The Daily soliphone., January 01, 1902, Image 1

About The Daily soliphone. (Paragould, Ark.) 1???-1911

Image provided by: Arkansas State Archives

                
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The Daily Soliphc
y0L 4i PARAGOULD, ARKANSAS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 1, 1902.
TUS LAND OF- FLOWERS
T. E. Lucey Writes a Good Let
ter From Old Saint
Augustine.
A BRIEF OCEAN VOYAGE
A Christmas Bath in the Serf—The
Idea! Winter Resort of the
* World—Many Visitors.
St. Augustine By the Sea.
Christmas Day, 1901.
And there is little need to say
more. Life is scarcely worth living
to the unfortunate who, deprived of
the joyef a tour abroad, cannot spend
one Christmas day in the most unique
winter resort city of the United
States—St. Augustine, Florida.
With the thermometer lingering
up near the 70 mark, I “take my
pen in hand” by an open window,
with only a narrow strip of verdant
palm grove and the frowning turrets
of old Fort Marion between me and
the blue Atlantic. But* language
fails me in an attempt to describe a
midwinter holiday here. An Ameri
can Venice—a modernized metrop
olis of feudalism, with scowling bat
tle-scarred castles and vari-colored
twentieth-century exposition play
as side by side—a bit of old Seville
and a bustling, jostling, smiling dele
gation of Coney Islanders—a whiff of
the-aroma of old Castile in Isabella’s
regime and a jaunt through one of
our metropolitan parks in April
that is St. Augustine in midwife,-,'
A marine pastel—utb.dV j
scape, bespattered with flocks of sea
gulls, and a back ground' of roses,
violets. Datms and cedars, framed in
the perfume of oranges and pineap
ples—and you have just a zephyr
from this beautiful little Eden that
missed Paradise but half a league.
The school boys of Greene county
are familiar with the landing of
Ponce de Leon at this point April 3,
1512, and his romantic vuest for the
Fountain of Youth. He set his foot
upon the sail on Palm Sunday, and
named the territory Pasqua Florida,
(Flowery Easter.) The next Spanish
landing was made August 28, 1565,
when Pedro Menehdez de Aviley cast
anchor.off St. Augustine. Here he
was attacked by the French under
Jean Ribaut. Menendez repulsed the
French and massacreed the captives,
not “because they were Frenchmen,
but Lutherans.’!«
But, a visit to the old City Gates,
that have stood, guard over St.
Augustine since 1625, long after the
protecting walls crumbled to Mother
Earth, and a stroll through the an
cient fortress, is far more interest
ing than dry figures. In different
forms and under various names, Fort
Marion has defied the onslaughts of
time and military prowess far ^more
than three hundred years. For two
centuries the port was St. Augustine
and St. Augustine was Florida.
Convicts from Spain and Mexico, and
Indians and slaves, quarried the
stone on Anastasia Islands, ferried
it across the bay, and built the mas
sive walls, which were not thorough
ly completed until 1756. The king
of Spain, counting up the cost, fig
ured that the port must haye been
built of gold.
And it is all there in a apfondid
state of preservation—the purrets,
sentinel towers, parade court, drill
stairway, grewsome dungeons, sert
cillis mast and drawbridge, and even
a number of the ancient guns and
martons, which defied the French
invasions.
The port, which is now Uncle
* Sam’s property, is presided over by
an army sergeant in the regulation
V
blue who swears by rate, and gives
out a meaningless batch of lingo
more marked by glibness than truth
fulness, as he guides the toniest
through the walls. But, he has his
tory at his tongue’s end, and—yes,
as you complete the rounds, he
thrusts a little back beneath your
nose, giving a complete history of
Florida, which be “was ten years in
writing,” and you feel in duty bound
to “cough up.”
“I see your friend, General Miles,
is being severely criticised upon his
attitude upon the Schley decision,”
I ventured, nervously hoping to
draw the blue-coat out.
At first he professed ignorance of
the report, then winked and said.
"Well, they can say what they <J--n
please about the verdict; 3r’m going
to keep my mouth shut.”
Diplomacy—that is the watch
word of the subordinate in military
America.
The gloomy dungeons where cap
tives were tortured on the rack, the
“penance cell,” where they were of
fered absolution by the friars, and
the narrow chapel with altar and
crucifix riches, were all grewsome
reminders of the terrible Spanish
inquisition, which followed the per
secuted Hugenots across the Atlan
tic.
I Would like to tell of the many
points of interest in modern St.
Augustine, just now the meeca of so
many southern tourists, but space
forbids. Months could be spent here
piofitably. The whole scheme of the
city is on a picturesque and gor
geous scale of grandeur, that baffles
discription—the Hotel Ponce de
Leon, looming with its twin towers
like a new alhambra, the finest win
ter resort hotel on the concment,
costing $3,000,000; the mammoth
*^>'',‘J^ra and the Alcazor, magnificent
piles .aish Renaissance arcti
tecture, suggesting the palaces of
old Madrid, erected long before the
invasions of Goths, Romans and
rUtulnilitHn. D1 nnn O krt Oil fl Fill
wui igviwuk') ifMW •** — *
dream in royal palms, fountains,
flowers and marble-white avenues;
the courts, verandes, towers and
swimming pools of the different,
hotels; the long, rambling terra cotta
walls of the historic old Cathedral;
the dazzling beauties of the new
Memorial Presoyterian church,
erected by Henry M. Flagler, the
Florida railroad magnate;the unique
museum of Dr. Vedder, of the Flori
da Historical Society; the towering
St. Augustine light house, with its
$40,000 lighting apparatus; the costly
grauite sea-wall, erected by the
government to protect the city from
tidal waves; the quaint old Hugue
not cemetery, the splendid golf and
polo clubs; the elegant winter resi
dences of northern capitalists—and
on, and on, in a maze of dazzling
dream-flights you go, until lost in
the roar and flash of the breaking
surf afar where a slender dark blue
line tells of the yawning Atlantic’s
course.
ON THE SEA,
I am concluding this hurriedly
scrawled epistle from the deck of the
trim yacht Genevieve, as we speed
along over the briny blue, enjoying
a Christmas excursion with the com
pliments of our manager. The old
Atlantic is beautifully calm and
glassy today, in contrast with the
strong gales of*yesterday that lashed
the shore wUh the silvery surf. So
balmy W"as the atmosphere, too, that
in company &ij|i ttj,e second tenor, I
»ebuld not resist^he Hemptation to
‘ibeeome a boy'again,” and woo the
salty surf. -Doffing our toys in a
jiffy, we actually* found ourselves
swimming in the Atlantic on Christ
mas Evel But, it was hardly equal
tp' STJuly bath in every respect, with
all Us charms. ,
To our left on North Beach Point
we see a happy group M holiday
tourists seated irj>~*/t3eu6.d enjoy
ing a picnic 1 '• glis
tening streets and plazas of St. Au
gustine strollers with sun umbrellas,
cyclists and golfers in regulation
garb, and fashionable society devo
tees in open carriages and all out in
gala parade. It is a unique midwin
ter holiday, indeed.
Schools of porpoises are playing
about us all along, and the numerous
sweeping white sea-gulls help to
make the trip a novel one far our
party.
By the middle of January the win*
ter resort season will be on in full
blast and the east coast of Florida
will be alive with sights-seers from
the snow-ridden sections of the
United States. By that time, how
ever, your humble servant will again
be among the swamps,. Lagoons and
“niggers” of Louisiana and Missis
sippi, enroute to the west.
T. E. L.
A MAD STONE.
Citizens of Rice Neighborhood Going
to Buy One
C. B. Garner, of Crowley township
Was in to see the Soliphone the other
day and to have the announcement
made that Jie and some more of hie
neighbors are making up money to
buy a mad stone. The stone is to
be ordered from North Carolina and
is to cost $25 the money being made
up by fifty cent contributions. It is
to be in Paragould by the third Sat
urday in January, provided the
money is made up by the 10th. Mr.
Garner requests that contributions
be left with either Judge Faulkner,
W. C. Breckenridge or Francis
Clarke, the latter living near Gaines
ville.
He Was Choked,
Monday John N. Johnston, of the
Soliphone office, was attending to
business at points along the E. C.
road. He went to a hotel for his
dinner and in the hurry of mastica
tion attempted to swallow a steer
and the hind quarter hung in his
goosel and refused to go any further.
John heaved and gagged, but he
couldn’t get the beef either up or
down; He took a bee line for home
and reached the Soliphone office at 7
o’clock heaving and gagging, looking
white in the face and gasping for
breath. “What’sthe matter John?”
asked the ramrod of the Soliphone
“I’m choked.” We instantly suspect
ed that some irate debtor to the
Soliphone had tried to cancel his
obligation by attempting to choke
off John’s wind but he explained
differently. He headed for Dr.
Scott’s office in a dog trot and when
he reached there the doctor laid John
out on the big surgeon’s chair, took
his longitudinal double-back action
automatic laryngome and run it 18
and three eighths of an inch down
the patients throat and when the
instrument was quickly with-drawn
John breathed as natural as if his
abortive mastication had been at
tempted upon a hunk of sow belly.
A Serenade Party.
A party of serenaders, driven in a
wagonette, regaled the town with
some nice music Christmas night.
They were Misses Anna and Mary
Harvey, Nannie Barrin, Ida Haynes,
Emma Mescer, Emma Cox, Opbilia
Haynes, Messrs, Will and Verg
Harris, Laswell, Haynes. Mr.
Haynes played the lead violin, Miss
Ida Haynes base and Mr. Laswell
guitar accompaniment.
j To Or Patrons. |
1 -0- I
| After long and serious consideration we have de- I
1 cided to advance the price of the Daily Soliphone from i
| 25 to 35 cents a month. There isn’t another small daily I
t in the state whose subscription price is as low as 25 cents f
I a month. Nearly all of them charge 10 cents a week and I
| some of them 15 cents a week. We can shew at this of- *1
I fice small dailies that do not print half as much home '>
i news as the Soliphone whose subscription price is 10 ■ >
I cents a week, or 40 cents a month. But we are not con- >
I trolled by the prices charged by others. Over three years ; f
It of hard work on the Daily Soliphone have demonstrated : [
that from a financial standpoint we cannot maintain it at '.l
the low price of 25 cents a month. When the publica- I
tion was begun it was onl? half its present size, and of $
course the cost of paper was only half as much as now, < >
even at the same price, but what is still woree paper has 1 \
advanced about 30 per cent. We are now paying 3 cents : I
a pound for paper that we bought three years ago for ! I
I 2 1-4 and the price is £ rill advancing. By the time we 4
I furnish the blank papei for 26 issues of the Daily and <»
I hire a man to deliver it, there is nothing left the office I
f and the printer must look to the advertiser for his profits, §
I We trust that our patrons will accept this explana- f
I tion in justification of the slight advance in price and I
i tbat when the collector calls on the first of February with I
I a bill for 35 cents for January subscriptions there will be I
none to complain. |>
I We take this method of extending to our patrons f
I sincere thanks for past favors, and to assure them that a 1
| continuation of the same will be highly appreciated. We I
I wish each and every friend to this office a happy and 1
I prosperous New Year and that when they shall have 1
1 turned another mile post in the journey of life they will i
I have many reasons to rejoice at the year’s achievements. I
| Respectfully, t
1 Daily Soliphone. 1
h.
William Waltoi
of Marmadukv.,
Last Night.
Under Bond for Appearance
Circuit Court, Seeks Re
Self Destruction -
Special to tbe Soliphone (by long v
phone.
Marmaduke, Ark., Jan. 1, 19-'
William Walton, son of John v
ton, aged about 22, committed s-..
cide here last night at the residence
of his uncle, John Elrod.
Young Walton took one ounce of
papine and ten grains of morphine
some time during the night. He
was found in a state of unconscious
ness in his bed at an early'hour this
morning and a physician was hastily
summoned, but could give no relief.
The young man died about sun-up.
Young Walton got into some
trouble about a mule a few weeks
ago, an account of which was pub
lished in the Soliphone. He was
arrested on a charge of the larceny
of the mule and was under bond for
his appearance at the next tetm of
the circuit court. It is the general
supposition that his trouble preyed
upon his mind to such a degree that
he sought death at his own hands as
a means of relief.
The community is greatly shocked
over the sad affair and much sympa
thy is expressed for the parentsfof
the unfortunate young man, who are
amoDg our best people.
uame or uid Maid.
The Q. O. C. club met in session
Monday night at the home of Miss
Anna Hays, on Court street, after a
suspension of regular meetings sev
eral weeks. The meeting was at
tended by most of the members of
the society and was a very pleasant
social affair.
The game of progressive “Old
Maid” was indulged in and this fea
ture of the evening was especially
interesting and absorbed most of the
entire session. The game was to de
termine the leading old maid of the
club and, we are told, the honors be
coming so largely divided the game
waxed varm and enthusiastic and.
it was near twelve o’clock when the
contest was finally abandoned, with
out definite result. The club will
begin the new year with a regular
meeting Monday night which will
likely be a business session to out
line work for the year. The club
has many business ideas in view re
lative to lending assistance to the
World *8 Fair Commission and will
probably place some of them into exe
cution at an early date. Among other
things, a public entertainment will
likely be taken under consideration
and there being some of the best
talent in the society for that charac
ter of work anything they may de
cide upon will be in capable hands ,
and will undoubtedly be greeted with
success in every detail.
A Happy Home.
The home of the Misses Jackson
was a happy one, full of good cheer
during the holidays. Misses Francis
Emma, Maggie and Mabel were home
from Galloway College and they had
for guests Miss Clara F. Alcorn, of
Columbia, Tenn, Miss Roberta
Weatherford, of Belmont College,
Nashville, Tenn., and Rev. W. D.
Weatherford, of Nashville, Tenn.
Mr. Garner Roberts, of Mem phis, the
weli-koown lumberman, was also
in evidence at the social fetes which
characterize this superb home on
holiday occasions. The guests de
parted Monday morning and the
Misses Jacksqo returned to Galloway
Tuesday.