The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-05-30
More Memories Of The
Pioneers of Claiborne

borns In it's early history Il am not
writing biography)I may mention the
c. Farrar. Chas. A. Foster. Stephen
names OF Ezra Hill. John Parks. Jesse
Steele. A. Hartman and John Powell
as councilmen in 1929. Henry N. Allen
Clerk and Treasurer joel Rivers, Mar
shall In 1880. u. 8. Smith, Ezra Hill. s. J.
Bagby, Rich Stevens, Jacob H schroebel
A. B. Cooper and J. O. Lindsey were
elected councilmen; A. B. Cooper In
tendent.
In April 1881 =. L. Smith. J. H.
Schroebel J. c. Woodwork. Stephen
Steele, Rich Stevens. James Hawkins
and Henry Sampson were elected.
H. Schroebel as Intendent.
Other names formed in this town
record Of 1880 and elsewhere are.
Campbell, Sharp. Ed Ellis and Drum
Ranaldson, Ephraim, Ellis Longlin.
Calvin. Roach. Locklin. Foster (Co)-
Gadsden and Gardner, Abneys and Dab
ney's, Burrey, Dowdell, Roach. Gardner.
Among the later families. who came.
say from 1882 to IS. were the Ages.
Gaillards, Arthurs, Diggs (from CO
and later the Crows. Barnes Dosseys.
Murphys I am only recording.
We naturally associate grave-yards
with ghosts and spirits, and am re-
the night-walkers. I had read and
heard related by tho negroes stories
of ghosts and wonderful apparitions
but had never met one face to race.
was q sixteen yeans old boy and
like James the novelists' solitary
horseman, my route took me by
country churchyard. 1t was night and
dark with only a few glimmering stars.
As I approached visions OF spirits
ghosts and specters began to take pos
session of me-
The nearer 1 came to this city of the
dead. the more narrowing was the
marvellous stories of the tabled ghosts
which impressed my young mind.
I proceeded. There came In plain
view spectres robed in white. some
standing erect, some recumbent
some seeming to be sentinels over the
sleepers. Everything looked weirt
and unearthly. Not rustic of a leal
disturbed the awful silence; no SOUND
to break the death-like monotony
save the boot of the ill-omened owl
"Ho'oh-ho'oh-are YOU All the ng'
ures were motionless save one, whicf
ran I'D and down. sometimes rising &c
a seeming great height, then descend
ing to the earth, then rising again con-
tinuously. was spell-bound. nerves
electrified Each particular hair stood
on end like quilts from the fretfui
porcupine" My heart was in my
throat, and began to beat and thwack
until 1t burst the buttons Off my jack
ct"
I soliioquised- Shall I hurry by and
tell the boys of my adventure with q
ghost and my marvellous escape. or
shall I be brave and meet 1t face to
face. Shall I, who have encountered
wild animals in the forest, who have
fought wild beasts at Ephesus'
land school boys. too)--all of flesh and
blood be afraid of spirit incor-
poreal and intangible? No! by the
blood of the martyrs, by the shades of
my heroic ancestors ghost or goblin.
corporeal or incorporeal. tangible or
Intangible, / will do and dare to meet
Banquo's Ghost or any other ghost.
turned my horses head slowly but
surely into the narrow pathway
that led into the enchanted, Cor
haunted) city of the dead. AS came
nearer the object of my fears saw
plainly horns on the head and hoofs
on its feet.
Is II one of st. Johns beasts of the
apocalypse, and the horns OF brass,
and the feet cloven? Or is 1t the old
chap himself. that has been unchain.
ed and come to earth to terrorize the
wicked and scare the innocents (like
myself out of years growth?
A nearer approach revealed to my
leisurely. enjoying her vacation by rub
bling her head against and up ana
down, a small tree or sapling, uncon-
scfous that, she was creating a sensa>
ton or laying the foundation for .
ghost story.
Selma. May. 20, 1909.