Fayette County One Hundred Years Ago, Part I
of a three-part series of stories of events that occurred in Fayette County 100 years ago.
The January 21, 1926, La Grange Journal stated that John Salm was busy the first of the week planting pecan trees around the Courthouse lawn. The writer added that “we hope that the trees will grow,” and that the trees are not only ornamental and attractive, but they produce good fruit.
The weather became a big newsmaker a week later, as the January 28th edition informed that on the previous Saturday citizens awoke to find the ground covered with “a mantel of beautiful snow.
About three inches of the soft white blanket had fallen …” About three more inches of snow fell during the next evening. It had been thirty years since the county had experienced such a heavy snowfall.
The hardships experienced by many citizens of the county during the 1925 drought were exposed in a report by census enumerator Adolph Behrens. “For cotton ginned for the 1925 crop shows that there were 11,220 bales of cotton ginned prior to January 16, 1926… For the same period in 1924, there were 37,834 bales of cotton ginned.” This report appeared in the February 4, 1926, edition of the La Grange Journal.
The February 25 issue informed the public of an accident which occurred in the county. The article stated that W. E. Worrell, bridge contractor in charge of cement work on the Ellinger highway [now Highway 71] was a victim of a near serious accident … when a concrete mixer crashed against Mr.
Worrell.” He was rendered unconscious and transferred to the La Grange Hospital where his injuries were attended to. “Fortunately, no bones were broken, but his head and back were painfully bruised.”
The March 11 edition of the Journal stated that “Friday night Raymond Welsh and Milton Ranean, claiming to hail from Dallas, were taken off the train and after cursory examination during which time they told conflict ing stories were placed in the calaboose around midnight.
“The two were not relieved of the keys in their possession, so they proceeded to unlock the door about four o’clock in the morning…” A search was made by the sheriff and deputies, and the duo were captured about three miles west of town. Charges of unlawfully boarding and riding a train were filed against them.
In the April 1 edition of the paper, an ad informed the public that on Easter Monday and Tuesday there would be horse racing and a big rodeo at the Fair Grounds outside of La Grange. The rodeo would include calf roping, bronco busting, and steer riding. A dance featuring Cornelson’s Happy Seven would be held each evening in the Big Pavilion.
By the end of April, weather events were again in the news. The April 29th edition of the paper reported that folks in the High Hill area were reporting very heavy rains, causing “all creeks to be flooded and created much damage to the farming lands by (the) overflowing." In the Winchester area, Kurt Matzke, a young visitor to the area from Germany was drowned in an unfortunate accident caused by the flood ing. While he was riding a mule to move cattle to higher ground, the mule stepped into deep water, and Mr. Matzke was unable to rise to the sur- face of the flooding waters. In another incident, Traugott Jurisek [Jurischk] was washed through a concrete culvert, and was lucky enough to escape death by grabbing a tree limb after being washed nearly fifty feet underwa ter. The reporter from Winchester reported that “about five inches of rain fell in one hour, causing creeks to over- flow." Furthermore, it was reported that “the river rose over twenty-seven feet.”
The flooding caused County Commissioners to repair bridges across the county, most notably at Winchester, Fayetteville, West Point, and Haw Creek. Additionally, the railroad was responsible for an MKT railroad bridge near La Grange.
Some of these events may seem strange compared to our present day, technological society. Yet, our ancestors who endured life with these hardships and tragedy might find today's fast-paced lives hard to bear. Look for more reminiscences of 1926 in coming weeks.
A local mail carrier, possibly John Giese, is shown holding a mail bag and pouch after the January 23, 1926, snowfall.
