These newsclips are from unknown Newspaper of Dickenson County , Virginia, the articles may have been written by Frank Monroe Beverly. 1890's . from the collection of Annette Damron, Louise Vanover Vore and transcribed by Rachel Vore Engle. A NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING Farmer William McFall Has a Most Perilous Adventure DWALE, DICKENSON COUNTY, VA., April 6 - (special) - Your correspondent learns that William McFall, a prominent farmer of Freeling, had a narrow escape from drowning a night or two since. He had been to Coeburn, and on his return reached the Pound River after nightfall. It was somewhat swollen, and he rode into it, when his horse went beyond his depth by getting below the ford. Mr. McFall clung to the horse while he swam down the stream. The banks of the river below the ford are very steep and overgrown with thick bush, so that the horse could not get out until he had made the distance of a quarter of a mile where he gained terra firma once more. McFall's avoirdupois is about 200 pounds, and being somewhat corpulent, he is somewhat clumsy. A great deal of the fruit in this section has been killed by the late freeze while it still continues cold and disagreeable. Mr. Henry F. Howell, one of Dickenson counties most progressive teachers, has gone to White Head, N.C. Out In Dickenson DWALE, VA,. May 3 -(Special) - It is so dry that forest fires are raging in several sections of the county, and some damage has been done by the burning of fences. Our farmers are generally busy now making preparations to plant their spring crops. But very little corn has been planted in this section as yet, though the work will be in full blast during this week. Old William Mullins (Pound Bill, as he is familiarly called from his having lived on the Pound River), aged 92, is very ill at his daughter's near this place. He is the oldest inhabitant of the county, and has always lived in the Pound-river section. His wife is still living, and is nearing 90. They reared a large family. Case of Small Pox in Clintwood DWALE, DICKENSON COUNTY, VA., February 17 - (Special) - Your correspondent learns that there is a case of small pox in the town of Clintwood, three miles from here. The victim is Cicero Greer, a young man of that place who had been out in the infected district in Wise County. There seems to be various opinions as to whether the disease is actually small pox or not. Excitement ran high at Clintwood for awhile, but it has now almost subsided. Mrs. Noah Yates, wife of a prominent farmer of the "Ridge", is seriously ill; and her recovery is very doubtful. We are having fine weather for farm work now, and our farmers are taking advantage of it. Out in Dickenson DWALE, DICKENSON COUNTY, VA., October 27 - (Special) - The registration in this county (Dickenson) is the lightest it has been for years in a State election. There seems to have been a slight increase on the Republican side over the Democrats. There are many people in the isolated sections of the county who do not know who the candidates on the State ticket are. Only a few days ago a young man, who is in charge of the post office, and who claims to be posted, asked your correspondent, who the Republicans candidate for Governor was. Upon being told that it is McCaull, he remarked, "Well I know of one vote he will get; but of course he cannot be elected." Quite a number of witnesses left Clintwood for Abingdon to testify in somewhat famous case of B.F. Chapman against the Yellow Popular Lumbar Company, which is now being heard in the Federal Court. There is about $90,000 involved in this suit. There are many gray squirrels in this section, and the sportsman's gun is heard on every hill. They are destroying a great deal of corn. Pursuit of Wild Bees To the editor of the Dispatch; Will you please give me the common law, or statute law, if there is any, in regard to wild bees? The point I want decided is to whether a person has the right to them if he finds them on another's premises, and whether he can cut the tree in which he finds them without permission of the owner. Yours truly, Dwale, Va. F.M.B A person has no right to go upon the lands of another and take therefrom bees or any other animals, birds, insects, etc., without the consent of the owner. Such an act is a trespass, for which the law prescribes a remedy. All animal, whether tame or wild, are by our law the subjects of ownership to a greater or less degree. Tame animals - i.e. horses, sheep, cattle, etc. - are regarded as absolute property, and in those which are by nature wild, the owner has a qualified property. The latter class are technically known by the Latin designation, "Ferae naturae". Such a qualified property may be acquired in three ways: 1) By one's industry in taming them; 2) by reason of their inability to escape from one's possession or premises; 3) by reason of some privilege conferred by law. Such wild animals are one's property only while they continue in his actual possession. If they regain their freedom the ownership ceases, unless, having been domesticated, they have "animum revertendi" - the intention to return. Pigeons which fly away from home, or a tame deer wandering at liberty illustrates this latter point, as they gradually return to their owner at nightfall. "Bees are ferae naturae, but when hived and reclaimed, one may have a qualified property in them per industriam, and if they leave the owner's hive his property in them still continues as long as he can keep them in sight and identify them, and though they settle on a tree in another's grounds that does not divest the ownership. But as between the owner of the land and any stranger the bees and honey they may belong, it is believed, release soil, to the proprietor of the soil where they are found, subject to the bees (until he has reclaimed and hived them) to lose his ownership by the swarm leaving his premises." (article trails off, illegible) DICKENSON Delegates in the Pulaski Convention Elected DWALE, VA., June 22 - (Special) - The Democrats of Dickenson county held a mass meeting Tuesday for the purpose of appointing delegates to the congressional convention, to be held at Pulaski City July 5th. The following delegates were appointed: Clintwood District, Frank Beverly; Ervinton District, George W. Sutherland; Sand Lick District, William B. Sutherland; Willis District, J.C. Kerr; delegates for the county at large, J.C. Counts. The delegates were instructed to cast the vote for the county for William F. Rhea, of Bristol. Your correspondent saw a man at court at Clintwood this week, who said he was 73 years old, and had never read a newspaper in his life. He never read anything but the Bible, and does not intend to begin reading newspapers at this late day. The High School closed out at Clintwood a day or two since, with an exhibition, in which the students acquitted themselves with honor. The spectators were well pleased with it. WHAT A FARMER SAW Probably a Stray Shell from One of Sampson's Big Guns DWALE, DICKENSON COUNTY, VA., June 7 - (Special) - A farmer near this place reports having seen something pass through the air yesterday, which from his description, must have been a large areolite. He was in the field when his attention was attracted by a large passing shadow. Then he instantly cast his eyes upward, where he saw a novel sight, the object shooting through the air at a very rapid rate, going northward. It was of a cylindrical shape, and presented a fiery appearance. He compares it to that of a horse. It seemed to burst into fragments when some distance away, the pieces falling north. TIDINGS FROM DICKENSON The Small-Pox Scare-Logging Men Are Complaining DWALE, DICKENSON COUNTY, VA., March 16 - (Special) - The Tribune, a little weekly paper, of Clintwood, has resumed publications, after a suspension of some months. The space in the present issue is devoted mostly to the discussion of the small-pox situation in Southwest Virginia. I learn that there is a case of measles, alias small-pox, two miles south of this place. Several parties have been exposed to it. There are quite a number of very substantial building in process of erection in t his vicinity and Clintwood. The logging men are complaining of having no tide to float their logs out of the streams. They are needing the money they would realize from marketing their timber to defray the expense incurred. If there should be no tide this spring it would result in a serious loss to them. County Court will convene at Clintwood to-day. There are some very important matters to be heard at this term. The case of the Commonwealth against David Fleming, charged with making a felonious assault upon his cousin, Tandy Fleming, last June, will probably be heard. It will attract considerable attention.