A tough week for the locals

Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Though times were generally tough for Madison County folks in the early years of the twentieth century, the first week of August in 1902 was particularly rough for a number of people. First, there was the unfortunate house fire of Mr. D.P. Beasley, a man of some prominence in the community. On Thursday, Aug. 7, at around 2 a.m., the fire alarms sounded. Plenty of nearby neighbors rushed to help the family remove furniture and other items from the doomed structure.
The fire department was slow to arrive on the scene and their water pressure was dismally low, resulting in little hope of saving the home. Fortunately, Beasley was able to promptly move his family into another home across the street. He owned several homes in the area.
The next day, Col. C.B. Ashley had the misfortune of losing a fine mule. The poor creature seemed to be having trouble breathing, so Dr. Yates was called upon to assist in his recovery. He cut into the animal's windpipe, but found no obstruction. The mule continued to suffer and was shot to put him out of his misery.
The “kid” team of Madison's baseballists (a real word meaning “baseball players”) took a trip to Valdosta on the following Monday, looking to enjoy a game against that city's younger athletes. The score was such that the Madison youth also wished to be put out of their misery. Some of the athletes asked that the Madison paper refrain from publishing the score, and the newspaper obliged them. The paper only reported that “the defeat was a bad one.” Here's hoping that the people of our fair community had a better go of things in the days ahead.
Some information for this article was taken from Elizabeth Evans Kilbourne's book, “Madison County, Florida Newspaper Clippings,” Volume 1:1901-1903.