Memories by Lillian Lockhart Finch (Part Two)
Teenagers of this era liked to go to the Palace Drug Store for a "Dope" with
Dub and a BLT sandwich, or a hamburger at Tom Taylor's. "Dope" was a
coco-coala and "Dub" was W. C. Mangum.
Gone from the scene is the fireman on the train shoveling coal into the boiler;
the light from the fire lighting up the smoke as it streamed back over the
chimney and engine. It was a beautiful sight that this generation will never see.
Many other happy memories are attached to the railroad. During World War I,
young misses ran to the track when troop trains came through to pick up letters
that the soldiers had ready to drop to a pretty girl.
Now about athletics: Magee played ball. In the early years, basketball was
played on an open court and many times on frozen ground. Magee played
Mize in 1922, and one Magee supporter could not go to Mize to the game.
He asked a friend to call back to Magee as soon as the game was over and
tell him the score. After the game, the man reported over the phone, "Two dead
and three injured". This was true; it seems there had been an argument on the
court, and by standers were seen crawling under the school building for safety.
Then in 1925, Magee belonged to a semi-professional baseball team with
a paid professional pitcher named Lefty Deck from Texas.
