The age-herald., 1899-01-05
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE


 sellville,' said c. E. Wilson, the leading merchant of that prosperous town. This furnace was built about 1922, and was for many years run by the Napiers, who em- ployed slave labor exclusively. The ore was all taken from the surface and the fuel used was charcoal burned by the slaves of the Napiers. The furnace made all sorts of household castings, such as kitchen ovens, pots, kettles. frying pans, andirons, flat irons, shovels and so on-in fact, all the ordinary iron utensils in common use. They also made bar iron for remember to have seen at the old furnace in my boyhood rude trip-hammer used in beating out the bars, and very likely they made sheet-iron also. During the low water period in tke tennessee river the shipping point for Rus seiiVllle was Passport, now Riverton, twenty miles below where Sheffield now stands. At high water, South Florence was the shipping point.
 Goods and general supplies from the east were sent to Pittsburg, thence by boat down 10 the Mississippi, to the mouth of the Ten nessee, and then up the Tennessee. At least one Of our early settlers travelled all the way to New York on horseback. Rus sells valley was largely settled by Virgin fans. and there are still seen evidences of their advanced civilization of seventy-fiye years ago; and doubtless in Franklin coun- " now may be found some of the east inss of the old Russellville furnace
 Our ore is different from the ore here at Blrmingh ham. It is red ore and works up 10 or 10 per cent. more metallic iron than the ore or Birmingham. It is surface minine. nearly altogether. A friend of mine was telling me about paying s2 BOO in royalty on HIS working of one acre of ore. Seeing that ne pays cents ton, it shows large busi- ness The ore sells for 80 cents ton and IS sent to the Sheffield furnaces"
 MT. Wilson and his brother have been in the mercantile business at Russellville for inlrty years. Their father was a merchant there from 1922 till 1856.
 camped as confederate soldier dur Ing the civil war where Birmingham now stands,' said MT. Wilson, q was in Gen. erai Roddy's command, and I remember that we marched through Elylton, and fo the best of my knowledge pitched our camn about where the business portion of Bir- mingham now is. That seems very long ago.
 It is understood that Judge Thomas R. Roulhac, of Sheffield, will be a candidate Tor delegate to the constitutional conven- tion from the senatorial district composed of the counties of Colbert Franklin and Marion Judge Roulhac is a man of wide observation and great legal attainments. ana IS one of the best informed men in Ala bama He is a man of singular modesty. which may be attributed to his great store of learning. Such men will be needed in the convention.
 Colonel Brett Randolph continues very Ill at the residence of his son-in-law Mr. John B. Reid, on the South Highlands. Last night it was reported that Colonel Ran dolph was growing constantly weaker He has been in unsatisfactory health for some months, and in view of the fact that he is 72 years old his condition gives rise to grave anxiety. He is a man of iron will and strong constitution, and these facts have enabled him to withstand his increas- ing ailments Colonel Randolph is a man of great character and strength of purpose, and thousands of his admirers will hope that he shall be enabled to overcome his illness.
 "I see that General Marcus J. Wright, of the confederate records division of the war department has asked to be furnished with the names of places in Alabama where there are situatetd confederate cemeteries, and the number of interments in each cem- etry," obsrved confederate veteran. '"rhis looks as if something practical may come out of President McKinley's suggestion that the United States should care for the graves of the confederate dead. Such care cannot be assumed by the government without action by congress. The work will have to be authorized and an appropri- ation made. But General Wright's request for information shows that the matter is being seriously considered. Indeed it was impossible that the president could have spoken off hand. He spoke seriously and deliberately, and after consultation with his party leaders"
 'It may not be generally known" ob- served the 1ounger with the pipe, that ex- To off of high rank who in the civil service of the government are in- variably addressed officially by the ordinary Esq All official communications to civil employees are addressed that way, in fact, unless possibly they happen to have been officers of high rank in the union army or navy. General Wright, who is a Tennes- seean, has been in charge of the confederate archives division of the war records bureau of the war department for about eighteen years, and is everywhere regarded as an ex- pert. Sixteen years ago ] was acting as private secretary to a member of congress who had been colonel in the confederate army He directed me to copy the muster rolls of his old regiment, and I applied to the war department for authority. l was given a letter addressed to Marcus J. Wright, Esq directing him to afford me all needed facilities for the prosecution of my work. I was very young then, and unso- phisticated, and I distinctly remember how l was shocked to know that so noted g. confederate general should be addressed simply as Esq.,. Since then have learned some few things. Personally, General Wright is one of the most agreeable and en- gazing of men,"
 ''So Ben de Lemos has been vindicated by the United States court of appeals at New Orleans, and l am glad of it. said a poli- tician in the lobby You remember that in 1897 de Lemos was convicted in the United States court at Montgomery upon the ground of some irregularity in dealing with a colored pensioner in his home county of Lowndes. He appealed the case, and the court of appeals now reverses the judg- ment of the lower court and orders that the indictment be quashed. It is a great victory for de Lemos and nobody will be- grudge him its fruits He is a queer fel- low but is good-hearted-too good-hearted for his own welfare, perhaps. He is one of the best known of all the Alabama republi- cans, but his democratic friends are num- berless. He was once a member of the legislature, and has been great worker for his party. He is now lawyer and farmer at Hayneville, and is interested in the Hayneyille News"