Cass County Tidbits of Interest
In reading the old newspapers, you sometimes come across articles – or just sentences, in some cases – that seem foreign to this day and age. Sometimes it’s an ad that catches the eye. For instance, most people didn’t own the $800 Studebaker as advertised in an August 1, 1912 issue of the Journal. They didn’t have that kind of money, but they could afford the Graham wagon that B.F. Ellington and Co. advertised as far back as 1905.
In a 1979 Journal, Josh Granberry of Douglassville says it was an oddity to see a car, so much so that he would hear one coming and hitch up his mule to go see it. “I’d run a half mile to see a car pass.”
These following snippets offer glances of Atlanta from times gone by.
Thar’s Gold in Them Thar Hills
Petty’s Gap, near Cusseta, was a pass between two mountains in the old trace (Trammel’s Trace) and there’s a story told somewhere through the years that has something to do with an outlaw that was shot here. One story circulated far and wide – that was about gold buried along the trace. For years people annoyed landowners in the Cornett community by digging up the land in a search for buried gold.
Riverboats in Bryan’s Mill?
A New Orleans newspaper recorded in its riverboat column in 1853: The “Little Julia” made a trip to Epperson’s Ferry on the Sulpher River, bringing out 358 bales of cotton. The arrival of the steamer, besides giving great satisfaction to the dwellers on the banks of the river caused them to feel repaid for the labor and expense in improving the steamer.
An Interesting Recollection
In a 1977 Journal article, W.B. Spearman recalled:
He said that he once played marbles on the big depot roof with Bill Hughes, Dan Coulter, Ray Roberts, Melbourn Oden, Lee Clements, Abe Mays and Houston Edwards. “In World War One, they had Liberty Bond rallies in front of the depot,” he said. “There was a Methodist minister, E.A. Maness, who was a red-blooded patriotic American who would speak at the depot to get people to buy war savings stamps and Liberty Bonds.”
Spearman recalled that after the WWI armistice was signed in 1918, at 3:30 in the morning, anvils were shot just down from the depot and they made “the most tremendous noise I’d ever heard.”
In 1954, the late Leamon Holt of Atlanta was working as a station porter in the old depot when he and other depot employees were moved to quonset huts to carry on their business while the old building was updated into the present attractive brick structure that it is today.
“Up until the time it was renovated, the waiting rooms were heated by the old black pot-bellied stoves and we had to tote coal from a bin upstairs down to the rooms,” Holt recalled.
During renovation a partition that separated white and colored was removed, as was the ticket window that had to be propped upon with a stick.“
The waiting room became one big room and the ticket agent worked at a large open window where he could fold doors and lock the window at night,” he said.
In 1954 a dedication service was held at the depot with Mayor F.P. Ellis accepting the station from the T&P for the citizens of Atlanta.
Gradually passenger service diminished until Mrs. Mildred Newkirk’s kindergarten class took the last passenger ride out of Atlanta to Texarkana for a picnic in 1973.
As indicated by a March 3, 1977 Journal, the Missouri Pacific Railroad (Mo-Pac) began steps to make the Atlanta depot a non-agency facility. The city of Atlanta officially protested the move.
April 6, 1978. A story in the Journal told of Mo Pac’s removal of Atlanta’s lone drayman of seven years, Earl Ray Shelby.
The Citizen’s Journal Oct 26, 1905 Mayor Daniel’s big gray horse ran away with the buggy Sunday evening, and tore the buggy to pieces, leaving only a piece in a place down the street. Jeff had got out of the buggy in front of the post office to get his mail, and horse became frightened at something and left on quick time.
The Citizen’s Journal April 18, 1918
Mrs. Bud Whetstone of Bloomburg was seriously hurt Wednesday at noon as she and Mrs Hooper were coming to Atlanta. The team became unruly near the residence of Henry Arnold and as they were turning the corner there one of the wheels of the hack gave way throwing Mrs. Whetstone out and dragging her about 50 feet, breaking her jaw bone and inflicting several flesh wounds. She was carried to Texarkana on the No. 6 for further treatment.
The Citizen’s Journal 1910
The No. 3 turned over five coaches just this side of Little Cypress west of Jefferson Monday morning. Few of the passengers received bruises, but nothing dangerous and there was no delay in trains.
The Citizens Journal 1905
Noah Porter was driving a log wagon for John Rogers’ mill in Huffines. The mules ran away Monday evening and Noah’s foot hung in the stirrup and he was dragged some distance before getting loose and then the wagon ran across his legs breaking one below the knee. Dr. McClung says he was doing nicely when he left him.
The Citizens Journal, August 1894
Two trains of the T&P Cannon Ball - one going north, one south, collided on a curve near Springdale demolishing five or six cars of each train, killing 14 people and seriously wounding 30 more.
Porters Livery Stables located on the same block as the present day Flower and Gift Mart in Atlanta and Griffin’s and Frame’s in Bloomburg.
Cheap Whiskey
The Annex Saloon has on hand 1,900 gallons of Whiskey which Chess Mays and Charlie Power will sell you cheap during the Holidays. Whiskies, Brandies and Wines of all kinds kept at the Annex saloon cheap for cash. Give them a call when you are in Atlanta.
1960s Dance Contest
Each high school in the Marion-Cass Soil Conservation District will have one couple representing their school in the dance contest June 11 at the Atlanta High School Football Stadium.
Richard Bowden, Jerry Surratt, Don Henley and Freddie Neese, the Four Speeds, will furnish the music for the latest in teenage dancing. The contest will start at 7 p.m. Tommy Lavin will be the Master of Ceremonies. Dorothy Fouche’s School of Dancing will furnish the judges.
This contest is an added attraction to the 13th Annual Conservation Queen’s Contest. With 43 beautiful girls a parade and many outstanding personalities an evening of entertainment is in store for all who attend.
Atlanta, the host city, is going all out to see that everyone has a gala time. There will be a parade, dance contest and the 13th Annual Conservation Queen’s Contest. The Parade will be at 6 p.m., Dance Contest at 7 p.m., Lt. Gov. Preston Smith at 7:45 p.m. and the Queen’s Contest at 8:15 p.m.
Electric Fire Started in Electric Company Office
(From a 1972 Citizen’s Journal) On December 23, 1945, the largest fire in the history of Atlanta occurred. It started from a short in the electrical wiring at the Atlanta Electric Company’s office on the corner of Main and East Front Streets in Atlanta. The fire soon spread and before it was extinguished, destroyed 11 businesses and damaged a number of others.
Businesses which were destroyed in the fire included the Texas Coffee Shop, Fouche Barbershop, Atlanta Electric Company, Crow Drug Store, Liverman’s Café, Bedgood Brothers Barbershop, Mrs. McAdams’ Beauty Shop, Lloyd Nelson’s Plumbing Shop, G.C. Pynes Jewelry Store, A.H. O’Kelley’s Grocery and Crabbe Furniture Store.
The fire was fought by five fire departments in addition to the Atlanta volunteers. These included departments from Texarkana, Linden, Jefferson, Vivian, La., and Lone Star Ordinance Plant. After the fire, Atlanta rebuilt and growth continued.
In 1951, Mayor F. P. Ellis offered the job of the city’s fire chief to Dan Davison, a 19-year veteran of the Nacogdoches fire department. It was the first full-time paid position ever created in the local department.
Prior to that time, the city owned only one truck, a 1934 pumper, operated by a man named Chubby Blalock. He was known as the city’s one-man fire department.