|
Politics
1852 - 1861
The first big mass meeting and
political speaking I ever attended was in 1852 during the Presidential campaign.
Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, and Wm. R. King, of Alabama, were the
Democratic candidates for President and Vice-President; and General Winfield
Scott (I don't remember what state Scott was from) and Wm. A. Graham, of North
Carolina, were the Whig candidates for the same office. This mass meeting
was held in a grove where the opera house and the Elks Club House now stands,
and the speaking was from a platform built there. Except as to one, I am
not sure as to who the speakers were, but there were several. I remember
well that Romulus M. Saunders was one, and I am of the opinion that Burton
Craig, of Rowan, and Warren Winslow, of Cumberland, were the others.
Pierce had been an officer in the Mexican war, and had on one occasion, upon the
eve of a battle, either from sickness or a wound, I don't recollect which,
fainted and fell from his horse. The Whig papers charged the fainting to
cowardice, and I remember some poetry that I saw in a Whig newspaper. I
can't recall now but four lines of it, which ran thus:
"'Tis said that while in Mexico,
When leading on his force,
He took a sudden fainting fit
And tumbled off his horse."
And I recall reading in a Democratic
paper the following lines about Scott:
Cooney, Cooney Scott,
Come listen to my song,
You've played the fuss and feathers game
A little bit too long
Franklin Pierce was inaugurated the
4th of March, 1853, just fifty-six years to Taft's inauguration March 4th 1909,
and as long as has been these fifty-six years, I can name more of Pierce's
cabinet than I can of Roosevelt's:
W. L. Marcy, of New York was
Secretary of State.
Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, Secretary of War.
J. C. Dobbin, of North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy.
James Guthrie, of Kentucky, Secretary of the Treasury.
R. A. McClelland, of Michigan, Secretary of Interior.
Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, Attorney General.
Pierce succeeded the Fillmore
administration. Under this J. B. Whitaker had been postmaster of
Goldsboro. Pierce appointed John Taylor, who held the office until
Schofield's army occupied the place on March 21, 1865, when for a while we did
without mail, and "cussed" Yankees - and most of the people were
diligent in the work.
The W. & W. Railroad was
completed to Goldsboro in 1836. I think I am right in this date. It
was given me by Col. Nelson. When the road had reached a point about half
way from Goldsboro to the river bridge, there was a big celebration given in Old
Waynesboro. A military company came from Wilmington, bringing a cannon
with them. Gov. Dudley came down from Raleigh. He came through the
country by private conveyance and spent the night before the celebration at the
home of John W. Sasser's, whose residence was near Pearson's bridge. The
governor drove in next morning and was met a mile or two from town by the
military company and a large party of men on horses, who escorted him into town,
where he addressed the big crowd gathered.
The first Sunday School ever run in
Wayne County, so Col. Nelson told me, was started by him in old Waynesboro in
1841.
About 1851 or 52 there was a little
war in Wayne County. There was some difficulty between Lewis Codgell, a
wealthy farmer, who lived in what is now Grantham township, and three or four
families in the same neighborhood, named Holloman's. The trouble grew
until they laid seige to Cogdell's home and kept him confined to his house,
notifying him they would shoot him on sight. I have heard they threw up
breastworks close by Codgell's home. Sheriff Ollin Coor was sent for to
arrest the Holloman's and raise the seige. He summoned a posse and went
over there, but when he attempted to arrest them, they fired on his posse and
killed two horses on which some of the posse were mounted. The sheriff had
to beat a retreat and return for reinforcements. After getting them, he
went back to the seat of war, but he carried a small piece of artillery this
time and the trouble was settled.
Col. Tom Kennedy of the Fork and
Daniel Hood, of Grantham township, used to be the famous fox hunters of the
county, and Jack Coley was always ready to bet on his fine game cocks.
Those were good old times.
Every body lived at home and boarded at the same place and they had good eating
to beat the band, and for that they had good drinking, too; homemade brandy -
apple and peach - and honey to go with it, and it was found on nearly every
man's sideboard, saint and sinner.
I used to hear a joke that it was
said old man William Rouse told on old man Hillary Boyette, who was deaf as a
post, but loved his dram, and knew good liquor by sight. Mr. Rouse's
sideboard stood in the hallway and was the first thing one saw when entering the
door. Mr. Rouse, like most everyone else, kept a glass decanter filled
with brandy sitting thereon. One very cold morning Hillary went over to
Rouse's to borrow an iron wedge for mauling. He knocked at the door and
Rouse went to the door, threw it open and says: "Good morning,
Hillary!" who promptly replied: "It's might cold, durned if I don't,
believe I will." And walking up to the sideboard he proceeded to put
himself outside of a glassful.
In looking over what I have written,
I find, to use the language of old women in knitting, that I have dropped a good
many stitches and it is necessary to go back and pick them up, so as to not let
any part of my story get too far ahead. Hence I must drop my old town
records for a while and go back to the beginning, when the real town took its
rightful position as the county capital.
Tuesday of court was always a big
day. Great crowds would come to town. Nearly everybody rode
horseback; very few had buggies. The resident lawyers were W. T. Dortch,
G. V. Strong, J. H. Everitt, J. W. Lancaster, E. A. Thompson and Thomas Ruffin.
Soon after Goldsboro became the
county seat, (August, 1850), the population began increasing pretty lively and
for the next five or six years its growth was right fast.
I can now, after half a century,
recall at least one hundred people living in Goldsboro, some of them young men,
but most of them had families. Of course I do not remember half, but I can
name the following: Richard Washington, John Wright, C. J. Nelson, Mrs. E. A.
Churchill, Daniel Cogdell, Mrs. Crawford, A. H. Keaton, J. H. Powell, J. H.
Everett, Mrs. Wellons, W. H. Toler, Jos. Waltering,
J. S. Baker, Jas. Knight, Jno. Crone, J. J. Baker, D. L. Burbank, Chas.
Parmalee, W. A. Williams, Arthur Stancil, James Darby, Wm. Puryear, N. B.
Stanley, T. M. Rodgers, Ed. Pitman, W. R. Bridgers, I. R. Dyer, Mrs. Alford,
Mrs. Caxtex, Bennett Webb, Sol. Hoover, O. C. Sasser, W. H. Woodard, W. L.
Edwards, F. I. Cox, Mr. Jenkins, G. A. Dudley, N. B. Cobb, J. W. Ezzell, J. W.
Lancaster, B. D. Ford, Jno. Scarboro, H. C. Premport, F. Odenheimer, Henry
Strouse, Thos. Waters, J. D. Waters, A. J. Riggs, E. Joyner, Mr. Crosby, J. J.
Foulks, Grif Brocket, Jno. Edwards, J. H. Griffin, D. C. Carrington, J. H.
Brent, E. A. Thompson, B. H. Stammire, N. S. Richardson, Chas. Goddard, W. S.
Bonner, M. D. Craton, A. B. Vaughan, Josiah Howell, E. B. Wood, B. C. Wood,
Nathan Adams, W. H. Moore, Wm. Privett, J. C. Privett, J. F. Divine, W. S.
Royal, W. H. Wilson, Henry Sharbor, Hosea Williams, Hope Bain, Wm. Boyart, M.
Albritton, Louis Hummel, Henry Oettinger, James Long, L. M. Huggins, J. H.
Philyaw, E. H. Goelet, W. Seymour, W. F. Brown, Dock Musgrave, J. J. Lawrence,
Oliver Smith, W. R. Hooks, J. G. Parker, C. A. W. Barham, H. W. Adams, Mrs.
Ballard, Henry Sugg, Mrs. Isler, W. G. Summerlin, Henry King, Wm. Cox, Wm.
Bonitz, James Long, Lemon Lynch, Kinchin Smith, A. B. Vaughan, Richard Woodard,
Tobias Snipes, W. A. Smith, Tilman Gardner, Kedar Raiford and A. J. Riggs.
I can remember where a good many of
them lived. W. T. Dortch lived on the corner next to the Catholic church;
Richard Washington at the Dr. Jones residence; J. H. Powell corner East Centre
and Pine; Wm. Privett on East Centre, Royall residence; C. J. Nelson where F. B.
Edmundson lives; R. H. Atkinson at Dr. Spicer residence; J. J. Baker head of
Pine street, east; J. B. Whitaker at J. E. Peterson's house; G. V. Strong at
Maj. Grant's house; Jas. Knight where Dr. Robinson's residence stands; Winchen
Smith at Isler's house, in front of court house; J. C. Slocumb in house now
Emergency Hospital; Wm. Robinson next to the residence of Mrs. W. H. Smith;
Lemon Lynch where Miss Eliza Robinson now lives; Mrs. Clarissa Alford where
Asher Edwards' residence now is; John Everett where Thos. Holmes lives; D. C.
Carrington where J. W. Edwards lives; J. G. Parker on corner, now vacant, near
post-office; J. C. Borden where Geo. Southerland lives; F. Odenheimer where Mrs.
Finlayson lives; Hope Bain where W. P. Granger lives; Nathan Adams on corner
near ice factory; Dr. Cogdell and Mrs. Churchill just north of ice factory; J.
F. Divine opposite Norfolk & Southern depot; Everett Joyner on corner now
owned by Geo. W. Brown; E. B. Borden where he now resides, but the house was
burned; W. D. Cobb had built a four-office building on corner where Yelverton
Hardware store is; E. A. Thompson where L. D. Gulley lives, Mrs. Castex corner
John and Pine.
I recall the following business
houses: Dibble Bros. at Waynesboro, agricultural implements; J. H. Glass,
portrait painter; Wm. Bogart, contractor and builder; D. G. Lougee, jeweler; C.
J. Nelson, dry goods and carriage making; J. W. Ezzell, sash, doors and blinds;
J. E. Neal mattress maker; Wm. Puryear, carpenter; Wm. Armstrong and B. C. Wood,
shoemakers; Wm. Privett & Sons, groceries; S. D. Phillips, tailor; B. D.
Ford, marble works; W. R. Bridgers, bar and coolerific depot; Bradley &
Hart, hardware; Henry King and W. Seymour, jewelers; S. B. and J. A. Evans,
druggists; Vaughan & Moore, druggists; Griswold & Cobb, dry goods and
groceries; Edmundson & Borden, dry goods; Henry Strouse, dry goods; Andrews
& Washington, dry goods and groceries; Whitaker & Lawrence, stationers;
W. S. Bonner, dry goods and groceries; James Griswold and Mrs. M. A. Borden,
hotels; Mrs. M. E. Castex, millinery; W. F. Brown, bakery; Parmalee & Bull,
hardware; D. L. Burbank, grist mill; James Darby, spirits turpentine barrel
maker; E. P. Wood, saddles and harness. In Mr. Wood's advertisement I
remember a verse as follows:
If you wish to save a dollar,
From crupper even to the collar,
'Twill be your interest, one & all,
At E. B. Wood's to make a call.
If I am not mistaken, the Baptist,
Presbyterian and Episcopal churches were built between 1854 and 1857. The
Methodist church (now the Primitive Baptist) must have been built directly after
the court house was built. In those days there was no such facilities for
getting an education as there is now, particularly in the country. There
was a free school taught from two to three months each winter, and in the some
neighborhoods, occasionally a paid school was run for a few months in the year,
but the school districts was large and the children often had to walk from two
to four miles to attend school. The old Blue Back Speller was used, and I
believe now it was better than the present system.
At a meeting held January 3rd, 1860
the following petition from the Goldsboro Rifles was presented:
To the Commissioners of the Town of
Goldsboro: The undersigned officers and members of the Goldsboro Rifles
represent to you honorable body that they have at considerable personal expense
and with a sacrifice of much toil and trouble organized a volunteer company for
the security and protection of the lives and property of the citizens of the
town. They also represent that they were furnished with arms by the
Governor of the State, but no ammunitions that to insure efficiency they have
been compelled to purchase a quantity of cartridges at an expense of $35.00.
They also represent that in their
opinion this expense should be divided equally among the citizens of the place,
as it was for the common good that they were purchased; that the company should
be relieved by the Commissioners and an appropriation made from the funds of the
town to pay for the cartridges. We have left them in charge of the
Intendant of Police and we propose that they be left in his safe keeping, only
to be used in cases of emergency, at his discretion.
(Signed) M. D. Craton, Captain
S. M. Hunt, Lieut.
W. S. G. Andrews, Lieut.
S. D. Phillips, Lieut.
J. A. Washington, Sergt.
A. J. Roggs, Sergt.
J. W. Gulick.
Upon the presentation and reading of
this petition, the Commissioners ordered that the sum of $35 be appropriated to
pay for the cartridges purchased by the Goldsboro Rifles and now in the care and
keeping of the Indendant of Police.
To the young reader it perhaps begins
to look a little war-like and to the older reader it brings back to memory a
feeling of sadness.
On the 13th of April, 1861, the town
was full of country people who with the citizens of the town kept close to the
telegraph office for news of the firing that was going on upon Fort Sumter at
Charleston, S. C., but at sunset no news of its surrender had been received.
The result came sometime after nightfall. There was no telegraph line then
to New Bern. When the train for that place left on Saturday the 13th at 3
o'clock p.m. the fort was still holding out. That was the latest from
there.
The people of New Bern could not wait
until Monday to hear further from Charleston. There being no train on the
A. & N. C. R.R. on Sunday, they besought the president, Col. J. D. Whitford
to send an extra engine and coach to Goldsboro, which he did, and it came loaded
with the most prominent men of New Bern.
On Monday morning, Gov. Ellis wired
Capt. Craton to proceed with his company (the Goldsboro Rifles) to Fort Macon
and take possession of that fortification. But Capt. Josiah Pender, of
Beaufort, N.C., anticipated the Governor's desire, and on Sunday, April 14th,
with a detachment of men from Beaufort went over to the fort and took
possession, there being only one man, Sgt. Alexander, in charge of the place.
But Captain Craton began to collect
his men. Some of them lived several miles in the country, and by 3
o'clock, when the New Bern train left, he had them aboard.
During the forenoon J. B. Whitaker
called for volunteers for another company and before train time the company was
formed with J. B. Whitaker as Captain and T. T. Hollowell and Bright Tompson as
Lieutenants, and, I think, with some sixty odd privates, they also went down on
the same train with the Goldsboro Rifles.
Bless you, those were exciting times.
The people were stirred as I never saw them before, nor since. That day I
saw the first tears of the war, as the wives, parents, sisters, brothers and
friends stood at the train to bid the soldier boys goodbye; but alas, the tears
that day were but the beginning of the floods of tears that followed in the next
four years.
I, of course, forty-eight years
after, cannot recall the names of all who left Goldsboro on that memorable 15th
of April, but at this late day I can call the names of over fifty, and believing
it would be interesting reading to the younger generation, I will give the names
as they now occur to me, viz:
M. D. Craton, J. B. Whitaker, S. M.
Hunt, S. D. Phillips, W. S. G. Andrews, J. F. Devine, J. A. Washington, J. B.
Baker, Bob McIntire, L. D. Giddens, H. H. Coor, H. C. Premport, W. S. Royall, R.
B. Potts, J. D. Howard, R. J. Gooding, F. M. Harrison, J. C. Parker, N. L.
Whitley, W. A. Thompson, Crocket Moore, B. F. Hooks, B. B. Reeves, Nathan
Parker, Ballard Sasser, Thad Pitman, Ashe Knight, Henry Parker, Wiley Wright,
Sandy Murdock, T. T. Hollowell, J. W. Gulick, Mike Wood, Bright Thompson, J. P.
Cobb, Geo. J. Moore, E. S. Parker, R. P. Howell, J. B. Robinson, Joe Sauls, Alex
Tumbro, James Bryan, Fritz Hummel, J. T. Kennedy, A. J. Farrell, Boaz Sasser,
Tobias Snipes, Mike Heineman, W. F. Kornegay, Wm. Webb, Furney Harrell, Henry
Procton and J. M. Hollowell.
That Monday, the 15th day of April,
1861, was the stirringest (if I may so express it) day that I ever saw in
Goldsboro, and I have seen some right stirring times here.
I remember the day when a small size
riot occurred in front of the old Borden Hotel in '65, when Bryan Cox was shot
and killed and Jim Jones desperately wounded. Both were negroes. I
don't suppose it ever has been known to a certainty who fired the shot that
killed Cox. The late J. D. Winslow told me on one occasion that he
believed that the late A. J. Galloway and himself were the only two men who saw
the shot fired, and upon my asking him who fired it he replied: I shall never
tell, and I don't believe Mr. Galloway ever will; and so far as I know either
one ever did.
Another stirring time in Goldsboro
was in 1871, when E. R. Stanley, Republican president of the "Mullet"
road, gave a Fourth of July outing to four thousand negroes, bringing them to
Goldsboro. Forty-eight car loads were brought here that day, hundreds of
them drunk; and when the police undertook to make an arrest, they were set upon
by this negro mob and forced to seek safety in the Griswold Hotel, and when the
mob attempted to break into the hotel to get the police, they were met by a few
determined men inside and Gaston Atkinson, one of the mob, was shot dead in the
hotel piaza. There has never been much doubt who fired that shot. It
was generally agreed that it was fired by Joshua Scott, who was bar-keeper at
the Griswold Hotel. __. B. Parker received a severe blow on the head
during the rucus.
J. B. Whitaker, having entered the
military service, on May 23rd resigned as Intendant of Police and J. J. Baker
was elected in his place, and P. A. Wiley was elected Clerk and Treasurer, J. K.
Green, who had held these offices, having died.
During the summer of '61 the old town
hall, market and guard house was built in the centre of Ash street between East
Centre and John. This old building stood there for near forty years.
I think it was torn down about 1900.
J.
J. Baker, Jno. Wright, Jno. Everitt, D. C. Carrington and J. W. Davis
were elected Commissioners for 1862. E. B. Borden, Kedar Raiford and W. C.
Blount were appointed assess the value of real estate for 1862.
For 1863, J. B. Whitaker, S. D.
Phillips, T. T. Hollowell, Samuel J. Lucas and John Crone were elected
Commissioners. Matthew Albritton was elected Clerk and T. T. Hollowell
town Constable.
Goldsboro has always been a town of
slow growth. It has never had what might be called a boom, and yet I don't
remember a time when there was not some building going on.
The first female college opened was
about 1853 or '54. It was in the old Borden Hotel building and the
president was Rev. J. H. Brent. My recollection is that this school was
run in that building for two or three years and that the brick college, now the
centre graded school building, was erected about '56 or '57, and I think that
its first president was Rev. S. M. Frost. He ran it until some time during
the war. The latter years of the war the building was used as a
Confederate hospital.
The N. C. R. R. (now the Southern),
was not intended at its charter to run into Goldsboro, but was to connect with
boats on the Neuse river at old Waynesboro, and a track was run down to the
river. It curved to the right just after crossing Little river bridge,
about where Weil's brick yard is and ran across the field now owned by Maj.
Grant, coming to the river near O'Berry's log boom, and a warehouse was built on
the river bank. I don't know whether any business was ever done between
the railroad and steamboats or not. The warehouse got burned in April,
'61. The first steamboat I ever saw was tied up to the banks at
Waynesboro. This must have been about '49 or '50. It was some years
before the court house was removed. The boat line was owned or operated by
the Dibbles, who were northern men.
The first steam saw mill ever
operated in Wayne was owned and run by T. C. Garrison, of Petersburg, Va., and
was located at Bolton Hill, on the A.C.L. road, about four miles north of
Goldsboro. This information I got from the late Col. C. J. Nelson, and if
I remember rightly, it was about 1836, while the Wilmington & Weldon
railroad (now the A.C.L.) was being built. A good deal of the lumber that
was used in those days for building was sawed by what was called whip saws.
I never saw but one of them at work. It was located just where the
residence of Mr. L. D. Gulley now stands. Two benches were erected seven
or eight feet high and the log was placed on these benches. How they
managed to get the log up there, I am not going to tell, for I don't know.
At the time I saw this one being worked, the log was already in position.
A large saw like an ordinary cross-cut saw, with handles in each end, the
handles going through the round loop at the end of the saw, so that the man at
the handles could use an end in each hand; then one man mounted the log and
stood on it, while the other man stood on the ground and the sawing was done by
pulling the saw up and down. It was a slow process I doubt if two men
could saw one hundred feet a day. We had water mills that sawed lumber,
the saw being run by the up-and-down movement. This was slow work, too.
There used to be one of these mills owned by Wm. Rouse, in Stoney Creek
township, across Stoney Creek, about one mile from Thompson's Chapel. I
used to go there to get grinding done; carried a bag of corn containing two
bushels thrown across the back of a horse. I used to ride up to the mill
house and the old negro (Ned Rouse) would start his saw in a sixteen foot log,
then come take my bag of corn off my horse, carry it into the grinding room,
measure it with a half bushel, take out the toll, raise the gate and start the
rocks to running, step down to the meal chest, feel of the meal to see if it was
being ground fine enough, then go out to the saw, take a chew of tobacco
leisurely and be in ample time to throw his saw out by the time it had cut
through the sixteen foot line. To think of this rate and then go down to
the Enterprise Lumber Co.'s mill and see how quick a band saw will cut the same
line is astonishing.
There used to be a bar room on West
Centre street, about where the Messenger building (Commercial Hotel) now stands.
This bar was run by Thomas Walters, and another bar was run by Wm. Privett, at
almost where J. W. Isler now does business. While there were others, these
two did the most of the country business, and it was a mighty dull Saturday in
Goldsboro if there was not one or more fights at one or both of these places.
Pistols were not used, but the fist, walking sticks and the pocket knife was
very much in evidence.
I recollect seeing a fellow in one of
these "rucusses" who was stabbed in the hip. I don't think it
was more than an inch deep and only the width of the knife blade, but it bled
right freely and the poor fellow was scared almost to death. Dr. J. W.
Davis was fixing to dress his wound and the cut man was groaning and praying
loud enough to be heard a hundred feet. He was making so much complaint
over such a small wound that Dr. Davis became disgusted, and upon the poor
fellow bellowing out, "Dr. Davis, for God's sake do something for me, I am
going to die," the doctor replied: "D__m it, if you are, cross your
thumbs and die like a man!" But he did not stop his loud groanings
until his wound was dressed and Davis told him to go home.
The young men of that day were as
found of fun and sport as they are today. There was no baseball nor
football games as we have now; but horse racing was a great favorite and there
are some of those men still living who thoroughly enjoyed the races.
The race track used to be a straight
piece of road between Goldsboro and Old Waynesboro, just outside of what is now
the southeastern edge of Little Washington, and many a race has been pulled off
there. Dick Hamlet used to be the rider. I have not seen Hamlet in
over fifty years, but he was living in Alamance county not many years ago.
Away back around the fifties there
was military officers all over the county, a captain in each voting precinct,
and they were required to meet at the voting place in their precinct at stated
period for drill. It was amusing to attend one of these drills. Some of
the men had guns, while many had nothing but walking sticks, and some were
without shoes, as the drills were generally held in the summer. And on the
day that the county candidates spoke at each precinct there was most always a
good turn out, for they knew there were be treating by the candidates.
There were traveling bars then who
went all over the county from one speaking place to another with drinkables, and
the candidates were liberal in dispensing the stuff. I can remember well
how old Sheriff Ollin Coor would have a bushel tub made full of lemonade and
then pour in about two quarts of whiskey. This was called punch. The
old sheriff knew some would want the straight liquor and so would set up at the
same time a quantity of whiskey. He would then call out: "Everybody
come up and get Coor punch and blunt-tail moccasin!" And it didn't
take a second call to get the crowd. The candidates would buy cider by the
barrel and have it free to everybody; but a barrel of cider could be bought for
two dollars. Whiskey sold then at ten cents a quart and yet at such prices
I have heard Sheriff Thompson say that his campaign cost him over seven hundred
dollars. Suppose candidates now had to treat the like they did then with
whiskey at present prices? There is not an office in the county that a man
could afford to be a candidate for. But the county canvass in those days
were interesting to me. I enjoyed hearing the speaking. One of the
most hard-fought and exciting campaigns I ever remember in Wayne was
between the late W. T. Dortch and Ervin A. Thompson, and was, I think, in 1856.
Both were candidates for the House of Commons. I don't remember who the
other candidate was, but whoever he was, his election was conceded from the
start, and the fight was on between Dortch and Thompson. Both were young
men just in their prime and both strong debaters. Early in the canvass
there very naturally arose some little feeling between them. They never
came to blows during the canvass, but it was without a doubt a hot old time in
Wayne that year. Thompson was elected, but I don't think his majority was
over a half dozen votes. Thompson was the best extempore speaker that I
ever heard. He was red-headed and freckled, and as ugly as you often find,
but on the stump he was a live wire.
Our courts were always attended by
strong members of the bar from other counties. I remember W. H. and John
N. Washington and Geo. L. Stevenson from New Bern; Samuel J. Person, Eli W. Hall
and W. A. Wright from Wilmington; W. B. Wright, from Fayetteville; and H. W.
Husted, from Raleigh; but I think that W. T. Dortch and Geo. V. Strong did the
bulk of the practice, and when a suitor got both of them on his side, he felt
pretty sure of his case.
We mentioned in our closing lines
last week that our friend Geo. E. Taylor was sort of leader of the town gang,
and Ash Knight, John Baker, Wiley Wright, Thad. Pitman, Windal Robinson and Dick
Nelson was generally on hand and ready for mischief.
I used to get mad enough to fight but
was afraid to do so. I was not so much afraid of getting licked as I was
of the police. I thought a policeman was the next biggest man to the
devil, and that for a barefoot country boy to have a rucus in town and be
arrested by the police and carried before the mayor, means that he would be
convicted of a misdemeanor, burglary, arson, rioting and rebellion.
If we country boys could have ever
caught the town boys out in the country where we would have had no fear of the
police, they would have fared bad.
At the breaking out of the war,
April, 1861, I don't think Goldsboro contained more than twelve or fifteen
hundred inhabitants. And I think I knew nearly every one, certainly all of
the men, and where they lived, and the business or work they were engaged in.
Some time ago, thinking over them, I began to count them, writing down their
names as they would occur to me, to enable me to do so more accurately. As
stated above, I knew their residences. I took the town by streets and I am
sure I have not missed the names of many white men who were twenty-one years and
upwards in April, 1861. I made up a list of two hundred and twenty-five
names, and there are in the list many names that I had not thought of in ten or
twenty years.
Believing a list of these names,
which I have arranged in alphabetical order, would be interesting reading, to a
great number of the Record readers, I give the names as follows:
W. S. G. Andrews, Chas. Angel, E. W.
Adams, J. A. Aiverett, Richa Atkinson, Nathan Adams, Mathew Albritton.
J. J. Baker, H. W. Burwell, J. J.
Bradbury, J. A. Bonitz, Thos. Ballard, Hope Bain, J. C. Borden, E. B. Borden,
Grif Brockett, R. G. Best, Wm. Burnum,
C. A. W. Barham, J. Henry Baker, W. R. Bridgers, Wm. Bonitz, W. C. Blount,
Virginues Ballard, Wm. Boyett, Jas. D. Bryan, John Bryan, J. S. Baker,
Isaac Burnum, W. E. Bayard.
M. D. Craton, Daniel Cogdell, W. W.
Crawford, Charles Carroll, Wm. Cox, John Cameron, N. B. Cobb, D. C. Carrington,
John Crone, J. H. Crawford, D. Creech, Cicero Coor, Isaac Cotton.
Albert Day, W. E. Davis, J. F.
Devine, Jonah Davis, I. R. Dyer, S. H. Denmark, W. N. Drumgool, R. B. Davis, J.
W. Davis, W. T. Dortch, C. F. Dewey, J. W. Danner.
Rufus Edmundson, J. W. Ezzell, John
Everett, W. L. Edwards, W. B. Edmundson, J. H. Everett, John Edwards, J. A.
Evans.
W. H. Finlayson, W. B. Fields, Alvoh
Fairfield, J. J. Foulks, S. Milton Frost, S. D. Fairfield, W. T. Faircloth, Wm.
Faircloth, W. H. Freeman, Mathew Faircloth.
R. J. Gregory, Collier Griswold, T.
A. Granger, L. D. Giddens, Chas. Goddard, Lewis Gurney, J. B. Griswold, G. C.
Garris, J. W. Gulick, R. J. Goodwin, Needham Gurney.
The
booklet War-Time
Reminiscences and Other
Selections by J. M.
Hollowell was
contributed by Alton Parnell and digitized by Rita Korbach. Printed with
permission.
Other
topics in this series:
About
these writings and J. M. Hollowell - A Character Sketch
Some Early Recollections of Wayne County - But More
Particularly of Goldsboro
Early
Residents, Soldiers, Railroad Workers, Early Churches
Early
Trade
Webbtown,
Graded school, Pates
Coming of the Yankees
War-Time Reminiscences
More
War-time Reminiscences: Fort Macon, April 21, 1862
Early
History of Goldsboro
This nonprofit
genealogical-historical research site is a member of the USGenWeb
Project, AHGP, ALHN,
and hosted on the Safe-Site Server of USGenNet,
an IRS-approved nonprofit public benefit corporation. No claim is made
to the copyrights of individual submitters, and this site complies
fully with USGenNet's Nonprofit
Conditions of Use.
Please email
comments and suggestions to: Terria
Baynor-Web Hostess
Site
Originated & Maintained by: Diana Holland Faust 1996-September
2001
Since September
2001 by Terria Baynor
www.usgennet.org/usa/nc/county/wayne
© 2001 Terria Baynor
|
|
