Perry Thomas Knight image detail. Original image courtesy of berriencountyga.com

While a ministerial student at Oaklawn Baptist Academy in 1909, Perry Thomas Knight was already a popular preacher.

Young Preachers’ Good Work

Milltown, Ga., April 28 – Rev. P. T. Knight, one of the ministerial students of the Oaklawn Baptist college, who is pastor of Good Hope Baptist church, near Naylor, is having phenominal success in his church work, Rev. Knight at almost every service gets an accession to his church.  In addition to being pastor of Good Hope Baptist church, Rev. Knight is also pastor of Brushy Creek church, near Nashville, Lois church and Waresboro church, near Waycross.  H. D. Warnock, W. O. Young, Willie Chism, other ministerial students of the same college are doing great work as missionaries for the Baptist cause.

Oaklawn Academy

Work began on the school in 1905 and the construction progressed rapidly.

The Valdosta Times
June 23, 1906  pg 7

Work on Milltown School   

Work has been progressing bravely upon the Milltown college, a large force of hands being already at work.  The construction is being pushed as rapidly as possible on account of the desire to be ready to open the school as soon as possible.   The original plans called for the construction of three large buildings, though it is thought now that five buildings will be erected.    The building grounds are said to be the handsomest in the state and the college campus will be one of the prettiest in the south when it is completed.  It contains fifteen acres and a pretty creek runs through the groves making it easy to convert them into a beautiful park.

The Atlanta Constitution
August 20, 1907

NEW  EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IS BEING BUILT UP AT MILLTOWN

The new buildings of the High school of the Valdosta Baptist association, at Milltown, Ga….are rapidly nearing completion and will soon be ready for occupancy.    The larger building in the center, in which the classrooms will be located, is practically finished.  It will easily accommodate four or five hundred students.  The smaller buildings on each side are the dormitories, one for boys and one for girls, each having accommodations for practically one hundred.    The large building and one of the dormitories have been erected on small subscriptions, not a single give of more than $1,000 having been received.  The other dormitory is the gift of one man, who agreed to furnish the money for it, if enough to completely pay the cost of the other two buildings was raised.  Of this amount only $10.000 is now lacking and strenuous efforts are being made by the Valdosta Baptist association to raise this sum.     Rev. Graham Forrester, formerly one of the most prominent lawyers of the state, but now missionary of the Valdosta Baptist association, which includes portions of Lowndes, Berrien, Echols, Coffee, Ware, and Clinch counties, with headquarters in Valdosta, has been put in charge of the work of raising this money and is now in Atlanta for that purpose.    Mr. Forrester, in speaking of the school, said that it was one of the most promising institutions in South  Georgia, ideally located, and with no other school of like character in its immediate section.  Its graduates are fitted for the sophomore classes of the large colleges.  The school is situated at Milltown, in Berrien county, owns 15 acres of land, through which a beautiful stream runs, and which is heavily wooded with water oaks.    The institution had last year, when it was run in connection with the Milltown public school, an attendance of 200 and an increase is looked for this term.    Mr. Forrester declared his intention of staying in north Georgia until he got his $10,000, “for,” said he, “south Georgia has been contributing to north Georgia educational institutions for years and it is now north Georgia’s time to help us.”

By fall of 1906 construction had progressed to the point where classes could begin. The school opened September 17, 1906.  A partial list of the administrators and faculty who served at the school has been gleaned from newspaper accounts.

Board of Trustees
Dr. John E. Barnard, President
Dr. W. S. Patten
S. K. Patten
J. H. Bostic
Lucius M. Stanfill
Ewell Brown
J. W. Garbutt
Reverend A. C. Pyle, 1909

Principal
1906-1911 James Cuthbert Wilkinson, Science and English Bible
1911 J. A. Lott
1911 Sidney J. Underwood
1916-1921 J.A. Lott, Jr.

Teachers
1906
Reverend L. R. Christie
M. W. Bargeron
Miss Annie Hall, A.B. – English and History
Miss Ossie H. Burruss, A.B.  – Latin and Greek
Miss Leila Connell, A.B. Mathematics
Miss Annie May Arnold, A.B., B.M. – Piano and Coronet
Miss Belle Brinson,  A.B., B.M. – Violin and Preparatory
Miss Elizabeth Morgan – Preparatory
Miss Davis, Oratory

1908
Miss Lizzie Morgan
1909
Miss Jessie Elliot, Elocution

1910
Miss Lizzie T. Bennett, Latin and English
Miss Etna Shaw, Principal of 6th, 7th, and 8th grades
Miss Fannie Clements, Primary Grades
Miss Ethel Jones, Instrumental and Vocal Music
Miss Kitty Watson, Oratory
Miss Orrie Brown, Shorthand and Typewriting

1911
Ruth Smith, Expression
Miss Addie Stansell
Miss Wells, Music

Construction on the school continued for years, sometimes in the face of financial challenges.  By spring of 1909 the main building was nearing completion.

The Atlanta Constitution
April 24, 1909

Big Time at Milltown

    Milltown, Ga., April 23.  – (Special.) -  The local Masonic Lodge is figuring on having a big time on the completion of the main building of the Oaklawn Baptist college situated at this place.  The Masons will lay the cornerstone with the usual Masonic ceremonies.  They expect to have Grand Master Jeffries and Grand Senior Warden Henry Banks and, possibly some other men who stand high in Masonry.  The Oaklawn school will also have, on the opening day, several prominent speakers, and together with the Masons, they expect to have a big time.    The date for this big occasion will be announced later, as the carpenters and painters are putting the finishing touches on the building now.

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 W. R. McClure was employed as the principal at the Ray City School.  The January 7, 1947 minutes of the Berrien County Board of Education show that he worked to build up the school:

Berrien County Board of Education Minutes, January 7, 1947

¨       Four members of the Ray City School Board and the local Supt., Mr. W.R. McClure, met with the Board to discuss their need a gymnasium and several classrooms.  It was the opinion of all present that the only recourse possible was the inclusion of the need in a county bond issue at the proper time.
_{Transcript courtesy of Skeeter Parker}

At the end of that school year, William R. “Mac” McClure announced that he would give up his position a principal of the Ray City School to go into business for himself.  The business, a bookkeeping service called “Mail-Me-Monday, was described in a  previous post.

The Nashville Herald
May 15, 1947 – Pg 1

W.R. McClure Resigns Ray City School To Enter Private Business

      W.R. McClure, superintendent of Ray City high school the past two years, has resigned to enter a business of his own in Ray City.  The resignation is effective at the end of the present school term.

      Mr. McClure will be affiliated with a national organization known as “Mail-Me-Monday” Bookkeeping and Tax Method.  His Franchise is composed of 27 counties in South Georgia with an area office in Atlanta.

      The patrons and pupils of the school regret his leaving but wish him success in his new business.

      Many friends of Mr. and Mrs. McClure are happy to know that they will still make their home in Ray City, with Mrs. McClure continuing her work as mathematics teacher in the Ray City school.
_{Transcript courtesy of Skeeter Parker}

Anna Hawk McClure, wife of W. R. McClure was a math teacher at the Ray City School.

Afterward he became a quite accomplished farmer of Berrien County.  The Jehu Patten farm consisted of a home and 260 acres in section 454 of the 10th district, located just southwest of Ray City, near the farms of  Francis Marion Shaw,  Lacy Shaw, and Jesse Shelby Shaw. (In 1902, Jehu Patten sold this farm to John Levi Allen – see http://www.audubon4tet.com/FMS/21_John_Levi_Allen.pdf)

As a farmer, Jehu had an interest in and respect for the natural world.

Jehu Patten captures serpent, November 15, 1895.

Tifton Gazette
November 15, 1895  Pg 3

Mr. Jehu Patten, from up in the Ray’s Mill neighborhood, was in town  this week and had a snake about four inches long and as large around as a straw.  He found the little snake in the road and caught it and put it in an envelope. The snake was the smallest we ever saw.  – Times.

Two months later, the Gazette noted:

Tifton Gazette
January 24, 1896  Pg 4

The writer had the pleasure of visiting Mr. Jehu Patten’s a few days since, who lives near Rays Mill.  The weather was very cold, but after I had been there some time, he took me around to show me the results of his last year’s work.  The corn crib was the first place.  To my surprise I found he had gathered between seven and eight hundred bushels of corn, and one hundred of rice, next was the sugar house, and as I entered the door I found on my right three hundred gallons of syrup jugged and sealed, and on my left, up on shelves, five dozen fruit jars, containing apples, pear and peaches, and under the shelves was ten fifty-pound cans of lard, all full.  Next came the meat-house, and there I found he had 5,000 lbs. of meat, and about 75, or 100, lbs, of sausage, and has hogs enough yet to kill to last his family two years.  His meat was fattened on pinders, and it is ascertained that he has now in the field 80, or 100 bushels.  To go with his meat he has about an acre of turnips.  I did not visit his potato house but judge them by his other crop, and by those on his table. This Mr. Patten made with two mules and two negro boys.  He has enough stored away to supply his family three years.  Shurely, he ought to be happy.  He has raised and reared his children to a high degree of civilization, and has only three children, Miss Emma, J. M. and J. L. Patten, and all three are well educated, especially in vocal and instrumental music.  All are working to the highest aspiration.
    Oh that we had more such men as him!  Yours for more,   AJAX.

Related Posts:

• Watson Grade News Feb 12, 1904
• Watson Grade News, January 22, 1904

Here is a family story shared by reader Lloyd Harris, of another “Tiger”  encounter which occurred that same year near Argyle, GA, about 35 miles east of Ray City.

When I was young my grandfather related a long ago memory of his grandfather’s encounter with a panther or panthers in the south Georgia wilderness. Our family story coincides with the Berrien Tiger accounts as they happened at approximately the same time. My great great grandfather, James Harris, told this story of his own childhood to my grandad when he was young.

James Harris, 1880s. Image courtesy of Lloyd Harris.

The  incident happened when James Harris was about five years old, and coincides with the 1849 date of the Berrien Tiger.

Family of James Harris

James Harris was the first of eleven children born to George Harris and Julia Ann Westberry. He was born near Quitman, Georgia, February 16, 1844. 

His father, George Harris, was the son of Thompson Harris (1784-1870) and Nancy Ursery (1784-  )   A Confederate Widow’s Indigent Pension application for Julia Ann (Westberry) Harris in 1908 reflects George Harris’ birth in 1817 in South Carolina. Another source relates that he was born in Appling County, Georgia between 1817 and 1822, after which the family lived in Clinch County.  George was a blacksmith and in addition assisted his father Thompson Harris in constructing covered bridges. His father’s work was known throughout Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. A trademark of their bridges was the integrated use of iron and bored wooden pegs to hold the timbers together.

George was a blacksmith and wheelwright. Family tradition relates that he assisted his father Thompson Harris in constructing covered bridges throughout Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.

The church records of Union Church show that George and Julia Harris were received and baptized into its membership August 7, 1841, and were dismissed by letter March 12,1842. They became members of Providence Primitive Baptist Church near their home soon after that church was constituted in 1844. Their subsequent records cannot be traced due to the loss of church records.

The Harris home and farm in Clinch County, Georgia was on lot 325 in the 7th District which lot was traversed by the county line between Clinch and Ware Counties when Clinch was created in 1850 from Ware County. This property is situated about three miles north of the present village of Argyle. George Harris was granted this lot from the state on June 3, 1849; also granted the adjoining lot 324 on October 3, 1848. He sold lot 324 to his brother, William Harris, November 2, 1849, and then lived on lot 325 until he sold that parcel of land to Richard Bennett on August 12, 1852.

Tale of the Panthers

There is a family tale handed down through many generations relating to frontier life. The event happened in 1849 during the time the Harris family was residing in Clinch County. George Harris was away leaving his wife Julia and the children home alone in a pioneer homestead. Speculation would be that he was away with his father building bridges or hunting. During one night panthers roaming from the nearby Okefenokee swamp menaced the home ranging closer and closer to the cabin. To keep the predators from entering the home the frantic family prayed through the night and burned their beds, and chairs keeping a large fire going. The tactic flushed the space with light and served to repel an attack by the curious cats.

The Harris family story of a young pioneer family praying, hanging blankets over windows, and burning the bed, tables and chairs was passed down serving to entertain several generations with a true historical drama of frontier Georgia living in the nineteenth century.

George and James Harris in the Civil War

George Harris  and his son James both served in the War Between the States. George  Harris enlisted as a Private in the fall of 1862 as a member of the 3rd Cavalry Battalion which was formed during the winter of 1861-1862 with six companies. He along with his unit served on the Georgia coast, scouting and patrolling, until a reorganization of troops occurred on January 1, 1863.  George Harris’ unit was merged into the 4th (Clinch’s) Georgia Cavalry Regiment , and he was placed in Company I. Lieutenant Colonel Duncan L. Clinch and Major John L. Harris were in command.

At the reorganization,  James Harris joined his father’s unit, Company I, 4th Georgia Cavalry as a private.  He participated in the Battle of Olustee, Florida and in the battles around Atlanta. Family tradition relates he contracted measles during the siege of Atlanta and was in the city when it fell to the Union armies under General William T. Sherman. His unit apparently left him outside of the city but in the line of the advancing enemy soldiers. James was convalescing on a farm (place unknown) when “Yankees” were seen approaching. He was hidden by the host family in the stump of a huge oak tree that had “bushed” up. James remained concealed in the oak bush throughout the hot summer day until the Yankees left. Though suffering from sickness, and within a stones throw of the Union soldiers, he remained quite and motionless evading capture! Records also indicate he participated in battle at John’s Island, South Carolina. He surrendered at Thomasville, Georgia and was paroled at Tallahassee, Florida on May 15, 1865.

After the war James Harris married Mary Alice Stone.  She was born February 16, 1842, the daughter of George W. R. Stone and Nancy Howell. The Harris and Stone families are listed in the 1850 Census of Ware County.  James and Alice raised a family and engaged in farming near Adel, GA in present Cook County. He was a skilled blacksmith and wheelwright, as well. James Harris is listed in the 1880 and 1900 census of Berrien County, Georgia.

For James Harris, 1897 was a particularly trying year.  That summer a hailstorm hit the Harris farm, damaging his house and property.

James Harris’ plantation hit by storm, 1897.

Tifton Gazette
June 18, 1897

Storm Near Cecil.

Cicil, Ga., June 12. – A heavy and damaging hail storm passed three miles north of Cecil late yesterday afternoon.  The cloud traveled in a southeasterly direction, touching the plantation of Mr. James Harris, three miles northeast of this place.  The storm was accompanied by a terrific wind, which destroyed a large amount of Mr. Harris’ fencing and a portion of the roof of his dwelling.  No deaths or personal injuries have been reported.

In November, 1897,  Harris took another blow when his gin was burned down.

James Harris’ gin house hit by fire, 1897.

Tifton Gazette
November 19, 1897

Gin House Burned

Cecil, Ga., Nov. 17 – At a late hour last night the gin house and contents of Mr. James Harris living two miles northeast of this place, was destroyed by fire. The origin of which is unknown, but is thought to be an incendiary’s work. The amount of the damage could not be learned to-day, but it is thought that it may exceed $1,000. SHEBA.

James’ father, George Harris,  died between 1892 and 1894 in Echols County, Georgia. His mother, Julia Ann Harris, applied for a Confederate Widows pension in 1908 and 1909 in Berrien County, Georgia. George Harris and his wife are buried in Union Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Lanier County, Georgia in unmarked graves.

In 1919, James Harris sold his farm near Cecil, GA.

James Harris sells out in Cecil District, Georgia, 1919.

Tifton Gazette
August 29, 1919

    Adel News.  There has been a good deal of activity in the sale of farm lands in Cook county this week.  Mr. W. S. Kirkland sold his farm to Mr. Jim Buck Whiddon and later bought Mr. John Taylor’s place which he also sold.  It is understood that the first brought $15,00.  Both of the places are in the Brushy creek neighborhood.  Mr. James Harris sold his place in the Cecil district to Mr. General Taylor for $15,000 also.

James Harris was a resident of Cecil, Georgia in Berrien/Cook County until his death. He died in Adel, Georgia December 12, 1928.   Alice died October 28, 1928, in Adel Georgia.  They are both buried at the Fellowship Baptist Church Cemetery in Cook County near Cecil, Georgia.

R

Special thanks to Lloyd Harris for the contribution of images and content for this post.

Related Posts:

• Eyewitness Accounts of the Berrien Tiger
• Early Account of the Berrien Tiger, 1849
• The Misadventures of Mr. Stewart
• 1849 Adventures With A Panther in Berrien County, GA
• Martha Guthrie: Babe of the Indian Wars

Among the leaders of this small band of settlers were William Anderson Knight and wife Sarah Knight, his brother Samuel Knight, and his son-in-law Isben Giddens. They brought with them their families, children, livestock, and their possessions to make a new home in the new county of Lowndes, which was created from parts of Irwin County in 1826. These pioneers were experienced at opening up a new county. They were frontiersmen with militia experience, and also experienced at carving farms and plantations from the wilderness of the Wiregrass. In a sense, they were the first ‘Americans’, born between the time of the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.  They were raised in a time of war; their fathers served as Revolutionary Soldiers. Like the baby boomers of later wars, they grew up in a sort of post-war boom period, where Americans were celebrating their new-found independence and freedom.

The Knights were true Wiregrass pioneers.  They came to this section from Wayne County, where  William A. Knight had been among the very first settlers, arriving there about 1803.   The  Knight’s Wayne County place was situated near the Old Post Road, one of the earliest roads in Georgia. On the land adjacent to Knight’s, another Wiregrass pioneer, William Clements,  had settled his family.

Old Post Road Historic Marker, Glynn County, GA

The Old Post Road…was originally an Indian trail extending from St. Augustine, Florida, northward through south Georgia into the rolling country known as the Sand Hill section.  Mitchell’s map of 1756, now in the Library of Congress in Washington, shows this trail. During the Revolutionary War the American forces marched along it on their way to attack a British contingent at Fort Tonyn, which was somewhere south of [U.S. Hwy 84].  Historians have not been able to determine the exact site. The road continued to be used as a stagecoach route and post road between Savannah and Florida until the War between the States.

When Wayne County had been created in 1803, William A. Knight was one of five commissioners empowered by the Georgia Legislature to determine the site of the county seat in the new county, and “when it was done it was located on lands owned by Mr. Knight and by William Clements.”   The Wayne county seat became known as  Tuckersville, after resident John Tucker who served as the first postmaster there.  (Waynesville was not officially designated as the county seat until 1829.)  William A. Knight served as a post master after John Tucker, and William Clements served as a Wayne County road commissioner.  Tuckersville  was located  somewhere north of Waynesville on the Post Road near the Buffalo Swamp, once the home and feeding grounds of herds of Georgia buffalo. The town disappeared from maps after 1850 and its exact location remains a mystery. In its first twenty years, Wayne County was slow in developing.  According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia ”The area contained hundreds of acres of pine barrens and wiregrass country.  Much of the land was undesirable for settlement… Many of the early white settlers were families who, having lost their bids to win richer land in Baldwin or Wilkinson counties in the 1805 land lottery, settled for the isolation and less desirable land offered by Wayne County.” Perhaps the lack of economic development in Wayne County finally discouraged the Knights. For whatever reason, it appears they decided there were better opportunities in opening up a new county  than remaining behind in Wayne  County.

As a member of the state Legislature, William A. Knight undoubtedly knew of the impending division of the vast Irwin County into smaller counties. The military road constructed by John Coffee and Thomas Swain in 1823 had opened up the south central Georgia territory to pioneer settlers (see Daniel McCranie).  Coffee’s road, as it was soon known, passed from Jacksonville, GA through the site of present day Nashville, GA and on southward to the Florida line.

Coffee Road Historic Marker, Nashville GA

When the Knights left their farms and came to  south central Georgia to build their “log cabin in the wilds of the Wiregrass”, this area of Georgia was all part of the huge Irwin county.  Lowndes was created from 2080 square miles carved out of Irwin, which had been plotted into Land Districts. Located on the center of Georgia’s southern border with Florida,  Lowndes was still a quite large county.  It would later be further divided into six present day counties; Lowndes, Brooks, Cook, Tift, Clinch, Lanier, and Berrien counties.

William Anderson Knight chose a home site on the northwest edge of Grand Bay in what was soon to be Lowndes County.  This area, in the 10th land district of Irwin County, had good water and better soil than the typical pine barrens of Wayne County.  It was situated between the Alapaha  River to the east and the Withlacoochee and its tributaries to the west.  William A. Knight’s place was near the route, such as it was, from Waynesville to Thomasville, GA.  About nine miles to the west was Coffee’s Road; equidistant to the east was the site  of Union Church, the Primitive Baptist church organized in 1825 by the Knights, Pattens, Lees and Sirmans and led by Reverend Matthew Albritton.

Historic Marker – Union Church, organized 1825. Sarah and William A. Knight were founding members.

The Knight’s were influential in the development of Lowndes county from the very beginning, from the formation of the first church in this section to the convening of the first superior court.  William A. Knight became the first state senator elected from Lowndes county to serve in the Georgia Assembly, and his son Jonathan Knight became the first state representative.

Following his parents , Levi J. Knight  brought his new bride, Ann Clements  Herrin Knight, to homestead in Lowndes County in 1827. Anne was the daughter of the Knights’ Wayne County neighbors,  William and Elizabeth Clements.  L. J. Knight chose a spot not far from Grand Bay, on Beaverdam Creek,   where he established his  home site.  Perhaps even then he saw that the headwaters of Beaverdam Creek could some day be impounded to provide water power for a settlement.    Levi J. Knight’s homestead became the nucleus of a community, first known simply as Knight, GA, that later grew into present day Ray City, GA. 

Related Posts:

• Coffee Road Led to Creation of Lowndes County
• Levi J. Knight and Lowndes First Superior Court
• Reverend William A. Knight at old Troupville, GA
• Levi J. Knight’s Military Heritage
• Jonathan David Knight, Signer of the Georgia Constitution of 1877
• More About Troupville, GA and the Withlacoochee River
• The Good Judge Holt
• Coffee’s Road Passed Seven Miles West of Ray City
• Big Thumb McCranie was First Postmaster of Lowndes
• Norman Campbell Collected Taxes, Fought Indians

The Nashville Herald
April 30, 1915

Destructive Fire Visits Rays Mill

      One of the most disastrous fires in the history of Rays Mill visited that place Sunday morning about 6 o’clock.  Several stores and considerable amount of goods were destroyed by the flames.

      The fire started in a store owned by John Clements of Milltown, in which building his son, Johnnie Clements, Jr., was operating a small store, and the store and contents were completely destroyed.  The loss in this instance was about $1,000 on the building and about the same amount on the stock.  There was insurance covering about half the loss.

      The flames leaped over a brick building and it was completely consumed [missing] & Co. and set fire to the Rays Mill hotel.  The hotel was a two-story building and it was completely consumed by the fire.  It was owned by Messrs. J.H. and Jas. S. Swindle and was valued at $5,000 or $6,000.  The hotel was destroyed with most of its contents.  Mr. J.F. Hineley, who operated the hotel, also had a small store which was entirely destroyed.

      The flames when the hotel was burning were so hot that the brick store of J.M. Parrish & Co. caught and was entirely destroyed.  The building was valued at about $4,000 and the stock of goods was valued at about $15,000.  The stock was largely the property of Mr. G.W. Varn, of Valdosta.  There was insurance for about half of this loss.

      Two other store buildings belonging to Mr. Will Studstill of Valdosta were destroyed by the flames.  These small buildings were valued at about $1,000, while the stocks of goods in them were small.

      It was impossible to control the flames as there was no water supply sufficient to cope with the fire and about all that could be done was to stand by and watch the different buildings burns and try to prevent any spreading.  The losses are heavy ones and will injure the town materially.

      The total loss is figured at $23,000, and the total amount of insurance carried was $14,000, according to Mr. J.S. Swindle, who was in Nashville yesterday.

_{Transcription courtesy of Skeeter Parker}

«««<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<♦>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>»»»

The Tifton Gazette
April 30, 1915

BAD FIRE AT RAY’S MILL

Flames Destroyed Hotel and Stores.  $30,000 Loss

Valdosta, April 26. – One-third of the business section of Rays Mill, a flourishing town fourteen miles from Valdosta, was destroyed by fire on Sunday.  A number of merchants lost their stores and stocks and the Rays Mill hotel, a large two-story building, was entirely destroyed with most of the furnishings.

The losses will amount to about $30,000, the property being partly covered by insurance.  J.F. Hinely, proprietor of the hotel; J.M. Parrish & Company, John J. Clements, Jr., J.H. and J.S. Swindle and W.M. Studstill are the principal losers.

The town has no water facilities and the block in which the flames started was burned before the fire could be checked.

_{Transcription courtesy of Skeeter Parker}

«««<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<♦>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>»»»

The Nashville Herald
May 21, 1915

Rays Mill, The Week’s Doings In and Around

      The debris has been cleared away and work on the new buildings which will replace those destroyed by the recent disastrous fire is progressing rapidly.  With the completion of these new brick buildings, we will have what appears from the depot, almost a solid brick block, which we trust will be a reality in the near future.  The J.M. Parrish Company’s store which was only partially destroyed, will be ready for occupancy again within a few days.  This should be good news to all their many customers and friends, as they will have a new and complete line of general merchandise.

_{Transcription courtesy of Skeeter Parker}

Related Posts:

• Ray’s Mill Hotel Burns, 1915
• James Henry Swindle ~ Businessman and Public Servant
• Two Fires Strike Ray City
• November 6, 1923 ~ Big Fire Loss at the Ray City Sawmill
• Dr. B.F. Julian Burned Out at Ray’s Mill
• Arson and Evangelism in Rays Mill, GA
• Incendiaries in Berrien County

1907 Memorial to Judge Hansell

Tifton Gazette
Feb. 8, 1907

Memorial to Judge Hansell

Memorial services in honor of the late Judge Augustine H. Hansell were held at Thomasville Monday afternoon.  Judge Hansell presided over the Southern circuit for fifty years, and there was a large attendance of lawyers from all over the section.  The memorial committee appointed by Judge Robert G. Mitchell to have charge of the exercises consisted of W. M. Hammond, of Thomas, chairman; W. B. Bennett, of Brooks; O. M. Smith, of Lowndes; H. B. Peeples, of Berrien; John A. Wilkes, of Colquitt; J. R. Singletary, of Grady; C. W. Fulwood, of Tift, and R. G. Tison, of Echols.
    Captain Hammond, as chairman of the committee, delivered an eloquent eulogy – reciting the long public service of the honored judge.  A handsome portrait of Judge Hansell adons the court room, where the service was held.

Augustin H. Hansell

The following sketch of the life of Judge Hansell is a composite of the memorial given in the Report of the Twenty-fourth Annual Session of the Georgia Bar Association, 1907  and biographical material contained in A History of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume 2, 1913.

JUDGE AUGUSTIN H. HANSELL.

Augustin H. Hansell was born in Milledgeville, Georgia,, on the 26th day of August, 1817. He died in Thomasville, Georgia, on Sunday morning, February 11, 1907. If he had lived until August 26, 1907, he would have reached the age of ninety years. While it is rarely the case that the allotted life of man is extended to the extreme age which Judge Hansell reached, it is still more rare, even to being remarkable, that one who lived for a period approaching a century should have spent nearly the entire time of so long a life in constant activity and service. Judge Hansell was practically “in harness” from his early manhood until the date of his death. From the time he was eighteen years of age until within a few years of his death he was actively and constantly engaged in service to his State and to his people.

******

The father of Augustine Harris Hansell was William Young Hansell, a native of the Greenville district of South Carolina. When William Young Hansell was a child he lost his father, and at the age of twelve came to Georgia to make his home with his uncle, William Young. Making the best of his opportunities he acquired a common school education and then studied law in Milledgeville, and after admission to the bar engaged in practice there. He was one of the eminent attorneys of his time, and his name appears in the Georgia supreme court reports. His active practice continued until 1860, and he then lived retired until his death in 1867. The maiden name of his wife was Susan Byne Harris, representing another prominent family of this state. She was born on a plantation about two miles from Milledgeville, and her father, Augustin Harris, a native of Burke county, was directly descended from one of four brothers who came to America during early colonial times and settled in Virginia. Augustin Harris was a Baldwin county planter, having numerous slaves and being one of the prosperous men of his section. Susan (Harris) Hansell survived her husband until 1874, and she reared two sons, Andrew J. and Augustin H., and five daughters.”

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Augustin Harris Hansell… being reared in one of the prosperous homes of Georgia, was given excellent advantages. Prof. Carlisle Beaman was one of his tutors in general subjects, and he studied law under R. K. Hines and Iverson L. Harris. After admission to the bar he began practice at Milledgeville, and for a time served as private secretary for Governor Gilmer.

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At the age of eighteen Judge Hansell served with distinction in the War of the Creek Indians of 1836. He was on the staff of General J. W. A. Sanford, of Baldwin county, and by reason of meritorious service was offered the promotion to a Major by General Sanford, but declined such appointment.

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Judge Hansell’s family relations were ideal. He was married to Miss Mary Anne Baillie Paine, of Milledgeville, on May 20, 1840. For sixty-six years they lived a perfectly happy married life.  Her father was Charles J . Paine, a native of Petersburg, Virginia, and a physician. As a young man he came to Georgia and was engaged in practice at Milledgeville until his death in 1857. Her mother was Ann Baillie Davies, the daughter of William Davies, a native of Savannah, and granddaughter of Edward Davies, a native of Wales, who was one of the early settlers of Georgia. William Davies also conferred honor upon the legal profession of Georgia, and served as judge of the superior court and was mayor of the city of Savannah during the War of 1812. William Davies married Mary Ann Baillie, the maiden name of whose mother was Ann McIntosh, a daughter of John Mohr McIntosh, the immigrant ancestor of the noted McIntosh family.

The  five children of Mary Anne Baillie Paine (1826-1906) and Augustin Harris Hansell (1917-1907) were as follows:

1. Susan V. Hansell
2. Charles Paine Hansell
3. Mary H. Hansell
4. Frances B. Hansell
5. Sally H. Hansell

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Judge Hansell was elected to the Georgia Legislature in 1845 and represented the County of Pulaski.

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In 1847 he was elected Solicitor-General of the Southern Circuit and served for two years, at the end of which time he resigned to accept the position of Judge of the Superior Court of the Southern Circuit of Georgia, then embracing the greater part of south Georgia. Railroads had not yet penetrated to this region, and he journeyed from court to court in his private carriage.

For some years, until 1850, he was a resident of Hawkinsville, then in Scottsboro two years, and in November 1852 came to Thomasville, being one of the most prominent among the early settlers of this locality.

He resigned the position of Judge of the Southern Circuit in 1853, But went back on that bench in 1859.

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Judge Hansell was a member of the Georgia Secession Convention in 1861 and took a prominent part in that historic body. He did not enter the Confederate service in the War between the States on account of the fact that he was Judge of the Superior Court of the Southern Circuit during such war. He, however, gave to the Confederate cause his earnest sympathy and support and actively rendered efficient service and help as Chairman of the Relief Committee from Thomas County. During the siege of Atlanta he went to that city and aided in the relief of the sick and wounded. He was a tower of strength to his people during the stormy days of Reconstruction.

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He remained as Judge of this Circuit continuously until 1868, when he was removed from the bench by the Reconstruction Governor of Georgia, Rufus B. Bullock. He resumed private practice for four years, but in 1873 he was again elected Judge of the Southern Circuit and continued to serve in such capacity, being elected term after term without opposition, until January 1, 1903, a period of thirty continuous years in the service of his State.

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He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1877 and did efficient work in that Convention in framing the State Constitution.

He took an active part in the various Conventions of Judges that compiled the rules of procedure and practice for the Superior Courts of the State. He was always present at these Conventions and was President of the last Convention held.

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At January 1, 1903 he voluntarily resigned from the bench and retired to the well-earned quiet and rest of his home. During his long career on the bench he made many important decisions and such implicit confidence did litigants repose in his learning and his integrity that appeals were very rarely taken from his decisions. An examination of the cases where appeals were taken, shows that a very small percentage were reversed by the higher Courts.

No better or more accurate statement can be given of his service as a lawyer and Judge than the following, which was written by one who knew him and loved him as a life-long friend:

“Judge Hansell was one of the ablest lawyers in the State, and stood easily among the foremost of Georgia’s great judicial lights. With an unfaltering and unerring hand he held the scales of justice evenly poised, meting out justice without fear or favor to all, to rich and poor alike. With a mind richly stored with legal lore, he made the law so plain that all grasped and comprehended it as it fell from his lips. He was an upright and a just Judge. No higher encomium could be pronounced. He wore the ermine for half a century and laid it aside without blur, blot, blemish or wrinkle. The bar and people of the Southern Circuit, over which he presided so long, venerated and loved him as but few men have been venerated and loved. The highest type of the old-time Southern gentleman, he impressed juries and litigants with the purity of his motives and the fairness of his rulings and charges. To the younger members of the bar he was ever ready to lend a helping hand, ever ready to advise and guide them.

To the officers of his Courts he was courteous and kind at all times.”

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During his life, Judge Hansell was chosen for office under every form of appointment and election that has existed in Georgia; gubernatorial, legislative and popular.

In the Report of the Twenty-sixth Annual Session of the Georgia Bar Association, 1909 , John D. Pope wrote, “I venture the assertion that any lawyer, who will undertake to look over the list of Judges appointed by Governors in time gone by, will agree with me that they were among the best that Georgia ever had, and these men were not changed on the Bench after their appointment except by their own will. Look at the lamented Judge A. H. Hansell on the Superior Court Bench for more than a half century! Where is the man in that circuit, or out of it, that knew him personally, or by reputation, who would have opposed him? Why? Because he was just and fearless, and every man knew, when he went before Judge Hansell he would get just what the law gave him, no more, no less: There was no politics there; it was a case of a great man administering the law!”

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At the time of his death Judge Hansell was the oldest Mason in the State of Georgia. He always took a marked and active interest in the work of this great order. He was made a Master Mason in the Milledgeville Lodge in 1838. A few years later he became a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar at Macon, Ga. He served as Master of the Hawkinsville Lodge, was High Priest in the Thomasville Chapter and was an officer of the State Grand Chapter. Just a short while before his death he attended the Thomas County Convention of Masons and made a speech that greatly affected his Masonic brothers.

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The private life of Judge Hansell and that side of his character, which was known to his friends and his neighbors, is well expressed in the following tribute to his memory, written by the same friend referred to above:

“No citizen of Thomasville was ever held in higher regard or more universally esteemed. For half a century he lived here, going in and out among his neighbors, holding and retaining to the last hour of his earthly existence the respect, esteem and love of all, young and old. His kindness of heart, gentleness of spirit, and never-failing regard for others won for him, during his long and useful life, the sincere affection of all. His life was an inspiration to the young and his precepts and example all point to the loftiest type of good citizenship. He made the world better by having lived in it, and leaving it, left countless thousands to mourn his loss. Few men have left behind a more spotless record, or one more worthy of emulation. The golden rule was his guide through life. His memory will long be cherished by those who knew him, and cherished longest by those who knew him best. The good that he did will still live. It can not be entombed. The rising generation will be pointed to the life and character of this model citizen as an example to be followed, as an incentive for correct and upright living. Surely this is a rich legacy he has left behind him, a legacy far more valuable than sordid wealth.”

Related Posts:

• The Grand Jury of 1868, Berrien County, Georgia
• Trial and Incarceration of James Thomas Beagles
• Judge Hansell: Distinguished Man of Georgia
• Death Claims Judge Hansell, Feb 10, 1907
• Biggles case was tried by Judge Hansell
• The Misadventures of Mr. Stewart
• The State vs Burrell Hamilton Bailey
• The Grand Jury of 1868, Berrien County, Georgia
• Jonathan David Knight, Signer of the Georgia Constitution of 1877

“Dr. J.R. Dedge, a dentist at Nicholls, Coffee county, Ga. and his brother, E. E. Dedge of Milltown, Berrien county, were arrested by United States secret service men and  brought to Valdosta to-day, charged with being implicated in the disposal of counterfeiting $10 gold pieces.”

The Dedge brothers, sons of Joseph Gore Dedge and Louvenia Johnson,  were John R. Dedge, I.L. “Leb” Dedge, Estill E. Dedge,  and Calvin Warren Dedge. They were a family of dentists and doctors  who became notorious for questionable and violent dealings.  In 1896 Dr. Leb Dedge, D.D. S., was described as “a wild and desperate young white man” after he and Charles J. Medders assaulted a marshal, engaged in an armed stand-off with Dr. Julian and M. M. Knight in court, and led a riot along with Medders, L. Holzendorf, Sam Holzendorf and Charles Holzendorf at Pearson, GA.  Dr. Calvin Warren Dedge was shot to death in 1901 by Leon Roberts in an apparent justifiable homicide. Roberts was acquitted on trial, but later murdered by  James Dedge, son of C. W. Dedge, who was himself gunned down in by a marshal in Dunnellon, FL.

Dr. John R. Dedge, D.D.S.  perhaps gained the widest notoriety of the Dedge brothers. He was born March 11, 1865,  a native of Baxley, GA.   Dedge lived, worked, and swindled his way across the Wiregrass.  He was tried in Valdosta, GA and acquitted on the 1910 charges of counterfeiting.  In 1911 he campaigned for governor of Georgia. In the 1920s  J. R. Dedge and son, Floyd Dedge, would be tried for the shotgun murder of C. J. Medders at Alma, GA.  After two mistrials, Dr. J. R. Dedge was finally convicted of murder in a third trial and sentenced to life in prison, but was freed on appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court after serving only three years. But long before his sensational murder trials, even before he made a 1911 bid for the Governor’s office, Dedge was making headlines. As noted by the Waycross Journal ,  “It is an off year in South Georgia when Dr. Dedge does not announce some astounding piece of freak work …”

Around 1901 Dr. John R. Dedge, along with Charles J. Medders, hatched a scheme to exhibit a “Wild Man of Central America”   Their plan capitalized on a Victorian Era fascination with the exotic that was reflected in pseudo-scientific accounts of “wild men.”  Newspapers of the late 1800s and early 1900s had sensationalized stories of  primitive humans with horns, reported from history or far away locales.  “Human horns are anomalous outgrowths from the skin and are far more frequent than ordinarily supposed,” George Milbry Gould and Walter Lytle Pyle had written  in their 1894 book Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, in which they described hundreds of cases of horned men. The popular belief in these horned men had been further reinforced by the 1897 work of  Army Medical Surgeon J.J. Lamprey, Horned Men in Africa.

Dedge  and Medders began their scam with Dedge making a trek to Central America, ostensibly to practice dentistry.  The Thomasville Daily Times-Enterprise noted his departure from that city on June 5, 1901:

Thomasville Dailey Times-Enterprise
June 5, 1901

Dr. Dedge left here yesterday for New Orleans and thence to Hot Springs for a month’s stay, after which he will go to Central America to practice dentistry.  Dr. Dedge is one of the most skillful men in the profession.

At Hot Springs, Dedge submitted his application for a U.S.  passport to go abroad, in which he stated:

I solemnly swear that I was born at Baxley, Ga in the state of Georgia, on or about the 11 day of March 1865; that my father is a native citizen of the United States; that I am domiciled in the United States, my permanent residence being at Waycross, in the State of Georgia, where I follow the occupation of practicing Dental Surgery; that I am about to go abroad temporarily;  and that I intend to return to the United States, with the purpose of residing and performing the duties of citizenship therein.     Further, I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; So help me God.

J. R. Dedge, D.D.E.

Dedge’s description was given as 36 years of age, six feet one inches tall. He had a thin face with a light complexion, high forehead, black hair, dark eyes, regular nose, medium mouth, and round chin.

The real purpose of Dedge’s  trip to Central America may have been twofold. First, in a precursor to his later counterfeiting schemes, it appears that Dedge obtained a large number of Honduras silver pesos while in Central America.  These Honduran coins matched U.S. silver dollars in size, but were worth less than 50 cents in exchange. Dedge’s agents would later pass the foreign coins on unsuspecting Wiregrass merchants.

Second,  the excursion to the little known region gave a plausible explanation for Dedge’s introduction of the “Wild Man of Central America.”

Calvin Byrd was billed as the Horned Man of Central America, 1902.

When Dr. John R. Degde returned from Central America and announced his discovery of a man with horns and tusks, the story made a sensation in newspapers all over the country.

Atlanta Constitution
March 8, 1902

HAS HORNS LIKE A GOAT: TUSKS LIKE AN ELEPHANT

Waycross, Ga., March 7. -(Special Correspondence.) – Dr. J. R. Dedge, of this city, has just received from Central America one of the greatest natural curiosities ever seen in these parts, and the presence of the freak in our town has created widespread interest.
     This freak is a man with two well-developed horns, similar in appearance to the horns of a goat, growing out of the top of his head and turning slightly back, with about the same angle and curve as goat’s horns.  He also has two prominent tusks protruding from his mouth, extending probably 2 inches from his gums. They grow out in the place of eye teeth.
    The man resembles the North American Indian in appearance very much, being probably a shade darker in color.  His father is said to be an American negro and his mother an Indian of the Black Hawk tribe.  He has  long jet black hair, a piercing eye, but seems rather stupid.  He is 6 feet high, weighs 190 pounds and is said to be 23 years old. In every respect, except the deformities mentioned, he seems to be a perfect specimen.
    This freak of nature is said to be the result of a fright his mother received, and the horns and tusk represent the goat and the elephant.  She was attending a circus one day, when in passing too near one of the goats, it jumped upon her, butted her to the ground and came near killing her.  In the scuffle with the goat she got almost into an elephant’s mouth, being right under the monster beast’s tusks.  When the child was born it had horns of a goat an in place of its eye teeth came tusks probably 3 inches in length protruding fully 2 inches from its mouth.  The horns measure about 5 inches in length.
   It is said the man speaks both English and Spanish fairly well, but can be induced to talk but very little.
    Dr. Dedge secured him from his parents. The freak was born in Mississippi, but was reared in Central America.

Despite the apparent medical skill with which this fraud was perpetrated, not everyone was convinced by Dedge’s story. Noting a proliferation of wild tales from Waycross, GA   The Dahlonega Nugget commented on the horned man ,  “Editor Greer, of the Waycross Journal, has discovered a bull frog with feathers on it. Dr. Dedge, of the same town, recently brought out a horned man, while the numerous jugs shipped into the place have created a whole museum full of boa constrictors, anacondas, and other monster reptiles.”

Even with the elaborate build up by Medders and Dedge, their “Wildman of Central America” fraud, along with the plot to pass off Honduran pesos as silver dollars was exposed in less than a week.  The story first appeared in the Atlanta Constitution, and a few days later more detailed coverage was reported in the Waycross Weekly Herald, March 22, 1902:

Waycross Weekly Herald
March 22, 1902

Waycross Freak Exposed

The “Horned Wild Man” Comes To Grief in Valdosta.

Valdosta, March 14 – The horned wild man from South America, via Waycross, came to grief in this city this morning and one of his managers may have to face the charge of cheating and swindling, in that he has been passing silver dollars from Honduras for Uncle Sam’s coin, the Honduras money being worth less than half of the American.
    The story of grief began last night when the policemen arrested the wild man himself for discharging his pistol in the neighborhood of California hall where the negroes were having an entertainment.  The wild man, whose name was placed upon the police docket this morning as Calvin Byrd, went out on the town after his performance and was picked up by the policemen a little later for having fired his pistol on the streets.  The arrest disclosed one of the cleverest fake freaks that has appeared in this section in a long time.
    Byrd is an ordinary ginger-cake colored man and weighs about 160 pounds.  He has had an incision made in his scalp and a thin piece of metal slipped under the skin.  This piece of metal was attached to two knob screws about half an inch long and the horns were screwed to these little knobs for exhibition, give an appearance as though the horns grew from his head. His eye-teeth were gold-mounted and fixed so that the long tusk could be fastened to them so as to appear to be growing from the gum.
    Byrd professes to know nothing of how the operation was performed on his head, and says that it was done while he was sick with fever.  The incision has entirely healed up, though the place is still sore.  Byrd came here from Waycross with a couple of men from there, one of them said to be a dentist.  A week ago all the papers of the state had a sensational story of the great horned wonder.
    The man who was arrested for passing the Honduras dollars gives his name as J. C. English.  It is said that he has several hundred dollars of the money and passed them on a number of people here.  The amount of the coin which he is said to have had with him gave ground to the belief that he was engaged in a swindling game – on money as well as with the freak.

In the same edition of the Waycross Weekly Herald, frontman J.C. English told his side of the story:

Waycross Weekly Herald
March 22, 1902

J. C. English Explains.

The Man Arrested For Passing Honduras Dollars Has His Say.
Below we publish a statement from J. C. English. A notice of Mr. English’s arrest, last Friday, in Valdosta, was published in Saturday’s Herald. He was tried before a special session of the City Court of Valdosta Saturday afternoon and convicted of cheating and swindling. The fine and cost in the case amounted to $56. Mr. English paid the amount and was released and returned to Waycross Sunday morning.  Following is Mr. English’s statement:

Waycross, Ga., March 17, 1902.
I, J. C. English, the man that was arrested in Valdosta on the charges of passing Honduras dollars as Uncle Sam’s coin and cheating ans swindling, and as having hundreds of the coins in my possession, state that the charge is false.  Therefore I desire to explain the whole thing fully to the public, and will truthfully do so.
     Mr. Elias Howell is the man who had full charge of the said Calvin Bird and everything pertain to the concern, even to the Honduras dollars mentioned, and kept them in his possession in a large leather grip, and he took it with him all the time, to boarding places, etc.  I did not own any interest in either tent, negro, coins, or anything else pertaining thereto. I was only employed by Dr. J. R. Dedge to go with Mr. Howell and act as door keeper and talk on the outside to the people for him for so much per day and railroad and hotel expenses paid;  and as to my passing the coins across the counters as Uncle Sam’s money, I deny the charge.  I did not do anything of the kind, and can safely say that if any of the Honduras coins were put across the counters that Mr. Howell is the man that passed them, and not I, and his manner of acting is almost full proof of it; for he left me in the night-time without letting me know anything of his leaving, which in my belief is sufficient evidence that he was uneasy about his doings and afraid to remain in town for fear that he would be dealt with, therefore he left me there to be accused and dealt with for his misdemeanors.   J.C. ENGLISH.

[The Herald felt satisfied from the first that Mr. J. C. English had not been guilty of the charges made against him at Valdosta, and is pleased to publish the above statement from him.]

Despite this setback, it appears that Dedge and Medders were not deterred.  It is said that they amassed a fortune touring the country to exhibit their horned man, variously billed as the “Wild Man of Central America,”  “Wild Man of the Okefenokee,” “Wild Man of Africa,”  or “Wild Man of Borneo.”

Calvin Byrd’s part in the story continued when he surfaced at a Syracuse, NY hospital.

Waycross Journal
August 26, 1902

Wild Man from Borneo Again

He turns up at Syracuse N. Y. and Wants Horns Removed.

Calvin Bird, the “wild man from Borneo” who started his career from Waycross some months ago and ran amuck at Valdosta a few days later, has again come to the  front, this time at Syracuse, New York.
    Dispatches from that city say that Calvin Bird, a negro who hails from Pearson, Ga., and who has been touring the country with side shows ans circuses as the “Wild Man of Borneo,” appeared at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd today and informed the house surgeon that he had come to have his horns removed.  The physician was somewhat amazed at first, but upon noting the earnestness of the man, made an examination of his head.
    Under his scalp was found that a silver plate had been inserted, in which stood two standards.  On these standards, when he was on exhibition, Bird had screwed two goat horns, and thousands of people have paid admission to see his horns and hear him bark.
    Bird says he met a doctor in Central America who took him to the hospital in Pearson [GA] and had the plate inserted, first giving him an anaesthetic, and when he awoke he found the plates in his scalp, with two horns protruding.  The plate will be removed tomorrow morning.  The operation, the doctors say, will be a simple one.

In 1905, the Syracuse Journal of New York state reported once again on the “Wild Man from Borneo.”

The Syracuse Journal
Syracuse, NY
January 4, 1904

“Wild Man” is Better

    Although a diligent search has been made by the police for James Woods, the negro, who it is alleged stabbed Calvin Bird, the “Wild Man from Borneo,” in the Oriental hotel last Saturday morning, no trace of him has been found.
    It was stated at St. Joseph’s hospital that Bird’s condition has improved and it is expected that he will be discharged in a few days.

For some time Dr. Julian made his home in Clinch County, GA. He also practiced medicine in Tifton, GA and in Florida.

Dr. Julian was active in the Plant System Railway Surgical Association.  The Plant System included the Brunswick & Western Railroad which ran 171 miles from Brunswick, GA to Albany, GA and passed through Waynesville, Waycross, Waresboro, Pearson, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Enigma, Vanceville, and Tifton.

RAILWAY SURGERY.

Railway surgery comes to us as one of the latter-day necessities, in the growing demand for special recognition of certain conditions which have sprung up out of the general order of medicine.  While injuries upon the railway have existed ever since the birth of the iron highway, yet anything peculiar or distinct in regard to them did not impress the observer until, as time advanced and this traffic became general, the injuries multiplied so rapidly that their peculiar features made themselves apparent to those coming into contact with such cases. As all the nowaday specialties have been born in substantially the same manner, so railway surgery takes its stand upon the ground that distinct features mark the necessity for special consideration of the wounds received in railway work. The surgeon who makes a special study of these features and their appropriate treatment, by coming more frequently into contact with this class of injuries, is entitled to be recognized as a railway surgeon.

1899 Hospital Car. Railway Surgery: A Handbook on the Management of Injuries.

Fig. 5. – 1899 Hospital Car (Plant System, Fla.), looking from the transportation room into the operating room, showing operating table and other arrangements; also shows the passageway to the opposite end of the car.

Fig. 6. – 1899 Hospital Car (Plant System, Fla.), looking from the operating room into the transportation room, showing beds made up ready for occupancy.

1899 Hospital Car. Railway Surgery: A Handbook on the Management of Injuries.

Related Posts:

• Dr. B.F. Julian Burned Out at Ray’s Mill
• Southern Georgia: Railroad Pamphlet
• The Vanceville Affair
• More on Berrien County, GA Desperado, Benjamin William Furlong
• Bound by a Band of Steel
• Last Run of the Iron Horse

James Randall Johnson and Ruby Texas Knight, Ray City, GA

Ruby Texas Knight (1891 – 1977)
Ruby Texas Knight entered this world on October 11, 1891, a daughter of Jimmie Gullette and Walter Howard Knight. She was married to James Randall Johnson on April 21, 1910 and the couple made their home next door to her father’s place on the Valdosta Road, Ray City, Georgia. Ruby Knight Johnson died June 17, 1977 and was interred at Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, Berrien County, Georgia.

James Randall Johnson (1886-1955)
James Randall Johnson was a son of Mary Elizabeth Truett and James R. Johnson, born November 8, 1886 in Berrien County, GA and raised in Rays Mill (later Ray City).  As a young man he worked as a farmer. The census of 1940 shows James Randall Johnson and Ruby Texas Knight renting a house on North Street in Ray City. At that time James was working as a carpenter, constructing houses. He died March 14, 1955 and was buried at Beaver Dam  Cemetery, Ray City.