Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-09-01
FOUTY-FIvE YEARS AGO.
The Western Times and Mem.
phiS CT mmercial Ad-
vertiser.

vertiser.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, JUNE IS, 1882.
A Chlpier from the Dim Past.
We cannot claim any great antiquity
for the modern Memphis on the Missis
sippi, although a great many pretty
things have been written On the subject.
The very day when DeSoto's mailed war
riors appeared on the bluff and looked
across the broad expanse Of treacherous
waters from q dense forest has been set
down in history with as much accuracy
as the accepted dates Of many well au-
thenticated events. We are even told
exactly where be camped and how he
wooed the dusky maiden princess while
encamped on tHe nights Of Fort Picker.
ing. Prolific local writer's like synnott,
once a local editor Of the LEDGER, and
COlOnelL ]. DaPre, now OF the Austin,
Texas, Statesman, have told US all these
things in their own charming style until
they are accepted as matters Of history.
Whatever tax has been levied on credul.
ity aud Imagination has been paid with
even more than legal rate OF interest;
and when ancient Memphis on the Nile,
now far below The a%lluyial soil, has been
invoked as a prototype of its modern
namesake, we lave cheerfully accepted
the legend aud set il aside in the archives
of memory IS a matter Of solid fact. The
more critical reader who does so cum
grano sails is careful to keep his doubts
to himself.
But to skip over a few thousand years
Of reliable modern history, let US come
down to the immediate past forty-iive
years ago, when our Memphis was an
incorporated town about four years old.
1t was thea a place of about one thousand
inhabitants, and had lively rivals 10 Ran
dolph, Raleigh, Germantown and other
right worthy villages. Even then it had
a newspaper, published by some disciple
Of Faust or Benjamin Franklin. We
have before usvol. l, No. - (ilIegible) of
The Western Tines and Memphis Com.
mercial Advertiser, issued at Memphis,
Tenn, June lB, 1882. 1t vas a six.
column paper, mostly filed with local,
State and foreign news. The copy before
US is perhaps The only one in existepcs,
Numerous ADVERTISEMENTS appear, for
people advertised what they had to sell,
wished to buy OF could do, then as we'll as
now. But Of al who lived then, who
hoped, feared aud struggled, served God,
envies their nsighbors or put sand in
their sugar how few are living nowl The
most Of them are sleeping at old Win
chester Cemetery, unless prematurely
aroused by The shovel of omecontractor
opening a new street or loading his carts
to fill a neighbocing bayou. To read the
list of those vhj moved, thought. feared
and dared then i like going down among
a cavern Of dead men-taking a trip
through the caiscombs beneath u living
city.
The Times was published by 7. Woods
q Co., at three dollars per anuum, If paid
within two months after the receipt ofthe
hrst number in each year, or four dollars
II not paid until after that time. Adver
tisements received at seventy five cents
per square for lie first insertion and fifty
cents for each continuance--not much
behind the present rates Of Memphis
papers,
IT, "A. Il, Davis had just received for
sale on acc)nmcdAting terms by the
steamboats, Red Rover and Pacific an
additional supply Of dry goods and gro
ceries, in edition to their former stock,
etc. E,A 6T, Young had just received
1000 pounds ~sole.leather, etc. Thomas
j. Hardeman and Rufus p. Nicely, Of
Bolivar, dissolved partnership on the 18th
OF April, by mutual consent. Isham
Lundy advertses a runaway negro
named Solomon, probably stolen; will
give fifty dollars for the apprehension
and conviction OF the thief. or twenty
dollars for the apprehension Of Solomon
1t Solomon could only have held out
until Lincoln proclamation he would
have been oil right. Bayless & Davis
make an atleclionate appeal to their
patrons to call and settle, else accounts
would be sued "a highest cash price paid
Tor cotton, porf, hides, beef cattle and
negroes, Goodqld times. I
Carr, Wood NO. likewise notify deliu.
to settle or take the chanees Of
being sued Unfortunately. W. d.
)abney issues D similar notice. 1t ap
ears that in these good old times every.
ody could 90 in debt, but that getting
ut was another matter. This same Dab.
ey informs his devoted debtors that for
he glorious privilege Of selling goods he
taxed $3.50 per annum. Think Of
bat in those good old iimesl
W. ?. Reaves, jailer Of Shelby coun
:, has committed to jail one negro man
AIMED Kenty, who had on when commit
I'd fax jeans pantaloons, a blue vest and
ad in his possession about three yards
f copperas.colored jeans, and rays he
elongs to John Haggerty on the Tom.
river. A negro dressed that
Jay nowadays would not be allowed to
ttend a funeral Or jine the 'sciety.