> Death notices From the Montgomery Advertiser > -Transcribed by Larry E. Caver, Jr. > > April 28, 1881: > > (Blountsville, April 27, 1881) > On Saturday night last, one of the foulest, most cowardly and > dastardly assassinations which could blot the annals of our fair State > occurred at Bangor& While Capt. Frank A. HANNA, an old citizen of the > county, was sitting reading a newspaper, at his residence, with a > light near him and the door wide open, the assassin slipped up within > 20 feet of him, with a rifle carrying quarter ounce ball, and fired& > instantly killing him& His remains were taken to Hanceville on Monday, > and interred by the side of his wife. He leaves three little children& > Capt. HANNA was a man well known in the county, was about 50 years of > age& and was formerly the proprietor of the Bangor Herald& bobwonda@hiwaay.net wrote: >The Blount County Herald was published at Bangor by Denis W.D. Boully and >edited by W.H. Edwards and F.A. Hanna. Only one issue of this newpaper is >known to exist. It is on microfilm in the Oneonta Court House. The paper >is dated 4 Apr 1879. A contemporary newspaper, the Bangor Broad-Axe was >run by Phillip Musgrove. Similarly, only one issue of the Broad-Axe is >known to exist. All the rest have apparently been lost to time. > >F.A. (Francis Asberry) Hanna served the Confederacy in Company C of the >29th Alabama Infantry. Phillip Musgrove was Captain of Company C of the >12th Alabama Cavalry. In April of 1881, Hanna was murdered. He was >sitting inside his house reading a newspaper by lamp or candle light with >the front door open. Someone crept up outside and shot him with a rifle. >He was taken back to the Hanna Family Cemetery near Hanceville for >interment. > >Mathew's paper, The Blount County News, was in business in Blountsville in >April 1881, but the issues which would have reported on the actual incident >are missing. The 19 May 1881 issue reported James McAnnally was arrested >and jailed at Blountsville and charged with complicity in the murder. >McAnnally later posted a $2000 bond and was released. In May 1884, the >News reported the case of the State vs. Willis McAnnally was called into >court. > >Phillip Musgrove was investigated as a suspect involved with conspiracy to >murder his newspaper competitor, but any charges were dismissed. In >October, 1884, this note was found in the News: > >The trial of Dr. P.M. Musgrove and Wm. Musgrove, charged with the murder of >F.A. Hanna, near Bangor in this County, came off last week in St. Clair >County, where the venue had been changed. After a trial of three days and >an exhaustive examination of witnesses, the verdict of the jury was "Not >Guilty." > >In September, 1885, this note was found: > >The trial of Bud McAnnally, charged with the murder of Frank A. Hanna, has >been again continued by the State. It was to have been tried in the >Marshall Circuit Court on the 2d inst., and many of the witnesses passed >through here on the 1st, on their way home. > >McAnnally was referred to as "James," "Willis," and "Bud." > >No other local newpaper reports were found concerning this Blount County >murder mystery. It is not known for certain if McAnnally was the real >killer. Although it involved a few well known men from Blount County, >Hanna's murder remains one of Blount County's unsolved murders. Phillip >Musgrove moved to Cullman not long after the incident. > >Hanna's younger brother, Lafayette Randolph Hanna, was a lawyer in >Blountsville. Newspaper ink must have flowed through the Hanna boys veins. >He, and two other prominent Blount Countians, Howell and Doyle, started >"The Mineral Age" some time after the death of his brother, F.A. Hanna. >Mathews, at the News, did not exactly welcome the competition and used his >editorial column to deride the young upstart. In any event, the Mineral >Age only lasted a few years. Mathews sarcastically eulogized the Mineral >Age with this note in the 22 Oct 1885 issue of the News: > >In Memoriam. Died, at Blountsville, Ala., on Oct. 20th, 1885, in the hope >of a glorious resurrection at Warrior, Ala., Miss Minner Alage, the adopted >daughter of L.R. Hanna, Esq., a pretended philanthropist of this County. >It had never any legitimate parentage, and was begotten in iniquity, and >died of a slow starvation, a dose that he prepared for its neighbor, the >Blount County News. The ways of God are inscrutable, and hypocrisy today, >meets its true deserts as it did in the days of the Savior. The puny >bantling was born at Chepultepec, Blount County, and was of very doubtful >parentage, yet it was a sensitive thing, and told its adopted parent three >weeks before its death, that it didn't want to live, for the following >reasons, to-wit: "The County officers paid no attention to it! The >Probate Judge snubbed it; the Sheriff only noticed it three or four times; >the Circuit Clerk never tipped his hat to it; and the Register in Chancery >totally ignored it." However, it had only one true and faithful friend, >the Rev. Remus Murphree, a contributor, and one of the most worthless >darkies in the State, who will preach its "Funeral" on November the 5th, >the anniversary of Guy Fawks' plot to blow up the Lords and Commons of old >England. But it has gone, gone forever! Yet its close financial career is >known to the little boys of Blountsville, who often found it a difficult >thing to collect a small but hard-earned fee from the management. Peace to >its ashes! It has undoubtedly been done Brown so let it rip! >>From the snow-clad hills of Maine to the marshes 'round Savannah, >Everyone now knows what's the matter with poor Hannah! > >In March 1886, the News reported the Mineral Age was sold to Prof. S.A. >Ellis and Rev. S.C. Davidson, who moved it to Warrior. > >L.R. Hanna was yet a young man when he contracted typhoid fever and died 20 >Feb 1887. He was buried with Masonic honors in the New Lebanon (Blue >Springs) Cemetery. > >A final note about Frank Hanna. In a June 1891 issue of the Blount County >News-Dispatch, a traveling salesman, then known as a "drummer" sent a >letter to the editor which mentions Hanna. His letter reads in part: > >I then bethought me of Frank Hanna, and on inquiry was told he is dead, >"had been murdered, mysteriously, horribly murdered years ago." Frank was >a social kind hearted companion and I could not but feel a great sorrow in >not meeting him, and the terrible idea that he was murdered followed me >whenever I went, and I caught myself dreamily wondering whether the spirits >of murdered men forgive, and if I ever could believe in spooks and restless >spirits I would certainly have thought he lingered 'round for I thought of >him all day, and could almost see him as I saw him last-the picture of >health. "Where then is the Musgrove family?" I asked, I am sure every one >thought me a veritable Rip Van Winkle and I myself begun to look around for >Synder. For "the Musgroves moved too, soon after Frank Hanna died." > >So what of the 4 Apr 1879 issue of The Blount County Herald? Here are a >few transcriptions: > > On the 27th inst., Mr. Jas. Scott, of Jefferson co., was married to Miss >Ellen Milner, of Blount, at the residence of the bride's father, Mr. Henry >Milner, near Chepultepec. After the ceremonies were over the guests were >invited to a table well filled with the luxuries of life, to which they did >ample justice. > > Blountsville, Ala., March 28, 1879. Eds. Herald--Since my last, two, if >not more, heavy rains have fallen here, and hen came a frost after; but, so >far as I am informed, it did no harm. > The prospect is good for fruit--peaches, plums and apples. Wheat >promises an abundant crop. > The last two or three days two or three days have been rather warm, and >our neighbors engaged in farming have taken advantage of the time and >planted their corn, and prepared to plant cotton by planting guano in some >instances. > The outlook is good for a crop, especially wheat, and especially Mr. >Wooten's, which is said to be the finest in this community. > By the way, Jim is one of the best farmers in the county, being careful >always to prepare well and thoroughly his soil before planting. No one in >this section succeeds better than Wooten. > Uncle Dan McPherson is on a visit to Blountsville to see his son-in-law, >Mr. Wooten. Although his head is white with the frosts of 78 winters, and >he afflicted with old age, yet Uncle Dan "spins a yarn" and cracks a joke >with as much zest as when in the prime of life. He is quite old, but >always good-humored and cheerful, and seems to enjoy his declining years as >much as any aged person. A better citizen than Uncle Dan is not in Blount. > About 350 to 400 motrgages have been recorded and filed for record in the >probate's office up to this time, and still the mortgage for supplies. >Many more will yet be filed for corn and meat. > Herein is another potent answer to the question, What causes the hard >times? Will we never learn to produce our corn and meat in this county? >After the immense quantity of guano, corn and bacon shipped and sold here >to the farmers is paid for next winter, how much will they have left of >their crops? Just about enough to do till Christmas, when they must again >give a lien to get supplies. Scribe. > > Died, on the 29th ult., at the residence of her son, in this county, Mrs. >Jenkins, aged 83 years. > > We learn that the jail at Blountsville was broken on last Wednesday and >the prisoners made good their escape. The free use of a hand-saw and >chisel enabled them to make their exit. > > We had a short and pleasant call this week by Drs. Willoughby and >Drennen, of Arkadelphia. > We also had a brief call by Mr. W.A. Cannon, of the "cut off." > Esq. Uriah Tidwell, of the Little Warrior region, gave us a call, and >also kindly subscribed for the Herald. > > Our senior went last week in the vicinity of his former residence on Dry >Creek, and hearing there had been a post office recently established in the >neighborhood, went to see the postmaster. Dr. Ballinger, and while there >and thereabout, picked up 43 subscribers for the Herald, some of whom >declared they had never before taken a newspaper, and never would, had not >a representative of the Herald gone there. > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ALBLOUNT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > >