Madison County AlArchives News.....Items from The Huntsville Weekly Democrat March 7, 1883 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kenneth Stacy klstacyfamily@aol.com February 5, 2007, 2:58 pm Microfilm At Huntsville Library March 7, 1883 PERSONAL MENTION Mr. Henry C. Lay left last week, for Virginia. Dr. Wm. B. Banister returned home from Louisville last Sunday. Mr. Alcuin Eason has been up from Mississippi, several days, to see kindred and friends. Hon. H. C. Speak left, Monday morning, for Moulton, to hold Lawrence County Circuit Court. Wm. H. Echols, Jr., has gone on a trip to Charlottesville and Norfolk, Virginia. Jere. Murphy has withdrawn from the canvass for Mayor, and, we hear, J. W. Polk Kelly has entered the field as a competitor of Capt. Ed. I. Mastin. Col. Mathew W. Steele, left here for Birmingham, last Wednesday, contemplating removal thither, if the prospect for profitable employment is satisfactory. We shall regret his removal, but hope his success will be equal to his excellent capacity. Rev. Dr. J. H. Bryson left, Monday last, for Hampden—Sidney College, Va., to deliver lectures on the Holy Land. He expected to be absent two weeks. Rev. Dr. Ross is to occupy his pulpit next Sunday, and Rev. A. B. Jones, of the Huntsville Female College, will occupy it the Sunday after. The Chattanooga Democrat, of Feb. 25, speaking of Miss Mattie Barnard, of Huntsville, as Mabel, the prima donna in the Opera “Pirates of Penzance,” said: “Miss Barnard should have been an angel. Chattanoogans would now be more anxious to go to heaven. Her voice is as soft and clear as a flute and as sweet and melodious as the gentile riplings of a babbling brook are to a poet’s ear.” Mr. and Mrs. Wm. L. Clay returned from Montgomery last Thursday.—The Montgomery Advertiser, of Thursday, paid the following tribute to Mr. Clay: “W. L. Clay, Esq., Secretary of the Senate, who has remained in the city since the adjournment closing up the business of his office, left this morning for his home in Huntsville. Mr. Clay has been re-elected several terms successively as Secretary of the Senate, a deserved tribute to his efficiency, and the intelligence and promptness with which he has discharged his responsible duties.—Courteous and obliging, he is popular with both members and officers. The Advertiser takes this occasion to render acknowledgement to him as well as his very efficient and accommodating assistant, T. H. Clark, Esq., for courtesies extended during the session,” DIED: STEWART.—Died, suddenly of heart disease, at the family residence in Maysville, Ala., at 10 p.m., March 1, 1883, Mrs. ANN BARKER STEWART, wife of Mr. William Stewart, aged about 64 years. We knew the deceased as a school girl in Huntsville. As a married woman, she developed her youthful virtues in being an excellent wife and mother, a kind neighbor and good Christian. Her sister, Mrs. M. C. Galloway, of Memphis, Tenn., came up on Saturday morning to attend her funeral on that day. We extend to her venerable husband and other relatives our sincere sympathies in their affliction. MARRIED: VANVALKENBURG—BRADLY.—Married, in Huntsville, Ala., Thursday night, March 1, 1883, by Rev. Dr. J. H. Bynum, in his study, Mr. WILLIAM R. VANVALKENBURG to Miss EMILY BRADLEY, daughter of the late Col. Jos. C. Bradley. Our best wishes go with the young couple for their happiness and prosperity. BONE—GUNNELL.—Married, at the residence of the bride, Huntsville, Ala., March 5, 1883, CAPT. JAS. H. BONE to Mrs. LAURA GUNNELL, formerly of Colorado. May their married life be happy and prosperous. LOCAL ITEMS Mr. and Mrs. Sam. W. Donegan were blessed with a bouncing baby boy on Saturday last. It is named Alfred Moore Donegan. Mr. H. Mertz, a No. 1 Boot and Shoe maker, has returned to Huntsville, and occupies a room, next to Dr. Barron’s, on Washington Street. All, who get him to do work, can rely on him to do it promptly and in first-rate styled. We have tried him. m72t. Mr. Ernest Karthaus has removed his Watch and Jewelry establishment to Robert E. Murphy’s auction house, where he has a fne stock of jewelry and silverware, and will repair watches and clocks in the best style. m72t. Stayed or Stolen On Friday night last, March 2, from the undersigned, (then on the Theo Lacy farm, near Tennessee river), two horses of the following description: One a sorrel horse, with blaze face, flaxen mane and tail, blind in right eye, and a scar on the point of right shoulder from a recent cut, about eleven years old, and splendid pacer and fox-trotter. The other a sorrel horse, with a blaze face, stocking-legged, of medium height, eleven years old, and a fox-trotter. A liberal reward will be given for the return of one or both of said horses to me or for any information by which I can get them. J. W. PICKENS, Near Berkley P. O. Mar7-tf Madison Co., Ala. The Huntsville Amateur Opera Troupe had a very satisfactory rehearsal of the “Pirates of Penzance,” last Friday night, in the dining hall of the Huntsville Hotel, which Major Davol, with his usual liberality public spirit, allowed to be used without charge. Mr. Geo. S. Gordon, the Magnus Apollo, with unusual versatility, improvised the solos of one or more absent members of the Troupe. The Troupe are rehearsing the opera “Iolanthe.” With this, “Patience,” “Claude Duval” and “Pirates of Penzance,” they purpose, we hear, to enliven the Cities of Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham, Pulaski, Columb_, Nashville and Chattanooga, during the coming Summer months. An inspection of the cell of Lambert and Simpson, the alleged Birmingham Post Officer burglars and robbers, last Saturday night, disclosed a cotton string around a bar of an inside window-grate, and, under the string, the marks of a saw or file. On searching, Jailor Winston and a guard found a sort of saw made out of a case knife. The prisoners were removed from this cell (in the old jail) and put in one of the strongest cells in the new jail. A petition to the Mayor and Aldermen of Huntsville has been extensively circulated and signed by a hundred or more citizens to require the owners of the Huntsville Opera House to provide some safe mode of exit from the Opera Hall, in case of fire. We take for granted that, in view of the calamities resulting from insufficient fire escapes in public and private buildings that the intelligent, good citizens, who own the Opera House, will, in response to the suggestion and without legal requirement, provide a proper way of escape. So mote it be! Madison Circuit Court The four weeks’ legal term of the Court ended on Saturday last, the last two days being chiefly occupied with the motion docket, and, on Saturday, the sentencing of convicts, of whom there were eleven—all negroes. Selleck Moore, for assault, with intent to murder another negro, was sentenced for offense, two years hard labor for the county, for costs, 216 days. Oliver Cross, charged with murder of another negro, convicted of manslaughter in 2d degree, for offense, hard labor for county one year, and for costs, 8 months. Sandy Beasley, his wife, Lucy Beasley, and two daughters, Mary and Martha, all charged with murder of a negro man, were convicted of manslaughter in the 1st degree, and sentenced, Sandy and Lucy to 10 years in penitentiary—Mary to one year’s hard labor for the county, and Martha to two years—The Court re- mitting costs by consent of officers of Court. Amos Allison, grand larceny, hard labor for county, one year for offense, 318 days for costs. Wm. Wade, grand larceny, hard labor for county, for offense one year, for costs 15 months. Charley Wall, grand larceny, hard labor for county, for offense one year, for costs 329 days. Wm. Lanier, grand larceny in two cases—hard labor for county, one year in each case, for costs, in one, 329 days, in the other 319 days. The case of Levi W. Esslinger’s charged with manslaughter in 1st degree, was continue. In the State vs Andrew T. Hannah, charged with murder, the jury failed to agree and were discharged. Newspaper Change.—We are credibly informed that two young gentlemen of high character and culture have bought a two-thirds’ interest in the Huntsville Advocate, and it will, shortly, be issued as a Democratic paper, under a new name. We withhold names, to allow the new management to make their own announcement. A letter from the Southern Business College, Louisville, Kentucky, addressed to “E. B. Byers, Esq., Huntsville, Ala,” to the care of The Democrat, has been received by us. Mr. Byers will please call for it immediately. For Mayor We are authorized to announce J. W. Polk Kelly a candidate for Mayor of the City of Huntsville. Election on Tuesday, April 3, 1883. Crocuses, hyacinths, daffodils, b_dal wreath, plums, peaches and nectarines are in full bloom. March came in mild and fair, but, for several days, we have had rain and blustering wind. If weatherwise prophets are true, we may fear for the safety of fruit crops. Farmers and gardeners have had a fine time to dig, plough and plant. ALABAMA ITEMS Our old friend, Isaac S. Barr, appears, again, as Editor of a Democratic paper at Florence, Ala., the Banner. We welcome him and wish him good luck. Tribute of Respect to Hon. Francis W. Sykes, dec’d ------------------------------------- Hall of Town Creek Lodge 331. Town Creek, Ala., Feb’y 23, 1883 ------------------------------------- Whereas, it has pleased an all wise Providence, on the 6th day of January, 1883, to remove from our midst our time-honored and much beloved Brother, Dr. Francis W. Sykes, who had, for so long a time, been the guide and counselor of our deliberations, we no longer have the wisdom of our brother to guide and direct us, but must bow with humble resignation to the demands of the Grand Master of the universe and a knowledge His wisdom and goodness in all things, and while we feel that our Lodge and community have sustained an irreparable loss in the death of our brother, we know that he has been called from labor on earth and his spirit returned to the God who gave it, to that country “from whose bourne no traveler returns.” In view of the above, we, the committee, offer the following: Resolved, 1st, That, in the death of our brother, Masonry has lost one of its brightest exemplars, this Lodge one of its truest and best members, and this community one of its most honored citizens. Resolved, 2nd, That we extend to the relatives and friends of the deceased our kindest sympathies and share with them the loss we have all sustained. Resolved, 3rd, That this Lodge wear the usual badge of Masonary 30 days, and a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the minutes. Resolved, 4th, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Moulton Advertiser and the Huntsville Democrat for publication. Respectfully submitted. R. B. Porter, J. P. Hall, T. B. Hazlewood, A. P. Odom, Committee. General Fitzhugh Lee’s Lecture -------------------------------------- Montgomery, Feb. 22.—McDonald’s opera house was filled to-night by a large and most enthusiastic audience who listened to General Fitzhugh Lee’s able lecture on Chancellorsville. He was introduced by Governor O’Neal in well- timed and most appropriate remarks. General Lee, during his lecture, alluded very handsomely to the chivalrous part taken at that battle by our present Governor, then one of Alabama’s generals at the battle of Chancellorsville. The lecture throughout was a masterpiece in point of eloquence and historical facts. General Lee leaves for Mobile, thence to New Orleans. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company contemplates building a road from Montgomery, Ala., to Chattahoochee, Fla. Round Trip Tickets from new Orleans to San Francisco, for the Grand Convocation of the Knights of Honor, are on sale for $80.00. A large delegation will go from Alabama. Beast Butler ------------- Montgomery Advertiser Mr. Chas. F. Slayback, President of the Exchange of St. Louis, recently renewed the charge against Ben Butler of having stolen spoons while in command of New Orleans during the war. Col. Slayback included in the list of things he had seen taken aboard ship by Butler, when he sailed for Boston, a fine span of horses, a coffin full of spoons, a hat rack and some cooking utensils and furniture. This has at last provoked a reply from the doughty Governor, who denies the coffin spoon story and calls Slayback a “fellow.” That Butler was a spoon thief has long been a sacred Southern memory, and we are not disposed to give it up, although many prominent Democrats averred, after he had been elected Governor of Massachusetts, that they no longer believed he had ever stolen spoons. Our traditions must not be disturbed. Penitentiary.—Warden Bankhead has filed, in the State Auditor’s office, a substitute for his original bond (with all the original signers) which was missing from the Auditor’s office, but which Bankhead and Gov. Cobb insisted had been made. Bankhead’s accounts (according to the report of the Legislative committee) look crooked, but, we hope he will come up all right in the end. But, unless he shall speedily reconcile or correct inconsistencies in his account, he ought to be speedily supplanted by a better man. A Mysterious Suicide—Another Thief in the State Capitol -------------------------- Special to the Selma Times MONTGOMERY, ALA., March 3.—Moses Ray, book-keeper of the Merchants and Planters’ Bank committed suicide this morning early by shooting himself with a pistol. The ball entered his side and passed through the body. Several reasons are afloat as to the cause. One says a woman is in it; another that he killed himself to keep from dying of consumption. Cecil D. Whitman, later clerk in the Auditor’s office, was arrested this afternoon and taken before Justice Fuller on two warrants, sworn out by Auditor Carmichael, charging Whitman with embezzling the State’s money, at one time $900, at another $182. The embezzlement is said to have occurred in January. When the $900 deficit was first discovered, Whitman explained to the Auditor and the deficit was made good, but several other cases coming up, the Auditor proceeded to legal process. Other cases may come to light.—Whitman’s receipt’s are our for amounts above named. He claims to have paid the money over to the Treasurer, but failed to get proper receipts. It is said that he had since returned the original package containing $182, which he was keeping on instructions from a tax collector. The same came from Marengo and Sumter counties. It is yet hoped that Whitman may come out all right. The scenes at Whitman’s house when he was arrested are said to have been heartrending. He has a large family. An Act To amend section 2097 of the Code. Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Alabama, That section 2097 of the Code be amended so as to read as follows: 2097, Paper due on Commercial Holidays—If any paper payable in this State entitled to grace by the allowance thereof or any paper which may be protested for non payment becomes due on Christmas, or fourth day of July, the first day of January, the twenty-second day of February, (or the day in November designated by the Governor’s proclamation as a day of public thanksgiving) such paper is due on the day previous to such day, unless such previous day is Sunday, in which case it is due on the Tuesday following; and if such day is Sunday, such paper which becomes due on the following Monday, is due on the following Tuesday. If such day is Saturday, such paper which becomes due on the following Sunday, is due on the following Monday. E. A. O’NEAL, Governor Ellis Phelan, Sec’y of State An Act To prevent cruelty to animals. Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Alabama. Any person who may override, overdrive, overload, torture, torment, deprive of necessary sustenance or cruelly beat or needlessly mutilate, or cause or procures to be overridden, overdriven, overloaded, tortured, or deprived of sustainance, or to be cruelly beaten or needlessly mutilated or killed as aforesaid, any domestic animal shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and must on conviction be fined not less than the, nor more than one hundred dollars. Section 2. Be it further enacted. That it shall be the duty of any officer of the law, county or municipal, and it shall be lawful for any other person to arrest and take before a Justice of the Peace any person violating the provisions of this act, and shall upon conviction of the person arrested be entitled to the sum of two dollars which shall be taxed as a part of the costs and nay officer herein named failing or neglecting to arrest such offender shall be liable to a fine of not less than ten dollars for each and every offense. Approve Feb. 23, 1883. U.S. NEWS Death of Alexander H. Stephens --------------------------------------- ATLANTA, GA., March 4.—About two o’clock this morning it was evident that Governor Stephens was much weaker, and that a crisis was approaching. The doctors had strong mustard plasters prepared and put on his wrists. They let it remain about twenty minutes, and when it was removed there was not the slightest sign of inflammation showing that there was but little vitality left. At about 2:30 o’clock his extremities became cold and clammy and assumed a purple hue. Dr. Miller, one of the attending physicians said, “the end is not far off.” As the end drew near, Mr. Stephens was dying on his back with his head turned slightly to the right. The husky rattle in his throat that had been plainly perceptible early in the night had ceased entirely. There was no more heavy breathing and not the slightest gasping. At a quarter past 3 o’clock the family was called in. After breathing almost imperceptibly for a few minutes, he died without the slightest tremor. The news of his death caused the profoundest sensation, as it was not generally believed he was so near death’s door. To-day, his remains have been in state at the executive mansion, where they were viewed by 20,000 persons. This afternoon a meeting of citizens was held and addresses were delivered by Senator Colquit, Judge Martin J. Crawford, Judge Logan E. Bleckley and other prominent citizens. A citizens committee was appointed to co-operate with a committee from the legislature and state house officers in the conduct of the funeral. The remains will be in state at the capitol until the burial, which will occur here on Wednesday or Thursday. Col. John A. Stephens, nephew of the Governor, said, last night: “I have never known him to speak so littlie of death as during his present illness, or to make so few arrangements for the worst that might come. In all his other attacks he has been most careful to impress on me the minutest details of his wishes and intentions. In this illness he has not said a single word of any of his desires. This but confirms the theory of his illness. It was exhaustion rather than disease that brought about his death. It was the mind and not the body that gave way.” Mr. Stephens made his will some time ago. He leaves $10,000 in money to the children of his late brother, Judge Stephens, and the rest of his estate, with the exception of a few minor bequests, to his nephew, Col. John A. Stephens. What his estate will foot up depends largely on the sale of his new history of the United States. He made about $30,000 on “The War Between States,” and his new book is selling well. Above his bequests, his estate will, probably, pay $10,000. A Monopoly of ‘49 ----------------- Mr. Henry L. Goodwin, of East Hartford, Conn., made a good share of his large fortune by a curious sort of monopoly. He was a California “forty- niner,” and in those early days, when San Francisco and its vicinity had a wretchedly poor supply of drinking water, he was one evening charge half a dollar by a man who owned a well for a drink for his oxen. That made him made and he resolved that he too would become known as man-who-owns-a-well. With the aid of his partner, an engineer, he bored eighty feet deep on his town lot and there struck an inexhaustible supply of the best water yet found on the whole coast. Then he established a free drinking fountain for all passers-by but for all other purposes he sold the water, six gallons for a cent. Cattle owners could have their stock watered for fifty cents a yoke per week. For a long time everyone who wanted pure water had to go to Goodwin’s well for it, and a handsome fortune was realized therefrom.—Hartford (Conn.) Currant. The Portable Electric Lighter ----------------------------------- The Portable Electric Light Company of Boston, Mass., organized with $100,000 capital, have sent us a circular with a number of Press recommendations of their Electric Lighter, from which we extract the following: From the Boston Post, January 1st. One of the most ingenious and useful contrivances in which electricity plays the prominent part, is the Portable Electric Lighter, for practical use in the office, at home, and in factories, banks, hotels, restaurants, saloons. The apparatus occupies a space of five square inches and weighs but five pounds, and can be carried with ease from apartment to apartment. It is complete in itself, requiring no extra power, wires or connection, and is so constructed that nay portion or parts can be replaced at a small cost. By simply pressing upon the knob to the full extent of the spring (which connects the battery) an electric current is produced, by which the spiral of platinum is heated to incandescence and the light is instantaneous. The material lasts about two months, and can then be renewed at a small cost through any chemist. It will not be long before everybody will have a Portable Electric Lighter. The price, $5, is so low that it cannot fail to become popular at once. At a further cost of $2.50, connections and caps are adjusted to the battery, controlled by a switch, so that it can be adapted for the purpose of ringing an alarm or call bell, which can be attached to the instrument, or by the addition of wires, can be rung at any reasonable distance. When so adjusted the circuit can be altered in an instant, by the switch, to give light or ring the bell at will. These connections can also be attached to an induction coil, by which a powerful current of electricity can be conveyed. The principal office is at 23 Water Street, Boston. Where all applications for this most novel lamp should be sent. Polk Matters Nashville, March 3.—The Legislative sub-committee, investigating the condition of the Treasury, on Monday proposed to ex-Treasurer Polk 14 interrogatores, to be answered under oath. The first was as to the disposition of the $50,000 in United States bonds. The seventh interrogatory was as to the amount of the Tennessee bank notes and bonds with which Polk’s attorneys proposed to make good his liability to the State, and where it belonged to him or what proportion was taken by him as collateral for money loaned. The fourteenth was as to how he obtained credits with banks by which his Treasury accounts were made to appear correct. The other interrogatories relate to the disposition of accumulated funds in the Treasury immediately prior to his vacancy of the office.—more to come. CLASSIFIEDS WALL PAPER Fashionable Designs for parlors, Halls, Changer, &c. Samples and Prices Mailed Free. H. Bartholomae & Co. Manufacturers 128 & 130 West 33d St. New York. March7-3m. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/madison/newspapers/itemsfro1334gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 24.3 Kb