THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL. 92
COURT CANINES RAN AMUCK - Dublin attorney, Col. Phil Howard, traveled down to Tweed in southeastern Laurens County. Howard, suffering from a debilitating bout with rheumatism, made his way through a massive multitude of spectators. As Col. Howard rose to speak on behalf of his clients, two dogs ran amuck in the shabby structure of a courthouse. As the tumult rose to its zenith, Col. Howard, forgetting about his intense pains, lept with unbelievable nimbleness onto the top of a rickety table and brandished his walking cane as a saber. Col Jim Hightower tried to join Howard on his elevated platform but couldn’t muster the strength to jump that height. Justices of the Peace Thigen and Drew grabbed nearby code books to fend off the combating canines. When the hoopla subsided after the dogs fought to a draw after five rounds, the floor was scatted with pens, paper, and ink. It was reported that laughing was so audible that it could be heard a half-mile away. Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1896
A TRUE HONOR - From its early beginning, Georgia named her counties after political scions and military heroes. When it came time to name the state’s next to the last of her 159 counties, the Georgia legislature decided to name a county after Benjamin D. Brantley, of Blackshear in Pierce County, Georgia. Brantley, a native of Laurens County, was a leader in the early agricultural and economic development of the Southeast Georgia region. So in 1922, Brantley became Georgia’s 158th county. Sav.Morning News, August 15, 1920.
FIVE FRIENDS FOREVER - William Alligood, Teddy Jackson, Aubrey Lanier, Wilbur Ward, and James Cranford were the best of friends. In the post-World War II era, the quintet composed the starting five for the Dry Branch High School basketball team as well as being 5/9 of the school’s baseball team. After graduation in the spring of 1948, the boys decided to stay together as a group. So, they all decided to join the U.S. Navy and traveled all the way across the country on U.S. Highway 80 to attend boot camp in San Diego, California. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 7, 1948.
AN ANCIENT COTTON PICKER - Alexander Outlaw, of Laurens County, Georgia, during his long life, he picked tons of cotton. At the age of 93, Outlaw was still physically able to pluck the white fluffy bolls, sometimes more than people half his age. This nonagenarian was known to fill his sack with more than 110 pounds in a single day. Outlaw was not your typical ninety-three-year-old, he had a five-year-old son at home along with his fourth wife. The Streator, Illinois Times, May 9, 1881.
MY HE’S A BIG BABY! - B.F. Parker, of the Blackshear’s Mill community in northeastern Laurens County, was right proud of his new baby boy Reinhardt. However, Parker began to worry early in the boy’s life just how he was going to feed his new son. At the age of four months, the junior Parker had two teeth, weighed 27 pounds, and could sit up by himself. Tragically, Reinhart Parker died at the age of nine. Harrisburg, PA Telegraph, October 9, 1889.
OUT IN CLOSE PLAYS - As the summer of 1911 approached, the financial conditions of some of the teams of the South Atlantic “Sally” League, minor league baseball’s top circuit in the Deep South, Dublin’s businessmen and baseball boosters made a play to acquire the team in Augusta. Although there was initial support, the play never happened. C.A. Weddington led a failed movement to get Dublin a team in the Georgia State Baseball League in 1914. Six years later, the baseball fans of Dublin made an unsuccessful play for another team, the Moultrie franchise of the old Dixie League. Buffalo Inquirer, 6.9. 1911, Atlanta Constitution, 3.18.1920.
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