Thursday, February 25, 1898
HENRY GRADY said of the demon, liquor: “It is the moral enemy of peace and order, the despoiler of men and the terror of women, the cloud that shadows the faces of children, the demon that has dug more graves and sent more souls unheralded to judgment than all the pestilences that have wasted life since God sent the plagues to Egypt, and all the wars since Joshua stood beyond Jericho.”
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SUNDAY EVENING, a number of people had gathered for preaching at the upper church on Swago, Bill Hefner arrived drunk and disorderly. He tried to pick a fuss with Howard Kellison who went home. Bill then let off some steam by firing his revolver several times. Later, he was still hunting trouble, and he and Mart Barnes had a fight in which Bill’s head was cut open. He gets on a spree in Marlinton occasionally. When under the influence of liquor, he lets off all manner of howls, and makes a noise that can be heard a mile. Owing to the absence of the minister, there was no preaching, but the pillars of the church had their hands full managing the disturbance.
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AN IMPENDING slander suit was adjusted last Friday by a conference of parties at the courthouse. George Allen and L. D. Sharp had a difference of one dollar in a settlement, and Sharp wrote in his haste to Allen and accused him of changing the receipt. This being damaging to the character of Allen, he threatened suit and secured L. M. McClintic as attorney. Sharp employed H. S. Rucker, and the matter was compromised by Sharp paying Allen $75. This is a very happy ending of the matter for a slander suit is the most disagreeable task ever undertaken by our courts.
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THE MONROE Watchman says that a young lady, aged 16 years, whose parents were fatalists, recently died in that county. The daughter was not necessarily sick of an incurable disease, but the parents deciding by some occult means that their daughter was to die, refused to give the medicine prescribed and furnished by the attending physician, tho the patient begged them to do so. If there is proof sufficient, the grand jury of Monroe County should indict these people as a warning against the practice of fatalism that may sometimes prove fatal.
A WINTER THUNDERSTORM
THE THUNDERSTORM last Sunday was as pronounced as those of summer. All the forenoon, the air seemed saturated with moisture. About two o’clock the rumbling of distant thunder was heard. Some of the reports resembled the sound of a horn. The thunder became louder and the flashes of lightning could be seen. The redness of the flashes was peculiar. One flash observed was that rare phenomenon, known as “globe lightning.” In the west, a globe of light, about the size of the sun, seemed to drop from the clouds, and remained stationary for a perceptible length of time and burst into thousands of flashes, accompanied by a tremendous clap of thunder. It was the color of red-hot iron. The rain began then, and in a few minutes the most severe hailstorm, which has ever visited this county was in progress. The hailstones were about as large as peas, and were falling so thick that objects a few yards distant were totally obscured. All the while, the thunder was rolling and crashing. The storm continued for about a quarter of an hour.
FATAL ACCIDENT
The greatest sensation this village has ever experienced was the killing of Harvey Maupin while at work in the woods about a mile from town last Tuesday evening about 3 o’clock. He was working with Thomas Courtney and sons, Amos and Wilson, on the north side of Buckley mountain opposite the Laden Bottom. The men were engaged in getting outrail-cuts. The ground was very steep and frozen hard. The logs had been cut and were being slid down the hill. The deceased was working without calks in his shoes. A small chestnut lay across and two large red oaks had caught on it. He went to the lower end and was cautioned by Thomas Courtney who told him that there was danger in loosening up the logs as they lay. He remarked that he thought he was able to take care of himself.
When the logs started, he was thrown down by his cant hook directly in front of one of the large logs. He was born back in a sitting position for fifty yards down the mountain. At the bottom the logs went clear and he was found lying apart from them…
The deceased resided at the old Price place. He was 26 years old, and leaves a wife and one child. He was a man of most exemplary character and a sincere and consistent Christian…
He seemed to have a premonition of his death, as he remarked to one of the men who was working with him as they passed the graveyard a few hours before his death that he felt like he might be “buried there tomorrow.”
In connection with this, Mrs. Maupin, a few nights before, had a dream that was out of the ordinary. She saw her husband with Wilson Courtney and heard him say, “Take care of Flora and the baby.” There was such an indefinable feeling of impending separation in it all that she awoke and the terror of the dream impressed her so that she was afraid to mention it to her husband but thought of it constantly until the body of her husband was carried home.
The interment will be at Green Bank Thursday.
