that the creation of the Ala
paha judicial circuit leaves the
Southern with only three counties.
The density of this fellow,s ignor
ance is without a parallel. The
news editor who permitted the
item to be printed should be fired
for his credulity.
The fact is the Act leaves the
Southern judicial circuit live conn
tics —Brqoks, Colquitt, Echols.
Lowndes and Thomas —and should
not have any more. Broperly
handled Judge Thomas need not
eat any idjc bread.
The Act leaves in the Way cross
circuit five counties—Bacon,
Charlton, Coffee, l’ieree and Ware
—enough for Judge Suinmcrall.
He can earn his salary administer
ing the law in these counties.
After the next general election
the Alapaha circuit, will have five
counties —Atkinson. B e r r i e n ,
Clinch, Cook and Lanier —and it
will give Judge Dickerson plenty
to do.
The Tribune lias no special in
teres! in tin* matter but it is un
able to see where the legislature
has made such a grave error that
there should be any shirt tearing
over it.
Wayne Chamber of Commerce
The w ide awake business men
and farmers of Jcsup and Wayne
county arc moving in the matter
of a County ('handier of Commerce,
to be a branch of and affiliated
with the State Chamber of Com
inerce.
In response to a call a large al
tendance met at the court house in
Jcsup and perfected an enthusias
tic permanent organization. The
call invited every citizen of Wayne
county who believed in the future
development of the county, and
heartily in favor of good roads.
The call stated this fact in
different language: Theabundance
of raw material abounding in South
Georgia, and much that can be bad
with small effort, are calling for
small factories and manufacturing
plants, and Wayne county should
be in readiness to secure a share of
them.
Moultrie P. 0. Building Finished
The postoffice building at: Moul
trie, for which money was appro
priated by Congress nearly seven
years ago, in November, 1912, is
now complete and the postoflice
was transferred to it August, Ist.
The history of the delay in com
pleting this building is peculiarly
a sail one. The contractor was a
Mr. Richardson, of Bainbridge.
He had the building well under
construction when he was killed
by a Bainbridge banker jit one of
the offices of the bank. This pul
a halt on the work for some time,
but finally Richardson’s bondsmen
came forward and completed the
job, which has been accepted and
occupied by the government.
Paper Mill for Sale.
The Southeast Georgian at St.
marys says that the owners of the
paper mill at that place have clos
ed it down and is now offering it
for sale.
It is further stated that there
are a number of prospective pur
chasers, and one of them proposes
to keep it intact alid operate it in
St. Marys in the manufacture of a
special grade of paper. However,
the sale is to the highest bidder
and this purchaser may not get it.
The mill has been a satisfactory
financial proposition.
The tax values of Clinch county
has decreased slightly because of
the territory taken to create At
kinson county.
Official Newspaper of the County of Atkinson.
BEAIISOX, (tEOUGIA, .FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 1919
! MEMORIES OF THE LONG AGO.
Alapaha Judicial Circuit Creat
ed During Reconstruction.
The creation of the “Alapaha
Judicial Circuit" by the present
legislature recalls to the Tribune
man's mind that it is not entirely
a new idea.
During the Recnstruction period
many otherwise good men permit
ted themselves to be carried into
the Republican (Radical) camp,
purely for the spoils of office. In
the parlance of that day they were
called "Scalawags." Following in
this questionable policy subjected
themselves and their families to
social ostracism, and heaped upon
their children an unenviable legacy.
One of these was Col. John W.
O'Neal, of Valdosta, a man of learn
ing, a polished gentleman, and a
lawyer of no mean ability, lie bad
intermarried with a Miss Lane,
from one of the first families of
Lowndes county, and to them were
born that I remember two daught
ers and a son, bright and lovable.
John W. O'Neal joined the Re
publican party with the view of
becoming the congressman from
the second district, but the tre
mendous negro vote of the western
part, of the district elected Rich
aid 11. Whiteley. This somewhat
nonplused O'Neal, his ambition
would not permit him to accept an
inferor place, so he got busy in
preparing a place for himself, lie
aspired to the circuit judgeship,
but the bench of the large .South
ern circuit was occupied by Judge
John R. Alexander,of Thomasville,
an uncle of .1. Hooper Alexander,
the present Foiled States District
Attorney for the Northern District
of Georgia, by appointment of
<iov. Rufus I!. Mullock.
The idea dawned upon O’Neal
that he could take two counties,
Lowndes and Berrien, from the
Southern circuit and two counties.
Clinch and Echols, from the
Brunswick circuit, and create a
new circuit, and was the inception
of tin' “Alapaha Judicial Circuit,"
of reconstruct ion times. The cir
cuit was created by the legislature
of 1870, and the bill carried wit h
i I the appoint in cut s of Judge John
\Y. O'Neal, Judge, and William 11.
Dasher, as Solicitor General. Both
lived in Valdosta. Dasher had
been Solicitor-General of the old
Brunswick circuit and, therefore,
had some experience as a prosecut
ing attorney.
About the time of the passage of
the Bill and tin- creation of his pet
scheme, the “Alapaha Judicial
Circuit,’’O’Neal was taken des-
I perately ill, lingered a year or two
and died, liis illness and death
! put an end to his Judicial circuit,
without a session of court being
held.
The Republicans of the circuit
could not muster a suitable man
for judge, hence the legislature re
pealed the Act creating it. Wil
liam 11. Dasher then ran and was
elected Ordinary of Lowndes
county.
X X X
The creation by the present
legislature of the county of “La
nicr" also recalls to memory an
effort, about the same time to cre
ate a new county from practically
the same territory. The old line
extended some distance below
Stockton into Echols county. This
new county was to be named “Law,”
in honor of Judge I,aw, of Savan
nah, who had been law partner of
John Mcßherson Berrien, after
whom Berrien county was named.
Milltown and Stockton became
rivals for the county seat. Al ill
town was the larger place of the
two, in fact, was the most import
ant trading point in ail this sec
tion, and noted for theculture and
refinement of her people. Stock
ton’s greatest claim for being the
county seat was that she was a
The Peach Tree Borer.
At the Georgia Experiment
Station a test; has been made in
the control of the Peach Tree Borer
by the use of Asphaltum. Prev
ious investigations, reported in
Bulletin No, T;5, “'rite Peach Tree
Borer,” of the Georgia Experiment
Station, show that the adult moth
of the Borer deposits its eggs at
the base of the peach trees during
the month of August and early
September. Therefore the inten
tions were to apply a coat of some
protective repellent to the trees
before the egg laying period so as
to prevent the moths laying their
eggs in the crevices of the bark at
the base of the trees.
On August the sth, the loose
soil to the depth of approximately
one and one-half inches, was scrap
ed from around 35 four-year-old
Elberta seedling peach trees. The
base of each tree was given a coat
ing of Asphaltum, the coat extend
ing up the tree from eight to ten
inches above the soil.
Thirty live other trees, of the
same kind and grown under the
same conditions, were left untouch
ed.
On February lOf h and 11th, the
trees of both plats were closely
examined for borers with the fol
lowing results:
Bases of trees coated with
Asphaltum: Of the 35 trees, only
2 had borers, and five borers were
found in these.
Bases of trees not coated with
Asphaltum: <>f the 35 trees, 14
were not affected, but 21 had bor
ers in them, 35 borers in all being
found in these.
it will be observed in the treat
ed trees only two trees were affect
ed with borers, weile in the trees
not treated twenty-one trees were
affected. The borers in the two
trees t hat were treated had work
ed into the trees beneath the coat
ing of Asphaltum, which could
have been prevented, possibly, by
faking extreme care in applying
t he asphalt uni.
The treatment in noway injured
the bark of the trees. In fact it,
was beneficial to the vigor and
general health to the extent that
it largely prevented the attacks of
the borers.
11. I*. Stucky,
Director and Horticulturist.
thriving village on the railroad,
The tight between these rivals de
feated the movement.
X X X
And while 1 am writing these
facts of history I will recall that
an effort was made in the 70s to
create a new county in practically
the same territory of the present
Atkinson county, it was to be
named “Nicholls,” after John C.
Nicholls. then in life. It was a
pet scheme of the Hon. Matthew
Kirkland, who was then represent
ing the Fifth senatorial district in
the legislature. Mr. Kirkland was
without experience as a legislator
and never could rally sufficient
strength in neither the Senate nor
the House to get his measure en
acted into law.
X X X
Both these new county proposi
tions were meritorious then but
the people at that time, torn with
political rancor and hate, had no
time to consider anything but to
straighten out the kinks in the
social and political life which the
reconstruction period had brought
upon them.
Naval stores continue to rise in
price. Spirits were quoted Mon
day at 1.45. Rosins are maintain
ing an equally high price. There
seems to be every indications that
these prices will continue for some
time, if not permanently. The
manufacturers are in the high mar
ket for a season.
ATKINSON COUNTY.
Items of News Gathered from
Various Sources.
The Tribune is pleased lo say
that none of the Atkinson county
lands advertised to be sold to pay
taxes to Coffee county, went on the
block Tuesday. The leach will
now quit sucking the blood of At
kinson county.
The Tribune regrets that any of
Atkinson county’s young men arc
seeking jobs elsewhere, but when
they do go away from home the
Tribune man rejoices when they
find congenial and remunerative
employment. Messrs. Clyatt and
John James, sons of Mr. and Mrs.
J. Walter James, have accepted
work in Miami, Fla., and say they
are pleased with (he situation.
Mr. Jerry M. Batten has sold
h is splendid farm, eight miles north
of the city, for $15,000 to a Mr.
Doughit. This farm is one of the
oldest and best farms in Atkinson
county. It; owes its prestige as a
farm largely to Mr. Batten’s push
and knowledge of farming, and the
building up of run down farms.
Jerry is on the look out for an in
vestment, will probably buy an
other farm.
Judge J. Wesley Roberts, Ordi
nary of Atkinson county, has pur
chased a tractor and other road
machinery preparatory to making
a “drive” to convert our extremely
bad roads into good ones. The
two army trucks which Atkinson
county can get for the asking and
transportation from point of ship
ment, would prove of good service
in the conflict. The Tribune in
sists, however, that Atkinson
county should have a responsible
and experienced road builder at
the head of her forces.
Dr. Jeff Wilcox, of Willaeoochee,
writing to the Tifton Gazette rela
tive to the creation of the Alapaha
Judicial Circuit, says: “This re
minds me that the Legislature of
1870 created the Alapaha Judicial
Circuit, and the Legislature of
1871 repealed it. J. W. O’Neal was
judge. He was a resident of
Thomasville, 1 think. 1 do not
remember who was the Solicitor
General, Perhaps Col. B. T. Allen,
of the Pearson Tribune can answer
that question.” The Tribune man’s
answer will be found on this page
under the heading, “Memories of
the Long Ago.”
Mr, Hiram L. Mullis and Miss
Thelma Mills were quietly married
last Sunday at the home of the
bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dan
iel Mills, near Axson. Rev. I). J.
Pearson officiated. The bride is
a most estimable young lady and
beloved by all who know her. The
groom is a splendid specimen of
young manhood, thoroughly trust
worthy. He has just returned
home from service in the Ameri
can Expeditionary Force in France
with an honorable discharge. The
Tribune tenders the young couple
its best wishes for their happiness
and success in life.
“And after it is all over,” says
the Coffee County Progress, “we
wish to rise and remark that the
creation of the Alapaha circuit
[composed of Atkinson, Berrien,
Clinch and Cook counties] in its
present shape, meets the approval
of very few people in Coffee coun
ty and we are unable to under
stand why our representative fail
ed to make a fight against this
bill.” Judge Quincey didn’t fight
the Bill because Coffee county was
not affected thereby, and he deci
ded it best not to interfere with his
neighbor’s affairs. There are some
other outside folks who have be
come unduly exercised about this
matter; they would do well to fol
low Judge Quinccy’s example.
81.00 A YEAH
Atkinson’s Tax Returns.
la acknowledging (he receipt of
a copy of the Atkinson county tax
digest the State Tax Commission
er, Hon. Henry J Fullbriglit,
writes the following criticism:
Atlanta, < la., July 30, 1919.
Mr. 11. XV. Corbitt, R. T. R.,
Willaeoochee, fla.,
Dear Sir: The Tax Digest for
Atkinson county has been received
and the totals shown have been
noted. As your county is a now
one and lias no records with which
to compare this year's returns I
have no means of knowing whether
the territory incorporated in the
present county shows an increase
or a decrease in taxable values.
However, 1 have made the calcula
tion as to your average land val
ues, which is $4.88, while Coffee
county, from which Atkinson was
largely made, shows an average of
$0.54 for 1919, and the whole of
Coffee county for 1918 averaged
$5.(11. I would like to know if t lie
territory included in the new
county is less valuable than that,
remaining in the old county of
Coffee. 1 have not received the
Digest from Clinch county and,
therefore, do not know how your
your average compares with Clinch
for the present year. Kindly ad
vise me as early as you can as to
whether or not you think the avc
rage of $4.88 is a fair average for
the new county.
Very truly yours,
H. J. Fullbkight,
State Tax Commissioner.
The above criticism is in line
with what the Tribune had to say
on the subject last week. Receiv
er Sapp, of Coffee county says that
Atkinson county took $2,000,000
or more from Coffee, which shows
there has been a slump from the
values taken from Coffee county,
and say nothing about the values
taken from Clinch county, which
should be not less than $300,000.
Pafford Family Reunion.
Dear Mr. Editor:
There will be a great gathering
at Pafford's church on the first
Sunday in September.
It is greatJy desired that the
hundreds who have worshipped at
the old church in the days that
are gone, together with the many
who love Lo gather there still meet
again to sing and pray as did the
dear ones of other days. Let it be
a great borne coming day. Your
presence will gladden some heart.
It is the plan to have the service
after the order followed by our fa
thers. The good old time songs in
the good old time way.
The community is sparsely set
tled now and it would be difficult
for the hospitable and willing peo
ple living there to provide against
the wants of a great gathering.
Let all, therefore bring a sufficien
cy to provide for the physical needs
during the day. A box or well
filled basket in the car or on the
train may be a trifle unhandy, but
it fits admirably into the beautiful
custom of these annual gatherings,
where those from afar join with
those who live near in piling up
the table, which stands on the
church grounds, with the good
things which carry the flavor of a
genuine Southern hospitality.
Bring your basket friends and
don’t forget that some one will
travel miles to see you. Meet
them.
Lets gather early this time.
Nine o'clock will not be too early
if the singing, worship and social
contact are to yield their largest
possible harvest of good to us all.
Affectionately yours,
Blakely, Ga., August, Ist 1919.
N. T. Pafford.
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