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Bennettsville Items
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For the Observer.]
BENNETSVILLE, S. C., }
July 7th, 1891. }
The Charleston, Sumter & Northern Railroad having been finished on Thursday, was examined by the railroad commission on last Saturday, and, beginning to-day, we have direct communication with Charleston. The train from Charleston reaches Bennettsville at 12:45 and returns in the afternoon at 4:25.
Messrs. E. H. & D. Jennings will run an excursion over the new road to Charleston on July 14th, spending two days in the “city by the sea.” The fare from Bennettsville is $2.50 for round trip.
A large excursion is expected here from Sumter on Thursday.
The officials of the C. S. & N. and other invited guests will be given a grand banquet on Friday, July 10th.
Mr. Robt. Chaffin, who has kept books for C. S. McColl for a dozen years, is now the depot agent for the C. S. & N. R. R.
XX.
[Fayetteville Observer – Thursday, July 9, 1891]
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The Palmetto and the Pine.
We have always loved South Carolina—
A peppery, high-tempered but generous, high-born and cultured old lady—and, now that the railroads have given us a “nigh cut” across the fields, we intend to throw etiquette to the winds, and send a large delegation of our old folks and young folks to call on our neighbor next Tuesday, 14th inst. They will be in charge of Messrs. E. H. and Douglas Jennings (“Palmettoites,” the former taken captive here three or four years ago by attractions which he was powerless to resist, and now a popular and trustworthy “galvanized Tar-Heel”), good managers both; and, as our representatives will be among the best behaved of our whole numerous family, we have no doubt of their hospitable reception and safe return with a great deal of news to tell.
The party will reach Charleston just in time for dinner at the Mills House, the Pavilion or some other of the excellent caravanseries of the beautiful city—to feast on such okra soup as is dreamed of but found nowhere else on the civilized globe, soft-shell crabs and pillau au riz (as only a South Carolinian can cook rice), chicken gumbo (a sacred culinary mystery of the white-turbaned “maumas” of ante-bellum days), pompanos, Spanish mackerel, the succulent vegetables and luscious fruits of that semi-tropical clime, etc., etc.
This tribute paid to the reasonable demands of visiting North Carolina stomachs, the subsequent hours will be devoted to the panoramic pictures that allure the eye and fire the imagination: East Bay under the roseate flush of dawn or the paling light of fading day; the Battery with its magnificent sweep of shelving shore and solid pier; Charleston Harbor, fair even as the Bay of Naples; Forts Sumter and Moultrie, in whose dismantled casemates linger yet the echoes of past stirring times and deeds; the numerous points of interest throughout this ancient town—St. Michael’s Church, majestic with the memories of old, traces of the earthquake of 1886, etc., etc. The visitors, returning, will reach Fayetteville at 7:30 on the evening of Thursday, 16th inst.—having enjoyed, we will venture to say, three days as crowded with incident and as fraught with pleasing variety as could possibly be picked out of the whole year’s calendar.
Mr. Douglas Jennings went to Charleston this week to secure special hotel rates, and the result of his trip will be announced in due time. The excursionists do not change cars between here and Charleston.
[Fayetteville Observer – July 9, 1891]
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FIRST EXCURSION!
Fayetteville to Charleston, So. Ca.
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TO THE PUBLIC!
FAYETTEVILLE, N. C., June 30, 1891.
We will run an excursion from Fayetteville, N. C., to Charleston, S. C., on TUESDAY JULY 14th, over the C. F. & Y. V. and C. S. & N. R. R. Train will leave Passenger Depot, Fayetteville, N. C., at 7 o’clock on the morning of the 14th, and arrive in Charleston about 1 P. M. Returning, train will leave Charleston about noon on July 16th, and arrive in Fayetteville about 7 P. M. Fare for round trip from Fayetteville to Maxton, inclusive. $3.00; from John’s to Dalby $2.50. Reserved seats 50 cents extra. This will give excursionists nearly two days in Charleston, and afford a splendid opportunity of visiting the city and many historic places of interest near there, among them Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Sullivan’s Island (the finest beach on the Southern coast), etc. The best of order will be maintained and everything done to insure a pleasant time.
Tickets and reserved seats on sale at W. C. [Mc]McDuffie’s Drug Store.
For further information see large posters, or call on or address
E. H. JENNINGS,
Fayetteville, N. C.,
or DOUGLAS JENNINGS,
Bennettsville, S. C.
[Fayetteville Observer – July 9, 1891]
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CHARLESTON’S NEW NEIGHBORS.
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Something about the People in the
Vicinity of Red Springs, North Carolina.
RED SPRINGS, N. C., July 18.—Special: Life at Red Springs still wears its happy aspect. Crops are fine, the outlook is bright, the breezes delightful, and everyone is apparently enjoying life. The South Carolina contingent at the Hotel Townsend is getting on swimmingly. A large crowd from a few miles above here came down on a picnic yesterday, and there was a most pleasant commingling between the people of North and South Carolina. The excursionists were principally of Scotch descent, of which there is quite a colony in upper Robeson and lower Richmond counties and the Old North State contains no more conservative, thrifty people, and no better citizens than they. There are a great many Scottish people throughout this section.
All around here was once the field of operations of the once famous Lowry gang. The tribe to which the Lowry gang belonged are said to be a people peculiar to themselves. They are not whites, neither are they negroes. There is a tradition that the Lowry tribe are the descendants of the “lost colony”—descendants of Raleigh—and the tradition has been in part, at least, confirmed by recent investigations. The members of the Lowry tribe now living around here are said to be quiet and peaceable.
As stated recently in the News and Courier, the completion of the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad to Bennettsville, whereby connection was made with that section of South Carolina and communication was opened with all this section to Fayetteville and beyond, means a great deal more than appeared upon the surface by the mere announcement of the cold fact, and especially does it mean much for Charleston; and if Charleston, with the aid and the active co operation of the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad, does not reap immense benefit from the advantages and opportunities offered thereby it will be altogether their fault.
A visit to this section would impress the importance of the territory opened up to Charleston by the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad and its connections. This is one of the finest farming sections of the Old North State, and its business is well worth striving for, as is that of the Pee Dee section of South Carolina. The value of the business of Fayetteville and the towns above, on the line of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad, have already been fully set forth in The News and Courier by “M. F. T.” The merchants of Wilmington are fully awake to the importance of the connections made by the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad and fully realize that they have in Charleston a formidable competitor for this trade. The merchants around here are already looking towards Charleston as a business point, and some have made inquiries of your correspondent about Charleston as a cotton market. A large cotton crop will be harvested in this section this year.
The completion of the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Railroad has already quickened the pulse of social and business activity in the Pee Dee country and above in North Carolina. The schedules on the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad have been quickened up so that a fast train on this branch of the road is a curiosity before unknown. The volume of travel wonderfully increased since the through connection has been made, and there is also a perceptible increase in the volume of freight business.
Allow me to make a suggestion with reference to the banquet to be given in Charleston on the 27th instant to the business men of Bennettsville, Darlington and Sumter, as a reciprocal compliment to the banquet at Bennettsville. It would be a paying card to the people of Charleston to extend their invitations also to representative business men of Fayetteville, Red Springs, Maxton and other points along this road. What do you think of the plea, Mr. Editor.
The District Conference of Fayetteville district is now in session at Maxton, just below here. Bishop A. W. Wilson is presiding.
I find the people around here very much interested in South Carolina politics, and they are curious to see what turn affairs will take next. The story of Governor Tillman’s free pass is well known and much discussed. They all say that Governor Tillman has certainly “put his foot in it.”
In my last letter I spoke of the Hon. R. B. Hunter as the State Alliance lecturer. This is an error. Mr. Hunter is the lecturer for this Congressional district.
[Charleston News and Courier – Monday Morning, July 20, 1891]
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The Charleston Excursion.
We regret very much that the Messrs. Jennings did not reap a financial success from the excursion train run by them on the 14th inst. From this place to Charleston, for they have the grateful acknowledgments of all the Fayetteville people making up the pleasure party on that occasion. The excursion train was forced to give way all along the line for the regular trains, and consequently did not arrive at Charleston until late in the evening—some hours after the time advertised; but the managers were unwearied in their attention to the pleasure and comfort of the excursionists, who were served at will with different kinds of refreshments both going and returning.
Charleston is full of interest to the stranger, and our folks found the time all too short for seeing everything worth looking at, and enjoying everything that could give pleasure. They were unanimous in their conviction that nothing had come in their way in many years more delightful than the Charlotte [Charleston?] excursion.
The Charleston Excursion.
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For the Observer.]
MESSRS. EDITORS:–We (of the excursionists) boarded the train at 7 o’clock on Tuesday morning, 14th inst., at Fayetteville, and reached Charleston at 7:30 o’clock in the evening.
The next day we went on the steamer Pocosin to those ancient spots, Fort Sumter and Sullivan’s Island. You recollect that Sumter is the fort from which the first gun was fired in the “War Between the States,” but the older people know more about it than I do.
If one did not know of the earthquake of 1886 he would never see any signs of it in Charleston, with its many beautiful public buildings and private residences. It is certainly a “city of churches,” there being 8 of the Episcopal denomination alone, besides, of course, many others. The excursionists stopped at different hotels—The Charleston, Waverly House, and National; we stopped at the latter.
We left Charleston at 12:30, on Thursday. After crossing two rivers (not the bridges of trouble) we arrived at Fayetteville at 11 o’clock, P. M. Everyone expressed himself or herself as well-pleased.
My advice is to take a trip to Charleston, but don’t let an “elephant step on your pocket book.” Our pleasant trip, like everything else, comes to an end.
E.
[Fayetteville Observer – July 23, 1891]
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NOTES: I have made the assumption that the injury referenced below, during a train ride between Fayetteville and Charleston, SC would have been the result of Capt. Tomlinson participating in the “First Excursion”.
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Obituary.
Capt. R. H. Tomlinson died at his residence on Ramsey street in this city on Monday night, 10th inst., after an illness of only a few days. We are not justified in the statement by any expression of medical or surgical opinion, but some of his friends think that his death was probably somewhat accelerated by internal injuries received from a fall which he had during his travel on the railroad between this city and Charleston.
The deceased was for some time actively engaged in mercantile business in Fayetteville, but was subsequently connected with the boating service on the Cape Fear river, and at the time of his death was commander of the steamer Murchison, and in his official relations with the public added to the circle of friends in his native place. He married Miss Jane Monaghan, daughter of the late lamented B. Monaghan, of this place, who, with three children, survives him.
The funeral services took place from the residence yesterday morning at 10 o’clock, Rev. Dr. J. C. Huske, of St. John’s Episcopal Church, conducting the ceremonies, and the remains were escorted to the grave by the Knights of Pythias, of which order Capt. Tomlinson was a member.
[The Fayetteville Observer – August 13, 1891.]
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The Cape Fear River Steamers
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The Cape Fear River Steamers 