Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-05-09
Mr.. Hutchinson, occupied a site near

stands. This school was taught b!
Miss Lizzie Ross, d. daughter Of the
late Rev. r. A. Ross, D. d.; who wa!
Tor many years pastor of Sharon A. r
p. church. That was about 1852. Onl!
one teacher was employed and tn,
school house was al ene-room. affair
Miss Ross taught some thirty or NOR,
children, all Of them very small .ans
one of whom was Mr.. Hutehison. Ont
of the best known academies in the up.
country just before theS~ari was Eben
ezer academy, which was conducted a
Ebenezer by Col. Cad Aston. Youht
men from a number Of counties came
to Ebenezer to sit under the instruc.
ton of Col. Aston, so great was hi,
reputation as school master. Aftel
his death his son, Captain Butler AL,
ston, succeeded him, and he taught
both at Ebenezer and Rock Hill.
The First Hotel.
The first tavern or hotel ever estab-
lished in Rock HILL. was conducted by
a man named Bofus. 1t was located
where the Rock Hill Hardware Store
is now located. t#ndiord Boius had a
mighty fine garden which he worked
himself, and he vas therefore at nc
great expense in Boarding his patrons
Thatwas before the war when travel
ers We're few, ana Mr.. -Bolus gave VI
the hotel. business after short while
because of lack ~ custom. Later Mr.
David Gordon entered the hotel bus
mess and kept aftavern about where
Reid's furniture store Is now located
The town fire bell was fastened in a
tower at Gordon's hotel. There was q
rope suspended from the bell and the
custom was for the first person OBJ
serving a fire to rs,sh for the bell, thus
informing the villagers of impending
danger to property!
Mr.. Gordon condpcted hotel for a
number of years. 1t was here that
General Wade Hampton was enter
tanned in Rock Iiiil during the mem
orable campaign "a 1876.
Bar Room Days. =
One of the principal businesses in
Rock Hill in the early days was the
grdg shops or bar rooms. Mr.. Hutchi-
son remembers when there were seven
on Trade street& the street leading
from the southefn depot. They We're
all very close together and they did a
rushing business despite the fact that
the village population was small. AL
most everybody drank liquor in those
days and people of the country sur
rounding used to furnish plenty of Gus
tom. Those were rough days in Rock
Hill, coiniparatfge' ri q way to the wild
and woody west, because" said Mr.
Hutchinson, in telling about, 1t, from
1875 to 1880 there was an average OF
about one killing a week in Rock Hill
and the bar rooms were Responsible
for practically all of them! In fact 1t
was dangerous for citizens to walk on
the street between the depot and the
National Union bank in those days
and ladies were never seen. on the
streets on Saturdays. 1t, was In Janu-
airy, 1881, that an election was held on
the question Of prohibition. The drys
carried the day by a majority Of one
vote after the hardest kind Of fight.
"The ministers of the town stayed
by the polls all that day to insure a
fair count. The whisky men worked
hard during the campaign prior to the
election and they busted themselves
with hauling their friends to the polls
that day. There, were a lot of hard
words spoken and rough talk that day,
but strangely enough there were no
scraps.
"Up until a short time before the
election some Of the best business men
and leading citizens were opposed to
prohibition. Their argument was that
il the bar rooms were driven out the
people would not trade in Rock Hill,
and the prediction was made that grass
would soon be growing in the streets.
But an incident that occurred about
two weeks before the election turned
the tide. An inoffensive negro was
killed by a we'll known white man while
in a drunken frenzy. The negro was
innocent and it was clear to everybody
that cold blooded murder had been
committed, although alcohol YVES the
cause. Some of those who had oppos-
ed prohibition the strongest ceased
their fight and the town went dry,
though by only one vote"
Rather Killed Barkeeper.
In talking of the days when Rock
Hill was a wet town, Mr.. Hutchison
recalled the incident of the death of
J. NJ. Howe, barkeeper' who died
fl ON a rattlesnake's bite. -"
Howe was a soldier of the North
ern army who settled in the village of
Rock Hill after the war. When he first
settled here he established tailoring
business, but that didn't make money
fast enough and he opened bar. He
soon became his best customer. IT
happened that after he had been in the
bar room business some time D. A
Barnett. who lived on Catawba river