Thursday, April 18, 1918
DISASTROUS FIRE
C. A. YEAGER’S FINE RESIDENCE BURNED
On Thursday night, April 11, the fine residence of C. A. Yeager was burned, entailing a loss of twelve to fifteen thousand dollars.
About eleven o’clock the fire was discovered, the alarm given and the firemen responded promptly, but so rapidly had the fire spread that the roof was burned off and the upper story destroyed before the flames could be put out.
The fire is supposed to have been the work of rats, as it started in the walls of the house on the first floor. When discovered, the fire had gone to the roof, which was of shingles and very flammable.
The firemen did very effective work in putting out the fire and preventing its spread to nearby buildings.
This was one of the finest residences in Marlinton, and one of the best furnished homes in the county. Much of the furniture on the first floor was carried out, but that on the second floor and the clothing of the household was destroyed.
Miss Merrells, principal of the high school, was a boarder in this home. She lost all her personal belongings, which included several hundred dollars in Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps.
Mr. and Mrs. Yeager ask that public mention be made of their appreciation of the efforts in their behalf made by their neighbors and the members of the Fire Department during and after the fire.
FISHING
It is about time to impose another fish composition on you. It is getting to be the time of year when the mountaineer is moved to go forth and catch himself a mess of fish.
The fish themselves are selecting their locations for another open season, moving in their mysterious way underneath the water. The best sign of a good fish year is big spring floods like we have had this year. The rivers and creeks are purified and changed and the fish find safe harbour in them and do not move off some thousands of miles to other waters for their summer homes. A little later, the waters will get low and the fish will be there to be sacrificed to the energetic fisherman.
The trouble about fish literature is that it is either as dry as dust or it is so marvelous as to raise doubts in the minds of the readers… And the trouble with all fish essays is that the men who know most about fish, write little or none at all…
One of the most common lies in the fishing circles is to circulate a false report as to where the big catch of trout that has been brought in was made. In fact, in the profesh, we do not ask a man recklessly where he caught all them fish. There is no occasion to make a good man break a commandment though it hath been said the it is no sin to tell a lie to a man who is not entitled to the truth.
At this time of year, no fish counts for anything in the mountains except the trout…
A rough estimate would indicate that there are some three thousand miles of trout water left in Pocahontas county, to say nothing of streams that are set apart by nature for other kinds of fish. These streams are there for the fisherman who will improve the opportunity.
There is little question but what a stream becomes fished out. The fish are not all taken, but they are driven out. When you think that with his powers of locomotion that a trout can move to another county during the part of an evening, it is no wonder that if a log camp is placed on a stream that the trout make their swift and silent get away, but after the logs are cut and the camp falls down, the trout come back and are restored to the mountaineer to add zest and interest to life.
Of course the mountaineer would like to see his county fill up with people and grow rich and prosperous but if that cannot be brought about, he can make much of the game and fish that belong to the thinly settled county…
GREENBANK
We are having March weather in April; snow is 8 inches deep on lowlands and 15 inches deep on Top Alleghany.
WEATHER
The weather report for the month of March by local observer S. L. Brown shows only a trace of snow for the month of March. However, his report for April will show differently. In March 6.52 inches of rain fell, 3.46 falling on the 12th. There was rain on 11 days, 8 were clear, 14 partly cloudy and 9 cloudy. The hottest was 66 degrees on the 14th and the coldest was 10 above on the 11th.
ALICE AULDRIDGE, DEAD
Miss Alice Auldridge died at her home in Buckeye Saturday morning, April 13, 1918, after a short illness, aged 17 years, 8 months and 17 days. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edd Auldridge and is survived by her parents, and 5 sisters and 4 brothers, one of whom is James Auldridge, of Camp Shelby…
Alice was a Christian, a member of the Methodist Church, and she expressed her willingness to die – to go to a better world, where loved ones will meet and partings are over.
Dearest sister, thou hast left us, and thy loss we deeply feel.
PAGE D. WAUGH
Page D. Waugh died at the home of his father “Buck” Waugh, on Stamping Creek, April 12, 1918, aged 22 years and 18 days. He had but recently been brought home from Camp Lee, afflicted with a rare, incurable disease. He was an excellent young Christian man, a member of the M. E. Church, South, and declaring his trust in an all powerful Savior.
His remains were laid away in the Ruckman graveyard.
This is the first death in Pocahontas County’s quota of the draft.
