The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-02
DOUBLE SPRINGS
 IS UNIQUE TOWN It Has Never Yet Been
 Incorporated HOW TT WAS STARTED County Jail Stands Open Most of the Year-Merchants Leave Wares on the Sidewalks Over Night
By WALTER HARPER

| Double Springs is not incorporated. It l is one of the three county seats in Ala bama that are not incorporated. Some citizens started movement few months ago to incorporate the place and annex
 some outlying territory, but Christmas
 came along and they dropped the matter It's population is unknown. You ask the cashier of the bank, one of the new | institution of the town, and he passes you up He has only been in town with the | first bank for two months. He has not
 taken the time and pains to count Neither has the school teacher. | The editor ought to know, but he
 doesn't. The probate judge of the county is out of town and you give up the prop osition.
 The population may be 100 and it may
 be more. It was about the same ten years ago and not far from the same 20
 years ago.
 When the county was formed the pro-
 motors had to put a courthouse some
 where and for lack of town of any size they put compass to the map and To-
 cated the center. It fell within a few hundred yards of bunch of springs on
 each side of a backbone The springs,
 known as Double Springs, had long been a popular rendezvous for neighborhood gatherings. It was selected as the resi-
 dence of the county judge, the sheriff, the
 surveyor and the other officials who are
 entrusted with the direction of the public
 affairs of the county
 |
 the county was ready for business.
 But Double Springs makes good when
 there is a call for grit. When the state high school commission came to locate a county school in Winston, Double Springs saw a chance to display its good
 qualities. Haleyville wanted the school
 and Haleyvile had the people and money | It made fight for the location. So did Double Springs and Double Springs was winner The people of this unincorpor-
 ated town with an unknown population
 dug up the money and the site and got
 the school. They erected one of the best county high school buildings fin the state
 and they are proud of it.
 In the anger of defeat Haleyville put on its fighting clothes and built a s15,00O school building of it's own. This is an ex-
 ample of spite work that is commendable The county courthouse. a rather small sandstone structure, stands on the high
 est point of the backbone The business
 houses and residences are grouped around the open square. The jail also stands in the square not far from the courthouse
 For at least six months in tie year this Is deserted and the doors stand open. You observe another thing of peculiar
 interest. The merchants in the town do
 not trouble to carry their goods, placed
 on the outside for display during the day, inside at night.
 It is only matter of formality that the doors closed and locked. Fruit. veg
 etables, flour and feedstuff are left on the outside in all safety
 | Seeing this, you wonder where Winston
 county got Its bad reputation. Perhaps it
 Is envy pure and simple.
 l On this occasion there are three men in | jail with a fourth who is allowed to stay on the outside and act as jailer. They are all white. There are no negroes in the
 county The trusty Is a young man of | fine appearance. He has an honest face
 and you cannot believe that he is guilty
 of stealing a pair of cheap trousers, the
 crime charged against him. You learn
 that he was mixed up in a sort of neigh
 oorhood feud He was probably in the
 way
 Anyway his prosecutors outswore him | hai ic hnro to oA Hax- a,,I fine of $50. He paid the fine and is spending 30 days in town feeding the | prisoners No one seems to think he Is
 guilty and you believe him when he de-
 clares that he never even put eyes on the
 rair of trousers in question. but you are sorry for a young wife and a 2-months-
 old baby that are waiting patiently for the expiration of his sentence The three other men In Jail are charged with shooting young school teacher from ambush. They spend the time singing and calling to people in the public square. while the young man who was shot only a few days ago is moaing with both hands mangled with more than 30 shot, in a back room of the hotel not a hundred yards away. You gather that another | victim was intended, but the teacher came along just at the fatal moment and | was not recognized. The crime was com | mitted out in the mountain section of northeast Winston.
 l Double Springs may never grow-may | never even be incorporated-may not even | appear in the federal census--but its peo- | pie are hospitable, refined and progressive, nevertheless. If you stay long after sun | rise you discover that the merchants and most of the men of all professions leave their business In the hands of the women | and children or to take care of itself | while they go out to their farms. They | believe in the farm and prove their faith | by their works.
 The editor is engaged in building fish pond. Hc says that fish meat is good