The pilot Co\ers Brunswick County THE STATE PORT PILOT A Good Newspaper In A Good Community Most of The New? All The Time OL N0 S1XTEEN N?'38 4 PAGES TODAY Southport, N. C.t Wednesday, December 29, 1948 published every Wednesday ii.bo per Iry List For [January Term |0f Court Drawn I,, W. C. Harris Of Ral Scheduled To Preside i** One Week Mixed ?te? Convening On Janu |^24th ? sY crimen aLslat?d I 11V Long List Of Jur I C-o-ToS^ | During lsw j W C Harris of Raleigh named to preside over ft^uary term of Superior I *luch will convene on Mon riarv * Th.s ? wJ ttrm although criminal Improbably will take up most Wit ume ft, ry list was drawn by the KJ d county commissioners at t Ust meeting here, and in Ejto the regular trial jurors Ke January term of court a ft 4nd jury to serve during ft 'ear 1949 will be selected ft/the number. E the list drawn. 23 are wa ft Listed by post offices, the ft -- comprises the full list: E^a-Mrs. G. G. Bordeaux. Espee. S. C.-Mrs. Ray Long. Etjwood T. T. Ward and ftra. R. Ivey. fl&nabw-G. F. Sullivan and lid! G. Cooke. Kjtivia?Mrs. Clara E. Lewis L Mrs. Estelle Gore. ILd-C. L. Lynch, W. E. ? Mis. f. D. Williams and IE Ganev. Iceland?I. V. Bennett, Mrs. L Evans. Mrs. C. C. MiUiken J.Mrs. Pearl G. Little. ?Li-Mrs. Cora Evans, L. W. L.an Mrs. H. W. Stanley, E\' l. Formyduval and Cfon I. Hewett. Eitiiport?Jack B. Drew, Mrs. En G. Bragaw, Mrs. J. S. Ere:. Mrs. Hermine Dasher, Dr. |C Daniel. F. W. Spencer and 1 Clyde Swain. Ebitotte?J. M. Parker, Mrs. I::. Thomas, Mrs. Mary An Kirs. D. L. Bowen, A Earl Mil El C. A. Stanley, H. 1>. *Som Ex-.-.e Mrs. C. Elliott Tripp, Ee E. (Isaac) Hewett, Mrs. Eeiia Hewett and W. A. Rey liapply -Paul Hewett, Carrie kil Floyd H. Varnum, Mrs. Ik Grav." Lennell W. Hewett, p A. Norriss, L. M. Robinson, Lean Caison, Garland Clem k A. S. Hewett, Hobby He ir. Ermon Clemmons and Mrs. ?t; Galloway. I ritfSiwi Flashu UT. HARRY WEEKS *?rd wa? received at noon to hy that tapt. Harry Weeks h many years in charge of k pilot boat for the W'Uming ?Hap>' I car Pilot Association, W thi> morning at Dosher fcaorial Hospital. His funeral HI be held Thursday afternoon " 1 o'clock at Trinity Metho fct Church. IflORS MEETINGS A nesting of all pastors of *Kiies in Brunswick county has 161 called for Friday night at ? o'clock at Supply Baptist There will be a second 8 on Monday night at Mt. ^ Baptist church. Everyone av'.'.ed to attend. LN> MEETING aext meeting of the South r- Roman's Club will be held 'Wednesday afternoon, January >'? 3.30 o'clocq in the South |? ^gh school auditorium, n"* of this program will be sowing of the movie "18th ?:,ar>' Ufe in Williamsburg, J* CERTIFIED "*Wntant A ^ McKeithan, Jr., son of ' T. McKeithan and the !*? Tilden McKeithan of P?rt. has finished his two .course in accounting in >wk City. He recently pass h e Mamining board and is , 'mP'oyed by the A. Bcshor in New York City. IS vh?nth.n LEAVE LWt J- McKeithan, young t w_R-an who has .been with Commission since >ntj ' 1!H?, is spending a ^ *jU? his parents, Mr. and t " J McKeithan, at Bolivia. one of the Pure Oil V B n!^king regular runs Po" Am Coast. Arthur Texas along Pumping Station May s Solve Water Problem With Two Beach Develop ments Needing Source Of Dependable Water Sup ply, Ft. Caswell Wells May Be Answer LONG BEACH IN NEED OF WATER Development Of Dependable i Water Distribution System One Of Most Pressing Needs There I Seldom seen by anyone because i of its location and never given! much consideration, one- of the1 most valtiable units of the Fort Cashwell property, now up for disposal by the WAA, is the modern and costly pumping sta tion for the water supply. The wells, modern brick build ing and modern pumping machin-J ery are located deep in the woods j on a two acre reservation. The j purest of water is obtained in I unlimited quantities and is carried' by large water mains, running j underground, through the Caswell! Beach property to Fart Caswell,! a distance of two miles. In the old days before the wells 1 at this station were drilled, every- j thing at Fort Caswell had to de-! pend on cistern water for drink ing purposes. The cisterns are still there?huge concrete vats, built underground to hold rain-; water running from the roofsof the buildings. The water system from the wells in the Caswell Beach woods, Continued on page four I Dredge Lyman Back In States I Big Hopper Dredge Now In Dry Dock At Jacksonville, Fla., And Crew Members At Home For Holidays The Lyman, huge hopper dredge of the U. S. Army Engineers, has returned from Maracubo, VenezaJa, to Jacksonville, Fla., and is now having a brief over hauling at the shipyard there. About the first of the year she will begin dredging at West Palm Beach, Fla. From there she comes to Georgetown, S. C., for work on the harbor. Her next sche duled work, so far as is known, will be at Atlantic City, N. J. John D. Swan df Southport is captain of the Lyman. In his crew are a large number of other Brunswick county men. Some of Continued On Page Four Firecracker Is^ Accident Cause A prematurely exploding fire cracker in the hands of 15 year old Delmas Cumbee of Winna bow sent him to the hospital on Christmas day. One of his fingers had to be amputated and the rest of the hand is said to have been badly dam aged. He is the son of Mrs. Sudie B. Cumbee. It has not been learned here how he came into possession of the explosive. The sale of firecrackers in North Carolina is banned by law. Baptists Enjoy Two Programs Candlelight Service Observ ed At Church Wednesday; Christmas Party Enjoy able Affair On Wednesday evening, Dec ember 22, the Southport Baptist Church presented a Christmas Candlelight Service featuring the congregation, choir, pastor and several speakers. The program was under the direction of Mrs. E. C. Blake, assisted by Mrs. Robert Carson, Mrs. George What ley and Mrs. R. C. Daniel. Im mediately following the candle light service gifts were present ed to all the children of the Sunday School through the Junior Department. On Tuesday night, December 14, the Woman's ' Missionary Society of the Southport Baptist Church entertained at their an nual Christmas party in connec tion with their regular December meeting, the party being held at the home of Mrs. Lewis J, Hardee. The living room and dining room were beautifully decorated featur ing the Christmas motif. The program was given with Miss Gertrude Loughlin in charge and Miss Annie May Woodside, Mrs. Jack Oliver and Mrs. Lucille Williamson taking part, telling of Christmas celebrations around the world where the Bauti.sts have missionaries. The Lottie Moon Christmas offering was taken for Foreign Missions and the reports from the various Circles were made. The program was then turned j over to the committee in charge: of arrangements and Mrs. Robert: Continued On Page Four j SANTA?High spot of the Christmas season, so far as the children were concerned, came Friday afternoon when Santa Claus made a dramat ic appearance at the garri son grounds and proceeded to preside over the distribu tion of presents at the Com munity Christmas tree. He soon completed his duties and was off on the South port fire truck for the Bruns wick County Training school where he did a repeat per formance for the benefit of the colored children. This delightful event was under the direction of Mrs. Helen Bragaw. Waccamaw Bank Mails Quarterly 50-Cent Dividend Earnings For 1948 Above Those Of Previous Year, Exceeding Five Dollars Per Share J. N. Coburn, executive vice president of the Waccamaw Bank I and Trust Company, announced last week that the directors in a regular meeting on December j 10th, declared a dividend of 50 | cents per share to holders of re cord as of December 15th. The dividend was payable on Decem ber 20th ahd checks were mailed on Monday in order to reach them before the holidays. Coburn pointed out that this payment makes a total of $2.00 per share paid to stockholders during 1948 on the stock which has a par value of $10.00 per share, and a book value slightly in excees of $50.00 Earnings of the bank for 1948 after payment of all expenses and provision for all taxes, will exceed $5.00 per share which is above' 1947 earn ings. It was also announced that the directors of the bank decided to place dividend on a regular quar-. teerly basis, paying them in March, June, September, and Dec ember in the future. The Waccamaw Bank and Continued on page four Tobacco Growers Given 5 Percent Acreage Increase President Of The Bright Belt Warehouse Associa tion Announces Boost In Allotment For 1949 EXPORT SITUATION APPEARS BRIGHTER Means 57,000 More Acres For Producers In North* And South Carolina, Virginia ( Florida And Georgia Brunswick county tobacco grow ers got an attractive Christmas present this week in the form of a five percent Increase in acreage for 1940. Fred S. Royster, president of the Bright Belt Warehouse Asso ciation, announced the increase yesterday at Henderson. That figure, which had been set tentatively last August, was agreed on yesterday at a meeting of representatives of the Produc tion and Marketing administration and warehouse interests at Colum bia, S. C., he said. Acreage for 1949 in the flue cured states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia will be 960,000, as compared with a quota of 907,000 acres this year. Royster said that a "reason able hope for a better export situ ation in 1949 was the primary fac tor" that resulted In approval of the figure. He added that "Domestic con sumption was at an all-time high this year, and I don't believe, and I don't think any one else believes, that there will be a downward trend next year." At Raleigh, W. P. Hendrick, to bacco marketing specialist of the State Department of Agriculture, commented that flue-cured grow ers are going into 1949 in a "good position." The five per cent higher acreage, he said, is expected to produce about the same amount of tobacco as was used this year. Vernon Wescott Shot Christmas Southport Man It Gravely Wounded When Shot In Stomach By Pistol In The Hands Of His Wife Vernon Wescott still is in a serious condition at Dosher Mem orial Hospital in Southport from a bullet fired into his stomach Christmas Day at his home near Southport. His wife, Mrs. Myrtle Creech Corsi Wescott, told inves tigating officers . that she fired the shot. She was arrested at Dosher Memorial Hospital by Deputy Sheriff G. D. Robinson and Chief of Police Otto Hickman and went with the officers to her home and showed them where she had hid the pistol in a drawer. It was a .32-calibre automatic from which all shells had been fired. There were three bullet holes in the window and walls of the room in which the shooting took place. As soon as he had recovered I from the shock and from his oper . ation, Wescott called Deputy Robinson Sunday and told him ' Continued On Page Four Our ROVING Reporter W. B. KEZIAH A very regretable thing to sportsmen is the large number of fine dogs lost or stolen in Brunswick county this year. Many of these dogs were brought in by hunters from distant points, I taken on hunts and never heard i of again. In some instances they | were just lost, in other cases ; they were deliberately stolen. {Local hunters, as well as visitors i have suffered from this theivery. j The general belief is that most of the animals are stolen by per j sons from upstate. In some cases ,they come down in trucks with dog cages and a few dogs, alleg j edly on hunting trips. Really the cages and dogs are a front In wlijch they can place valuable animals belonging to sportsmen .and haul them away without any one being the wiser. We know of half a dozen Bill Keziahs scattered about the State. There is the Rowan County Re gister of Deeds, a second cousin of ours. At Monroe and Charlotte are two or three more. Burling ton has a lanky young football player who attracted a lot of Btate-wide attention this fall. Last week Rev. and Mrs. H. B. John son of Mt. Airy came across a picture of the Burlington Bill Keziah. The Johnson's are good friends of ours, a circumstance we are proud of. They clipped the picture of the Burlington Bill and mailed it to us with this com ment: "Playing football seems to have made you look younger and Continued On Pag? Four Community Christmas Bald Eagles Already At Work On Nests Young Ornithologist Spent Part Of Christmas Vacation Checking Up On Big Birds With the year not yet gone the numerous families of bald eagles in Brunswick county are already hovering over and rebuilding their nests. They are preparing to raise their 1949 families. The day before Christmas Quincy Scarborough, a bird club boy from Fayetteville, came down to investigate one of the eagles' nests at Beaver Dam, four or five miles from Southport. The old birds are there and have been busy rebuilding. It was thought they might have already started laying eggs. Investigation reveal ed that there were no eggs, but Scarborough says he thinks the female will start laying this week. This particular nest is in an old forest pine, 90 feet from the ground. Some time in the long ago lightning struck this tree, causing the top to split and grow out in several branches. The nest is on one of these branches and by climbing another, a few feet j away, it is possible to look in' the nest, see the eggs when there are eggs to see and the young, when the young are there. This looking at the young may not be a altogether a pleasant process. Even when there is no thing but eggs in the nest the old birds deeply resent intrusion. When the eggs develop into young eaglets the old birds become vicious, it might be said danger ous, to climbers. They are likely to swoop in an strike such in truders. Both birds were resting on their nest at the time of the visit last week. When Scarborough got started on his long climb up the tree they took to the air but re fused to desert the vicinity. They swooped and circled around, utter ing their angry cries, but they seldom came nearer than 30 or 40 feet. It will be different when the young are in the nest. Then the climber may expect to fell the Continued On Page Four Southport Seafood Dealer Offers Jobs Moscow Gall On Christmas Day Where he was it was 5 o'clock in the afternoon of Christmas day when Master Sgt. James K. McKeithan talked to his mother, Mrs. A. T. McKeithan in South port at 8:30 o'clock Christmas morning. Sgt. McKeithan is in Moscow, ?Russia, with the American Em bassy. The Russian time is somewhat ahead of Southport. Talking to his mother for sev eral minutes, Sgt. McKeithan told her that he was well, that it was five o'clock in" the after noon of Christmas day and for her to tell all of his friends in Southport hello and good wishes for the New Year. At 10:30 o'clock Christmas Eve Mrs. McKeithan was told by the Southern Bell long distance operator in Wilmington to be near her phone at 8:30 o'clock Christmas morning, as she had a call coming in at that time. The call came on the dot 8:30 o'clock and was from Sgt. Mc Keithan. It was a direct person to person talk, Moscow to Southport. Mrs. McKeithan says she distinctly heard every word spoken by her son. He, likewise, had good reception. Present Pageant At Presbyterian "The Christmas Pilgrim?" Presented By Large Group Of Young People Thurs day Evening At Church "The Christmas Pilgrims" was presented on Thursday evening by the Presbyterian Youth Choir and delighted the audience gathered to enjoy this Christmas program. Thirty-five young people particip ated in the pageant. The prologue was delivered by Frank Plaxco, Jr. The roles of Joseph and Mary were depicted by P. W. Larsen and Linda Hickman. The records were Barbara Hewett and Sam Newton. Soloists were Iris New ton, Claire Potter and. Tilda Thor sen. Duets were sung by Ramona Williamson and Carol Ann Wolf and by Gwendolyn Cook and Annis Cooker. "Silent Night" was sung by the | boys quartet. The performance was under the direction of Mrs. R. F. Plaxco, Mrs. James Wolfe and Mrs. J. M. Waggett. \ Inspection Lane In Final Call Motorists Have Today And Tomorrow To Get Auto mobiles Through Inspec tion Before Deadline Brunswick county automobile I owners will have one more oppor-1 tunity this week to comply with the motor vehicle inspection law when Motor Vehicle Inspection Lane No. 35 sets up for operation at Supply on Thursday and Fri day. December 31 is the deadline be fore which all motor vehicles in operation on the public highways Continued on pagt S W. S. Well? Transmits Offer To Po?t Bond For Men In cluded In Estonian Refuge Group READY TO PROVIDE Rt.AU i FOR MEN Expresses Belief That These People Will Make Good Fishermen And Desir able Citizens W. s. Wells, Southport seafood dealer, this week offered employ ment to as many as ten of the men included in the group of Estonian refugees who landed here last fall following perilous cross ings of the Atlantic ocean In small sailing vessels. Wells has attempted to estab lish contract with the Estonian group, and failing that, has an nounced his purpose to the press and general coverage has follow ed in newspapers and over rf '? news broadcasts. Not only did1 he declare his willingness to give' employment to ten of the men but he offered to stand bond in the amount of $500.00 each, a sum which is being required by immigration officials. The Southport man has been giving consideration to this offer for several months. When he firs mentioned it several months ago he said, "I think those folks would fit into life of a community such as ours, and the men should make good fishermen. I know there's one man in the gro p I'd like to have working for me. He referred to John Woortman, skipper of the Roland, smaller of the two vessels, whose navigation and seamanship was considered to little short of miraculous. Wells says that he will give the men employment in his f'Bh'"& J business, and that he worked out plans which wUl pro ! vide housing for them. He figures that the single ones can live aboard the boats on which they are employed, and he has made Continued on page four Navassa Citizen Suicide Victim Eaekial H. Williams Died Tuesday Morning At His Home Of Self-inflicted Gunshot Wounds Ezekiel H. Williams, native of Onslow county but resident of Navassa for the past several years, shot and killed himseU early Tuesday morning in his residence at Navassa. Mr. Williams' 54 years old and 'the Cape Fear bridge tender for the Atlantic Coast Line railroad, had been in bad health for some time. Worrying over his condition lis believed to have prompted him to take his own life. The Weapon used was a 12-gauge shotgun, loaded with buckshot shell. The trigger was operated with a short cane and the entire load cnteered his left chest and passed complete ly through his body. . Coroner John G. Calson was summoned to the scene by Deputy Sheriff O. W. Perry and Con stable J. E. Lewis of North West township. Investigation * by the coroner and officials revealed a clear case of suicide. Mr. Wil liams left notes instructing a brother In Wilmington regarding his burial and the disposal of his property. Decorations For Christmas Were Best In History Streets Of City Were More Colorful In Holiday Deco rations Than In Any Other Yule tide Season' SEVERAL PRIZES GIVEN IN CONTEST The Annual Woman's Clubi Lighting Contest Created Unusual Amount Of In terest This Year Southport was gaily bedecked for Christmas this year with the street lights being more numer ous and more colorful than ever and with more interest than us ual in the annual decorations con test sponsored by members of the Southport Woman's Club. - Judging in this latter event re sulting in the following awards: Miss Margaret Parkhill's living Christmas tree was judged to bo the best in town and she received as prize a box of candy from Leggett's drug store. Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Hood won secood prize for living tree and received a year's subscription to the State Port Pilot.* Three prizes were awarded fog doorways, the first going to *