Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-09
AT THE STATE CAPITAL.
A MOTHER SUING FOR $4,000
GIVEN A VERDICT FOR 81.
The Case to be Carried Up, as an I'm
pOrtant Temperance Principle is at
Stakeholder Important Cases in
Court, and News Notes on Various
Topics

Correspondence ofhe Aornia0 Netcs.
ATLANTA, GA, Nov. THE Fulton Supe-
rior Court is to-day trying an important test
case-that of mother against saloon keeper
Tor damages for selling liquor to her minor
son, who became drunkard and thereby lost
ms situation as a mechanic. The saloon is
the Reading Room" on Marietta street, well
known as popular resort OF members of the
General Assembly, and formerly kept by
Weinmeister and Ed. Mercer, now by B. C.
johnson. Of course he Is able to employ the
best legal talent in his defense, but the Door
widow is not without an able array of counsel.
Judges Cunningham and Lester and other
noted temperance advocates having volun-
teered their services. Judge John d. Stewart.
of the Flint Circuit, is presiding for Judge
Hammond, and the court room is filled with
anxious spectators. The verdict will hardly
be announced before tomorrow, as the argu-
ments will be exhaustive.
Looking up at the high ceiling of the court
room this morning, noticed bad rent in its
clear, white surface. 1t seems that some of
house early yesterday morning to take a view
of the city, and in coming back one of them
stepped on loose plank that tilted up and
his feet went down on the lathing, crashing
through and scattering broken laths and
plastering on the heads of the spectators some
30 feet below. AS the juror was a tall man.
your readers can imagine how his legs looked
as he hung straddle of crOss-beam, which
alone saved him from landing on the seats
beneath. As it was, however, the beautiful
ceiling will wear the worst scar and suffer the
most damage.
Our volunteer military battaliOns have sad
ly diminished both IN number and size, and
unless the General Assembly takes some steps
TO encourage the remaining corps. fear that
next year we shall have still fewer OrganiZa-
tions. We have now only six battalions
where we should have ten. and some of the
six are virtually dead. Savannah has the
only thoroughly live battalion, Macon next in
order, and Columbus next with her new or
ganiZatlon. Atlanta exists only in name,
Augusta and Griffin are not very lively, and
DahOnega is rather quiet. The Pataua, La
Grange and Athens battaliOns are not heard
of nowadays, the latter having been abolished
and the other two being in a state of ''sus-
pended animation"
The impression seems to have gone abroad
that our new Governor is making sensation
with his new carriage horses. While he
has shown good taste in his selection, Gover-
nor Mcdaniel has not secured the handsOmest,
the most valuable. or the best matched pair
of carriage horses in the city. Atlanta boasts
OF the number and elegance of her private
carriages, and there are several teams that
throw the Governors INTO the shade. Nei-
ther he nor his family are of the snowy class,
and they prefer comfort to mere outward dis
play.
And this leads me to remark that Governor
Mcdaniel has done some excellent supervisory
been undergoing repairs. He has aimed ut
substantial and needed improvements, and in
this way has greatly enhanced the value of
this much neglected property of the State.
Hereafter it will be used exclusively as the
private residence of the Governor, and not as
a place for public entertainments of any kind.
Under the new regulations the bills for coal
and gas nave been much reduced, and the
Treasury of the State will gain by this restric-
tion of the Mansion to its original purpose.
1T Is QUITE REFLECTION ON FARMERS
who are industrious and successful, and yet
not wealthy, to circulate the report that Gen.
Robert TO0mbs and the late L. NJ. Hill, Esq,
of Wilkes county. made their great fortunes
at farming. Gen. Toombs and Mr.. Hill, in
their prime, were successful farmers. but the
former was also a distinguished lawyer and
statesman and the latter an able fnancier and
banker.
As telegraphed would probably be the case,
Maj .Smyth has declined the Atlanta post office
l had several private conversations with him
at the start. and know that he was not at all
anxious to accept the place. No Postmaster
so far as my observation extends. has ever
left the office richer man than when he went
IN, or happier one. 1t has more cOmplica
tiOns, pitfalls and perpleXites than any post
office | ever knew anything about. In order
to make the big bond required the Postmaster
is Obliged to peddle out the subordinate posi-
tiOns to his bOndsmen. and this is his first Sc
rious trouble. The Others quickly follow.
Already the discussion of a site for a new
city hall has become an exciting topic, esDe-
ClallN as the Olty council proposes TO puf-
chase the lot on the corner of Hunter and
Lloyd streets, opposite the Catholic Church.
and formerly occupied by the residence of Oh
Iver Jones. This lot runs to within hundred
feet of the new court house lot, and is only
one block from the proposed new capitol.
Should the purchase be fully cOnsummated
we shall have the city, county and State head
quarters on line and near together.
TO-DAY THE wORKMEN
are clearing of the lot on the corner of Hun
PRYOR streets OnnOSIfp
house, preparatory to laying the foundation
for the Chamber of Commerce building This
will be four stories high, built of brick, with
stone cappIngs, and present quite handsome
appearance. One floor of it has been rented
to the city, think, for public offices. until
the new city hall shall have been erected. The
location Of the Chamber of Commerce, the
elegant building of the Gate City Bank, the
court house, and the proposed city hall in this
vicinity, will soon clear out the present OBJ
jcctiOnable features of the neighbOrhoOd and
draw together our leading business interests
in this once neglected section.
| noticed IN the MORNING NEWS of a late
date that Mr.. J. A. Peterkin, of Fort
Mott, S. c., had been successful in his exDa-
riments in cultivating finer grade of cotton
The readers of the WEEKLY NEWS and the
late Southern TURNER'S N0nthEy will be graft
fed to learn that their old familiar agricultu-
raj writer, DR.. NJ. II. Zellner, of Ashyille ST
Clair county, Ala, has been even more sue
cessful in similar experiments, and that his
samples have been pronounced by leading
finest they ever saw. Nothing superior
to this staple has ever passed under
my observation, and as 1t was raised on poor
land under many drawbacks, it is safe to be-
Ieve that DIR. Zellner, on better land and with
more careful culture, will next year send a
bale of his improved cotton to the New Or
leans Exposition that will ''walk away with
one of the highest prizes. Would it not be
well for all of our cotton planters to elevate
the grade of their cotton and give more care
to its proper ginning. packing and shipping.
There can be but little profit in loose cultiva-
tion, careless ginning and reckless packing of
cotton.
1t is a fact worthy of notice that our pro-
posed new capitol is attracting attention from
architects, builders and quarrymen from
Maine to California, all anxious to ''take a
hand" in the job. To-day Col. J.. Z. Grant,
who came here from Maine with the first rail
road survey long, long years ago, received a
letter from Wlnterport, Me, his birthplace,
asking about the requirements for marble and
granite specimens to be submitted to the
Commissioners at their next meeting. This
granite company, way down in Maine, pro-
poses to send specimens of their quarry and
put in bids to supply the needed quantity for
the erection of the capitol. 1t is clear, there
fore, that in material, as well as plans, the
Commissioners will have an abundance to Sc
lect from.
SOME LITTLE TINE AGO
had occasion to refer to the ''Gath' and
"Eli Perkins" style of writing INDUCED in by
1.-THE Lounger on the Avenue of the Wash
NJ.. cWHtCLttH hErutI.
of Confederate Generals. He is now before
the public with similar sketches of United
States Senators. and he discusses them with
even greater recklessness. He says that the
"two wealthlest Senators from the South are
Brown, of Georgia, and Gibson. of Louisi-
ana" Then he goes on to state that just at
the close of the war Governor Brown pro-
cured a 20 years lease of the Georgia Cen
tral, the leading railroad in the State" by
whom it was owned. Each of the les
Sees" he says, "has made a fortune :"
Here is another specimen: SHE owns
iron mines and nearly half a million acres
of the finest pine timber in America all the
third of the town of Atlanta, where he has
erected the fneSt buildings in the South. He
is also a Gerry large owner of cotton factories /:
and, by the way, he demonstrated that cotton
spinning and weaving could be made profit
able where the staple was grown. Last year
these factories declared from Is to u per cent
dividends, and their stock cannot be bought
He is the main stOck-Owner IN the national
banks in Atlanta, Macon and Augusta" Also
she has been a most successful operator in
Southern railroad stocks in the New York
market. and has made great sums of money
there" The italics are mine. and are worthy
of special attention. just imagine our staid
Senator Brown strutting about in any such
gaudy "bOrrOwed plumage" ths Men
who write about other men ought to do so in
telligently.
The Young Mems Library Association has
not made a pecuniary success of its second
Art Loan Exhibition, though the officers have
done nobly in the matter of pecuniary sup
port. Each day some one official tales
charge, and eXerts his best efforts to ret mn Am
attraction and gather in a crowd. He also
enterta1ns his brother officers at a supper in
the exhibition restaurant, which adds no
little to the amount of profits. These gentle
with h