Thursday, July 26, 1923
J. C. Wiley, a Confederate veteran still living in this county, was present at Droop Mountain, and he says that when the break came, that he with other soldiers buried a brass cannon in the woods and that he intends some day to go there and see if he cannot locate it and dig it up, and he believes that he will be able to find it.
The late A. M. McLaughlin was in that battle, and he was retiring in some haste through the woods alone when he came on a Union soldier who had been wounded and who was trying to shoot him. The soldier was in a sitting position with his back against a log, but whenever he would lift his rifle to aim, the weight of the gun would cause him to fall forward and the gun come to the ground. Whereupon the soldier would use the rifle to push himself back in a sitting position, attempt to raise the rifle, and fall forward again. The retreating Confederate seized the rifle and disarmed his adversary and took the gun and bent it around a sapling and went on…
At the time of the battle, Claiborne McNeil, of Buckeye, a Confederate soldier of two years hard fighting, was at home on an indefinite leave of absence. Hearing the battle begin, he climbed to a height near his home, Bridgers Notch, and saw the battle, on one side of which was engaged his brother, Captain Jim McNeil, a Confederate officer, and on the other side, his half brother, Alfred McKeever.
After the battle, Alfred McKeever, knowing that his half-brother, Captain Jim McNeil, had been engaged, was filled with apprehension as to his safety, and searched among the Confederate dead and wounded, and then passed by the long line of prisoners, who were strung out along the pike. Presently he saw the Captain and rushed up to him with outstretched hand, saying how glad he was that he was alive and unhurt. But Captain McNeil was filled with bitterness of defeat. He folded his arms and thus he spoke: “I am glad to know, Alfred, that you, too, are alive and well, but, Alfred, we are not shaking hands today.”
LOCAL MENTION
Officers Butler and Burns and State Constable Moore arrested Everett Ratliff last Thursday night. He is wanted in his home county of Gilmer on a burglary charge. He was taken to Gilmer by Mr. Moore.
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Steps are being taken toward building a Methodist church at Minnehaha Springs
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Reed McNeill and Reed and Layman Davis got themselves a nine-pound mud cat in the Price hole Monday morning.
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Walter Mann bought a bull and two heifers from H. M. Cutlip last week. Theses are purebred registered polled Hereford cattle.
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Next Sunday at 8 p.m. John Snowden Kellison, All-American football player and, at present athletic coach at the University of Virginia, will give and address at the Eqworth League of the Hillsboro Methodist church.
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The two year old child of Lock McNeill, head of Swago, is very ill with cholera infantum.
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Born to Mr. and Mrs. Gay Campbell, of Marlinton, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Bias Moss, at Buckeye, a daughter.
KILLED IN WOODS
Hanson Shrader, aged 43 years, was killed on the log road near Rainelle last Thursday, while hooking tongs for a log loader. The tongs slipped from a medium sized log as it was being top loaded. It fell from the car and struck Shrader on the head… His brother, Lem Shrader, was running the loader and was the first man to get to him.
The deceased was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Shrader, of Thorny Creek. He was unmarried. His body was brought home last Friday and buried at the Bethel church…
WOMAN ORATOR
Revival services will begin at the Marlinton Methodist church Sunday and continue until August 19 inclusive. The pastor, Rev. J. Herndon Billingsley, will be assisted by Mrs. S. Hortense Ropp, of Roanoke, Virginia.
Mrs. Ropp is a talented lay speaker and does not come as a preacher or evangelist. She has had great experience, however, as an orator in temperance work, and was for a period of time, a national lecturer for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, speaking from coast to coast.
To hear this woman is to be amazed at the gifts she possesses in public speaking. She is cultured, with a fine personality, pleasing and impressive…
DIED
J. Henry Barlow died of heart disease at his home near Onoto last Thursday… The deceased was a son of the late Alex Barlow… Mr. Barlow was a solid, substantial man. He was deeply religious and for a lifetime was a member of the Methodist church. His body was buried in the Cochran graveyard Friday afternoon…
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Mrs. Mary Ann Duncan, 76, died at her home on Stony Creek Friday, July 20, 1923… Her maiden name was Wilson… She was married to the late James H. Duncan. To this union were born six children… Funeral service was conducted from the West Union Methodist Church. Burial was in the Cochran graveyard. The immense congregation was testimony to the esteem the neighborhood had for this good woman.
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John Henry McNeel died at his home in Renicks Valley July 19, 1923. He was 70 years of age… Mr. McNeel was born and raised in the Levels of Pocahontas, but went to the far west early in life when the country was new and wild… Thirty or more years ago, he returned to the Greenbrier Valley. He was a good man and a true friend.