USA > Georgia > Floyd County > Rome > A history of Rome and Floyd County, State of Georgia, United States of America; including numerous incidents of more than local interest, 1540-1922, Volume I > Part 38
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Drouth .- This section is suffering from drouth to an extent almost un- precedented. Since July 16 there has been but one little shower here, and then only one-fourth of an inch of wa- ter fell. The consequence is that all corn is greatly injured, and the late corn nearly ruined. The garden vege- tables and potato crop are nearly cut off.
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County Meeting .- A call has been published for a meeting at the City Hall in Rome on Saturday, Sept. 9, to nominate candidates for the State Con- vention at Milledgeville. The State Convention will be entrusted with the most important and vital interests of the people, and the very truest and best men should be sent from every county.
New Steamboat .- Our friends down the river and many others elsewhere will be glad to learn that fine progress is being made by H M. Anderson & Co. in constructing a new boat for the Coosa River. The boat is being built at MeArver's Ferry, and we under- stand that a portion of the machinery of the old Alfarata will be used.
Specimen Copies .- We send this number of The Courier to many of our old subscribers, in hopes that they will subscribe again. We can not fur- nish the paper on a credit.
Garrison .- The military force now stationed here is Co. C, 29th Indiana troops, Capt. Kyes commanding.
Hymeneal .- Married on the 20th inst., by Hon. Augustus R. Wright, Dr. Miller A. Wright and Miss Sallie Park, formerly of Columbia. On the 24th inst., by the Rev. Jesse Lamberth, Mr. John Holland to Mrs. S. A. Stans- bury; all of this city.
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A WAR-TIME LOTHARIO .- After having attended the Confederate Vet- erans' Reunion at Chattanooga, Curtis Green, of Oglesby, Tex., came to Rome Saturday, Oct. 29, 1921, to visit his relatives, Mrs. M. B. Eubanks and Ed A. Green; then developed a story of Civil War romance that it is the for- tune of few in a lifetime to hear or experience. Miss Sarah (Sallie) Wal- lace Howard appears as the heroine, and the meeting between the two, for the first time in 57 years, is staged at the home of R. E. Griffin, 101 West Eighth Avenue, where the circum- stances are recalled.
In May, 1864, shortly after Rome was first occupied, Gen. Wm. T. Sher- man's headquarters for the Union Ar- mny were at "Spring Bank," Bartow County, home of Capt. (Rev.) Chas. Wallace Howard, father of Miss Sallie Howard and of Miss Frances Thomas Howard, who in 1905 vividly recount- ed the family's war experience in a book entitled "In and Out of the Lines." "Spring Bank" was about midway between Kingston and "Barns- ley Gardens," the palatial estate of the Englishman, Godfrey Barnsley.
The neighborhood was alive with "Yankees," but the confusion incident to the chase after Gen. Jos. E. John- ston's stubbornly retreating columns gave Curtis Green an opportunity to come within 100 yards of Gen. Sher- man's headquarters and to speak with Miss Sallie, then a slip of a girl at 18. Mr. Green had been detailed as a spy to obtain information of Gen. Sher- man's movements, and he had boldly walked through the lines in a Union uniform, using a stretch of woodland to cover the dangerous distance be- tween his own men and the enemy.
Miss Sallie was incredulous at first, but when he told her in a decided Southern accent that he was a mem- ber of the Sixth Georgia Cavalry un- der command of Gen. Jos. Wheeler, she believed his story, and admiringly declared she was so glad to see a Con- federate soldier that she desired to make him a nice present. It was his privilege to choose what the gift should be. Quite possibly he exacted a for- feit expressive of the happiness they felt at meeting, but history must record simply the fact that he asked her to make him a suit of home-spun clothes -not a military uniform, but a habit that might serve him better in gath- ering information for his chief.
"But, little lady, we have only a minute more to talk," he warned her. "I must hurry back. If you would do your honored father and the Confed- eracy a service, you will meet me at 1 o'clock after midnight tonight in the clump of pines at the top of yonder hill. Lucky for our cause if the clouds obseure the moon!"
Miss Sallie's heart beat warm for the boys in gray. Her father was bat- tling to save the home from the in- vader. Her sisters and her mother were dyed-in-the-wool Rebels, and with all the strength at their command they had resisted the efforts of the foe. It was a perilous task but she could not be less brave than Curtis Green, for what is life without liberty and hon- or? Her smile told him she would be there, and he rushed away, as if to transact some important business at the front of the Union line.
Miss Sallie took into her confidence Miss Fannie, who was 19, and undoubt- edly "Mother" Howard knew, for they never kept anything from her. At any rate, the young ladies dressed themselves in dark waists and dark skirts. If they were caught they would probably be shot, but they might es- cape by pleading that they had ven-
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ROMANS AND "NEAR ROMANS" HERE AND THERE.
Wm. M. Hardin, Judge Harry Johnson, Chas. W. Morris, Richard Venable Mitchell and James D'Arcy; Miss Elizabeth Lanier and a group of Romans at "Oak Hill", home of Mrs. Thos. Berry; Col. Hamilton Yancey; George Rounsaville on parade; Little Miss Jean Landrum; Ernest E. Lindsey; Hughes Reynolds and W. S. Rowell in a playful argument; Wm. J. Vincent; Little Miss Patti O'Neill; a Kiwanis Club group helping to dedicate the Municipal bandstand.
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tured forth with heavy hearts, unable to sleep, to search for the body of kinsman or friend. These heavy hearts were in their slender, white throats as they approached the most advantage- ous point in the line. Sentries stalked heavily to and fro at intervals while the snores of the rank and file told that they were at peace with the world for the nonce.
By dodging behind an ammunition wagon here and a friendly tree there the girls managed to get through, and how they did fly up the hill! They had reached the clump of pines before Cur- tis Green, and they crouched low, and held their breaths; the pine needles seemed to spring up around and half to envelop them. Presently the young Confederate appeared. He was 24 and handsome. He greeted them with a warmth that reflected his admiration of their courage; pressed them to make haste; received valuable pointers on the number of Sherman's men and their disposition; bade them forewell with a promise to call presently for the suit of clothes, and bespoke the tender care of the Almighty in their return to the Howard home. The girls, having found the path one way, trod it safely again, and spelt soundly until morning.
In two days the wool for Curtis Green's suit had been carded and spun. The outfit was ready, but lo! the hero was gone. Private arrangements with fair damsels in war are one thing, and stern army commands are quite an- other. Curtis Green's unit had been ordered on a scouting expedition near State Line, between Floyd County, Ga., and Cherokee County. Ala., and here he had been cut off and captured. After a considerable stay elsewhere, he was removed Sept. 23, 1864, to a rough wooden shack in Rome which stood at the southwest corner of Sixth Avenue and West Second Street, about 150 feet north of the Floyd County jail and 200 feet east of the Oostanaula River. A drum-head courtmartial had found him guilty of espionage and he had been sentenced to be shot Oct. 4 at sunrise.
The prison was a rudely-improvised affair, either with a loose-plank floor- ing or a flooring of native earth. It contained a number of other prisoners whose capture had greatly increased their docility, and who did not become actively interested-at least not for themselves-in Green's plan to escape. The prisoners were mustered and counted every hour during daylight, so Green was forced to do his digging quickly.
On the night before his execution was to take place, he was singing that old familiar Confederate air, "The Bon- nie Blue Flag:"
"We are a band of brothers, And native to the soil,
Fighting for our liberty With treasure, blood and toil.
And when our rights were threatened The cry rose near and far:
'Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag That bears a single star!' Chorus :
"Hurrah, hurrah, for Southern rights -hurrah !
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag That bears a single star!"
The corporal of the guard remarked that he would be singing a different tune at daybreak and asked if he had any request or statement to make. The fiery "Rebel" lit into the petty officer with a volley of vituperative abuse of the Union army and cause. Then he went about his digging, and by mid- night or shortly after had scooped out with hands and an old soup spoon enough earth to permit of his crawling to freedom. It is only fair to his com- panions to say that they assisted him with the excavation, and as he was about to make his getaway, snored loud enough to prevent the scraping of his brass buttons against the sill of the jail from being heard outside. A miserable gas lamp at the corner flickered and sputtered; it shed a dim glow about the front of the prison and the sentry box, and cast a comforting shadow down a gulch that led to the Oostanaula River. Through this de- pression the escaped spy ran, tripped and rolled. He was greatly handi- capped because they had handcuffed him in front, but liberty was sweet, and when he reached the river he slid into it and began to swim as best he could, kicking hard with his feet, working his hands together in a side- wise position, and occasionally turning over on his back and churning the wa- ter with his feet like the paddle wheel of a steamboat. His escape was soon detected, and the firing of muskets let Gen. Jefferson C. Davis' garrison know something unusual had happened.
When Mr. Green came to Cave Spring at 17 years of age he began swimming regularly in Big and Little Cedar Creeks; he possessed a strong and clever stroke; and he was so fa- miliar with Rome that instead of merely crossing the river and landing at the other side, as his guards be-
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lieved he would do, he set out for Black's Bluff, three miles down the Coosa, which in this day and time is considered a fair distance for a swim- mer to make with hands free. Here and there he could touch bottom, or he would snake himself on a half sub- merged log and admire the stars. Fi- nally, after several tedious hours, he reached the bluff, where he knew there were Confederate seouts or natives, and with the aid of a bit of soap sup- plied by a farmwife, slipped off the manacles from his wrists.
In the meantime, Miss Sallie How- ard had been wonderng what could have happened to Curtis Green, and had been keeping the home-spun suit beyond any "Yankee" reach. Eventu- ally her father received a serious wound and was paroled to Athens, and Miss Sallie went there to attend him, charging her good mother that if the Confederate trooper returned, the suit should be delivered to him. One day a dust-covered traveler in a tattered gray uniform rode up on a limping horse. He had surrendered with the Sixth Ga. Inf. in North Carolina and was on his way to Texas, to grow up with the "new country." He was very sorry indeed that pretty Miss Sallie was absent, but said he with a note of hope in his voice, it would be some consolation in view of the eventuali- ties of 1865 if he could take with him the substantial garments she had made with her own hands the year before. It was Curtis Green.
"God bless you, Mrs. Howard!" he cried as he mounted his steed and started for the Etowah ford; "and may your halls and lawn never again be defiled with such a motley throng! I'll keep this suit as long as nature will spare it; and I'll save these hand- cuffs to remind me of a pleasant voy- age around Rome!"
SAM P. JONES AT ROME .- When Sam Jones was 9 his mother died and his father married Jessie Skinner; and in 1859 they went to live at Carters- ville. The young man was being pre- pared for college, but he developed a wild streak, started drinking heavily and by 21 had practically wrecked his health. Straightening up for a time, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but never carried his practice far. His devoted father died in 1878 and Sam promised him on his death- bed to reform. His experiences had not broken his spirit and he saw in them an opportunity to benefit his fel- low men. A week after his father's
death he preached his first sermon at New Hope church, two miles from Car- tersville. His first appointment was to Van Wert circuit, where he served three years until 1875, when he was assigned to the DeSoto (Rome) Cir- cuit as pastor of the Second Methodist (now Trinity) church and six small churches through the county, includ- ing Prospect Methodist at Coosa. He built his church in the Fourth Ward; when Trinity Methodist was erected, the old structure was moved to 402 W. Fifth Avenue, next door to the Second Christian church, and was con- verted into a dwelling. It is standing today. He and his wife occupied the lower story of 733 Avenue A, south- west corner of W. Tenth Street, now the home of Varnell Chambers.
Mr. Jones continued to fight the devil and also to tamper with the devil's firewater. He was not sensitive to the extent of excluding his own shortcom- ings from: his pulpit diseourses, and often told of this harrowing experience and that, and warned young men to go the other way. Rome was a wide- open barroom town, so Mr. Jones found many human wrecks to shoot at, and an occasional door that swung open for himself. On one occasion the Fourth Ward brethren discovered Mr. Jones unable to proceed with his du- ties and they wired Rev. Thos. F. Pierce, presiding elder of the district, asking what to do. Dr. Pierce wired, "Tell him to go to preaching." He went to preaching and recovered his mental and physical equilibrium. His lodge brethren expelled him from membership, but years later when his reformation was complete and fame erowned his brow like a benediction he accepted reinstatement with the grace of a prince.
His first revival work was done at the First Methodist church (where the Candler Building now stands) in At- lanta, with Rev. Clement A. Evans, who had previously, in 1879, filled the pulpit of the First Methodist at Rome, but it was not until January, 1883, at Memphis, that his fame began to grow, as thousands hit the "sawdust trail." Thereafter he preached all over the United States and converted countless sinners. It is estimated that he ad- dressed 1,000,000 people a year. Every now and then he would come back to Rome. The South Broad Methodist church sponsored his visit in 1897 and received its share of the proceeds of the collection. No church in Rome was large enough to hold the crowd, so the Howel cotton warehouse was selected.
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Romans will not soon forget his pow- erful arraignment of Satan and his works.
"Shams and the Genuine" was his subject on this occasion.
Several years before this Mr. Jones had come to Rome to conduct a two weeks' revival. On the very first night he painted a glowing picture of the sins of the community. Judge Jno. W. Maddox happened to be presiding officer of the Superior Court at the time, and when he read of Sam Jones' castigations on Rome and Floyd Coun- ty he laid the matter before the grand jury, with the demand that Mr. Jones be made to appear and prove his charges. The evangelist cut his Rome engagement short. He explained later that he was dealing in generalities which he knew to be true, whether he could prove them or not.
The story is told that one Saturday Mr. Jones left Rome to fill the pulpit at Prospect church, Coosa. There was narrow gauge railroad known as a the Rome & Jacksonville, which was "limited" to the Rome-Coosa region and at the latter point "quit." Mr. Jones drove horse and buggy along the railroad for several miles, mutter- ing that if a train could run on such a track, with the help of the Almighty HE certainly could, and his mare could hit the crossties like the devil in the ten-pin alley of irresolute souls.
Mr. Jones was fond of telling stories incident to his travels. His favorite was the following from an old-time darkey, a compliment he always said was the highest he had ever received:
"Well, Brudder Jones, you sholy does preach like a nigger! You may have a white skin, but I tell you, sir, you has a big black heart!"
Mr. Jones' churchmen and neigh- bors at Cartersville were accustomed to gather yearly to celebrate his birth- day. They had made elaborate prepa- rations in 1906 to welcome him home from a swing through the west. He died Oct. 15, of that year while his train sped homeward, a day before the event, and the rejoicing was turned into a funeral dirge. The brave heart, the massive brain had worn themselves out in the strenuous effort to pilot sin- ful humanity through the heavenly gates.
*
RAZZING MR. GRADY .- Captain Dwinell reproduced the following squib in The Courier of Nov. 26, 1869, and added a touch of his own:
"'Gloria Mundi-which, being inter-
preted, might mean that Rome is to have glory on Monday, the 22d inst., from "G. G. Grady's old-fashioned cir- cus." As there seems to be à consid- erable number of the Grady family connected with this saw-dust enter- tainment, we beg leave to inquire if the immortal "six" or the prolific "King Hans," concerning which a vast amount of inky tears have been shed, have been retained. If not, the pro- prietor has lost a trump card .- Au- gusta Constitutionalist.'
"Our junior is attending the fair at Macon, and since he is well known as a Hans-ome man, is doubtless think- ing more of diamond than of sawdust rings. As to the 'immortal six,' they may be tumbling around somewhere but whether it is 'ground' or 'lofty' tumbling we are not advised."
* * ONE WAY TO MAKE MONEY .- "Skinning a flea for his hide and tal- low" was a
popular occupation throughout the South after the Civil War. There was little to eat and lit- tle money. Along came Zachariah B. Hargrove, Jr., in 1869 as mayor, and decided on an easy way to relieve the local money shortage.
"Hell," exclaimed 'Little Zach" with
SAM P. JONES, evangelist, who built a Meth- odist Church in Rome and became its pastor, later removing to Cartersville.
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characteristic directness, "I'll PRINT some money!"
And he did. An expert engraver was hired, and before he had ceased his operations he had ground out $50,- 000, which was considered sufficient. About the time the last $1,000 was being spent to "ease things," word came from the Treasury Department informing the Rome mayor that the money printing monopoly was located in Washington. After cussing out the "troublesome Yankees," "Little Zach" reluctantly called the money in. Now and then a bill that didn't get caught in the call bobs up and is stuck in a scrap book as a precious relic of those palmy printing press days. * *
A PLEASANT HOUSE PARTY .- All kinds of entertainments were en- joyed by the guests of a house party at the F. M. Freeman home at Free- man's Ferry in 1898. A lawn party there, a band-wagon ride to Mobley Park for an evening theatrical per- formance and dance following, a swell supper at the Armstrong, then the ride by moonlight back to the banks of the gurgling Etowah, formed part of the entertainment
Among the guests were Mrs. J. G. Blount, chaperon; Misses Lou Flem- ing, Edith Carver, Julia and Edith Smith, Mary Berry, Hazel Adkins, Ce- leste Ayer, Clara and Ella Johnson, Laura Jones, Orie Best, Mayme Hud- gins, Lillian Hurt, Susie Freeman, Lil- lian Lochrane and "Merrimac" Arnold, and Messrs Harry Patton, W. Addi- son Knowles, Bernard Hale, Walter Ross, Sproull Fouche, Waring Best, Oscar H. McWilliams, Langdon Gam- mon, Dr. Wm. J. Shaw, Griff Sproull, Sam Hardin, J. A. Blount, John M. and Tom Berry, Nick Ayer, Paul Jones, Horace Johnson, Julian Hurt, R. S. Best, Wm. McWilliams and Hor- ace King.
WROTE WHAT HE THOUGHT .- "Nathan Yarbrough, former mayor, was sheriff in 1866-7," says Judge Joel Branham's booklet, "The Old Court House in Rome," (p. 65). "He was a stout, broad-shouldered, red- headed man, abrupt in manner, firm and fearless in conduct and opinion. He moved to Texas many years ago, and died there. His docket shows these characteristic entries :
J. J. Cohen Admr. Vs. J. L. Ellis Judgt. 1866, $22.50.
"Cost paid to J. M. Langston, clerk. Principal and interest of this fi. fa. paid by me at the request of the de- fendant. He has kept me out of this money two years by lying, and then swindled me out of $10 by lying. Fi. fa. given to him satisfied."-Docket, p. 4.
Robt. T. McCay Vs. A. M. Kerr
$93.87 and cost. Nov. 13, 1859. Nulla bona.
"Bad eggs. Both gone up the spout. Kerr has since come to life, and like a good many of us, is kicking to make a living, but can't pay old debts. Let them go with the past. Feb. 3, 1860." -Docket, p. 40.
Magnus & Wise Vs. J. J. Skinner $178 and cost.
"Joe may come to it after a while, but the Radicals have released him. April 13, 1867."-Docket, p. 45.
*
JUDGE BRANHAM ON OLD TIMES .- The Rome News of Oct. 3, 1921, carried the following reminis- cences from the late Judge Joel Bran- ham:
"The first time I ever saw the city of Rome was in April, 1861, and again on the 20th day of that month. The population then, I suppose, was about 3,500. Sam Stewart was the marshal and had been for several years, and he ruled the discordant elements of the city successfully. He had no pistol. He carried a gold headed cane. When he said stop, they stopped. I wish we had his like again.
"I came from Kingston to Rome on the Rome railroad, then the only rail- road to this city. The track was laid on stringers with bar iron little thicker than the iron tire that goes around a wagon wheel. Holes were punched in the iron and it was spiked down on the stringers. Such a thing as a "T" rail was unknown. The depot stood where the Stamps wholesale fruit house now stands on the north side of Broad Street. The cars con- sisted of a little engine which burned wood, a baggage car, a passenger car with side seats such as is used on street railroads. The passengers faced one another in this little car. The depot building was as long as the train and no cars stood across Broad Street. Wade S. Cothran was the president. He was a man of magnificent mind,
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the most progressive citizen of the city of Rome, and a man of strict hon- esty. C. M. Pennington, whose house stood where the Country Club now stands, was the superintendent.
"The Shorter block between Broad, Second Avenue and the river was all vacant property except the depot building referred to. It was seven feet below the present grade.
"The Etowah Hotel stood on that parcel of ground now embraced by the Norton Drug Store and all the buildings down to and including the Rome Hardware Store and extended back from Broad Street of the same width to East First Street. The hotel was a wooden building, three stories, with a veranda around it and stood back from Broad Street. I stopped there when I came to Rome to. be married on the 20th of April, 1861. It was kept by Geo. S. Black.
"The block between First and Sec- ond Avenue, East First and East Sec- ond Streets was vacant, and it was also vacant when I moved to Rome in January, 1867. I had a barley patch where the Cooper warehouse now stands and my cow grazed in that bar- ley patch.
"The block on which I now live, 264x 400, was vacant except for my resi- dence, then a six-room house, four rooms on the first floor and two above, and a little old dwelling on the extreme corner opposite the Methodist church. In the middle of this block where the Rounsaville warehouse now stands there was a pond of stagnant and green water. In the summer time the frogs croaked their 'jug-o'-rum,' 'jug-o'-rum, 'jug-o'-rum,' article which we do not now have in that neighborhood.
"Asahel R. Smith, father of Bill Arp, my partner, resided on the lot where the Methodist church now stands.
"The town was originally built on 245, 23rd and 3rd; 276 belonged to Alfred Shorter. It contained the old farm house, a log building in the cen- ter of the north half of the block lying between Third and Fourth Ave- nues and East Second and East Third Streets. Only the farm house and the residence of P. M. Sheibley was on that block. There were no other houses on it.
"Maj. Chas. H. Smith's home em- braced all the territory lying between Fourth Avenue, Shorter College alley and East Third and East Fourth Streets. Mrs. Charlie Hight's resi-
dence and a number of other residences are now on this property.
"I came through the country from Milner, Ga., with a friend of mine in a buggy in February, 1865. He brought $10,000 buckled around his waist; I had $12,000. We came here to buy land; we didn't buy it; we still have our money. We crossed on a ferry boat. There was not a man to be seen on Broad Street. The town was desolate.
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