Greensboro, Alabama - History (part 3 of 3)

Graves Of Frederick And Thomas Peck

Here lie the remains of Frederick Peck, one of the earliest settlers of Greensboro, who was the first postmaster and among the very first merchants of the place. He died February 4th, 1846, Mrs. Eliza Peck is also buried here, she having died in April, 1863. Rev. Wm. S. Peck, formerly the pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Livingston, is buried here. He died in September, 1849, In this same enclosure are the graves of Mrs. Sophia Wemyss, who died in September, 1822, and Edwin A. Wemyss, who died in June, 1855. The Wemyss' were formerly very prominent citizens of this place. In the northwest corner of the little graveyard, solitary and alone, is a tombstone, bearing this inscription : "Abram Duff, Born April, 1790; died June, 1852." He was probably a relative of the Pecks or Wemyss', but not a soul could be found who remembered that he had ever resided in the town of Greensboro, though he supposedly lived here a long while.

In a clump of woods in the rear of Dr. R. H, Jackson's old homestead on Demopolis street, is the family graveyard of the Mays. In this lot is buried General Patrick May, who joined General Andrew Jackson's forces when they were in Alabama quelling disturbances with the Indians. He was a very brave soldier. At the battle of Burnt Corn, which was fought in 1813, Lieut. May and two other soldiers, became separated from the main body of the army while fighting with the Indians in a swamp. The savages were concealed in a dense cane'orake, and the three men were battling with a large number of them, As the fight progressed, a tall,swathy warrior, more brave than his fellows, came out of hiding and leveled his gun on May, who also threw his into position. The weapons were discharged at the same instant. The Indian warrior fell forward a corpse, while May was uninjured, but the fire of the savage shattered May's gun near the lock. Being thus disarm.ed, he thought it best to retreat, and the three made a rush for their horses, but before reaching them, one of the soldiers, Lieut. Girard W. Creagh, was shot down by the Indians, the ball entering his hip. He fell upon the ground, exclaiming: "Save me. Lieutenant, or I am gone!" Instantly, May wheeled around, ran to his fallen companion, raised him from the ground and bore him ofi" on his back, - the Indians following rapidly. Reaching their horses, Creagh was placed on his animal, and May and the other soldier leaped into their saddles, and made off at full speed, soon joining the main body of troops from which they had become seoarated. May became a noted Indian fighter in the succeeding years. He died at his home in Greensboro - the red brick house on the hill to the east of Brick Springs - on April 5th, 1868, and was buried in the family graveyard. No tomb has -ever been erected above his grave, and it is a mere matter of speculation which of the mounds of earth his remains lie beneath.

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the young man whose life May had saved had married and his children were grown, a son of Creagli, having often heard the incident related above told by his father, resolved to see the man to whom his father owed his life. He came to Greensboro, met thv3 General and his family, fell in love with one of his daughters, and they were happily married, - the Creaghs of Selma and Birmingham being the children of this marriage.

For more than half a century after the settlement of Greensboro, there were no public graveyards - all burials being made on private ground. The Stokes graveyard, in the northern suburbs of the town - where lie the remains of the older inhabitants, was never a public burial place. It was owned by private individuals, and the lots were bought from them.

When the question came up for the purchase by the town of Greensboro of a public cemetery, this place, of course, was under serious consideration by those who had the matter in charge. The land was of little value for cultivation, and was really worth only a nominal sum, but the owners, knowing the interest the public and the relatives of those who were buried there felt in the matter, demanded what was considered a most exorbitant price for the plat, which the town authorities refused to pay. Much bad feeling was engendered, which lasted for quite a long while - in fact, until all who had to do with the matter directly, needed for themselves a quiet resting place in a cemetery.

The present site, known as the Greensboro cemetery, was bought by the town, and the Stokes graveyard gradually came into disuse as a burial place. Only an occasional interment is ever made therein. It presents a very sad and dilapidated appearance.

In this old burial place repose the remains of the men and women who walked the streets of Greensboro when the town was young, and who owned the lands, the stores and houses for miles around. Their word was law in the old days. They established our churches and schools, directed the affairs of government, carried on the commerce, and put forth their best efforts for the uplift of humanity. But they lived in a period of the history of this section to which the present generation is a stranger, - amidst the dazzling splendors of the "old South," when men owned slaves by the hundreds, and were lords upon their large landed estates. The great majority of them passed from the stage of action years before the changed conditions (resultant upon the civil war) took place in the Southland. Their long sleep was undisturbed by the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry as tremendous issues were fought out and decided in the bloody battles between the northern and southern troops nearly half a century ago.

From the present appearance of the Stokes graveyard, it would seem that those who are buried there have beer, forgotten. Many of the tombs have toppled over, the brick vaults have crumbled, and only gaping cavities reveal, in many instances, the last resting place of those over whom no tombs were erected. Brambles and briers run riot everywhere, and it is v/ith difficulty one makes his way through the tangled mass of undergrowth in this old burial place of the long ago.

The following are the names of some of those who have rested out there on the hillside for many, many years, - names that are known far beyond the confines of Greensboro and of Alabama :

Robert Heywood McFadden, died 1858; John D. Moore, died 1849 ; Thomas M. Johnston, died 1863 ; Catherine, wife of Wm. A. Jones, died 1852; Mary Ellen, wife of Richard H. Lewis, and daughter of Louis A. Foreman, died 1840; Thomas H. Shackelford, died 1840; John R. Witherspoon, died 1852; Wm. T. Bryan, died 1827; Thomas W. Witherspoon, died 1836; Rev. Thomas S. Witherspoon, died 1844 ; Robert Franklin Witherspoon, died 1840 ; Rev. J. Hillhouse, died 1835 ; Elizabeth Stokes, died 1833 ; George M. Johnston, died 1834 ; James Johnston Huckabee, died 1854 ; James Huckabee, died 1851 ; George F. Huckabee, died 1851 ; Elizabeth Eddins, wife of Dr. D. Eddins, died 1850; Jesse Shivers, died 1845; Thomas Eddins, died 1850; Miles S. Wright, died 1843; John Locke, died 1848; Wm. S. Bird, died 1840; James Cowan, died 1844; William Alfred Locke, died 1845; Jane, wife of Squire Lowry, died 1840; Martha Stewart, wife of Larkin Stewart, died 1841 ; William P. Stewart, died 1843; Amanda F. Peterson, died 1858; Jane Byrd Page, died 1840; Dr. Elisha Young, senior and junior.

Eight miles to the westward from Greensboro, on the Tuscaloosa and Sawyerville road near the public thoroughfare, is a desolate and neglected graveyard in which are buried the remains of a number of the French refugees who came to this section of Alabama after the downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo. For years many of them lived in the neighborhood where the graveyard is located.

Old French Graveyard

and died exiles from the land of their nativity. In a radius of five miles resided the Bayols. the Bordens, the Stollenwercks, the Maniers, the Baumgardiners and others. Manier was a school teacher, and the house in which he resided and taught the children of the past generation is still to be seen. The Roudets and the Gardins, and perhaps others over whom no tombs are now standing, are buried in the little cemetery, and some of them have been resting out there in the wide stretch of the prairies for more than seventy years. Huge maple trees have grown up on the graves of the quiet sleepers, and in the beautiful green foliage the mocking birds pour forth their sweetest songs throughout the day, and the silent stars keep watch by night above this last resting place of those who loved the great Emperor too well, and who paid the penalty of that devotion by filling an exile's grave in a land far away from bright and sunny La Belle France, - as did Napoleon himself on the lonely Isle of St. Helena.

Climatology Of Greensboro, Alabama

Greensboro is situated in the north-central portion of Hale county, Ala., in latitude 32° 42' north, longitude 87° 35' west, and at an elevation of 220 feet above the sea level.

The climatic record of Greensboro began in January, 1855, when the station was established by the Smithsonian Institute. Robert B. Waller, Sr., Capt. J. W. A. Wright and Prof. N. T. Lupton were observers at this station during the period from 1855 to 1888. The records were broken at intervals until January, 1888, when the station was established by the Signal Service - now the Weather Bureau - with Prof. M. H. Yerby as the observer. Prof. Yerby made a continuous record up to the time of his death in October, 1900, since which date his son, W. E. W. Yerby, has co-operated with the Weather Bureau in the capacity of observer.

The record shows the average temperature to be 64° ; the average for the winter, 48° ; spring, 64° ; summer, 79 ° ; autumn, 65". The warmest year was 1891, with an average temperature of nearly 66° ; the coldest, 1857, with an average of 61°. The highest temperature recorded, 105°, occurred July 12, 1901 ; the lowest, 5° below zero, occurred February 13, 1899. The average maximum temperature is 74° ; the average summer maximum is 90°. The average minimum temperature is 54°, and the average winter minimum is 37°. The average number of days with maximum temperature above 90° is fifty-three; the average number of days with minimum temperature below 32° is thirty-three. The average date of the last killing frost in spring is March 20th; the average date of the first in autumn is November 8th. The earliest killing frost of which there is a record occurred on October 24th; the latest on April 5th.

The precipitation record, while continuous since 1888 only, covers thirty-five complete years and shows the average annual amount to be 50 inches. The greatest amount recorded during any year was 68.98 inches in 1900; the least yearly amount was 35.67 inches in 1904. February and March are the wettest months, with an average of 5.42 inches ; October is the driest month, with an average of 2.01 inches. The greatest amount of rain which fell during any one month was 14.81 inches, in May, 1903 ; the least monthly amount recorded was 0.08 inches, in October, 1904. The average number of days during the year with .01 inch or more of rain was 94.

The average amount of snowfall for the winter is 0.5 inch. The record shows, however, that snowfalls amounting to more than 4.0 inches occurred during February of several years, and that 10.0 inches of snow fell during March, 1900.

Year

Greensboro has been remarkably free from cyclones, - not one being on record for this station. The most destructive that ever visited this immediate section was on the night of January 21, 1904, Vv^hen Moundville, a town in the northern part of Hale county, was struck by a wind of unusual severity. The great majority of the houses were swept away, and those left standing were badly damaged. Thirty people - six whites and twentyfour colored - were killed, and seventy injured, besides much stock and cattle were killed. Forty houses, the railroad depot, and seven freight cars were destroyed in less than a minute's time. The funnel shaped cloud swooped down upon the village about twelve o'clock, its course being from the southwest to the northwest. The property loss was estimated at about $75,000.00.

The work of rebuilding the town was begun within a few days after the terrible calamity, and Moundville is now among the most thrifty and populous towns in Hale county.

Main Street Of Greensboro Yellow Fever

Once in its history of nearly a century, Greensboro has been visited by yellow fever. It was in the year 1897, and the disease was in the town several months before the physicians officially declared it to be such. There were possibly some fifty cases from the middle of August till the 18th of November, and about a dozen deaths from that cause during the period. The trains were taken off the railroad the latter part of October, and were not run for a week or two. Provisions became scarce, and the inhabitants, many of them, were on scant rations when traffic was resumed. Even before the existence of the fever was announced by Dr. Eiisha Young, there was a panic among the people, and many endeavored to leave for other points, but found that they were hemmed in on all sides, - all places having quarantined against Greensboro. Many went to the country and remained until after the disease was stamped out by the frost on the 18th day of November. Those who remained did what they could to alleviate the sufferings of the afflicted, attended the sick and buried the dead. Business was almost at a complete standstill during the months of October and November.

Many excellent citizens died during that year, and it will long remain a memorable period in the history of the town. In January, J. P. Lieser, Dr. J. M. Pickett anq Mrs. Jane Buchanan died. In February, Miss Eliza Smaw and Charles A. Sheldon. In March, Alfred Drake and Wilkes Hanna. In April, Mrs. Katherine Randolph and J. Pick Moore (near Greensboro.) In May, Capt. James M. Jack. In June, Mrs. John M. Martin. In August, little Mary Quitman Seed. In September, J. C. Dew, In October, John H. Young, James W. McCrary, Syd Johnson, little Elizabeth Ward, little Margaret Jones and Miss Ida Dorman. In November, Thomas Q. Smith, Shelby W. Chadwick, little Annie Parrish, little Lizzie Lawson, Dr. Thomas R. Ward, Mrs. Maria Williams and Frank Chadwick. In December, D. J. Castleman.

A Triple Murder

While the occurrence to be noted does not belong, strictly speaking, to the history of Greensboro, yet the citizens of the town were so wrought up over the matter, and the parties concerned were so well known here, that it is inserted as part of this volume.

The night of December 1, 1897, was a cold, dark and dreary one. All day long a drizzly rain had fallen, and it was muddy and sloppy under foot, and the clouds were black and heavy overhead. It grew no better as night came on.

Sometime after the sun had gone down, Phelan Crawford left Greensboro to spend the night with his fatherin-law - M. C. Hall - who resided about ten miles northeast of the town. Just before he reached John A. Singley's residence, - old Warren's store - eight miles out, the horses he was driving became violently frightened at some object on the roadside, and made a break to run. The darkness was so dense that Crawford could see nothing, but as his horses dashed up the hill in the blackness of the night, he thought he heard a deep groan coming from some one in pain or distress. It made his blood run cold - out there alone in the darkness and rain and stillness of the night. It was enough to make the stoutest heart quail with fear. He put whip to his already frightened

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He was not long in telling his experience, and at once went out and gathered a number of the neighbors together, who resolved to go back to the spot where the deep groan was heard. They plodded on through the night and mud, back to Singley's home on the roadside. Arriving there they found that all was quiet and still within. Not a sound could be heard save the dripping of the rain from the trees and the rush of the wind as it passed through the boughs on towards the south. They continued their journey down the road about fifty yards, and to their horror they saw in the dim light afforded by a lantern, a sight to make one's hair stand on end^a man groping about on his hands and knees, groaning at every breath. They called to him, - but no answer came. They approached closer and saw that his hands and clothing were clotted with blood and besmeared with mud. They did not recognize the man at first, but a closer scrutiny disclosed the fact that it was John A. Singley, one of the most wellto-do and respected farmers of Hale county. They asked him what had happened, but he made no reply - only pointing to his throat. Then the men discovered thai it was cut from ear to ear. They lifted him up and assisted him to the house. An attempt to open the front door disclosed the fact that it was locked. They hastily broke it in, and then the men fell back with exclamations of horror, - for indeed it was a ghastly sight that greeted their gaze. For a moment they stood paralyzed. There upon the floor lay Mrs. Singley in a pool of blood, her head crushed and her throat most cruelly cut, cold in death. But where was the little boy, the only child of the fond parents? The party searched further, and in an adjoining room they found the little twelve-year-old son, lying face downward, butchered in a most brutal manner.

Who did it? What could it all mean? The men had no idea that Mr. Singley would be able to throw any light on the mystery, but as he lay on the bed on which he had been placed, breathing hard send -g-asping for life, he beckoned them to come closer. They approached and began to ask him questions. They discovered that he was in possession of his mental faculties, and could make himself understood by signs and nods of the head. He was asked who had committed the crimes. He indicated the direction in which the guilty party resided by pointing up the road from his home. They called the names of several persons, but at each he would shake his head. Finally someone asked if it was Bill Scott, - a negro who lived three miles above him - and he nodded his head affirmatively several times most emphatically.

By this time, the cold gray dawn of another bleak December day began to show itself, and a large number of people had gathered - some from Greensboro, who had been notified soon after the discovery of Singley's condition.

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some time after dark on the night of December 1st, and told Singley - who was sitting by the fire chatting with his wife and little son - that his (Scott's) mule had gotten loose, and asked him to please come out and help him catch it. Having known Scott for quite a while, and not for a moment suspecting foul play, Singley at once lighted a torch and went with Scott down the road. When they had gone about a hundred and fifty yards from the house, near the foot of the hill, Scott suddenly turned upon Singley, and at one stroke felled him to the ground with a heavy stick. He then took Singley's knife from his pocket and cut the throat of the prostrate man from ear to ear - severing everything except the jugular vein. He left his victim for dead, and hastily went to Singley's home, cautiously opened the front door, and as Mrs. Singley, who was sitting near sewing, looked up he struck her a blow on the head with the stick, knocking her from the chair, and then cut her throat, killing her instantly. The little son, who was sitting in the room with his mother, seeing her so horribly murdered, fled to the adjoining room, followed by the fiend, who brained him with the same cudgel he had used on his father and mother. He then cut the little boy's throat. Having committed these awful murders, he went to the bureau drawer, forced it open, and took therefrom seven hundred dollars - the object he had in view when he went to Singley's house.

After securing the money, Scott locked the front door, went out the back way, threw the key away, and returned to where he had left Singley on the ground, and thinking to be doubly sure of his murderous work, he cut another gash in his throat, and then went to his own home three miles up the road, and remained there until early next morning.

The John Singley Home

It was a sad funeral cortege that left the once happy home of John A. Singley on Saturday, December 3rd. The hearses containing the coffins of father, mother and son, followed by a large number of friends and relatives, slowly wended their way over the hills and vales to the cemetery hard by the little Methodist church at Havana, and there, after a most touching funeral sermon, the remains of the three persons - an entire family - were deposited in one grave.

Officers and citizens were soon in pursuit of the murderer. His trail was followed all day Thursday and Friday. On Saturday he was captured by a negro man named Wes James at his (James') home, in Perry county, whither Scott had gone, and was driven to the house by hunger, little thinking that James had heard of the murder of the Singleys. In this he was mistaken, and soon after he entered the house, James leveled his shot gun on him and told him to consider himself under arrest. The prisoner was carried to the Perry county jail, and remained there for a short while, after which he was taken to Selma and lodged in the jail at that place - it be-

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In a day or two after his capture, Scott confessed his guilt - or at least a part of it - and told that the money he had taken from the bureau drawer had been divided with other parties, but that he had gotten half of it, which he had hidden at a place he designated. A search revealed the truth of the statement, for exactly where he said he had put the money, three hundred and fifty dollars were found. Before his death, Singley told that the amount he had in the drawer was seven hundred dollars. The other half of the money was never accounted for.

Scott endeavored to implicate several other negroes in the horrible crime, but in every instance the accused parties were proven to have been elsewhere on the night the Singleys were killed.

The clamor for a speedy trial of the brute was so persistent that Judge John Moore ordered a special term of the circuit court of Hale county to try Scott, which was held January 19, 1898. He was brought from the jail in Selma a week or so before the day set for his trial, and the author of these lines and Edwin S. Jack, Esq., were appointed by the Court to defend him, - he being financially unable to employ counsel. The writer recalls that he had several conversations with Scott relative to the case, and he would talk freely about the murder of Singley and his wife, but when asked "What about the little boy. Bill," he would exclaim : "Oh, for God's sake, don't talk about that child!" And then he would swear that he didn't kill him, - that another man did that; that he loved the boy, and the boy was fond of him.

The day for trial arrived. The town was filled with people from far and near who wanted to get a glimpse of this human monster. Trouble was expected, and the Sherifl^" swore in a number of special deputies. But no disturbance occurred. The session of the court was ex- tremely orderly. The prisoner was arraigned, the indictment charging- him with the murders was read, and Scott entered a plea of guilty. After confessing his guilt, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed the punishment at death. The judge told Scott to stand up, and asked him if he had anything to say why the sentence of the Court should not be pronounced upon him, and he replied "Nothing." Then the Judge sentenced him to be hanged by the neck until he was dead. Scott received the judgment of the Court without a tremor, and was hurried back to jail by the Sheriff and his deputies, where he was kept closely guarded until February 25, 1898, when he was brought forth and hung. His body was cut down and buried in the pauper's field at the expense of the county, - his family refusing to have anything to do with it.

And thus ended the blackest chapter in the history of this entire section, and the citizenship felt that the moral atmosphere was purer by the passing away of such a demon in human form.

The postoffice at Greensboro was established in September, 1818, and during the ninety years of its existence there have been seventeen postmasters, as follows:

It was not until the middle of 1869 that it was made a money order office, the first postoffice money order being issued on July 14th, 1869, to D. F. McCrary for the sum of $24.60.

The first rural free delivery route from the Greensboro office was established in 1906. There are at present three routes radiating from this point.

In the year 1872 there happened an incident in connection with the Greensboro postoffice that fully demonstrates that "truth is stranger than fiction," and further, that circumstantial evidence is very treacherous at times. The account of the incident about to be related was written by Judge Anthony W. Dillard, who held the first session of the Chancery Court of Hale county in Greensboro on the 11th day of July, 1869. Judge Dillard was a lawyer of ability, and was well known to the older citizens of Greensboro. The facts of the strange case given below were recalled to his mind by the death of Wm. H. Sanborn, which occurred at Village Springs, Ala., on November 24th, 1898, from the effects of a wound received from the accidental discharge of a shot gun. His remains were brought to Greensboro and buried in the cemetery here.

Gainesville, Ala., Dec. 12, 1898. Dear Mr. Editor : I see you announce the death of Wm, H. Sanborn, former postmaster at Greensboro, Ala., and this induced me to forward to you a copy of the "San Antonio Light," containing an article from my pen concerning Mr. Sanborn, which you might re-produce if you think proper. The United States District Attorney gave me the facts recited, and that is all I know.

As it may prove interesting to your readers, I have concluded to narrate a case in which a registered letter, containing the sum of $1,950 in national bank notes, when it reached the party to whom it was addressed, in the city of New York, did not contain a single dollar. The seals on the letter were unbroken, and showed that the ]etter had never been tampered with while enroute.

The letter was registered in the postofRce at Greensboro, Ala., by Charles W. Hatch, the postmaster, and subsequently was placed in a mail pouch and locked, in the presence of Wm. H. Sanborn, Hatch's clerk.

Hatch kept the postofRce on one side of his store, in the front side of it. In 1872 he had Wm. H. Sanborn, a young man, aged about 20, employed as a clerk in his store and in the postoffice.

Young Sanborn ate at his mother's, but slept at night in the rear end of the store of Hatch, and had access to the mails and the matter in the i)ostoffice, situated in the front part of the store.

When the registered letter was delivered to its owner, in the city of New York, and found to contain no money at all, the owner immediately telegraphed the facts to the postmaster general at Washington and requested that a postal detective be sent to New York. This detective was sent at once, and Hatch, the postmaster at Greensboro, Ala., was notified by the postofRce department of the loss of the money contained in the registered letter.

Young Sanborn, on hearing of the matter from Hatch, made an affidavit to the effect that he was a clerk in the store of Hatch as well as a deputy postmaster; that the postofRce was in the store; that he saw Hatch count the money, place it in a registered envelope, seal it, put the same in the letter mail pouch and lock the mail pouch; that he knew of his own personal knowledge that Hatch did not after that re-open or touch the said mail pouch; that Hatch and himself left the store at sunset at the same time, and in company; that they walked together down the street a couple of hundred yards, to a point where they separated to go to their respective homes, which were on opposite sides of the town; that he (Sanborn) returned to the store immediately after getting his supper - slept in the store that night; that Hatch did not re-enter the store and the postoffice that night after they had quitted it in company, and that he delivered the mail pouches to the stage driver at the door at 3 o'clock, the morning following the placing of the registered letter in the letter pouch.

This affidavit exonerated Hatch, the postmaster, but it clearly inculpated young Sanborn, when supplemented by another fact disclosed by the moneyless letter when it reached New York. After abstracting the money the thief had placed several old papers in the registered envelope to represent the money in bulk, anct among these was an almanac, on which was printed the name of a Greensboro druggist, who kept the patent medicine of the almanac make for sale. On the almanac was visible the name of the person in New York to whom the money in the registered letter had been sent, and this showed the almanac had been used as a blotting paper on the address on the registered letter. Of course, this had all been done in the postoffice at Greensboro, Ala., and, as a matter of course, the robbery of the registered letter had taken place in the Greensboro postoffice. That was the only place where the almanac could possibly have been employed as a blotter on the registered package and then placed inside the registered envelope prior to its being sealed.

Young Sanborn was arrested by the United States marshal, carried to Mobile, Ala., and in default of bail lodged in jail. At the first term thereafter of the United States District court an indictment was returned into court against Sanborn for robbing the registered package of $1,950. As he could not give bail, Sanborn remained in jail in Mobile. Hatch had been summoned as a witness before the grand jury and had appeared and testified.

Sanborn had been in jail a year. On the Monday preceding the day set for his trial. District Attorney Southworth told me that while at the dinner table at the Battle House he received a card requesting him to call at room twenty-three immediately after dinner as the writer desired to consult him on government business of an urgent character.

"I called at room 23," said the district attorney to me, "and was received by a gentleman, who informed me that the name on his card was his traveling name ; that he was a detective in the postoflfice department and had been for many years, and handed me his commission properly executed and avouched by the proper official seal. He then said, 'I am on my way to Galveston, Texas, to investigate a crooked transaction in that postoffice in reference to a registered money package, but was ordered to stop here and see about the Greensboro robbery of the money in a registered package.'

"I replied," said Mr. Southworth, "that it was entirely useless for him to do so, as the thief was in jail, would be tried and convicted two days later, and that the attorneys for the thief had already admitted their client's case was hopeless, and had entreated him, in considera-

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The Detective: "I am paid a yearly salary, sir, and it is my rule to obey the orders of my superiors to the letter, and I wish you to allow me to see and examine the papers in the case. By the by, who is the party in jail for the Greensboro robbery?"

Detective: "Can you send to my room the papers in the case, Mr. Southworth? As I am a detective it is my duty and my business to prevent my real character being discovered; hence I do not care to examine them in your office."

"Nonsense, sir; the proof is perfectly conclusive. The man's own voluntary affidavit proves him to be guilty," replied Southworth in a tone of pique and irritation.

"Mr. Southworth, I wish you to send a note to Mr. Hatch to call at your office at 11 o'clock tomorrow, and I wish you to ask him the questions written on this slip of paper. I will drop into your office a few minutes after eleven as an entire stranger and tell you that I came from the north and am a stranger in the city, and ask if I can write a letter in your office. You will please place me at a desk or table where I can observe Hatch without

Southworth told me he followed out this plan to the letter; that at 11 o'clock the next day, Hatch entered his office, and he sent his clerk out to see a gentleman who lived some distance off, on a case in court. In a few minutes the detective entered and asked if he might write a letter and was placed at a table on one side of Hatch, but from where he could observe the countenance of Hatch.

"I then commenced asking Hatch the written questions," said Southworth, "telling him that, as Sanborn was to be tried the next day, I wished to fully understand what he (Hatch) could testify to on the trial. I had not asked him half the questions written on the slip of paper, when the detective arose and stepping in front of Hatch said to him:

" 'Charles W. Hatch, you are a thief; you stole the $1,950 out of the registered package, and yet you have the baseness to come here and swear away the character and liberty of young Sanborn, whom you know to be innocent. You persuaded him to make the affidavit that exonerated you, but criminated him. You not only stole the $1,950 out of the registered package, but six weeks before you stole $830 out of another registered package. I am a secret agent in the postoffice department; here is my commission to prove my statement. I am occupying room 23 in the Battle House, and I tell you now, that unless you appear at my room this evening with a confession of your guilt in both cases, duly sworn to, and $2,780 in cash, or your bill of exchange at thirty days accepted by a solvent business firm of this city, I will cause you to be arrested on both charges. It is a rule with the government, where a thief makes good what he has stolen prior to the institution of criminal proceedings against him, not to prosecute him, and you have until 3 o'clock this evening to refund what you have stolen, but don't fail to appear at my room, No. 23, at the hour named." "The detective," said Mr. Southworth, "turned on his heel and walked out of my office. I was utterly dumfounded at his remarks to Hatch, whose character and standing were first-class. And the other evidence against Sanborn was so conclusive ! Hatch sat there in his chair, silent and astounded. At last he said, 'Mr. Southworth, did you hear what that man said to me?' I nodded my head by way of reply. 'What must I do about it, Mr, Southworth?' asked Hatch.

"I told him the charge against him was a calumny and that his character was his rock of defense, and to treat the threat of the detective with utter contempt and stern defiance. In a few moments Hatch withdrew and I saw him no more that day. At 3:30 o'clock, that evening, while I was dining in the Battle House, the detective passed behind my chair and requested me to come to room 23 when I left the dining room.

"I repaired to room 23, impatient to learn the result of the affair, and the detective placed in my hand the sworn confession of Hatch acknowledging that he had stolen both the $830 and the $1,950 out of the registered envelopes. In regard to the $1,950 theft Hatch said Sanborn and himself did leave the store together but that after he and Sanborn separated, he waited until Sanborn had gotten out of sight and returned to the postoffice, to which he also carried a key. Entering the postoffice, he unlocked the mail pouch, took out the registered package, broke it open and withdrew the $1,950, took another envelope similar to the one first used, placed in the almanac and some other papers, sealed it, addressed it exactly as the first one was addressed, placed it in the mail pouch and then locked it. The detective then exhibited to me the $2,780 which Hatch had paid him. 'Now, Mr. Southworth, you must dismiss the case against Sanborn tomorrow, and state that circumstances have come to light which establish his innocence; that the real culprit has confessed his guilt, and refunded the money stolen by him. I have written the facts to the postoffice department, enclosing the resignation of Hatch, and I have urged and recommended that Sanborn be appointed postmaster at Greensboro, as some reparation for his imiprisonment.'

*'I was amazed at this denouement," said Southworth. "and I asked the detective what proof he had of the guilt of Hatch. He said he reached New York on the first train after having been notified the letter had been robbed, and that the tell-tale almanac had given him a clue as well as directed suspicion to Hatch himself. He discovered that Hatch carried on a mercantile business in Greensboro, Ala., and was indebted to two merchants in the city of New York, so he went to see them in person and requested them in case Hatch should remit them money, either by express or registered letter to apprize him of it immediately and not to open it until he was present. I also went to the express ofllice and requested them to notify me should any money package from C. W. Hatch reach their office directed to A or B, and hold the package until I arrived. About a week after my arrival in New York to investigate the case, the Greensboro merchant who had remitted the $1,950, forwarded to his merchant creditor a list of the bills, together with their numbers, which rendered identification an easy matter. After a few weeks, two money packages shipped from Newberne; Ala., by C. W. Hatch to his two merchant creditors in New York, arrived and I was notified by the express company; I went to the office and accompanied the express messenger who had to deliver them. When the two packages were opened they contained the identical bills taken from the registered letter. The size and the numbers tallied with those on the list forwarded by the Greensboro merchant, made prior to the sending of the money by registered letter. The two express packages contained the sum of $830 over and above the $1,950, which led me to conclude that Hatch had also abstracted that sum from a registered letter from Greensboro, that was moneyless when it reached its destination."

Sanborn was appointed postmaster at Greensboro, Ala., and my recollection is he held the office on December 23, 1882, the day on which I left Alabama. This case will deserve a place among the cause celebre, and would have occupied it, had it appeared in the reports of adjudged cases. It suffices to make it highly probable, that innocent persons are so entangled in a web of circumstances as to be sometimes convicted and punished for crimes which they did not commit. The fall of Hatch, after leading an honest life for years, is an occurrence witnessed daily.

Anthony W. Dillard Governors Of Alabama

ISRAEL PICKENS, who was Governor from 1821 to 1825, was a resident of the town. He was a member of the United States Senate at the time of his death, which occurred in 1827, on the island of Cuba. His remains were brought back to his old home, and are buried some three miles south of Greensboro.

John Gayle Governors Of Alabama

JOHN GAYLE, Governor from 1831 to 1835, was also a citizen of Greensboro. At the expiration of his term of ofRce he removed to Mobile and practiced law until his election to Congress in 1847. In 1849, he was appointed as Federal District Judge in Alabama, which position he held until his death in 1858.

Thomas Seay

THOMAS SEAY, Governor from 1886 to 1890, was born and reared in the old town. At the expiration of his term of office he returned to Greensboro and reopened his law office, and practiced his profession until his death on March 30, 1896, at the age of 50 years. He was an able, upright, conscientious. Christian statesman, and was an honor to Alabama and to the town of his nativity.

Other State Officials

HON. WILLIAM D. LEE filled the position of State Convict Inspector for some years just prior to his death, which occurred at his home in Greensboro on February 25, 1899. Many needed reforms were inaugurated, and others projected, in the convict system of Alabama during his term of office, for which he is entitled to much credit.

HON. WILEY C. TUNSTALL held the office of Associate Railroad Commissioner longer than any other man has ever occupied it. He went out of office in 1906, after filling the position for seventeen years. Upon returning to his home in Greensboro, he actively entered into the work of looking after his large landed interests in Hale county. He is a gentleman of great force of character and strong common sense, and has left his imprint upon the political history of the State. He continues to manifest a lively interest in public affairs.

Prominent Lawyers

Greensboro has furnished some of the most eminent lawyers in Alabama. Among the number who formerly resided in the town may be mentioned John Erwin, William M. Murphy, John Gayle, Israel Pickens, James D. Webb, A. B. Pittman, Robert B. Waller, Augustus Benners, Henry Watson, Thomas Seay, Thomas R. Roulhac, Augustus A. Coleman, James E. Webb, James J. Garrett and others.

Richmond Pearson Hobson

The subject of this sketch was born in Greensboro, Ala., Aug. 17th, 1870. He attended school at the Southern University, and so brilliant was he that at the age of fourteen years he was able to pass successfully the competitive examination for entrance to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, from which institution he graduated at the head of his class in 1889. This latter distinction entitled him to go to Paris, France, for a course in naval construction, of which opportunity he eagerly took advantage. At the expiration of two years he returned to the United States and was engaged in the Naval Construction Department, and also at Annapolis as a professor, which position he was filling at the time of the breaking out of the war between this country and Spain in May, 1898.

Lieutenant Hobson asked, and was granted the privilege of joining his pupils to the American squadron, and he and his class were detailed to the New York, Admiral Sampson's flagship. When the Admiral decided to block the harbor of Santiago, Cuba, he asked for plans from the various officers. Hobson's was adopted, and after selecting six non-commissioned officers, viz : George Charette, J. E. Murphy, Oscar Deigan, John Phillips, John Kelley and Daniel Montague, early in the morning of June 3rd the men went aboard the collier Merrimac, and made straight for the entrance to the harbor. Thq thrilling story of the sinking of the Merrimac is best told in Hobson's own words as related to a correspondent of the New York Herald the day he and his men were released from the Spanish prison, July 6, 1898.

"We have been thirty-three days in a Spanish prison," said Lieutenant Hobson, "and the more I think about it, the more marvelous it seems that we are alive.

Richmond Pearson Hobson 169

steamed in under the guns of Morro Castle. The stillness of death prevailed. It was so dark that we could scarcely see the land. We had planned to drop our starboard anchor at a certain point to the right of the channel, reverse our engines and then swing the Merrimac around, sinking her directly across the channel.

"This plan was adhered to, but circumstances rendered its execution impossible. When the Mierrimac poked her nose into the channel our trouble commenced. The deadly silence was broken by the wash of a small boat approaching from the shore. I made her out to be a picket boat.

"She ran close under the stern of the Merrimac and fired several shots, from which it seemed to be threepounder guns. The Merrimac's rudder was carried away by the fire. That is why the collier was not sunk across the channel.

"We did not discover the loss of the rudder until Murphy cast anchor. We found that the Merrimac would not answer to her helm, and were compelled to make the best of the situation.

"The run up the channel was very exciting. The picket boat had given the alarm, and in a moment the guns of the Vizcaya, the Oquendo and the shore batteries were turned upon us. Submarine mines and torpedoes were exploded all about us, adding to the excitement. The mines did no damage, although we could hear rumbling and could feel the ship tremble.

"We were running without lights and only the darkness saved us from utter destruction. When the ship was at the desired position and we found that the rudder was gone, I called the men on deck. While they were launching the catamaran, I touched off the explosives.

"At the same moment, two torpedoes, fired from the Reina Mercedes, struck the Merrimac amidship. I cannot say whether our own explosives or the Spanish tor-

"As she settled down we scrambled overboard and cut away the catamaran. A great cheer went up from the forts and the warships as the hull of the collier foundered, the Spaniards thinking the Merrimac was an American warship.

"We attempted to get out of the harbor on the catamaran, but as the tide was running, daylight found us still struggling in the water. Then for the first time the Spaniards saw us and a boat from the Mercedes picked us up. It was then shortly after five o'clock and we had been in the water for more than an hour.

"We were taken on board the Reina Mercedes and later we were sent to Moro Castle. In Moro we were confined in cells in the inner side of the fortress and were there the first day the fleet bombarded Moro. I could only hear the whistling of the shells and the noise they made when they struck, but I judged from the conversation of the guards that the shells did considerable damage.

"After the bombardment, Mr. Ramsden, the British Consul protested, and we were removed to the hospital. There I was separated from the other men of our crew and could see them only by special permission. Montague and Kelley fell ill two weeks ago, suffering from malaria, and I was permitted to visit them twice.

"As for myself, there is little to say. The Spaniards were not disposed to do much for the comfort of any prisoners like us, but after our army had taken some of their men as prisoners, their treatment was better."

In 1900, Lieutenant Hobson was advanced to the position of Captain in the navy. His eyesight was injured in service rendered in raising the sunken Spanish ves- sels in Cuban waters, and also those in the harbor at Manila, and he asked to be placed on the retired list of the navy by Congress, which request was refused, and Captain Hobson tendered his resignation, with the parting message to the Navy Departrnent that whenever his country needed him he was ready to respond.

In 1904, Captain Hobson made the race for Congress against John H. Bankhead in the Sixth Alabama Congressional District, but was unsuccessful. He again contested for the place in 1906, and was nominated and elected, and is at this writing filling the position. Captain Hobson was married in New York on May 25th, 1905, to Miss Griselda Houston Hull.

Oldest Inhabitants

This chapter is devoted to short sketches of those citizens of Greensboro who have passed their three score and ten years. There are fifteen - nine ladies and six gentlemen. Their combined ages sum up a total of 1,184 years - an average of nearly 80 years each. The oldest person is 97 years of age, and the youngest appearing in the list is 71.

They are grand old people - forming a connecting link between the present generation and the one of the past - a generation that knew and loved the "Old South" when it was at the very zenith of its glory and power.

Mrs. M. D. Lightfoot Oldest Inhabitants 173

The oldest citizen, in point of years, is Mrs. Martha Diana Lightfoot, widow of Philip C. Lightfoot who died in 1866. Mrs. Lightfoot was born in Richmond, Va., on the 11th of May, 1811, and is therefore 97 years old. She was a daughter of Dr. Hermon Byrd Sneed, for many years a Baptist minister. She came to Greene county, Alabama, with her husband in 1841, and has resided in Greensboro and vicinity since that time. She has been a member of the Methodist church at this place for sixty-four years. She has been a member of the church since 1829, joining at Huntsville that year, when the Revs. A. L. P. Green and John Hannon were on that "circuit."

Maria Louise Price was born in Newberry, S. C., October 21, 1818. She moved to Columbia, S. C., when seven years of age. In February, 1836, she was married to Samuel Nutting, and left immediately with him for Greensboro, Alabama, making the entire journey by stage coach. They arrived April 1, 1836, and since that time Mrs. Nutting has continued to live in the town. She has occupied the house on Main street in which she at present resides since 1841. In the younger years of her life she is said to have been regarded as one of the most beautiful women of this entire section.

Mrs. Eliza A. Tunstall is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Wiley J. Groom, who came from North Carolina in 1818, and settled near Mussle Shoals, Ala., where Mrs. Tunstall was born on March 4th, 1820. She was educated at Huntsville and LaGrange, and was at school at the former place when the stars fell in 1833., She came with her parents to Greensboro in 1836, where, two years after her arrival, she was married to Dr. James Tunstall of Virginia, and has since that date con- tinuously resided in the town. She now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. William B. Inge in Greensboro. Mrs, Tunstall is the mother of three children, viz : Col. Wiley C. Tunstall and Mrs. Wm. B. Inge of Greensboro, and the late Dr. James Tunstall, who died some years ago. She also had the responsibility of rearing five sisters, the parents having died, leaving the little girls in her care, and they made their home with her until their marriage. The eldest sister married Mr. Eugene Hill of Greensboro; the second married Mr. Jack Chadwick of Texas ; the third. Judge Wm. Rodman of North Carolina; the fourth, Mr. Luther Hill of Montgomery, and the fifth, Capt. Wm. Selden of Faunsdale.

Mrs. Tunstall joined the Presbyterian church in 1838, and has been a consistent member for the past seventy years. She is a woman of remarkably fine sense, and an honor to the community in which she has resided for so many years.

Mrs. Sarah Angeline Anderson Kimbrough was born on the 27th of August, 1820, near Mt. Zion Church in Greene (now Hale) county, Ala. In 1843, she was married to Col. J. M. P. Hanna, and there were three children born of this union, viz : Robert C, Irene H., and T. A. Hanna. Her daughter, Irene, married John E. Love, Esq., at one time a prominent attorney in Greensboro, but who now resides in St. Louis, Mo. After the death of her first husband, the subject of this brief sketch married E. L. Kimbrough in 1859, and of this marriage there is only one child, Mr. Edward L. Kimbrough of St. Louis, Mo., who, with his wife, spends much of his time in Greensboro, - a gentleman noted for his fine business sense and splendid social qualities.

Mrs. Kimbrough joined Concord Presbyterian church near Havana, over seventy-five years ago, and has remained a devout member of this denomination ever

Oldest Inhabitants 175

Mrs. Mary Johnson Happel is a daughter of Jesse Gibson and Susan Holman Gibson, and was born in Lebanon, Tenn., on November 14, 1826. She came with her parents to Greensboro in March, 1836, and lived in a log hut which was situated near where the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Wm. N. Knight now stands, which latter residence Mrs. Happel's father, Jesse Gibson, built in 1837. Mrs. Happel had a sister, Mrs. Susan Callie Yerby, who also resided nearly all her life in Greensboro. Mrs. Yerby was born in Lebanon. Tenn., and died in May, 1904, at the age of 73 years. There were two Gibson boys, William and German, both of whom were Confederate soldiers, enlisting in Selma, where they resided at the time of the breaking out of the war. In a letter before us, written by Mrs. Happel, she says :

"Greensboro improved considerably during the years 1836-37. Several new residences were built, and the town boasted of two Female Schools - one where the present Academy building is now located, and the other in a two story frame house situated on the corner where the court house now stands. This school was taught by a Mrs. Cottrell - grandma Ccttrell, as we lovingly called her. She was a widow of a Methodist preacher, and mother of two preachers, Dr. Joseph Cottrell and Rev. Hugh Blair Cottrell. At this time the Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists had weather-boarded churches, not lathed and plastered. The Episcopalians had no church, but held services in the Academy. In 1839, there was a great religious revival under the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Boatright of the Methodist church, which was a great blessing to the town After this, each denomination felt the need of larger and better houses of worship, and proceeded to build them. The Methodists at this time were worshiping in a frame building located where the negro Methodist church stands in the rear of the Dr. Wai"d residence. The Methodists bought the lot on which their church is now located, and turned the old church over to the colored membei's."

Mrs, Happel was married in Greensboro in April, 1844, to Philip Happel, Rev. Thomas Capers officiating. She resided in the town until a few years ago, when she went to live with her son, Dr. Thomas J. Happel, in Trenton, Tenn. She is a woman of remarkably fine sense, strong character, and a devout member of the Methodist church, with which denomination she united in 1843 under the pastorate of Rev. T. W. Dorman.

Mrs. Mary Winifred Wadsworth was born at La- Grange, Alabama, November 22, 1829. Her parents, Dr. Alexander Sledge and Winifred Bryan Lane, moved to Alabama from North Carolina in 1822, and settled at LaGrange, in North Alabama. Dr. Sledge was one of the founders and a liberal supporter of the once famous LaGrange College. Early in 1830, Dr. Sledge moved with his family to Marengo county, and afterwards settled near Greensboro. In 1850, the subject of this sketch was married to Rev. Dr. Edward Wadsworth, who at the time, was president of LaGrange College - which College was burned by the Federal troops during the civil war. Dr. Wadsworth was a member of the first Faculty of the Southern University, and while the buildings were being erected he moved to Greensboro and served the Methodist church at this place for two years, that period being the limit a pastor was allowed to serve a church. While awaiting the completion of the building of the Southern University, Dr. Wadsworth served the Methodist church at Selma for two years, and in 1859 he returned to Greensboro and entered upon his duties as a member of the University Faculty, which position he held for a number of years. He died in 1883, at his home in Greensboro. Mrs. Wadsworth has been identified with the town for the past half century, and no one was ever held in higher esteem. She has been a member of the Methodist church for sixty-two years.

The Rev. Dr. Richard Hooker Cobbs came to Greensboro in 1860, and became rector of St. Paul's church, which position he held continuously for forty-seven years, resigning as rector in September, 1907, - but decided in March, 1908, to again accept the rectorship of this church. He was born in Montgomery, September 7th, 1835, and is a son of Bishop Nicholas Hamner Cobbs, the first Bishop of the Diocese of Alabama. Dr. Cobbs graduated from the State University of Alabama in the class of 1855. In May, 1862, he married Fannie A. Avery, who is yet with him to cheer and bless his declining

Among the oldest people now residing in Greensboro is Mrs. Margaret Clemintine Gulley, the mother of Frank D. Gulley, one of the most highly respected citizens of the town. She has two other children living, to-wit: Walter Gulley and E. L. Gulley who reside in Tuscaloosa and Jackson, Miss., respectively. Mrs. Gulley's parents were Samuel Oliver Davidson and Nancy Catherine Lowry, Mrs. Davidson being the daughter of Mr. Lowry, among the early comers to Greensboro. Mrs. Gulley was; born near Salisbury, N. C., April 6th, 1827. At the age of thirteen years, she came to Greensboro and attended school at the Greensboro Female Academy, which was then in charge of Mr. Fay. She also went there after Mr. Bestor was m.ade President. She has been a member of the church since 1843. On July 25, 1855, she was married to Bryant Gulley, by Rev. James C, Mitchell, Pastor of the Greensboro Presbyterian church. Mr. Gulley was at one time a prominent merchant at old Erie. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gulley resided in Greensboro for six years, and then moved to Greene county, Alabama, where they resided until Mr. Gulley's death on December 24th, 1887, at the age of 82 years. The next year Mrs. Gulley removed to Greensboro where she has since lived with her son, Frank D. Gulley.

Mrs. Elizabeth Ward was born in or near Greensboro, Alabama, in the year 1836. She is a daughter of the late Col. John H. Burton, who came to this section in 1833 from Campbell county, Virginia, and settled about eight miles from Greensboro in the prairies. In 1850 he moved to Greensboro and purchased the lot now owned by Madison Jones. He was a prominent citizen for many years. Mrs. Ward's mother was Miss Whitworth, a daughter of Jeremiah Whitworth, also a Virginian, who owned and resided on the (now). Hobbie place near Cedarville. There were four children of this marriage, J. L. Burton, of Crescent City, Fla. ; Dr. J. W. Burton and W. C. Burton (both deceased), and Elizabeth Burton. All three of the sons were Confederate soldiers. Miss Burton married the late Dr. Thomas R. Ward in 1858, who was for more than forty years a prominent physician in Greensboro. Dr. Ward was a North Carolinian by birth, and came to Greensboro when quite a young man. He first practiced medicine with the late Dr. F. M. Peterson, and afterwards alone until his death in 1897. He was among the brightest and most prominent Masons in the State, and for twentytwo years was Master of the Lodge at Greensboro. He officiated as Master of the Lodge at the laying of the corner stone of the Southern University in 1857. Dr. and Mrs. Ward had three children, to-wit: Dr. E. Burton Ward, an honored physician in Selma, Col. Thomas R. Ward, a prosperous merchant of Greensboro, and Mrs. Bessie Norvell Ward Colebeck, who died in June, 1906, Mrs. Elizabeth Ward was educated in Lynchburg, Va. For more than half a century she has been a member of the Methodist church. She is much beloved by a large circle of friends.

At the time this is written (1908) Hon. George Erwin is the oldest native-born citizen of Greensboro. He was born in the year 1834 in the then corporate limits of the town, and has resided here ever since. He is a son of the late John Erwin, the eminent jurist, who was among the earliest inhabitants of Greensboro. Mr. Erwin is a highly cultured gentleman, and represented Hale countv in the Legislature the session of 1884-85. He married a daughter of the late Col. Cadwalader Jones of North Carolina, in 1857 - they having celebrated their "golden wedding" in 1907. Though 74 years of age, Mr. Erwin's intellect is as clear and forceful as ever, and he lives among his books when not looking after his farming interests. His memory of past events is remarkably good, and to him we are indebted for much valuable data contained in this volume.

Mrs. Martha Chambers Keady is a daughter of John and Katherine Chambers, and was born at Canonsburg, Pa., September 12, 1837. She was well educated in the schools of her native State. In August, 1869, she was married to Dr. W. G. Keady, who was born in Baltimore. Md., in 1833. He was a Confederate soldier for four years - first joining Watson's (Mississippi) Battery. At the siege of Vicksburg he lost an arm, and upon the fall of the town he was taken prisoner &nd sent to Camp Douglass, where he remained until his exchange. He then went to Georgia and joined the Confederate troops, and remained with them until the close of the war. After the cessation of hostilities he taught school at Macon. Ga., and other places. In 1871, Dr. Keady entered the Presbyterian ministry. His first charge was at Williamsville, 111. He came to Greensboro from Kentucky in 1889, and served as pastor of the Presbyterian church at this place until his death in 1902. He was also for several years President of the Greensboro Female Academy. Early in life, Mrs. Keady joined the church, and for many long years has been a consistent member of the Presbyterian denomination. She is a woman of remarkably fine intellect, and is much beloved by a large circle of friends. She has two children, Geo. K. Keady editor of The Beacon, with whom she resides, and Wm M. Keady, a prosperous druggist at Norcross, Ga.

Oldest Inhabitants 181

Rev. E. M. Turner, who has, for the past twenty years, been a citizen of Greensboro, was born in Walker county, Alabama, December 1, 1836. His father, Rev. John Turner, was a Methodist minister, and was admitted to the Virginia conference in 1797. In the course of his ministry he served Newbern, S. C, Caswell, N. C, and towns in Virginia. At the Conference of 1801 he located, on account of ill health and moved to Walker county, Ala., and in 1844 he moved to Greene county, where he resided until his death. His wife was a Miss Kimbrough of North Carolina. The subject of this sketch, Rev. E. M. Turner, was educated in the common schools in Greene county, Ala. He joined the church in 1845. When 8 or 9 years of age, his father put him. in a printing office at Eutaw, Ala., The Whig, then conducted by Houston & Nunnalee, where he remained for quite a while. Enlisted in the Confederate army in April, 1861, in a regiment formed by Hon. W. R. Smith. Went into camp of instruction at Tuscumbia, Ala. In September he was elected First Lieutenant of Company E, and on reaching Virginia was promoted to Captain of the Company. The Regimental number M^as the 26th Alabama, and upon the resignation of Smith, who was elected to the Confederate Congress, E. A. O'Neal was made Colonel. Captain Turner served under both Lee and Jackson. In 1864, he was transferred to the Western army, and served under Johnston and Hood until the surrender at Greensboro, N. C, in 1865. He has a war record that few possess, but one, by conversing with him, would never know he served four years in the army, so modest is he with reference to matters pertaining strictly to himself.

Capt. Turner joined the Alabama Conference of the Methodist church at Mobile in December, 1865, and was in the active ministry for many years. He is spending his declining years with his wife and daughter in his neat and modest home in Greensboro, among friends who honor him for his upright, Christian life, and his genial, sunny disposition. He has threa sons and one daughter : J. G. Turner of Greensboro, Ala., Dr. E. K. Turner of Oxford, Ga., Walter Turner of Atlanta, Ga., and Miss Clara Turner of Greensboro.

Thomas F. Stickney is possibly the oldest male resident of Greensboro. He was born April 14th, 1830, at the old homestead three miles west of town, now owned and occupied by his brother, Edward L. Stickney. His father, Joseph Blodgett Stickney, came from England in 1800, and located in North Carolina, where he married Harriet Grice. After living there for some time, he moved to this section, and located three miles west of the present town of Greensboro, and about the year 1820, he purchased 840 acres of land from the famous General Lefebvre, who had come in possession of it under what is known as the French grant. Mr. Thomas Stickney relates that he had often heard his father speak of the noted Frenchman - that he was a frequent visitor to the Stickney home, and the descendants now have in their possession a number of mementoes that were presented the elder Stickney by the General. Lefebvre frequently visited the town of Greensboro in its early days. Of this distinguished character, Pickett has the following in his History of Alabama :

-'A colony of French soughl; Alabama as an asylum from Bourbon persecution. The winter of 1816 and 1817 found many of these distinguished refugees in Philadelphia. An ordinance of Louis had forced them from France on account of their attachment to Napoleon, who was then an exile upon St. Helena.

"Among those who were exiled was Count Lefebvre Desnoettes, who had been a cavalry officer under Bonaparte with the rank of lieutenant-general. Accompanying Napoleon in his march to Russia, he rode with him in his carriage in his disastrous i-etreat over the snows of that country. He had served in Spain in many bloody wars, and was an active participant in the dread- ful battle of Sarragjossa. Vivacious, active and handsome in person and graceful in carriage, he was the most splendid rider of the age in which he lived. His imperial master was so much attached to him that when forced to abdicate the throne and about to depart for Elba and while addressing his weeping and sorrowing officers at Fontainbleau, said, 'I cannot take leave of you all, but will embrace General Desnoettes in behalf of you all.' He then pressed him to his bosom in the most affectionate manner. Napoleon frequently made him valuable presents, and influenced his cousin, the sister of the celebrated banker. La Fitte to espouse him. While he was at Demopolis, that lady made an attempt to join him in exile, but being shipwrecked on the coast of England, was forced to return to France. At length she negotiated with the French government for his return, and, through the influence of her family, succeeded in obtaining permission for him to reside in Belgium. This induced Count Lefebvre in 1823, to leave Alabama in the ship Albion, which was wrecked upon the coast of Ireland, at Old Kinsale, in view of an immense number of people who were standing on the cliffs. The distinguished refugee was washed overboard, and the ocean became his grave."

J. J. Cluis, mentioned elsewhere in this volume as having kept a hotel in Greensboro, came to this section with Count Lefebvre, and was a man of note under the Napoleonic rule in France.

Joseph B. Stickney was the father of eleven children, as follows: Rev. William A. Stickney, Frederick G., Joseph B., Edward L., Thomas F., John, and Richard H. Stickney, the latter being at the time of his death in February, 1904, among the most prosperous and highly respected citizens of Greensboro. The daughters were: Mrs. Eliza Street, Mrs. Harriet J. Charles, Mrs. Olivia Morgan, and Miss Mary Stickney, all deceased.

Mr. Thomas F. Stickney says that soon after his father settled near Greensboro others came from North Carolina and located to the w^est of the present town, - among the number. Off a Shivers, Stith Evans, Benjamin Evans, the Morrisons and the Arnolds.

town of Greensboro. He built the first frame house ever erected in the town in 1818, for Peck, Brewer and Bates. It was located on the site on which is now situated the two story brick building occupied now by George Findlay and The Watchman office. William A. Avery has resided all his life in the territory of what is now Hale county. For the past twenty years he has lived with his family in Greensboro. In 1855 he married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Walton, daughter of the late Joseph Walton, who is remembered by many of the people as among the best and most highly respected citizens of Hale county. Mr, Avery served for several years during the war between the States in the Confederate arsenal at Selma, Ala., engaged in the work of making gun carriages. He was so employed when Wilson's Raiders captured the city. Mr. Avery has been a member of the Methodist church for the past 45 years. He has always enjoyed the reputation of being a good citizen and a good neighbor.

Thomas J. Kinnaird is among the oldest citizens of this vicinity. He has resided in Greensboro for a number of years past. He is the son of James A. Kinnaird and Mary McMaster Kinnaird. The father came to this county when quite a young man from North Carolina. His mother was a native of Greene county, Alabama. They resided at Green Springs, near Havana, Ala., at which place Thomas J. Kinnaird was born April 30th, 1830, and he has lived in what is now Hale county all his life. In 1855 he married Miss Keziah Lavender of Newbern, Ala. In 1862 Mr. Kinnaird enlisted in the Confederate army, and was a member of Company C, 36th Alabama Regiment - Captain Wemyss' company - and was in the Tennessee army and saw actual service from Chickamauga to Spanish Fort. He served for four

Oldest Inhabitants 185

Mr. Kinnaird has been a member of the Baptist church for the past fifty years, having joined Bethsaida church in 1858. He is one of the original members of the present Greensboro Baptist church, being present at the organization in February, 1894. He has always enjoyed the respect and confidence of the people among whom he has lived so long.

One of the oldest living former residents of Greensboro is Mr. John L. Croom, who has kindly furnished the author valuable information for this volume. He was born at LaGrange, Ala., Nov. 26, 1826, and came with his father, Wiley J. Croom, to Greensboro in 1834, and resided here until 1850, when he moved to Matagordo, Texas, and for the past fifty-eight years has been a resident of Matagordo and Wharton counties. He served for ten years as County and District Clerk of Matagordo, and since the expiration of his term of office he has been engaged in the real estate business. He was orderly sergeant in Company A - Andrew L. Pickens, Captain, John R. Coffee, Colonel - First Regiment Alabama Volunteers in the Mexican War, and was honorably discharged from service, on account of disability to perform military duty, in July, 1846. In November of the same year he married Miss Ellen R. Davis, at Matagordo, Texas, a lady who was born and reared at Franklin, Tenn. She died in Wharton, Texas, in October, 1901. There were two children from this union, Judge W. J. Croom, and Mrs. Rosa F. McCamly, widow of the late Fred C. McCamly, a prominent lawyer of Texas. Mr. Croom is a brother of Mrs. Eliza A. Tunstall of Greensboro, and an uncle of Col. Wiley C. Tunstall of this place. He is spending the evening of his life happily

Mr. Croom furnishes the following list of old citizens of Greensboro whom he remembers as residing here during his early residence in the town :

Gen. Patrick May, soldier of the war of 1812 ; John May, cotton planter; Charles or Robert Fortune, dealer in stock, and also kept a stage stand on his place at the forks of the road south of the depot; James McDonald, cotton planter ; Dr. McCann ; Shelby Chadwick, merchant; I. N. Chadwick, merchant; Jack Shackelford, merchant; V. Boardman, jeweler; Sam Cowin, hotel keeper; John G. Harvey, editor Alabama Beacon; Matthew Hobson, planter - father of Mrs. W. C. Tunstall and Mrs. W. D. Lee; A. Benners, Edward Benners, Jas. D. Webb, Wm. P. Webb, John Erwin, Wm. M. Murphy, Rob't. B. Waller, Henry Watson, Rob't D. Huckabee, lawyers; Samuel Webb, merchant; Albert Hendon, merchant; Thomas M. Johnston, merchant and planter; Maj. Bell, soldier of war of 1812; his sons were John, Bushrod, William and Frank Bell; Frederick Peck, merchant, and first postmaster; D. P. Stockton; Joseph and Jesse Seligman, the latter became a noted banker in New York ; A. C. Horton, who was the first Lt. Governor of Texas; Dr. Sydney Vaughan; James Levi Tunstall, Thomas Webb, Wm. T. Hendon, P. W. Kittrell, Wm. Street, all physicians; one son of Dr. Kittrell and another of Dr. Street became district judges in Texas; Rev. D. P. Bestor; Rev. Sydenham Witherspoon; Rev. John DuBois, first manufacturer of cotton gins; Samuel Duncan, Benjamin and Geo. W. Briggs; Andrew J. Briggs, Samuel G, Hardaway, sheriff; Jos. Atkins, druggist; A. Stollenwerck, druggist; A. M. Dorman, merchant; Col. Isaac Croom, planter, and president of State Agricultural Society; Jessie H. Croom, planter; Dr. Stephen Davis; Dr. Wm. T. Barnum ; Calvin Norris, planter ; Dr. Wm. Jones ; Samuel Boykin; Nat M. Murphy, lawyer; Mr. Murray, first fashionable tailor ; Mrs. Pasteur, Mrs. Dickson, Mrs Fowler, among the first settlers of Greensboro ; Dr. R. U. DuBois, dentist; Samuel DuBois; David Barckley; Joseph Simmons, dry goods clerk and dancing master; Dr. Richard Groom ; Mr. Reynolds, first tinner in the town ; Dr. Jos. Reynolds, his son ; B. F. Avery, ancestor of B. F. Avery & Sons of Louisville, Ky., celebrated for making Avery's plows; Thos. Archer, a great wit and ladies' man; Rev. Thos. Ghilton, grandfather of ex-Gongressman Horace Ghilton of Texas; Dr. Rufus Haywood, an eminent surgeon ; Wm. P. Eaton, graduate of Yale college, school teacher; Mr. Whelan, tailor and only Roman Catholic in Greensboro in the early days.

Chapter Of Miscellaneous

The office of marshal was not created until 1859, and since that time the following have served in that capacity : Jno. B. Williams, George W. Briggs, Wm. A. Bell, Wm. Roberts, J. D. Hamilton, F. H. Johnson, W. P. Johnson, A. B. Mackey, W. E. Torbett, J. W. Otts, John Erwin.

It seems that it has been only of recent years that Greensboro realized the importance of having a night watchman, for so far as the records of the old days show, no such office existed - that is to say as far back as forty years ago. Those who have held this office are: Ed. Gayle, M. C. Knight, C. C. Wilkerson, Reuben Johnson, D. A. Seale, Rufus DuBois, Walter Seale, Wm. Stokes.

On the night of October 16, 1874, two Greensboro citizens - John H. Atkins and J. T. Walker - became engaged in a personal difficulty on the sidewalk between the de- Graffenried & Evins law office and Dr. Carson's front gate, and opened fire upon each other. The night watchman at that time was M. C. Knight, who was standing across the street. He rushed in between the two men, and a ball from one of the weapons struck him and killed him almost instantly. It was never definitely known from which of the two pistols the fatal shot was fired. Both the men were tried and acquitted. Knight was a comparative stranger in Greensboro, coming, he stated upon his arrival here, from McMinnville, Tenn, Very little was ever learned about who he was, or why he came to this place.

Greensboro has always been blessed with the best medical skill in the person of her physicians. Among those who formerly practiced their profession here may be

So intimately was Eutaw and Greensboro associated in the days before Hale was made a county, that a note of the fact that the court house at Eutaw was destroyed by fire on March 20th, 1868, will not be out of place in these pages. From the Alabama Beacon of March 28, 1868, the following is taken :

- Greene county has sustained a heavy loss. The Court House at Eutaw was destroyed by fire on Friday morning of last weel<;, with all the records, papers etc., in the office of the Circuit Clerk, in which the fire originated. The records and papei's in the office of the Sheriff", Register in Chancery and County Treasurer were all saved. The Eutaw Court House was one of the most commodious and costly in the State. Its destruction at any time would have been a heavy loss to the county, but at this junctui-e, when most people find it extremely difficult to support their families and nay their taxes, it will prove a most serious calamity, especially so, in view of the loss of the valuable records and papers. The circumstances connected with the origin of the fire, as we have heard them, leave no room for doubt as to its having been the work of an incendiary. They also create the presumption that the deed was done for the purpose of destroying certain recoi'ds or papers in the Clei'k's office."

The first genuine ribbon (or sugar) cane ever successfully planted in Hale county was cultivated seven miles Northeast of Greensboro by Rev. A. R. Ramey. In 1873 he brought fifty stalks from Citronelle, Ala., and planted it. The next year he had a quantity of stalks to sell to his neighbors, and from this small beginning the molasses crop of the farmers, especially of Northeast, West and North Hale, has grown to be quite a profitable one, - the Greensboro market being supplied to a large extent with the home-grown article.

The English sparrow, that destructive and troublesome little pest, is comparatively a lecent conier to Greensboro. The first note of its appearance was in November, 1885, and the little birds were viewed with interest and curiosity by the people. Since then the tribe has increased, and is almost as the sands of the seashore for multitude.

For many years prior to 1890, the cotton worms would annually strip the leaves from the cotton plant, but that year, for the first time within the memory of "the oldest inhabitant," they failed to do any damage to the cotton plant in this section, nor have the pests returned in any considerable numbers since then.

The first United States flag that was unfurled on a building in Greensboro since 1861 was in May, 1898, and was floated from Hamilton Hall, the boarding annex of the Southern University, and another from the Greensboro Hotel. This was done in honor of the victory of the American navy under Admiral Dewey over the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Manila. Since that tim^e the Stars and Stripes have not been strangers to the eyes of the inhabitants of Greensboro.

old country. He was always ready with his wit and also ready at all times for a drink. Contemporary with him, although in a different line of business, was William Scarff, the undertaker. Rainey and Scarff were the best of friends, and spent many hours talking together. One day Rainey, when about half drunk, told some friends that he wanted to play a joke on his friend Scarff, and asked them to come in and arrange him in his bed as a dead man. The friends complied and spread a sheet over Rainey, who told them to go tell Scarff that Rainey was dead, and to come up and take his measure for a coffin. (In those days the undertaker always took the measure of a corpse before bringing the casket.) The friends went to Scarff and sadly told him of Rainey's demise, and he expressed much sorrow over the news. He went at once to the room of the supposed dead man, and after again, with tears in his eyes, bemoaning the death of his old comrade, he began to remove the sheet. When he had taken it from the body, and was in the act of removing his shoes, Rainey very gently said : "Be careful, friend Scarff, and don't hurt my corns." Scarff made the air blue for a while with his denunciations of the "low down trick" that had been played on him.

As stated above, Rainey was among the early jewelers of the town. He purchased, forty or m.ore years ago, from Volney Boardman, whom he succeeded in the jeweler's business, the big clock which is now in Dr. Jay's drug store. For more than half a century this clock regulated the time for the citizens of Greensboro and surrounding country. Charles Jones gave it to Dr. Jay when he went out of the jeweler's business ni 1895. The old clock is still ticking away, and keeps the time as accurately as it did when first installed.

Miscellaneous 193

telephone system in Greensboro. He at once went to work on the line, but died in September of that year, and his wife, Mrs. Lucy Fitzpatrick, carried the work to completion. On the 15th of April, 1896, the local telephone commenced business and was conducted by Mrs. Fitzpatrick until 1907, when she sold the property to the Southern Bell Company, who now operate it.

The Southern Bell Telephone Company was granted the privilege of entering the town by the Mayor and Council in the year 1895. It did only a "long distance" business in Greensboro until 1907, when the company purchased the local telephone system from Mrs. Fitzpatrick, since which time it has had exclusive charge of both the long distance and the local telephone service.

Greensboro has produced authors of note. Of the number: Dr. J. M. P. Otts, who wrote "The Fifth Gospel, or the Land Where Jesus Lived," "At Mother's Knee," "Unanswered Questions," "The Gospel in Pagan Religions," "Laconisms," "A Dream About My School Days."

Greensboro has been the home of many prominent planters and large land owners. Of the rramoer may be mentioned : John Nelson, Allen C. Jones, Wm. R. Smaw, D. F. McCrary, J. W. McCrary, J. H. Y. Webb, John W. Walton, Gideon Nelson, Wiley Groom, Ivey F. Lewis, Robert W. Withers, Wm. B. Inge, Sr., Dr. Wm. Jones, Thomas M. Johnston, S. D. Owens, E. T. Pasteur, Reuben Seay, Henry Watson, R. H. McFadden, Sr., S. S. Latimer, W. W. Powers, Edward Bi^yol, John Erwin, Thos. Seay, Dr. Drake and others. All of the above named gentlemen are dead.

Probably there are those of the present generation who think that the cocoa, or nut grass, has always beeen in Greensboro and vicinity, but such is not the fact. The author has it on the authority of Hon. Charles E. Waller, who knows the history of the grass in this section, that the first appearance of cocoa was in the yard of Dr. Richard Garter Randolph, two miiles east of Greensboro. Mrs. Randolph had one of the largest and most beautiful flower yards ever in this vicinity, and she would frequently order plants and shrubbery from New Orleans, and more than half a century ago there came in these plants or shrubbery either the seed or the nuts of the cocoa. When the grass first made its appearance in the Randolph yard no one knew what it was, and no attempt was made to eradicate it, and from this beginning it has spread, in various ways, over the entire section.

It is worthy of note that Dr. Randolph was a close relative to the famous "John Randolph of Roanoke," and was, before he moved to Greensboro, a surgeon in the United States navy. He was quite wealthy, and owned thousands of acres of land east of the corporate limits of the town. In the midst of these broad acres he erected a palatial home, which he called "Oakleigh" and furnished it most elegantly. He and his wife entertained lavishly, and many brilliant parties were given beneath their hospitable roof. The front yard was a scene of beauty, filled with flowers and shrubbery of every description, and adorned here and there with statues of the finest Italian marble. The Doctor and his wife are buried in the family graveyard hard by the place where once stood their elegant home.

In the after j^ears the house was burned, - the brick were moved away, and the property passed into other hands, and now a modest cottage adorns the site where once stood the mansion of the old days.

Dr. Randolph was the father of Major R. C. Randolph, who married Sallie Julia Pickett, daughter of Albert J. Pickett, the historian. His other children were Mrs. R. I. Hill, Mrs. J. W. Tayloe and Mrs. Rittenhouse Moore.

For a long number of years, during the winter season, the Main street of Greensboro from the cemetery to the depot was almost as bad as the average country road. Teams were frequently stalled in the mud - particularly on the small hill just before getting to the depot, and also in front of the Lightfoot place. In the business portion of the town in rainy weather, the street would get in an almost impassable condition, and the odors eminating from the mud were very offensive.

In 1900, this was remedied by the Mayor and Council making a contract to have the street cherted from the depot to the cemetery. G. M. Burkhalter & Co., of Birmingham, were the contractors, and the work cost a little over ^'10,000. The town, in July, 1900, issued $10,000 worth of bonds to pay for it. The indebtedness bears 6 per cent, interest, payable semi-annually. Said bonds specify that on July 1st, 1921, one thousand dollars of

The Greensboro Cotton Oil Mill was established near the depot in 1902, and was exempted from taxation for a period of ten years by the town authorities in order to induce the promoters to locate it here. It is owned by local capitalists, and has prospered.

In 1869, the citizens of Greensboro donated a thousand dollars to induce the Western Union Telegraph Company to extend its line from Marion to this place. The first office was opened in Greensboro during that year. It was through the untiring efforts of Henry Beck, Al Stollenwerck and A. S. Jeffries that the line was brought here.

Twenty-four years after this, the citizens do not appear to have been so anxious for a telegraph line as formerly, for in 1893, the Postal Company humbly petitioned the Mayor and Council to allow it to enter the town and maintain an office, - which petition was granted, and the Postal opened for business in Greensboro in 1893.

By public halls is meant a place where public meetings were held. The very first that existed in Greensboro was somewhere about the year 1834, and was located on the Northeast corner of the lot of Col. W. C. Tunstall, almost opposite the residence of Judge W. C. Christian on Main street. It was a one-story frame structure, and was known as the "Theatre Building," from the fact that the traveling troupes would have their shows therein.

Miscellaneous 197

After this place fell into disuse, Washington Hall came into prominence, and for some years the public speakings and gatherings were held in this place.

Franklin Hall was the next in order, and is still standing. It was the room above the stores in the block in which D, W. Taylor's store is at present located. Besides other public uses to which it was put, the military companies used it as a drilling place.

After Amasa M. Dorman built the Dorman block on the South side of Main street and fitted up "Dorman's Hall," the Franklin Hall ceased to be used as a place for public gatherings. At the time it was erected, "Dorman's Hall," with its wooden benches, and its raised stage, was accounted the finest public hall in this section. Many stirring scenes were enacted within the compass of its walls, - the most exciting, perhaps, being in the latter part of 1860, when a discussion of the question was had as to whether Alabama should secede from the Union or not. Hot and angry words were passed between those who difl'ered on the subject and friendships of a lifetime were shattered. And it was in this place that the military company, known as "The Greensboro Guards," was organized and drilled before starting for the war. Here the strolling minstrels would come and amuse the people with their shows, and it was here that the amateurs of the town would display their talent as actors and actresses. The old hall served its day and generation well, and stood until 1903, when it was torn away to make room for the present commodious store building.

In 1897, J. A. Blunt erected a splendid public hall above his stores on the South side of Main street. The buildings were burned in November, 1902. In 1903 Mr. Blunt rebuilt the burned district, and fitted up the present beautiful Opera House.

Nearly forty years ago - to 1)e exact, in 1869 - there existed in Greensboro an organization known as "The Greensboro Dramatic Association," the object of which was "for the purpose of aiding the destitute of Greensboro and vicinity." The Association gave dramatic exhibitions once a month, and the proceeds were devoted to charitable purposes. The first play enacted was entitled "Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady," and was a great success. There were no lady members of the company, and the characters in the play that required ladies were taken by the men, who would dress in feminine attire. The Dramatic Association accomplished much good during its career. The following were the members, as gathered from the minutes :

L. J. Lawson, S. C. Carson, Henry Boardman, Alex H. Williams, W. P. Johnson, Henry H. Hooton, H. Humphries, Robert H. Jackson, John A. Peterson, John M. Gayle, Stawell W. Gillespie, Robert B. Monette, Charles T. Briggs, Charles E. Waller, Porter K. Carson, L. M, Osborn, Ed. Nutting and John Atkins. Dr. Simonds was manager of the Company.

An Old Fashion Spinning Wheel

The above is a good representation of the old spinning wheel that was so common in the South in Colonial times, and in the days before the Civil War. It, together with the ponderous old loom, was the forerunner of the modern cotton factory. Almost every family was supplied with a ''Spinning Jenny" and a loom before the advent of cotton and yarn mills. The Spinning Jenny was invented by James Hargreaves in 1767, and for nearly a hundred years its use was continued - improvements upon the original being but slowly made.

It will not be a great many years before these old relics will be entirely out of existence, - hence it is that the picture of the one which has been in possession of the writer's ancestors for nearly sixty years is given above.

Conclusion

Our task is finished. It is with a feeling of sadness rather than of joy that the pen is laid aside, because it has been purely a labor of love that has engaged our attention for some years past in the preparation of these pages. The work had grown to be fascinating, and really a part of existence.

It is our earnest hope that the future historian may derive as much pleasure from a continuation of the History of Greensboro in the years to come as has been afforded this writer in the prosecution of the work.