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The Barney History Project: The people, places, and stories of Barney, Georgia

Disease, fire, violence, and law

Newspapers across Georgia followed the 1899 smallpox outbreak at Barney. They reported diagnosis, isolation, guarded quarantine, death, additional infection, medical response, and alarm in neighboring communities. The accounts disagreed over the first patient's identity, calling him Robert, R. J., or C. D. Paxson or Paxton. They also disagreed about who died, who remained sick, and how many cases occurred.[26]

The earliest reports placed a man associated with Abbeville and the milling business at Barney under Dr. Bourquin's care. Quitman physicians confirmed smallpox, and Barney or exposed households were quarantined. Reports said the patient had recently spent time in Adel, which spread concern along the railroad and work routes. Later accounts placed one or more additional patients under guard and named Dr. A. S. Humphreys of Autrey, Florida, as an attending specialist. In April 1900, a Lowndes County smallpox report still referred back to the Barney cases.[26]

The reports establish the outbreak and the response, but not a reliable patient list. The names, initials, exact case count, and outcome for each patient remain unresolved. The papers named white patients while describing a Black nurse or woman only by race and role, leaving even less information about her identity and illness.[26]

The Hall store and post-office fire of November 1899 destroyed mail, commercial records, merchandise, and justice-court papers. In May 1903, fire destroyed Moran's store and two Edenfield & McMillan buildings while threatening the depot and other businesses. Residents fought the 1903 blaze and saved merchandise, the depot, and nearby stores. No pre-charter record has been found for a municipal fire service.[21][22]

Newspaper clipping headed Store Burned at Barney reporting the destruction of S. L. Hall's store, the post office, and justice-of-the-peace records
“Store Burned at Barney,” The Savannah Morning News, November 8, 1899. The report said S. L. Hall's store, the post office and its mail records, and Hall's justice-of-the-peace papers were destroyed. It estimated the uninsured loss at $600.[21]

In July 1900, Sheriff Connolly returned Ed Blount from Bronson, Florida, to face a charge connected with the 1897 killing of Ben Smith, a Black worker, near a turpentine still. One account said Blount fired at Adam Allen during a dispute and struck Smith instead. No court record has been located to establish the outcome of the charge.[16]

A March 1900 dispatch reported that Joe Hodges shot a man named Perry twice after an argument over a remark about Hodges's brother-in-law. One bullet reportedly struck near Perry's heart and was considered dangerous. No later medical or court result has been located.[10]

The January 1901 seizure and killing of a Black prisoner requires even greater care. Newspapers called the man Eli, Joe, or Dave Dotson, and some printed Dobson. They said Justice Hall of Barney committed him to jail and placed him in the custody of Bailiff Pace for transport toward Quitman. Contemporary reports describe a Black crowd forming near Barney and later overtaking Pace near Kennedy's Siding. The reports say Dotson was shot and killed; one adds that he broke away and tried to run before the crowd fired. The papers also printed accusations against him, but those allegations were never adjudicated and should not be repeated as established facts.[27]

In May 1901, a body was recovered and an inquest concluded that the man had died at unknown hands. One report placed the body in Little River above the South Georgia Railroad bridge north of Barney and named Coroner Ponder, Esquire S. L. Simmons, and jurors Fleming Bates Walker, W. C. Edenfield, George P. Hall, J. W. Kendrick, James Chambers, and H. T. Patterson. The newspaper printed Walker's name as “F. B. Walker.” The initials, place, date, and his documented role in Barney make the identification strong probable. Other reports used conflicting geography involving the Withlacoochee and Little River areas. No member of the mob was identified in the located record.[27]

Before incorporation, public order rested with county officers, justices of the peace, constables, coroners, and informal local arrangements. Hall's store held justice-court papers. Justice Hall and Bailiff Pace, also called Constable Pace in some reports, appeared in the Dotson accounts. Rev. J. W. Folsom later wrote that he had once served as a notary public in the Barney district. No located pre-charter record names a Barney mayor, council, police department, municipal tax, or town election.[21][25][27]

Sources used on this page

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