1918 Flu Pandemic

1918 Flu Pandemic I was going through old family photos and ran across one of my paternal great grandfather, John Maness who died of the great flu pandemic of 1918-1919 at the age of 36. My grandmother had just turned 11 years old when her father died and always  suspected that she herself brought the flu virus home from school. Not an easy thing to live with even though she was completely blameless . In 1918 the first cases of Spanish Influenza were confirmed in an army barrack in Fort Riley Kansas, within days the disease had already reached Queens, New York.  Troop movements during World War 1 hastened the spread of the disease with it reaching Africa, Europe and Asia by August and left a toll of between 50 and 100 million dead before the pandemic suddenly ended.  Unlike most other strains of influenza the 1918 version seemed to attack and kill mainly young adults who were in the prime of their lives leaving the elderly and children largely unaffected.  Some doctors have speculated that what was happening involved the flu turning peoples own immune systems against them therefore the very young and very old having weaker immune systems where in far less danger than people with healthy immune systems. Many people at the time referred to the pandemic as the 3-day flu because the standard amount of time to elapse between first symptoms and death was only 3 days. One observer wrote, "One of the most striking of the complications was hemorrhage from mucous membranes, especially from the nose, stomach, and intestine. Bleeding from the ears and petechial hemorrhages in the skin also occurred.  This had to be a terrifying sight known only to the victims of the flu but to their families and other eyewitnesses.  Original estimates said that 30 to 50 million people worldwide died due to the Spanish influenza outbreak but more modern estimates claim the number can be as high as 80 to 100 million people.  The Spanish Flu killed more people in 24 months than the AIDS virus killed in 24 years and more than the medieval Black Death killed in its entirety. Even in areas where mortality was low, so many were incapacitated that much of everyday life was hampered. Some communities closed all stores or required customers to leave orders outside. There were reports that the health-care workers could not tend the sick nor the gravediggers bury the dead because they too were ill. Mass graves were dug by steam shovel and bodies buried without coffins in many places. nce 1918, there have been several other influenza pandemics, although none as deadly. A flu pandemic from 1957 to 1958 killed around 2 million people worldwide, including some 70,000 people in the U.S., and a pandemic from 1968 to 1969 killed approximately 1 million people, including some 34,000 Americans. More than 12,000 Americans perished during the H1N1 (or “swine flu”) pandemic that occurred from 2009 to 2010 these were all horrific tragedies but pale in comparison to the absolute disaster of 1918.  With the fact that the spread of the flu pandemic was aided by troop movements in World War 1 you could arguably add the fifty to a hundred million people killed by the flu to the 17 million people killed outright by Warfare which would cause the Great War to be by far the deadliest conflict in world history. They say war and disease go together like wine and roses and never was this more the case than in the World War 1- Spanish influenza combo from which we have not yet fully recovered societally, politically and as a species.

Grove Oak Rt 2 News 1909

From an October 1909 Fort Payne Journal

Crossville. Feb 1924

From the DeKalb County Herald. reports of smallpox in Crossville are untrue

The Strand 1936

January 1936  The Strand Theatre of the era welcome to both white and black patrons while the Dekalb theatre was white only.

James Bros Play at Chavies School

A play held March 1st 1924 at Chavies School.  From the DeKalb County Herald February 1924.

1909 Chavies Base Ball

1909 from the Fort Payne Journal.

1924 Henegar Moonshine Murder

Police informant shot down by moonshiners in 1924.  February 1924 DeKalb County Herald.

Whiskey And Pistols, Crossville 1909

A bicycle deal goes sour and ends in gunfire in 1909 Crossville.
From an October 1909 issue of The Fort Payne Journal.

Gilbert Murder in Tenbroek 1924

March 1924 issues Dekalb County Herald

The Peddling Truck

                         Former Peddling Truck of Mitchell Bros. Store in Antioch


In rural Alabama during the Depression, WW2 and immediate years afterward many families did not own their own transportation and would get their much needed supplies from the local Peddling Truck or "Rolling Store" which was a service furnished by many local General Stores of the era.

The Rolling Store began in the 1800's as horse drawn wagons loaded with flour, pans, sugar and materials for sewing but by the mid 20th Century ton and a half trucks and old buses had been converted to serve the purpose.

These old trucks were packed to the ceiling with foodstuffs, hardware, textiles and even toys for the children.
Many people would stand out by the road waiting for the arrival of the peddler because it was as close as they were going to get to a Shopping Spree.

I was born in 1970 after the Rolling Store was long passed into history but I knew about practice because my Grandparents (with whom I lived) had an old derelict Peddling Truck on their property which they used for storage.   Owned by Mitchell Bros. store in Antioch it was originally an old early thirties Dodge truck which had been hand built with pieces of a bus and hand fabricated sheet metal.   This particular Rolling Store ran the Sand Mountain portion of Jackson County and the Antioch and Greens Chapel areas of DeKalb County during the forties.   When you stepped inside the shelving was still intact and reached all the way to the ceiling.  there was even notes written in pencil on the walls of which customers had bought something on credit and how much they owed.

I could just imagine this very truck barrelling down dirt roads in 1945 in a trail of dust while kids awaited it's arrival and housewives waited to go through it's shelves to pick out the prettiest material to sew a new dress and farmers waiting for it to get their weekly supply of Beechnut Chewing Tobacco.

The Peddling Truck is a product of an almost forgotten area but it is still an important part of our past.  Think of it as a Bookmobile....without the books...or a mobile ebay with it's own schedule.      Something our Grandparents would be as familiar with as we are with Dollar General today.   

January 1936 F3 Tornado Fyffe/Greens Chapel

Just an F3 in January 1936 with one line on the NWS page. It was plenty more though. It killed two people in Fyffe and in Green's Chapel my Grandparents put their 3 kids under the kitchen table for protection. Their home was moved off the foundation but next door Rudolf Rowell's home was destroyed and his small daughter and his father were killed. Mr. Rowell's back was broken and he never walked again. Grandpa and other neighbors had to get the living and dead from under the rubble in the rain. Grandpa Potter was still talking about it 50 years later and I'm sure everyone else hit by it did the same.   

Peek's Corner News 1908

Feb 8th Fort Payne Journal

Attorney Arrested For Murder

Local attorney arrested for murder. January 1st 1908 Fort Payne Journal

Dawson News 1908

March 11th 1908 Fort Payne Journal

WW1 P08 Luger

World War 1 po8 Luger brought back from World War II but destroyed in a house fire.  This pistol hung for many years in Guy Johnson's pawn shop in Rainsville

Sousa In Ft Payne

Sousa at Ft Payne Opera House 1908. one of the most famous band leaders in history paid a visit to DeKalb County

Beware Cigarettes!!

A very paranoid propaganda piece from the temperance column of a February 1908 Fort Payne Journal. The author was firmly convinced that cigarettes were laced with opium.

George Bush Visits Rainsville

January 1980 Rainsville received a visit from presidential candidate George Bush. a visit by a presidential candidate was and is very uncommon in DeKalb County.

Fyffe News 1908

From March 11th 1908 Fort Payne Journal

Hammonds Bros Furniture

We uncovered this sign when the old Fyffe City Hall was torn down. this sign had been covered up since 1957 when the city hall building was built.  Hammond Brothers Furniture was a key business in town for many many years and was not only a furniture store but at one time in the 1950s also served as a restaurant with a very busy soda fountain. Sadly this sign was painted over by the owner of the building shortly after we discovered it. the Old Hammond Brothers building is now a church and the church sign has been painted over this piece of History. You will notice the person who painted the sign signed his name in the bottom corner.
Another piece of history now lost to the ages.