The birth of a rivalry

“On the completion of the school building they secured the services of M.V. Looney and his wife, Miss Acheah. They were the best-known educators in East Texas at that time and indeed were a drawing card. As an evidence, students came to them from Rusk County and from other points, some as far as Georgia.

“Rev. John E. Jones who opened a business in Atlanta the fall of 1875 was a good man. Everyone had the utmost confidence in him. He consoled the Atlanta people by a prophecy, though it was made to a degree passionately. Some of Queen City’s boosters approached him with a proposition to move his business to Queen City. He told them he would not and that the Queen City project was conceived in sin and born in inequity and no good would ever come of it. This remark has no reference to any of Queen City’s present citizenship for none of them had any part or parcel in founding the town but have moved there later on.”

Because of this statement and others he made in this article, Willis created an outburst of indignation from the 1916 residents of Queen City. He then published a lengthy apology to them in the Citizens Journal. Other apologies also were published from the editor of the Journal and from a large group of Atlanta businessmen. Following these apologies, a reconciliation between the two towns was arrived at, and they lived on in harmonious proximity. T.R.A. Willis’ great-grandson, Lupton Willis, served as mayor of Queen City in the latter half of the 20th century.

To resume with Willis’ narration: “Anyhow, Queen City flourished quite a number of years like a green bay tree while Atlanta struggled hard to keep in the race. Queen City merchants, at least some of them, would put out reports for the injury of Atlanta, such as smallpox was raging in Atlanta when the facts were there was only one suspected case. They would put out the report that horses were dying in Atlanta with pinkeye and would magnify and herald these reports all over the country. Of course, the farmers did not want to expose themselves or their stock, so they would go around Atlanta to Queen City.

“About this time one Crockett Boone came to Atlanta and established the first newspaper. He was wild and wooly, but he was true to his town. He could write scathingly and sarcastically.

“From some cause Henry Stuckey of Queen City became offended at some of his competitors. The town had only one public cotton weigher, and to get even, Stuckey bought a pair of cotton scales and began to weigh all of his customers’ cotton, giving out the impression he was doing it was a protection to the farmer. This caused Queen City to lose hundreds of bales of cotton which came to Atlanta, as Atlanta was at least giving good rising weight. That was the starting point of Queen City’s undoing.

“At this juncture Crockett Boone got his cue and what he said through his paper was a plenty. He advised the farmers of the short weight they were getting at Queen City and cited as evidence that one of their leading merchants had to buy cotton scales and do his own weighing as a protection for his own customers.

“Stuckey made enemies of all his home merchants, but oh, how Atlanta squirmed to keep down a broad grin. Things began to come Atlanta’s way. Queen City succeeded in getting the Lone Star Lumber Company to move their mill from Lanark to their town, and other milling interests also opened up there.

“Queen City and its milling interests began to build a narrow gauge railroad east to get into the pine timber in Arkansas and Louisiana. It was a promising stroke, though poorly guarded, as the sequel will prove. Queen City rested on its oars, feeling secure. But Atlanta was busy. A few of her leading men quietly organized a stock company with considerable capital and bought up and took options on vast amounts of timber all over that country.

“The Queen City Road had been run out some five or six miles. When they cut out the timber that far and fixed to move, they found to their consternation they had been checkmated and were forced to allow the Atlanta people to tap their road just east of their town. When this was done, two large sawmills with separate planers established themselves in the northeast part of Atlanta about where T.A.&L. Railway [the dummy railroad] “Y” is and about where the jug factory is now located [this is the present site of the new city ballpark]. Of course, Queen City mills could buy none of Atlanta’s timber. It was not long before they had to pull up and leave.”