One of my Muggings

I worked for the Postal Service as a time keeper/Data Collection Technician for about a dozen years.  I worked at the Federal Annex in Atlanta, across the street from Rich's.  And on the other side of the street, down a block was the Southern Railway building (above).

For years my reporting time was midnight.  The official place us postal employees were to park was about a block behind the Southern Railway building next door to an old fire station.  A street from the fire station led over a long railroad bridge and came out on Spring Street.  The street went between the two Southern Railroad buildings.  The two buildings were jointed up a couple levels by an multi level office bridge making it one big building.

One night it was drizzling rain and I was walking across the bridge about 11:30 when a man coming in the opposite direction crossed over the street to the same sidewalk I was on.  We were approaching each other face to face and I noticed something not quiet right about the guy.  He seemed nervous and staggering.  When we got even he smiled and asked me if I had a cigarette.  I said yes, and took out my pack of Winstons and hit the bottom so a cigarette would pop up so the man could take one. 

He reach out but didn't take the cigarette but grabbed my arm.  He told me he wanted my raincoat.  I told him he couldn't have it.  He grabbed around my body to take it anyway and we got into a scuffle.  I flung him and he lost his balance and tripped on the curve and fell down.  He didn't get up but was moaning.

I started to run.  I have always been a one-track mind kind of person - once I start to do something I focus on that task.  While running away from the fallen man I realized I did not complete what I sat out to do.

I U-turned myself and ran back to him and threw him my pack of Winstons and said, "Here!  Take the whole pack!"  And then ran all the way to the Federal Annex.

Bob Recallled the Cobb County Prisoners

A couple of days ago my lifelong friend Bobby McEntyre sent me the below email:

Hi Eddie,


I Still really enjoy your blog.


Your blog jogged my memory of the "Convict Camp" or called the Cobb County Farm. It was located where the Boys and Girls Club is now plus most of the block of Manget Street to Glover Street and running east to Fairground Street.

The Convict Camp held prisoners convicted of minor offenses. The inmates raised sugar cain and the work was hard. Large wire fences ran the length of the camp. My family lived on East Dixie Avenue only two houses from Manget. We were close to the camp. Inmates would call to us as kids and try to get us to buy them cigarettes and chewing tobacco as we walked along Manget Street. Escapes were frequent and we would hear sirens and hounds at night trying to find the escapees. We would have to keep all our entrances locked up to keep any escapees out. The living conditions were horrible for the inmates so Cobb County decided to close the facility and move to County Farm Road sometime in the 1940's.

After the closing, the buildings were set on fire to clear the area. This created a real problem because the fire caused the huge rat population to vacate the camp in a hurry. I looked out in street and literally hundreds of big warf rats were running up East Dixie Avenue. Rats got in the homes all over my street, Manget, Glover and all the way to Atlanta Street. It gtook months to gert rid of them.

Just another Marietta story long forgotten except by the old residends that lived it.

Bob

and my reply:

Bobby, As you know my family lived around the corner from you, about three houses away.   In fact, we lived in the house on Manget Street that was closest to where the James T. Anderson Boy's Club you mentioned would be years later.

We moved to that old house in about 1947.  I pinpoint the year because the county work farm was cleared before we moved there.  The first year we were there they graded level three plateaus that would be two tennis courts on each level.  I don't think the courts got enough noticed.  I only saw them  used once. 

Prisoners graded the land and a guard with a shotgun stood a distance away as to keep his eye on every one.  When I saw the movie COOL HAND LUKE it reminded me of that.  I would get close enough to them to talk to them and the guard told me several times to get away from them.  All the convicts were black and were friendly, except one.  I could tell he resented me and had a few smart aleck remarks to me.  I think, if I remember right, before it was all over, he was friendly too.

The above picture is of the granite stone building that was there when we moved across from the park in 1947 and is still there.  I was told by one of Groover Hardware's grandsons that the county kept dynamite in it, and Groover Hardware kept them supplied.  I bet it was country-work-farm related.

I remember the warf-rats you mentioned.  One of the rats ate my pidgeon that my 5th grade teacher, Miss Shouse (soon to be Mrs Bill Kenny) had given me.  I didn't want to tell Miss Shouse the pidgeon was eaten by large rat, she might think we were bad off living in a rat infested area.  Everytime she asked me about the pidgeon I would tell of a new trick I taught it or something funny it did.  She probably got a chuckle out that, because she probably knew the fate of that pidgeon, because Daddy and her fiance' were friends.

Larry Miller

Have you noticed this post on this blog before? It has been posted several times. Everyday when I had a new post this one slides down more out of view. When it slides off the page it is time to repost. Hi!




Have you ever faced a life-threatening illness for which there is no treatment or cure? Have you ever become overwhelmed by the costs of your illness? Have you ever had to rely on your family and friends to make a life-saving difference on your behalf? Larry faced these conditions all at once. Larry was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, Emphysema, and Pulmonary Hypertension. There are no treatments for these diseases and there was no hope for him without a lung transplant.



Larry was evaluated and approved for a bi-lateral lung transplant at Emory University Hospital in April. On May 14th Larry received the call from Emory saying they had lungs for him. His transplant was performed on the 15th with excellent results. Due to the generosity of the donor’s family, he received a very healthy set of young lungs (to use the surgeon’s words).



Larry is recovering exceedingly well and was released to go home on the 31st of May. He is gaining strength each day by following his drug regimen very carefully and by following a vigorous program of Pulmonary Rehabilitation.



His recovery is great news, but with it comes enormous annual costs for post-transplant treatments and medications. I have known Larry and been his friend since the 5th grade (1953) so I offered to head up his fundraising committee. We are working to help Larry raise money to cover some of these costs. Fortunately, Larry qualified for a matched account in the Georgia Transplant Foundation’s (GTF) Fundraising Program, GTF will match every dollar we raise up to a maximum of $10,000, and then they will hold the money and administer the distribution for Larry’s medication expenses. You are receiving this letter because your name was found in Larry & Milly’s address book under the heading Friends & Family. We need Your Support to reach the $10,000 Goal! Please consider making a donation to help us raise the funds Larry will need to buy post-transplant medications which will support the maintenance of his transplant.



How to Donate Checks/money orders should be made payable to Georgia Transplant Foundation with Larry’s name in the memo section of your check. Please mail checks/money orders to Georgia Transplant Foundation, Attention: Transplant Fundraising Program, 500 Sugar Mill Road, Suite 107-A, Atlanta GA 30350. An envelope is enclosed for your convenience. Thank you for supporting this life-saving campaign. The Georgia Transplant Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial, educational, and emotional assistance to Georgia’s transplant community, is assisting us in our fundraising efforts.


If you have questions or want further verification, please see the Georgia Transplant Foundation website at www.gatransplant.org or email TFP@gatransplant.org. If you have already made a donation, please accept our thanks.

Sincerely,





Paul Roper



Committee Chairman

Tooting My Own Horn

Well, actually, someone emailed me some nice complements, so I'll yank him in front of me and let him do the tooting.  That way it doesn't look like I am wallowing in my own inflated ego (name withheld):


Hello Sir,



I stumbled upon your blog when searching around the internet for more information on the Leo Frank hanging.



Anyhow, I think your blog and the wealth of information on Marietta/surrounding is very interesting. I'm only 31 but have lived in the area for this much of my life and find a lot of the things you blog about to be very informative.

One story that blew my mind, and one in which I'm not able to locate any more information on, is the shooting at the dentist office on Canton highway. I think your story started with a hog being field dressed behind the Wendy's. I live right around the corner from there Canton/Kurtz Road. Anyhow, I remember going into the show store as a kid. Shaw Park is right behind all of that if I remember right. My brother played ball there as a kid as well.


Something else I've learned from your blog is the drug store explosion in 1963. Where in the square was this? I can't seem to find much on the actual location.

I saw your post from a cemetery in the area (can't recall the name) but Coryell rang a bell. My wife and lived off Coryell when we first got married and my dad owned a small shop behind the Ace on Roswell (shop was on Lakewood. It's now a scooter/ATV sales shop). I worked there for a few years selling old car/hotrod parts until I got out of school. I would go running around Marietta, through the square, down Powder Springs, Waterman, etc. and walk through the National Cemetery. My brothers ex wife's father is buried there. Always found the area very "mystical" with all of the history that Marietta holds.

I laughed at the story of the pig off of Barnes Mill Road. I drive down that way sometimes when traffic is bad on 75 and still see a few "farms" in the area.


What do you know about the Tritt Family? I used to run around their old property on Post Oak Tritt back before it was bulldozed for a subdivision. We'd go in their old house, ride bikes on the farm land and smoke cigarettes in the woods. I remember when that was all farmland where the middle school and subdivisions now sit.


Anyhow, good stuff. I'll be checking it daily.





Regards,

X

Checking out the movie MOONRISE KINGDOM

MOONRISE KINGDOM is about a very oiled and organized scout troup of young boys on an island.  They are very rigid with military protocol and rules and regulations.  I think it is a farce on training kids to be in a military state of mind all the time.

One maverick free thinker kid goes against the grain and his interaction with the some of the local island people, well, goes outside the box and  that makes the story.

The scout boys are so militarily-group-think they do almost everything in a humorous cadence.  There are plenty of symbolisms and classical music that sets the mood of each scene perfectly.  I think it was a great movie.

The stars I reconized were Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, and Frances McDormand.

After the movie was over  I was thinking about it I recalled another movie Bill Murray was in that same tone of young boys in an organization with rigid rules and that movie is RUSHMORE.  It was good too.  Both MOONRISE KINGDOM and RUSHMORE were directed by Wes Anderson.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! SHOCK's KICKBACK!

SHOCK was published by EC Publishing Company.  Artist of this story was Jack Kamen, who seemed to specialize in these O'Henry-like Stories.

I Am in Deep Thought

I'm in deep thought which is another way of saying I haven't been very productive lately.  Keep checking.

This Day In History, Nov 23

Picture taken from Lookout Moutailn

1863 Battle of Chattanooga began (Civil War).  You could spend months going around to all the fightings sites of Chattanooga and the Dalton area that you had read about and still miss a few skirmishes.



1888 Harpo Marx [Adolph] NYC, actor/comedian (Marx brothers) was born.  I loved to watch Harpo in the Marx Brothers movies; he was a supreme mime, a musician, a jazz dancer, and an anarchist who threw pies in the faces of people of authority.  Wow!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Peter Bagge's RESET & Mark Bagley's Fantastic 4

Yesterday I went to Doctor's No's Comicbook Shop on Canton Road, in Marietta to browse around. 

I noticed that Peter Bagge has a new series out named RESET.  There are 4 issues in all.  The first one is numbered 1 of 4, and the last one is numbered 4 of 4 and you know what each of the middle two is numbered.

I know of Peter Bagge's work and like it so I bought the first two issues of RESET.  So far I have read the first 10 or 12 pages of the first issue and roughly it is about a has-been entertainer who is back at the bottom and broke.  At a DUI class a researcher culls him out and make arrangements with him for some tests or experiments - who knows yet.  He will be paid for his time, so that got his attention and he reported to the lab.  They put a virtural helment on him and it is a virtural video of his life staring from the time he graduated from high school.  It looks like it is going to be pretty good.

Oh did I mention that during the virtual trip in Virtual Memory Lane he gets to make choices to make his life turn out differently.

Peter Bagge created a long running comicbook named HATE!  It was about the Brady family focuses in mostly on the oldest son, who is sort of sentimental hippy who loved old things and is profound in a crabby sort of way.  I now want to re-read my HATE!! issues, although they were kind of embarrasing to read in public.  People see the title and for that alone, think you are a nut-job - even if you get by the reading a comicbook as a 71 year old man.

While in Doctor No's I asked the person waiting on me what was Mark Bagley up to?   Both the clerk and the owner, Cliff Biggers, behind him said Mark is now working on FANTASTIC FOUR.  They had the newly released issue #1, which I bought also.

Cliff Biggers got Mark started into being a comicbook artist and I think still has a friend/professional relationship with him.  Mark did SPIDERMAN for years, then a year of SUPERMAN and I don't know of what else he has been up to.  He is my first cousin Patti's husband (my claim to fame).  I bought that too.

I wonder if I am his HULK model and don't know it?

Larry Miller

Have you noticed this post on this blog before? It has been posted several times. Everyday when I had a new post this one slides down more out of view. When it slides off the page it is time to repost. Hi!

Have you ever faced a life-threatening illness for which there is no treatment or cure? Have you ever become overwhelmed by the costs of your illness? Have you ever had to rely on your family and friends to make a life-saving difference on your behalf? Larry faced these conditions all at once. Larry was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, Emphysema, and Pulmonary Hypertension. There are no treatments for these diseases and there was no hope for him without a lung transplant.


Larry was evaluated and approved for a bi-lateral lung transplant at Emory University Hospital in April. On May 14th Larry received the call from Emory saying they had lungs for him. His transplant was performed on the 15th with excellent results. Due to the generosity of the donor’s family, he received a very healthy set of young lungs (to use the surgeon’s words).


Larry is recovering exceedingly well and was released to go home on the 31st of May. He is gaining strength each day by following his drug regimen very carefully and by following a vigorous program of Pulmonary Rehabilitation.



His recovery is great news, but with it comes enormous annual costs for post-transplant treatments and medications. I have known Larry and been his friend since the 5th grade (1953) so I offered to head up his fundraising committee. We are working to help Larry raise money to cover some of these costs. Fortunately, Larry qualified for a matched account in the Georgia Transplant Foundation’s (GTF) Fundraising Program, GTF will match every dollar we raise up to a maximum of $10,000, and then they will hold the money and administer the distribution for Larry’s medication expenses. You are receiving this letter because your name was found in Larry & Milly’s address book under the heading Friends & Family. We need Your Support to reach the $10,000 Goal! Please consider making a donation to help us raise the funds Larry will need to buy post-transplant medications which will support the maintenance of his transplant.



How to Donate Checks/money orders should be made payable to Georgia Transplant Foundation with Larry’s name in the memo section of your check. Please mail checks/money orders to Georgia Transplant Foundation, Attention: Transplant Fundraising Program, 500 Sugar Mill Road, Suite 107-A, Atlanta GA 30350. An envelope is enclosed for your convenience. Thank you for supporting this life-saving campaign. The Georgia Transplant Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial, educational, and emotional assistance to Georgia’s transplant community, is assisting us in our fundraising efforts.


If you have questions or want further verification, please see the Georgia Transplant Foundation website at www.gatransplant.org or email TFP@gatransplant.org. If you have already made a donation, please accept our thanks.
Sincerely,


Paul Roper

Committee Chairman

NYC, Revisited

Washington Square

At a family dinner this past weekend Rocky and Sabrina were talking about their trip to New York City the weekend before.  Interesting the only way you could tell Sandy had just tore up the town was the subway system.  Not all stops were back opened yet. They stirred up some of memories of The Big Apple that I have stored back in the back of my brain someplace.

In the Navy I was stationed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, which is about 60 miles away from NYC.  Atlantic City was 40 miles away and Phildelphia was about the same.  And the ocean, Sea Side Heights was only about 12 miles.  We always had interesting places to visit on our off days.

Here are some pictures are NYC pictures taken by me, except the one I'm in of course,  in the mid 1960s:

Times Square

Me

The above two pictures are of my Navy friend Ray Schultz entering the famous Chumley's Speak-Easy in the Village.  I think the top picture is the entrance into the courtyard from the street and the bottem one is knocking on the door and saying, "Al sent me."  Not really, as you you have money, nobody has to recommend you.  However, Chumley's is on the historical landmarks as being a speakeasy during prohibition.

Above 2:  Don Lash.  One is Don in the shadow of the Empire State Building, if I remember correctly, and the bottom is he is taking a picture of me while I was doing likewise in the Guggenheim Museum.

The Village Voice weekly newspaper office

SUNDAY FUNNIES!!! PANIC's EXECUTIVE SEAT

If the calendar somehow was jerked out from under us and we landed in about 1955 and all TV shows now were also rolled back in calender jerk, we would see something like MAD MEN here.  The theme is universal.  It is all about power and fine living that goes along with ilt.

PANIC, like MAD, was a product of EC Publishing Company.  This story was illustrated by WallyWood and written by who know?

This Is About the LINCON Movie, Not the Car

LINCOLN.  I thought it was a great movie.  It was done with such dramatics and attention to details that  Steven Speilburg is so good at.  Also, I think just the right music for a scene had a certain Speilburg trademark about it also.

I am not a historian, but what little history I know about Lincoln surfaced in this movie.  It might be historically acurate, or close to it.

It is well known that Lincoln was very witty in a humble sort of way.  And a lot of subjects brought up reminded him of humorous stories which he shared.   Daniel Day-Lewis did a very convincing Abraham Lincoln I thought.

Sally Fields played a great nut like history remembers Mary Todd Lincoln.  Sally is almost type cast in that kind of role, a middle age nut, in the past several years.

The movie is mostly the underhanded and arm twisting politics that was involved in getting the lawmakers on Captial Hill to vote for the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery, laced with the winding down of the Civil War.

Speilberg did not show Lincoln's assignation by John Wilkes Booth, but did show everybody's reaction in the theater when they learned of it.

I thought it was a great movie.  It turned on my sinuses running, mostly in tear form, just like Spielburg's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANCES!!

75!

A  Milestone!

On This Date in History November 15:

1864:  General Sherman burned Atlanta. 

Sherman is credited for the quote "War Is Hell."  I guess he wanted to show a visual to reenforce his quote.

Dixieland Motel, Marietta, Ga

This is a postcard of the Dixieland Motel in Marietta.   It is no longer there.  The highway it was on was the US 41, aka Dixie Higway.  Years later it was known as the 4-Lane and today, it is known as Cobb Parkway, South (in this case).

Any address north of the Big Chicken is Cobb Parkway, North and any address is Cobb Parkway, South.  When delivering or sending mail it is important you specify north or south.  Pretend the Big Chicken is number 100 (actuall, I think it is 100) and two blocks north of it you have a 200 address and two blocks south of it there is also 200 address.

The numbers on Cobb Parkway get bigger as you go away from it.

If you notice, all address street numbers get bigger as the further away from the courthouse you get.  And, also the odd numbers are on the left side and the right side is even, if the courthouse is behind you.

Take notes, someday you might want to a postal or UPS employee or a taxi driver.

Is Today Sadie Hawkins Day? Really?

It is official.  Today is Sadie Hawkins Day.  It is in the on-line This Day in History and also Days, such as Eat a Pumkin Day, etc.

Do you know what Sadie Hawkins Day is?  It is the one day of the year that if you are single you can be chased down like an innocent babe and then carried to the finish line where Marrying Sam is waiting to marry you to whomever dragged you kicking and screaming and threw you down in front of him.  And it is all legal (in thel comic world).

I wondered how they came up with today is the day?  Al Capp created  Sadie Hawkins for a yearly event in his Li'l Abner daily comic strip.  It seems it would be hard to pinpoint a day, since the story would be dragged on for a few weeks, like in a tv soap opera a single conversation can last several days. 

I remember one time Al Capp was interviewed and he was asked exactly what date of the year is Sadie Hawkins Day ever year.  He replied, "When I say it is."

I don't know if today is the technically the legal day for Sadie Hawkins Day or not, but I would watch my back, to be on the safe side.

LARRY MILLER

Have you noticed this post on this blog before? It has been posted several times. Everyday when I had a new post this one slides down more out of view. When it slides off the page it is time to repost. Hi!



Have you ever faced a life-threatening illness for which there is no treatment or cure? Have you ever become overwhelmed by the costs of your illness? Have you ever had to rely on your family and friends to make a life-saving difference on your behalf? Larry faced these conditions all at once. Larry was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, Emphysema, and Pulmonary Hypertension. There are no treatments for these diseases and there was no hope for him without a lung transplant.


Larry was evaluated and approved for a bi-lateral lung transplant at Emory University Hospital in April. On May 14th Larry received the call from Emory saying they had lungs for him. His transplant was performed on the 15th with excellent results. Due to the generosity of the donor’s family, he received a very healthy set of young lungs (to use the surgeon’s words).


Larry is recovering exceedingly well and was released to go home on the 31st of May. He is gaining strength each day by following his drug regimen very carefully and by following a vigorous program of Pulmonary Rehabilitation.



His recovery is great news, but with it comes enormous annual costs for post-transplant treatments and medications. I have known Larry and been his friend since the 5th grade (1953) so I offered to head up his fundraising committee. We are working to help Larry raise money to cover some of these costs. Fortunately, Larry qualified for a matched account in the Georgia Transplant Foundation’s (GTF) Fundraising Program, GTF will match every dollar we raise up to a maximum of $10,000, and then they will hold the money and administer the distribution for Larry’s medication expenses. You are receiving this letter because your name was found in Larry & Milly’s address book under the heading Friends & Family. We need Your Support to reach the $10,000 Goal! Please consider making a donation to help us raise the funds Larry will need to buy post-transplant medications which will support the maintenance of his transplant.


How to Donate Checks/money orders should be made payable to Georgia Transplant Foundation with Larry’s name in the memo section of your check. Please mail checks/money orders to Georgia Transplant Foundation, Attention: Transplant Fundraising Program, 500 Sugar Mill Road, Suite 107-A, Atlanta GA 30350. An envelope is enclosed for your convenience. Thank you for supporting this life-saving campaign. The Georgia Transplant Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial, educational, and emotional assistance to Georgia’s transplant community, is assisting us in our fundraising efforts.


If you have questions or want further verification, please see the Georgia Transplant Foundation website at www.gatransplant.org or email TFP@gatransplant.org. If you have already made a donation, please accept our thanks.


Sincerely,


Paul Roper
Committee Chairman

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! Speaking of Veterans Day...

Today is Veteran's Day and they put their lives on the line daily, just as in this story.  This story was from EC's FRONTLINE COMBAT #2, which was first published in the 1950s.

This story is about the "Big War", which is the same one that Armistice Day was named after to honor America's fallen soldiers, whch is now mostly called Veteran's Day.

Art by Will Elder and JohnSeverlin; the story was probably written by editor Harvey Kurtzman, as he was known for writing most stories that appeared in EC's war comics and MAD that he was the editor of.

Thank a Veteran, not just today but every day.