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A STUBBORN OLD COUPLE.
tm Pumilv Has Spited the State
For Eleven Yeare-Befoaed to Pay
an Old Deb t and Were Dispossesses
We cannot vouch for the exact
truthfulness of the following re
sorbable storv, which was recent-
. i hlihed in the Atlanta Jour
nal, but give it to our readers foi;
what it is worth: .
About two miles from Went
worth, the county seat of Booking
ham county, North Carolina, jpn
the side of the road to Beidsviile,
live the Queerest combination of
man and wife, squalor, madness
and stubbornness that ever puzziea
the wits of landlords and county
officers, against whom there is a
constant waging of aggressive war
Notwithstanding the advanced
age of Clem and Eliza Wooten
eighty ix and seventy-inree anu
the exposure to which the last
eleven harsh winters haye subject
ed them, they are today as fiery
and as pugnacious as when, in their
palmy days, they kept a Sheriff's
"posse at bay forty-eight hours,
Clem cracking away with an old
musket through the chink holes of
an, upper story and Aunt Eliza
dashing formidable streams of hot
water through the crevices in the
wall. Claiming the heaven-given
promise of "eating the goose that
pecks the grass Trom the grave" of
every man in public life at the time
of their financial troubles, they are
about to realize the fulfillment of
their fancied pledge, for many have
dropped out of the procession, some
by death, Some by business failures,
and many are snowed under by
popular franchise. Yet Old Man
Clem and Aunt Eliza still hang on
the Christmas tree and gloat over
the misfortunes of their downfallen,
imagined foes. It is a singular
fact and one from which they are
fond to draw when hurling ana
themas upon humanity in general
that never have thev been f oresaken
in the matter of rains, even when
districts within a radius of a mile
were parched from heat and
drought." They were always suc
cessful gardeners, but now their
truck patches fairly bloom and
smile in luxuriant beauty, while, as
old Clem put it, "Ah-h.h ! They're
all aburnin' up. " They won't make
enough on Nubbin Ridge ter feed
the ole 'oman's chickens a week.
But here's yo' cabbage an1 yo' ing
liuns, an' thar'e yo' co'n jin' yo'
snaps, higher'n yo head, an' wa'r
mi'ons an' mushmi'ons -Ah-h-h,
I!ve sbo' got 'em !"
It is a long story of fraudulent
transfer of realty to evade payment
of an old debt and the subsequent
triumph of the creditor in finding
the fraudulent grantee in financial
'straits and purchasing the lands,
tendering the old debt in part pay
ment. Then folio ws eviction in the
fall of 1888. their stubborn spite
ful and vindictive natures refusing
all proffered homes or to. buy a
shelter from the approaching win
ter for they had money and man)
household comforts. The pro
visions of the law were met and
they wereplaced on the Beidsviile
road, in sight of their' old home,
and here, they declared, they would
stay "till they rotted, just for spite."
Their spite, however, was of a too
vigorous type, for, after spending
the winter in an old wagon, sleep
ing between the feather beds-, and
coeking at" fresco, with here and
there beneath the scrubby oaks
pieces, of valuable furniture- ma
hogany sideboards, mirrored walnut
chamber suits and bric-a-brac
they were adjudged nuisances and
lodged in jail. There was nopro
vision for the household goods, and,
as a result, there is little left to in
dicate the prosperity they once en
joyed; Mules, chickens a hun
dred or more four barns of tobac
co, forage previsions, bedding and
200 weight of dried fruit were law
ful prey. .
. After a few months' incarcera
tion, they were released, and, by
order of the board of commission
ers, placed on a tract of the county's
land, near the poorhouse. Nine
years they lived there and in peace
able possession, clearing new, fields
each year, and, after a few winters,
improvising a rude brush harbor
for shelter, which in time grew by
constant additions to quite a cozy
home. It was then permanence il
lumined their homes and he served
notice on the county commissioners
that he held color of title for all
the adjoining lands of the county
by seven years peaceable and un
molested possession. He was his
own counselor, however, and his
dream of empire had a rude awak
ening, for, under a suit for posses
sion, he was evicted again in No
vember, 1897, he and his wife being
carried bodily, like, babies, half a
mile to their present home. This
-step was not taken, however, until
after their refusal to pay a rental
of five- cents per annum for the
place or to allow any one else to
pay it for them, the tendering of
rent invalidating their claims to
the land.
" Under an open railshed, crouch
ing over a f eir flickering embers
these old people weathered the hor
rors of the severest, the longest and
dreariest winter ever before known
here. The driving sleets and snows
the drenohing rains and the biting
winds have told a sad ana narrow
incr tale of suffering on their rug
ged faces. It is no wonder that
madness darts out irom tneir every
utterance. The only wonder is
that they were not frozen, sleeping
as they did. upon the bare" ground
with such scanty covering and that
drenched by every rain, iney
cannot be induced to accept a bouse
for life with every comfort age can
need. Stubborness, pride and
general distrust of human motives
are: the autnors or an tneir woes
They scorn with cynical gesticula
tion all expressions of sympathy
nor can advice be tendered them
through a megaphone.
Calling to see them, I found the
old crone drilling a pet chicken in
some very remarkable fancy tactics
She said Cl?m had just stepped
downnhe road to kill Frank Wil
liams for hauling wood from their
acres. Williams, I soon learned
was the agent of the legally recog
nized landlord, and I expected to
hear of a sanguinary conflict. It
was not loner, however, till the old
fellow came in, with a bloodless
axe on his shoulder, eyeing me bus
piciously; and with a countenance
bordening midway upon hellish
diabolism and smiling welcome, he
began to confide the plan of cam
paign against his oppressors.- He
would sue the bondsmen of each
county officer concerned in his
eviction: he had already gained
all the county lands ; and, by order
of the court, he bad been placed in
possession of 1.100 acres of land on
which he now resides, and by the
failure of the former owner to for
bid prior to ten days' occupation
of the premises, he was now in pos
session, and that wasn't all, for his
itemized fortune amounted to half
a million dollars, the disposition of
which he was now arranging. He
asked me, in consideration of the
Journal's interest in him. to sign a
lengthy and liberally signed docu
ment indicating a willingness to
become a devisee under him to the
amount of a hundred thousand dol
lars. At present they are very com
fortably quartered in a rude dirt
floor hut, surrounded by such pets
as hogs, cows and chickens, from
which source, aided by the old
man's occasional jobs, they derive
their daily bread. However, the
spectacle presented is one of dis
solution, decay and spoliation. All
the furniture lies scattered along
the road beneath a sediment of
mud and leaves. What was a fine
cherry clock hung on a -little oak
till, piece by piece, it went to ruin,
and now is stacked with the re
mainder of the plunder where they
spent the winters beneath the
open slty. Looking at this, Aunt
Eliza's eyes filled with tears as she
said: "Ob, it was such a fine clock,
but it was delicate an couldn't
stand it like us. I wish my old
weather-beaten wheels could stop,
like it, for I'm mighty tired er
stayin' out in the cold an' rain."
It is an old and generally ac
credited story that, as a girl, Aunt
Eliza was one of the prettiest girls,
and consequently the belle of her
native county, that she had danced
with numerous men of state and
national distinction, and had more
than once figured in affairs d'amour
with them. Questioned as to this
statement of madam rumor, she
diverted her wrinkled face, puffed
away at her pipe in thoughtful
silence and answered: "Naw! I
never danced a step in mv life, ner
I wa'nt no belle, nuther. , They say
anything 'cept the'r pra'rs now, an'
they don't take time 'ter whistle
them." '
To casualists the whole is a ludi
crous picture and diversion. From
them originate some of the wild
acts for which the fanatical out
casts are credited, such for instance
as their recent action in "posting
their lands" against all trespassers
and felling huge trees across the
road running "through their yard."
They are now disposed to be" more
liberal, and announce their inten
tion of allowing the road to remain
open, but will establish a toll gate,
which being across the main county
road, will be a source of consider
able revenue to them.
Still their life is only a life of
waiting, conscious of being the
human football of remorseless kick
ers and an ever abounding boome
rang upon a civilized community.
Upon the recommendation of the
grand jury at the last term of court,
the presiding judge ordered them
returned to the county lands from
which they were moved, which
order has not as yet been executed,
the officer to whom it was directed
having been advised by his attorney
to ignore it.
Thus it is that they are kicked
from pillar to post, one order after
another picking them up after they
have built a comfortable home,
and lived in it all through the sum
mer, drops them out in the sleet
and snow and heaves the Levite's
sigh that instead their hoary heads
could not be pillowed : in some
friendly potter's field far away
from the disturbing scenes that
now cast a blot upon the fair page
of a christianized community.
STATEMENT BY PHYSICIANS.
Relatives of the Sick at the Normal
! Express Gratitude.
. Last i Thursday Hon. C. H. Me
bane, .chairman of the board of
directors, gave out a statement in
which he said the board most
heartily approved of the manage
ment of President Mclver and the
faculty; during the epidemic of
sickness at the State Normal and
Industrial College. A statement
by the attending physicians and
an expression of gratitude from
the relatives of the sick were also
furnished the press. The two
statements follow :
Gentlemen :
After a careful examination ot the
records, and patient review of the his
tory ot the sickness at The State Nor
mal and Industrial College eince Octo
ber 6th, we find that there have been
two distinct epidemics. The first, be
ginning about October 25th, purely
malarial In character ; the second, be
ginning in the second week of Novem
ber, distinctly typhoid, though com
plicated in oue-third of the cases with
malaria.
There have been in all about one
hundred cases. Of these seventy per
cent, were primarily malarial and sixty
per cent, malarial only, all recovering
in from four to ten days.
Of the remaining forty per cent., ten
per cent, after having had malaria,
were infected by the typhoid poison,
while the remaining thirty per cent,
seem to have had primary typhoid in
fection. In view of the severity of the
typhoid poison, it is surprising that so
small a per centage of the students
were infected. '
Anna M. Gove, M. D.
W. P. Beall, M.D.
W. J. Richardson, M.D.
Chas. L. Scott, M. D.
Greensboro, N. C,
November 29, 1899.
We the undersigned, relatives aod
friends of the patients who have been
and are now sick at The State Normal
and Industrial College, desire to ex
press our gratitude to the college au
thorities for the manner in which our
loved ones have been cared for.
Having been here, some of us since
before the college suspended, and oth
ers for a shorter period of time, we
wish to say that it seems td us that all
that could be expected has been done
by the college authorities, faculty,
physicians, and the nurses, and we are
also deeply grateful to those ladies of
Greensboro who have tendered and
given their services as nurses of the
sick i
W; H. Hagwood, Wake Forest, N. C.
J. D. Davis, Grissom.
Mrs. C. H. Wiley, Winston.
Mrs. C. M. Babbitt, New Bern.
Miss Etta Stafford, Burlington.
Mrs. T. B. Bailey, Mocksville.
N. B. Daniel, Satterwhite.
T. B. Bailey, Mocksville.
H. A. Eller, Berlin.
John G. Blount, M. D., Washington.
G. L. Mardison, Thurman.
Jennie M. Shaw, Rockingham.
J. T. Moore.
Jonas C. Williams, Inez, Warren Co.
E. E. Bouchelle, Wilkesboro.
Seth Bridgman, Washington.
Mrs. A. E. Sides, Mt. Airy.
Th Moon During December.
The moon will have her phases
during the month of December as
follows: New, on the 2d; first
quarter, on the 9th; full, on the 16,
and last quarter, on the 24. She
will be nearest the earth on the 7t
and farthest off on the 22d; While
at the beginning of the month the
sun will be 1 degree from the
southern limit of his motion in de
clination, he will reach that limit
on the 22d of the month at 7.56 p.
m., at which precise moment the
winter season begins. At the be.
ginning of the month the hourly
variations of the sun's declination
is about 23 seconds, while on the
day previous to her winter solstice
it is only about half a second, prov
ing the slowness of the sun's mo
tion near the solstices. Its motion
in right ascension, however, is fas
ter at the solstices than at the
equinoxes, which clearly follows
from the fact that the path of the
sun's motion is inclined to the equa
tor, and hence the motion in incli
nation tends to parallelism, and is
consequently slow, and to perpen
dicularity at the equinoxes, and is,
therefore, quick, while in regard to
the motion in right ascension the
case is obviously reversed.
Proud of His Son.
Mr.Thos. Coppinger, Dayton, Tenn.,
says :! I have used Ramon's Liver Pills
and Tonic Pellets for years, and can
not say enough of them for the good
they have done in my family. I wish
to tell yon especially what they did for
my youngest son. We thought he was
too little to take pills, bat when he saw
the rest of as taking oar usual Tonic
Pellet at night, he would cry for one
also. ! So we commenced giving them
to him regularly, and from a pale, deli
cate child he improved immediately,
and lately he is as robust a lad as ever
breathed mountain air, rosy cheeked,
and he looks as healthy as any big fat
Irishman you ever saw. Por sale by
Howard Gardner.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PATRIOT.
r, r Alfred UillenniaL
In 1901 occurs the millennial an
niversary of the death of King Al
fred the Great. Already prepara
tions are in progress,, both in Amer
ica and in England, for the cele
bration of the event. It promises
to be a gathering unique in history
and to leave behind it some sub
stantial mark of the popular ad
ministration of the man to whom
the world owes such a large debt
in the matter of learning, religious
freedom, seamanship, defence and
culture. It promises to be a re
markable representation, , of the
Anglo-Saxon .brotherhood from
pole to pole.
Of personal history the data ob
tainable are very meager, not even
a portrait of him being autbentl
cally preserved. He was a soldier
an orator, a lawyer and an archi
tect, besides giving learning its
greatest spur, encouraging the
translation and perpetuation of
many sacred and secular works
He died at the ago of 53, was buri
ed first at Winchester Cathedral,'
his remains thence removed to a
monastery founded by him, and
afterward Henry I ordered his re
mains deposited in Hyde Abbey,
Winchester, where they were when
this edifice was destroyed during
the Reformation.
It is here that the proposed me
morial will be placed, and near
where the celebration of the great
King's millennial anniversary will
be held, which gathering will call
together a vast company of hero
worshipers, including hundreds
from our own country, many of
whom can boast of kingly blood in
their veins.
God of our fathers ! Thou whose hand
Upheld them in their time of need,
Strong to prevail against the land
From whosQ far sway they would be
freed,
Refresh our faith, from them that came,
The Right they saw, make us to see,
Shield us, O God, from the deep shame
Of fastening bondage on the free!
That Freedom which was thy good gift
Unto our fathers in their day,
Make it compel us to uplift
All others struggling on the way.
The sons of those thou lovedst of old,
Dear God, make them to thrust aside
The Tempters bid of power and gold
For Freedom to their kind denied I
TO CURE A COLD IX OWE DAT
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Druggists refund money if it fails to Cure. 25c
Tne genuine Has It. B. Q. on eacn tablet.
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OPPOSITE BENBOyr-HOT7SE.
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JOTTTT
GREENSBORO
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In Jiny
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