Читать книгу Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South - Thomas H. Martin - Страница 10

There is a story concerning some threatened land litigation of the Marthasville period that is worth relating here, however oft-repeated. Originally the land on which Atlanta was built was a part of the great body of wild land of the Georgia frontier which was disposed of to intending settlers upon very liberal conditions, the quarter sections being selected by lottery, as was done in the Cherokee reserve. It seems that in one of these early lotteries a man named Beckman was the fortunate drawer of the land on which the center of the city of Atlanta was built. Beckman lived at the time on Cedar Creek, in Putnam county, and was a carpenter by trade. He boarded with a man named Mitchell, with whom he made a deal to the effect that Mitchell was to own the land drawn by Beckman's number, in case any was drawn. The drawing took place in due time, and the number held in Beckman's name drew the land in question. Shortly thereafter Beckman died. When the State Road's engineer selected this land as the most desirable spot for the terminus, as directed by the railroad bill, the governor of Georgia opened a correspondence with Mitchell, to whom the Beckman lot had been presumably assigned, proposing to purchase a few acres for the site of the necessary terminal buildings and facilities. Mitchell expressed his unwillingness to dispose of any considerable portion of his holding, but generously donated to the state, through the governor, the amount of land required for the purpose specified. Mitchell then went ahead and endeavored to make the most of the speculative possibilities of the situation. He subdivided his claim into town lots, and as has been stated heretofore, had public auctions in order to dispose of the realty. In the course of time he made a number of transfers, and what there was of the town was built on land he had sold.

Just when Marthasville was beginning to flourish, like lightning out of a clear sky came the intelligence that the land bought from Mitchell was in dispute, the entire tract having been publicly advertised for sale by Allen E. Johnson, administrator of the estate of the deceased Beckman. It appears, from the meagre information on the subject now at hand, that something like a conspiracy was formed by a few local speculators, led by Johnson, to profit by the setting aside of Mitchell's alleged title. They discovered, somehow, that Mitchell did not possess the original deed from Beckman, but held what purported to be a copy of the deed. Learning that Beckman had been dead some years, the Johnson party boldly charged that he had died before the land was drawn in the lottery, and, therefore, could not have given Mitchell a valid deed to the property. It is superfluous to say that excitement ran high among the denizens of the little town when this state of affairs became known.

Mitchell stood squarely behind those who had purchased lots from him, averring that his title was perfect. He explained the absence of the original deed by saying it was burned by the fire that had destroyed the courthouse at Decatur, with all its legal papers and records. He claimed that when Beckman made the deed he had taken the precaution to have a copy made and properly attested, forwarding the original to the proper county official at Decatur. In this contingency the exact date of Beckman's death was of vital importance, and the desired information could not be obtained by correspondence with the county authorities of Putnam county. The lot-holders who held under the Mitchell deed, therefore, held a meeting and selected I. O. McDaniel and A. W. Mitchell, of their number, as a committee to journey to Putnam county and secure every available fact bearing on Beckman's death and drawing of the Terminus land.

Messrs. McDaniel and Mitchell went to the Cedar Creek settlement in Putnam county and interviewed all of the former neighbors and acquaintances of Beckman. Nobody could state positively when he died. His grave was unmarked, and there was no mortuary record obtainable to throw light on the disputed matter. When about to return to Marthasville, baffled in their mission, the committeemen came across a man who taught school in the vicinity of a house Beckman was working on as a carpenter. This school master remembered distinctly that a bridge was being built by the county across Cedar Creek at the same time Beckman was working on the new house nearby. He said he passed Beckman at work, and crossed the new bridge, every day, for some time. The county records at Eatonton were carefully inspected, and it was found that the bridge in question was built the year after the lottery drawing participated in by Beckman had been held. Armed with this gratifying information, Messrs. McDaniel and Mitchell returned to Marthasville and made their report to a meeting called to receive it.

After hearing the report of their committee, the citizens interested determined to oppose, in every way possible, the plan of the Johnson party to sell the Mitchell tract. The Johnson party disclaimed any intention of interfering with the title of the particular lots that had passed from the possession of Mitchell, claiming that it was their object to secure possession of only that portion of the Beckman holding that had not been sold by Mitchell's agent. Mitchell was at the time a resident of Zebulon, Pike county. These protestations did not satisfy the innocent purchasers, and they declared they would fight any procedure whose tendency was indubitably to throw a cloud upon their title. Indeed, there were some hot-heads who swore the sale, if it was attempted, would be broken up by force. The feeling between the two parties at interest was very bitter, and as the day advertised for the sale drew near, it was evident that trouble of a serious nature was brewing. The Johnson party was in the minority, numerically, and it was freely predicted that a riot would be precipitated at the sale as a pretext for giving those of them who were present a severe drubbing.

The sale was held at the courthouse in Decatur, the sheriff who conducted it and the administrator of the Beckman estate who instigated it, being one and the same man. Practically every man in Marthasville went over to Decatur, and they went prepared for trouble. An immense crowd assembled in front of the courthouse. An attorney was present to represent Mitchell's estate, Mitchell being dead. The opponents of the sale, who were out in force, were well organized. They had selected Tom Crusselle to raise every bid made on the property, and had instructed him to never weary in bidding.

Sheriff Johnson took his place on the courthouse steps at the appointed hour, and after reading the notice of sale, proceeded to call for bids. A member of his party responded, and Crusselle promptly "raised" him. The bids followed quick and fast. Crusselle seemed to enjoy fulfilling his cue and bore himself like a man of millions. It was soon evident to the sale party that the antis were filibustering, and indignant protests were heard. Sheriff Johnson took the Crusselle bids in seeming good part and the price was run up quickly to extravagant figures. When the representative of the Mitchell party called out $25,000, he turned to his followers and remarked with a twinkle in his eye that he reckoned it would take all of his yellow cotton to raise the amount. As the day wore away, it was evident that the farce would be interminable, and, besides, the crowd was dropping its playful humor and getting ugly. Many of the spectators had been drinking all day, and there was a display of weapons by the most boisterous of them. The close of the sale hours arrived, and still Crusselle bid on. The confused babel of angry voices was heard, interspersed with threatening shouts and oaths. The big crowd surged wildly as weapons were flourished, and a shot or blow would have precipitated a bloody riot. The Mitchell crowd were clearly there to have trouble.

At this juncture Sheriff Johnson stopped calling for bids and drew his lawyer to one side in earnest consultation. He announced that the sale would be called off, if the Mitchell lot-holders would make some little concession to the Beckman claimants. The lawyer of the Mitchell estate and some of the leaders of the citizens on that side conferred with the Johnson party till long after dark, and the result was a compromise satisfactory to all concerned. The heirs of the Mitchell estate gave the other side two acres, located in the choicest part of the disputed tract, and paid the cost of the litigation incurred by the latter. By agreement, the land was later sold by Johnson, as administrator of Beckman, to the Mitchell heirs, as a mere act of legal formality, in order that the disputed claim be forever settled. They were given a deed in due and proper form by Johnson, and what threatened bloodshed and a serious drawback to the growth of Marthasville was happily averted.

The depot and old city park site which were deeded by Samuel Mitchell to the state were included in this litigation, of course, and some anxiety was felt by the state and railroad officials as to the outcome. The park consisted of the block bounded by Wall, Decatur, Loyd and Pryor streets, later the site of the Republic building, and known as the Republic Block. Sometime after the sensational attempted sale of all the Mitchell property, the question arose whether, in the event of the abandonment of the state property for railroad purposes, the uses for which it was expressly donated by Mitchell, it would not revert to the Mitchell heirs. The city was intent on buying the block occupied by the Park, and it was the general opinion that such action would vitiate the title. To prevent such a contingency, a compromise was made with the Mitchell heirs, by which they renounced all possible future claims.

George G. Smith, for many years identified with Atlanta of the old days, gives some interesting reminiscences of his recollections of the town a few months before it was incorporated as the city of Atlanta. Mr. Smith says:

"My father, Dr. George G. Smith, removed from Oxford to Atlanta in June of 1847, and the family, of which I was one, followed him in October. On Saturday night, October 15th, 1847, we landed at the old Washington Hall, kept by James Loyd, located where is now the Markham House block. There were then two hotels in Atlanta. The Atlanta Hotel, a brick building, stood on the lot now occupied by the Kimball House. The Washington Hall was a long, rambling house of wood. The bar was in the front room, and in the dining room the long table was spread as in the olden time. The viands were put before you and you helped yourself.

"On Sunday morning my good mother sent five of us to the first Sunday school. It was superintended by O. H. Hunston, a most excellent Presbyterian, then a book-keeper for Jonathan Norcross. It was a union school, and the only one, I believe, in the then village of Atlanta. The school room was a plain, unceiled, unpainted house, about 30 by 15 feet, on the lot near what now is the First Methodist church. There was at this time no church in the town.

"During the summer my father had, in connection with Neddy Payne, Stephen Terry and James Collins, entered upon a protracted meeting, and Bishop Andrew, Dr. Longstreet, George W. Lane and Dr. Means had spent several days in Atlanta preaching in a warehouse belonging to Hey Wheat, on what is now Wheat street. This was the only place where service was held, until the cold weather drove us to the little schoolhouse room, and it was here that I listened to the first sermon that I heard in Atlanta, preached by the Rev. John Thurman, a Methodist Protestant.

"On Monday, in company with Jim and Johnnie Loyd and Joel Kelsey, I set out to explore the new town. It seemed to me immense. It was set down in the woods, and houses of many shapes and sizes were among the trees. There was Slabtown, straggling down toward Decatur. There was a right busy center where Peachtree, Marietta and Decatur streets join, where Jonathan Norcross had his store, and where George W. Collier had his post-office, and nearby Moses Formwalt had his two shops and Clark Powell and Tom Kile their well-patronized grog-shops. Old Daniel Dougherty, a genial, warm-hearted Irishman, had a bakery where the railroad crosses Whitehall street. Where the viaduct is there were no houses, but beginning at Alabama street there was an almost unbroken line of wooden stores to Mitchell. A line of small shops and stores was on the north side of Decatur street down to Loyd. The workshops of the railroads were near what is now the union depot. The three railroad depots were close together, the Georgia where it now is, the Macon and Western west of the present station, and the Western and Atlantic depot on what is now the Brown block. There was but one brick house in the town — the Atlanta Hotel.

"Marietta street had only one building of two stories. I went first to Odell's horse mill. A team of lean horses were moving in a ring and turning a circular saw, which was sawing up pines from the woods around. The celebrated Walton Spring, on what is now Spring street, was a beautiful spring of freestone water which Mr. A. W. Walton, who owned it, had provided with an enclosure of granite slabs, and the water came deliciously cool through a trough of granite. The Mineral Spring, or Chalybeate spring was near the Southern passenger depot. This was a favorite resort of the townsfolk. There was also a fine spring on Alabama street, near where G. and T. Dodd have their store, and a very bold one where the Methodist Protestant church now is. A merry brook made its way through a deep dell across Alabama street, going west.

"The homes in the town were nearly all of one story, but there were a few with two. There were still a great many log cabins scattered in all directions. As there was no pavement anywhere, and as the mud was something fearful, plank sidewalks had been laid in front of the stores on Whitehall street. The First Methodist and First Baptist churches were in course of erection, neither of them at that time even covered. The Methodists, after their house was covered, floored and the window sash put in, were forced to stop for want of funds. The Baptists went on with their work, and this was the first finished church in the city, but months before this was done the Methodists were occupying the shell they had erected. The pews were purchased from the sawmill, and the pulpit desk was my father's prescription table. My brother and I were the sextons. There was no hall in the town, and when the meeting was called to petition for a charter, it met in the old Wheat store, at that time the doctor's shop of Martin & Smith. There was a drinking saloon near where the Lamar drug store is now, and the calaboose was on the nude land about opposite, near the Georgia railroad shops.

"There was a great deal of wagon trade. I have seen Whitehall street so thronged with wagons, from Mitchell to Alabama, that one could with difficulty cross the street. The grain came down Peachtree street, and was largely bought by Jonathan Norcross, and the cotton came through Whitehall. The McDaniels, A. W. Mitchell and E. J. Hulsey were erecting the first brick block in the city, at the corner of Whitehall and Hunter.

"There were two schoolhouses, one near the First Methodist and one near the Protestant Methodist church, for the two sections of the town. There was the Enterprise and the Commercial, and now came the Miscellany, weekly papers. The only school then in the city was taught by Dr. W. H. Fonerder, a Baptist preacher. My mother opened the first select female school about the first of January, 1848. The city was incorporated in the latter part of 1847, and the first election for mayor held in the early part of 1848."

''The first two years after we came the cotton trade was very large, for the West Point railway had not been opened. There was much trade from eastern Alabama in food products. I have bought delicious venison hams from these Alabama wagons for twenty-five cents each.

"There was no exclusively dry goods store, nor were any of the departments of trade, except heavy groceries, confined to a single article. The stores sold everything to eat or wear, except the one drug store and the one bookstore. Things to eat were very cheap. Eggs were 8 cents a dozen; chickens, 2 cents apiece; butter from 10 to 12 ½ cents per pound. I have seen good sweet potatoes sold as low as 15 cents a bushel. No coal was burned, not even on the railways, and the streets were thronged with wood wagons. Wood was sold at 50 cents a load — about $1,50 a cord. The streets were in execrable condition all winter and summer. I have seen a three-horse wagon, almost empty, stalled where the viaduct now is.

"The whole mountain country poured its produce into the few stores near what was known as the Norcross corner. Cotton was bought by street buyers. Armed with their sharp gimlets they sampled the bags, and each one made his pass; the buyer would give the seller a ticket, to be given to John F. Mims, the agent of the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, and he would pay for the cotton, and the buyer, who was frequently merely buying for a commission of 50 cents a bale, would draw on the Charleston or Augusta factor and repay the agency.

"It was a stirring time; everybody was busy; all the boys were at work. Henry McDaniel, afterward governor, and, I think, Bill Hulsey, afterward ordinary, used to carry brick in the brick yard, and I used to peddle books at the depot. I was the forerunner of all the army of news butchers.

"There were then in Atlanta the Peachtree road, Whitehall street, Alabama street, Hunter, Mitchell, Loyd, Pryor, Marietta, Walton and Decatur streets. These were the only streets laid off at that time, and they were then filled with stumps, and the first work of the new city administration was to have the stumps dug up. The brick yards were on all sides of the city. Few places had more gushing fountains than Atlanta, and a fine body of red clay was under the surface. Labor was abundant and cheap, and so was wood, and in every direction there were yards where a poor horse ground the clay with a wheel. Not a few of the substantial men of the city made their start carrying bricks at twenty-five cents a day.

"There was much gambling in the town, and 'professionals' were in great force. They were not even secret in their games, and I have seen the money on the table as they handled the 'papes,' as they called the cards. After the city was fairly officered, they were a little more hidden in their proceedings. There was no small amount of lawlessness of all kinds. One night some burglars broke into the store of a Scotchman named Frazier and stole a wagon-load of goods and carted them away. The thieves were caught and the goods recovered. A band of thieves carried on a long and extensive robbery of the cars, and some prominent persons were involved.

"The superior court was held at Decatur, and the only court held in Atlanta was the old justice's court of Major Buell. After him, the magistrate was Squire Shaw, father of my old friend, Gus Shaw, the Broad street commission merchant. The first law case I ever saw tried was in a then vacant store-house, near the railroad crossing on Whitehall street. His honor was sitting in awful dignity, munching a ginger cake.

"In 1847 Atlanta had one brick house in it, but in 1848 it had a score. The first private dwelling of brick, as I remember, was Dr. Austin's, built in 1848 on Marietta street, and near that time Judge Julius Hayden built the second. The first hall in Atlanta was over McDaniel's store. The first foundry was Dunning's. The first car shop and machine shop was Joseph Winship's.

"The Masonic lodge was already established and my father joined the Masons in the summer of that year. The Odd Fellows, I think, came the next year. They had a hall near the Masonic lodge. The Sons of Temperance had a division the last of 1847, and my father was the first worthy patriarch. It flourished for several years.

"The Catholics began their church, I think, in 1848. It was located on Loyd street, near where it stands now. They had a regular priest as soon as their house was finished. I do not remember the first Catholic priest, but I remember very well the courtly and classic James F. O'Neill, who was in charge at a later day. Father Matthew came to Atlanta, and I heard him deliver a temperance speech. A good many joined his society, but I am afraid their adherence was not long continued.

''The Baptists, who had the first completed church in the city, had regular Sunday services from the middle of 1848. The Methodists, after using their puncheon seats for a few months, succeeded in getting the church supplied with plain pews. I remember my father raised the money — about $80 — by subscriptions of one dollar each. As old Jacob Johnson, the first painter, was a member, I think the church was painted then. When Willis Peck moved to Atlanta, he plastered the church. It had a gallery in it, but one Sunday the gallery fell, and it was not replaced.

"The preachers who gave the Methodists service every month were Anderson Ray and Eustace W. Speer, afterward Dr. Speer, the brilliant and beloved. He was scarcely of age then, though he was a married man. The next year Rev. John Yarbrough and Rev. James W. Hinton were pastors, and Dr. Hinton, still living in Macon, began his ministry here. We had a great many fine preachers to give occasional service in Atlanta. Dr. Stiles, Bishop Pierce, Dr. Pierce, Dr. Means, Bishop Elliott, gave us occasional sermons. Dr. J. S. Wilson gave us a sermon every month, which, as his old hearers will well remember, were stately, orthodox, able and long. Rev. John W. Yarbrough and Dr. Alex Wynn, father of J. O. Wynn, of the Prudential Insurance company, were on the circuits which included Atlanta. A great revival began and over a hundred persons joined the Methodist church.

"The city was growing vigorously. It was rather ungainly, but it was vigorous. It was almost as large as Griffin, and Macon was beginning to notice it. Atlanta, of course, wanted something after she began to spread, and there were hints that the capital ought to be moved from Milledgeville; but as Macon clamored for that, for the time being the Atlanta people said the penitentiary would do. Apropos of which the Macon paper suggested that a wall around Atlanta and an appointed keeper would provide admirably for the demand.

"There had been no grading in those days, and lofty hills were where are now level highways, and I have found it difficult, and in some places impossible, to identify in the closely built city the hills on which I gathered wild flowers and picked chinquepins fifty years ago. All along what was known as the McDonough road was a long row of one and two-roomed log cabins, owned by very poor people. From Garnett street westward was a very disreputable section known as Snake Nation, whose precincts I feared to enter when I was a boy. There was a small collection of houses on a high hill on Marietta street going toward Squire Payne's. The graveyard was about where the governor's mansion is, and here I saw the first interment with the Masonic ritual I ever saw. Oakland cemetery was secured by the city a little after this, and there were no burials on Peachtree after that. There was no undertaker and no ready-made coffins. Mr. Clarke had a cabinet-maker's shop about opposite Trinity church, which met the demands, and an ordinary wagon was used for a hearse.

"The Enterprise and The Luminary were the papers in 1847. The Enterprise was owned by Rough Rice, and The Luminary, which went out about the time we came, by, I think, a man named Clapp. But in the summer of that year Colonel Cornelius R. Hanleiter brought the Southern Miscellany from Madison and opened an office in Atlanta near Loyd street. The colonel was a very good editor, a fine practical printer, a staunch Episcopalian, and a Whig of the most decided character. In 1847 he polished the first carrier's address issued in Atlanta. It was a rhyming description of the city written by my father. It was a photograph of the city as it then was. This address was sold by the sole carrier, now Colonel William R. Hanleiter.

"The war with Mexico was now over, and the officers were returning eastward. I was peddling maps and books at the cars, and was greatly interested in the returning heroes. I remember General Twiggs, General Shields, and General Quitman. One of the officers, supposing I was a newsboy, asked me for a New York paper. I ran over to the Miscellany office and bought all it had, and sold the first newspaper ever sold in Atlanta. Frank Rice came later than I did, and has made more money from his literary vendings than I ever did. The old colonel left the Miscellany for the telegraph office, and then was a mail agent when my father was postmaster. He had the first job office in Atlanta, published the first directory and wrote the first history.

"Atlanta was so central that it became the assembling place for great Southern conventions. The first I recall was a railway convention in 1847. I remember an address made at it by a New York merchant named Whitney, who was urging the people to petition congress to build a railway to the Pacific. As we did not have California then, he proposed to strike for Oregon. He was sure the road could be built for $10,000 a mile. In the summer there was a famous temperance convention. The temperance society of Georgia, with Henry Lumpkin as president, was making a vigorous movement on the state, and Dabney P. Jones, known everywhere as Uncle Dabney, was the state lecturer. A convention was called and Judge R. M. Charlton, of Savannah, was to deliver the address. The best people in Georgia were present. My father had written me a speech, and I was on the programme. So, after the judge had spoken, they stood me on the book board and I made my debut before the great assemblage when I was ten years old. The Hon. George Hillyer did the same thing at the same place, some two years later. During the summer, another great convention met. If I am not mistaken, it was on this occasion that Judge Cone so severely wounded Alexander H. Stevens with his pocket-knife. Mr. Stephens was taken at once to the home of John F. Minis, on Alabama street, and was attended, I think, by Dr. Alexander. At the great Taylor and Fillmore rally he had recovered sufficiently to ride, and the ardent Whigs took the horses from the carriage and drew the vehicle in which he sat to the assembling place at Walton Springs. I remember the pale-faced little man as he rode that day in triumph. They had a great torchlight procession. The torches were brands of fat lightwood. The transparencies were many and loud. A cannon had been brought up from Macon and planted on a tongue of land between the railroad, and, alas! as it was fired, poor D. N. Poore had his arm shot off by a premature discharge. Poore was an odd character, who belonged to an excellent family in New York. He was then the keeper of the station, and, I think, continued such until he died.

"James Collins was one of the early merchants. He was one of the first Methodists of Atlanta and one of the best men of his time. He gave the largest gift to build the First Methodist church. He married Miss Bolton and moved to a fine plantation at Bolton, then on the Cobb county side of the river. Leonard C. Simpson was one of the earliest lawyers. Willis Buell, the old squire, was a northern man and an old bachelor. The Barneses, Mr. Tay and Mr. Spann were railroad engineers. W. R. Venable was clerk for James Collins, and afterward clerk of the superior court. Reuben Haynes was an easy-going, pious Methodist carpenter, and my Sunday school teacher. Haynes street was named for him. Mr. Silvey was a clerk in the store of one of the Jews with Calvin Hunnicutt. Ed Warner, long agent of the Georgia Railroad, was a clerk for A. B. Forsyth and an inmate of his home. William Rushton was the first master mechanic in Atlanta, a red-headed Englishman who had some pretty daughters who went to my mother's school. Old Dad Chapman was a character. He was a professional gambler and made no concealment of it. He was always neatly dressed, well behaved, a thorough gentleman in his manners, but he lived on the profits of his skill at cards. Nat Mangum and his brother Robert were sons of old Uncle Billy, who came from South Carolina. Nat was a lawyer, and a great wag. He went into Fannin county and tried to develop a copper mine. My dear old friend, Logan Bleckley, who, save for his gray hair, looks about as young now as he did fifty years ago, was a clerk in the State road office. Old John Weaver was the patriarch of the engine men. Dr. Hilburn, who was killed by his brother-in-law, Elijah Bird, was our first dentist. Greene B. Pilgrim was our first sexton, a worthy man in every way. Ike, who is still living, was a printer's apprentice. A hypnotist gave a show. He had engaged Ike to be mesmerized, and, sure enough, the vivacious Isaac went properly to sleep, after the passes were made, and then he followed implicitly the mesmerizer's directions. He did as he was bidden, sung, played the fiddle, swam, and at last the hypnotist gave him a short rod and bade him fish; and Ike fished diligently, and caught a fish, as he was directed. Presently he caught a big one, as the mesmerizer said he would. 'That's a cat,' said the sleeping youth. I decided that 'that's a cat' had given Ike away.

"James McPherson, my worthy employer, was the first bookseller in Atlanta. He was a man of unusual intelligence and enterprise. He died suddenly in Savannah while clerk of the United States court. John F. Minis was the first agent of the Georgia railroad and the first bank agent. The Meads were among the first settlers and so were the Downs. Pete Emmell was Dougherty's baker, and was afterwards a famous saloon keeper. Monkey Baker, a German, had a little shop near West End and a garden, and kept guinea pigs and had a monkey. R. W. Williamson was the first agent of the Macon and Western railroad. L. P. Grant was an engineer of the Georgia road. He and John T. Grant were partners in railroad building. He was one of the staunchest men that ever lived. L. P. Grant, Richard Peters and John Collier would have been ornaments to any community where integrity was at a premium. Jonas S. Smith, an impulsive, funny, fearless, warm-hearted merchant, was the successor of George W. Collier as postmaster. He gave way for my father, who succeeded him in 1851."