Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / July 12, 1901, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE MEMPHIS REUNION. Ex-SherlH Powell Writes of His Trip?Visits Priends in Tennes see and Comes Back With Some hisb Stories. As a delegate from Walter It. Moore Camp, I'.C. V.,of Johnston county, to the 11 tli Iteunion, held in the city of Memphis, Tenn., May 27th?20th, I beg space to report some of my observations, etc. A 'Hi hours' ride on a special Veteran's train (arranged by tien. J. S. Carr, which means every accommodation necessary) on the Southern itailroad via Charlotte, Atlanta and Chatta nooga, pleasant throughout, brought us to Memphis, and put us in the swim. Such a mass of humanity and jam on all the principal streets is rarely seen. The city had on her Sunday dress. Manners of welcome and a Mut tering mass of bunting every where on public,privateund busi ness houses, on tents, posts, stands, carriages and painted on the sidewalks, met our gaze, while hundreds of citizens wore badges inscribed, "I am a Memphian. Ask me." (They were asked). Two huge arches with varie gated electric: jets, Hunked by statues of Confederate heroes, spanned one of the chief streets near ' Court Square," a small but beautiful park in the center of business, set with grass and magnolia trees and inhabited by 200 or 300 squirrels and a pair of peacocks, the descendants of some owned by (ien. Andrew Jackson. A beautiful fountain and reservoir with variegated fish, adorned it also. Thesepluces served as a base for strangers to get their bearings. Bureaus of information and representatives were on every hand. None but the chronic grumbler complained. The committeemen wereprinces of politeness, patience and socia bility. The chairman, Mr. It. F. Sloan, at Information Head quarters, deserves special thanks for uniform temper and courtesies to all. He never got rattled. Can't say so much for the joint ticket agent headquarters, where railroad tickets were deposited for extension, by paying a fee of 50 cents each, ana several hun dred were so deposited. Great dissatisfaction prevailed, (hie, I thought real rude. A lady from Texas told him he was a fraud, an old fraud. Another Texas lady said she paid a dollar for a carriage to keep from missing her train, and was told to stand back and whit, or go out and get a glass of soda-water. The room was half full and it looked like there might be somemixing pret ty soon. A clerk said something about a policeman,and someone in the room said "We have seen folks in blue clothes before now." She got her ticket. This was the shady part. Memphis did her part, and (lid it well. She entertained 100,000 visitors, 19,000 of which wereold soldiers, to whom she furnished 10,000 cots, blankets, and pil lows, at a nominal fee, and fed free, under a huge canvass con taining 45 tables. 5)0 plates and cups each, 50,000 meals daily, using (>,000 loaves bread, 1,400 pounds hams, 1,200 pounds beef, 42 bushels potatoes, 1,200 gal lons ci ffee, and biscuits, sausage, pork and fruits: 14 cooks, 4 meat cutters, 8 dish washers and 12 supernumerary's served them. Gray hair passed current, and many wore those. Confederate Hall, the business meeting place and large rooms for each btate headquarters, was splendidly located on the bank of tne Mississippi river and was ad mirably planned and arranged, consisting ot an open floored court, 2(H) feet square, flanked on all sides by graduated steps and walkways, easy of aoopssand egress in three directions. One side overlooked the rirer. On one end the platform for the dis tinguished visitors was arranged and a beautiful clock represent ing time with the hour glass clicked off the seconds by electric sparks of red, white and blue. Overarching all were hundreds of yards of liunting tastefully ar ranged, intersjiersed with the portraits of our Confederatelead ers, that of Gen. N. If. Forrest, Memphis' beloved son predomi nating; a celluloid souvenir pic ture of whom was presented to every registered confederate. 1,8.41 camps were represented by 2,805 delegates. Texas lead ing with 255 camps and 451 dele gates. North Carolina had 05 camps, 5)5) delegates. Indiana, Illinois and Ohio had two camps and two delegates each. Ten nessee, Arkansas and Mississippi had each 2,700 old soldiers there. Forrest's cavalry had 1,85)5. North Carolina had 405, and her headquarters the only one furn ished with a piano, and that was by Generals ('arr, London and .Mr. N.S. Graves, Secretary of the Memphis cotton exchange, to whom 1 and daughters are in debted for ?|?ecial courtesies. All headquarters were appropriately and lavishly decorated with bunt ing, Confederate and Stute pride pictures. The usual routine business was transacted without much break. At one time the noise outside was so great that General Gordon, the Commander, said if the city authorities could not stop it, he | would with the old confederates. The boys yelled then. It sounded like old times. Thenoisestop|s*d too. The usual balls, music and dancing followed each night, and feathers, ribbons, flowers, and fancy dresses on the '"Leans and the Fats" in general conglomera tion and tlutterations could be seeu in the hall. 1 was mighty near saying many times, "1 wish that gal was mine." The soldiers' parade, headed by a Texan seven feet, seven and a half inches high, wearing a bee gum hat and carrying a flag, was two miles long and took two hours to pass. Music in the lead,; in the middle, all along, every where, llixie, belle of Tennessee, Old Kentucky Home, and the Yellow Jtose of Texas, all mixed up with babbit-hash made every) body yell. The parade ended with an old confederate negro with a tin cup, frying pan and a chicken on his back. The mag nificent flower parade took the cake. Ladies, children, men, horses, and vehicles were decor ated in every conceivable manner. The whole botanical family, both real and imaginary, were dis played. Music and shouting fol lowed. lexaH captured the next re union. >She came for it headed bv a delegation of Tennessee Texas David Crockett blood, and when the assembled delegates saw, like the coon in the tree when he saw David Crockett, rifle in hand, said '"don't shoot, I'll come down." Dallas, Texas, invites us and Fort Worth, twenty miles away, with her Hi railroads and packing houses of 5,000 hogs and 11,000 steers daily capacity, seconds her and says "come we will feed, sleep, ride and entertain you as you never were.'" We are as big as all out doors and we I yearn to show our hospitali ties. She will wear her yellow rose. Taken as a whole the reuni'Ui was a great success. The crowd was orderly and good natured. Some extortion, but little said. Practically no pocket picking or highway robbery. One hundred j thousand visitors with another i hundred thousand citizens half of! whom are coons, shows a splendid city government and good sort of people. Side shows, fakirs, steamboat excursions, speck-eye and sou venir venders and a midway camp, gave all a chance of sight seeing night and day. The cow boy show at Chickasaw Park was i the best. Forty white and half! breed Indians from Claremore, Indian Territory on horseback.} showed great skill in roping and tying down two car loads Texas steers, driven out of cars in the I open, and on signal the lassoing commenced. Heber Skinner, of Vinta, I. T., won first prize, $50 by roping and tying down one in '1*1% seconds, coining, it is said, in four seconds of the world's record. One rode a bucking broncho without bridle. Another saddled and rode a steer amidst thundering cheers. Hack and In dian war hoop and dances were also performed. 11 u rn ih for Mem phis t he " Hlu ff" i city. Situated on the bank of the Mississippi river, like her an cient namesake and sister ou the Nile, is the mart for the rich bot toms and surrounding couutry in several states for manv miles On the old Chickasaw bluff above the mighty overflow's was once the great Indian trading post and has many legends of Indian and steamboat characters. Here about 1837 and '38 our govern ment crossed the river with the Indianjtri bes of Creeks, Chickasaw and Choctaws conducting them to the Reservation or Indian Territory, after ha ving purchased their lands in Alabamaand (leor gia. Signs of the military road ur" still traceable through the Isittoms on the Arkansaw side. The government gave them acre for acre, besides purchasing theirs, giving them in addition $20,000 annually for a period of twenty years and pensioned some of the most prominent ones for life. They are all dead now. Indian pensioners die. here a tripple tracked iron toll liridge 30 feet wide, 00 feet above high water, with spans of 750! feet apart, spans the river (a mile wide) railroad track in the center and wagon road on each side. Here legend says l)e Soto started down the river which finally became his winding sheet. On theArkausawsidel saw pecan trees three feet in diameter, sixty feet high. The soil is alluvial and exceedingly rich. Dock street on the Memphis side is laid with cobble stone for over one hun dred yards to the water's edge and heavy iron rings for boat fastenings ai ranged at intervals, all sloping at an angle of thirty degrees. The largest mules 1 ever saw hauled freight up and down this bank. The city is supplied with water from sixty ten inch pipe wells four to 500 feet deep. Ten million gallons are pumped daily. This is the largest inland cotton market in the world, six hundred thousand bales handled this year. The largest hard wood center iu the world. One thous and barrels flour handled daily. Two hundred and ten thousand barrels meal, one hundred and eight thousand barrels potatoes, one hundred and twenty thous and barrels sugar, seventy-one thousand barrels apples, three thousand five hundred cars of hay, two thousand two hundred and fifty cars oats, two thousand seven hundred tons meat, handled annually. The greatest snuff aud clothing market in the world. Large horse and mule trade. Eight hundred manufactories, one hundred miles electric car lines, eleven railroads reach here and twenty-six steamboats, be sides many more touching here, call the bluff their home. Miles of broad, well paved streets, ex cellent system of sewerage, hand some residences, splendid business blocks, fine churches and schools, make Memphis a diamond on the bosomof the river and the "Ignus fatui" of the bottoms. With her present sanitary system she never expects another yellow fever plague, (iod grant that she may tie spared. 1 have seen our own Wilmington in the sixties with the scourge. lake tlueen of Sheba's visit to Solomon, the half has not been told, but space for bids. Ah a side issue of the reunion, I spent two weeks among rela tives eighty miles east of Mem phis, traveling almost the entire breadth of the State on a buggy, meeting old and forming new acquaintances, many, and in fact most all of which were Tar Heels or descendants. Une old Ten nesseean, holding me by the hand I said, "I am always glad to meet a Tar Heel, 1 feel safe in their presence." Every possible cour tesy was constantly extended. 1 had the pleasure of attending a part of the exercises of the ' Georgia Kobiuson Christian Col-J lege" at Henderson, Tenn. Wit-1 nessed the '?modern Annanias" act performed by the professors of the school, preceded by the unique request that all the prettv ladies, in fact all but the bald headed ones take off their hats, \ that those in the rear might see. Those pretty hats came down. One lauy said afterwards, that that was about all she had to show, but it came down. A preacher, the Annanias, put old A. and S. to shame. He lied to do some good. A college band of piano, two horns, two violins, a guitar and mandolin made the sweetest of1 music, all of which was greatly enjoyed; some of the acts being! encored, both stage and musical. There was some of all sorts of laughter, even horse laughing. This is a denominational school of the Christian Faith, named for a beautiful young lady, Miss Georgia Kobinson, daughter of a native -North Carolinian, who contributed nearly #7,000 to the college building. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, who live at Crockett's Mills, Tenn., were there as guests of the school, but the loved one whose name the col lege bears has gone to her reward. Rev. J. B. Farror, of Alamo. Tenn., a live preacher, whom 1 met, delivered the address and I the subject of religion,education, discipline and morals, etc., was as clay in the potter's hands. Henderson had a regular reun ion. I commenced looking for them at every town I came to. Five hundred pupils on the rolls, representing several states, Forth Carolina among them. I met two troin Robersonville, N. C. The excellent professor, Mr. Freed, has leased the college for a term of six vearsand all antici pate a flourishing school. Two trains each way on the Mobile and Ohio railroad daily. No liquor sold in the county. I met the mayor, T. B. Hard man, J. W. Stuart, clerk of the court; cashier C. M. Williams, llrs. Williams and Perkins, all of Henderson and their hospitality and courteous treatment made me feel like I was one of them, and a little tar on their heels would pass them in North Caro lina. And there were others, male and female. I went pic-nicing and flying jennet spinning with five young streaked heads and had a royal time. We finally landed at soda fount and you may guess the rest. 1 visited Humboldt and met Mr. 1). H. Senter. mayor of the town and a native of North Carolina from Harnett county. He is a jovial and up-todate mayor,! proud of of his tar heel ancestry and the democratic principle in his bosom, rejoices in the action of his native state and praises her splendid code of laws. I took a trip sixty miles through the country to the Heel foot lake in north west Tennes see. It was formed in 1811-12 by the gradual sinking of the i land for a space of five by thirty five miles to a depth of from one] to many hundred feet. Huge trees stand upright, submerged now. The Obhiu river passes through it and empties into the Mississippi?not far away. A strip of rich bottom land lies be tween the lake and Mississippi river, forming Lake county. Steamboats can be heard con stantly passing from across lake and county. I saw cotton here! two feet high the 21st of June. I This is the greatest fresh water fish lake in the known world. The catch and shipment of fish is almost incredible. One firm ship weekly 00,000 pounds and ?15,000 pounds have been shipp ed in one day. They are trans-! ported over land on wagons six-1 teen miles to the railroad. A | great variety are caught, trout, buffalo, and cat predominating, 1 saw five catfish fill a sugar bar rel. The spoon bill cat has a bill like a duck, is boneless, grows to weigh one hundred and more pounds, and is the most valuable of the cat tribe. One hundred and fifty men near Samburg, Tennessee alone fish for a busi ness. < >ne man has caught six ty dollars worth in a day. An other caught 1250 pounds in eight nets and had fifty-two more set. Every fish caught can be sold at the landing to regular fish companies. This is David Crocketts old I county Obion. Many yarns are handed down of his exploits. Crevices in the hills arestill point ed out as bear dens that Crockett bearded bruin in. A large beech tree here has the outlines of a coon carved on it. It is not known whether it stands for David Crockett or Dead Coon. Of course he did it. The land is rather broken, but beautiful and fertile. Wheat and corn grow to | perfection whilecotton and clover: just astonish the stranger. No! fertilizer used here. Never saw or smelled any in Tennessee. Horses, mules, cows and hogs are raised largely here. I saw 21 four-horse binders at work on the road in a distance of nine miles. Five following each other in a seven hundred acre field was mighty pretty, looked like a steamboat race. This field will average 2"? bushels per acre.1 Same man made seventeen thou sand bushels last year. Threshers are drawn and operated by trac tion engines and 28,00(1 bushels per season is not unusual. They do all the work, even haul the wheat out of the field. The farm er only moves the bags of gram out of the way. I saw thousands of piles of straw (last year's) as large as the court house. Two railroads pass through here and are well equipped. One township in Obion county, ] No. 24, will not allow a negro to stop in it. If one is seen the alarm is given and he is escorted to the line and a map with the district lines put on his back for future reference and n collection They claim that he consumes and will not produce. I must sidetrack. I cannot in this limited article givedetails or touch on many things tliat I saw and enjoyed. Suffice it to say that I had a good time and only wish more could have been with me. However, in closing 1 must say that like the "old time reli gion" for Paul and Silas. John ston county "is good enough for me." ? C. S. Poweli,. Smithfield, N. C.,.June 24. You can never cure dyspepsia by dieting. What your body needs is plenty good food prop erty digested. Then if your stom ach will not digest it, Kodol Dys pepsia Cure will. It contains all of the natural digestants hence' must digest every class of food and so prepare it that naturecan use it in nourishing the body and replacing the wasted tissues, thus giving life, health, strength am bition, pure blood and good healthy appetite. Hood Pros., J. K. I>-dltetter, Hare A Son. MOW READY. A MODERN FOUNDRY AND MACHINE WORKING PLANT IN DUNN. Metal Working in all its Branches. Ten thousand feet of floor space, crammed with brand new and" ponderous machinery direct from the manufacturers. WE ARE AGENTS FOR THE FAHQUHAn, ENGINES i JL3JT3D BOILERS Of o:i Ptyki frou 1 to 6U0 h. ?rse power i ALSO Threshing Machines, Saw Mills, Etc. write for Catalogue and Prices. \11 Kinds Steam Fittings Constantly on Hand. TOBACCO FLUES. AJAj styles. Everything Guaranteed. Freight rates equalized witi/ other points. We are in ii~ Don't forget us. The John A. McKay M'?'g Co., DUNN. N. C. S. R. JWorgan, Cabinet Maker hmithfield, n. c. and Undertaker, will repair furniture and frame your pictures. Full line of Caskets and C( ffln it Men's, Ladies' and Children's Burial Kobes and Shoes. Hose, Gloves, &c. Thanks to my friends and patrons for past patronaee. Hope to serve you in future Every Business MAIN Needs printed stationery. To use plain letter paper and envelopes without his address upon them shows that he is behind the times. This no, up-to-date, hustling business man can afford to do. WHERE CAN HE GET IT? When the man of business decides that he cannot get along without printed stationery, the next question that confronts hint is "where can I get the best and neatest stationery at a reason able-price." We can answer that question for him by saving Here is the Place. With our different faces and sizes of the latest and most mod ern designs of JOB TYPE we can suit the most fastidious in PRINTING. With our large and well selected stock of paper and envel opes, (we carry one of the best and most complete stocks in? Eastern Carolina)?fro n the cheapest to the highest grades,, we are sure we can please all classes. If you want pink letter and note heads we can give them to you. If you want assorted colois in envelopes we can suit you. If you need Anything in our Line write us for samples and prices, or send us your orders direct and we guarantee to please you. We also sell BLANKS of all kinds, blank books, receipt and note l>ooks, bill files, letter file books and anything you may need in our line. WE ALSO PUBLISH The Smithfi^ld Herald^ ONE OF THE LARGEST WEEKLY PAPERS IN NORTH CAROLINA. The price is only $1 per year. We send The Herald and tbe NATIONAL MAGAZINE, Boston (price ?1 per year) both one year for Si.50. The satisfaction we have given hundreds of customers in? North and South Carolina shows that we can please. We have pleased others, why not you? IWail orders receive prompV uttehtion. Yours for buisiness, ItffiL. Beaty, Holt & Lassiter, SMITHFIELD, N. C.
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
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July 12, 1901, edition 1
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