The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-08-31

Just after the war, commonly
called "old shacks", disappeared
one by one, like the falling Of
the leaves of the forest, until only
two of the ol ! concerns remained.
| One of those was a set of build
ings covering a half block on
the north side of Main street,
and extending from the alley
about half way west toward
Broadway street.
1t was a very tumble down
kind of old concern, a great eye
sore to the people of the, town,
and it seemed the owners would
never see their way clear to tear
it down, and it looked as though
the fire fiend would never drop
into it. l remember some years
before it finally went by way of
the flames that some late way
farer was passing by the house
and saw a blaze just starting
in the old frame, but the people
broke in and extinguished it.
Many then said, pity that man
was tramping the streets so late" /.
S. R. Stribling owned the house
for quite a while, having a kind
of tender corner in his heart for
such buildings, especially as they
are generally bought cheap. It
finally drifted into Col. Blair's
hands and he had in mind to pull
down the houses and erect brick
stores. In the mean time, Wal
lace Mcpherson had rented one
of the rooms, himself an old tim
er of Tupelo, and was doing bus
mess there. Constitutionally
Wallace was in favor Of selling
liquor, legally if he could, illeg-
ally if he must. Finally the
time came for the fire-fend to
Put in it's work. There seemed
to be no man tramping the streets
late that night, and the flames
had such a start before they were
discovered that there was no
chance to stop the fire. There
had been considerable suspicion
that Wallace was occasionally
dealing out a bottle of liquor or
beer. but when the fire got un-
der good head way the blue blazes
pointed out very distinctly the
particular spot where his. barrels
were stored, but no lover of the
article could reach its hiding
place, and it disappeared amid
the wreck and ruin Of the build
ings. | suspect there was gen
eral rejoicing at the final over
throw OF those ''old shacks", as
the loss was but little and the
fire left clean place for better
structures.
But the last one of the old
tumble downs to give place to
better buildings was the old
drug store known as the Frazer
and Wiley drug store, and where
the magnificent structure owned
and occupied by the Peoples Bank
and Trust Co. now stands. Many
fond memories cling around that
old building Just gone the way
of all the cd. DIR. ]. w. Frazer
must have bought the lot on
which this house was built about
1870, as he had built the house
and was occupying it in March
1870 when | moved to Tupelo.
He bought the lot from May
field Reese, who was himself a
character. He would not lay off
his land, the quarter lying i'm
mediately south of Main street,
into lots at all, and he was dis
inclined to sell at all, and it was
a point with him not to sell pro-
miscuously, he had to choose his
men. Often by noticing his old
deeds to property on Main street,
you will see that the description
says so many thousands OF feet
from the line between sections
thirty one and thirty two for a
beginning point. When Col.
Blair came here he took a great
fancy to him, and he already had
the utmost confidence in R. 0.
Beene, and so he conveyed to
each of them a lot, the consider
alton being that they each OF them
attend to all the lawsuits he might
have. Neither one OF them ever
supposed the old man would have
any lawsuits, as he had never
been known to be in litigation,
and all the property he owned
was his lands. But he was wiser
than they. The first suit he had
was in relation to a ten acre block
in the S. w. corner Of the quar-
ter Of land lying right south OF
Main street, and which he had
promised to give the county if
the county seat sould be located
at Tupelo. After the county seat
had been located, Mr.. Reese con-
cluded he was under no more
obligation to convey any OF his
lands to the county than any
other citizen, and so he refused
to make the deed when deman-
ded of the county. Although