The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-03
IN H0RSELESS CARRIAGE.
Savannahian Toured a DOEen Coun-
ties and Lost Machine in Fire.

SaVannahian Toured a DoEen Coun-
ties and Lost Machine in Fire.
His handsome Toledo steam carriage.
valued at $1,000, was destroyed by fire
at Millen Thursday midnight, and Mr..
Eldrid Simkins returned to the city
yesterday morning by rail. In a tour
through the country in his automobile
Mr.. Simkins visited over a hundred
towns and covered a distance of 129
miles in about two weeks.
The trip was the first of the sort
ever made in Georgia and Mr.. Simkins
had splendid opportunities of inspecting
the roads in various counties. He had
q companion and was engaged in ad-
vertising his chill and fever tonic in
the territory that he covered. For
days run forty-fiVe miles was the min
imum and ninety-eight the maximum.
Although some of the roads were quite
heavy. the steam carriage covered the
ground without mishap and the repair
bill amounted to less than $3.50.
The presence of the automobile in
different parts of the state caused SEN
sation after sensation, and many anus
ing incidents occurred during the trip.
Men at work in the fields stopped to
see the mysterious looking machine
dash by. AS the pOnderous carriage
spun up hill and down dale negroes
stared in wonder.
One old man in Washington county
is said to have fallen to his knees, and
with uplifted voice prayed to God that
his sins be forgiven. When Mr.. Sim
kins brought the machine to stand
still the old negro was awe-stricken.
He declared that when he saw it spin
over the distant hill he was certain
that the world was about to come to
an end He could not understand how
the machine was operated without the
aid of a horse or mule, and without any
tracks upon which to run. Many of
those who saw the horseless carriage
have never seen a trolley car and few
of them were found who had never seen
a steam engine.
The condition of the public roads in
Georgia has improved wonderfully. ac-
cording to Mr. Simkins. The roads are
being improved in almost all of the
counties through which Mr. Simkins
passed. He went from Savannah to
Mllen, to Waynesboro. to Augusta, to
Tennille, to Milledgeville, to Macon,
and passed through over dozen
counties In Screven county good
roads are now being constructed and
those in Burke Richmond and Jeffer-
son are beautiful. In Glascock coun-
ty Mr.. Simkins found the roads heavy.
In Washington and Baldwin counties
they were good. The roads in Jones
county are hard, but irregular in Bibb
they are excellent but in Twiggs
county they are heavy. In Pulaski
county good roads are now being built
and those in Laurens are good. In
johnson and Emanuel counties the
roads were heavy, but those in the lat
ter county are being repaired and will
be put in Erst-class condition.
The fire in Millen which destroyed
the steam carriage did a great deal of
other dmaage. FIVE or six buildings
were burned and eleven horses per-
ished in the flames. The work of de-
struction was witnessed by Mr.. Sim
kins. He was impressed by the fact
that the animals were silent while the
flames were at work and were Gre
mated without making a sound. The
Millen fire was the only unpleasant in
cident OF the trip and Mr.. Simkins pre-
diets that much of the travel
through Georgia will be done in the
future in automobiles.