When I began to transcribe the 8 Apr 1896 issue of the Arkansas City Journal recently, I noticed that the Drew County towns of Tillar and Winchester were featured prominently, with much space given to singing their praises and describing their business establishments in glowing terms. Then I discovered the reason. It seems there was a movement in Desha County at the time, 104 years ago, to annex the small chunk of Drew County which contains the two towns and move the Desha's county seat from Arkansas City to one of them. Obviously the scheme didn't work because Arkansas City, now just a faint shadow of its former importance as a river port and railroad center, is still the county seat. I believe you Drew Countians will enjoy reading about it. You can find it at http://www.public.usit.net/reitzamm/journal3.htm Louis Reitzammer at Jackson, Tennessee < [email protected] >