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From the LaGrange Reporter, 1912.

Front Page News

The Big Show Was Here Last Monday — A parade? Why, certainly we had a parade. Atlanta may have her big Ringling parades, but when it comes to the downright goods you’ve got to hand it to LaGrange.

Promptly at 10 o’clock in the morning, the parade began. There were 60 animals besides the drivers. All trained to the step of a song entitled “Everybody’s Doing It,” sung and played by a trio. The band was sitting astride a bale of cotton, the top bale of a wagon loaded with six bales.

Our parade wasn’t the ordinary kinds, it was the extraordinary kind. One hundred and four bales of cotton on 28 wagons were hauled around the square before the eyes of hundreds of spectators. There were 16 wagons with four bales each, nine with three bales, one with six, one with five and one with two. All belonged to the well-known and prosperous farmer, Mr. George Truitt.

Where is the city our size that can boast of such a parade? This means money to the farmer, the merchant and everybody.

This cotton was stored to await a better market price.

LaGrange Church Responds Liberally to Oglethorpe University — A movement on foot for the refounding of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta is underway under the auspices of the Presbyterians. Great good will be derived from the influence of this university.

The First Presbyterian Church in LaGrange contributed to this cause last Sunday, raising nearly $2,500. The Atlanta Journal praised our local church in an editorial this week.

Troup County Fair will be Biggest Event Ever — Preparations are being made daily for the Troup County Fair to be held at the court house Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7, 8 and 9.

This event is expected to go down in the county’s history as the initial attempt to give Troup County farmers a real fair and probably be a starter for a fair grounds at which our farmers will be able to show their products each year.

The poultry division will be larger than ever this year, and more corn will be on exhibit. A larger number of hogs will be entered and the colts will be increased considerably. The ladies of this section will take great pride in showing the various kinds of flowers which are growing here.

Traffic Ordinance — Of interest to LaGrange residents is the report that a traffic ordinance very much like that used in Savannah has been adopted by the Waycross City Council and will be enforced vigorously.

A speed limit of 15 miles per hour in the city, with five miles per hour at turns, is provided in the ordinance.

It is understood that reckless driving shall not merely mean exceeding the speed limit.

To Get Election Returns Nov. 5 — Col. A. H. Thompson, chairman of the Troup County Executive Committee, and a representative of The Reporter have arranged for LaGrange residents to have the earliest and most authentic returns in the presidential electino0 on Nov. 5. We will receive the same service that will be given in the larger cities.

A stereopticon and a large screen will be erected on top of Mr. Albert Lehman’s store in downtown LaGrange. A special wire will be run from the telegraph office to Colonel Thompson’s office and an operator provided for the sole purpose of receiving the election returns by the Western Union Company. Reports will also be received over the telephone, on the part of Local Manager Judson Milam. As fast as the messages are received they will be projected on the screen for all to see.

If the weather is too inclement for this outdoor service, the returns will be received at the court house.

LaGrange Greeks Loyal to Native Country — The owners of the City Cafe have sold out and the three Greeks - Alex and Bill Pope and Mike Levondes - are to sail for Hellas to take up arms for their native land.

They will go to New York and sail with the immense colony of American Greeks, who have organized to aid their mother country. Those who cannot go back to Greece are lending aid by sending their savings to their country to be used by the war department there.

It’s That Time Again — Do you believe in ghosts? Maybe not all the time, but if you have any imagination or fond memory of childhood, you ought to believe in them now, for Halloween, the season of ghosts, is again at hand.

“Darkness, shivers, creeps and groans;

Mouldy graves and dead men’s bones!

Fairies, goblins, gnomes and elves;

Witches, switches, save yourselves.”

Those are the verses that the grandmothers of half a century ago used to repeat to impress on the children the ghostly nature of the holiday.

The pumpkin heads and superstitions about looking in the mirror and in the bottom of a coffee cup are relics of the beliefs that witches and fortune tellers had more power on that particular night than at any other time of the year.

Happy Halloween!