The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-28

Edwards, H. P. Tresslar, Sr., H. P. Tresslar, Jr., George C. Graf, Robert B. Burnham, R. D. Chamberlain. Peter A. Brannon. Ernest w. Stay. Ava Fitz
 patrick. Samuel Hoffman, Chester F.. Johnson, w. NJ. Marks. ST, w. NJ. Marks. Jr., J. C. Oswait David Holt and W. ". Brame. These were joined at John Bartlett. They arrived an hour before sunset at the home of Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Duke of Cahaba."
 Each man had brought a blanket, the intention being to camp in or near one of the deserted buildings of the place, to coop and eat in the open and
 otherwise to study and practice the
 ways of the primitive man. But Mir.
 Fitzpatrick would not have it that way. His home, the only bright spot in the
 once brilliant river port. was built ear
 ly in the sixties, before the glory of
 Cahaba had departed. and it is large
 enough for good sized hotel. The
 party, 2S in number, camped in his
 house, occupying spare rooms. Some
 slept in beds, but many rolled in their
 blankets and rested upon the floors
 roughing it de luxe. The camp cook
 made coffee on the kitchen stove and
 the hardy voyagers fed from well filled
 boxes about the table in the big din-
 ing room In the morning the bacon
 and eggs were a sight fair to behold
 and they were prepared in the kitchen.
 As a ck-to-nature trip it was not of
 the hardy mountaineer variety.
 Friday morning an exploration was
 made of the land on both sides of the
 Alabama river. Two squads were put
 across to the castor south-bank of
 the river. the purpose of MT. Brannon.
 director of the exploration, being to as-
 certain if evidences could be found to
 sustain the view that a part of the In
 dian village of Casiste was on that side
 of the river. No arrow heads. pottery
 or other indications or ndlan tennantry
 were discovered, though the party that
 made a search on the Cahaba side of
 the river was rewarded with the dis
 covery of number of specimens of
 aboriginal handiwork in stone.
 FITZPATRICK IS GUIDE
 In surveying the few remaining ruins
 of old Cahaba MT. Fitzpatrick was the
 guide He pointed out the Union chruch dedicated by William l.. Yancey and to which that orator was a contributor. This is one of the very few of the old buildings remaining and is in use as a negro Baptist place of worship. He showed where the Dallas county court house had been before the seat of gov ernment was removed to Selma, and where. nearby, had stood the office oc- cupied by John T. Morgan, then a mem Der of the Cahaba bar. He showed where the barrooms, the two hotels, the Female academy, the cotton mill and the Perine mansion had once flourished, | The only thing left to mark the site l of the Masonic hall is the cellar, which l is still standing. The bricks from the hall are said to have been used in the construction of the Catholic parochial H. tl4N do ton of the Cahaba distillery remains. Once it's output was almost sufficient to supply the requirements of that city, with it's 5000 of population. Cahaba never had a Rotary club nor Cham Der of Commerce. It is a dead town. The tenth annual meeting of the Ala bama Anthropological society enlivened | the city for little while. It was held upon the lawn of the Kirkpatrick home and a number of Selmians. interested 1 in historical affairs, attended Dr, IThomas M owen made the address of l the day He is the president of the so- i'ciety, the only one it has ever had, and i is also director of the Alabama de- | partment of archives and history and d member of the Alabama centennial commission.
 ! Dr. owen congratulated the company 1 on the opportunity offorded of holding 1 the one hundredth consecutive meet | ing and the tenth annual outing meet | ing in the historic envions of old Ca 1 haba He reviewed the efforts of the so- l ciety to arouse a greater interest IT 1 history and antiquarian researches He | paid tribute to three deceased mem bers of the society, Prof. H. S. Hal 1 bert. ethnologist and philologist; Maj | D. Marshall Andrews, engineer an6 ethnographer. and James Talbert betch CT, lawyer and historian. He closed hi' | address with a review of the history o I Cahaba and declared that the town l! I not dead; that the men and women O | the old place had left the leven of theil high ideals, typical of the ante -bellun II life of the south, and that Cahaba stil l lives.