The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-04-17
RISE and FALL OF Pamela.
AVERACIOUS CHRONICLE OF THE
LIFE AND DPATH OF
The Former County Seat Of PanOlA
COunty-NOW PlOwed Over for
Corn and Cotton.
Iaprc1AL ooHREsPoNpKNoE oF On APPKAL. [

BATksNlLLf, MISS, April lO.-Out Ol
the most interesting stories / have
heard for some time was the one told
me to-day by old residents OF Pamela
county regarding the rise, progress
and decay OF their former county seat.
venture 10 reproduce it because
many of your readers remember it
with affection as their childhOod's
happy home. Not few of your solid
merchants will doubtless recall with
interest the days when their ledgers
Tor perhaps, their fathers bore the
names of the planters and merchants
of Pamela, and doubt not there are
hundreds living within the charmed
circle of your circulating radius who
will be carried back (''away back yam
DER" as we say down here) to the hal
cyon days when the Chickasaw roamed
these hills and dales, when cotton was
king, and corn juice only Is cents a
gallon.
The good old days l speak of for
Pamela county commenced just
half a century ago. The county
was organized in the year OF
our Lord, 1886, and thereupon
very lively COHbtbl 6llbllGu UtIhGtH
the rival towns of Belmont and Pa
nola as to which should be the county
seat. The Tallahatchie runs a very
sinuous course diagonally across the
country from the northeast to the
southwest corner, and in the south
ern part the two towns-Belmont on
the north and Pamela on the south
side were about equal in size and
each anxious for predominance. The
Sheriff, George Anderson, was Pa
nola man, and in the election held in
1888 swore the judges and clerks of
election "to do the best they could"
for that town And they did. Bel
mont had the first innings, and d d
nobly. Her vote proved to be larger
than the entire population of the
county, including women and chill
dren, Indians and negroes Pamela
was equal to the occasion, scored a
vote fully % per cent larger than
that of Belmont and of course, won
the victory. Then the town grew
apace. Handsome residences were
erected, hotels were built, and, in due
course of time, a fine courthouse,
Jail and sheriff's house arose to grace
the park-like public square. 1t was a
capital location for town, situated on
land level as billiard table, bounded
by billy, rolling land on one side
and the thickly-wooded valley of
the Tallahatchie on the other,
surrounded by country as fertile as
any in the world it could not well be
bettered. In those days planting was
profitable, Imean cotton planting, and
money was plentiful and living cheap.
Said merchant here, "My father
kept keg instead of a cash-drawer,
and just threw gold and silver into it
until it was full, then turned it all out
and counted it," The first hotels in
Pamela were only log shanties and the
fare was as rude as the architecture.
A man named Herne kept the first
stopping place" and at a time when
the forest primevaI was ahead of the
plantation. His guests were some
times traders (the term drummer had
not then been invented, planters and
travellers. Robertson, John w. Raglan,
A. G. Ellis Whose son is to-day pro-
prietor of the celebrated Bailey's
Springs RESORT, Love and Peter Jones
were successfully hotel-keepers and
their places grew with the growth of
the town until substantial brick struc-
lures of two stories supplanted the log
shanties.
Communication with the outside
world was had by two means. The
Tallahatchie, then as easily navigated
as the Mississippi itself, was the high
way for large steamboats, to New
Orleans "and intermediate points"
and "the dirt road" led to Memphis,
which was not much of a city fifty
years ago, indeed there were not a
few sagacious souls who believed that
in time Pamela would be a powerful
rival to Second Chickasaw Bluffs"
Among other boats which came to the
town for cotton were the John I'll.
Bills, Exchange" "John Adams"
amazon" and the "Panola Belle"
and their masters were Capt. feathers,
Il could not find which of the brothers
it was), Capt. Wylie, Dobbins and
Hunt. During the season it was not
uncommon to see four or five large
boats at the levee at one time, and the
largest cargo was 1900 bales, a good
enough loading for such stream.
Within five years after it became
the county seat, Pamela assumed the
appearance of city. Rows of stores,
offices and residences formed squares
around the central "plaza" Of the
courthouse, and population of
probably from 1000 to 1000 souls dwelt
within the city limits. Some of the
names which l have been able to
CLEAN from old inhabitants (princi-
pally from Mr.. ID. J. COTE, not vet an
old man, who has lived in Pamela an
average life-time) will suggest others
to your readers, and the offspring or
relatives of them name will be found
scatt red through the Sunny South
from Texas to Florida The mer-
chants, for instance, included Ira c..
COTE, Joy & Armstrong, J.C. Arm
strong (died in 1859, the Keith Bros,
Hunt q Bros, j. L, Fletcher (still liv-
ing), W. P. Watkins, Thos. Z. Clark,
t. F. Caldwell IA Batesville merchant
to-day, Maj. @. l.. Rollins, Barney
Armstrong, Tyson, Middleton Bros,
.Piner & Fizer; Mr. Fizer was after
wards OF the firm of Doane, Estes &
Co of Memphis; he lost an arm in his
country's service years after the time
of these chronicles. j. G. Armstro pg,
before mentioned, who settled in
Pamela in 1885, Kept store for two
years, and then being elected Chan
Gerry Clerk held that position for ten
years, when he retired. He was pre-
ceded in Office by G. G Nelson, and
succeeded by W. ?. WoOtten. During
the municipal life OF Pamela the e
were five ineumbents of the circuit
clersship: David Boyd, VIM. C. COL
berson, VIM. Keith, ]. L. Fletcher
and J. q. Harrison. There were
two. judges (prohate) Judge ]. 7. NJ.
Burbridge and Judge 0rville Harri-
son; two Deputy Sheriffs, George An
derson and w. W. Smith, and the fol-
lowing (among many other lawyers:
Calvin Miller, Foote & Ward, N. @
Taylor, Crenshaw, afterward noted in
New Orleans, and Tom Turner. MS.
W5rd afterWard known tn hia com