08 Apr 1909
Page 1
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Newspaper
Laurel Ledger
Location
Laurel, Mississippi, United States of America
Date
Apr 08, 1909
Page
1
A bustling program featured an oratorical contest and athletic events as public schools showcased student talents. Officials reported strong participation from multiple schools with spirited performances and notable achievements across both categories.
At 11:30 Saturday night fire destroyed two residences after alarms alerted firefighters to Ward One. fire crews battled the stubborn blaze amid smoke and heat, with residents evacuated and no injuries reported as containment was achieved by morning.
The biggest day in the county's public schools' history featured an oratorical contest won by Marion Davis of Laurel and William Easterling of Jackson near Ovett. Athletics following drew many entrants. Laurel teams captured nine of twelve prizes amid rapid fires and suspicious incendiary damage to two houses on East Front Street.
Huddleston section farmers prepare cotton land as young corn looks well. J D Holifield, confined by jaundice earlier, can sit up now. His little son Beazley and Josh Holifield with his wife are on the sick list this week.
For two weeks carpenters have been altering the popular stand. A side stairway will be moved and the opening made into a large show window. The stairway shifts to the north end with a rear entrance to the store room. The prescription department will be moved back, freeing space for about 500 extra square feet of floor area. Wallace Drug Co is praised as a credit to the city by many friends.
Mill Creek reports cool nights slowed corn growth making it look yellow. Attendees at the Soso picnic on March 23 and 24 included L. M. Walters G. K. Blacklidge Geo. Clark Lee Walters J. T. Blacklidge and Miss Effie Lee Blacklidge. N M Walters returned from Soso after tending school. Several boys and girls went to an oratorical contest in Ellisville. Mill Creek church preaches every second Saturday and Sunday by Rev. Blue of Sandersville with Sunday school each Sunday. All are invited.
A terrible wind storm swept North Mississippi Tuesday night causing several deaths including W. V. McMillan and his son at Aberdeen and multiple fatalities near West Point. Property loss was heavy across northwest Alabama, west Tennessee, and Arkansas with extensive damage to A. and M. College buildings and several fatalities among black laborers.
N A Jones brought to the Ledger office Monday a pine root thirty six feet long. At the small end the root was six inches in circumference, showing several feet still in the ground. Newt predicts his land will yield sweet potatoes and many other home consumption crops.
Farmers cope with a dry spell as they plant this week and say they are up against it. Mrs P C Suinger returns home from visiting her son in Columbia Marion county. T A Carter suffers la grippe. Local youths describe Saturday’s contest as a great eventful day for Jones county. Rev S B Culpepper, Clark Memorial College president, preached at Fairfield urging Christian education and received a liberal collection. Shoes that wear at Fine Bros.
The old Red Store is being torn away. T. S. Lee will use timbers for a brick stable on Pine Street and clear the grounds. Eastman Gardiner & Co have bought the property for a handsome office building to be built later.
A large crowd attended the sing at Mt Rose while Mrs. J. J. Musgrove is ill. LL Meadow and family of near Laurel visited relatives over the weekend. Mrs. H R Lill is on the sick list. N M Hill and W S Price took a business trip to Laurel. A sizeable contingent from here attended commencement at Soso, with praise for speeches by Supt. T. Is Waldrup and Prof. Culpepper. Bone Grits at Winn's.
C. M. Roberson, collector for Graves Trading Co., fired at a man Saturday night, wounding him with a shot to the neck. Police reported the incident and are reviewing circumstances surrounding the shooting.
A Saturday night shooting near Tee Brick Livery and Turner Hotel left a colored man severely wounded in the neck. C M Roberson, Graves Trading Co collector, and Henry George engaged. Roberson surrendered after returning to the store. Roberson says debt collection led to the conflict. the wounded man fired first, Roberson fired once. Bond set light, hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
The Rural Free Delivery route No 4 began last Friday with Claborne S3ush as carrier. The route runs northeast across Tallahala with mail out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and may become daily if community interest grows. Refrigerator ads urge early purchase with flexible payment options from Travisk Abney.
In North Hickory Grove the farming community enjoys good weather with early cotton planting underway. Hickory Grove church held a Saturday meeting resulting in a division between the “and markers” and the regular Baptist factions, a split seen as painful by longtime members. The Galloway six year old daughter is reported very sick.
W L Pryor proclaims he may have eaten Laurel's first home raised Irish potatoes planted in January and bearing plentifully. The family secured the first mess on Tuesday the 6th. Oyater Shell Grita at Winn's.
Amateurs report oil in a ditch dug by Ollie Barnett and Sam Lightsey six miles west of Heidelberg near Old Claiborne. A reporter inspected the site, notes kerosene odor and a combustible water sample, while tests continue to determine the nature and extent of the find.
Reverend Marion Walters of Smith county preached to a large attentive crowd at Shady Grove Saturday afternoon. Several local residents visited relatives and attended social events including Miss Lease Lyon at a contest in Ellisville and Mrs. Thos J Lyon visiting daughter Mrs James Wheeler in Laurel. A birth occurred at the home of Mr and Mrs Houston Ivey on Saturday with a bouncing girl. Families Welborn Holifield Monroe Johnson Lyon visited relatives and spent time with kin in nearby towns.
James Bush, once thought fatally wounded, is reported out of danger. A ball pierced the lower collar bone and lodged in the back and upper shoulder between the neck and shoulder point.
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