Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-02-05
RiPToN.


call few days ago from Mrs. Hattie
tfadle) Mathews of Mortified, who de.
spite her statement that she is growing
old still retains the sprightliness and vi
vaclty OF the days when she was a resi-.
dent here. She reports that her father
now resides in Bethel and for a man of
his years and army experience in the
enjoyment of a fair degree of health.
Mr.. Padie was a resident of East Middle
bury and this place for many years.
The indications are that we will have
an epidemic of measles, for good many
have been exposed by person who did
not know at the time what he was suffer-
ing from.
&. G. Sheldon of Salisbury was in
town on the 9th, not with de de cab.
bage and de inyun" but with mops and
dust pans.
About five or six inches of snow came
down on the 2Sth inst. which with the
foundation of ice we had will make fair
| sleighing.
The mercury marked from five to ten
below on the Goth.
A letter dated Jan'y 18th from O, F.
Hurlburt of Middlebury shows that he is
in Santa Maria, California, among the
orange and lemon groves with oil wells
near, one of the wells being the deepest
in the world with depth of 1900 feet.
He reports himself in good health and
working in the garden and sent orange
| and lemon flower buds.
Mrs. Frank Lenos aunt from Ticon.
deroga n. Y, is here caring for her
neice, who does not improve as rapidly
as is to be wished; in fact, it is feared
she will have to go to the hospital at
burlington for an operation.
Tom Dupont and John LaMantin of
Rochester were in town on the 2sth.
G. E. Farr of Bristol was in town on
the 3D..
One of our young ladies left town on
Saturday last with a young man and the
avOwed intention of being married.
This practice of young men coming here
from other towns and carrying away
our choicest should have stop to it and
1t rests with our young men to see it is
done. but somehow they don't appear to
be equal to the occasion.
The remains of Mrs. Emily Varney
were brought here from Middlebury on
the LIST inst. and buried in the Cushman
cemetery beside her late husband, Jed
Varney. In the years gone by she was
resident here,
From ten to fourteen below was the
temperature on the LIST inst.
We have had the pleasure of examin-
ing "A copy of the Nicksburg. Miss, Daily
Citizen of July ,, 1868, that is printed on
wall paper on one side of sheet about
10 10 inches in size, it contains good
deal of authentic war news and note
l.,-t # Tt,I, IL.
the issue had not been struck off when
Grant captured the city The paper is in
the possession of c. d. Beden
We copy from the Olympia Daily Re
cOrder, Wash, of the 18th inst. thinking
that it may be Of interest to the relatives
of the deceased who live i'll this section
in large numbers: NJ
~ PASSING OF TIE PIONEER ~
The death of William Billings. Ne
Aged Thurston county pioneer, who fdf
practically a quarter of a century during
territorial days held the office Of sheriff
removes one of the best known and most
interesting old time characters and his
tory makers OF the state of Washington.
OF the hardy, adventurous nature that
characterized the old 40 ers' of the Cali
fOrnla gold rush, he baked at no Oppor-
unity whatever its hardships and dan
gers and from his first advent in the
Puget Sound country and Thurston coun-
~ away bacR1n 1881, he proved himself
not only pioneer among pioneers but
man among men. No man stood higher
in the small and widely scattered com
munity of Thurston county than William
Billings, and his only absence from the
county was to Join hazards in a trip to
the Frazier river gold fields during the
excitement of those early days.
As public official his record is unique
in the history of Washington and his
term of twenty'four years as sheriff in
territorial days, during part of which
time he was also marshal in Olympia,
will probably stand unapproached for
any elective office in the state for gener-
atoms. II is certainly high testimonial
TO a mans character and standing in the
community to be elected and reelected,
year after year and year after year to
the same office, and Mr.. Billings, neither
during his official life or in after years,
ever did anything to discredit the conf
dence his friends and neighbors and the
pioneer public so long reposed in him.
With remarkably alert and retentive
memory and considerable degree of
physical vigOr up until almost the last
of his four score and one years, Mr..
Billings was a most interesting narrator
and authority on the brave old days of
the pioneer. The survivors of that hardy
band have been sadly decimated by the
heavy hand of death these last few years,
and where but few years ago they
could foregather in quite a goOdly COM
pany there are now but five or six re-
naming of the first of the homemakers
of Thurston county, those who clasped