Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-04-26
PRESIDENTS ISLAND.
The Quarantine Station aad RENT.
n%iscences Of the Locality
The County Work.
house.

Aesterday afternoon Mayor FllpplB,
Chief Athy, DR.. R. B. Mitchell, presi.
dent of the board of health, and the
special committee of the city council,
with a number Of citizens and represent.
atives of the press, visited and inspected
the quarantine station on Presidents
Island, the trip being made pleasantly
on the tug 0riole, Captain Napoleon
McNeely commander. The three build.
ings (hotel, kitchen and infrmary) are
in good condition, but left without care
or attention from any one. The prem
ises, originally comprising eleven acres
but now of only nine and a.half, due to
the encroachment Of the river, are over
grown with rank weeds and wild grass,
and surrounded by a dense growth of
young cotton aud larger trees. 1t
is absolutely necessary that the
grounds be put in proper condi.
ton and the buildings placed in
charge of some competent person. The
buildings are good enough, but the sur.
roundings are uncouth and the place
presents a loneliness and desolation of
life sufficient to kill a we'll man. General
Forrest two years ago offered to take
charge of the buildings, and go did Mr..
c. NJ. Padgett, who owns the adjoining
plantation on the Island. These gentle.
men offered to keep the buildings in re.
pair and to protect them from abuse, as
we'll as to clean up the place and put the
grounds in proper condition. The City
Council rejected both offers, aud Mr..
Padgett is even now willing to carry cut
the offer he made two years ago. The
kitchen is within a few feet of the river
bank, which, since May last, has caved
more than for The past ten years. 1t is
not probable, however, that the river will
encroach rapidly at this point, as the
current down the Tennessee chute,
half a mile above, is now directed
against the Ensley place. It behooyes
the city to do something to guarantee
the preservation of these buildings and
grounds, so as to make them available
in case Of any emergency. On the
ground where the buildings now stand
are to be seen a row Of cedar posts which
we're set in 1912. Many Of these
posts are well preserved, but the man
who planted them. James Tweedle, has
long since been put under the ground.
Mr.. Tweedle in 1912 owned that part of
Presidents Island which is composed Of
10000 or q, 1000 acres of land and sew
ersl lakes which afford excellent fishing,
as do its forests good hunting. On the
quarantine premises is a field Of dewber.
ries now in bloom, while blackberry, mul.
berry and other trees of the forest abound.
The land on the Island is as good for
farming as any in the Mississippi bottom.
Large plantations occupy this great
island, much Of which is above overflow,
Mr.. Padgett being one Of the principal
owners Of the land there. Mr.. Iweedle
was killed by bis son at Big Lake, Presi
dents Island, long before the war, and
Mr.. Padgett purchased some Of the land
The son who killed his father was tried
in this city, hut acquitted. Since the
cedar posts were planted Mr.. Padgett
has cut a large quantity OF cordwood
from trees that grew in the abandoned
field, which, because of the fertile soil,
Socn became q great forest Of cotton
wood, willow, box, blackberry, etc. At
the upper end of Presidents Island
which is about eight or nine miles long
and five miles vide, is located the Shelby
county work.house, under charge of the
representatives of the late General N. B
Forrest. New buildings have been erect.
ed to replace those destroyed by FIRE,
and the place presents now a neat ap-
pearaEce.