ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 19,1878 INTEREST TO THE TOBACCOFARMERS County Agent and Specialists Hold Demonstrations; Les pedeza Acreage Growing Orders totalling 1750 pounds, or 72 bushels of Lespeueza seed were sent in for Chatham county farm ers this week by the Agent. Indica tions so far seem to show that Chat ham county will seed the largest crop of lespedeza in its history this winter and spring. Orders are still being taken, and another order will be sent in soon. One fiea oeetle trap demonstra tion for insects attacking plant beds was held at the farm of J. N. Bryan near Seafroth on Monday. Two to bacco meetings were held Thursday at Seafroth and Yates’ school. A total of sixty farmers attended these meetings. Mr. E. Y. Floyd, tobacco specialist from State college, and Mr. G. W. Fant, plant pathologist, spoke at these meetings. Calling at tention to the necessity of intelli- j gent thought in growing tobacco, Mr. Floyd states that where fertiliz- ! ers of the proper analysis, and mag-1 nesium limestone have been used un- | der tobacco, profits varying- from S4O to SIOO per acre have been obtained as compared with locations where there is lack of magnesium limestone, and where low analysis fertilizers have been used. He recommenrs an 8-4-6 fertilizer for tobacco in Chat ham county. He stated that the potash carrier in this fertilizer should | be one-half muriate of potash, and onehalf sulphate, and that half of the ammonia should be deirved from ry, Mr. G. Whitaker and others. The the inorganic sources. According to Mr. Floyd, manure salts or other low grade carriers of potash should not be used for tobacco fertilizers. Mr. Fant discussed diseases of tobacco, and showed some interest ing specimens of tobacco affected with sandrow’n, angular leaf spot, potash humger and others. He stat ed that practically all of the diseases ' of tobacco can be avoided through treating tobacco seed with a solution ! of formaldehyde. At these meetings a number of farmers gave the agent orders for tobacco seed of higher yielding characteristics, which are best adapted to this section, and a | number of other farmers expressed ! their intentions of treating seed, and using higher analysis fertilizers as i recommended by State college this winter. Two more farmers have announc- 1 ed their intentions of seeding dem onstration fields in sweet clover this spring. They are W. B. Webter and J. B. Teague, both of whom live near Slier City. To date, five alfalfa demonstrations, three sweet clover demonstrations and two pasture dem onstrations have been arranged in this county. An effort is being made to induce farmers to conduct eight more pasture demonstrations, and two more sweet clover demonstra tions. Beginning the first of February, the Agent will make a special ef fort to induce more farmers to plant Mexican big boll cotton. The Mexican is highly recommended for growing in this county, due to its earliness, high yielding, and longer staple. The Mexican is especially adapted to boll weevil conditions. Last spring, the agent induced four farmers in the community of Gum Spring, to plant the Mexican, and these men had good results from the I seed. To those farmers who are interested, there will be 100 bush els of this seed for sale in February. The cotton from which this seed was obtained was ginned separately, and the seed have been cleaned. The farmers having these seed for sale are, Mr. Will Perry, Mr. Thad Per ry, Mr. Gad hitaker and others. The farmers who are interested in obtain ing these seed should get in touch with these men, or with the County Agent, N. C. Shiver, Pittsboro, N. C. In office on Saturdays and first Mondays. • AUXILIARY MEETS The American Legion Auxiliary met with Mrs. Cecil Lindley,. Janu ary 20, Mrs. Bell president, presid ing. The meeting opened with allegi ance to the Flag, after which Star Spangled Banner and America, were sung. Treasurer reported $12.50 paid to Mr. G. . Noe for the Flag Pole. Mrs. Brewer, re-habilitation chair man, read a letter from Howard Shenk, thanking the auxiliary for the Christmas box. A letter was read from Mrs. Vass, State president, giving the standing committees. We are very proud to have one of our members, Mrs. H. A. London on the list. Mrs. London then read the legis lative program of the American Le- 1 gion for the 70th congress, advoca- j ted by the Legion’s Paris convention. It was decided to postpone the Rummage Sale, until the weather is better. Summary of proceedings 7th Na tional onvention of American Legion Auxiliary was read. We were very glad to have Miss Pauline Taylor as guest at this meet ing. The hostess, assisted by Miss Tay lor, and little Virginia Hayes Lind ley, served delicious refreshments. Mrs. H. A. London invited the Auxiliary to meet with her next month. otata uUmiy The Chatham Record | Washington Letter Straws Point to Rift Between President and Congress—— Other Differences WASHINGTON, Jan. 23.—Con i' gress got into the jam-pot again last j week while Mr. Coolidge was down jin Cuba. The returning President, | hastening home from the land of rum Wrth nothing stronger than black coffee m his system, found many a sticky finger-print to show what the errant legislature had been up to. Washington looked, good to the Coolidges after their long trip, but the situation did not smell like a rose garden. Something, indeed, ap peared to have gone sour. It has I become a habit- about this time every winter lor Mr. Coolidge to get into difficulties with congress or for con to _ get into difficulties with Mr. Coolidge. This year is no ex ception. As yet the irritation is no greater than that of a small grain of dust in the eye; but it gives prom ise of growing and of causing poli tical tears. For Mr. Coolidge is becoming al most daily somewhat more unpopu lar with the Seventieth congress and the Seventieth congress is daily lead ; mg Mr. Coolidge’s goat a little far ther from the white house. It was ! the same old story with the Sixty i ninth congress and with the Sixty i eighth congress, and unless there is a change at heart, Vermont’s only President stands a bully chance of leaving the White House at the tail end of a first class row with Capitol Hill. Last week congress strayed so far from the administration’s policies as to dally a bit with the idea of mak ing the tariff all over again. The Senate, by a vote of 54 to 34, noti fied the House that it was in a mood | to tinker with the tariff under the | guise of fixing up rates to help the ! farmer. Democrats in the House pricked up their ears and pranced in verbal vigor for two eloquent days, but the line, held firm and the Re publican majority got them back in the stable, 193 to 164—a squeaky margin. There is nothing in the whole wido world that Mr. Coolidge has less use for today than a tariff fight. So with the Republicans as a whole. This is understood even by the gram mar school pupils in Washington. The mere fact that congress would con sider the idea was a somewhat stun njiig manifestation of how far apart the paths of Congress and the White House are diverging. There was another thing, too, and it concerned the Nicaraugan mess. Mr. Coolidge sees nothing extraordi nary in sending a batch of marines South to protect American and for- j eigp lives. It has been done dozens I of times in the past. But congress | is getting fairly well heated up over that situation and it mav be that the fire can’t be put out this time. Borah and others promise a sweep ing investigation—whatever that means. As Mr. Coolidge sees it, congress is tending to trip down the primrose path on still another thing—farm relief. He has twice vetoed the dose prescribed by McNary-Haugen et al, but it looks as if he might have to sink a veto for the third and last time on the same old business all over again this year. Then the little matter of building a big navy is sticking a bit in a crop or two in Washington, Mr. Cool idge, with a frugal eye to another possible arms conference, wants some discretion about the time for com pleting the building program. Last week the House committee, by 15 to 1, voted to lift all discretion from his shoulders and not only say how but when the 40 odd fighting ships should be built. The “when” con templates the entire new navy in commission not less than 'eight years hence. Squabbles, like misfortunes, sel dom come singly, so there are still other little spat causes between the. two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Senate apparently wants to spend $250,000,000 rebuilding a govern ment-owned fleet of merchant ships and thereafter to operate them in the name of Uncle Sam. Operation, the ship sharks say, would cost $35,- 000,000 a year to the treasury, with everything considered. The President is against the idea of government in business, especially in the shipping business. Here again, the fat’s in the fire. A minor irritant is the tax bill. The Senate committee last Week de cided to do nothing until after March 15. Immediately the treasury mail ed out the income tax blanks—near ly 20 tons of them. Mr. Coolidge is represented as having wanted this cleared up in time for the new rates to apply to last year’s business. He also wanted congress to Tepeal the inheritance tax, let the excise taxes alone, reduce the corporation rate to not less than 12 per cent and cut the middle surtax rates. The House —where the Republicans have a good , majority—just laughed at the idea j and went ahead, doing nothing as the President wanted in any of these particulars. And now comes the Senate and sits on the whole busi ness for nearly three months. Obviously, some things are going stale in the state of Denmark. No noses are now being held, but if this sort of business keeps up, one can imagine a rottenness not far away. The next logical step in the pa rade of cross-purpose would seem to be an open break between Coolidge and congress over one or more ma jor issues. It may come at any time. There were other developments at PITTSBORO, N. C., CHATHAM COUNTY, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1928 jChathamites Involved In Automobile Thefts Thr j? ,° f Coi ™ tuait T Among « Dozen In dicted Here Last Week on Charge off Stealing Or Re ce*™« S lO1 ** of Activities of Alleged Band of Trafficker* In Stolen Car* Ohrer Tw» or Tkeee State* To* Be Cealcfecl Here;. HELD FOR MAY TERM OF COURT Claude E. Jones, Frank Scott, J. B. Powers of Bennett, Chat hamites Involved, But Claim Themselves a* Only Innocent, Purchasers;. It seems that alleged members of the band of automobile thieves whose activities were recently reported! in this paper are to have to face Judge Nunn in Superior court at Pittsboro at the May term, on the ground of evidence of activities in and about Bennett, in the extreme southwest, ern part of this county. The grand jury last week found a true bill against an even dozen; of young men of Randolph, and other counties for larceny, re ceiving stolen goods, and criminal conspiracy. Three of the indicted men are Frank Scott, C. E. Jones, and J. B. Powers of Bennett or the immediate section. The other men are Ben Presnell of Seagrewe,. Lar kin Presnell of Hemp, Paul Payne of High Point, Elize Cox of Abner, Bill Payne, Bob Grier, Colin Fox, | and Red Harrow. It will be recalled that the almost I fatal wounding of one Culler and his subsequent turning of state’s evidence revealed a far-extended field of activities in stolen cars. Representatives of the state auto mobile department have investigat ed many of the statements of Cul ler and have found them correspon- I with known facts. Numerous cars have been recovered. It is stated by state investigators that blank deeds for titles, dies for chan ging engine numbers, bogus bills of sale principally from Tennessee and Florida, and other equipment for j giving the purchaser of the stolen j machines apparently bona-fide titles; have been taken from members of ! the band. It seems that the band of marau- i ders have favored practically neyv Fords, Chryslers and Buicks, as most of the cars alleged to have been stolen by members of the band be long to those classes. Furthermore, it is thought that j the group of men have not confined | themselves to thefts of automobiles, ■ but may be responsible for recent j bank robberies and other hold-ups. But such suspicions do not rest upon Messrs. Jones, Powers and Scott, who only bought cars of the gang under the forged titles and deemed by men who know them as innocent j victims of the Culler and Presnell: gang, and as evidence of the case with which they may have been de ceived is cited the fact that the false titles were passed upon by the state automobile department and were not questioned till after Cul ler’s confession. The three Bennett men are con sidered men of the highest probity by men who have long known them, and it is declared that the linking i up of these innocent purchasers of stolen cars with the activities of the gang is an outrage. Mr. Jones is manager of the Ford agency at Ben nett and, naturally, when without cars from the factory, as has been the case for nearly a year, was glad to secure cars for his trade, and as justification for his purchase of such cars it is further pointed out that was -it is well, known that Florida Washington during the week, though they were dwarfed by the growing rift between congress and the Presi dent. The State Department lifted its three-year prohibition on Ameri can bankers against floating new French securities here. This was ex plained as a goodwill gesture. Soon there will be a batch of French bonds or stocks offered investors in New York and other American cities the capital hears. The nation’s electric light, power, railway, traction, insurance, tele phone, telegraph and other utility interests are nervous over what the Senate may possibly do to them in investigation proposed by Senator Walsh of Montana. So they held hearings last week to map the scope of any investigation that may be or dered. And, of course, neither the Senate committee nor the utilities were satisfied. Postmaster General New would nail a floor some 30 feet over the railroad yard at Union Station and make a mammoth landing field for mail planes. Senator Joe Robinson and Tom Helfin barked long and ioud at each other in the Senate over Heflin’s somewhat clownish di atribes against the “Pope of Rome.” The resolutions to bar Smith of Ill inois from the Senate was whacked into final shape, and the Interstate Commerce Commission, after a long survey, reached the conclusion that it ought to regulate the truck and bus lines that cross state boundaries. Secretary Hoover addressed the Dyers and Cleaners in national con vention. The subject of bis address was “Keep up the good Work.” Sey mour Lowman, the treasury chief-; has the source- of & great supply of second-hand, cars because of the burst, land.: boom- and the sale of cars by stranded visitors to that state;. Mr.. Powers,, the' Record is infor med. was,formerly connected with the Bennett Motor Company, of which Jones; is. the head, but because of the ! inactivity of. the* interregnum in the Ford business was out of em ployment and was; willing to do a little private in such cars as came* his way.. He? too bought one ;or more cars, as did Mr. Scott, but all three 1 claim that they were im posed upon, by the* fake titles*. which as pointed out above, passed the inspection, of the' state department As the case, involves all stealers, sellers, and; buy era. of the stolen cars in a charge of criminal conspiracy and as the state wished an investi gation- andi trial as early as possible and as there- would, be no court in Randolph until March; it was decid ed to include- the' Randolph men and other members; of. the- alleged gang in a trial here ini Pittsboro. But the action has had the effect of , making; Chatham appear to be the center of the activities of the band, when as a matter of fact only a few cars were sold to citizens in a com munity on the extreme border of this county. Hon.. Walter D< Siler, assistant at torney-general, is slated to help So j licitor C. L.. Williams prosecute the j members of the alleged gang of ; thieves, and was here with a member of the state automobile department last week helping round up the evi dence for presentation to the gand jury. Whatever of injustice and unde sirable publicity may have have been given to Messrs. Powers, Jones, and Scott by the concentration of char ges in this county, the affair is cal culated to make the May term of court here one of considerable in terest, and will doubtless bring- many spectators, as well as witnesses and. attorneys, here for the trial. Not all of the indicted parties had been arrested at the time of the indictment. Bond for the three Chathamites was fixed at $2500 each and for others arrested, except Pay ne, Grier, and Fox, of whom $lO,- 000 bonds were demanded. Where The Tug Comes The tug will come between Jones and the Presnells, it is rumored. The Presnells are expected to swear that j the Bennett Motor Company folk j were the rouges and they are the I innocent sellers for them. On the | other hand, it should seem easy to i prove that the Bennett folk were the victims of this Pi-esnell bunch. There are about a dozen cars invol ved. Jones sold four bought from the Presnells, he claims, and endor sed the papers in the sale of the rest so that the Presnells might get the cash through the Piedmont Credit Company. There is the rub. It is a matter of character, and Jones has it, or at least the best kind of repu tation. tain in charge of prohibition work —whose right arm weared last sum mer from writing out discharges for dishonest employees—was kept in the nervous seat by a Senate that put off the business of confirming him on his job. And as a fitting climax, a naval vessel assigned to junket a party of congressmen and Senators from Washington to Norfolk, got stuck in the Potomac river mud, while the soloiis waited; Speaking of- mud, Engineer Arthur Mason of CHicago informed the House flood commit tee that there used to be 640 billion fishing worms in the State of Illi nois and frhat unless something was done to protect their survivors from floods, the good old State would nev er again be what she used to be. Goldston Items The members of the Eastern Star will entertain the members of the Masonic Lodge and their wives of Gulf, Friday evening at the town hall. We are sorry to learn that Mr. W. L. Goldston’s health is not so good, and is taking treatment in a hospital. We wish for him a speedy recovery. Those who were honored by get ting on the honor roll last month are the following: Fourth grade—Herbert Watson. Third grade—Clwaude haffin. Seventh Grade—Fola Burns and Irene Hilliard. Monday we began the sixth month of the school year. School will close j early in April. Court Proceedings Cases Disposed of And Not Re ported In Last Week's Record Will Davis, misappropriation of coal, plead guilty; judgment suspen ded upon payment of costs. Odell Pugh, plea of nolo conten dere to. whi^ey.charge; costs. AUie Baldi&n .plead‘guilty to pos session of booze-r-six months on the roads, but judgment suspended upon payment of costs .and good behavior. Connell Willioifts plead guilty to whiskey charge, 12 months on road. Ed Glover, plead guilty to liquor charge, costs. William Rives and Bieves, roads for whiskey making. Walker Harris, judgment suspend ed on. payment of costs and during good behavior. Rob Farrington, six months on the roads on liquor charge. Thomas Mitchell pays SSO and cost for driving- car while drunk. Ray Peoples—penitentiary 18 mos. on two liquor charges. Sam Smith, roads 6 months, liquor charge. E. H. Perry—roads 6 months. George Alston appeals; bond of SIOOO on liquor charge. Bob Pugh, year in pen on liquor charge. Morris Farrington—roads 6 mos. on larceny charge. Robert Burnett, roads 6 months, larceny. William Lewter, not guilty. Celeste Alston, road 12 months, cutting affray. Judgment suspend ed upon payment of costs and S2OO for Nathan Alston. Nol pros, as to Nathan Alston. John Griffin, six months, liquor eharge Lacy Short, liquor, $lO and cost, j (Mr. Short’s home was burned the ! very next day after this trial.) Hoyle Bynum, abandonment, SSO and costs. Isham roads eight months, liquor charge. Bill Rieves road sentence changed to a fine of S4OO and costs. Leonard Burns, 60 days on road driving car while drunk. , E. H. Perry's sentence changed to begin March 1; bond of SIOOO. Geo. R. Leach, SSO and costs. The trials of four divorce cases were slipped in during the term. Dossie Bone gets Vvorce from Lula Bone; Mary Howard released from * Jim Howard; Thomas Chavis gets free from Mary Ann Chavis; L. L. Brooks from Grace Montgomery Brooks. overTnnewhope The Editor Visits Homes In New Hope Township—ln creases Mailing List For quite a while we have been desirous of visiting some of the good homes of New Hope township, get ting acquainted with the pepole, and I building up the Record list. It was late Friday when, accom panied by Mr. J. R. Goodwin, who knows all the people, the roads and even the footpaths, it seems, of that section, we set out for work beyond Moore's bridge. But before reaching that point we waylaied Mr. Leonard Hatly, who was bringing a load of fine cedar to town and put his name upon the Record list. Right beyond the river is the home of Mrs. J. A. Thomas, aged 75, a sis ter of Commissioner C. D. Moore, and it was a real treat to stop and chat with her a few minutes. She has a host of sons, daughters and grandchildren, but seems good for several years yet. She started off the list in New Hope for the day, which, despite a very late start, in creased 15 in a few hours, includ ing the names of J. Q. Eubanks, A. D. Burgess, Mrs. D. E. Bowling, J. G. Goodwin, T. J. Harwood, P. J. Harwood, L. J. Harwood. K. T. Mit chell, R. L. Dean, G. H. Mason, J. T. Mills, F. B. Horton, J. T. Horton, and a complimentary copy for Bell’s school reading room. That section reminds one of the coastal plains, and is more like Samp son county lands than thdse about Pittsboro. The coastal plains eith er jut up into northeast Chatham, or rather the piedmont penetrates the line of the coastal belt here be tween the Haw and Deep river. The lands are sandy and produce crops like good old Sampson, tobacco being the chief, money crop. It was a pleasure to stop and chat, if for only a few moments, with the good citizens of that sec tion and to meet the ladies of the homes. We feel more as if we real ly know the people when we have seen them at home. Mr. D. M. Burgess has a fine lit tle farm. His daughter is teaching on route 2, and John acted as mail boy in carrying a letter ready for the route 1 man. At Mr. D. E. Bow ling’s we found a sad state of af fairs. Mrs. I. R. Seymour, mother of Mrs. Bowling, was desperately ill of pneumonia. She has been an invalid for several years and this acute illness threatened the end of the life of this good woman. Three or four daughters were with their mother, including Mrs.. Holleman who had come down with her hus band from Durham. At Mr. J. G. Goodwin’s we learn of the marriage of his son, Garland on new year’s day to Miss Esther Wellington, of Fairmont, Robeson county. They came home for a (Please turn to page four) VOLUME SO, NUMBER 19 - Presnells and Payne - In The Chatham Jail Payne, Harcrow, Colin and El. . zie Cox Not Yet Arreited —Trial In May . After a preliminary trial of Ben Presnell at Asheboro for shooting Albert Culler, the fellow who tur ned States evidence and told of the ! activities of the band of automobile t ; thieves, and the failure of Presnell - to give the SIO,OOO bond required. » he and Boyd Presnell and Paul Pay ne were turned over by Randolph ‘ co H nt y authorities to Sheriff Blair [ and Deputy |Desern of this county and were .brought to Pittsboro and lodged m j*ul to await trial at the Mayrierm of court upo n the sever al charges of the indictment found t>y the Chatham grand jury last week. *. C. H. TEAGUE LOSES LIFE IN FALL FROM A BRIDGE j* S’ league, r* brother of rloyd Teague, who lives a few miles from Pittsboro, and a son of Gilmer Teague, formerly of this county but now living .at Carrboro, died in a Henderson hospital Friday as a con sequence of a fall of about 35 feet from a bridge which he was helping construct over Green River. Mr. Teague had been working on tne bridge as a carpenter since Oc j tober. His fall was due, it was said, to a mistep. This is the second death to occur in connection with the building of the Green river ; bridge. MONCURE BANK COMING The Express is informed that al , though in operation only a few i months it has deposits to the amount of more than SIOO,OOO. This is a splendid showing and is con- I vincing evidence that somebody is pushing the business.— Sanford Ex press. CONGRESSMAN E. W. POU FAVORS TARIFF REVISION By Helms News Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 23.—Repre sentative Edward William Pou of North Carolina voted in the house last week with his Democratic col leagues in favor of reopening the - tariff schedules for downward re vision in the interest of farm re lief. The move, however, was de feated by the Republican majority, 183 to 164, but not until after the Senate had adopted a resolution ex pressing its views that such a re vision was desirable at the present time. Mr. Pou, one of the House vet erans,, is devoting virtually his en tire time to the heavy duties placed upon him by his committee assign ments and is not taking- an active part in the debates on the floor of the House. Most of the work of i Kimbalton News Mrs. J. H. Overby and little daugh ter, Billy, spent Wednesday in Ral eigh visiting friends. Miss Cecil Seawell spent the week end in Hamlet with friends. Mr. Albert .Mims of Raleigh, was in Brickhaven several days during the week as the guest of his par ents. Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Mims. Miss Mary Lee Utley, who is spending some time at her home here supplied Monday for Miss Cecil Sea well, principal of the school, who with her brother, Mr. J. C. Seawell attended the funeral of Mr. Bascom Cagle at Carthage. Miss Pauline Brown visited her sister in Pittsboro during the week end. Mr. and Mrs. Ben Lawton have been spending several days with Mrs. Lawton’s parents, Mr. and Mrs.-. A. F. Harrington. Mr. C. S. Harrington and Mr; Will Griffin returned from Currituck last Wednesday and reported a wonder fully successful trip. The party brought back a supply of geese and ducks for the neighbors, to convince them of the genuineness of the re port. Mrs. A. R. D. Johnson and’ Mr. Arthur Johnson of Raleigh spent a few hours in the village with friends Monday. Few realized how dependent we were on a small bridge for commu nication with the outside world un till the collapse of the structure over Shaddock’s Creek Wednesday. A. C. P. and L. truck with trans formers and several barrels of oil started over and hearing the bridge crack the driver hastened his speed, managing to get the front of his truck to safety when the pile top ped into the creek, leaving the truck suspended at an angle. A crew of men worked most of one night to extricate it. All traffic was de toured by Corinth making the dis tance to Moncure about fourteen miles. A temporary bridge has been put in place which strikes terror into the hearts of some who are called on to cross it but we understand a steel bridge will be put into place for permanent use. Since the build ing of the Cape Fear Steam plant this road has come to be one of the most heavily travelled in the county and the public has long- considered the ramshackle affair dangerous and are glad to have its career ended with no loss of life. It costs a man a lot to live u*> to his ideals. That’s the reason, many a ma n can’t afford to get marr ! ned.