The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
ALABAMA CENTRAL
 ID EXTEND LINE Is Developing Fine Tract of
 Timber Land SCHOOLS ON SHORT TERM County Tax Collector Richardson Re- ports $31s2 In Poll Taxes Col
 lected Up to Last Mon-
 day Night.
SCHOOLS ON SHORT TERM
By FRANK v. EVANS.

Alabama Central railroad short line lead
 ing from this point to Manchester
 distance of seven miles, has just con-
 tracted for an extension of four miles.
 This road is the property of the Man
 chester Lumber company, owning large
 mills and body of 25,0 GOO acres of heavily
 timbered pine land in the county north
 of Jasper. It is said to be the intention
 of it's owners to extend the line event
 ually to Decatur which is about 80 miles
 north of Jasper If this is done, and the
 company could thus be induced to extend
 south to the Warrior forks. it would
 prove a valuable developing agency for
 this section by connecting the Tennessee
 N>th the Warrior.
 Some of the rural schools of Walker
 county, having appropriations sufficient
 for only a six-months' term this year,
 will close their doors at the end of four
 months and finish out the other two after the crops are laid by. This short
 term arrangement is discouraging to some
 of the rural teachers, and the county
 board of education thus finds difficulty
 with the proposition. It seems quite
 apparent that the state must find some ' way lO SuSldil pupliC SNhOOiS AoA
 full terms and thus remove the present
 skeleton arrangement.
 A marriage of unusual interest has just
 occurred in Jasper MT. N. Harvey Estes.
 prominent and highly respected citizen
 of this county, age 71 who is the great 1 grandfather of a respectable litter of chill
 dren, was quietly married at one of the
 hata fo MttlIi af
 61 whose home was at Palos. It is not
 definitely known whether or not this was
 @ Gretna Green affair.
 County Tax Collector Richardsons total poll tax collections up to Monday night
 last were $31S2. Subjects to the number of
 1863 made regular payments amounting
 to s29495O Eighty-five men paid back
 tax to the amount of s292. 50, some of these l paying as much as $1O5O each, in order 1 to qualify themselves for full citizenship.
 The receipts fall short of those of one 1 year ago, which was a political year, by
 only about $500 This is a most excel lent showing for the citizens of Walker | l county and exhibits the fact that they
 are patriotic and public-spirited. Quite a
 number of checks were sent to Collector
 Richardson this morning, and many called
 to make payments. but he could not un-
 der the law accept payments after the | hour fixed for closing.
 A rather singular coincidence occurred
 in the probate office yesterday. Two old
 soldiers of the civil war met after A
 years separation. They had never been
 comrades in arms for one had worn the | oil, tba tbax
 were comrades in blood. The two are | honorable citizens of this county. Their
 business was to have their pension papers
 fixed up As the two old veterans stood |
 in Judge Shepherds office, one looking | l straight in the eyes of the other, | marked You look like me- and l believe | 1 you are my cousin" Then they began | l to trace their lineage and found that | really they were the offsprings of the l | same grandfather and grandmother There | was a handshaking and a love feast. | l The two men are John H. Haskett of |
 near Jasper and E. B. Cannon of Oak | man. 1 Jasper is again considering the matter , of the construction of a pike road from | l this point to the Jefferson county line, 1 l in order to bring us closer to Birming- | 1 ham. The automobile spirit is quite live | l ly here at this time, and these autoists | seem determined to take the matter up l with the county commissioners and with | l the owners of land along the way The | distance to the Jefferson line via Sayre mines and the new Little Warrior bridge | | is about 22 miles, and it is thought quite | l feasible to macadamize this road and [
 cut down the hills This would bring the | farmers along the line close to the mar l kets at each end, and would give the | l automobiles a dpliRhtfu1 snin n nd from, | Birmingham any one day in the week. 1 Jasper is still worrying over the neglect | ! of this town by the great railroads en- l tering here in not building passenger 1 station and not even affording comfort 1 and safety to passengers. To mount or | dismount a coach on the Illinois Central 1 one must climb up or down without even 1 a platform, and wade through mud or | cinders to reach landing place. The 1 other two roads, the Southern and the | Frisco afford but little better accommoda- l tions. The people have now determined | to make final appeal to the railroads l for relief and failing there will go to 1 the railroad commission once again. There are three great systems running into this | city, the Frisco, the Southern and the H. | linois Central. These three run 12 pas l senger trains through Jasper every A hours This shows the importance and 1 necessity for depot accommodations here Jasper was not touched by the terrific windstorm Friday, but a dark cloud overhung the town and there was scent of the storm and flaming by the winds close by. For a time the people here
 were somewhat alarmed. Besides the havoc wrought at Gayosa.~ mention of [ which was made in The Age-Herald yes terday, Walker county suffered great
 loss. The home of Joe Hyche, five miles east of here, and of his neighbors, New | ton Davis and Robert Akns, were blown down. Much timber was brought to the ground, the public roads are blockadeda | and the rural mail carriers who went out | yesterday were forced to wend their way | through the woods. Rumors have reached | Jasper to the effect that two children
 were killed, but this story lacks confirma- | ton at this writing.
 l The appointments of Judge Dowdel as i chief justice and of Judge Sayre as as- 1 socate judge meet the hearty approval of
 the Jasper bar, and Governor Conner Is | raooivipo conpra tlIla lions hera upOn tha