The Monroe Journal's News Flashback for Oct. 14, 2024

SIX YEARS AGO
OCT. 11, 2018

Local family plays The Price is Right: Margaret and husband Joe Watson of Monroeville celebrated her birthday by visiting her son and attending the popular TV game show The Price is Right on Aug. 6 in Los Angeles, Calif.
While visiting her son, Kenneth Rankins Jr., who grew up in Monroeville, Margaret said they decided to attend a taping of The Price is Right at CBS Studios.
She said they spent the day touring the property and enjoyed the “full experience of television and the game show.”

Panthers win 42-2: Excel’s Panthers improved to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Class 3A, Region 1 standings last Thursday when they defeated St. Michael Catholic High School 42-2 in Fairhope.
Drew Bradley and Josh Gandy had a big night for the Panthers, rushing 20 times for 283 yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, Tristian McBride and Jayden Jenkins had eight solo tackles each.
(Other top Excel players in that game included Cole Chandler, Nate Davis, Devin Hixon, Justin Manuel, Keon McMillian, Zeb Nettles, Race Salter and Deon’te Tunstall.)

Kiwanis officers and board installed: At its weekly meeting Oct. 2, Kiwanis Club of Monroeville installed officers for the 2018-19 membership year and new members of the board for 2018-20. The are Deborah Jinright, board; Jeanie Smith, immediate past president; Alisha Linam, vice president; Margaret Murphy, board; Sam Schjott, President; Ricky Powell, Division 12 Lt. Governor; Pete Black, president-elect; Paul England, board; Kelsie Becton, board; Phillip Allen, secretary; Toni McKelvey, treasurer; and Morgan Hutcherson, board.

31 YEARS AGO
OCT. 14, 1993

Board of Education approves lease to Perdue Hill group: A $1-per-year lease on about six acres of land at Perdue Hill where a school once was located was approved by the Monroe County Board of Education at its regular meeting Friday.
Earlman Davis, preside of the Perdue Hill Industrial Academy Alumni Association, requested the lease, saying the group wants to spearhead the construction of a youth recreation facility on the site. He also said the proposed center would be a monument to the late P.J. Carmichael, a long-time Monroe County educator who was principal of Perdue Hill Industrial Academy, where Davis attended.

Blacksher ‘Dogs get the best of Panthers: Emotions ran high at John Sawyer Memorial Field Saturday evening at Uriah when J.U. Blacksher High School squared off against Excel High School in a football game that saw the Bulldogs post a 12-7 win.
It has been said that sooner or later every dog has its day, and for J.U. Blacksher High School’s Bulldogs, it came Saturday in the form of a homecoming victory – a win that ended a streak of seven straight losses to the Panthers.
(Top Blacksher players in that game included Benny Alanis, Jimmy Beavers, Jackie Ray Brown, Mikal Cooper, Tedro English, Josh Johnson, Morgan Middleton, Wontwyn Montgomery and Eric Wallace. Top Excel players included Lee Browning, David Lowery, Matt Melton, Clifton Nettles, Dennis Parker, Steven Pharr, Durrand Watson and Jason Watson. Skip Bell was Blacksher’s head coach, and Bo Bishop was Excel’s head coach.)

56 YEARS AGO
OCT. 10, 1968

New Monroeville Mayor and Council: The new city administration for Monroeville was officially inducted Mon., Oct. 7, and met for their first business session Tuesday night. They are M.M. Kennedy Jr., Place 5; Windell C. Owens, mayor; A.L. Clenner, Place 4; B.C. Hornady, Place 1; Robbins Williams, Place 3; and J.R. Johnson, Place. 2.

Frisco Defeats Uriah, 13-7, in Close Game: The Frisco City High School Whippets edged past the J.U. Blacksher High School, 13-7, in a football game in Uriah last Friday night.
Uriah controlled the ball most of the last half, but couldn’t quite bring home the bacon. The Whippets have won five straight games and were rated number one on the Alabama High School Athletic Association list last week for single-A high schools.
(Top FCHS players in that game included James Bailey, David Bixler, Eddie Cotten, Bill Grant, Rob Kelly, Mike Lancaster, Larry Norris, Ronald Ray, Eddie Sawyer, Steve Sinquefield, Kenneth Till and Jimmy Tucker. Top Blacksher players included Robbie Colbert, Dale Gulsby, Joe Harrison, Danny McGee, Howard Metts, Joe Frank Mims and Carl Williams.)

New Store Manager: John Egolf, who will manage the new T.G.&.Y. store in Monroeville, arrived here Sept. 16 and is making preparations for a grand opening of the store Oct. 17. Located in the Monroe Shopping Center, approximately 20 people will assist in getting ready for the opening. Mr. Egolf was formerly employed with another chain in Florida.

81 YEARS AGO
OCT. 14, 1943

Goodway Man Has Well Drilling Record: Mr. C.H. Booker of Goodway holds a pretty good record for making water available around farm homes in Monroe and adjoining counties. He started drilling wells in 1925 and to date he has completed 675 wells in four counties.

Pfc. Aubrey L. Norris, who was wounded July 12 and died July 16 while serving his country in the Southwest Pacific Area, was awarded the Purple Heart medal for gallantry and devotion. The medal is being sent to his mother, Mrs. Mary E. Norris, according to a letter recently received from Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson.

A group of representative business men were guests of the five banks of the county at a dinner at the LaSalle Hotel last Thursday evening.
Mr. J. Finley McRae, president of the Merchants National Bank of Mobile, was the speaker for the occasion and discussed some of the economic problems which confront the people of the county.
Mr. Tom Taul, Mrs. George Hass and Mr. D’Olive of Mobile accompanied Mr. McRae to Monroeville.

The Fall term of the Circuit Court convened Monday. On account of the light docket and difficulty in locating witnesses, civil cases were continued and after selecting grand jurors, other jurors and witnesses were discharged. The grand jury is in session this week and is composed of: K.J. Lazenby, foreman, Melton Lynam, Heck Rumbley, J. Barto Lloyd, Earl L. Harper, Eddie E. English, A. Frank Session, J. Lomax Lewis, Henry T. Fountain, Mitchell J. Byrd, Herbert H. Hendrix, J. Benette Robinson, George E. Scott, Steve W. Strock, Levi A. Green, Lonnie J. Wiggins, Oscar McNeil Sr., I.D. Byrd.

108 YEARS AGO
OCT. 12, 1893

Little Henry, son of Mr. H.E. Hudson, had the misfortune to be thrown from a wagon Monday evening and one of the wheels passed over him breaking his left leg above the knee. Dr. Russell was called and set the broken limb. The little fellow bore the pain with great fortitude and is resting as easily as could be expected under the circumstances.

JONES MILL: The Bear Creek Mill Co. has completed the ditch to Little Bear Creek.

Died – Mr. Watson McWilliams, one of the oldest and most highly esteemed citizens of the county, died at his home near Axle, Tuesday, 10^th inst., aged 86 years.

SINGING CONVENTION: Ed. Journal: We wish to remind singers that the next Session of Shiloh Singing convention will convene at Grimes Schoolhouse on the third Sunday and Saturday before in this month. All cordially invited to attend. B.E. Jones, Secretary.

Captain and Mrs. W.S. Wiggins returned to Sulphur Springs last week to spend several days. The Captain thinks the mineral waters are proving beneficial to his health. On his previous visit, he gained several pounds in weight.

Mr. B.F. Wiggins left last week for Arkansas on the most important mission of his life. He is expected to return in a few weeks accompanied by his blushing bride.

What ever became of Wilcox County poet, Sara Elizabeth King?

General Edwin Davis King

What ever became of Wilcox County poet, Sara Elizabeth King?

This was a question I pondered as I read about her poetic exploits in the Oct. 8, 1936 edition of The Wilcox Progressive Era. In a front-page story that week, published under the headline, “Recognition For Poetry Of Sara King,” the newspaper reported that she was the author of several poems that had been “complimented” by the Alabama Poetry Society. Another of her poems had been selected for inclusion in an anthology called “1936 Contemporary Women Poets of America.”

The newspaper printed two of her poems. The first was titled “Ubiguity” and read as follows:

God walks in forests where pine needles grew,
And in the tumult and motor cars meet.
He breathes thru a still world that’s wrapt in snow;
Then brings spring with its white blossoming sloe.
In the midst of the waving tall grass sweet,
In laughing curves of the ripe golden wheat,
The heart alone attuned to God can know.
Perhaps in starlit lonely mountain ways,
Or in the friendly city near a mart
In a cathedral’s light of candle rays;
Or where fantastic shadowy waves start
To break on grim shores, can the same soul praise Jehovah.
He walks in the human heart.

The other poem of King’s printed by The Progressive Era was called “Spiritual Old Age” and read as follows:

I saw you once
In the face of
An old preacher.
He needed to
Say no word.
He was a sermon.
Thru him you speak
Of turning death
Into morning.

The newspaper article also noted that King graduated from Judson College in 1911 and in October 1936 was living at 347 Magnolia Ave. in Auburn. She was a relative of one of the Judson College’s founders, General Edwin D. King.

She was also the daughter of Paul and Clementine DeLoach King and was the granddaughter of William Douglas and Rebecca Singleton King. She was also the great-granddaughter of James Asbury and Elizabeth Caroline Goode Tait and the great-great-granddaughter of Judge Charles Tait, who was the first federal judge of Alabama.

After reading the article, a number of questions came to mind. Chiefly, I could not help but wonder if the newspaper misprinted the title of the first poem, “Ubiguity.” I looked through several dictionaries (and even Googled it), but apparently there is no such word. However if the change the “g” to a “q,” you have the word, “Ubiquity,” which is defined as “the fact of appearing everywhere or of being very common.”

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find out what became of Sara King. She was not married in October 1936, but if she went on to get married, she would have taken her husband’s last name. Without knowing her married name, it is extremely difficult to search death records and cemetery archives for information about her final resting place.

In the end, I think it’s likely that Sara King still has relatives living in Wilcox County today. If so, let me hear from you, so that we can more fully document the life of this Wilcox County poet.

Was Harper Lee’s ‘lady poisoner’ the wife of Jack the Ripper?

Florence Maybrick

Did Monroeville author Harper Lee make a veiled reference to the wife of a Jack the Ripper suspect in her 2015 novel, “Go Set a Watchman.”

In Chapter 5 of the novel, 26-year-old Jean Louise Finch and her childhood friend Henry “Hank” Clinton are driving to Finch’s Landing. She says that Finch’s Landing consisted of 366 steps going down a high bluff and ending in a wide jetty jutting out into the Alabama River. A dirt road leads to the landing and at the end of the road is a two-story white house with upstairs and downstairs porches around all four sides of the house.

This old family home was “in an excellent state of repair,” having been bought by a Mobile businessman, who turned it into a hunting club. Jean Louise goes on to say that the house had been bought by Atticus Finch’s grandfather from the uncle of a “renowned lady poisoner who operated on both sides of the Atlantic, but who came from a fine old Alabama family.”

This sentence struck a chord with me and caused me to wonder if this was a reference to Florence Maybrick, an Alabama native who was convicted in England of poisoning her husband, James Maybrick in 1889. Florence was born in Mobile in 1862, the daughter of former Mobile mayor, William George Chandler. While traveling to England by ship, 17-year-old Florence met James Maybrick, a 40-year-old cotton merchant from Liverpool.

Maybrick died on May 11, 1889 and family members accused Florence of poisoning him to death with arsenic. At trial, Florence was accused of extracting arsenic from flypaper that she bought from a local chemist. Florence was found guilty, and the case was widely publicized by the newspapers of the time. She went on to spend 14 years in prison before returning to the United States, where she died in 1941.

Many in the reading audience will remember that the notorious Jack the Ripper killed five women in London in 1888. This killer was never brought to justice, and many sleuths have tried to understand why the killings inexplicably stopped in 1888. Over the years, many have been suspected of being Jack the Ripper, including James Maybrick.

Maybrick became a suspect when his purported diary surfaced in 1992, claiming that he was the famous killer. This diary eventually became the basis for the 1993 book, “The Diary of Jack the Ripper” by Shirley Harrison. Over the years, many experts have examined the diary with some saying they can’t rule out that it’s the real thing with others saying it’s a fake.

Another item that purportedly connects Maybrick to the Ripper crimes is an old pocket watch that came to public light in 1993. Inside the cover was scratched “J. Maybrick” and “I am Jack.” Like the diary, many experts have examined this watch over the years, and it’s authenticity is hotly debated.

In the end, it would be interesting to know if Florence Maybrick’s uncle or any other relatives once owned land in Monroe County, which is the basis for fictional Maycomb County. If anyone in the reading audience has more information about this subject, please let me know because it would be interesting to make this connection to the “renowned lady poisoner” of the 1880s.