MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at July 1921

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow Mary on Twitter @ABH_MBraswell.

A new bridge across the Flint River opened in July 1921. See what else was making the news.

— Workers constructing a $1.5 million power dam on the Flint River above the city caught an 11-foot-long alligator. This was just a couple of days after a smaller gator was spotted at the corner of Tift and Monroe. The smaller critter escaped capture by sliding into a storm drain.

— Lee’s Pharmacy had an ample supply of Top Notch Insect Fluid. The pesticide was billed as killing flies, mosquitoes, water bugs, ants, bed bugs, roaches and fleas.

— The Rumney Hotel on Pine Avenue was opened under new management. Rooms were $1 per day and meals were 35 cents each.

— At an Albany City Council meeting: The completion of a transfer of a portion of the city cemetery to the Hebrew Congregation was approved and a budget item of $85 a year was approved to pay the water and light bills for the Carnegie Library.

— Rosenberg’s, Albany’s Greatest Retail Store, had a long list of Thrift Thursday specials each week. Among the specials were 23 inch by 40 inch heavy bath towels for $3.90 per dozen. The ad claimed that “a bath a day keeps the doctors away.”

— Owner of a shoe repair business, located in the alley that connected Pine and Jackson, was arrested for violation of the Prohibition Act. A search warrant issued for the shop of Bebley Gordon turned up a half-gallon of moonshine, a funnel and some empty small bottles. Gordon was arrested on a Wednesday, saw the judge on Thursday morning, paid his $75 fine and was back at his shop on Thursday afternoon.

—The newly organized City Board of Charities, created by a city ordinance to regulate begging, warned citizens about giving to all that asked for money on the street. The board’s intention was to investigate all cases of beggars seeking permits to panhandle and issue permits to worthy cases. Citizens were told to boldly ask to see a person’s permit before giving aid.

— The newly opened Memorial Bridge across the Flint River carried a final cost of over $300,000 of which the government paid $110,000. Note: This is the bridge that was demolished in late 2012.

— New legislation divided Albany into five wards. Moving forward, there would be one representatives on the city council from each ward and one additional at-large member.

— Sumter County announced that the local 1921 peach crop was on track to be the largest ever. Before mid-July, 115 train-car loads had already been shipped and the harvest was not yet over.

— Lewinson Co. Department Store at 122 N. Washington St. held a one-day special on hats for ladies. All hats valued up to $10 were on sale for just 95 cents.

— Supreme Court Judge Walter F. George spoke to a packed house in Camilla on citizenship. George stated that the best thing that can be done for good citizenship is home ownership. He repeated Mark Twain’s view that anybody will stand in defense of a home but nobody will stand in defense of a boarding house.

— A report of a suicide in The Herald and other area newspapers turned out to be just a publicity stunt by a promoter for the motion picture business. It was assumed after a coat was found on the bridge with a note that some poor soul had taken his life by jumping into the rapids below. The stunt was to promote a film called “A Perfect Crime” showing at the Liberty Theatre.

— A delegation of Albany citizens appeared before the Railroad Commission in Atlanta to protest against the proposal of Atlantic Coastline to discontinue service to the Putney station.

— A five-day summer school was held at the Second District A&M School (now ABAC) for men, women, boys and girls. Classes were free and five days board was $4. Men and boys were instructed in farm machinery, livestock, home orchards, feed crops and more. For the women and girls the classes covered cooking, canning, raising poultry, sewing and more.

— Called home farms, tracts in the western part of Dougherty County were available for the following prices: 10 acres — $635; 15 acres — $940; 20 acres — $1245 and 25 acres — $1550.

— Just after a herd of 60 thoroughbred cattle had been turned out to pasture near Quitman, lightening struck the barn where they had been sheltered, completely destroying the structure.

— An Albany man was placed under a $500 bond and charged with peddling morphine on the city streets. A.J. Hagan would buy 20 grains of morphine every other day for about $1.65 total. He then sold $1 “shots” (about 1/4 a grain) to his customers. Hagan admitted he was a morphine addict himself.

— Tifton’s tobacco market opened with four buyers on the floor. Prices ranged from one cent to 30 cents. About one-fourth of the offers were rejected by the growers.

— Camilla voters supported a bond issue to pave the downtown business district by a tally of 259 to 28.

— Dr. Hugo Robinson, Dougherty County Health Officer, encouraged all residents to call at his office at the courthouse to receive a free typhoid vaccination. He stated all measures were being taken to reduce the number of breeding places for flies but inoculations were of great importance.

— Speaking from Atlanta, Colonel W.J. Simmons, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, stated with certainty that the recent whippings and tarring and feathering events in Florida and Texas were not done by members of the KKK. Shortly after that statement, the Beaumont, Texas Klan, however, admitted its responsibility for the actions there and had its charter revoked.

QUIK QUIZ answer: d) Colquitt County