The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-07-28
A STORY OF
DURHAM


(Token from Southern Tobacco Jour
nal, May 8, 1910.)
The early success Of smoking to-
bacco made In Durham was due first
OF all to its excellence, and second to
self-appointed drummers for II In
every quarter Of the Republic. When
the Grand Army of the Republic met
In Washington, an old Confederate
soldier who was living In that city,
went out to the camp with some
friends to exchange greetings with his
old-time enemies. He and his friends
stopped at store on Pennsylvania
Avenue, and supplied themselves with
enough Durham tobacco to last dur
ing the day, and filed their pipes and
began to smoke after leaving the car.
As they approached the camp, they
saw grizzly old veteran, the stem
Of whose pipe was visible from his
pocket, coming toward them, attracted
apparently by the aroma of the to-
bacco they were smoking. He stopped
as he came up to them, and requested
the loan of a pipe of tobacco. The
North Carolina ex-Confederate hastily
brought forth bag. Of the reliable
Durham and bade the old soldier to
help himself. He did so with evident
IVY buiu see lOu use DioNh-
wells Durham smoking tobacco. l
have never used any other, when 1
could get 1t, since / was at Durham
in 1896"
"Were you with Sherman's army
when johnson surrendered to him at
Durham?" asked the old ex-Confed-
crate.
"Yes."
"Why, l was one of the boys you
captured"
Then the two old soldiers, each
with a pipe of peace, smoked and
talked Of the war and all that had
followed, and there was no thought
of the blue or gray between them.
The Federal soldier loved to dwell on
the stay around Durham, and said he
had long wanted to go back to see the
city that had grown up on the old
field where the soldiers camped.
I've had a hand in building up
Durham" said the old fellow, as he
took Whit Of the fragrant genuine
Bull brand, "and I'd like to go back
was 30 glad at the thought of going
home. that l didn't get but half a
pound Of the genuine to take with
me. ! used it sparingly on tie road,
and kept most of it to give to my
neighbors. Well, / lived In the coun-
try, and got home on Saturday after
noon. Next day / had lots of COM
pany. All my friends for. miles
around who had not gone. to the war
how we whipped the Rebs. The
weather was pleasant and we all sat
in the yard in good old country style.
Before beginning TO spin my yarn
(and / made myself out as great a
hero almost as old Grant, / passed
around the Durham smoking tobacco,
and let the neighbors try 1t. Whether
1t was eloquence or the fragrant
tobacco, or both, l didn't know, but
1t was clean dark before we broke up.
All ] know Is that the next day
over and ask for Jest one more pipe.
full Of my Durham Bull tobacco. l
let them have it till it was all gone.
Then ] went to the store at the cross
roads to get some more. The man
there didn't have any Durham but
said he had some Jest as good and l
bought it and carried it home to
smoke on Sunday afternoon. / tried
that Jest as good as Durham and it
hadn't taste of the genuine and
threw 1t away in disgust, and sat
down on Sunday, and me q church
member, too, and wrote to the post
master at Durham to send me as much
as dollar would pay for. l was so
anxious to get that tobacco that after
three days / began to send to town
every evening. / am ashamed to con-
fess 1t, but the two weeks / had to
wait 1t seemed longer than any month
while / was in the army away from
my family. At last 1t came, and my
wife said I was SO infatuated with
Durham tobacco that she was afraid
Il hoA Ip,yaItu tA thn Vfninn
/ told her that / thought Durham to-
bacco had done more to cement the
North and South than any other
agency. While the big men were ar
ranging the terms of surrender we
boys had smoked pipes of peace with
the tobacco right by the field where 1t
was raised and under the shadow OF
the little, wooden building where it
was first manufactured.
when the neighbors found I had
a new supply, they came over for Jest
another pipeful,' but told them nc
/ had to wait too long to get this, and
] can't share 1t. If you want it, you
can write down to Durham and get 1t
for YOURSELF The result of 1t was
that we all went down In a body to
the keeper OF the crossroads store,
and told him that we never would
again smoke any tobacco except the
Durham Bull, and advised him to lay
in big supply. He insisted that he
had some made in New York or some
other big city 'jest as good,' but we
told him we wanted the Durham be-
cause 1t was manufactured right
alongside of the tobacco fields, and
the people down South hadn't learned
enough about manufacturing and
trade to adulterate 1t. Well, he or
dered 1t, and ever since then his trade
in Durham has been bigger than In
anything else, and told an old COM
rade yesterday that did believe that
1t was better to-day than it had ever
been before, and got better every year.
That's what makes me say helped
to build up the big city Of Durham,
the big city that has grown out Of
the little station where ! became so
fond of smoking tobacco that / have