LEAVING ON A PROP PLANE

LEAVING ON A PROP PLANE

Just before noon on June 15 1971, local history was made.  Two twin-engine Beech Air South aircraft filled with county, state and airline officials arrived at the Laurens County airport. Although many fortune-seeking entrepreneurs had tried and failed, for the first time ever a regional airline was scheduling flights in and out of Dublin and twice a day to boot.

The effort to establish airline service came in the spring of 1971 through the cooperative effort of the Dublin-Laurens Chamber of Commerce and the Laurens County Commissioners along with their counterparts in Statesboro and Bulloch County.  With the financial aid of Georgia’s trade and industrial commissions and Georgia’s governor, the necessary changes were made to extend the runway’s landing lights to 4,000 feet, cut trees along the approaches and adjust the slope of the runway, along with a local $10,000.00 allocation.

Air South began operations in 1969 with flights between Waycross, Albany and Brunswick. Once the necessary approvals were made, the Laurens County commissioners hired Cecil Willis as operations manager  and Richard Hurd as ticket manager and weather agent  to manage the local operation.  For Willis and Hurd, one of their first tasks was to learn how to operate the National Weather Service station at the airport.  The new equipment aided the Air South pilots as well as other local pilots.  Willis and Hurd reported daily to the Macon bureau the local weather information.

Just after eleven o’clock on the morning of June 15, the occupants of the two planes deplaned in view of a large crowd of eyewitnesses to history.  Many came to see the planes while others came to see Georgia’s newly inaugurated governor.  Little did the gathering know that within six years, their governor, Jimmy Carter, would become the President of the United States.

Gov. Carter, (left)  who was all smiles that late spring day,  outlined how the coming of Air South to Dublin and Statesboro became a reality.

Chamber of Commerce Chairman, Ed Herrin, acted as the master of ceremonies along with the charming help of Dublin’s eternally affable mayor, Lester Porter. County Commissioner H.D. Hobbs welcomed the crowd before Mayor Porter introduced Governor Carter.  Air South President F.E. Howe offer his company’s gratitude and honor for being chosen as the carrier between the three city route.

Flying with Governor Carter and his staff in the lead plane were commissioners H.D. Hobbs, Robert Beacham and J.B. Fordham, Chamber President Herrin, and County Attorney H. Dale Thompson, a former naval pilot in World War II.

Porter presented Air South President Howe with the mayor’s patented Dublin keepsake a shillelagh. The Heart of Georgia Commission presented Governor Carter and each official a potted chrysanthemum.

L-R - Laurens County Attorney, H. Dale Thompson, Commissioner Robert Beacham,

Air South President Pete Howe, Commissioner J.B. Fordham, Gov. Jimmy Carter,

Commissioner H.D. Hobbs, Mayor Lester Porter, Chamber President, Ed Herrin,

and Fred Steele Federal Rep. Coastal Plains Regional Commission.  

After the ceremony, the governor, airline officials and a host of Bulloch County boosters climbed aboard the planes, which took off to the east for a similar ceremony in their Statesboro.

Crowd awaiting arrival of inaugural Air South flight. 

Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter

County Commissioners - Robert Beacham, H.D. Hobbs and J.B. Fordham 

Cecil Passmore and Gov. Jimmy Carter

Air South Plane in Atlanta

Dublin Mayor - Lester Porter

All of Dublin was excited as merchants welcomed Air South to Dublin in newspaper ads.  The airline hoped to entice couples to leave Dublin on Saturday morning, stay at any of the eight Mark Inns in the Atlanta area, and return on Sunday evening for the unbelievably low price of less than $78.00.

Each morning the flights would begin in Statesboro at 7:30 a.m for the 20-minute trip to Dublin.  After a 15-minute layover, passengers departed Dublin at 8:05 and arrived some 35 minutes later at the Atlanta Airport.   The return flight left Atlanta at 10:30 and arrived in Dublin at 11:05 and landed back to Statesboro before 11:30.  The flight schedule would allow a Dublin resident to leave Dublin at 8:05, pick up a relative or business client and be back in Dublin in three hours. A second flight out of Dublin left for Atlanta at 12:30 p.m..

Ten Dollars would buy you a ticket to Statesboro, not a bad dealing considering there was no Interstate Highway 16 open in the early days.  For $18.50 a Dubliner could fly to the Atlanta Airport and avoid the even then hectic Atlanta traffic.

By the end of 1971, Air South added evening flight 172 which arrived from Brunswick at 8:15 p.m,  left Dublin at 8:30 p.m. and arrived in Atlanta 40 minutes later.  The new flight was added to alleviate the morning Flight 412 which was frequently plagued by foggy morning conditions.  With the new flight, other changes were made in the timing of the other flights on the schedule.

Shortly after air service was initiated in Dublin, the directors of Air South elected a new president, Bartlett M. Shaw, a veteran executive with Scandanavian Airlines.  Eventually the company would move from Atlanta to Saint Simons Island, Shaw’s home, for economic reasons.

Passenger traffic aboard Air South planes continued to soar in the next year.  June 1972 was a company record for passengers.  In the first year,  overall traffic increased by 25 percent.

The news of increased passenger levels was made even better by the announcement that on June 1, 1972, service to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina would be added.  During the summer of 1972, passenger levels continued to rise.

In the early autumn of 1972, Air South staged a promotional tour among the cities it served. Dublin businessmen Thomas Curry, Louie Livingston and Mayor Lester Porter traveled aboard a 44- passenger British turbo prop as it toured across the state.

One of the most famous passengers aboard an Air South flight arrived in Dublin on March 9, 1973 in time for the annual St. Patrick’s Festival that year.  Eileen Fulton, (left)  who starred in the legendary role of “Lisa” on the soap opera, “As The World Turns,” landed in town before a large
crowd of admirers.

At the end of its second year, June 1973 was once again an all time monthly record for the airlines.  Air South officials began to look at buying newer and better aircraft to meet the demands of their passengers.

After three years, the airline was still setting records.  Beaufort, South Carolina was added in 1974 bringing the June total to 9,351.

As good as the numbers were, the number of passengers flying on the Statesboro-Dublin legs of the flight were dropping to an economically unsustainable level.

Just before Christmas, the board of Air South voted to terminate the flights to Dublin.  The last plane  left Dublin on December 28, 1974.

In the future, passenger service may return to Dublin.  But for now, we have to turn on our memories of those days when you could leave Dublin on a prop plane, complete your business in Atlanta, and return home, just in time for a late supper with your family

The Return of the SAM Railroad

Once they wove a web across the land, running north to south, east to west and all directions in between.   The wails of "choo-choo" and the rings of "clang clang" are few now.  The great "Iron Horse" no longer dominates the landscape of the Georgia countryside, but down in South Georgia, you can step back in time more than a half century and climb aboard a real life -  sure enough choo-choo train.  It is the SAM Shortline and its tri-city ride will propel you backwards in time to a day when life was a little slower and travel a little less comfortable, but oh so much more exciting.  

The origin of the SAM railroad grew out ouf Samuel Hawkins disdain for monopolistic railroad rates of the South Western Railroad in the years following the Civil War.  Hawkins, an Americus lawyer and financier,   suggested statewide regulation of railroads, a position which resulted in the name of Americus being removed from regulation railroad maps.    First known as the AP & L (Americus, Preston and Lumpkin) Railroad, the line was expanded after two years in 1886 to Abbeville on the western banks of the Ocmulgee River.    The railroad established an inland port at Abbeville, shipping goods downstream to Darien on the Atlantic coast.  When the railroad was extended to Savannah as its eastern terminus and Montgomery, Alabama at its western most point, the railroad changed its name to reflect the main cities along its line to Savannah, Americus and Montgomery, and the name of its founder, or SAM for short. From Abbeville, the SAM Railroad ran through Rhine, Milan, Helena, Alamo, Mt. Vernon,  Vidalia and Lyons, giving the shippers and passengers from the lower end of the Oconee & Ocmulgee regions their first direct route to the port city of Savannah.

The coming of the 21st Century saw the rebirth of the SAM Railroad.  Now known as the S.A.M. Shortline, the state owned railroad is actually a rolling state park.  The Georgia Legislature created the Southwest Georgia Railroad Excursion Authority to operate a passenger train from Cordele to Plains, where the rail line got very influential support from President Jimmy Carter.

A few weekends ago, I got the opportunity to ride the SAM with a group of Dubliners.  We were there to explore the possibility of bringing the train and its entire crew to Dublin next winter for a train excursion to Macon.    We arrived more than the requisite 15 minutes early, only to find long lines of passengers anxious to get aboard.   After a brief stop at the ticket booth in the visitor's center in Cordele, we boarded the train.  Boarding from the front of the train, we got to see nearly the entire train.  Each car is dedicated to stops along the route.  Especially attractive was the Georgia Veteran's State Park car, which was decorated in a style reminiscent of a train during the years of World War II.  

Near the end of the regular passenger cars is the commissary car.  It is a place where you can get something highly sweet or highly fattening, but oh so good, to eat.  Plenty of candy, pop corn, drinks and an assortment of goodies are served by a friendly crew.  Behind the commissary car are the premium seating cars.  The first car, a more modern vintage of rail car has tables and chairs for eating, sitting or a game of cards.  If you don't bring your own deck, there are cards available in the commissary.

The most gorgeous of all of the cars in the "Samuel H. Hawkins."  Located in the rear of the train on the first leg of the trip and at the front on the return trip, this 1939 vintage car was built as a tavern-observation car for the Florida East Coast Railroad.   Known formerly as "The Bay Biscyane," the wood paneled car features Art Deco sconce lights between the windows and wooden tables and chairs.  There are plans to restore the car to its original state during this fall and winter.  If you are lucky enough, it is best place on the train, when the train's second engine is not attached, giving the passenger a panoramic view of the countryside. 

Once we left Cordele, the train ran along tracks surrounded by kudzu, morning glory and a wide variety of wild flowers, interrupted by groves of pines, oaky swamps, and fields of sorghum, peanuts and cotton.  One cotton field seemed to radiate a mile or more in every direction from the train track.  As we passed through intersections, the occupants of the cars waved and smiled, knowing that we were spending our dollars in the community and that every day hence there would be more of us coming. 

Our first stop was at Georgia Veteran's State Park, where the train sleeps at night.  The Park on the shores of Lake Blackshear features a museum saluting the men and women of Georgia who have served in the military.  After crossing the picturesque lake where cypress trees grow right out of the edge of the water, we came to the town of Leslie.  We didn't stop on this day and missed the world's largest rural telephone museum.  

Our first layover came in Americus.   We had to take a side track to get closer to the downtown area.  We hopped aboard a shuttle and road through the downtown area.  You can eat at a variety of fine restaurants or chose to eat in the luxurious Windsor Hotel, a national historic site and a certified haunted hotel.  The 1892 hotel features a three story atrium adorned by beautiful wooden columns, rails and beams.  In the grand dining room, we feasted on a diet of roast beef, fried and baked chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, banana pudding, apple cobbler, coconut and chocolate cake.  For the dieters in the crowd, there is a fine salad bar.

We hurried back to the train for the ride to the second stop of the day, the town of Plains, Georgia.  The site of the home of former President Jimmy Carter, Plains still retains a touch of the atmosphere of those days in the 1970s when the sleepy little town became the focus of the presidential campaign.  While in town, you can visit antique shops, a caf‚ and a department store, where you can treat your self to fried peanuts, peanut ice cream, peanut brittle and all sorts of peanut butter, including that ever popular Cajun peanut butter.  If you hustle or just stay over for a while, you can walk to Plains High School, where the President attended in the late 1930s.  

The last leg of the trip took us to Archery, the boyhood home of President Carter.  There you can see and walk through the president's former home.  The outbuildings and grounds have been re-created to give the visitor some idea of how the farm may have looked  during the twenty one years it was occupied by the Carter family.  Of special interest is the restored commissary store, which the Carter's operated to make extra money.  There's even a piece of half shucked corn and unpicked peanuts hanging on the fence, just to show the Yankee's how they look before they are cooked.

I highly recommend the trip and hope we can bring the train to Dublin very soon.  I especially want to thank the volunteers who gave their time to make the trip a pleasant one.  If you are lucky, you might get the knowledgeable and affable Tom Nicholson, a native of Dodge County and hotel manager, to be your car host.  Then there's Bill Byrd, an Americus hospital administrator, who serves as the trainman.  Byrd insures that everything on the train operates smoothly and efficiently.  And finally, you'll get your ticket punched by Al Mills, a friendly and witty  guy whose uniform makes him look he was born to be a ticket taker.

THE FIRST NANCY HANKS

The Fastest Thing in The South

She was the fastest thing in America, or at least in the South - more than twice as fast as her namesake, the fastest horse in the forty-four states.  Able to fly down the tracks at the seeming supersonic speed of seventy-seven miles an hour, the Nancy Hanks I, nothing but a speeding bullet could out run her. In the end, it was speed which brought her fame and speed which killed her.

In the 1880s, competing railroads were engaged in serious and bitter competition. Lower fares, unwavering reliability, prompt service and speed of travel were the goals of good railroads in this state and around the nation.  Although, the Central of Georgia dominated the railroad industry in Georgia during the latter years of the 19th Century, company officials were always out to improve their service to the customer and at the same time, increase the profits to their shareholders.

In 1892, the Central's owners devised a bold plan to put the ultimate in speedy passenger trains on the tracks from Atlanta to Savannah. The Baldwin 4-0-0  locomotive, in its initial trials, boosted the Nancy Hanks to a speed of 78  miles per hour  -  much faster than trains which boosted that they were the fastest in the world by traveling a mile a minute, or sixty miles per hour.  Railroad officials planned to have at least three of the fast trains - one to travel in each direction and a third one to serve as a back up if either of  the main trains ran into trouble.

Despite some thoughts to the contrary, the Nancy Hanks was not named for the mother of Abraham Lincoln - not hardly in the post war South which was still suffering from lingering effects of Reconstruction and northern Republican domination of the Federal government. It was indirectly named for the president's mother, who was the namesake of the country's fastest race horse at the time.

The first test cruise of the Nancy Hanks came on October 9, 1892.  At precisely 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Savannah, with the top officials of the railroad onboard, the bullet train left the depot in Savannah.  In the most amazing time of eight hours, the Blue Fast Flyer, pulling two passenger cars, a baggage car and an express car, arrived in Macon at 12:45 for a 20 minute lunch stop, At 3:00 p.m, the Nancy Hanks arrived at the depot in Atlanta.

On a second test run, with a larger contingent of eminent men aboard, the Nancy Hanks, with Engineer J. Flanders at the controls, pulled the throttle full speed ahead attaining a speed of 78 mph and trimming the Atlanta to Savannah,294-mile  run to seven and one half hours.

The Nancy Hanks was no ordinary locomotive. Her elegantly refurbished cars were painted a bright vermillion shade of red, with "Nancy Hanks" with gold letters, painted by W.T. Leopold,  on both sides of her cars. The engine was painted in bright royal blue colors.

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The Nancy Hanks' lighting fast speed had deadly consequences.  On a mid-afternoon in February 1893, Mary Short was taking a stroll to the Oakdale Depot.  Thinking the streaking blue and red train was going to slow down as it approached the depot, Mrs. Short  misjudged her speed and was instantly killed as she was walking across the tracks. On May 28 of that year, "Uncle Billy" Graham and his wife were walking along the tracks, holding their umbrellas over their heads during  a gully washer.  With the Nancy Hanks flying through the storm at a mile a minute, the Grahams never knew what hit and instantly killed them.

All went relatively well for the Nancy Hanks. That is until a Tuesday afternoon on March 14, 1893.  As the train was approaching Smarr's Station, some fifteen to twenty track miles from Macon, the flange of one the engine's wheels pulled off the rail.  The engine, which suffered substantial damage, left the track, as well as all of the other cars, except the parlor car which came to a stop half on and half off the tracks.

Surprisingly, no serious injuries were reported.  Engineer John Ramsey suffered an acute bump and cuts on his head, while Fireman Togaith was scalded by escaping steam.  William Cooper, a passenger from New York, was also cut on the head.  The passengers remained relatively calm while  E.A. Waxelbaum broke open a window to allow Cooper to be extricated to safety.

In less than two weeks after the wreck, circumstantial evidence and an apparent  confession by a frequent felon led prosecutors to believe that a dastardly crime had been committed.  As time passed, no indictment was sought and the derailment was finally determined to be an accident.

As the Panic of 1893 brought the economy of the United States and the world into the severest depression since 1873, the Central of Georgia's directors were forced to cut operations.  No longer could the railroad afford the lavish, lighting fast excursions from the capital city to the coast. Although the Nancy Hanks was profitable, she was drawing much needed and  experienced workers and resources  from other lines around the state.

The last ride of the Nancy Hanks came on August 13, 1893.  Actually, the only thing that changed was that the Nancy Hanks would no longer fly through the countryside from the coast to the foothills of the mountains.  It was relegated to ordinary passenger service, stopping at all regularly scheduled stations along her way, forcing her passenger to travel almost 11 hours to reach Savannah from Atlanta.

During the boom of post World War II, the Nancy Hanks II was put on the tracks from Atlanta through Macon to Savannah.  From July 1947 to April 1971, the Nancy Hanks II represented the ultimate luxury in the waning  golden era of passenger railroad traffic in America. On some rare occasions when there were impediments to travel along the Central from Macon to Savannah, her engineers would take the train along the old Macon, Dublin and Savannah route through Dublin.

It was 120 years ago when the fastest thing in the South came to a screeching halt.  It was as they always say, "all good things must come to an end." 

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

There is scarcely anyone around who hasn't heard the story of the RMS Titanic, which struck a North Atlantic iceberg a century ago today. Although many don't know the exact number of those who died that fateful April Sunday evening, the story has been told and retold in countless movies, books and television shows. What you might not know is that four of her passengers had ties to Central Georgia.

Linnie Futrelle never got over the news she received in her home in Adrian, Georgia, that her son Jacques was one of the 1517 souls who perished early in the morning of April 15, 1912. Futrelle and his wife May were cruising across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the unsinkable queen of the White Star Line. His mortal remains lie on the ocean floor among the layers of rock, silt, and the deteriorating hull of the world's most famous luxury liner, the H.M.S. Titanic.

His grieving mother, seeking closure to the death of her son, caused a marker to be erected to commemorate his tragic and noble death. You may have driven by the marker many times and never noticed it. This is the story of a man whose cenotaph stands in the cemetery of Poplar Springs Methodist Church, just east of Scott, Georgia. The marker reads, "Jacques, son of W.H.H. & Linnie Futrelle, Apr. 9, 1875, Lost on Titanic, Apr. 15. 1912, Who in the supreme test, proved himself. Nearly fifteen weeks later on July 28, 1912, Linnie Futrelle passed away into Heaven to rejoin her son.

Jacques Heath Futrelle, a native of Pike County, Georgia, grew up to appreciate literature. Jacques worked first as a printer's devil and then as Business Manager of the Atlanta Journal. He oversaw the establishment of the first sports department of the Journal. After his return to Atlanta, Jacques took the hand of the love of his life, the beautiful Lillie May Peel, in marriage on July 17, 1895. The Futrelles moved to New York, where Jacques became the telegraph editor of the New York Herald.

Futrelle left journalism to manage a theater in Richmond, Virginia. He began to write, direct, and act in plays for a couple of years before returning to Boston to work for the icon of newspaper publishers, William Randolph Hearst. What Jacques enjoyed most was writing - in particular, mysteries. His most famous work, "The Thinking Machine," was first published as a serial in "The Boston American." Futrelle is most remembered for his character of Professor S.F.X. Van Dusen, who was "The Thinking Machine." Professor Van Dusen's most well read case was "The Problem of Cell 13." Jacques wrote more than a dozen novels and even more magazine articles for leading magazines of the day, including The Saturday Evening Post.

In January 1912, the Futrelles traveled to Europe to promote Jacques' novels and to give him a change of scenery to write even more magazine articles. After, their vacation was cut short, the Futrelles gathered with friends to celebrate Jacques' 37th birthday before setting sail for the return trip to America the next day. Futrelle (LEFT)  never made it to bed that night, but was on time to board the world's greatest luxury liner on her maiden voyage. The H.M.S. Titanic was the pride of the White Star Line. She was considered to be unsinkable, the best passenger ship in the history of the World. He had just finished his last work, "My Lady's Garter."

As the ship steamed toward home, all was well. After a lavish dinner, the wealthy men aboard milled around talking about the issues of the day, the upcoming presidential election, the troubles in Europe, and so forth. Suddenly and without a solitary hint of a warning, the unthinkable happened. The ship struck an iceberg, which tore into her hull. Passengers felt a jolt, but were oblivious to their impending fate. Jacques and May were in their state room when they felt a slight concussion. Jacques had been complaining of a headache. May was reading a book. Presuming it to be a "baby iceberg," Jacques reassured May, "Oh, I guess it's nothing." May wasn't as positive. She ordered Jacques to go out to ascertain the true extent of what was happening. Within a few minutes, Jacques returned to inform her of the situation, which he believed to be of little consequence. A few minutes later, stewards knocked on the door with the grave news, the unsinkable ship was sinking. The couple got fully dressed and put on their ship supplied life jackets.

Jacques escorted May (LEFT)  to the lifeboat section, pleading for her to get aboard. She refused. Jacques coaxed her into the boat with the assurance that he would come along later in another boat, ignorant of the fact that there would not be enough lifeboats aboard to handle all of the passengers and crew. At the moment her lifeboat was about to be lowered into the water, May jumped out to find Jacques. May found Jacques down below the deck. He was standing with a group of gentlemen, who appeared unconcerned with their destiny. May and Jacques embraced for the final time. Jacques escorted May back to the life boats. He told her to think of the children. He convinced May that once the ship went underwater, that he could survive by clinging to the side of a life boat. May hesitated. The boat was about to leave the deck. Jacques screamed out, "For God's sake, go! It's your last chance, go!" May still lingered in anguish on the edge of the boat. An officer pushed her into the boat and to safety.

At that instant, May knew that she would never see Jacques alive again. May wrote, "The last I saw of my husband, he was standing beside Colonel John Jacob Astor. He had a cigarette in his mouth. As I watched him, he lit a match and held it in his cupped hands before his face. By its light I could see his eyes roam anxiously over the water. Then he dropped his head toward his hand and lit his cigarette. I know those hands never trembled." May wondered why there were fifty-one open places in the sixty-five man lifeboat. May survived the horror of that night, but her thoughts of Jacques standing on the deck never faded from her mind.

Major Archibald W. Butt (LEFT) was one of the most popular military officers of his day. He volunteered for military service during the Spanish American War. A native of Augusta, Archie Butt began his journalistic career with the Louisville Journal in Kentucky. In the early 1890s, Butt went to work with the Macon Telegraph as a reporter and later as its editor. After working with newspapers in Atlanta and Washington, Butt took his first government job as a secretary in the American Embassy in Mexico City.

On the first business day of the year 1900, Butt was commissioned a captain in the United States Volunteers, then serving in the Philippines. After his return from the war zone, Butt met President Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1908 made the Captain his chief military aide. Captain Butt remained on the job when Roosevelt was succeeded by William Howard Taft. When it became apparent that Taft and Roosevelt would run against each other, Butt received permission from Taft to go on a vacation to Europe in an attempt to get some rest.

Butt was enjoying a game of cards in the smoking room of the first class section of the Titanic when the ship hit an iceberg. When informed of the dire consequences of the ship's condition, Butt immediately went into his military mode, made his way to the deck, and assumed command of helping women and children into lifeboats.

"Archie Butt was a Major to the last. God never made a firmer nobleman than he. The sight of that man, calm, gentle and yet as firm as a rock will never leave me," said Mrs. Henry B. Harris who was one of the last women to leave the Titanic in a lifeboat. Mrs. Harris observed a moment when a panic-stricken male passenger attempted to board a lifeboat filled with women and children.

"Major Butt shot one arm off, caught him by the neck and jerked him backward like a pillow," Mrs. Harris recalled. Butt firmly scolded the man saying, "Women will be attended to first or I'll break every d d bone in your body."

Mrs. Harris recalled, "I stayed until the last and I saw how inspiring he was." Major Butt calmly and respectfully helped the poor frightened women and children from the steerage section into the lifeboats. "He was one of God's greatest noblemen," Mrs. Harris concluded.

"The last person to whom I spoke on the board of the Titanic was Archie Butt (seen in the background aboard the Titanic - left)  and his good brave, face, smiling at me from the deck of the steamers, was the last I could distinguish as the boat pulled away from the steamer's side," said Ruth Young, the last woman to leave the Titanic.

Miss Young echoed other stories of Butt's heroism, "Archie himself put me into the boat, wrapped blankets around me and tucked me in as carefully as if we were starting a motor ride." The Washington. D.C. resident, recalled Butt's performing little courtesies as calmly with a smiling face as if death was far away, instead of being but a few moments removed from him.

"Goodbye Miss Young. Luck is with you. Will you kindly remember me to the folks back home?," were his last words to the grateful survivor. Then, Major Butt climbed back to the rail of the ship. "Archie was looking down, his hat raised and the same old genial, brave smile was on his face," Young related as her most lingering memory of the tragedy.

Although it was claimed that the remains of Archibald Butt were later found among other bodies floating in the sea, it is likely that the dauntless Major Butt survived the sinking for at least a few days. For on July 31, some 97 days after the sinking of the Titanic a message was found in a bottle floating off the shore of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The message read, "April 16, Midocean - Help-on a raft-Titanic sinking-no water or food. Major Butt." His remains were never found

Major Butt's death greatly grieved his boss, President Taft, who was just beginning his campaign for reelection. The Georgia native was honored in his hometown of Augusta with the naming of a bridge as well as three national monuments in Washington, D.C.. in Arlington Cemetery, the National Cathedral and the grounds of the White House.

The final Georgian to lose his life aboard the Titanic was Isidor Strauss. Strauss, who lived in the West Central Georgia town of Talbotton, was a co-owner of Macy's Department Store in New York. Straus moved to Talbotton, where his father opened a general store in 1854. When the Civil War broke out, Straus attempted to join the Confederate Army. His enlistment was disallowed when it was discovered that he was only sixteen years old. After the war, Straus joined his brother Nathan in opening a department in Macy's Department Store.

Straus and his wife Ida (LEFT)  were returning from a visit to Germany aboard the Titanic. The often told story is that Mrs. Straus refused to leave her husband behind aboard the sinking ship. Because of his social status, a crew member invited Straus to join his wife aboard the lifeboat. Straus refused and let his wife's maid have his place instead. The Strauses were last seen sitting in deck chairs, holding hands as a large wave washed them into the dark, frigid ocean waters in a scene depicted in all three Titanic films, although it was deleted from the 1997 blockbuster movie.

Of lasting importance to the people of Laurens County, the loss of the Titanic led to the prohibition of passengers traveling aboard freight steamboats along the Oconee. That pastime was very popular among local residents and the usual treat for convention visitors to Dublin, which hosted eight state wide gatherings in 1912.

One hundred years after the sinking of the unsinkable HMS Titanic, the tragedy is still ingrained in our minds. The heroism, the senseless, negligent actions of the ship's officers and builders, and horrible tragedy of it all remains a night to remember.

THE TRAIN TO NOWHERE

The Story of the Savannah, Dublin and Western Shortline

It was going to be the railroad which connected Savannah to the rest of the world. There were already several railroads leading in and out of the port city which laid claim to that boast. Money poured in. Money poured out. And, when it's day was done, the greatest railroad which would never pass through Laurens County faded into a bad dream. It disappeared into the nighttime and never even made it more than one hundred fifty miles. It was gone, just another in a long line of highly hyped rail lines which never made the grade.

Many attempts were made and just as many failed to build another railroad from the port city of Savannah to Central Alabama and beyond. In the spring of 1882, capitalists from New York conceived the Savannah and Pacific Short Line Railway Company, a railroad from Savannah to Columbus, running through the Wiregrass area, crossing the Oconee River five miles above Mount Vernon, but missing Dublin by seventeen miles. When Dubliners found out that they were slightly off the main line, H.M. Burch and John S. Drew were appointed to lead a committee to convince the railroad's directors to bend the route just enough to bring it closer to Dublin.

With the abandonment of the Savannah and Pacific plan, as well as others, an application was made for the Savannah, Dublin, and Western Shortline Railway Co. in the fall of 1885 along the same basic route from Savannah through Dublin and thence to Americus through Hawkinsville.

By the beginning of December, Engineer Arthur Pou and his crew were camped at Fuller's Mill across the river from Dublin as they were making preliminary surveys of the route. On the Savannah end of the proposed route, engineers, delayed by bitterly cold weather, began their survey at the junction of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad and the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, some crow fly miles from Savannah. The sight of railroad engineers surveying created much excitement along their path. Railroads meant money, and a lot of it.

A mere sixteen miles of railroad had been graded from Dublin toward Savannah by the Dog Days of August, 1886. Meanwhile the tracks of the Dublin and Wrightsville Railroad were finally completed to the eastern banks of the Oconee River opposite Dublin.

That's when the crews of Ferguson & Company, the railroad's main contractor, left their jobs. In near perfect unison with the massive earthquake which struck Charleston, South Carolina on August 31, 1886, the Savannah, Dublin and Western venture was officially deemed a failure. Ferguson sued the railroad. A receiver was appointed. Work ground to a disappointing halt.

Once again from the brink of disaster, the resilient railroad was revived. Col. John M. Stubbs, a Dublin attorney, led the negotiations to bring his dream of a major rail line running through his native Macon and his hometown of Dublin. A contract was signed to build the 157-mile line from Savannah in eight months and by the middle of 1887. With no doubt of the company's success, the directors planned to be able to ride a train driven by a Baldwin locomotive from Savannah to Birmingham by the end of 1887. And to prove their point, newspaper accounts indicated that the 307-mile route was going to be possible through the infusion of a million dollars by investors from England.

It was on the first of April 1, 1887, that the backers of the S.D. & W Railroad announced new and bigger plans for their rail line. The directors elected Douglas Green, of New York, and T.P. Branch, of Augusta, to begin the effort to extend the line from Savannah through Dublin and then to Macon, LaGrange and Birmingham with the ultimate goal of reaching the northwestern United States, drawing the eyes of prominent capitalists in Richmond, Virginia.

The newly proposed line would operate in direct competition with he long established, highly traveled, Central of Georgia railroad, which had been operating between Macon and Savannah for more than four decades. Initially, Central officials expressed no desire to invest in the venture.

But when it appeared there was money to be made, the officers and directors of the powerful Central of Georgia began the financial maneuvering to take over the operation of the Savannah, Dublin and Western.

Meanwhile, more prospective railroads through Laurens County were being planned. A petition for incorporation of the Augusta, Thomasville, and Gulf Railroad Company was filed to build a railroad from Augusta to Thomasville through Richmond, Burke, Jefferson, Emanuel, Johnson, Laurens, Dodge, Wilcox, Irwin and Berrien counties,

Then the law suits started. As the aspiring entrepreneurs fought over the rights to the line like a wake of buzzards plucking a deer carcass clean, any hopes of building the coast to coast railroad quickly faded away.

Despite the obstacles along the way, local backers, John M. Stubbs and Joshua Walker of Laurens County, joined with Daniel G. Hughes and Dudley Hughes of Twiggs County and set their sights on building a railroad from Macon to Dublin with an eventual extension on to Savannah.

In July 1891, the first leg of their dream was completed when the first train from Macon to Dublin rolled into the city of Dublin.

Ten years later in 1901, the dream of the Savannah, Dublin and Western Shortline was partially achieved. With the extension of the Macon, Dublin and Savannah railroad to Vidalia, passage to the port city from the Central City of Macon along a more southern route was finally accomplished.

But, it was a century and a quarter ago that west bound odyssey of the train they called the Savannah, Dublin and Western Shortline was gone forever when the day was done.

THE WADLEY AND MT. VERNON

A Significant Shortline Railroad

Although it was only around for a third of a century, the Wadley & Mt. Vernon was the most important thing to come to the extreme ends of Laurens and Johnson County in the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th Century. Only some thirty-six miles in length, this shortline railroad brought about brief, but vital and long lasting, spurts to the towns and communities where its tracks ran. When it was gone, those towns were never the same again. Here is the story of the Wadley & Mt. Vernon Railroad and how it created the towns of Rockledge, Adrian and Kite. And, why its owners never quite saw their long range plans come true.


The Wadley and Mt. Vernon Railroad originated at the Old Town Plantation of Capt. Thomas Jefferson James in Jefferson County, Georgia. James, a master builder of railroads in East Central Georgia, drew a lot of his success in building railroads through the newly authorized use of buying convicts from prisons to do his labor. With a crew of up to three thousand bought and paid for hands, T.J. James took credit for building more than six hundred miles of railroad, a distance sufficient to run tracks from Dublin to Washington, D.C.








Captain James envisioned a railroad that would initially run from Wadley to Mt. Vernon. Wadley was a small commercial center in lower Jefferson County, but was strategically positioned on the great Central of Georgia Railroad. Mt. Vernon, the commercial center of the lower Oconee River Region, was scheduled to be on the Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railroad. With each of its termini being on the vital major rail lines, James and his investors hoped to capitalize on the new markets this new road would open. In the beginning, James planned extensions northward to Augusta and southward through Valdosta onto the Gulf Coast.



James, a member of the large timber firm Donovan & Perkins, applied to the state to incorporate its logging road into a full-fledged railroad. Although the Wadley and Mt. Vernon had not then been incorporated, three passenger trains per week traveled between Wadley and Kite by March 1889. The state legislature finally approved. And, on June 25, 1889, the Wadley and Mt. Vernon was incorporated with a capital stock of $200,000.00. Within the year, a 13-mile extension was completed to Ricksville on the Old Savannah Road.



The Wadley and Mt. Vernon Railroad ran from Wadley south through Tom, Kite, Ethel, Meeks, and Odomville. The railroad crossed the Big Ohoopee at the Nazarene Campground just a few hundred feet west of the Highway 80 bridge. It ran southwesterly to a junction with the Brewton and Pineora Railroad in the center of Adrian. Capt. James, in moving his home to Adrian, made that once non existent community into a boom town and the headquarters of the railroad.



The railroad was completed through Ricksville, located at the intersection of the Old Savannah Road and current Georgia Highway 15 and just north of Blackville on Georgia Highway 86. The road turned in a more westerly direction through Orianna and onto the vicinity of Rockledge around the turn of the 20th century to become Laurens County's sixth railroad. By that time, James had the company's charter amended to extend the line to Valdosta, the most important rail center in Southwest Georgia. Capt. James extended the road to join with the newly constructed extension of the Macon, Dublin, and Savannah Railroad in 1902. Houses and businesses sprang up. Rockledge boomed. The new railroad gave the citizens of the area a closer route to the Central via Wadley. Engineers laid out an extension of the line to Mt. Vernon.



The company's directors changed their minds and instead of running the railroad down the eastern side of the Oconee River to Mount Vernon, the line was changed to continue in the same direction crossing lower western Laurens, Dodge and bridging the Ocmulgee in Telfair County before heading onto Valdosta. The ambitious 200-mile extension of the railroad hoped to capitalize on the vast forests of virgin timber, still left uncut in the upper Wiregrass regions of the state. In 1903, Congress granted the Wadley and Mt. Vernon's request to build a bridge over the Ocmulgee River. Once in place, plans were accelerated to complete the railroad. Work began on the railroad from Barrow's Bluff on the Ocmulgee to Douglas in 1902, but no work was ever completed beyond the grading to the Oconee River, southwest of Rockledge. Before 1907, the extension to the Oconee was completely abandoned. The cost of bridging both the Oconee and the Ocmulgee rivers was beyond the budget of the railroad, which mainly hauled freight and only a few passengers between small towns.

In the early spring of 1905, the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad bought the assets of the Wadley & Mt. Vernon Railroad Company and renamed it the Wadley Southern Railroad. The new line also included a second shortline track from Wadley through Swainsboro and Stillmore to Collins, Georgia in Tattnall County. Railroad men speculated that Captain William Raoul of the A & B RR purchased the company to bolster his vast network of railroads in South Georgia. That news preempted a report two days earlier that the Douglas end of the Wadley & Mt. Vernon and two other local railroads had been purchased by J.E. Wadley, J.S. Bailey and G.G. Parker of Waycross. In 1906, the Central of Georgia Railroad purchased the Wadley Southern and moved its headquarters to Savannah.



The Wadley Southern was dealt a near fatal blow in 1915, when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against it in a dispute with the State of Georgia. From the very beginning, the Wadley and Mt. Vernon was bound to fail. Good times wouldn't and couldn't last. The railroad lived and breathed with the timber industry. After twenty-five years, there were no more trees to cut. Naval stores in the Rockledge and Ricksville areas were then being transported to market or railroad depots by truck. When the towns began to wane, so did the number of persons riding the passenger cars through the dead towns of Odomville, Ricksville, Tom and Ethel.



The road from Adrian to Rockledge was closed first and by the mid twenties the tracks along the Adrian-Wadley end were taken up forever. The Wadley Southern officially went out of business in the early 1960s after closing its remaining lines.



In its day, the Wadley & Mt. Vernon and its successor, the Wadley Southern, were the lifeblood of the towns they served. When it folded, the towns did not die. They are all still there. And, on windless night, if you listen real closely, you just might hear the cry of the old freight engines and they chug through the woods.

RAILROAD PARK, DUBLIN, GEORGIA