PIECES OF OUR PAST - EIGHT ECLECTIC EASTMAN EVENTS

Around the turn of the 20th Century, news from small towns and big cities around the country were used a filler material to fill up the pages of other newspapers around the United States.  A lot of the news dealt with death, crimes, and politics.  Everyone once in a while, the snippets were of a humorous, heroic, or strange happening.  Here are eight eclectic events which happened in Eastman, Georgia between 1884 and 1921. 

LIGHTNING IS STRIKING AGAIN AND AGAIN Somewhere in the environs of East man in the early 1880s there was quite a large oak tree, fifteen and one half feet in circumference at two feet above the ground.  On a warm winter’s day in January 1884, the 75-80-year-old oak was struck by lightning.  The ancient tree survived the shock, but miraculously began to spout water from two points, on its east side and one on its west side.   It is somewhat likely that the old tree was hollow except for water which had accumulated inside or was it truly a water oak. Harrisburg Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA - January 5, 1884. 

Travis Grimsley was sitting on the porch of his house near Eastman on a hot, July afternoon in 1921.  All of sudden, a flash of light struck an old cedar tree a few feet from the house.  The bolt entered young Grimsley’s body knocking him completely unconscious.  Jakie Burch, a fifteen-year-old friend, was struck as well.  He was knocked out, but only for a few minutes.  Burch recovered somewhat quickly.  All he had to show for his proof of being struck by lightning a round hole in his cap.  Grimsley had a more permanent mark of the near deadly event.  After a few minutes, Travis astonished his family by waking up only to reveal that the lightning bolt imprinted a tattoo of the cedar tree on his back.  Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, July 16, 1921.

MOVE OVER AND LET A WOMAN DO IT - For a long time now, women have taken control of their family’s finances to insure there is enough month left at the end of the money.  So, it only seemed natural that when Dodge County Tax Commissioner C.L. Peacock died, his daughter, Miss Maud Peacock, would be the natural choice to complete her father’s term.  Morever, she had been her father’s chief assistant for many of his twelve years in office.  Miss Peacock completed the work of collecting the 1920 county taxes as the first female in the history of Dodge County to hold public office.  Miss Peacock chose not to ride the wave of women entering political races around the country and  did not run for a new term, but her mother, Mrs. C.L. Peacock did.  The widow Peacock lost to R.G.P. McKinnon by an unlucky 13 votes.  Macon Georgia,  Telegraph, January 11, 1921, March 17, 1921. 

FOR HEAVEN’S SAKES, NO!!!!!!!!!!!! -   Illegal liquor was hard to get during the 1920s and if you did you might get caught by an unsympathetic sheriff or a determined Federal revenue agent.  Eastman Mayor, W.P. Cobb, had no tolerance for those who imbibed the demon rum.  To prove his point, Mayor Cobb took several cases of Jams & Ginger and moonshine and placed them in the center of a main commercial street.  One by one, the mayor took the confiscated whiskey bottles and poured them into the street before setting fire the libatious liquids.  A throng of thirsty mourners stood by in utter disbelief and despair as the city’s chief officer watched in sheer delight as the onlookers left with unquenched thirsts.   Macon, Georgia Telegraph, January 19, 1920.

DRIVING A CAR IS SO EASY, A CHILD COULD DO IT - Eastman’s Will Jessup never thought there would be a problem if he let his nearly unusually small,  five-year-old son play in his John Henry automobile.  The young boy, frequently under his father’s supervision, would crank the car and drive it all over Eastman.  This time, the sneaky son, asked one of his playmates to tag along for a joy ride.  The townsfolk were used to seeing Master Jessup driving, but when they notice him stop the car a couple of times before “high-balling” back to his house, the word was sent hither and yon to stop this dangerous foolishness. Macon, Georgia Telegraph, July 11, 1915. 

OLD MAN BACKOS - Backos Wilcox lived a long time.  By some reliable accounts, he lived more than thirteen decades beyond the age of 130.   Wilcox, who was born about 1780, remembered being stolen during the Civil War and the many wonderful days he spent boating along the Ocmulgee River for more than a century.  He eked out a moderate living with pauper fund check and donations of friends young and old.   Macon, Georgia Telegraph, April 21, 1913.

I THOUGHT I SAW A WED WABBIT - Around the Easter season in 1896, a Dodge County farmer saw and captured a red rabbit.  No, this was not one of those cute dyed bunnies kids used to get in the 1950s and 1960s.  This was your every uncommon red rabbit.  The gloating farmer took his rusty hare to town for all disbelievers to decide for themselves that they too would know that they all weally did see a wed wabbit. Portsmouth, Ohio Daily Times, April 11,  1886.

GOD LOVES YOU, THIS HE KNEW - W.S. Milner, an Eastman cotton gin and feed mill operator, had grown tired of the miscreants, skulkers and plain out mean men committing  crimes in the area of his mill.  Milner took a different approach to eradicate the violent and damaging acts going on.  Milner erected an electric sign which read, “God Loves You,” in red, white, and blue letters.  The Eastman merchant was ashamed of the comments coming from through passengers at the nearby depot.  Known around town as a “man of action and a tireless public servant,” Milner believed that criminals who take heed of the words and delay or move their malfeasances elsewhere.  Macon, Georgia Telegraph, June 9, 1921.

DOCTOR,  DOCTOR, I NEED THE CURE -   In the 1890s, many cities and towns in the country passed ordinances to allow the prohibition and strict regulation of alcoholic beverages.  So, those thirsting for booze had to use elaborate and secretive ways of obtaining liquor without being subject to arrest for selling or drinking the demon rum.  It was about this time, when highly celebrated “Dr. Leo” came to Eastman offering to sell anyone old Indian remedies to cure their often ailments at a low, low, affordable price.

Over in Hawkinsville, many people enjoyed drinking the cure-all beverages.  Sold on Dr. Leo’s medicines, Eastman residents enjoyed the cure so much that they returned home and asked the city council to waive the normal license fee for peddlers down to no fee at all.   The irresistible enticement worked and Leo moved his one-man rolling pharmacy to Eastman.   Dr. Leo drew crowds and raked in profits everywhere he went in town and around the countryside. 

One patient, Daniel Smith, had been walking on crutches for six years.  The old, ailing man was taken before Dr. Leo, who poured four bottles of his alcohol-based, magical elixir into and on the crippled man.  Smith arose and for the first time in six years stood up without a crutch and walked away as he have never been incapacitated.    They say all good things must come to an end.  Eastmanites feared that access to cure would be cut off forever.  Much to their sheer joy, Dr. Leo returned for regular Sunday visits to cure their every ache and pain, that is if the preachers’ prayers didn’t work.  Macon Georgia Telegraph, November 11, 1890.