Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-07-15
|, WEST VIRGINIA TOWN
vs,rs Every Family Has a Cow
and Buttsrmilk Flows Freely.
, yll,gs Which Vas Once the Seat Of q
Great School Of learning-But
0hYeGOds How, Like Rome,
II Has Fallen.
s,rcial Correspondence Of ths Reqvtr.

ISS.-For the past two weeks
have been rusticating in this
beautiful, sleepy little town. Al
though it is now small hamlet and
srely visited by strangers from the
busy outside world, Pruntytown was
not always so regarded. Few towns Of
is age in the Union has had so many
things to hamper it and its growth as
|Pruntytown. 1t is one among the old
ct towns in the State, and was once
looked upon as q place destined to be of
Importance and influence in the Union.
But the fates were apparently against the
Town. and to, day instead of q flourish
ng city the stranger who visits Prunty-
own finds hamlet where the grass
rows in the STREETS and
The Advent of the Visitor
j. heralded from mouth to mouth and
house to house. The fields and woods
hem the town IN on every side, and so
near do these reach the center Of the
village that one wonders where the
town proper commences and where it
ends. Every family here it seems has
= cow, and As result
Buttermiik
IS plenty, as we'll as delicious sweet
milk. At eventide when the cows are
driving home from the fields aud
lands where all day long they have
cropped the sweet luxuriant grass, the
linking Of many bells is borne to the
e,r ia sweetIsb cadence. No one
,,enls To- be in q hurry, and the farmer
; hO happens 10 come into the village
.;o Gi>,TSe Of his products or lay in sup
plies l. wiling and Il 2dy TO stop and dis
.,t.a, any subject from how many acres
D, wheat some one Graded up to vino
will be- President in 1881. II Is such a
irrrt,iT HiCRlC such of life that are
Ion gets into its way, and finds him
,rll listening TO and talking of things
which formerly harreSSed no interest
50 hatevpr. There are but two stores in
Nuntytown and even there are not Of
mitch consequence, Is most of the trad
IL. j. dome at Grafton. The mail is
arricd on horseback, by a jolly old
Eastman, whose regular diurnel arrived
.yre is announced by the shouting Of
several small, who are without doubt
HE uOiStSt gamins it has ever
been my lot to be located near to. From
Early morn till dewy eve the little
LAMPS screech and squall and swear
md light until one is led To believe that
.u:eis but a hollow mOckery, or some
, hing similar 10 that. As matter OF
course the arrival of the mail is the
most stirring event of the day, and
everybody who can possibly spare the
time is present. Notwithstanding that
very few ever get any letters, that
don't deter the big crowd of SIX or
seven from attending at the pOstOtfice
daily. But
Prunty town
"a, have intimated, vas not always so
,-rurr. Some fifty years ago, on the
.L.l lying north of town, was located
Rector College, one OF the first colleges
EVER built IN West Virginia, and when
/, MAS Ia IL Eeuita % glory was indeed
y very iulmrt4nt seat of learning. Ii
Was under tie cunirOl of the BaptiSts,
and hal some 2..D or so pupils from all
ARTS al the Union. Ii was very large
5uidiug. built without any particular
,.>isn or regard 20 architectural beauty,
rui though il was tDrbldding IN its out
ward aspects, still il must have been a
faud-ona structure for the times. 1t
Vas finished much better and moro at
.ractive inside than its exterior would
Indicate. and by those who have been
yer the building | am informed that
= c.a>> and other rooms were comior-
2. lie and well lighted. The College
WIS n.Lkinga good reputation, and all
...,ions Otne building were being con
...ulplaied, when in 1853 a fire broke out
.mthe structure and il was reduced TO
ashes, along with valuable library OF
over one thousand choice volumes. IL
Vas a paralyZing blow TO the College,
and il never recovered from it. Several
atile efforts were made by the trustees
and friends of the institution to enthuSe
,uhlic opinion and have the structure
rrbu,lt, but it all passed for naught.
The students went away one by one,
and sOOr Rector College was only re-
membered by those who had attended,
or recalled to mind by the ruins which
marked the sight of the seat or learn
ing: lt was about the hr st dow OF
many which were destined TO be show
cred on PruntytOwn. Railroads gave
tie little town the go by, aud last out
Ept least, the county seat was removed
% Grafton. Ne gods! this was the ira
ditional straw which broke the camel'S
back, and although five long weary
Years have rolled by since small dele
.atiOn came here from Grafton anu
rarried OFT the records, still the average
r,,ldcut of PruntytOwn cannot refer to
a - circumstance without feelings and
EXPRESSIONS Ofanger. The
Court House and Jail,
10th excellent and substantial structures,
.tdud as mementOeS or monuments Oh
rruntytOwn's former greatness. The
court house is BOW used by Professor
McPheeters as q school, and "a the pro-
lessor is all accomplished educator the
school il we'll attended. The course Is
thorough and embraces all the studies
taught in any first class institution.
The school is quite help to Prenty--
town, and as its growth is steady and
satisfactory, il is destined to very ma
terially help out the town in the future.
The Jail is used by the authorities OF
Grafton for the incarceration of trans
gressors, and as a prison would DO cred
IL to any town many times the size OF
this place. Only two prisoners are now
In it-Georga Cox, Jr., of Grafton, and
FLOYD Fuller. Cox is in for bastardy
and fuller on the charge Of
Attempting 90 wreck Train
on the Baltimore and Ohio road. Cox
will soon be liberated, but the release of
Fuller is uncertain. The confinement
of the latter is burning disgrace on
TAYLOR county. He is not only not
known to be guilty,-simply being
charged with attempting 10 wreck
a trsin-but he is also afflicted with fits
and some days has many as five or six
spasrns. He is only about half witted,
and it Is a question whether he knows
why he is confined in Jail. Fuller
is so extremely weak that he can
only navigate about his cell with the
great difficulty, and is 80 very pale and
wan that it is q question If he will live
till fall. But 1t seems that the erudite
attorneys down at Grafton have got to
wrangling over the fees mixed up both
as regards him and Cox, and it Is pretty
safe To say that until the lawyers get
their pound of flesh Fuller and Cox will
continue to be charges Of Sheriff Mailer.
The scenery
around Pruntytown is picturesque and