Submitted by Bruce D. Liddell, bdliddell@yahoo.com
Transcriber’s comments in [brackets.] Bold emphasis by transcriber’s
odd sense of humor.
“The Grand Jury Report
“Severe
Arraignment of the Board of Supervisors For the Condition of the
Public Roads
"The grand jury begs leave to report that it has
been in session four days, and that its labors have resulted as
follows: Witnesses examined, 125; true bills, 7; cases ignored, 8;
case continued, 1.
“We have examined all county officers'
books, through a committee appointed by our foreman, and find them
all correct.
“We have examined the jail in a body, and find
same unsafe and very much in need of repairs. There is no separate
apartment for the keeping of male and female prisoners comfortable
and warm, and we recommend that the attention of the Board of
Supervisors be called to same.
“Your Grand Jury further
reports that they investigated the condition of the public roads of
the county, and they [find] and report that the public roads are in
a most horrible condition. The fact is, we are unable to convey our
idea of how bad they are in this report. They are simply impassable,
even on horseback, in some places. We have been delayed in getting
witnesses on account of the impassibility [impossibility] of passage
over the public roads. The condition of the roads in the eastern
part of the county is simply horrible and a disgrace to the people
of the county, and a standing shame on the Board of Supervisors. We
have found great difficulty in locating the blame - whether on the
Board of Supervisors or on the contractors - that is, we mean, and
say, criminal responsibility. We have no hesitation, from the
evidence before us, in charging the Board of Supervisors with
dereliction of duty in the matter of public roads. We are advised
that the Board of Supervisors has ample authority to force them to
perform their contract, but it certainly has failed to do so. We
recommend to the Court that the Board be notified, by service of a
copy of this report, that the public roads must be improved and
worked; that we hold the Board of Supervisors responsible for the
horrible condition in which the roads are, and we also recommend
that unless the Board takes immediate action to rectify this
condition of affairs, the District Attorney be requested to look
after the Board of Supervisors in the most efficient way possible,
and as in his judgment may seem best. There is no excuse for the
condition of the public roads, and we want the Board of Supervisors
to understand that it is elected for the purpose of looking after
the public roads, and that it is a part of its duty to do so. We
feel that we ought, in the interest of the public, to make this
recommendation strong and demand that the Board see that the roads
are improved.
“We wish to tender our thanks to your Honor and
the District Attorney as well as other officers of this Court for
their valuable assistance rendered us during the session of the
Grand Jury.
“There being no urgent business which deem it
necessary to examine into, we respectfully ask your Honor for our
final discharge.
“R. R. Liddell, Foreman.”
The Fayette
Chronicle, B. C. Knapp, manager, leased by Schober Printery. One
sheet, four pages.
In six separate fillers, the editor waxes
wroth over the lack of sidewalks. “If the Federal government
could be interested in the work to the extent of sending a
dredge-boat here we might have the sidewalks(?) made navigable and
the town converted into a modern Venice.” Italics in original.
Two $1 donations by E. Konke and Dr, Konke brought the
Confederate Memorial Fund up to $304. A monument would be erected in
front of the courthouse two years later.
District Attorney
Ratcliff arrested 3 white men and Judge Truly issued warrants for 22
others, for “white-cap outrages” or Ku Klux Klan activities in other
counties. The editor applauds the D.A. and the judge, and condemned
this “ignorant and anarchistic ... class of people.” However, the
editor chose discretion over valor by not naming the accused, giving
no details of the “outrages,” or even mentioning the KKK by name.
The newspaper reported no other crimes. The paper does report
two dozen or more social visits among friends and families. There
are about 50 ads for retail businesses and services, ¾ from Fayette
and ¼ from Natchez. There are a dozen or more ads for patent
medicines, most masquerading as news items. Since Fayette is the
county seat, ten professionals placed business-card ads. Real estate
for sale consisted of five small farms, two large farms, and one
“nice frame dwelling” in Fayette. One store in town was up for rent,
and a 230 acre plantation was available for four 425lb cotton bales
annually. The Illinois Central, the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, and
the Gulf & Ship Island railroads advertised their passenger services
and connections. A single “white woman cook wanted” ad comprised the
entire help-wanted section.
Announced candidates for public
office. Steve D. McNair “for twelve years the efficient chancery
clerk of Jefferson county,” candidate for Railroad Commissioner. J.
S. Hicks, Floater Representative. M. P. McGary and C. W. Whitney
Jr., Representative. J. O. Davenport, T. L. Darden and Felix R.
Noble, Sheriff. J. C. Shelton, Chancery Clerk. C. C. Coffey, J. S.
McCallum and Geo. V. D. Schober, Circuit Clerk. Jas. F. McCaleb, J.
Rives Wade and W. Boles Johnson, Treasurer. T. B. Hammett and W. P.
Sanders, Tax Assessor. Capt. D. S. Burch and J. Edgar Torrey, Supt.
of Education. Allen Nevels and I. O. Segrest, Supervisor Dist 1.
James Stowers, C. M. Mardis and W. M. Geoghegan, Supervisor Dist 3.
F. W. Wilkinson, Magistrate Dist 1.
Social columns mention
the F. Krause family; Mrs. (Dr.) J. C. McNair and Miss Sallie
McNair; Rev. W. H. Saunders; Miss Gussie Guilminot; Misses Frances
and Alma Gordon; Mrs. B. Straas and children; L. B. Harris, former
Y&MV agent; Miss Mamie Coffey who broke her arm jumping rope; all of
Fayette. Mrs. S. K. Ellis of Lorman. T. Y. Calhoun of Red Lick.
Capt. C. B. Richardson of Church Hill. C. C. Kelley “one of Mizpah’s
most promising young men.” J. S. O’Quin of Mizpah. Misses Carrie
Jones and Lizzie Foster of McBride. Miss Annie Brown and Mrs. J. S.
Brown of Mizpah. Master B. H. Wade Jr. born at Prospect Hill. Bulard
Wade of Red Lick “kicked the marriage ball” [engaged?]
The
editor reprinted an item from the New Orleans Times-Democrat,
advocating local option voting instead of statewide liquor
prohibition. In the editor's view, “a vast majority of the thinking
people of this good old State will endorse” local option.
Front page four-column-inch display ads. Nalty & Larsen, Plumbers.
Geo. V. D. Schober, Fayette Oil Works. Whitney’s Drug Store.
McGinty’s Café, J. P. Darden, manager. L. W. Carradine, general
mdse. W. A. Dent, livestock.
Front page one-column-inch
business card ads. J. E. Torrey, attorney. J. S. Hicks & T. M.
Shelton, attorneys. Will R. Easterling, attorney. A. C. McNair & J.
A. Ramsay, attorneys. R. L. [Robert] Corbin, attorney. L. B.
McLaurin, D.D.S. dentist. J. J. Watts dentist. W. H. H. Lewis, M.D.
physician and surgeon. J. H. Carradine, M.D. physician and surgeon.
L. R. Harrison & J. C. McNair, physicians and surgeons.
Other
ads. Geo. R. Hurley, manager Southside Plantation at Rodney, sells
“First-class Boards and Shingles.” J. M. Coffey has two dozen Poland
China pigs for sale. Mrs. J. C. Flemins has a store for rent. A.
Seligman & Bro. General Store, Harriston. Jefferson County Bank
“Capital Stock $25,000 / Surplus $2,000”; L. Cohn, president; S.
Hirsch, vice pres.; Geo. V. D. Schober, cashier; D. Holder, asst.
cashier; L. Cohn, S. Hirsch, Geo. V. D. Schober, Jeff Truly, B.
Straus, J. H. McBride, J. J. Ledden, directors. R. R. Liddell,
general mdse. Jenkins Brothers, painters and paper hangers. Noble &
Smith, lumber and shingles. Sam Phillips “The People’s Friend and
Price-Cutter,” not clear what he sells. Attorney W. R. Easterling
offers to lend money on “improved, productive farms” at 8% for five
years.
Fayette, two petitions for liquor license renewal,
Thomas Bradford McGinty at “Devenport Corner” west side of Main St.
and Albert Jonas Weibel at “Guilminot Corner” east side of Main,
received by Geo. V. D. Schobel, Fayette town clerk. Identical lists
of signers, all residents of Fayette. James Alfred Ramsay, Noel
Anapias Killingsworth, Eugene Hamilton Reber, Bennett A. Truly,
Frederick Louis Schober, Joseph Houston Nelson, James Mathew
Jenkins, Robert Thomas Christian, Joseph Perry Case, Marshall
Washington Smith, Albert Isaac Krause, Jake Simon Krause, Bernhard
Straas, Whitefield Martin Geoghegan, Marx Netter, Sam Phillips,
Perry Jefferson Case, John Valentine Arnold, Clyde DeWitt Culley,
Leonard Francis Huber, Turner Punkston Blackwell, John Fletcher Day,
William Stewart Gordon, Richard Daniels, Willie Faulkner, Louis
Keys, Sidney Rowan Wells, Ben McRee, Sumner Daniels, Nelson Reed,
James Madison Gibson, John Crone, Ed Chaney, Surry White, Louis
Bunley, Clarence Simpson, Sam Hill, John Whitney Howard, Henry
McCoy, Caman Taylor, William Butler, Anderson Reed, Willson White,
Clinton Harrison, Mike Howard, Johny Rollins, Willie Lomax, Elzar
Anderson, George Monroe Harrell, Thomas Crone, Monroe Cheeks, Lal
Gant, Henry Anderson, Mike Hall, John Doyle, William Jones, Ira
Arthur King, Charley Clark, Thomas Mode Shelton, David Hunt Reed,
Merriman Thomas, Stiles Coleman, Louis Rucker, Louis Adolphus
Robinson, Floyd Wallace, John Williams, Davin Claiborne Weston,
Alcibiade Louis Boutin, Henry Clay Rucker, Benjamin Doyle, Clarence
Stanly Fairly, Edmond Rodgers Edmunds, Pat Darden, Kinsman Devine
Dennis, Louis Hobbs Freeman, Dumont Sidney Freeman, Arthur Sherry,
Joe Johnson Watts.
Rodney, one petition for liquor license
renewal, Joseph Lorenzo Burkley, received by Dan. E. Moran, Rodney
town clerk. Signers all residents of Rodney. Daniel Edward Moran,
John Ernest Paul, Percy Gaines Alston, Otto Ferdnand Pape, William
Louis Schwartz, Abe Flonacher, Fritz Miller, George Schober, Aug
Reitze, Luke Thomas Moran, Henry Louis Mackie, Edward Alluoious
[Aloysius?] Winkler, Alexander Winkler, Claude Blunt Stuart, Peter
Turner, Robert Harris Smith, James Prosser, Abe Jonathan Lomax,
William Clarence Demby, William Douglas Smith, Leonard Shields,
Edward Lee Heckler, James Watson, John Thomas, Newman Jackson,
Richard Agnest Jr., Stanley Burkley, Allen Wheatly, Richard Soloman
Agnest, Horace Wheatly, John Francis O’Brien, George Fitzgerald
Agnest, Henry Haacks, William Wilson, Alex Clarence Williams, Thomas
Howard Agnest, Isaac Turner, Frank McAllen, Frank Hall, Turner
Sullivan, Thomas Hubbard Beck, Jack Willis, Lisle Almer Trimble,
John Winkler.
Delinquent tax sale by J. C. Shelton, Sheriff,
listing about 55 real properties to be sold in Fayette 02-Mar-1903
for delinquent f.y. 1902 taxes. Over half were owned by "estate of"
or "unknown." Most were farms from 20 up to 400 acres, and all but
five owed less than $10; the largest, 1460 acres for $116.63; the
smallest, a vacant lot in the Town of Rodney, owner unknown, to be
sold for 6¢ state tax, 9¢ county, 1¢ penalty, and 20¢ printer's fee,
total 36¢. Van Belton, estate N. D. Buckley, Mrs. H. D. Fairly, Wm.
F. Hardie, W. D. Galbreath, Mrs. M. A. McCormick, est. P. W. Weeks,
S. S. Martin, Mrs. J. R. Osborne, Essex Reed, Charlott Scott, Nannie
A. Benard, L. O. Andrews, est. Brister Claiborne, Allen Stampley, B.
D. Tickle, W. G. McNair, Susan Reed, S. Stampley, Ike Turner, Hy.
Washington, A. B. Horton, H. & C. Newman, Dave Currie, W. B. Taylor,
A. H. Carraway, Mrs. Alma Carraway, Edward Fields and wife, Mary
Cole, Cunningham Jones, O. H. McGinty, F. A. Fulton, Rebecca
Ballard, Simpson Solsby, Jno. Tolls, Joe Tolls, Gelena Watson, Miss
L. R. Fletcher, Junkin bros., Arthur Russell, Lizzie Bush, Miss Ella
Fletcher, est. Levy Elsy, Port Payne, Annie Bailey, est. Dr. F. W.
Coleman, James Stewart heirs, Emily Gray, Mrs. T. O. Smith,
Clarrissa Bradford.
Rodney, in the case of E. L. Bolls v. C.
M. Bolls et al, court-ordered sale of two tracts somehow involving
Mrs. Cora M. Bolls, Clara E. Bolls, Willie E. Bolls, Frankie A.
Bolls, Sarah Leighton, Wm. B. Griffing.