USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 44
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a young trader from Kentucky was taken and hung, and the pub- lication of his letters to his wife, later, proved that there was not the slightest cause for the outrage." Foote made a desperate but vain attempt to save the life of a mulatto boy who had been the sole support of his master's widow and child. Patrick L. Sharkey, a kinsman of the chief justice, and himself a magistrate, was at- tacked by a mob because he discharged an intended victim, and was badly wounded, but fled from Madison county, and obtained the protection of the Hinds county committee. Such is Foote's version of the episode.
In the Mississippi Archives is a phamplet printed at Jackson in 1835, being a narrative prepared by Thomas Shackleford in behalf of the committee of citizens of Madison county, at Livingston. It appears that a rumor was afloat in that county in June, that an insurrection was meditated, which was found to emanate from a lady who had overheard her colored girls talking rebelliously. Her son told one of them she had been overheard and must confess, and thereupon she told a story a black man told her, that there was to be a rising soon to kill all the whites. Consequently there was a meeting of the citizens, presided over by Col. H. D. Runnels, and hints were collected which led to the severe whipping of a number of negroes by their masters, and additional confessions. From this the excitement grew until five negroes were examined and hung at Beattie's Bluff, after accounts of the proposed insur- rection on July 4 were elicited from them. On July 3 there was a great meeting at Livingston and a committee was appointed, which proceeded to try all persons accused. The list of white men exe- cuted on confession, or negro testimony, or circumstantial evidence, were Joshua Cotton, a steam doctor from Tennessee, who made a confession that he was one of the grand council of Murel's gang, and that the statements of Stewart's book were correct; William Saunders, also of Tennessee, a friend of Cotton's; Albe Dean, a. Mississippian of two years' residence from Connecticut, who was hung on the word of Cotton and Saunders; A. L. Donovan, of Maysville, Ky., who was apparently a contraband trader with the negroes, and was accused of being an abolitionist; Ruel Blake, implicated by Cotton; Lee Smith of Hinds county, from Tennes- see, implicated by Cotton; William Benson, who had worked for Blake; William Earle, of Warren county, being taken committed suicide; John Earle, who made a confession was turned over to the committee at Vicksburg. A visitor from Natchez wrote home July 14 that five white men and twelve negroes had been hung in Madison county. Such was the panic that his letter was opened by the postmaster and he was put under surveillance as a spy or accomplice of the gang. There is no doubt that the State at this time was overrun with highway robbers, negro-stealers, and Black legs, of which organization Murel was a member; that some abnormal people were impelled to foment insurrection by the doctrines of abolition, as others have from time to time been im- pelled to assassination by political and religious doctrines. The
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combination of circumstances and the general agitation of the period all over the world, serve to explain this Mississippi phe- nomenon, that Foote's account hardly does justice. But the license of the regulators brought evils in its train.
The Jackson Freetrader said in August 1836: "Another bloody affray, is a sound which often greets our ears. The affair at Vicks- burg, the affair at. Manchester, the affair at Rodney, other places, and lastly a most horrid affair at Fayette, have followed each other in quick succession, as to make every friend to law and order shudder, lest an entire destruction of rational liberty should be the consequence of these repeated violations of law." The same paper declared that a man paraded the streets of Jackson two days early in December, 1835, armed with a fowling piece, sundry pistols and a bowie knife, threatening to assassinate Gov- ernor Runnels, without molestation.
The Natchez Courier and Journal, March 3, 1837, complained : "The papers in the city of New York seem to delight in nothing better than when any little fracas happens in any of the Southern 'States, to announce in glorious capitals, "More Riots in Missis- sippi," "More Lynching at the South."
Pannell, a postoffice of Pontotoc county, 8 miles southwest of Pontotoc, the county seat.
Panola, an extinct town of Panola county, situated on the south side of the Tallahatchie river about a mile from the present town of Batesville. It was long engaged in a spirited contest with the rival town of Belmont (q. v.) over the location of the county seat, and finally won. It was a flourishing town during the 40's, but when the Mississippi & Tennessee railroad (now the Illinois Cen- tral) was built and avoided the town, its buildings were nearly all placed on rollers and moved to Batesville, about a mile distant, on the railroad. The historic old courthouse building and the jail were left behind. The courthouse was a brick structure and has been transformed into a fine modern residence. Panola was incor- porated by the Legislature in 1839.
Panola County was established February 9, 1836,and is one of the twelve large northern counties created in that year out of the lands ceded by the Chickasaws, in the treaty of Pontotoc, Oct. 20, 1832. The county has a land surface of 699 square miles. The original act defined its limits as follows: "Beginning at the point where the line between ranges 9 and 10 strikes the center of section 6, and running thence south with the said range line, and from its termination in a direct line to the northern boundary of Talla- hatchie county, and thence along the northern boundary of Talla- hatchie and Yalobusha counties, to the center of range 5 west ; thence north through the center of range 5 west, according to the sectional lines, to the center of township six; thence west through the center of township six, according to the sectional lines, to the beginning." Its original area was 21 townships, or 756 square miles. February 1, 1877, when Quitman county was created, it surrendered a small fraction of its southwestern area to assist in
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forming that county (See Quitman.) Besancon's Register for 1838, gives the list of county officers as follows: Aaron Botts, Judge of Probate; David Boyd, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Garland G. Nelson, Probate Clerk, Geo. P. Anderson, Sheriff; J. T. Bate- man, Surveyor; Jas. M. Rayburn, Assessor and Collector; Jas. Keith, Treasurer; Wm. Boyles, Ranger; Harry Osteen, Coroner ; John Allison, Vincent Adams, Thomas H. Williams, Geo. W. Redman, Wm. Robertson, Members of the Board of Police. John Rayburn, Thos. B. Hill, David Mckinney, R. M. Childress and Anthony B. Foster were early members of the Legislature from the county. The name "Panola" is an Indian word signifying "cot- ton" and the fertile valleys of this region are indeed as productive of that staple crop as any part of the State. Situated in the north- western part of Mississippi, the county is bounded on the north by Tate county, on the east by Lafayette county, on the south by Yalobusha and Tallahatchie counties and on the west by Quitman county. The old boundary line between the Choctaw and Chicka- saw cessions cuts the southwestern corner. It is a healthful, fer- tile, well watered and prosperous region and has attracted a large number of settlers from other states, especially during the last decade. Two of the oldest settlements in the county were at Bel- mont and Panola, a few miles apart, and on opposite sides of the Tallahatchie river. For several years there was a spirited contest between these two towns over the location of the court house of Panola county. With the advent of the Mississippi and Tennessee (now the Illinois Central R. R.) Belmont was absorbed by Sardis, and Panola was absorbed by Batesville. One result of the above contest is found in the two judicial districts of the county, Sardis being the seat of justice for the first judicial district, and Bates- ville for the second judicial district into which the county is now divided. Sardis is a thriving town of 2,000 people on the I. C. R. R., possessing several small manufacturing establishments and is the center of a good trade from the rich agricultural section surround- ing it. Batesville is also on the railroad a few miles south and has a population of 750, is the market town for a considerable region about it and has important shipping and manufacturing interests. Como Depot is in the northern part of the county on the line of the railroad, has 650 inhabitants and is a rapidly growing and prosper-
ous town. Crenshaw, Pope Depot, and Courtland are a few of the other towns of importance. Besides the I. C. R. R., which runs north and south through the center of the county, there is a short branch road from Sardis extending 22 miles west, and known as the Sardis & Delta R. R. The region is well supplied with water by the Tallahatchie and Yocona rivers and their tributary creeks, and the water power in the eastern part is especially good. The valleys comprise about one-half the county and are very fertile, with a soil of rich, dark loam. The balance of the county is undu- lating uplands, interspersed with rich creek bottoms. On the western side occurs a line of bluffs, a continuation of the lower bluff formation of Mississippi. The soil produces abundant crops
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of cotton, corn, small grains of all kinds, sorghum, millet, potatoes and a great variety of the fruits and vegetables common to the latitude. The timber is quite extensive and consists of all kinds of oaks, ash, beech, hickory, poplar, gum, walnut, cherry, locust and cypress. The live stock industry is very large and in a thriving condition, being valued at nearly $1,000,000 by the last census re- turns.
The following statistics, taken from the twelfth census for 1900, relate to farms, manufactures and population. Number of farms 4,744, acreage in farms 333,015, acres improved 187,182, value of the land exclusive of buildings $2,244,980, value of the buildings $744,170, value of live stock $955,150, total value of products not fed $1,794,735. Number of manufacturing establishments 85, cap- ital invested $129,970, wages paid $16,891, cost of materials $49,- 086, total value of products $118,165. The population in 1900 was whites 9,661, colored 19,366, total 29,027, increase in last decade 3,050. The total population in 1906 was estimated at 31,000. Among the pioneers of the county were Col. W. B. Johnson, Joshua S. Fletcher, Dr. Mosley, Dr. Freeman Irbey, N. R. Sledge, Monroe Pointer, Anthony Foster, J. F. Lavender, Capt. E. S. Walton, Rus- sell A. Jones one of the first white settlers in Panola county, and Daniel B. Killebrew, who taught the first school in Sardis. The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in Panola county in 1905 was $4,324,914.51 and in 1906 it was $5,453,139.83 which shows an increase of $1,128,225.32 during the year.
Pansy, a postoffice of Attala county, 16 miles east of Kosciusko, the county seat.
Panther Burn, a station on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., in the northwestern part of Sharkey county, about 12 miles north of Rolling Fork, the county seat and nearest banking town. It has a money order postoffice, and one large mercantile establish- ment.
Panton, William, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, emi- grated to America, and before the Revolution acquired property in South Carolina and Georgia. When the war cut off the Indian trade of Savannah and Charleston, and drove the sympathizers with England to the Floridas, Panton established himself at Pensa- cola, where the British were in possession until 1781. He became the particular friend and agent of Col. Brown, who succeeded Col. Stuart as British superintendent of the Four nations, and the presents of the British government passed through his hands, giving him the opportunity to supply the Indians with such other goods as they desired. He was also agent for the officers of Brown's regiment of Florida rangers, of whom several, as high in rank as captain, were Cherokee half breeds. He established a business house at Pensacola, with John Forbes and John Leslie as his partners. After the Spanish conquest, he adapted himself to the situation, and through a compact with Alexander McGilli- vray, chief of the Creek nation, and with the Spanish authorities, Panton, Leslie & Co. became the agents of Spain in dealing with
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not only the Creeks, but the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees. They moved both the Indians and the Spanish governors in the interests of their business and were the most important feature of the Spanish dominion. Their prices for skins and goods were fixed to meet American competition from Charleston and Savan- nah. Their packhorses carried goods and their traders influenced the red men from the Ohio river to the gulf. The first cessions of land by the Choctaws and Chickasaws were made in order to pay their debts to Panton, Leslie & Co.
The main business depot was at Pensacola, with branches at Mobile, Chickasaw Bluffs, St. Marks and other points in East Florida. The Mobile house exerted great influence over the In- dians of the region now Mississippi state. William Panton died at Pensacola in 1804, and after that the business went into the hands of John and James Innerarity, mainly. But the business went down after the United States took possession of the Missis- sippi territory.
Parchman, a postoffice of Sunflower county, on the Yazoo & Mis- sissippi Valley R. R., about 35 miles north of Indianola, the county seat. Ruleville station, 14 miles to the south, is the nearest bank- ing town. Population in 1900, 23.
Pardue, a postoffice in the eastern part of Prentiss county, about 15 miles from Booneville, the county seat, and the nearest rail- road and banking town.
Paris, an incorporated post-hamlet in the southern part of La- fayette county, 11 miles east of Water Valley, the nearest rail- road and banking town. It has two churches and a tannery. Pop- ulation in 1900, 105.
Parkersburg, a hamlet of Chickasaw county, 5 miles northeast of Houston, the county seat. Population in 1900, 20. It has rural mail service from Houston.
Parks, a hamlet of Union county, 7 miles east of New Albany, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. Popula- tion in 1900, 58.
Parksplace, a post-hamlet in the northeastern part of Panola county, about 10 miles from Sardis, one of the seats of justice. Como is the nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 75.
Pascagoula, which name recently was given to an incorporation including Scranton, is now the capital of Jackson county. It is a port of entry and a manufacturing and lumbering city on the L. & N. Ry., 40 miles southwest of Mobile, and is situated on the Gulf. The word Pascagoula means "bread nation", and was the name of the tribe of Indians that originally inhabited this region. Says the old narrative of M. Penicaut, who formed one of the original French colony in 1699 at Old Biloxi, "coasting along in an east- erly direction (from Biloxi), we found a wide bay, called the Bay of the Pascagoulas; because, within this bay, there flows a river, upon the borders of which the Pascagoulas are established, at a distance of about twenty leagues inland, and it is from that na-
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tion the bay and river take their name." The city has telegraph, express, telephone, and banking facilities, electric light, an ice plant, street railway and waterworks. The Scranton State Bank was established here in 1892, and has a capital of $50,000; the Merchants & Marine Bank was established in 1899, capital $25,000. Two weekly newspapers are published here; the Pascagoula Democrat-Star, an influential Democratic paper, established in 1850, owned and edited by P. K. Mayers; the Chronicle, another influential paper established in 1897, which is edited and pub- lished by J. J. Tomasich. Pascagoula is one of the eleven impor- tant manufacturing cities of the State, for which a special agent was appointed to collect the statistics when the 12th U. S. census was being taken. The census returns of 1900, give the following data for the city; number of manufacturing establishments, 15; capital, $372,655 ; average number of wage earners employed, 167; wages paid, $66,045 ; cost of materials used $173,319 ; value of prod- ucts, $326,114. An important part of the lumber industry of the State is carried on along the Pascagoula river, and many large lum- ber mills are located at and near Pascagoula which is connected with Moss Point by a street railway; at the latter place more lumber is manufactured than in any one place in the State. Here are also grist mills, and ship yards, and the town exports an enormous quantity of lumber products annually. There are several churches and good schools, both public, private and denominational. The town supports several good hotels. The population is increasing rapidly ; there were 1,353 people in 1890, 2,025 in 1900, and 4,000 in 1906.
Pascagoula, Parish of, see Gulf Coast Occupation.
Pascagoulas, see Indians.
Pass Christian, a noted watering place in Harrison county, lo- cated on Mississippi Sound (Gulf of Mexico), on the Louisville & Nashville R. R., 58 miles from New Orleans, and 82 miles from Mobile. It has telegraph, telephone, express and banking facili- ties. The surrounding country is devoted to sheep and cattle rais- ing, and truck-farming. The "scuppernong grape" is extensively grown at this point, and both still and sparkling wines are made. The canning of oysters and shrimps is a profitable industry. Pass Christian College, a Catholic institution, is located here. A branch of the Hancock county Bank at Bay St. Louis was established here in 1902, and the Home Bank was established in 1905. The Coast Beacon, an influential, Democratic weekly, was established here in 1881, and is now owned and edited by E. J. Adam. The city has a number of fine hotels, and the place is filled with vis- itors both winter and summer. The climate is mild and healthful, and there is a fine sea beach, affording excellent sea bathing. Pop- ulation in 1900, 2,028 : estimated at 2,500 in 1906.
Pat, a post-hamlet of Rankin county, 8 miles south of Brandon, the county seat and nearest banking town. There is one store and a large cotton gin located here. Population in 1900, 21.
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Patmos, a post-hamlet of Sharkey county, located on the Sun- flower river, 10 miles southeast of Rolling Fork, the county seat, and nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1906, 20.
Patrick, a post-hamlet of Rankin county, situated on Campbells creek, about 10 miles southeast of Brandon, the county seat, and nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 67.
Patrol. The patrol was a function of the State military made necessary by slavery from the earliest times. According to the law of 1809 every owner of slaves, and all other persons subject to militia duty, under the rank of captain, was subject to be called out for patrol duty, every two weeks or oftener. Detachments were made out regularly, of three men beside the leader or officer, in each captain's district or beat. It was the duty of the patrol to visit all negro quarters or places suspected of entertaining unauthorized assemblages of slaves or other disorderly persons, and take such persons before a justice, or administer lashes not exceeding fifteen upon slaves so found, and to take up slaves sus- pected of being runaway. By the law of 1812 default in this duty was punishable by fine.
Occasionally there were rumors of slave insurrection in Terri- torial day's, and the patrol was exhorted to extra vigilance. This law survived the change to statehood and was reenacted in the Poindexter code of 1822, and the statutes of 1848.
"Soon after the Southhampton tragedy, during the Christmas holidays, the public mind was agitated by a vague rumor that this drama was to be reacted here, as it was known that some of the negroes, supposed to be engaged in it, had been brought out and sold in this State. During this excitement the patrols were very vigilant. On the high roads they were increased to one hundred armed and mounted men. But this alarm was groundless and very soon subsided." (J. H. Ingraham.)
Pattison, a postoffice of Tallahatchie county, situated on the Middle Fork of Tillatoba creek, an affluent of the Yazoo river, 5 miles east of Charleston, the county seat.
Patton, James, of Winchester, a member of the constitutional convention of 1817, was one of the leading men of his time, when the town of Winchester was, by reason of his influence, a center of political influence. Senators Powhatan Ellis and John Black began public life under his auspices. He was a general of militia, and was elected lieutenant-governor on the ticket with George Poindexter, and but for his untimely death would doubtless have attained higher honors.
Paulding, the capital of Jasper county, is a post-village 33 miles southwest of Meridian. Vosburg, on the New Orleans & North Eastern R. R., is the nearest station, and Heidelberg is the nearest banking town. The town was named for John Paulding, who as- sisted in the capture of Major Andre. It has two churches, two stores, a cotton gin and grist mill combined, and a good school. Population in 1900, 229.
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Paulette, a post-hamlet of Noxubee county, about 10 miles south- east of Macon, the county seat. Shuqualak is the nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 72.
Pawticfaw, a post-hamlet of Kemper county, about 8 miles south, southwest of Dekalb, the county seat. Population in 1900, 50.
Paynes, a post-hamlet of Tallahatchie county, situated on Ascal- more creek, 6 miles south of Charleston, the county seat. Charles- ton is the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 65.
Pearce, a post-hamlet of Yazoo county, 10 miles east of Yazoo City, the county seat. Population was about 30 in 1906.
Pearidge, a postoffice of Kemper county, 9 miles west of Dekalb, the county seat.
Pearl, a post-hamlet in the north western part of Simpson county, on the Pearl river, 20 miles west of Mendenhall. Crystalsprings is the nearest railroad and banking town, located 10 miles west, on the Illinois Central R. R. Population in 1900, 33.
Pearlhaven, a hamlet of Lincoln county. The postoffice here has been discontinued, and mail now goes to Brookhaven, the county seat.
Pearlington, a post-town in the southwestern part of Hancock county, on the Pearl river 10 miles from its mouth, and 40 miles northeast of New Orleans. It takes its name from the river. It has several churches, a good school, and large saw mills. Lum- bering is the chief industry. A branch of the Hancock County Bank of Bay St. Louis was established here in 1902. Population in 1900, 850.
Pearl River. The Pearl river, as Ellicott found it in 1798-99, "is navigable for small craft many miles north of the boundary. It is remarkably crooked, and full of logs and lodged trees. Its banks for some distance above the boundary (31°), and almost the whole of them below, are annually innundated. The banks, with a considerable extent of country become very low below the Indian house, over the whole of which the water passes when the river is high; and here it begins to divide into a number of branches; some of them maintain an open channel until they unite again with the main branch, and others are lost in the swamp. Those branches appear so nearly of the same size that a person not acquainted with the river will be as likely to take a wrong as a right one. . In consequence of the water extending over such a considerable space, it never acquires a sufficient head to force away the lodged timber, which in two places extend across the river. The upper raft is of considerable magnitude, and covered with grass and other herbage, with some bushes. The tide ebbs and flows a few miles above latitude 30° 21' 30", where there was formerly a trading house, and to where any vessel that can cross a bar into the lake (Pontchartrain), may ascend with ease. The river has several communications with the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pont- chartrain, but they are all too shoal for vessels drawing more than six of seven feet of water, and therefore only fit for the coasting
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trade. The coasting vessels which visit New Orleans from the eastward pass by the mouth of Pearl river into Lake Pontchartrain, thence through the west end of the lake and up the Bayou St. Johns to the canal executed by the Baron de Carondelet, thence to the end of the canal which terminates at the walls of the city."
Pearl River County was formerly a part of Hancock and Marion counties and was established quite recently, February 22nd, 1890. It is located in the extreme southern part of the State and takes its name from the river which forms its western boundary. The county has a land surface of 663 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Marion and Lamar counties, on the east by Perry and Harrison counties, on the south by Hancock county and on the west by Washington county, Louisiana, the Pearl river forming the dividing line. In 1904 a part of its territory was taken to assist in forming the new county of Lamar. (q. v.) Pearl River county, situated in the long leaf pine region of the State, is just now enjoy- ing a very rapid and prosperous development. The population more than doubled between 1890 and 1900, the value of its manufac- tured products, chiefly lumber, approximates a million dollars and its cattle, sheep and dairy interests are growing rapidly. The lum- bering industry of the county will continue to be the most impor- tant for years to come, on account of its extensive forests of valu- able long leaf or yellow pine, and the ease with which its lumber products can be brought to market. The soil is a light sandy loam, easily worked, but not fertile or retentive. It produces, however, luxuriant forage grasses on which stock thrive the year around. The county seat is Poplarville, near the center of the county, and the largest town in the county. It has a population of 1,500, is located on the New Orleans & North Eastern R. R., which runs through the county from north to south, and is growing rapidly. Orvisburg (pop. 435), Millard, Tyler and Hillsdale are some of the other more important towns. The Pearl river, Hobolo Chitto and Wolf rivers, and their tributary creeks, water the county.
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