The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-12
JUNGLE zACH' GORDON
rATurR OF THE DEAD C0NTED'
 ERATE CHIEErAIN.
vor Many xsars He Resided at coi-
 bert, a Flag Station on the Mo- bile q dirard, in Bus sell County.

s.ale Ian. ii. .--(Special. .)-"Uncle Zach S,ortior,. the father Of General Jonn E. sT nv inc entire South. was an odd and s,e.nSe vs kfi,,r character. When was a boy | Knew Uncle Zach well and recall many of his charRcterastfcs. He was bapuss preacher and quite an old man when l 't Tr,,cis zacss Gordon, as he was familiar lv called when first remember him. hved at 2 flag station on the Mobile ana sas, Sirarn County. Alabama, few miles west of Scale. His sons, Eugene and Waiter, lived with him and the three established an irn- mefss seefisn aroand % colsert Pretty much ali the money the Gordons could get together was Invested in this sheep ranch and at one time 1t looked like they would make it a success. But the country was Full or dogs, which killed their sheep on every side Before the Gordons had fully pre- pared against this danger, disease broke out among the sheep and took what the dogs had left. The venture was failure and finally Eugene and Walter left Col bert for North Alabama, to deal in nnin- ing and mineral lands. advanced age. he had begun to pay court to a lady who was afterwards his wife. This lady was the widow Ayerett, current ly reported to be the richest woman m Russell County. She owned extensfve planting interests down on Hatchecnup- bee Creek and on the ChAtfahoochee river. The AyeTetts had owned more Stan a thousand slaves before the war and whlle inc war cost them their negroes, they still retained their lands. The widow nveo in what Is now the Pittsboro neignoor- hood, but in those days the nearest ,a rali- sa Uncle Zach Gordon left Colbert and LOOK up his residence at the old Averetr nome where he continued to .cside Tor some years, It was during tnls p peTloc TIoc,s o zscS , Gordon Walter was then his favorfte son but he was intensely proud or ine aen. eraI, who paid hirn occasional visits and was always lionized by the people in tnat section. In those days. death had not made such inroads in the ranks or the oid soldiers and many of General Ssoroon men lived in Russell County ana cons,d1 cred him the greatest nero oi the o'S'i
 TJncle Zach Gordon was what his neigh bors termed a visionary man. He spent years of his life trying to discover per. petuaI motion. Down at Cold Spring. at an old mill, the old man rigged up all sort of running gear in an effort to make the him fame and fortune. He worked hard most of the machinery and apparatus be- ing made by his own hand. At one time Uncle Zach. thought he had the solution fin his grasp. Armed guards were sta tioned around the old mill to protect his secret from ahance passers or designing rascals.
 Uncle Zach always carried long reed staff, made of the largest cane that could be found on the Hatchechubbee. He drove an old grey mare and his wife was his almost constant companion. One after noon, however. Uncle Zach drove into the little town of Villula alone. The old mare was reeiing with precipitation and as hs drove up the single street of the little vii. lage Uncle Zach occasionally belahore6 his steed with his long cane. At Majol Jennings's store-the only one in the will lage, he halted after a record breaking drive from his home at Cold Spring. Unclt Zach had come to tell Major Jennings that he had at last discovered the secret of perpetual motion. He wanted mes senger to take messages to Scale, from which place the good news was to be tel egraphed to the General and his othel sons.
 I was a barefooted boy at the time. but remember seeing Uncle Zach drive hi old gray mare up the road at what was s furious pace for him. At the store a lit tie group had gathered to hear Uncle Zacl tell of his wonderful discovery. For sev eraI weeks, he insisted that the secre was his and laughed at the skepticism o his neighbors. But somehow, there wal always some little thing in the way O perfectinge his apparatus. Uncle Zacl continu6ds fo work on his invention fol two or threM years after that and wher ne finally left Cold Spring, it was witl the firm conviction that he was turning his back on fame and fortune. Uncle Zach was in his second childhood at thai time, but he was strong and robust fol one of his years.
 remember seeing Uncle Zach five ol