The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-01
BESSEMER EXPECTS . BIG THINGS THIS YEAR City Entering on New Era of
 Prosperity BOYS SHOT BY A NEGRO Deputies Return After Fruitless Search for the Negroes Responsible for
 Deputy Battles DeatIi-Oth-
 CT News of Bessemer
BY c. H. MANDY

I
 review of Bessemer for the outgoing
 year shows rapid strides in many lines of endeavor. municipal improvements
 increased school facilities, new homes
 built industrial developments, needed railroad reforms and many other i'm proved conditions. revealing city | metropolitan in every respect. with imposing public buildings, broad paved streets, and costly church buildings. Proud as the citizens of Bessemer are
 of the remarkable progress made ir
 the past, yet the incoming year holds
 out assurances of still greater aims and ambitions and advantages, that. ii properly utilized, will mark a new era
 in the wealth and prosperity of the | city and make a broader, fuller growth for 1911.
 | The patriotic citizen has awakene ed | to the fact that, notwithstanding the l long list of accomplishments of this | favored spot in the past, Bessemer needs more factories, more pay rolls
 more people drawing wages. And the some patriotic citizens propose to get | them in the year 1911. and have start ed along the right lines. First they | have raised the substantial sum ot | $10,0OO to be used for this work, and have called one of the foremost indus 1 trial development experts in the south | w. F. Sterling of Mississippi. to take charge.
 This genial gentleman enters field where the work is already half done  aside and with unity of purpose and spirit of cooperation the representa- tive citizens have got together to work for Besserner's advantage and Besse-
 mer's good. MT. oterling's first work has been to secure headquarters and the building on Nineteenth street, near the postoffice, formerly occupied by the Bessemer Gas company, has been
 leased for five years. It Is being hand somely fitted up and furnished through .
 out, making one of the most practically equipped board of trade headquarters in the south. A competent corps of as- sistants Is being secured for all de- partments and Bessemer will do things. Information concerning Bessemer and her matchless natural resources will be
 kept on file; also all other facts con-
 nected with this wonderful district. Already negotiations have been en- tered into with three industries that are seeking new locations for their plants in the south, and the future alone can tell what 1911 will be for the Bessemer district.
 With thousands of acres of land awaiting the blow; with billions of tons of coal, iron ore and limestone to be taken from the earth within radius of four miles from Bessemer: with op- portunities for enterprise and energy
 unsurpassed on earth, the Bessemer dis trict aught to achieve more than any achievement 1t will draw people and
 money from elsewhere that will find profitable employment for the good of the entire district and the profit of the investor and home seeker.
 There is a lesson to be learned by other cities in the state from the Bessemer situation. She Is setting the example of self-development, both from within and without. This display of energy and self-reliance on the part of the people is making Bessemer attractive to the
 manufacturer and homeseeker and offers unlimited opportunities to those who will work.
 There are at present five great corpora tions located in the Bessemer district, namely. the United States Steel corpora
 tion, or, as 1t is more familiarly known, the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad
 company; the Woodward Iron company,
 the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron com
 pany, the Republic Iron and Steel com pany, the United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry company. The Southern Iron and Steel company also has interests
 here. While most of the companies pro-
 duce the raw material. finished product is manufa ctured on a large scale and is placed in every mart and market in the world. There are many smaller industries that
 add much to the prosperity of the city, among which are the Bessemer Foun-
 dry and Machine company, the Bessemer Soil Pipe company, the Central Foundry company. the Smith Manufacturing com
 pany. the Jefferson Fertilizer company,
 Crotwell Lumber company. Central Lum- Der company, Bessemer Fire Brick com pany. the Standard Brick company and
 several other plants that employ labor and add to the payrolls. The estimated
 amount of the monthly pay-rolls in the Bessemer district approaches $500,0oO. This includes the mining towns in the district.
 There has been much activity in the in
 dustrial world during the past year. the
 demand for coal far exceeding the supply,
 which was partly due to the trade activ- ity and to the great coal strike in the
 western states. There have been mill lions of dollars spent by the various companies in the past year for additions
 and Improvements to their plants, and in-
 dications point to greater expenditures for further developments in the incoming year. Altogether the outlook for Besse-
 mer is very promising; she has seized on the abundant stores a kind providence has lavished so plenteously within her borders; the hum of busy industry Is heard on every hand; her products are carried to every market in the world, and it is her destiny to attain an industrial grandeur and material prosperity such as the world has never known. And the effort of her patriotic and enterprising citizens are going to make it so.
 Two Boys Shot Fly Negro
 | Because of dispute between Sam
 Morrison. white, and negro named Mark Streetes, two white boys Rufe Morrison, aged IA, and Ed Savage. were shot this afternoon by the negro on the outskirts of Bessemer while the white man had gone to secure a gun. Accord | ing to the statement of the two boys, who though each were struck with shot, and not seriously wounded they were riding along the road with Sam | Morrison, when they met the negro walk ing along the road, carrying a shotgun. Morrison and the negro started dis pute about the payment for some timber which Morrison claimed the negro had cut off his land The negro denied the