Thursday, December 25, 1924
I can very well remember when the height of my ambition was to own a covered wagon. Every farmer who had a covered wagon could take a trip and make about twenty dollars clear money in a week’s pleasurable excitement. The only cash outlay was the toll on the Bath county road which amounted to $2.40 for one round trip and that in the days when Back Creek, Knapps Creek and Jacksons River were unbridged. There were three mighty mountains to be crossed: Allegheny, Back Creek Mountain and Warm Springs Mountain. The railway depot was Millboro, Virginia. Other parts of the county hauled from Ronceverte, Huttonsville and Staunton, but Millboro was the most popular port of entry for the county seat of Pocahontas.
The trip took five days and that meant four nights camping out. Wagons starting on Monday and Tuesday were sure of congenial company and a wagon train was formed and many were the lasting friendships formed in those days of wagoning across three mountains in the white topped schooners of that day and time. The tariff was a dollar a hundred and a good team could bring in about twenty-five hundred pounds. The horses were well cared for, highly fed and thoroughly curried and attended to. The teams came back without a sign of distress in all cases where the wagoner knew this business, and it was a profession in itself. I do not think that I have ever been put to the task of learning a more intricate trade in so short a time as I was compelled to do as a party of a wagon train…
ARRESTS
One day last week, Sheriff B. B. Beard, J. F. Ashford and J. R. Simmons got a couple of stills on North Fork of Deer Creek, about five miles above Greenbank. Cleve Jackson and Jim Stuart were arrested and are now in jail on charges of moonshining.
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Sheriff Beard and Constable C. K. Butler arrested one John, a foreigner, on Knapps Creek between Marlinton and Huntersville for the possession of three quarts of moonshine. He is in jail.
COUNTY COURT
County Court in Session on Saturday with Dr. Hannah, president; H. H. Williams and J. Lanty McNeel, commissioners.
Old schoolhouse at Wanless purchased from J. R. Sutton for $50 to be used for storing road machinery for Greenbank district.
Petition to close old road from Beaver Creek near Huntersville to J. H. Buzzard’s residence.
The clerk directed to advertise for sealed bids to be opened on February 3rd for the building of a fill to the concrete bridge across run near Warwick on Edray and Cloverlick road.
Mrs. Susan Jinks and Mrs. Susan Kline allowed $5 a month.
Mrs. Mary A. Slaven and Dorothy Slaven allowed $1 a day for support at state tuberculosis sanatorium.
MANSE ON FIRE
On Sunday night just before 12 o’clock, the Manse of the Marlinton Presbyterian Church was found to be on fire. On retiring, Rev. H. H. Orr had put an oil heater in the bathroom. An hour or so later, he awoke and found the bathroom and hall in flames. Two of his little daughters were asleep in a room across this hall, and he was very badly burned in getting to them and bringing them out. Mrs. Orr and all four children got safely out of the house. Mr. Orr will be in the Marlinton Hospital a week. Both hands are badly burned and painful burns on his face, neck and back.
Upon the alarm being given, the firefighters and the neighbors responded promptly, and the building was saved.
Not a little damage was done to the house and contents by fire, smoke and water. The loss is fully covered by insurance.
TANNERY HOUSE BURNED
About noon Sunday, the home of Henry Knapper, who lives in a tannery house, got on fire. It burned so rapidly that Aunt Susan Graves, an aged colored woman, had to jump from an upstairs window. She was painfully burned about the head and on her hands, and is in bed from the shock.
The contents of the home were destroyed, the family saving only the clothes on their backs. There was no insurance.
ANOTHER FIRE
The third fire alarm for the week sounded Tuesday morning. Smoke was coming from the second story windows of the Temporary Courthouse building. A bed in apartments occupied by Mrs. E. W. Cochran was found to be on fire. An electric iron with the current turned on had been left in the bed. The damage was not great.
WEDDING
At the residence of the bride’s parent, on the 22nd day of December 1924, Miss Margaret Randolph Price, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Price, was married to Prof. R. L. Hoke, principal of the West Monongalia High School in Marion County.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Boone, at Buckeye, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers, of Minnehaha Spring, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Warwick Scott, of Seebert, a daughter.