There has been plenty of published accounts of what happened to the Court House when it burned down in 1892. The records have been scoured for information and we all know the story pretty well.
I am now through the Port Tobacco Times abstracts up to 1894. There is quite a bit of information about the Court House fire in the papers too. Here are a couple of the more interesting tidbits about the fire that may not be so well known to everyone.
In 1881, a T.R. Farall, removed two bricks from the Court House to be used as part of the cornerstone of the new Court House in La Plata that he backs and states that he will be back for more later.
The fire was first discovered by James A. Mason, a colored barber.
Only one female helped in the removal of records from the Clerk's office during the fire, Lillian C. Schureman, teacher of the local colored school.
Back to Mr. Farall...he, along with J.B. Mattingly and other citizens who were "questioned" in the Court House fire, had a shop and lived in La Plata and also was a leading backer to the new democratic newspaper to be opened in La Plata.
J.B. Mattingly "finished" the job that Farrall started by purchasing the bricks from the destroyed Court House for $7.50 per thousand, substantially less than the $12.00 per thousand it was supposed to get!
Maybe its just coincidence but...I smell conspiracy!!!
- Peter
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1 comment:
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
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