Blake School History

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="012c8203.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Blake School History<B>   </B></FONT><A HREF="http://www.jaspercountyschools.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.jaspercountyschools.org"><U><B>home</B></U></A><A HREF="http://www.jaspercountyschools.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.jaspercountyschools.org"><U><B> </B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Blake"><U><B>Blake School</B></U></A></div> <div> Blake school was located at the northeast corner of Iris Road and County Road 10.</div> <div> Longitude: -94.0729935 and Latitude: 37.1728343  The building is no longer standing.</div> <div> Voters approved a merger of the Blake, Henry, Arthur, Sunflower, Avillla, Rusk, New Hope and Empire </div> <div> schools in October 1951.  The new district would be named the R-13 District.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c1620b0.jpg" border=0 width="610" height="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> In No.1 (court) there was but one case, the argument being heard in the matter of the Blake </div> <div> school house injunction.  The testimony was taken in this case some little time ago.  The school</div> <div> house burned, and a disagreement arose as to whether the school house should be moved or not.</div> <div> Finally a board of arbitrators were appointed, a new site was determined on and the school house</div> <div> half built when W. H. Harper and others got an injunction.  Al Thomas and B. F. Hackney, attorneys</div> <div> for the plaintiff, and John Bailey and George Crowder for the defense argued the case, and Judge</div> <div> Perkins took the case under advisement before rendering his decision.</div> <div> <I>March 7, 1911, The Carthage Democrat</I></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c1620b0.jpg" border=0 width="610" height="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0e917c90.jpg" border=0 width="279" height="201" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> February 23, 1912</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c1620b0.jpg" border=0 width="610" height="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> SCHOOL CAUSE OF A CARTHAGE TRAGEDY  </div> <bR> <div> A neighborhood feud over the location and name of a country school house resulted yesterday in a fight in which Lee Duncan, </div> <div> living near Carthage, shot and killed his uncle, S. F. Duncan, and in turn was perhaps fatally wounded, the Duncans are farmers,</div> <div> ten miles east of Carthage. </div> <bR> <div> The shooting occurred on the roadway near S. F Duncan's home. Witness say Lee Duncan was waiting for his uncle and when </div> <div> he drove up opened fire with a revolver. The old man armed with a repeating shotgun returned the fire. S. F. Duncan was shot five times</div> <div> and the nephew three times. The nephew was taken to a hospital at Carthage and it is believed he cannot recover.</div> <bR> <div> The school controversy has raged in the particular locality three years and caused considerable litigation and ill feeling among friends</div> <div> and families. A conflagration (fire) destroyed  the old schoolhouse and the directors desired to change the location and name of the new </div> <div> school.</div> <bR> <div> Then the trouble arose. The uncle it is asserted, accused his nephew of setting fire to the old building.</div> <div> S. F. Duncan, just before he died, made a statement in which he said his nephew fired the first shot. The dead man was 56 years old</div> <div> and a bachelor. His friends assert he was on his way to Carthage to have authorities put his nephew under peace bond.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Source: THE GALENA EVENING TIMES Tue. Apr. 29, 1913 p1 c2 </I></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c1620b0.jpg" border=0 width="610" height="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The Blake school district, located southeast of Avilla and northwest of LaRussell, is the last to have a school house.  It is now on course</div> <div> of erection at a cost of $1200 for the building and equipment and is expected to be completed by the end of this month so that school</div> <div> can open the first of October.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Carthage Evening Press, Sept. 9, 1913</I></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>