Macon my way through history

It’s a house of history.

That is, the house my wife and I have now begun purchasing in Fort Valley. Quirky. Unconventional. Eccentric. Us! It was love at first sight. And that was before we found out it only had one owner in all of its years and upgrades, and that it was the former mayor himself, and that it also had a pool.

Only … It turns out … we only found this out during the “closing” of all times and through one of the grandchildren who was operating as the executor … when everybody grew up and stopped visiting, he put a shop on top of it. Proof that it’s still there can be found by lifting the big piece of plywood in the corner of the shop. (I’m debating whether or not to have the shop moved during the summer or to just use the space-down-under to store my victims … Speaking of which: I keep finding bodies buried in the yard. Aka: Granite or sandstone statues.)

I digress.

It’s a house of history, the house and its contents.

I climbed up into the attic and found lots of treasures: A huge bundle of comics (I’m hoping are worth millions when I take them to Pawn Stars in Vegas, and I can retire), Georgia Bulldogs ticket stubs from the ‘60s, Delta airlines memorabilia, a bunch of other old stuff (I’ve still got a lot more digging to do) and two Macon Telegraph newspapers.

I hate to yield the floor to our competitor (although I did work there once upon a time), but that’s what I wanted to share with you. This week and next week, so as not to be my usual long-winded self.

The first newspaper is dated Feb. 7, 1958. Price: Five cents. (Okay. Pretend you didn’t see that. “Why do y’all charge so much for your paper …”) It has a whopping 18 stories on the front page! It helps that it’s 16 inches wide, versus the 12 and a half of most modern papers, but that’s a lot of stories! (Most papers today are happy with four to six.)

To give you a sense of that era, here’s a sample from the first paper (I’ll probably frame it and put it on the wall in my office at work if you want to read it all):

• Subhead: “Tired of beatings.” Headline: “Girl pleads for new home.” Story: “’Please please please,’ wrote a 9-year-old girl who asked to live in a home instead of a house. The letter was written by Susan Bedard to her friend, Mrs. Thelma Lou (real name but pretty sure nothing like this happened on Andy Griffith) Sherwood, a school secretary. It read: ‘Dear Mrs. Sherwood: I love you very much. And this is what I’m writing you. My father is not my real father he is my second father. And he does not like me. And my mother is my real mother but she does not love me either. So will you take me home with you?” It went on in heartbreaking fashion about how her stepfather beat her before closing with: “Please is all I can say. Please please please. Love, Sue.” The story was accompanied by a couple of photos, one of Sue and one of dear old stepdad after he had been arrested, his bond set at $5,000. “I hope I never see her again. She wants to live somewhere else … and I sure hope she does.”
• Subhead: “Mayor questioned.” Headline: “WR Council asks report on funds.” Story: “City councilmen here today called on Mayor Kemp A. Harrison to give an adequate explanation to the citizens of Warner Robins on a transaction involving $20,000 in municipal funds.” Apparently, Harrison went to Citizens State Bank, had the check cut, and gave it to someone involved in the Water and Sewerage Expansion Fund, while keeping the council in the dark.
• Headline: “Heavy rains will cause river to rise.” Story: “The Ocmulgee River at Macon was expected to rise during the night and crest at 18 feet about noon today. That is flood stage.” (Note: Its highest level was 27.88 back in 1994, according to the internet.)

Additional quickies:

• Headline: “Plane falls near house.” Story: The report of a small plane narrowly missing a home in Sylvania, Ga.
• Headline: “Racial incidents break Little Rock school calm.” Story: “Three racial incidents, three telephoned bomb threats and a demonstration of white students chanting ‘Down with …’” (“Lord, if you haven’t already, please change their hearts. In Jesus’ name.)
• Headline: “Assembly’s action on Koinonia Farms probe plan slated.” Story: About a resolution calling for a complete investigation of the “controversial, bi-racial” Koinonia Farms near Americus. A snippet from inside the story: “The 1,100-acre interracial farm in Sumter County came into prominence early last year after several dynamite and shooting incidents occurred at the farm.” (Oh, my word! Are we so sure the world is so bad today?)

Continued next issue.