The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-29
NEGRO ASSAULTS
 AND ROBS A BUY
Litigants Fight for Legal Pos
 session of a Dog
LONG DROUTH IS BROKEN
Fourteen New Houses Are Now In Course of Construction at Talla- deqa-School Census Shows
 lncrease-Work on Depot.

Talladega, August 2S.-(Special)-A hobo negro claiming to be from Georgia, giv- ing the name of George Watson, assault ed Henry Bumby, a lad of b years living at Avondale, near Childersburg, yester- day, and robbed him, leaving Bumby unconscious In the woods near the rail- road Bumby was on his way to visit an acquaintance named Wood, who IS living on the Nichols place at Childers- burg and he gave the negro a quarter to carry his grip. On their way to Woods house a rabbit crossed their path and the two went into the woods in chase of the rabbit, with rocks. Bumby says the next thing he remembers was that the negro struck him in the head with a piece of iron. Watson took the boys valise and $1.73 in money. News of the assault was phoned to Talladega, and to all railroad stations between here and Childersburg. Messrs. Talton and Baker of Kymulga struck the trail of the negro and at last captured him hid ing under the creek bank. He is now safely lodged in the Talladega jail. The negro claims he stole the grip but denies the assault.
 Justice Thornton has rendered his de- cision in a notable case involving the ownership of a hound dog. The case was between Messrs. Vice and Mckenzie, each claiming the dog as his own. Twenty eight witnesses swore about half and half that they were personally acquaint- cd nd ha 10 Wa the dog of plaintiff or defendant, as the case may be, some of them going into the family history of the hound in minute way.
 Able lawyers howled over the testimony and parked law at the court. The justice said it was his "pup-pose" to see if he could find any claws in the code to fit the facts which had been so ably "hound- edr down by the dogged pertnacity of the lawyers in the case, and to render just decision if it took the hair and hide although court he was bound to judically say that this dogs tail was furthest from the seat of his pants than any canine he had ever crossed up with. After deliberating over it two whole days the justice finally awarded the dog to MT. Vice. The case will be appealed.
 The recent rains have brought out the green of the grass again, and made the gardens blossom as the rose. The drouth was an unusually long one, no seasonable rain falling here since May 10. Six miles east of Talladega rain has not fallen yet, and in several places in the country the dust is several inches deep. Crop conditions are not as bad as might be supposed although the corn crop is cut short by the drouth.
 The cotton buyers for the various houses are here ready for the business of the season.
 In the building line Talladega is hold ing it's own, IA new houses being in pro- cess of construction.
 The recent school census shows that the city of Talladega has 2025 children of school age within it's limits. The county has 11,912 children of school age. This is an increase of 757 over the cdnsus of 1906 and not a decrease as some of the state papers have it. The fact is there was never any padding of the school census in this county, but without fear or favor the people of Talladega county have steadily obeyed the scriptural in- junction of increase and multiply and replenish the earth.
 Work progresses very slowly on the new passenger depot of the Louisville and Nashville railroad. The teng has just arrived for the roof after long de- lay. Excavations for plumbing have been made all about the building and a tower erected on the south side of the track for the automatic gates. Nobody seems to be in much of a hurry to finish the building and in the meantime the public is being accommodated with a small for mer residence for a passenger depot, where the conveniences are necessarily meagre.