THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL. 45

 THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL. 45

THE WHISPERER SPEAKS- On the radio, Lawyer Philip Gault lost his voice in an unexplained accident and was able only to whisper to his clients. After regaining his ability to speak normally, Gault disguised his new found ability to speak to fight crime by pitting criminal organizations against each other.  In real life,  H.H. Lowry, a Laurens County veteran of World War I, contracted a case of meningitis while undergoing army training at Camp Wheeler on the eastern outskirts of Macon.  Just after camp opened in late 1917, Lowry lost his ability to speak.  The camp doctors couldn't cure him.  He gave up any hope of ever speaking normally ever again.

Move the clock forward for three years to January 3, 1921.  Lowry had relegated himself to another new year without speaking.  He was getting dressed and like most people who like to talk to intelligent people and listen to intelligent people talk, the silent soldier began to whisper to himself.  When he uttered, there was no husky whisper.  Normal sounding words came out of his mouth, which by then had dropped wide open in disbelief.  It goes without saying that Lowry never went without saying any more. (Macon Telegraph, 1-4-1921)

IT'S OKAY, WE'RE WITH THE BAND -  The long gray line of aging Confederate veterans, their families and friends were enjoying a good old-fashioned street dance during the statewide reunion in Dublin in the spring of 1920.    Dublin policemen Crowder and Hadden were enjoying the band music as well as they manned their post in front of the City Hall on the courthouse square.  Ever vigilant for any unruly rousing rebels, two of Dublin's finest spotted a band member named Lloyd walking toward them carrying a two-gallon jug in his hand.  Thinking someone was playing a practical joke upon them, the officers decided to put the jesting to an end.    But, this was no joking matter. 

The merry musician offered  to share his liquor with the officers as they arrested him and took him to sleep off his stupor.    Several minutes later, a tipsy fiddler stumbled upon the rear entrance of the City Hall in hopes of liberating his mate.  The performer staggered toward the front door and fell out of it,  nearly killing one of the cops.  The lawmen  picked up the sot and left him in the company of his band mate for the rest of the evening.  (Macon Telegraph, May 16, 1920) 

THE DYING WELL -   Tank Brown and Robert Sessions could dig a well with the best of them.    Dr. W.B. Taylor hired the well diggers to construct a shallow well on his farm.   Brown descended to about fifty feet below the surface in an attempt to remove an annoying rock.  He placed a shot of dynamite next to the boulder and returned to the surface to ignite it.  When the explosive failed to detonate, Brown left the site, only to return the following day.  He slid down the rope to figure out what went wrong.  Something did.  The helpers up top felt him strongly pull on the cord indicating he was in trouble.  When Brown was half way up to safety, he inexplicably turned loose from his secure grip and fell to his death.

Robert Sessions was summoned.  He reluctantly agreed to fetch the corpse of his friend from the void.  He managed to get a noose around Brown's lifeless body, only to realize that he too was in trouble.  This time, his rescuers managed to hoist him to safety.  When he was pulled from the mire, Dr. Taylor determined that Sessions had been overcome by nitroglycerine gas, which formed in the base of the well when the water saturated dynamite decomposed.   (Macon Telegraph, 4-26-1921)

HELP SANTA CLAUS IS ON FIRE! - Most of us always wondered why Santa Claus doesn't catch on fire when he crawls down our chimneys.  We know that his red suit is incombustible.  The  same doesn't go for Santa's helpers, you know the guys who dress like Kris Kringle just before Christmas while the real Santa is busy at his toy factory at the North Pole.

The Sun Beams of the First Baptist Church in Dublin were enjoying their annual Christmas party.  The children looked forward all year long to the time when Santa came to visit with them and hand out presents from under the Christmas tree.  In those days, many Christmas trees were still lit with candles, not the electric kind but the real fire burning ones.  Milo Smith, billed as one of the most highly esteemed young men of the city, was going about his  business in his Santa costume giving out goodies to the kiddies.  

All of sudden, Smith's coat tails brushed against the old tannenbaum.  His red coat was engulfed with flames.  The children screamed and ran, yelling "Santa Claus is on fire!" Smith, now a blazing candle himself, fell to the ground while excited parents rushed to extinguish the previously jolly St. Nicholas.   Physicians sent Smith home to rest for a couple of days in bed, believing that he would recover from the second degree burns which were confined to his hands and legs.  (Macon Telegraph, 12-18-1920) 

THERE'S COAL IN THEM THE'R HILLS - A bed of coal was found near Marion in Twiggs County in the late spring of 1828.  The layer of coal was four to five feet thick and possess.ed the quality of coal which is common in England. The coal was found by a well digger about four miles south of Marion.  It ignited readily.  The extent of the bed was unknown but beds were usually found in large quantities.  The discovery was hailed as being more valuable than gold or silver. Macon Telegraph, June 9, 1828 The New Hampshire Gazette, July 1, 1828; Connecticut Mirror, July 14, 1828