Friday Funny

 

Thursday's Time Capsule

 

William John Drake, my great grandfather, was born on September 23, 1857 in Emanuel County, Georgia. It was the first day of autumn that year. 

If we could step back into a time machine to September 23, 1857, what would we see, hear, and read about? There were striking contrasts of the time: a nation gripped by sudden financial panic, gripped by global news, and yet moving to the rhythm of the autumn harvest. In the South, September marked the beginning of the grueling cotton-picking season. Families, farmworkers, and enslaved laborers alike were working from sunrise to sunset in the fields.  

The Big Headlines: Panic and Progress

The fall of 1857 was a turbulent moment in American history.  If you picked up a newspaper in late September, the front pages were dominated by high-stakes drama:

• The Financial Freefall:  
• In late August, the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company collapsed, triggering the Panic of 1857.  By this time in September, newspapers were filled with frantic reports of failing banks, halted railroads, and spiking unemployment in northern cities.  Down south, plantation owners and merchants were watching in horror as the global and domestic market for cotton began to seize up due to frozen credit, signaling that the economic storm would hit the agricultural south hard.  

• On September 12, 1857, - just a week and half before my great grandfather was born - the sidewheel steamer SS Central America sank in a horrific hurricane off the coast of North Carolina, taking 425 lives and tons of California gold to the ocean floor.  Newspapers were filled with urgent reports of failing banks and halted railroads because these businesses  were relying on that shipment for liquidity.  

• Eyes on the World: 
• Americans were also obsessed with overseas news.  Newspapers all over the country were dedicating massive column inches to the Indian Rebellion (often called the Sepoy Mutiny) against British rule.  Southern slaveholders viewed the uprising through a very specific, nervous domestic lens, often drawing deep and anxious parallels to their own fears regarding racial hierarchies and slave rebellions. 

• A Quiet Spark: 
• Amidst the economic anxiety, a modest event happened on September 23 itself. A businessman-turned-missionary named Jeremiah Lanphier held a midday prayer meeting at the North Dutch Reformed Church in Lower Manhattan. Only six people showed up, but this small gathering unexpectedly sparked the nationwide Third Great Awakening (also known as the 1857 Prayer Revival). As economic panic hit the United States, these daily prayer meetings exploded in popularity, eventually drawing tens of thousands of participants across major American cities.  

The Rhythm of Daily Life

While the country buzzed about the financial panic, everyday life for most Americans moved along at a pace dictated by the season.  

• The Harvest Season: September meant the peak of autumn labor. In the rural South, fields bustled from sunrise to sunset as workers gathered the annual cotton crop. In kitchens everywhere, families were locked in a race against time—canning, pickling, and drying late-summer produce to prep for the winter months ahead.  
  

• The Pace of News and Communication: While the telegraph connected major cities, information still traveled slowly to rural towns via weekly newspapers, stagecoaches, and word-of-mouth at the general store. Evening reading by the glow of whale oil or early kerosene lamps often featured serialized novels, wildly popular at the time, by authors like Charles Dickens or advertisements for colorful "patent medicines."

• Fashion and Home: Outfits were entirely handmade or stitched using relatively new hand-cranked sewing machines. Women wore floor-length gowns with expanding crinoline skirts, while men wore waistcoats, wool trousers, and brimmed hats outdoors.

• Community and School: As the heavy farm work began to ease, children in rural areas prepared to head back to the single-room schoolhouse for the autumn term. Students of all ages learned reading, writing, and arithmetic in a single room from a single teacher teacher using slates and chalk. Social life centered tightly around the church, family music nights with the fiddle or pump organ, and seasonal community gatherings. My great-grandfather was a preacher so I am sure their social life WAS the church.

The History We Never Learned

Writing this time capsule has been a fascinating reminder of how much history hides just beneath the surface. Growing up, we all learned the grim textbook lessons about the stock market crash of 1929 and the deep economic despair of the Great Depression. Yet, looking back at the autumn of 1857 reveals a remarkably similar story of sudden financial panic, global anxiety, and everyday resilience—one that rarely makes it into standard history classes.

Standing on the other side of time, it’s humbling to think that the world my great-grandfather was born into was navigating its own massive economic storms and sweeping cultural shifts, all while families simply tried to put food on the table, harvest their fields, and look out for one another. History isn't just a list of dates in a textbook; it's the rich, complicated, and surprisingly familiar backdrop of the people who came before us.

Happy Birthday, Great-Grandfather! Here’s to remembering the world you stepped into.

Google Gemini assisted in writing this blog post.  I  proofread the information provided and put it more into my own words.

Wordless Wednesday

 This is a "wordless" post not because it is only a photo or image with no words, but because I have no words for this article I found in a 1923 newspaper.  

Newspapers.com, Waukegan News-Sun (formerly Waukegan Daily Sun and the Waukegan Daily Gazette),
Waukegan, Illinois, Friday, July 20, 1923, Page 6

Tuesday's Tombstone

 

Lizzie Lee Schwalls Powell
born 22 Feb 1894 in Kite, Johnson County, Georgia, USA
died 30 Sep 1991 in Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia, USA

with her husband,

Norris Watson Powell
born 26 Mar 1891 in Johnson County, Georgia, USA
died 04 Feb 1971 in Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia, USA

buried in the
Powell's Chapel United Methodist Church cemetery
Johnson County, Georgia, USA

Military Monday

 

Warren M. Bowen
1898-1955

Cpl, Co I, 18th Infantry, 1 Division
World War I

Silver Star and Purple Heart + Oak Leaf Cluster

Black Sheep Sunday - Part 9 (1948-1950) of From small town Georgia boy to notorious Texas (and beyond!) con man

 

This post is the 9th in a series of posts about the life of my cousin and con man Elridge Solomon Price, Sr.  You can find the other installments here:  Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3, Part 4,  Part 5, Part 6, Part 7  and Part 8.

The year 1948 started out with trials:  Trial Dates, Charges, Motions, Indictments, you name it. 

Newspapers.com, Standard-Times, San Angelo, Texas,
Monday, January 19, 1948, Page 1

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Tuesday, January 20, 1948, Page 3

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Saturday, March 6, 1948, Page 2

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Monday, March 08, 1948, Page 4

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Tuesday, March 09, 1948, Page 12

Newspapers.com, San Angelo Evening Standard, San Angelo, Texas,
Tuesday, March 09, 1948, Page 1

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Tuesday, March 09, 1948, Page 4

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Tuesday, March 09, 1948, Page 12

Newspapers.com, Abilene Reporter-News, Abilene, Texas,
Wednesday, March 10, 1948, Page 1

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Wednesday, March 10, 1948, Page 1

The next article goes back to the robbery of Elridge and Edith's home the past year:

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Friday, April 09, 1948, Page 10

"Defendants in Ballinger Robbery Sued for $35,680

Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Haller of Hollywood, Fla., who were present as guests in the home of Eldridge Solomon Price near Ballinger when a cash and jewel robbery was staged there last September, are plaintiffs in a $35,680 damage suit filed in Federal District Court here against the two men who were charged in the robbery.

One of the defendants, Henry J. West, formerly of Mineral Wells and now of Fort Worth, was acquitted of the robbery charge in a trial at Ballinger last November. After the trial, charges against Buryl Walker, the other defendant, were dismissed at the request of Price.

In the civil suit on file here, Mr. and Mrs. Haller allege they suffered $10,680 actual and $25,000 exemplary damages.

They charge that two men entered the Price home armed with pistols and "machine gun or machine guns." The Hallers asserted that because of threats and being forced to lie on the floor they have suffered "intense pain and suffering, mental anguish and humiliation." "

Transcription by Gemini Google due to being unable to increase the size of the article anymore than shown.

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Tuesday, May 25, 1948, Page 1

All was quiet for the rest of 1948.  In June 1949, articles began appearing in the Toledo newspaper about Elridge and his connection to an oil company there. 

Newspapers.com, The Blade (formerly Toledo Blade), Toledo, Ohio,
Tuesday, June 14, 1949 Pages 1 & 4

Newspapers.com, The Blade (formerly Toledo Blade), Toledo, Ohio,
Thursday, June 08, 1949 Pages 1 & 4

Newspapers.com, The Blade (formerly Toledo Blade), Toledo, Ohio,
Tuesday, June 14, 1949 Pages 1 & 4

Newspapers.com, The Blade (formerly Toledo Blade), Toledo, Ohio,
Tuesday, June 16, 1949 Pages 1 & 4

Newspapers.com, The Blade (formerly Toledo Blade), Toledo, Ohio,
Thursday, September 22, 1949 Pages 1 & 4

"Maumee Oil Order

(Continued from First Page)

The SEC opinion accompanied the order took a dim view of the Texas property on which Maumee holds oil rights.

"It would be misleading merely to describe the (Maumee stock) offering as speculative," the opinion said.

In brief, the SEC said the "development work which has been done shows no reasonable prospect of salvaging the original or any additional investment".

Testimony at the hearing indicated that Toledans have invested more than $500,000 in this project.

Maumee wanted to raise another $261,400 by selling 2,614 shares of stock to the public at $100 a share.

The SEC opinion on the Maumee stock reflected the judgment of its staff summed up at the hearing by Tell T. White, SEC petroleum geologist and engineer, who called the Maumee venture "wildcatting of the wildest sort".

The SEC has no power to pass direct judgment on the merits of any securities, but it can stop sales in interstate commerce until it's satisfied that a company's registration statement and prospectus provide accurate and adequate information for possible investors.

Led To Investments

In Maumee's case, in addition to the questions about likelihood of finding any appreciable quantity of oil, the SEC also was concerned about the connection with the project of Eldridge S. Price, Ballinger, Tex., whose chance encounter with Samuel Heath in a San Antonio, Tex., store in 1946 led to the widespread investment by Toledans in oil subleases.

Maumee did not name Mr. Price as a promoter of its operations. The SEC held that, in view of his connection, he came directly within the SEC definition of a promoter.

Individuals, mostly Toledans, who originally purchased subleases from Mr. Price and later assigned to Maumee, in exchange for stock, their interests in 2,677.88 acres in Runnels County, Tex., paid him between $200,000 and $260,000, the SEC said.

Balance Due

In addition, Maumee later agreed to pay Mr. Price $301,640 for subleases on 3,321.4 acres and has paid him $290,340, leaving a balance due of $11,300.

The original price for oil rights paid to Mr. Price by investors was $43.75 an acre. This he later raised to $100 an acre while, the SEC found, "he apparently was acquiring additional acreage (rights) at about $1 per acre".

The opinion noted that Mr. Price told Mr. Heath and Mr. Marquardt that he had a criminal record but that he declared he had been convicted and imprisoned unfairly. Testimony indicated that Mr. Price had served a prison term for income tax evasion and at one time was under indictment charging securities fraud. This indictment subsequently was quashed, SEC records show.

No Experience

For failure to name Mr. Price as a promoter, and for failure to show that none of the officers of Maumee has had any experience in the petroleum industry, the SEC held the corporation's registration statement omitted "material" and required facts.

But the commission directed its severest language at Maumee's descriptions of its Texas assets.

Testimony indicated that four wells had been drilled on Maumee's properties, that two of them—in which Maumee owned a half-interest each, along with Mr. Price—were producing oil and that two were dry holes.

The registration statement said that one well, called the Brookshire, had an "initial production" of 203 barrels of oil a day.

Fixed At 25 Barrels

This figure, the SEC found, was obtained by multiplying by eight the actual production of approximately 25 barrels in an official 3-hour test.

The state of Texas fixed the allowable production for this well at 25 barrels a day, but by the fall of 1948 the well had been unable to produce that amount, the SEC noted, adding:

"The registration statement states that since November, 1948, no oil was marketed from the Brookshire well, which was registrant's only producing well prior to April, 1949, for the reason that the former purchaser of the oil discontinued operations and no efforts had as yet been made to locate a new purchaser. However, the record indicates that registrant (Maumee) did secure a new purchaser for the oil in December, 1948."

"As to the production of the Brookshire well, the registration statement is thus deficient and in part apparently false".

The only information in the registration statement about the productivity of another well, the Clayton No. 1, was based on a report in a Texas newspaper. The SEC said Maumee should have made "a reasonable investigation" of this report.

Two Unproductive

What's more, the SEC said:

"The prospectus states that two of the four wells are unproductive, but fails to state that the two producing wells have no reasonable chance, on the basis of the present price of oil, to be profitable investments and it is merely more economical to operate them on a day-to-day basis than to abandon them."

Texas State reports, the SEC continued, show that the Beddo Field (in which Maumee's subleases lie) "is an inferior field, which during the last several months has never marketed more than 60 per cent of its allowable production and usually much less".

"All together, there are about 20 wells in the Beddo Field, and an even larger number of dry holes. These facts, material to an evaluation of registrant's properties, were apparently not fully known to registrant and are not mentioned in the registration statement".

Statement Misleading

"The registration statement in referring to productive wells in which registrant is interested failed to point out that they are not sufficiently productive to provide for the return of the cost of drilling and producing oil."

As to Maumee's plans for new drilling to be financed by the new money it seeks to raise, the SEC said:

"Registrant described the projected wells as 'exploratory,' which was misleading without also disclosing the information in its possession that the projected wells were to be located in the vicinity of its two unprofitable wells, and that there was no reasonable factual basis for expecting that the new wells would be better than the two existing wells."

Oil Firm To File Amended Statement

An amended statement to conform with the Securities and Exchange Commission wishes will be filed with the commission as soon as a copy of the commission's ruling is obtained here, Howard C. Cook, Toledo attorney for the Maumee Oil Corp., said today.

Mr. Cook returned last night from Washington after conferring with SEC officials.

He said that the amended statement will "spell out" more clearly the full facts of the company and its prospects.

This amended statement will be filed with the SEC for examination. If approved, 20 days after filing, the SEC will release an order permitting issuance of the additional shares of stock to the public, he explained."

Transcription by Gemini Google due to the article's low print quality.

Newspapers.com, Chicago Tribune (formerly Chicago Daily Tribune),
Chicago, Illinois, Wednesday, October 19, 1949, Page 53

Elridge's "misunderstandings" of the past always seem to come back around later:

Newspapers.com, San Angelo Evening Standard, San Angelo, Texas,
Thursday, October 20, 1949, Page 2

In June of 1950, the Hallers, who were visiting Elridge and Edith when their home was robbed and also lost money and jewelry, got bad news:

Newspapers.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas,
Monday, June 12, 1950

"Suit in Gem Robbery Case Dismissed

Echoes of a jewel robbery at the Runnels County home of Eldridge Solomon Price on Sept. 20, 1945, were heard in U. S. District Court Monday when Federal Judge Davidson dismissed for lack of prosecution a damage suit brought by Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Haller against Henry J. West.

The Hallers, who live in Hollywood, Fla., filed suit here some time ago for $35,680 damages due to their alleged fright and experiences during the robbery when two men held up those in the Price home where they were guests. Diamonds were among the jewelry taken.

West, who had been in the jewelry business in Mineral Wells, was acquitted later by a jury on charges filed in connection with the armed robbery.

Ardell Young, representing West, when the case was called said he had no word from D. A. Frank of Dallas, attorney for the Hallers. Judge Davidson in dismissing the case said it could be reinstated."

Transcription by Gemini Google due to the article's low print quality.

That was all for 1950.  Things were quiet for now, but it is going to get busy again in 1951.  Stay tuned.