Thursday, April 22, 1898
A BAND of Gypsies passed through Marlinton Monday and camped at the mouth of Stony Creek. They have been camped at Mill Point for some time, trading horses, telling fortunes, etc. They had about fourteen head of horses.
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MEMBERS of the engineer corps, operating in the Greenbrier River Valley, scored their first thrilling adventure last Saturday night. Messrs. Marshall, Gatewood and Dailey were crossing the river at the Swago Eddy, when their boat became unmanageable and started down the rapids. Jumping out into the river at high tide, they swam ashore. For some time, one of the party failed to put in his appearance, and his companions started in to rescue him. It turned out, however, that he was safe, farther down. When last heard from, the boat was still a derelict, floating aimlessly and helplessly towards Ronceverte.
STRANGE END
Of the most notable Divorce Cases Ever Instituted in the Courts of this County.
Jonathan Cochran has run off with his own wife and left his divorce suit pending. Last January, he started his suit and an immense amount of costs has accumulated.
Depositions were being taken in the case for two weeks or more.
Last Sunday he sent to the Levels for his wife and, on Tuesday, he left with all his family for parts unknown. He took his team and a load of furniture, leaving the balance for a neighbor, whom he owed.
Some think he has gone to Virginia, while others are positive that his destination is Upshur county.
The officers of the court and the lawyers are left in a bad shape for their costs in his behalf expended.
On to the Pen
THE Sheriff, R. W. Hill, left last Friday with four felons on his hands for the Moundsville penitentiary. As we have stated, this is the finest batch of prisoners we have ever sent to the State prison. The Sheriff is allowed a guard for each prisoner, and the places were as much sought after as appointments to lucrative offices. It means a free trip to the northern part of the State. The distance traveled from Marlinton to Moundsville and returning is about twelve hundred miles. It is a very pleasant journey for those fond of railroad traveling. The compensation is $1.00 per day and expenses, or five cents a mile. The latter is always chosen by Pocahontas guards. The four men who got the job of escorting the convicts were George R. Curry, E. M. Moore, Samuel Sheets and Lee Clark. They started off in a road wagon to take the train at Ronceverte.
A Notable Sugar Camp
One of the notable sugar groves of our county is about two miles west of Hillsboro, and is owned by the Kinnison family. It consists of about two hundred trees, many of them the largest of their kind. The most of them are of the black sugar tree class, that is reputed to furnish the sweetest spa of any. The most of the trees that came under the writer’s observation were served by four troughs, two or three spiles to a trough, and so two hundred trees were rendering the service usually expected of five or six hundred. The usual output is about one thousand pounds and syrup in proportion.
John B. Kinnison remembers these trees when of a suitable size for handspikes or sled tongues. A few weeks since, a sugar maple that stood near J. B. Kinnison’s residence was cut down and measured four feet and two inches across the stump. Seventy-nine years ago, Mrs. Kinnison bent it down on wash days for hanging out her baby boy’s clothes to dry in the sunlight. So it would seem the sugar maple is one of comparatively rapid growth. This tree was tapped forty years ago.
John Jordan Beard
It becomes our mournful duty to record the death of a widely known and much esteemed citizen, Lieut. John Jordan Beard, of Huntersville. This event occurred rather unexpectedly Monday, 11 a.m., April 11, 1898.
Lieut. Beard was the only son of the late Joseph Beard, Esq., and Mrs. Mattie Beard, near Hillsboro. He was married to Minerva, daughter of James Edmiston, Esq. At the time of his death, he was within ten days of being 63 years of age. By this event, his attached family is bereaved of a kind, tender husband and a very affectionate and indulgent father. The community at large honors his memory as that of a good man whose influence has been for intelligence and good morals…
He is survived by his wife and two sons, Harry and Fred Beard.
Mrs. Mattie Ann Loury
Mrs. Mattie Ann Loury died at her home near Huntersville April 8, 1898, after an illness of several months’ duration of a severe and complicated character.
This estimable lady was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Vanburen, of Anthony Creek, near Loury’s Mill. She was married to James W. Loury…
Mrs. Loury was highly esteemed as an excellent person in all the relations of life…
About four o’clock on the afternoon of Easter Sunday, attended by more than two hundred sympathizing friends, lovingly and tenderly she was placed in her grave. The memorial address was from the words: “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
I Thess. IV. 18
