An earlier post (11/9/07, “So you want to start a town, Part 1”) summarized some of the early ordinances adopted by the City of Bradley. Section 13 of Ordinance No. 8 provided: “That all male persons residing in the Corporate limits of the said Town between the ages of 18 and 45 years, shall be subject to work on the Streets and alleys in said Town who has resided in the town for ten days before the day of warning to work, when he is warned as stated in the preceding section; that every person so warned may pay in money the sum of Two ($2.00) Dollars for each day he is so warned to work on or before the day of working, said money to be paid to the Street Commissioner as be paid to the Treasurer of the Town of Bradley.” In essence, this ordinance conscripted the men of the town to work on the City streets, and provided for an “out” that any man so conscripted could avoid actually doing the work by paying a $1.00 per day fee for the required two days of work.
The Town’s records from August, 1921, provide a list of the men of those ages residing in the town. The records show the names of the men being conscripted, the number of “Days Worked,” the “Amt Paid” and the “Total” number of days credited to each man. In the segregated Bradley of that era, the records are divided by race, with each race on a separate page.
The first record is for the African-American men of the town:
The men listed in the above picture are Henry Green, Jno Reed, Will Evans (“Exemp”), Charly Terrell, Arthur Wright, Jack Henderson, Antney Wright, Tom Hunt, Paul Roberson, Mack Renick, Tom Jones, Bob Waddell, and Nathan Smith.
The page containing the list of the white men of the town is so large that it must be shown in two images:
The men listed on this page are J. W. Miller, W. B. Vaughan, R. L. Vaughan, Pat Smith, J. T. O’Neal, Tom Reynolds, Allen Smith, E. M. Crockett, W. E. Cochran, F. M. Cochran, J. R. Cochran, Sid Adams, F. P. Adams, G. P. Snead, W. P. Baker, L. B. Hamner, M. M. Hamner, J. B. Edwards, M. E. O’Neal, H. T. Stewart, G. R. Wise, Thomas Williams, J. W. Meek, J. A. McDonald, B. D. McDonald, John King (name stricken through), Hugh Brock (name stricken through), R. F. Allen, D. E. Collins, John Gore, C. B. O’Neal, R. J. Montgomery, Davis Twitty, Bill Eatons, C. H. Holloway, and J. M. Barker.
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