The age-herald., 1900-03-09
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE


 had, was man of broad human sympa- | thies, of lofty ideals, unfailing faithfulness
 as citizen, and fidelity as an officer of the state. He had been i'll for many months,
 and his death was not unexpected Dr. Judkins was born in Macon county 6S years | ago. He was the eldest born of the late l John c. JudlSins. one time leader of the | legislature and for many years man Of | conspicuous influence in politics. Dr. Jud-
 kins married in early life Miss Sarah Webb. | daughter of the late Conrad Webb of Cross | Keys, in Macon. Twin daughters were the | issue of this marriage-Mary and Sarah Judkins. The twins married brothers, Miss | Mary Judkins being welded to George H. Smith, now mayor of wetumpka, and Miss Sarah Judl5ins wedding Lamar c. Smith, | circuit court clerk of Elmore Mrs Jud-
 kins died years ago. A sister of Dr. Jud- kins is Mrs. Williams, the wife of former
 Congressman Thomas Williams of Elmore. A brother is James Judkins. assistant United States district attorney at Mont
 gomery. At the outbreak of the war be- | tween the states, Dr. Judkins entered the Confederate army and served under Ala bama's famous hero. General James Holt Clanton, who was murdered in Tennessee some thirty years ago. Nine years ago he was appointed by Governor Jones to be resident physician of the penitentary at Wetumpka, position he continued to hon.
 or and adorn until his death. His medi- cal practice covered the long period of for ty gears. While pr. Judkins lived an up-
 right and noble life. he never connected himself with any church organization until very recently, when the Rev. A. l.. An drews. a local minister, received him into the Methodist church, in which faith he fell asleep. In its daily course, pr. Jud-
 kins life was singularly exemplary and
 beautiful: the one shadow of great sorrow
 being the death of his wife. The attach ment between him and his sister, Mrs. Will
 jams, was touchingly strong and tender
 
 .4The aong-continued and excessive rains huve entirely prevented the blowing of our prairie lands, and planters are therefore considerably backward in their prepara-
 tions for tlhis years crops," said Colonel J.
 M Falknar who himself owns splendid model plantation of sixteen hundred acres four or five miles from Montgomery. "Be- cause of the ralns,' idle acreage in spring oats is unusually small. Corn-pianting time is at hand, and not any of the rich black land eff the pralrdes, has been touched by Fhe blow. And the time for planting cotton will be upon us immedi- ately So, as you may imagine. the situa- tien on the Blackbeit plantations is not satisfactory
 There is considerable discussion amongst cotton planters as 'to the advisabhity of selling this years crops of the staple prod uct now, when they are ass.red of eight
 cents or more pound. The price next autumn may be four five cents. It is said to be wholly improbable that eight cents will be exceeded, having regard to a probable crop of 12,000,00O or l3,G00,000 bales. A west Alabama planter who raises from 300 to 400 bales ordinarily said yes- terday that he was seriously considering the proposition to sell his crop now. Jefferson county can take all West Vir- ginia's chips on raise, in a dog story. The state of the Pocahontas coal reports that recently on very cold day, a setter stood a covey of quail until dog and quail actually froze to- dea tn. The birds were afraid to fly, and the dogs fidelity to his master was so strong that it caused him to stand until frozen stiff and dead All of | which Is very fine. But, -, Down on the | Louisville and Nashville railroad, between | Birmingham and Blocton, is a certain old \ field given over to briars, broomsedge. weeds, and grass. Hard fby the railway | line, at point where the grass grows III a,,Ir hoe
 the white skeleton of brave setter The owner of the late setter was fond of his gun. One day he went out to shoot quail in the old field in which the dogs skele- ton stands through the days and the nights. Somehow the sportsman got separated from his faithful setter, which, without his knowledge. stood covey of birds. The ma1,
 went home, expecting the setter to follow
 him; but the setter remained over the birds.
 which dared not fly away; and there he
 stood and there his white skeleton stands
 to this day, upright, as if watching the
 white skeletons of seven quail, crouched amongst the grasses d few feet away! This can be proved by one of the most popular
 railroad men, and by many others besides. Several weeks ago 1t was stated in this place that Duncan McPhee, one of the most
 widely known commercial travellers in the southern trade, was lying very dangerously i'll at Fort Covington, N. Y. The statement caused great regret here in Birmingham and throughout the gulf states. Some of
 MT McPhee's friends wrote to make
 specific inquiries, but nothing was heard until yesterday forenoon, when MT. Wm. H.
 Winters, himself one of the most highly esteemed travelling men who visit Birming- ham, and the district generally, received a letter from MT. McPhee in which he stated that he had greatly improved and hoped to
 be in Birmingham within fortnight The letter was written from MT. McPhee's old heme at Dundee, on the St. Lawrence river, in the province of Quebec He gives MT Winters brief sketch of his illness and the circumstances thereof. It appears that he was taken sick on the American side of the frontier, and was removed to Montreal for proper treatment. Finally he