The et cetera chronicles – vol. 115

A SECOND DAY OF INFAMY – In the dark days which followed the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the people of Dublin were making plans to return to church on the following Sunday to pray for America and for peace. Early in the morning of Dec. 14, 1941.

Just before 7 a.m. as she was reporting to work, a nurse at the hospital of Dr. E.B. Claxton saw the smoke and flames and reported them to the fire department. The nursing staff and Dr. Claxton leaped into action, bundling up some 30 patients, two or three of whom were sick with pneumonia or ailing from recent surgery.  The sickest of the patients were taken to other private hospitals, while the remainder were taken into private homes to recuperate until their release. 

The conflagration resulted in $100,000 damage to the building and the equipment.  The hospital, built in 1937 and thought to be fireproof, suffered substantial damage, but was repaired and remodeled. Augusta Chronicle, Dec. 14, 1941. 

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A COUNTRY CLUB FOR CHRISTMAS – For years, the erudite and elite athletically minded men of Dublin wanted a golf course to while away the hours on the links. In 1921, they got their dream.  Located northwest of town, adjoining what would become the dairy farm of Dr. E.B. Claxton, the members erected a 9-hole course. A club house was built on a lake at the western end of the course (now a part of St. Andrew Subdivision) just in time for Christmas. To salute the opening of the 108-acre course, which included a swimming pool, tennis courts, and other agreeable amenities, the members secured a Yule Log, which they burned all night during the opening night. Curtis Guttenberg and his orchestra of Macon were hired to play an evening of holiday musical merriment.   Columbus Enquirer, Dec .24, 1921.

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS –  Dawson Kea, Dublin’s Judge of Recorder’s Court, was known for decades as a fine, honest, and thoughtful Christian man. As Kea saw Christmas in 1938, he saw that Dublin’s civic clubs’ stocking fund was alarmingly low in the week before Christmas. So it occurred to the future State Representative that he had control over some extra money for the indigent residents of Dublin during the Christmas season. 

Kea’s plan was to divert an entire week’s fines from the city court toward the fund in the true spirit of Christmas. Dublin Mayor William A. Hodges doubted the propriety of taking from one class and giving to another. Mayor Hodges believed, “That charity should come from the heart, and from those able and willing to aid the less fortunate. Its needs should be fully met by a public consciousness, instead of depending on such methods as haphazard collection of court times.” 

The matter came to a resolution five days before Christmas. Mayor Hodges, who lauded Kea’s intention, personally asked the entire city council to contribute to the fund.  The council responded with a resolution to donate $50.  Then, to start off the personal collection, Mayor Hodges put $25 into the collection.  Kea, whose only motive was to see that as many of the needy as possible be taken care of, was satisfied with the end result.  Macon Telegraph, Dec. 13, 14, 21, 1938. 

A DOUBLE SUNSET – On an early September evening in Sandersville in 1887, those who were outside witnessed a rare sunset. A witness reported, “The sun, slowly sinking behind a western flank of a cloud, threw a lateral reflection of perfect symmetry across the entire heavens, resting upon the eastern horizon, and widening at the zenith. Owing to the irregularity of the cloud’s summit, other smaller path-like illuminations were defined, all seeming to radiate from both horizons and to meet overhead.  The sun appeared to have set in the east also.  Ark.Traveler, Sept. 8, 1887

BUTTERMILK COW – Sandersville’s M.H. Boyer was right proud of one of his Jersey cows.  Her milk was so rich that when the milk dropped into the bucket, it was immediately churned into buttermilk. Boyer claimed his prize cow ate no special diet, just good grass. Writers for the Sandersville Mercury examined the milk and confirmed that the milk did contain large pieces of butter. The Lexington, Missouri Intelligencer, Nov. 4, 1882.