Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-03
DALLAS.
o,,o.t Person on Earth-A Aummified
Century Mark Who Claims
and Proves
-. g On, Hun ired and FortF- Five
luz Years oId-Auut July Coo Of Dallas
ard Her Record.
TIE GAZETTE BUREAU,
DALLAS TEX. March ,. 1880. }

MA The iOIulSA -
~ a. votprmelon fruit and the latter is
oI,le TO kick and sing. The ages
,.oodneu of past generations are I'M
, .. as rule, because during slavery
If them were sold time and again
,.nout their genealogical trees or cor
-,5irrses. II beng to the interest of
Tee' NJ n make the slave out as young
luz .siIJe The change OF masters ana
o. o. f5isnosition Of negro traders to mis-
tHS Ut the age of their goods as
,,,L-,s-,raders sometimes do unto TINS
n'!'' t,,-,Ivs the nativity of many old
,a.,.evs in somber mystery-mystery
%inb if solved, might astound the
lions Deople who have studied the SUB
:ta, Of longevity. Aunt July Cole OF
ToI,os claims 10 he l45 years old!
nE ccur,e the reader will not be-
-. that our ancient prodigy has
,e, mole, as it were, upon the
~ ~ Mother Earth for a centu-
~ ond a half. But she is here, not
L. % show for herself, but to speak for
s-rssIf Her own language, in the
..rariro- Ethiopian tongue, is: Eyes,
-. is hundud en- fawty-ive year
nIa ;; She does not appear to be quite
~. old so far as the writer can Judge.
d., how can he judge? We use prece-
ant. and standards in settling the trOub-
Ioso,ne Interrogation points that so often
lid rs uD. - in the language of the
lated, traveller; but on rubbing his head
- feeling III all of bis pockets, The
c,zrTTr man found that he could not
sd ouy Drecedeut to use in Aunt July 8
cossl He had never seen centenarlan
ops halt before, and how could he
10 exrpcted 10 decide whether this was
ora or one and half, OF them or not?
uoN could he decide whether this an
tiouated woman appeared TO be as old as
sba claimed? He knew very well that 1t
uos not 8 toolhlesS infant that con-
fronted him, and quite as surely that she
was not a Young lady; he knew she was
very old creature, in fact, but somehow
he had not expected TO discover the
ninth wonder with eternity seTeurly
sitting upon her wrinkled front. Evil
dencg. and evidence only, could satisfy
him, Gud he proceeded TO extract this as
soon as the old woman had touched of
her bue-clay pipe. The evidence will
be given further on after the reader has
been gwen directions which will certainly
lead him 10 Aunt July 8 cabin II he will
carefully follow them. The masculine
rTonoun "he'' is used above not only
because il is good grammar, but also
because ladies with skirts and modern
beadgear WILL find 1t difficult to
surmount the barbed-wire fence.
North of Bryan street near its crossing Of
the Houston and Texas Central railway
and Just west of the railroad, are n score
OF huts, jostled together in an irregular
colony, which has the appearance of a
badly kept dumping ground for cast-off
negro cabins. The Central people have
enclosed their track with a substantial
barbed wire fence, which the irritated
authorities tried hard to make picka-
niuny- proof. The result Is that the ex-
cursionist in that locality must look sharp
for the horde of negroes who are con-
Iinualy marching TO and fro upon the
Central track, or he viii be tTampled
under foot by them, and said excursion
ist need not be amazed when he sees an
occasional negro impaled upon q barb
Of the wire fence, as il 3 butcher bird
had hung him up to dry.
But Won must go through this fence to
see Aunt Juiy. Her shanty is q very
small one, made of upright planks and
covered with second hand kerosene cans.
II has q door and a window hole and
you are sure TO take the front
Of the outfit for the rear, But inquire
of anyone il she neighborhood aud the
place will be pointed out to you. She
has gotten too old to take in washing
row, and lives entirely in the past.
Isu { il strange that there is no present
with Us? We sigh for change aud
look ahead, living in the future until we
reach the top of the hill. When We have
turned the point aud begin with unsteady
steps 10 descend, the eye aud the heart
turn back. and life's solace is found no
more in ambitious hopes for the future,
but in the glowing pictures of the past.
60 If i with poor AuntS July. She won
her spurs. of which she is justly proud in
missing her young master in HOle
Furgnny' more than hundred years
ago. Her spurs may not be such Rs
Washington and other heroes have won
and worn, but she has spurs and they
suit her quite as well IS the warrior 5
spurs suit him. After all, there are
spurs and then there are spurs. She has
record unlike that OF Maud s.. but 1t
Is record that has never been broken in
thls country, and il suits her. She has
Just preferred 10 20 slow and sn-e her wind
lor long course AS she had right to do.
but where did we fly the track? All, at
the evidence. On entering the low door
Inc reporter found tie old negro CTouched
II low chair in dark corner of the
room. She was abuudautly wrapped I,
Aeal and ears. There WIS next to moth
lug IN the room-the scant furniture being
u noticeable keeping with the emaciated
Iea'nres of the crippled mummy. She
turned slowly when spoken 10 and in q
hollow half-whiSper she said: ''Good
morning, sir; and God bless you, sir. -
- the bad boy Of Dallas would say, cit
vas alive. Il sDoke!' She was Ques-
''oned regarding her age and history and
gave a fun account, which cannot be
gwen IN her feeble words. She SAYS she
Is no years of age; that her name is July
coles that she was born in Norfolk, Va. ,
close To de great high sea- that her
oiu master was named Pleasant Cole and
mat her young master, whom
tae nUrsed, bore the same
name. She says both of these
masters have grown old and died; that
ne CID master was IN the war with Gen.
Washington, and that she remembers the
general when ne was president, but that
Sic never saw him in her life; that she
remembers when the FTeneh ana Indians
were lighting our people, aud that there