10/19/08
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As presented in the Sunday, Oct. 19, 1958 edition of the Rome News-Tribune
Sensational reports as to the extent of the prevalence of scarlet fever in Rome were set at rest at the City Council meeting by City Physician J.C. Watts, who declared that there were only about 15 cases, and they were of a mild type of scarlet fever.
The Council adopted stringent quarantine measures in an effort to curb the epidemic, and several people were arrested during the past week fifty years ago for violating the ordinance.
Among them was Prof. Henry Simmons of the Shorter College faculty, his case growing out of the complaints made by J.E. Dean and R.A. Denny, neighbors on East Third Avenue.
Mr. Simmons, whose home contained a scarlet fever case, said he was ignorant of the new law and was not aware of violating an ordinance. He was fined $25, which was to be held up if he obeyed the law.
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Two unknown white men entered the home of Capt. W. P. Simpson late one night a half-century ago, causing great excitement in the neighborhood.
O.H. McWilliams, a son-in-law, was awakened by someone striking a match in his room. He asked his wife to hand him his gun, and by the time he turned the electric lights on, the man had made a break for the door. Mr. McWilliams followed him into the hall, but when the intruder saw that he had a gun, he called out, “Come on Jim, now’s our chance.”
Jim didn’t come, however, so the man ran down the stairs and escaped through an open window onto the roof of the back porch.
Capt. Simpson, awakened by the confusion, called the police, and at this time the second burglar made his escape from behind the hall curtains in some manner.
Mrs. Thomas Fahy, a neighbor, had been aroused a short time earlier by sounds in her yard. When she saw two men sneaking along beside the shrubbery, she summoned the police, but by the time they reached the scene, the men had apparently broken into the Simpson home.
They left behind them on the front porch two pairs of shoes and in the hall a hat.
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A bad yet remarkable accident happened to the 8-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hames, of West 10th Street, when he was run over by a two-horse wagon loaded with cord wood. The boy was “hooking” a free ride on the wagon on the way to school, and climbed on top of the high pile of cord. A schoolmate threw an apple to him, and young Hames, in trying to catch it, slipped and fell face down under the wheels of the wagon. He was rendered unconscious and was feared dead, but no bones were broken. Soon he regained consciousness and was reported on the way to recovery.
In another accident, “Dock” Ledbetter, who was in charge of the Tumlin cotton gin, had his hand caught in the machinery and several fingers were severed.
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A meteor struck the earth last week in 1908 about three miles south of Kingston near the old Best’s mill, on a farm rented by Charlie Yarbrough. It hit the ground with such force that it was buried from sight entirely, leaving a hole large enough to put a good size house in it.
The concussion was felt all over the section, and it had attracted many visitors from Rome.
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