Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1910-02-10

pASSAt anu fitNDuS. iUSepHu'
Lovejoy, the first COMMANDING
the Lamar Rifles and | think. IN,
second a lieutenant IN that su,
per6 company,
Allow me to say here, tina
when | an in doubt about an,
matter, name or initials fer in,
stance, | Will indicate the doub
by 90
After mailing my last article
ma that | have made one or two
mistakes. On the south side OF
the square ard near the main
street was store kept by Jas.
T.. Fades. Ii was about sixty
feet long and chock full Of goods.
Just by the side Of it a year or
two later anOther building was
erected and occupiad by Jas. g.
IrigS. 1t was, suppose, the
first strictly clothing store ever
seen in Oxford. said in the
previous article that the store on
the west side and exactly on the
southwest corner was kept by
4. n. Wendell. now remember
that it was Wendell 4 Nelson. A
more correct man than my dear
old friend, ". ). Nelson, never
sold a yord of calico in Oxford or
any where else. Whenever he
was disposed to criticize any
ones moral character, the very
worst | ever heard him say oi
him was, ''he is not a clever
man, SIR" His partner. Tom
Wendell was a very strict man
with his clerks. He never al
lowed them to stand in the front
door nor out on the pavement.
lie said a business mans place
vas in his house attending to
business. And let ne say here
mat in those days a merchant
never waited on a LADY in MS
shirt sleeves; il was considered
in n high degree disrespec,ful.
Let noe say another thing for the
benefit Of the young of thus day.
In those grand old times, u young
man no more thought OF walkinL
with a young lady with a cigar
or pipe in his mouth than he DID
OF flying To the moon. Cigaretts
were utterly unknown world
they we're now.
Returning to the subject. RIGHT
IN the center of the west side of
the square was a brick office &C.
eupied oy DR.. Thompson, a
brother OF Hon. Jacob Thomp-
son. | remember that about that
TIME, man was standing in the
doctors Office facing the front
door and holding his dog tightly
between his legs to prevent his
oltlng some one who was worry
ing him. Two men on the far
side OF the square were fighting
when one OF them drew his pistol
and hFed. He missed his aim.
and the bullet flew across the
square and killed the dog, hitting
him as centrally in the forehead
as II he Were but six feet away
l believe said something in
my last about Sheriff McKee's
deputy, W. 3. Mitchell. He was
the orayest man | ever saw. He
seemed 10 be almost . stranger to
The idea OF fear A local Metno-
dist preacher, the iaiior. and the
timer, but would tight anything
ANYBODY, or any number OF
bodies. We had some rowdias in
the town and in the country. and
when they drew their pistols and
resisted the other officers, broth
er Mitchell would walk right mn
to them with his heavy waIkin6.
cane half raised. and order them
10 throw down their weapons and
surrender, and | never knew them
to tali to do it except in one or
two eases, and then they run Ike
quarter horses.
Iae town constable(we never
heard the words. "eity marshal >,
those d<ys), had the not very
euphonious Fame of Turnbuli
tie was about 60 years old and
the bad boys at night would lite-
rally worry the poor man almost
20 death. he was finally SUPER
seeded by John Grace, / think af-
terwarn a lieutenant in Captaio
Delays company. He was anotb.
er W. b. Mitchell, and the co.'s,
fun was at end. The court house
well which Supplied the business
men with water, was just outside
of the yard fence on the wast
side, the boys one night after
John Grace had gone to he'd
they had no night watch after
ten, hlled that blessed well full
Of goods boxes, and as the roof
was pointed, they crowned the
point with a good sized box
turned bottom upward of course.
The town boys vowed il was the
college boys that did it and the
college boys vowed the other
way. The probability was thew
were all into it. While I am On
that subject, | must acknowledge
that there was more down rioht
mean devilment carried on in
those days than ever since.
+. A. SMITH.
GTQ he Con.;nrl