Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-11-19

McGregor, an account Of which, and
other similar disasters that have occurred
here, / may some day furnish for publi-
cation, by which such a vast number
were killed that the citizens who had
opposed the removal Of the burying-
ground now became its advocates. and
the Winchester Cemetery was partly
purchased and partly donated, and the
hrst interments were the victims Of the
dreadful calamity.
Previous to 1926, the house which
stands opposite the northwest corner OF
Market Square, and which I spoke Of
In a former communication A. being the
place IN which the first court was held,
and also as having been known as The
Meeting House, answered very well, bat
when it was turned iutOa printing-Oiliee
the congregations were turned out, and
for some three years the people were
dependent for rooms in private families
to bold meetings in. 1t is true
that the temporary courthouse on Court
| Square, afterward used by Mr. Magev-
ney and others as a schOOl-hOuse, did
very well for Sunday preaching, but our
people then were quite romantic and
preferred spending their Sundays in
the country and performing their devO-
tons at night, and after doing a bard
days work they did not feel like walk
ing a half mile below town % this
Square for such purposes.
A ROW BETWEEN TUE CHURCHES.
IN 1928 Mr.. Charles c. Locke, uncle
Of Charley and Joe Locke, commenced
the erection of a very handsome two
story house on Front, then known as
Chiekasaw, between Concord and Over
ton streets, fronting some fOrty-hVe
feet, designed for a hall, with rooms on
each side, and some eighteen or twenty
feet deep. He had succeeded in getting
it enclosed, floors laid, ETC., when he
was OveTtaken by q financial misfortune,
and was unable to complete it He APP
piled to old Ike Rawlings for a loan, Of
fering to pledge the house and lot as Sc
euTity for its payment. Ike was the
only mOney-lender we had, who, by the
way, was very liberal, provided you got
on the right side Of him. and to do that
you had to conform to his whims, which
unfortunately Locke had notdOne. His
plan of a house was a story and q half
high, which he contended would answer
every purpose of a tWO-stOTy, and cost
far less. Locke had also put a cOTnice
to his house, involving another useless
waist Of money in Ike's mind. He had
further given it a coat Of white paint:
Ike's favorite color was Spanish brown,
both, perhaps, from economy and his
long association with the Indians.
But the most outrageous vanity,
to say nothing of expense, was
a pair of ornamental spout heads
with gold eagles, dates and other rdicu-
lous fiummery on them. No, SIR
said Ike sternly; "yOu have spent more
money on that house than was neees-
saTy to have completed a better one,1
smacking his lips at the same time ard
looking remarkably wise and self-im-
pOrtant. Locke, in disgust, turned from
him, and for some three years that
house remained in that unfinished con-
dition. There are those ever ready to.
profit by the misfOrtunes Of others, and
the church has its share of them, who,
instead Of proffering aid for the compile
ton Of the house, applied for its gratUit-
u use as a church, which was readily
granted, and soon one Of those instances
of liberality which not unfrequently 0c-
III between the different religious de-
nominations took place. Locke was a
Methodist, on which account the mem
beTs of that church claimeda preferenee to
the use of the house whenever collision
occurred, and urged Locke so to rule,
but lie refused to interfere, and the
church and its possession became ques-
tons never settled by faetious pa~rtisans.
There is other history in connection
with this house which, though not per-
tanning to this subject, may not be i'm
proper to relate. The Thespian Society,
of which mention has already been
made, was organized in 1879, and being
unable to find another room 80 well
adapted in the town, compromised with
the religious societies, to whom Locke
referred them, and took the upper floor,
forming a sort of rotary concern.
Whether they played into each others
hands, OF rice versa, / shall not under
take to say, though it seemed that they
got along more amicably than the reli-
giOnists did among themselves, and I
must here slightly cOrreetm my friend Tom
Young, who, in naming the members
of the Thespian Society, omitted
unintentiOnally, no doubt, that of my
brother George, who was somewhat
hurt about it, as he was one of its most
active members and generally took a
leading character. II is also due to the
history Of Memphis, in this connection,
to mention a man of extensive nOto-
riety, Sol Smith, who was possessed of
more brilliant and varying talents, per-
haps, than any other man OF his day,
but wOefully deficient as a financier.
No matter how much money old Sol
made, and he made much, he was al
ways hard run-Deing greatly under the
weather. In 1880 he came to Memphis,
recognized the Thespians, and as
names, like new brOOms, work we'll, he
adOptedth name of the "Garrick Club"
and for a time appeared to succeed well
but he was a rolling stone, and seldom
long in one place, or stuck to the
same pursuit.
TO be continued.