The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-05
SPRU|ELL TELLS ONE ON BIRMINGHAM Was Offered Two City Lots
 for Horse GUNTERSVILLE CLUB Is Making Good From the Start. The Friends of Dr. Stagg Are
 Proud of His Record as
 Educator
Ky WALTER HARPER

Justice of the Peace s. ". Spruiell is one of the substantial citizens of Leeds He has lived in this section all his life. He went from here to the war. served with credit and re- turned to the Cahaba valley to begin life over. He has been successful.
 For long time he farmed but later was elected justice of the peace and opeped a blacksmith shop to fill in the spare time He Is a mighty "smithy." and is fertile with wit and wisdom. Biacksmith's usually are.
 Pack in the old days used to go to Birmingham quite often and drove a screaming stallion," said Judge Spruiell a few days ago.
 "One day I was offered two lots on Third avenue between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets for my squealing beast and I turned the proposition down witll scorn told the man that offered it to me that I did not care to go into the business of raising tadpoles and ] came back to Leeds. We thought about that time that Leeds would be the metropolis of the industrial south'
 The first success of the Commercial club of Guntersville Is both encourag- ing and commendable. The club was Just recently organized by humber of the leading business men and they set to work at once for new postoffice building.
 They went before the officials at Washington and were so persistent that results were forthcoming. Work on the now structure, a two-story brick, will be gin this week and will be pushed to completion. The new building will stand beside the Citizens bank building, the handsomest business structure in the town recently erected.
 It is safe to say that the postoffice will be followed by other improvements in the rich little town on the banks of the upper Tennessee river in Ala bama.
 Ciuntersville has for almost a century been one of the chief trading posts in this section of the state. A number of men have become independently wealthy and the town has been satis- fled with conservative course. The building of a railroad across Sand mountain, however, cut off large ter ritory from which the merchants of Guntersville drew large part of their trade. Albertville and Boaz, two of the sprightliest towns in north Ala bama, sprung up along the line of road cn the mountain and are now drawing much of the trade that made Gunters- vile wealthy
 Under the new conditions Gunters- vile has had to bestir itself and the organization of live commercial club is one of the evidences of the awak- ening. The town is in the midst of a very fertile region that is being de- veloped along broad and scientific lines but competition demands a new order of enterprise and will really add strength to the town.
 The friends of Dr. John W. Stagg in Eirmin gham and over the state of Alabama are proud of the record that he has made as president of the Ala bama Presbyterian College for Men at Anniston. It Is announced that the contract for a new building to accom- raodata the rapidly increasing attend ance will be let during the next few weeks.
 It is announced that the attendance during the term just closed was in creased 30 per cent and the promise is for a still larger increase during the next term.