The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-01-26

We had nothing like a beef mar
ket before or after the war, as IS
now managed. Seldom did the poor
osr class have the opportunity to In
..3vlpe in beef luxury. The wealthy
raised cattle on the plantations, and
: sIaaGhtcred them when convenient,
. OF Joined what is commonly known
NOW as a country market or club,
killing once or twice each week, as
long as the club continued. am
told a club of the kind mentioned
has been in force since before the
war in the Monterey section of the
county, and l believe our fellow
,toVnsman, Mr.. Ed. Calhoun, as well
as his father, were nee members OF
this club. Townsfolk could only
depend on beef from the public mar
ket. This building stood just above
the public spring. Soon after the
war it was converted into a calaboose
and used as such until the present
one was finished. There was a
large bell on top of this building and
when rung could be heard through
out the town, as it was not so large
as now. You could often procure
beef weekly, but most of the time
not more than twice a month, espe-
rially during the summer season.
Parties having it for sale would go
10 she market, ring the bell, and
those wishing beef would go at once,
for they were not long in ~disposing
of it. The best portions were dis
posed of, but most of the bony or
refused parts was thrown away or
taken back home, for nothing like a
was used as now, the X being
the principal tool.
Steak was worth five to six cents
while other parts would bring three
TO four cents.
A brick building stood on the cor
ner, now known the the Russell build
ing, next to the Court House, with a
large, dry cellar underneath. This
cellar was a resort for many poor
negroes during the extreme cold
weather of the winters of 1865 and
1865, for they had nc other place of
refuge. I have known as many as
fifteen or twenty huddled together at
one time with no covering nor fire.
Many of them died from exposure
and hunger, for just at that time it
VIZ al 4 problem with many to keep
&he wolf from the door"
There were few sidewalks on back
streets, and none around the resi-
,dence of DR.. G.. C. Gambrell. This
lot was enclosed with an old fash
Toned worm or rail fence, made of
split timbcrs ten feet long and built
six feet high in a zig gag kind of
way Few of the younger genera
ton ever saw anything like it. They
were split mostly from chestnut
and oak, which was plentiful. The
legal requirements for these fences
were horse high, bull strong and pig
tight, as all animals ran at large,
and it took fences of these require
ments to protect the crops. People
coming to town would hitch the
horses to these fences, for we had no
facilities of any kind, such as posts
or racks until Mr.. H. T. Tusten was
elected Intendant some years after
the war. He had built six horse
racks upon the public square, which
stood for a long time as a monu-
ment to his public spirit and useful
ness. Every body rode horse back
with few exceptions. People from
The Savannah side usually tied their
animals to the fence around the
,GambreIl lot-where I lived-very
few people owned a vehicle of any
hind. We were fortunate enough
to own a second hand carriage, for
which We paid DR.. J. w. Marshall
seven hundred dollars. You en-
tered by climbing a flight of steps,
and when you got inside, the doors
were closed by the driver, and he y
crawled up in front wei the wheel.
Capt. L. W. White, deceased, was the
owner of the last one of the kind we
remember, and if in existence, which
L think it is, would be a curiosity
TO most young people. 1t would
seem now as if the driver was on the
Top of a n story cottage. You
had to get into the sulkies of that
day, (now called carts) by leading