The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-11-01

timents that. at the time of Tarleton's
raid through this section, some of his
troopers, to punish the rebel, put the
old halter into a barrel, and rolled him
from the top to the bottom of his
stairway. Unconquerable and I'M
quenchable in his patriotism, he
sprang to his feet as he rolled out of
the barrel at the bottom, crying out:
True Wing to the last, by damn"
Only one or two doors further south
On Green street. the late David Gee,
even in my recollections, worked at the
same trade, and prospered, until new
methods and new tastes diverted his
custom to the silk n SLOUGH hats of
northern make. Mr.. Gee lived two
miles west from the market house. in
what is now known as the Davis house,
occupied by the widow of the late
George Davis. 1t is a very old struc-
ture-one of the very oldest in the up
per Cape Fear section; some claim
that the original dwelling, forming the
center, is pre-Revolutionary.
I have now a vivid mental picture
of the old halter as he went to n
from business, always driving a slow
bay horse, drawing an old-time carry
all. He was a little man, and I am
certain that for two-thirdS of the a
he was covered by the long black
cloak, lined with red, worn by the men
of that day. AS the shoemaker is al
ways badly shod and the tailor poorly
dressed. so Mr.. Gee went shabbily
matched" wearing an old beaver hat
ten years behind the fashion.
If we may pin our faith in tradition.
one of the oldest houses in North Ca
olina-even older, perhaps, than the
Davis house mentioned abOve-iS the
dwelling, still a comfortable, handsome
residence, now owned and occupied by
Mr.. J.. E. Garrett, in the northeastern
suburbs of the city. It is said that it
formerly stood a good distance from
it's present situation, nearer h Cape
Fear river, and was used as his a
quarters by the British General Lord
CORVALLIS, at the time of the maTcn
of his army through this country. AZ
forwards it was removed piecemea'.
bricks, rafters and all, and put up on
a site not far from its present location.
Again, Years afterwards, it was taken
down and rebuilt as it now is. It was
formerly the property of the late John
D.. EccleS. after whom a bridge and
PARK in the very heart of the city is
named, one of the most distinguished
and scholarly men in the state.
About the year 1916 MeSsrs, Braken
I, and Shepard, of Virginia, established
a factory for chewing tobacco in
Campbellton. now East Fayetteville.
Just north of the Clarendon bridge, and
for some years they carried it on prof
| itably until the scarcity of the raw
material compelled them to suspend
business. Mr.. Shepard was father of
the late Judge Jesse D. Shepard, a pol
ished scholar and able jurist, ard
grandfather of DR.. Henry E. Shepard.
one of the best known p~hilologians cf
the day.
For the first twenty years of the
nineteenth century Fayetteville COM
peted successfully with Petersburg. Va.
as a market for leaf tobacco, which
was brought here from over across the
mountains in hogsheads suspended be-
tween two wheels, and drawn by one.
and sometimes, when the roads were
heavy, by two horses. 1t was not uiI-
til sometime after the Civil war that
the last of the immense, gloomy to-
bacco warehouses of C~ampbellton
was demolished or fell in ruin. One OF
! the buildings, further up tewn, was CT