Backward Glances: Bank of Wedowee opens 120 years ago; Wedowee memorial statue arrives from Italy 100 years ago

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120 years ago

Ed Chapel, the negro who killed Marshal W E Satterwhite in December, was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to be hanged. The jury was out only a few minutes. The execution will take place Wednesday, March 28. The hanging will be private, and a new gallows will be erected just behind the jail for this purpose.

The Leader is pleased to note the statement that the hanging will be conducted privately. We trust this to be strictly adhered to. Hardly anything can be more demoralizing and prove more fatal to the finer sensibilities than the making of a gala day of the execution of a human being.

*****

On last Monday morning the Bank of Wedowee opened in one room in the court house with Dr J C Swann president and Abner Coker cashier. The capital is $25,000. Wedowee and this part of the country has long needed a bank and every citizen should feel proud of this enterprise. The directors of the new bank are among the wealthiest and most successful business men of the county, and it goes without saying that the Bank of Wedowee will do a good business. A nice brick bank building will be erected soon on the Prescott corner. The deposits for Monday, the first day, were about $7,000.

*****

A boy with a gun seems to feel that any game in sight is lawful prey. He loads, takes aim and is happy if he brings down a bird, and it makes no difference if it is a joree, sparrow, robin, thrush or mockingbird. His heart is glad because he has shown good marksmanship. He has not been taught to protect our beautiful songsters and it never occurs to him that he has done wrong. But it is wrong, and parents should teach boys to leave alone certain birds. The beautiful red birds, blue birds and mockingbirds, and all that make the world sweeter by their songs, should be sacredly protected from a wanton bullet. Teach the boys to respect the plumage of the beautiful red and blue birds, and to love the songs of all birds, instilling in their minds the cruelty of killing them.

100 years ago

The statue of an American soldier, which was carved in Italy and is to be placed on the monument erected here in honor of veterans of the World War, has arrived [in Wedowee]. The committee is completing its plans and will announce the date of dedication.

*****

Usually staid and steady, with her feet well planted on the ground, Randolph County will be “up in the air” next Monday evening, March 8. Through the county farm agent, Mr. R.Y. Bailey, the manager of the new and powerful radio broadcasting station located at Auburn, WAPI, Mr. P.O. Davis, has invited Randolph County to be heard over the wireless. The invitation has been accepted. An address of 10 minutes will be delivered by some representative of Roanoke, giving to the listening world information of the progress being made by this coming little city. Mr. Bailey will speak 10 minutes on the plans and progress of agriculture in Randolph. A program of music, largely sacred, will be furnished by musicians in Wedowee and Roanoke. Tune up your radio, notify your non-reading neighbors, and hear the home folks next Monday night. It will be worth your while.

80 years ago

The worst tragedy ever to happen in our Rock Mills community, we believe, came early last Saturday morning when Mrs. Garrett Bennett burned to death. It is believed that she caught on fire while building a fire in the grate and did not discover her clothes burning until the blaze was beyond control. She ran to her neighbors, Mrs. Ode Pike and Mrs. Willis Boggs, and asked them to help. Mrs. Boggs was badly bruised and burned while trying to cover Mrs. Bennett with a bedspread. Others nearby, hearing the screams for help, ran to their aid, but to no avail. Death came before the flames were put out. Mrs. Bailey had been living here for only a short time, having moved here since the recent death of her husband. Services were held at the Methodist Church here Sunday afternoon, and her body was laid to rest by his side in the Wehadkee cemetery.

60 years ago

After deliberating from 4:30 Tuesday afternoon until 9:00 that night, the jury on the Maxie Gray case, who was charged with assault with intent to kill, had failed to reach a decision. The Hon. Dan Boyd, presiding judge, ordered the jurymen to bed in the courtroom where beds had been arranged where they spent the night. Starting deliberating again at 9 o’clock Wednesday morning, the jury was not able to reach a decision by 12:30, and the case was declared a mistrial. Gay, 26-year-old resident of the Graham community, allegedly beat and threatened to kill Wayne Mashburn, 63, of Carrollton, Ga., and Ernest Smith, 62, of the Smithfield community near Carrollton. The incident took place in October of last year in the northeastern part of Randolph County. Gay is now free on bond.

 

40 years ago

The Wedowee town council met Monday night to discuss, among other issues, whether or not to allow candidates running for public office to erect signs on the right of way within town limits. The council overwhelmingly voted not to issue any permits to erect political signs within the limits of Wedowee. The board decided that to allow any candidate the privilege to of erecting a political sign would be to set a precedent and would end up in a mass of signs and slogans all over town that would look unsightly, as well as intrude into the jurisdiction of the State Highway Department. The Highway Department has in the past taken down unauthorized signs, and this action could very well be mistaken as the action of the town. Council members agreed in taking action to avoid the confusion by refusing to issue permits to anyone.

20 years ago

Two CSX railroad employees were shot during an apparently botched robbery last week, and one of the two men injured is a former Roanoke policeman. According to information provided by the LaGrange Police Department, they responded to the area near Main Street Train Crossing about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, and found two CSX employees had been shot during a struggle with a man, who subsequently escaped and is still being sought. Sean Cagle, 35, of Roanoke and Otto Nielson, 31, of Warm Springs, Ga., stopped the train to check on a man lying on the tracks. According to LaGrange police the train was stopping for another train when the conductor and engineer saw the man lying on the tracks. When Cagle checked on him, the man allegedly pointed a gun at him and attempted to rob him. They struggled over the gun and Cagle was shot in the leg. When Nielson came to his aid, he was shot in the right ankle. They were both treated at West Georgia Medical Center. The suspect fled the area on foot before police arrived.