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" A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE OF McDOWELL COUNTY.
established 1896.
MARION, N. C., THURSDAY, AUG. 3, 1916.
VOL. XX—NO. 49
could find it. Two other children
in this family were lost. Many
families in this community are in
absolute need. The good neij^h-
bors are doing all they can for
those in want, but very little food
was left. A typical case was re
ported by the committee. A hun
gry man came to the home of M.
C. Caldwell and asked for corn.
SITUATION IN McDOWELL
Official Statement of Conditions—
Many Families in Need of As
sistance—Relief Fund.
Silent suffering summarizes the
condition of the people living in
flood stricken districts of Mc
Dowell County. Careful investi
gations have been made in several
districts by representatives of the
Federal and State Departments of
Agriculture and by special com
mittees sent out by the McDowell
County relief committee. All these
reports agree that hundreds of
families are in immediate need of
food and clothing.
The silence of theSe people may
be accounted for in one of two
ways. First, many, true to their
nature, are too proud to beg.
Second, it has been impossible for
any one to visit some of these com
munities on account of the utter
destruction of all trails and roads
by the slides that occurred during
the flood. As soon as some trails
bad been opened and the county
bridge at Garden City repaired,
some hardy travelers made their
way into these communities. Soon
reports began to reach Marion of
the destitution and suffering in
hundreds of families.
Relief committees have visited
Clear Creek, Buck Creek and North
Cove settlements, investigating re
ported cases of destitution and dis
tributing funds for immediate re
lief.
Many of these people are suffer
ing not only from a lack of food
and clothing but also from expos
ure during the night of the flood.
One or two typical cases will in
dicate the horror these people un
derwent and their present distress.
On Clear Creek the family of
Robert Johnson lives, consisting
of himself, wife, five children and
Mrs. Johnson’s aged father, a con
firmed invalid from cancer. Early
Saturday night the family had to
leave the house in a hurry and take
refuge in the upper story of an
outhouse on higher ground. About
midnight an awful roar was heard,
as if the mountains were falling
into the little stream. Then came
a mighty landslide, 100 yards in
width, beginning at the top of the
high mountain. With a roar and
a crash it struck a small stream
that entered the creek below, jump
ed a hill 40 feet high and plunged
into the creek, bringing with it
trees two feet in diameter and huge
rocks as large as a bale of cotton
The shock of the river as it was
dashed from its bed by the slide
knocked one of the Johnson chil
dren from the house in which they
had taken refuge. All then fled
to the top of the mountain where
they spent the remainder of the
night in a downpour of rain, the
grandfather and five children lying
on the ground, their only shelter
^Ing a quilt hastily snatched by
the anxious mother as she fled with
lier baby. The family were nearly
frozen before daylight made it pos
sible to build a fire. Everything
they possessed was destroyed.
Over in North Cove possibly the
greatest destruction of life and
property occurred. Four lives
were lost, sixteen houses, horses,
cattle, hogs and other property too
numerous to mention. One little
child lay in a drift for eight hours
before anxious and frantic parents
Pless to draw on him for $500.00
and again Sunday morning Mr.
Pless received further wire author
izing him to draw for tin^her
thousand dollars. A committee
was organized, composed of George
I. White, J. Q. Gilkey, L C. Grif
fin, B. B. Price, J. H. Tate, Rev.
L. D. Thompson and J. W. Pless
to receive this money and dispense
Caldwell turned to his boys and I it. It was organized with Mr.
said: “Boys shell five bushels for Pless as Chairman and Prof. Grif-
our own use and then open the crib fin as Secretary. The committee
to any and all who are in need.’’ at once circulated a subscription
Others have done the same but this paper and received the following
liberality is limited by the small amounts:
amount of food that escaped the First National Bank, $100; Mer-
flood. The greatest need of this chants & Farmers Bank, $50; J. Q.
community is a road to Marion and Gilkey, $200; B. B. Price, $25; J
bridges across the streams. The W. Pless, $25; W. M. Goddson,
only way to reach Marion is by $25; A. Blanton, $100; J. W
walking a distance of 20 miles over Streetman, $5; J. A. Laughridge,
almost impassable trails. $5; J. W. Winborne, $5; S. E.
Crooked creek and other com- Whitten, $2; P. A. Reid & Co., $5;
munities are being investigated to- G. W. Giles, $5; Marion Pharmacy,
day. This investigation will con- $5; W. H. Hawkins, $5; R. L. C.
tinue until every section has been I Gibson, $5; Cash, $5; D. E. Hud-
visited. The report of the govern- gins, $25; W. T. Morgan, $25; Mr.
ment survey made by its represen- Kirkpatrick, $2.50; R. A. Cooper,
tatives will show a 75 per cent. $10; Marion Mfg. Co, $50; Clinch-
loss of present crops in all flood field Mfg. Co., $50; W. M. Mc-
stricken districts and a permanent Nairy, $2.50; Payne & Decker Co.
loss in hundreds of farms. $10; Mrs. W. B. Ratliffe, $1; Miss
The county as a whole is suffer- Jessie Ratliffe, $4; Saunders &
ing from the complete destruction Bowman, $1; D. R. Geer, $2; W.
of all bridges and nearly all roads. B. Ratliffe, $1; W. H. McMahan,
There is no approximate estimate $5; A. W. Grayson, $1;R. S. Clay,
of the time and of the cost neces- $1; M. J. Hoover, $1; Joe Wil-
sary to open up the roads. The 1 liams, $1; Peerless Store, merchan-
loss in taxes due to the complete j dise, $5; Miss Laura Merrill, $1;
destruction of so many valuable Misses Davis, $5; Cash, $2; Pomona
farms and of all crops will hinder Terra Cotta Co., $25; T. F. Wrenn,
the county officials to a gr^at ex- $25; J. P. Wencbel, $5; Beaman
tent in their efforts to rebuild roads Lumber Co., $5; J. R. Davis, $5;
and bridges. Government aid to R. J. Noyes, $2.50; J.J. Fritz, $5;
reopen these roads would do more Gaston & Tate, $10.
than any other one thing to re- The people of the County are
store normal conditions. invited to make such additional
One destitute renter was request- subscriptions as they will to relieve
ed to furnish a team for hauling the great suffering in the county
supplies needed in some repair There is not only immediate suffer-
work. He found that it would ing, but there \^ill be much more
cost him $200 to get his team where suffering during the winter. Do
it could be used. Many such cases nations may be sent to the Treasur-
have been reported. er. Geo. I. White, or delivered to
The health conditions are being the office of the Progress, or hand-
looked after with all available skill, ed to any member of the commit
Dr. Applegate, the Southern’s chief tee. The committee also greatly
surgeon; Dr. Rankin, secretary of desires that all reports as to suf-
the state board of health, and the fering where financial aid is need
local authorities have examined all ed be made to any member of the
the construction camps and the committee, or to Mr. W. R. Bailey,
health conditions in general. the Farm Demonstrator, who is in
The above is a careful and con- the County dispensing funds and
servative summing of the reliable rendering advice and assistance as
reports secured by the McDowell to rebuilding of farms. We desire
county relief committee. There to help all needy people. The peo-
has been no exaggeration of the pie of the State have been very
conditions as reported in the daily generous and the committee feels
papers. Millard F. Tate said to- that it has a very great responsi-
day the biggest liar in the county bility and large work to do in pro-
could not exaggerate the conditions, perly distributing this fund, and
It would be difficult for any one we ask all citizens to aid us with
to imagine conditions as they exist | infornnation so that we
here in this county.
All outside help will be grate
fully received and intelligently dis
tributed.
J. W. Pless, Chairman,
I. C. Gbiffin, Secretary,
Child’s Body Found Sunday.
The body of a child apparently
about two years of age, was found
in drift w^ l>l) the bank of the
Catawba river ^ly Sunday morn
ing and promptly reported to
Sheriff Laughridge. Men were
dispatched to the scene of the dis
covery, which was only a short dis
tance below the point where the
North Fork empties into the Ca
tawba, and the body was interred
at Murphy’s Chapel. While >t is
supposed to be Mr. Bulow Gilles
pie’s child, of North Cove, one of
the victims of the flood of two
weeks ago, it could not be identi-
fieid with any degree of positive-
The body was in a bad state of
decomposition and efforts to com
municate with Mr. Gillespie hav
ing failed, the interment was made
Sunday. It is probable that the
child may be identified by a piece
of clothing found with the body.
The garment has been sent to Mr.
Gillesoie.
The Gillespie child was drowned
on North Fork July 15 when the
Gillespie family were driven from
their home by the high waters.
In attempting^ cross to a point
of safety with the child in his arms
Mr. Gillespie was knocked ddwn
by the swift current of the stream
and the child was lost.
with the fund as wisely asconditions
will permit.
Arrangements have been made
through Mr. Bailey to obtaiin seeds
of various kind for fall planting
^ _ and we will later make additional
Mci.";.; c.;;i d.;..
I assistance.
McDowell County Relief Fund. Pless, Chairman
As early as reports reached herej McDowell County Relief Com,
Promising Pasture Plants.
W. K. Bailey, Farm Demonstrator.
Sweet clover and bermuda are
very promising pasture plants for
McDowell. The two will not com
bine well since bermuda is a sun-
loving plant and would be shaded
by the rank growing clover. But
each could be combined with other
plants and thus have two distinct
pasture systems. Bermuda, bur
clover, trefoil rescue grass, narrow
leaved vetch, white and Japan
clover would make a good combi
nation. Sweet clover is so very
vigorous from early spring to late
fall that it seems to need no run
ning Inate. It is a general princi
ple that a combination of a grass
and a legume will give more bay
and pasture than either alone. Pos
sibly later a suitable grass will be
found to go with sweet clover. If
we believe half that we see and
hear of this plover all of us will
be plantinj^ [it freely soon. One
point wor^y of note is that with
either of the systems one will al
ways have a legume to make the
soil rich so the grasses will grow
well. The combination of alsike,
red and sapling clovers and or
chard, herds, timothy and rye
grasses, so often recommended,
will, as a rule, have clover for
few years only. But sweet, bur
and Japan clover and trefoil reseed
and continue to come back.
STATE NEWS OF THE WEEK
Items Concerning Events of In
terest and Importance Through
out the State.
The relief fund for the flood suf
ferers in western North Carolina
being collected by the state relief
committee has passed $28,000.
Regular train service on the
main line of the Southern Railway
between Washington and Atlanta
was resumed Monday with the comi-
pletion of a new bridge over the
Catawba river at Belmont, N. C.
Unless some bad luck is met
with it is expected to run trains
across the Catawba river on the
Western road Thursday or Friday
of this week. The trains will be
run over the temporary bridge be
ing constructed there.
At the meeting of the State Re
lief Executive committee held in
Raleigh Monday one thousand dol
lars was directed to be put into
seed, that the farmers in the flood,
ssction of Western North Carolina
might have opportunity to make a
start for raising new crops.
Mr. R. L. Huffman of Morgan-
ton says that the Burke county
commissioners have decided to re
build the seven bridges destroyed
by the flood and that work will be-
ginr as soon as material can arrive.
The countv will spend $100,000,
and aU the structures will be high
water affairs though erected on the
old locations.
Scotland county farmers have
lost approximately one-half of this
year’s cantaloupe crop as a result
of the continuous heavy rains,
which have fallen almost daily for
more than a week. This means a
loss of about $150,000. Hundreds
of car loads of the Scotland Gemi
Scotland's Pride and other varie
ties have either rotted in the fields
or have been duoiped into hog pas
tures.
northern
from remote sections in the county,
it was found that a number of lives Forest fires rapng in
were lost by the flood and many Ontario are believed toniRht to
people were homeless, hungry and have resulted in the loss of from
suffering. A large fund has been 150 to 200 lives. Other ^r^ of
raised in the State for relief of persons have been injured and it is
flood sectiois and last week Mr. feared many of them may die.
Britton of Baleigh, Chairman of Several small towns have been
the State Belief Fund, wired Mr. I wiped out by flames,
Rutherford County Losses Are
$600,000.
Caroleen, July 29.—A low esti
mate of the losses sustained in
Rutherford County by the great
freshet is about $600,000. The es
timate does not include damage to
railroads, telegraph lines, growing
crops and the devastation along the
lowlands. Citizens have gone ear
nestly to the work of repair, with
determination to build higher and
stronger. This wealthy and pro
gressive county will not long re
main in a state of mourning. The
Southern Power Company now has
a force here and some time in Au
gust there will be electricity again.
C. M. Hall and A. W. Hogan
of Sugar Hill have tried out Dallas
grass and speak well of it. When
once well established it spreads
rapidly and never needs re-seeding,
tho it does not become a pest in
this climate. It is good for both
hay and pasture. Progressive
farmers who fear bermuda would
do well to give this a trial. In the
dairy districts of Australia it is
considered the '^sheet anchor of
the dairy farm.”
Coniferous timber has been found
to be better suited than any other
for the production of ethyl alcohol.
Another Clash With Bandits—^Two
Americans Killed.
Two Americans were killed and
one wounded in a clash with Mexi
can bandits who had crossed the
Rio Grande 50 miles below Fort
Hancock, Texas, early Monday.
There were five bandits in the
party.
Private John Twoney, troop F,
Eighth United States cavalry, and
Robert Woods, United States cus
toms inspector, were killed. Ser
geant Lewis Thompson, troop F,
was seriously wounded.
Reports to Grencral Bell, Com
manding the H Faso military dis
trict, indicated the bandits had
been killed.