Sunday, November 16, 2014

75-year-old news highlights from The Monroe Journal from November 1939

The Monroe Journal newspaper in Monroeville, Ala. published five editions 75 years ago during the month of November 1939. Those papers were dated Nov. 2, Nov. 9, Nov. 16, Nov. 23 and Nov. 30. What follows are a few news highlights from each of those newspapers. Enjoy.

NOV. 2, 1939

Paving Project Completed Saturday: The final coat was applied to the one-mile stretch west of the Square Saturday afternoon. The same contractors poured slag and put the final coat on the east wing of the Square and also the wings of the highway from the Square, east, to the front of the Shell Service Station.

Trial of criminal cases set for the Fall Term of the Circuit Court came to a close last Friday. A number of cases were continued until the next term. Those cases tried and disposition made in each case, are given below…
State vs. John Lucas, Murder, first degree. Sentenced to life in penitentiary.

Largest Hog In The World To Be Here November 14: Visitors to the Monroe County Hog Festival on Nov. 14 will have the opportunity to see “Jolly Jumbo,” said to be the largest hog in the world. This hog, a big boned Poland China, comes from Nebraska. He is four years old, four feet high, eight feet long and weighs 1,600 pounds. Don’t miss this opportunity to see this champion porker.

Jackson Residence Damaged By Fire: The C.W. Jackson residence, east of town, was damaged by fire Wednesday morning. The fire was discovered about 10 o’clock. Due to the fact that there was little or no wind and to the good work of the fire department and others who helped, the damage was restricted to the roof of the house. The fire was extinguished in about 20 or 30 minutes.

NOV. 9, 1939

Monroeville Wins From Camden Friday Night: The Monroe County High football team won from the Camden team, with a score of 26-0, on the Monroeville Athletic Field here Friday night.
Sam Yarbrough and Boyd Pullen brought the crowd to its feet many times by their hard running and passing. Yarbrough scored twice and threw two touchdown passes. Pullen made both of the extra points.
Tonight (Thursday) at 8 Monroeville will play the Beatrice team on the Monroeville field. This game is being looked forward to by all football fans, and promises to be one of the best. With the local team’s encouragement of last Friday night, it is expected that they will again go over the top tomorrow night.

Work Started On New Building Of Lee Motor Co.: Work was started last week on the erection of a new building to be occupied by Lee Motor Co. here. The building will be located on the lot between the Sinclair Place, which Lee Motor Co. is occupying while the building is under construction, and the building occupied by Mr. J.F. Lathram.
Work has progressed rapidly since the building was started , especially the erection of the outside walls. It will be several more weeks before the building will be ready for occupancy. When completed, it will be one of the largest buildings in Monroeville.

Next Tuesday, the people of Monroe County will gather in Monroeville to take part in the big Hog Festival to be staged that day, and from all indications a record crowd will be in attendance.
The citizens of Monroeville and this county are preparing to make this a big day – the biggest ever held in this county.

NOV. 16, 1939

MCHS Team Wins From Beatrice, 32-20: The Monroe County High School football team defeated the Beatrice team on the athletic field here last Thursday night, 32-20. At the end of the first half, the score was 32-0 in favor of Monroeville. Coach Huckabee used mostly reserves in the last half.
In the first half, Sam Yarbrough scored one touchdown and the extra point, and threw passes for two more touchdowns. Boyd Pullen scored the other two touchdowns and made one extra point.
Jamie Jones was the outstanding player on the Beatrice team. He averaged 43 yards on three punts. Jones scored one touchdown and the extra point, and passed for two more touchdowns and an extra point.
No game is scheduled for the Monroeville team on Fri., Nov. 17. The next Friday night, Nov. 24, the local team will play Brewton on the Brewton field. Brewton has a good team, and a hard fought game is expected. Monroeville fans should make their plans to attend this game and cheer for their team.
The Monroeville team has won the last two games, and with this encouragement and plenty of cheering, they should win from Brewton on the 24th.

BIGGEST DAY IN COUNTY’S HISTORY: Hog Festival Attracted Crowd Estimated 12 to 15 Thousand: The next thing to the World’s Fair and the first of its kind to be held in the United States was the Hog Festival in Monroeville Tuesday.
Cotton, which has held the farmers of this county down to less than a living, was given the back seat, and the hog, which has been pouring a stream of dollars into their bank account, was honored as never before.
Officers in charge of traffic estimated the gathering at between 12,000 and 15,000, and from the beginning of the program at eight o’clock in the morning, until late in the night, the visitors joined in the greatest educational program ever staged in this county.

NOV. 23, 1939

(Due to an oversight on my part, I skipped taking any notes from this particular week while at the library. This issue of the paper is on microfilm, but in my hurry to get through I skipped it accidentally.)

NOV. 30, 1939

Repton Hospital Joins Group: Dr. W.R. Carter, owner of the Repton Hospital, states that final papers were completed this week for his hospital to become affiliated with the Hospital Service Corporation of Alabama.
The Hospital Service Corporation of Alabama is one of 59 nonprofit plans approved by the American Hospital Association to furnish hospital care to employed persons. This group is composed of 50 Alabama hospitals and over 6,500 members.

Chamber Of Commerce Holds Regular Meeting: The regular meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held Monday night. After the transaction of routine business, the members heard talks by Messrs. Hoyt W. Lee, Ed Rincher, R.W. Golsby and Ed Shortess, Kiwanis Field Representatives, of Mobile. These gentlemen were present to work up interest in the organization of a Kiwanis Club in Monroeville.
The president appointed a committee which will look into the matter and report at the next regular meeting.


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