An old 1901-02 cash ledger from the bar contains names from many prominent families from all over Panola County, including a couple of doctors and my grandfather John Tolbert Browning.  Evidently the bar had wide support.

Being located just off the old courthouse square in Carthage and with many farmers and others coming to town on Saturdays, I can well imagine the men coming down for a "cold one" while their wives shopped in the stores.

Prices indicated in the ledger are interesting - drinks from 10 cents to 40 cents, pint of gin 40 cents, pint of whiskey 50 cents, quart of beer 15 cents, 1/2 gallon of beer 25 cents, kegs of beer $2.25, casks of beer $11.  Evidently there was a pool table too, with games costing 20 cents.

Various entries in the ledger indicate that some accounts were paid by cash, sometimes several weeks or months after purchases.Some were paid "by meat", produce, or other goods, and unfortunately, there is no indication that some were ever paid.  I have not totaled up the amount Grandpa Zorn may have been owed, but it would have been a tidy little sum for those days.

(I wonder if I could still collect some of it from descendants of those prominent families.  The original amounts plus interest from 1901 or '02 would be enough for me to make a nice contribution to the Panola County Historical Museum at the Old Jail!)