the house was carried away to the floor, and the people blown two hundred
yards, but no one badly hurt. At
Hugh Combs’ the mother and children crawled beneath the house floor,
and here, too, the house was torn to
fragments and carried away except the floor; then the storm struck
a house occupied by a man named Polly.
Two girls were near the house which was destroyed; Michael H. Stover’s
house was also destroyed and the
logs piled about the family, who huddled in the middle of the room,
and fastened them in, but hurt no one.
Mr. Stover described the logs as gently floating in the air about him,
and says he sat in his chair and pushed
many of them into positions when they settled. Madole’s large
family of small children were at home alone.
In their fright they ran under the bed. The house and contents
were destroyed, everything except the bed
and children, none of whom were injured. Reuben Routen was killed.
John Hunter’s house was destroyed,
and his two sons, Shores P. and Daniel, killed -- one outright and
the other lingered in great agony until the
following Friday. Barnett lay exactly in the destroyer’s path,
and was totally destroyed, the merchants A.Y.
Campbell, Harry MdKinley, northeast of Barnett, and Mrs. C. Green and
two children being killed, and
nearly every other person in the place wounded. At what was known
as the coal mine Hiram Peterhoff had
his leg broken. A blacksmith named McLean was wounded, torn and
bruised almost out of human shape,
but he recovered. One man had reached the gatepost within a few
feet of his door, and was found dead,
clinging to the post. The force had whipped him about and broken
nearly all his bones. Some ten or Twelve
of the wounded had been carried to Dr. Hargett’s, whose house was just
outside of the storm line, where
they were attended and cared for. The charity of the good people
of the county was appealed to in this
calamity, and not in vain.
STREET FAIRS -- For many years there has been a growing up here
in this county a demand for a
county fair but there has not yet developed enough demand to bring
the enterprise about. But during the last
two years, 1905 and 1906 we had a street and a county fair conducted
in the city of Versailles which was
pronounced by the thousands which attended it as good as many strictly
county fairs. These two street fairs
were gotten up and managed by the same parties. That is there
were about a dozen of the young
enterprising business men who formed a committee to bring the fair
to a successful point and they called to
their assistance such men and women as would give them the necessary
aid. These young men
backed the enterprise with their money and time, and every man,
woman and child in the county were invited
to take part in the way of bringing exhibits and contesting for a prize.
Premium money was made up each
year amounting to over $500 and premiums from 25 cents up to $20 were
offered on the various articles to
be exhibited. The result each year was exceedingly satisfactory
to all. The enterprise brought thousands of
our countrymen together for a week’s good time as the fair held a whole
week. Some days during the fair it
was estimated that 6,000 people were present. Large crowds attended
each day. The whole fair was on the
streets, around the square. The court house was made the depositary
for all, or most all, of the farmers’
products and carloads of such exhibits were made. All manner
of farm and garden and orchard produce was
exhibited. All manner of poultry was shown, all kinds of stock,
breeding and otherwise, and great interest
was manifested.
Among the various departments of the street fair was Art Hall
which contained the exhibits made
by the ladies of the city and county. All manner of needle work,
fancy and otherwise, was exhibited.
Hundreds of quilts, laces, embroideries, brick-a-brack, shirt waists,
handkerchiefs, and in fact all manner of
ladies’ work was exhibited with fine and pleasing effect. This
was one of the most attractive features and
was said by many competent judges to be better than was seen at county
fairs, and much of it was as good as
is shown at state fairs. This department was presided over by
six as competent ladies as could be found in
the country. They were: Mrs. J.A. Petty, Mrs. H.K. Enloe, and
Mrs. Wm. Well, Mrs. P.H. Antweiler, Mrs.
George A. Krauss and Miss Sallie G. French. Their management
was complete and satisfactory in every
respect.
No preparations are being made for a fair of this character this
year (1907). It is a costly
undertaking and the crop outlook here in June is not promising.
The fruit crop will be exceedingly short this
year and the general outlook for a year of prosperity is not encouraging
and there will be likely to be no
street fair. But conditions are ripening for a real county fair
which will likely develop into a reality before
many more years go by. Nothing has done more to stimulate good
stock breeding, good poultry breeding
and to stimulate general productiveness than these two street fairs
have done. Men are taking much more
interest in these things because by bringing their productions together
and comparing
them better results are brought about and everybody is stimulated.
Morgan county is rapidly coming out of
the scrub stock business and nothing but the best breed animals are
now cared for. These fairs have added
more zeal to the productiveness of Morgan county than any other one
thing.
Ten years ago there were very few lodges in Morgan county except
the Masons, Odd Fellows and
Maccabees. Now there are about a half dozen at least. The
first secret society organized in the county was
doubtless the Odd Fellows who had an organization at Syracuse for a
score of years before the Civil War but
shortly after the war the lodge broke up.
The Iona Lodge, No. 381 A.F.&A.M. was a Masonic lodge which
was organized and chartered in
disorganized, but at one time it was a flourishing lodge. The
Mason’s there joined with the school district
and put up the school house for school and lodge purposes. It
was a two story building and the lodge was
held upstairs. The charter members of this lodge were G.W. Colvin,
A.M.H. Bills, Wiliam Simpson, R.M.
Hargett, H.B. Groff, J.B. Coleman, Edward Saunders and Ferdinand Rauschelbach.
The first officers were:
William Simpson, W.M.; Joseph Colton, S.D.; G.W. Colvin, J.D; E.Brock,
secretary; Edward Saundrs,
Tyler. The most of the members of the Iona lodge went to the
Eldon lodge. In the spring of 1907 a
Masonic lodge was organized at Barnett, which has about twenty members
at present and is doing good
work. But this is a new lodge altogether and not the Iona lodge
resusciated.
ODD FELLOWS --There is only one Odd Fellows’ lodge in Morgan County
at the present time.
This is in Versailles and it has about 70 members. This society
is backing the erection of the large three
story $35,000 building that is now about ready to be occupied on the
east side of the square. The third floor
will be used for lodge purposes. The lodge is made up of some
of our most distinguished citizens and it is in
good working order. The officers are: sheriff Charles E. Willson,
N.G.; Dr. H.N. Lutman, Vice Grand;
merchant A. Poppler, secretary. Among the present membership
are the following names: postmaster J.W.
Mills, Dr. Joel D. Hubbard, Louis Lumpee, Clarence Lumpee, Lloyd Lumpee,
E.M. Duff, W.L. Stephens,
G.W. Miller, G.B. Snodgrass, Joe Popper, A.W. Burns. The lodge
meets Tuesday nights of each week.
The largest Masonic lodge in Morgan county is the one at Versailles
It has been organized many years and is composed of many of the
leading citizens f the town and
community. Dr. E.P. Yarnell is the master; J.W. Dromgold is senior
warden; Dr. Wm. Well is junior
warden; John Holloway is treasurer and Wray Witten is secretary.
There are about 70 members, among
whom are A.L. Ross, J.S. Thruston, James McNair, B.S. Barnett, J.A.
Livesay, I.M. Schannep, George A.
Brown, George Decker, Geo. P. Clark, W.S. Gibbs, Dr. P.G. Woods, A.
Popper, J.M. Clifton, D.P. Hardy,
M. Joachimi, W.W. Moore, C.W. Biersach, W.P. Tooley, James Enloe, F.C.
Thorpe. The lodge meets the
first Saturday night in each month. The lodge is in good working
order.
There is a Masonic lodge at Glensted which has a fairly good
membership and is in good working
order.
IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN -- This is a new secret society in Versailles.
It was
organized December 1904 and had an even 100 members. Its officers
at present are: Charles H. Knapp,
sachem; E.E. Hulett, senior sagamore; E.C. Morgan, junior sagamore;
J.W. Marriott, prophet; C.V.N.
Hudson, chief of records. The lodge meets every Friday night
and is in good working order. Some of the
best citizens of the town and county are members of it.
THE M.W.A. -- There is a lodge of Modern Woodmen of America in
Versailles; one at Stover; one
of Boyler’s Mill; one at Syracuse, and this is the largest one in the
county, having over 100 members; and
one at Florence. The Versailles lodge was organized in 1900 and
has a membership of 70. It is in good
working order. Its officers are: W.E. Gold venerable counsul;
C.P. Brownfield, worthy advisor; T.J. Shore,
banker; E.K. Buck, clerk; A.G. Baker, assistant clerk
WOODMEN OF THE WORLD -- There is a Woodmen of the World camp in
Versailles. It was
organized in 1903 end has a membership of 60. It is in good working
order. Its officers are: A. Popper,
counsul commander; C.C. Merriott, adviser lieutenant; T.L. Ritchie,
banker; Price Jones, clerk; J.W.
Merriott, escort. The lodge meets every Monday night.
K. OF P. LODGE -- There is a Knights of Pythias lodge in Versailles
and this is the only one in the
county. There are 75 members and the lodge is full of live and
vigor. Its members are among our best
citizens and the lodge work does not drag. Some of the best banquets
given in the city have been those
given by this lodge. It was organized in 1892. G.M. Hargett
is chancellor commander; W.A. Dromgold is
vice chancellor commander;
Warren Todd is prelate; James P. Hunter, master of finance; U.G.
Winget, master of exhequer; I.M.
Schannep, keeper of seal and record; Sam McNair, master at arms; Henry
Inscho, master of work; James
Roe, inner guard; J.M. Bolton, outer guard.
Section 12
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