Randolph County AlArchives News.....Newspaper Abstracts for JULY 1903 July 1903 ************************************************ 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: Candace Gravelle tealtree@comcast.net June 23, 2005, 7:30 pm The Roanoke Leader July 1903 NEWSPAPER ABSTRACTS FROM "THE ROANOKE LEADER", Roanoke, Randolph County, Alabama for JULY 1903 NEWSPAPER issue of Wednesday, July 1, 1903 CORBIN News Mr. and Mrs. Robt. McManus have been spending two or three days with their daughter Mrs. R. McKane whose baby is dangerously sick. __ ALMOND News Mrs. Jim Allen is very ill this week. __ Mr. Rufus Berry of Daviston is not expected to live through the day. He was struck with paralysis some days ago and has grown worse. __ Mr. S.M. Shivers and Miss Minnie Stone were united in marriage Sunday morning at 9 o'clock. After the marriage the parties attended church at Pleasant Hill. Miss Stone is the only daughter of T.E. Stone. We wish them a happy life. __ ROCK MILLS News Mrs. Anna Holley of Atlanta, formerly of this place, is the guest of her mother Mrs. Green. __ Will Hendon was married to Miss Josie Boyd last Sunday. Rev. O.H. Moore performed the ceremony. __ LOCAL News Henderson Ray will go to Columbus on Saturday where he will enter the machine shops and prepare himself to be an engineer. __ A.G. Randle and son Clint have been spending several days in Roanoke. Their friends should especially appreciate their visit when they learn that Mr. Randle and son walked over here from Lineville, a distance of about thirty miles. __ Mrs. Mattie Wright of Brantley, Ala., is visting the family of J.M. Shanks. __ Mrs. Mollie Samuels with her little son returned to her home here Sunday after spending a few months with relatives in Georgia. __ Mrs. Wilson S. Pittman, a sister of Geo. E. Lee of this city, died in Albertville last Friday night. She had been in feeble health for some time, yet her death was sudden and unexpected. Her husband who was a brother of J.M., W.W. and A.J. Pittman, died last November. They leave six children, the eldest of whom is a boy 18 years of age. __ News has been received in Roanoke that Henry Frederick Barrett, who went from this county to Arizona some sixteen years ago, was shot and killed in that far away country about ten days ago. The difficulty arose from a business matter. Mr. Barret's antagonist was dangerously wounded in the encourter. The deceased leaves a wife and one child and a sister in his western home and many relatives in Randolph county. He had accumulated considerable property out there. __ R.M. Parham has come here from LaGrange to accept the position of engineer at Campbell & Wright's Oil Mill. His wife and child will arrive today or tomorrow. They will have rooms in the residence of Mrs. Fleeth. __ NEWSPAPER issue of Wednesday, July 8, 1903 LOCAL News Mrs. M.A. Lee of McKinley, Marengo County, has come to spend the summer with the family of her cousin, T.S. Foster. __ Fletcher Ponder, son of J.F. Ponder, formerly of this county, was killed in Indian Territory last Wednesday and was buried at Bartlett, Texas, the home of his father. No particulars on his death have been received. __ Whit Whitman has sold his photography business to his sister Mrs. C.H. Harbaugh and her husband who have recently come here from the West. __ Ben Awbrey Jr. has gone to Greenville, Texas to accept a position as traveling salesman for a grocery house. __ Miss Mattie Barrett, formerly of this county, was married in Richville, Arizona on Monday July 6th to James T. Campbell. __ Mrs. Noles was called to Wedowee yesterday by the critical illness of her sister, Mrs. Huckeba. __ DR. BAKER DIES Dr. S. Whitten Baker, youngest son of N.E. Baker, died Saturday night at Standing Rock and was buried at that place Sunday afternoon, Rev. W.W. Turner conducting the services. His sister, coming from Norfolk, Virginia failed to arrive in time to see her brother. Dr. Baker had been in bad health for some time and his death, while extremely sad, must be looked upon as a relief to him from suffering, and an entry to rest. He was an exemplary young man and was succeeding well in his profession, dentistry. We are in deep sympathy with those who mourn. ___ NEWSPAPER issue of Wednesday, July 15, 1903 CORBIN News Larkin Dewberry of Belltown visited his brother Ben this week. __ Dan Tarvin of Cleburne county passed through this community this week enroute to Columbus, Ga. where he expects to go into the painting business. __ ROCK MILLS News John Harper who has been in Hopkins County, Texas for three years is back for a visit to spend a month here. __ Jess Weathers left a few days ago for Carrollton, Ga., where he will make his future home. ____ It becomes our duty this week to record three sudden and untimely deaths, which occurred near Roanoke within a short space of time. Geo. W. Stephens, a well known farmer living near Radney's Chapel, became overheated while at work Thursday and after drinking cold water was seized with something like congestion of the stomach. He died early Saturday morning. In a few hours after his death, his wife was stricken with paralysis and died Saturday night. Mr. Stephens was buried at Pleasant Hill Saturday afternoon and his wife was buried Sunday afternoon. They leave fifteen children, two of whom are grown. Mr. Stephens was a brother of A.J. and S.S. Stephens. These good people will be greatly missed, especially by their children. At twelve o'clock Saturday night at his home at Hickory Flat, Dr. Thos. H. Bonner died. He had been in feeble health but was thought to be improving and had been up all day. He was buried at Standing Rock Sunday afternoon. He leaves a wife and five children. As the Leader had occasion to say once before during the lifetime of the deceased, so we say now again, that Dr. Tom Bonner was one of the nicest and best men in all this country. After a busy life, spent in behalf of his fellow man, may his rest be sweet and his reward be rich, beyond the reach of pain or care. ____ LOCAL News Mrs. J.L.B. Taylor has been quite sick but is improving some. __ Mrs. Spinks returned Monday from a visit to her sister at Ward's Mill. __ Mrs. S.W. DeLamar returned to West Point on Monday after a visit to her brother J.F. Turner. __ Mr. and Mrs. E.W. Anderson are spending several days with the family of the former's father, Rev. R.W. Anderson. __ Zach McMurray and Miss Della Swann were happily married over in Beat 9 last Sunday, Rev. T.J. Parrish officiating. The groom is a brother of W.H. and G.P. McMurray of Roanoke and the bride is the daughter of Capt. W.A.J. Swann. __ Mr. and Mrs. I.G. Worrill have come to Roanoke from Thomson, Ga., to make this place their home. They will be domiciled for the present with Mr. and Mrs. J.C. Wright. Mrs. Wright is the only child of this venerable couple and it is a happy arrangement where by they came to make their home here. Mr. and Mrs. Worrill already have a number of friends in Roanoke who will welcome them heartily as permanent residents among us. __ NEWSPAPER issue of Wednesday, July 22, 1903 LETTER FROM MRS. W.N. COLE FROM FLORIDA Dear Mr. Editor, I ahve been solicited by some of your readers to write to the Leader. I have been in Florida since last September. I am well pleased with the country. The climate is indescribable. One has to experience it to know. The sun now seems to be directly overhead as we are in about 100 miles of the Tropic of Cancer and the cool sea breezes make the days and night seem like early fall in Alabama. We have all kinds of tropical fruits the year around, such as the papaw, guava, alligator pear, banana, coconut, pineapple, Jamaica and sugar apple, peaches, plums, grapes, figs, sapidilloes, mangoes and every vegetable imagineable, watermelons weighing 30 to 60 pounds, Christmas or any other time of year. Never frost enough to kill anything. The house where we are spending our vacation is situated in a 60 acre bearing orange grove. Here we enjoy the open air ladened with the perfume of orange blossoms and music of tropical birds with an occasional stroll through magnificant groves carpeted with a heavy sod of grass, with beds of rare and lovely green, at intervals large herds of cattle, some feeding on grass, others chewing the cud of contentment. Many have become immensely rich here in the cattle business; the range is fine. Here in our little home, nestled on the bank of a little river, about like your Tallapoosa, among the green and gold and perfume of ten thousand orange trees, within hearing of the thundering breakers that roar and dash and crash on the sands of the gulf, we sit at evening and talk of the many friends and loved ones back in Randolph county. I will now answer some of the many questions asked me through private correspondence. We have good water, well and cistern water. It is not as cool as your water but has exactly the same taste. No chills or malaria in this part of Florida. I could not advise anyone to leave there and come here unless they were hunting more genial climate for health. You can probably make a living easier there. We have plenty of churches and schools. Society is different in different communities like it is there. Orange growing is the principal occupation and it requires some capital to start, so a poor man could expecting nothing but to work for wages. Good hands get $1.25 a day. Trucking and cane raising is a very profitable business on islands where I taught last winter at Everglade. Some truckers there make $500. to $800. per acres but it requires experience. Mrs. W.N. Cole, Survey, Florida, July 11, 1903. ___ LOCAL News Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Pittman died at Rock Mills on Sunday morning and was buried at Paran on Monday afternoon. __ G.W. Hill and Mrs. Jesse Fausett went to Livington on Thursday to spend a few weeks for their health at the mineral wells. __ D.W. Zachary of Tennessee spent a few days last week with his brother J.M. Zachary. __ Mrs. Lem Hardy and Miss Lizzie Park of West Point are visiting Mrs. G.W. Hill. __ Miss Lizzie Olland (or OHand?) of Montgomery arrived here Saturday to visit her aunt, Mrs. H.M. Mickle and other relatives in the county. __ Mrs. W.M. Dulin from Birmingham, accompanied by Miss Blackston, arrived Saturday to visit the former's brother, W.O. Burke near town. __ NEWSPAPER issue of Wednesday, July 29, 1903 ROCK MILLS News Fon Rushton and Miss Pearlie Vineyard who live near here were united in marriage last Sunday one week ago at the home of the bride's parents. __ HAPPY LAND News Mrs. T.J. Clack is in feeble health. __ "Aunt" Martha Brown has been confined to her bed for several days but appears to be improving. __ Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Lee are attending a family reunion at James Pearson's near Almond community. __ NAPOLEON News At the home of the bride's father, Mr. Jeff Evans of Haywood, Mr. Jeff Cummings, a widower 57 years of age was married to Miss Alice Evans, aged fifteen years, last Thursday evening. __ Mrs. McGhan who makes her home with her son-in-law A.B. Earnest, has returned after three months visit among her children. This good lady has the reputation of being the mother of more preachers than any other in the county. Some of her grandsons are also following in the same exemplary role. __ LOCAL News Mrs. J.S. Patterson and children of Opelika spent the past few days with the family of C.D. Patterson. __ J.W. Stallings and daughter passed through Roanoke Monday returning to LaFayette from north Randolph with the former's sister Mrs. S.E. Ray who will spend some time in LaFayette. __ Dr. A.M. Harmon who was a student under Dr. Scott is now located in Roanoke at Ussery's stable and is prepared to treat all diseases of horses and cattle. __ S.C. Burpee returned from Atlanta yesterday where his horse Patty Ledger, won a $200. prize in a race Saturday. Mr. Burpee will go to Missouri in a few days to enter his horse in some races at the state fair. __ News has been received here that Nick Thompson, about 22 years of age and a son of Ben Thompson, shot himself through the breast in Franklin, Ga., Saturday evening, inflicting a fatal wound perhaps. Young Thompson shot and killed a young man named Echols last Christmas. __ W.H. Bridges, wife and child are moving to Goodwater. We regret to lose them from our county but trust the move may prove a profitable one for them. __ Wm. Brown and Miss Louis Adamson of Lowell, went to Franklin, Ga., and were married on Sunday. __ Miss Ocie Fargason is expected to arrive today to spend some time with her sister Mrs. S.W. Lane. __ Mrs. Ora McClendon arrived yesterday from Texas to visit her parents Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Holder. __ Mrs. Pink East and one child went Monday to visit Mr. East who has a job of guarding convicts near Montgomery. __ Mr. and Mrs. A.M. Awbrey visited the former's aged parents near Texas, Georgia on Saturday and Sunday. __ HANDLEY WRITES PATRIOTIC LETTER TO CAPT. FALKNER From Montgomery Advertiser, July 26th In a letter to Capt. J.M. Falkner, Major W.A. Handley suggests that 1,000 men in Alabama who are able to do so give $100. each to the Mountain Creek Home for Confederate Soldiers. His letter was accompanied by his personal check for $100. Major Handley is himself a soldier of the Confederacy with a distinguished record. He is and has been for the past ten years Commander of the Aiken and Smith Camp of Confederate Veterans No. 293. He is devoted in his loyalty to his comrades and his letter to Capt. Falkner breathes his affection and solicitude for the old heroes of the grey. Major Handley's services in civil life have been no less distinguished than his career in the war between the states. In private life he has been remarkably successful. Major Handley's letter is as follows: Roanoke, Alabama, July 25th, 1903 Hon. J.M. Falkner, Montgomery, Ala. My Dear sir, Enclosed find my check for $100. for your Confederate Veterans Home. Our dear old soldiers who are indigent ought to have a comfortable home in their old age. Let one thousand men in Alabama who are able, give $100. each to the home and then you can make it a home worthy of the grand old men who shall occupy it. We owe to them what we owe to no other men on earth. These old men, when they are strong young men, at our country's call left home, mother, wife and children and all else and went to the battlefields for our honor and our interests. Was there ever an army of nobler patriots on any field? Hundreds of thousands of the fathers of those days said "go ahead boys, and your wives and children shall never suffer." They do go ahead but these promises have not been well kept. The fathers who made those promises have gone to their reward but their sons are here and you are one of them, and I honor you for the nobler effort which you are putting forth to keep the promise of the fathers for the protection of our old veterans. Let me repeat that I long to see a thousand men of Alabama give a hundred dollars each to our veterans home. Let us not look to poor men and women who have their hands full without this. Let us not look to the state, we have looked there long enough, but let our men who can afford it give the $100,000 which I indicate and do it at once. We need it now, right now. The state is enjoying great increase in wealth; let one of the expressions of prosperity be the giving of $100,000. to take care of our old soldiers. Heaven grant it! I am commandant of the Aiken and Smith Camp of Confederate Veterans, No. 293, and have been during the past ten years, the largest in Alabama. Annually, we hold a reunion of the veterans of the camp and have a free barbecue and all of them are grand occasions. My heart is stirred to its very depths whenever I meet these old patriots and I long to see the home which you have started become a little city of homes for our indigent soldiers. Let is have the appointments which it needs for the comfort of our grand old veterans and will be a dignified and glorious chapter of the history of our great Southland. Excuse the length of my letter but I wanted to say what I have and more, too. I am very truly, W.A. Handley ___ File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/randolph/newspapers/newspape621gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 16.8 Kb