Letters from N.B. Raines living in Panama March 28 1907

Personal Items

Mr. N.B. Raines, who has been in Talbotton for the past ten days on a visit to his parents, Captain and Mrs. W.J. Raines, left Saturday for New York, where he took a steamer Monday morning for Panama. Mr. Raines will arrive in Panama some time Sunday afternoon. He has been appointed a machinist for the government, and goes to the canal region to take up his duties. He is an expert in his line and his friends in Talbotton wish him all kinds of success.

 

 

Talbotton New Era

 

Thursday, May 2, 1907
Page 2
 

Personal Items

In another column we print a letter from Mr. N.B. Raines, who is now at work for the government in Panama, to his father, Captain W.J. Raines of Talbotton. This communication will no doubt be read with a great deal of interest. We hope to have an article from Mr. Raines, written especially for The New Era, in the course of a few weeks.

 

 

The Talbotton New Era

 

Thursday, May 2, 1907
Page 1
 

Letter from N.B. Raines

Written From the Canal Zone to Captain W.J. Raines

Gorgona, Panama, April 9, 1907

Dear Father,

Sunday was a beautiful day, so several of us we sight seeing.

We started about 8 o'clock a.m. and returned about 3 p.m. In the morning we visited a large plantation. It seems strange when the Georgia cane is just being planted when I say most of the crop here had been gathered. After leaving this plantation we went near the Chargres river, (pronounced Shaggers) where we found two old French dredge boats that are clear away from the river on the dry land. Last November the river was very high and carried three of these boats some distance from the channel. They are much larger than your home. Next we went a half mile further down the river, where about seventy- five Negro men were washing. They would carry a block of wood or stone both for a stool and a wash-board. Next we visited a banana plantation. The bananas were from just blooming to ready to gather, and allowed to ripen. We were about two miles and a half from home, so we ate dinner at Mamie (Mawme) at one of Roosevelt's hotels. Our meal tickets are good at any hotel on the canal. We have a meal ticket book, and give a ticket to the door-keeper at each meal; if one has no ticket then they have to pay 50 cents for the meal, but tickets cost only thirty cents each.

After dinner we took a stroll through the jungles, most the way in a trail, but a part of it was where the native sword knife had to be used. We saw wild bananas, coconuts, guavas, pineapples, sugar cane and oranges. At one place, I saw a tree six inches in diameter with goards growing on it, a regular goard tree, and one of the goards was ten inches in diameter. They are just like the round goards grown in the States, but none of them have necks.

We passed near an Indian village, but did not visit it because some of the men had been to Colon the night before to a reception given to the retiring Engineer, (Stevens) and were very tired. The train did not get back to Gorgona until 3 a.m. Next Sunday a party of us will go to Panama to spend the day. There is said to be a bull-fight scheduled for then, and if so, I will see it. I want to go to the beach and gather shells for some beautiful ones are said to be there. The next visit I make I want to go to the Calebra cut. We saw most of the Colon the day we landed. I have not been sick a day or even felt bad since landing on the Isthums, the Ask mother to send me a half-dozen goard seeds in a letter, as I want to see how they will do here.

Your son,

N.B. Raines
Gorgona, Isthmus of Panama
Canal Zone

 

 

The Talbotton New Era

 

Thursday, May 23, 1907
Page 6
 

Letter from N.B. Raines

Written From Panama In the Canal Zone

Gorgona, Canal Zone,
May 5, 1907

Dear Father,

Today quite a party of us went out on the mountain, or among the mountains, sight-seeing.

The mountains are high and very steep, but have trails that lead out of town in several directions. These trails go through gaps when possible, but sometimes over the top, then it is quite an undertaking to follow it. We found quite a number of black Palm trees that we cut down to make walking canes of. Only one cut at the bottom can be used, for the beauty of the wood is in the dark color which is from the surface toward the center. The thickness of this dark color depends on the size and age of the tree. These trees are only about 6 inches in diameter and the dark color about one-eighth thick at the bottom of the tree, so there is not much that can be used from a tree, the center being soft and pethy. I will rough out the canes and take them back to the states in that way and finish them up there, or give them to my friends and let them do the work. It is a wood that is rare in the states and one will be glad to get it. In the same mail that carries this letter, I will mail a souvenir book of the canal. I know you will all enjoy it, and later I will send a package of views. Bananas are raised here. Only one bunch grows on a tree, and when they are gathered the tree is cut down and the sprouts left to grow up; three crops are gathered each year. The greatest curiosity to me is the Mango tree. Only one part of the tree will bloom at the time. When that fruit is about half grown another part blooms, and when the first is ripening another part blooms. The blooms are not scattered over the tree but they are all together. A beautifully shaped tree is just across the street from our quarters. (I moved last week). There is one part of the tree with ripening fruit, another with half grown, and another in bloom, then another to bloom yet. Before I had been here 4 weeks I had lived in 3 houses. The first two were family quarters, and we were moved to make room for men whose families had come and now we are in bachelor's quarters, and I hope, settled. It costs nothing to move here. The superintendent of quarters just notifies us to pack up, that we are to move, and when we get back from work we find our things at a new place. Last Sunday I went to Panama City. May have told you in my last letter of the trip. We had a pleasant time and saw many new strange and new sights. There is a rise and fall of 16 feet in the tide, and when market boats anchor at high tide they are on dry land quite a distance from the water at low tide. I saw quite a number of boats on dry land. I found a number of very pretty shells, which are sunning, so they will be alright to take home.  
 

 

The Talbotton New Era

Thursday, April 18, 1907 Page 2

Ben Riley April 1907

Negro Murdered at Ypsilanti ' Had Been Dead For Ten Days When Body Was Found.
His Wife And Two Negro Men In Jail Charged With Murder
Tuesday afternoon the body of Bed Riley, a Negro living near Ypsilanti, was found in a ditch a short distance from his dwelling, his head being badly crushed by severe blows from some heavy instrument. It seems that Ben disappeared from his home about two weeks ago. His wife told parties who made inquiry that he left home saying he was going to Texas, never to return. For some reason people in the neighborhood were suspicious, and made an investigation, but without any success until the body was found Tuesday. Ben had been killed and dragged to the ditch by means of a well rope tied about his body. Those in jail charged with his murder are, Ann Riley, who is his wife, Bob Parker and Sherman Drane. The coroner's jury after an investigation on Tuesday afternoon found that these parties were responsible for his death. Warrants were immediately issued and they were placed in jail.
The date for the commitment trial has not been set.

 

 

The Talbotton New Era

Thursday, April 25, 1907
Page 1

Ann Riley and Sherman Drane Bound Over The commitment trial of Ann Riley and Sherman Drane, for the murder of the former's husband, was held in Talbotton at 10 o'clock on Friday before Justice Raines and Mizell. The body of Ben Riley was found near his home at Ypsilanti last Tuesday. He had been missing for nearly two weeks, his wife telling that he had left home with the intention of going to the Indian Territory. Mr. Will Corley, on his way to some fish traps, discovered the body of Ben Riley, partly buried in a ditch. An examination of the body showed that he had been murdered, the work being done by licks on the head with a heavy instrument. A number of Negroes were arrested, among them his wife and Sherman Drane.
At the commitment trial, Ann Riley said that she had killed her husband and Sherman Drane assisted her. She said that Drane came to her house about nine o'clock at night, entered the house, shot her husband, and then forced her to strike him in the head with an axe. She stated previously, that some one called her husband out of the house, and that an unknown party killed him. She told Sheriff McDaniel that her husband had been killed by Berry Bucker and Tobe Chapman, and that they had threatened to kill her if she told on them. She had also made the statement that she was going to clear her father, Bob Parker, who had also been arrested, even if she had to take the entire on herself. She told a number of other tales equally as confusing and conflicting. She said that Sherman Drane shot her husband. An examination of the body showed that Riley had not been shot.
Sherman Drane denied that he had anything to do with the killing. His sister and brother-in-law swore that he lived with them that he was at home the night of the killing at 10 o'clock in a bed in the same room with them and sleeping. They swore, also, that he was at home at day the following morning, as they woke him up and had him to make a fire. They did not know whether he had left home between 10 o'clock at night and the following morning or not, as they did not wake up during that time. Justices Raines and Mizell, after hearing the evidence, bound both the woman and Drane over to the Superior Court to await the action of the Grand Jury. A warrant was sworn out for Bob Parker, Jr., Friday afternoon, he being a brother of Ann Riley. There was no evidence sufficient to bind him over and he was discharged by Justice Raines.

 

 

The Talbotton New Era

Thursday, September 26, 1907
Page 1

Court News The case of the State vs. Sherman Drane, charged with murder, was tried this week. It will be remembered that Drane was charged with killing a Negro named Ben Riley in the lower part of the county, early in the year. The only witness against Drane was Riley's wife. She claimed that Drane came to her home one night, came in the house and killed her husband. She alone claimed that he forced her to help him and that she struck him with an ax. After the murder was discovered, she claimed that two other Negroes killed her husband. It was not until several weeks after the crime was committed that she implicated Drane. After being out for several hours, the jury returned a verdict of guilty with a recommendation and Drane was sentenced to the penitentiary of life. The woman, who admitted that she had been a part of the crime, but claimed that she acted under duress, was released under five hundred dollars bond. Unless new evidence is brought to light, she will not be convicted but will be given her freedom as there is no evidence but her statement, the terms of which, if true, relieve her. After Drane was convicted, he was told that there was no chance for him, that the woman had sent him to the penitentiary for life, and he was urged to tell the truth about the part she had in the murder and was told that the woman who swore his liberty away would go free if he did not tell. He stated that he was not present, had nothing to do with the commission of the crime, and protested his innocence. His attorneys have made a motion for a new trial. Thursday, November 21, 1907
Page 2
The motion for a new trial in the case of Sherman Drane, the Negro who was tried for murder and sentenced to serve a life sentence in the penitentiary at the last term of Talbot Superior Court, will be heard before Judge Martin in Columbus on the 30th day of this month.

 

Uncle "Gus" O'Neal May 2 1907

Uncle 'Gus' O'Neal, who resides four miles west of town, is one of the most vigorous men of his age in the county. He is nearly seventy-five and cultivates a small farm, doing all that work himself. He says he has been a plowman for fifty-nine years. He never has been seriously ill or even had an attack of headache. Mr. O'Neal is very fond of chicken pie, can eat as much of this toothsome viand as any man in Georgia, and even the sight of one makes his eyes to twinkle as brightly as if he were just sixteen.

(Another article about Mr. O'Neal on the same page)
Uncle Gus O'Neal, who lives four miles west of Talbotton, was among the old veterans to attend the Memorial exercises in Talbotton last Friday. He is seventy-five years of age, strong and in excellent health. He plows regularly, and does as much work as any hand on his place. He walked home from Talbotton after the exercises Friday afternoon. Someone asked him if he did not think the walk would be too much for him. He answered 'Four miles is no walk for me. I could walk from here to Columbus now without any trouble. At the close of the war, I walked six hundred miles to my home and passed right through Talbotton. I would not like to take a six hundred mile walk now, but I am still strong and vigorous and could walk a hundred miles now.

 

 

The Talbotton New Era

 

Thursday June 6, 1907, page 1