North Carolina Newspapers

Watch the. LkJXl en Your Paper, As It Carries the Date Your Subscription Expires. THE ENTERPRISE Advertisers Will Find Our Col umns a Latchkey to over 1,100 Homes of Martin County. VOLUME XL1II?NUMBER 10 ff illianuton. Martin County, North Carolina, Friday . February 2, IV W. ESTABLISHED 1899 Alleged Violators Of Scrap Tobacco Law Are Released ? Judge H. O. Peel Lalb Ten Ca*e* in County Court Last Monday Characteristic of action in a num ber of courts throughout the tobacco belt, the state failed of enforcement of the Martin scrap tobacco law when Jasper Williams was tried in the Martin County recorder's court last Monday for allegedly violating the act. The case against Williams was the third of that type to be called by the recorder since the passage of the tobacco act by the last North Caro lina legislature Nolprossing the case with leave against Williams, the court ruled that the prosecution had not proved the charges against the defendant. In at least one of the cases, the prosecution witnesses explained they had seen the defendants hauling scrap, but admitted that they did not know whether the defendants were buying and dealing in the low-grade tobacco. A second case, charging Williams with violating the motor vehicle laws, was nolprossed during the ses sion of the court which lasted less than two hours. Charged with an assault and with being drunk and disorderly, Colum bus James pleaded not guilty. At the conclusion of all evidence, the defense advanced a monon lhat ihe action be dismissed, the court grant ing the motion. Upon the court's own motion, ac tion was dismissed in the case charg ing Mattie Joyner with abandon ment. .' ... Charged with an assault with a deadly weapon, James Williams was sentenced to the roads for a period of sixty days, the sentence to begin at the direction of the court at any time within the next two years. Pay ment of the costs was required by the court. Williams entered a plea of hot guilty in the case In the case charging Andrew An drews with violating the motor ve hicle laws, the court granted a mo tion to withdraw the appeal from Judgment meted out by a justice of the peace. The case was remanded to the trial justice. The case charging Ben Reeves with an assault with a deadly wea pon was continued until next Mon day. A continuance was also granted until next Monday in the case charg ing Preston C. Durant with drunken and reckless driving. Jesse Walston. charged with lar ceny and receiving, was sentenced to the roads for a term of sixty days. In the civil action brought by Na than Scott agninut H.'-M. Peel and others, the court ruled that the de: fendants were not indebted to the plaintiff in any amount The plain tiff, taxed with the costs of the case, appealed to the higher courts Hog Raising King Will Speak Here Blake Pullen. of Warwick, Ga , known in the south as the watermel on and hog king, will speak in the agricultural building here Monday, February 5th, at 1 p. m Mr Pullen will discuss the rais ing, care and marketing of hogs, a field in which he has been engaged for a long number of years At the present timt he has more than 200 brood sows on hi* farm in Georgia. He Ts ah accepleAautEority on rais ing hogs in all the states and it will be to the interest of the farmers in Martin County to hear him The meeting is being sponsored by the Lindsley Ice Company. A repre sentative of the Garrett and Com pany, of New York, manufacturers of fine wines, will speak to the far mers on grapevine planting in Mar tin County. At the present time, Gar rett and Company is furnishing grapevine rootings to the grower and at the same time guarantees to buy their output over a period of 20 years. Pupils Elect New Student Council ? Recently elected members of the student council of WilliamsUin High School who will service for the spring semester are Conrad Get singer, 8-1; Elizabeth Gurganus, 8-2; Mary O'Neil Pope, 9-1; Irvin Gur ganus, 9-2; Susie Griffin. Roosevelt Coltraine and Charles Coltraine, 10; Nancy Biggs, Martin Anderson and Joseph Thigpen, II. Officers for the year are Marjorie Grey Dunn, pres ident and Elizabeth Parker, secre tary. The new members of the council have completed a survey of traffic conditions within the hallways and stairs of the local school and have set up new regulations and patrols which have brought about much im provement in conditions. Student pa trols now direct traffic between all classrooms and control the building entrances during the lunch hour. With the wholehearted support of the student body, confusion in the halls is rapidly being reduced to a minimum No Action Taken to Eliminate Office of Treasurer in County\ Action taken by a number of citi zens before the Martin County Com missioners at a regular meeting of the body the first of last month to eliminate the office of county treas urer has not been followed up by any move to have the authorities consider the proposal at their next regulih meeting on February 5, ac cording to reports heard here to day. John E. Pope, chairman of the board of commissioners, stated that a far as he knew no one was plan ning to appear before the board 111 the interest of the change urgvd by the group of citizens at the last meeting of the county officials. There is a divided opinion as to the advisability of removing the of fice from the electorate and placing it in the appointment list "While it has been pointed out that the banks ! would handle the job possibly at a ' smalt saving, such a course may not prove advantageous to all concern ed.'* one person high in the county's official family was quoted as say ing. ~The board will abide by the w ishes of the people." Board Chair man Pope said in discussing what ac tion if any would be taken to abol ish the office. Very little business is 6n the next Monday calendar for the commis sioners to consider. J Sam Getsin ger, ex-officio clerk to the board, said this morning Jurymen will be drawn for the March term of super ior court, and if the roads thaw out over the week-end delegations are expected to point out to the com missioners the bad condition of the many 'tater ridges in the county. Tax Listing Virtually Completed In County CANDIDATE WayUnd Spruill. Bertie Coum tv man. yesterday announced his candidacy for Ihc office of North Carolina Commissioner of Agrt culture. Happenings In The Farm Life School! Although the roads have been in ?1 rather unfavorable \ has held up unusually will Our boys' and girls' teams played thc Bath hoys' and girls Tuesday night at Bath T were at then best, winning over their opponents with a score of 10-5 j Daniel was high scorer for the locals With B Daniel, runnerup. The girls -were less successful, as they lost by a close score The January meeting of thi i nt Teacher association was ni Id in th(. school aud'tor.um Tuesday cv^n I ning at 7:30 o'clock Mrs J , LiUey president of the organ.7.at.om presided. Following a brief business discussion an entertaining pmg ^ "Sr.'TEShf'ls?. has just finished an e*aml"al'onn?r all the smaller children s teetmDr J Williams. tiie new county , d,?tor with Miss Kobinson. visited j . 1?h,1 Wednesday and gave the children physical examinations. | -Owrty T< nrhrr*+>i++*fth \ Month Salarir* InwHUJI After a long wait-December 20 February 1-the approximat.ly MO , school teachers in this county mceiv ed another pay check ye.<lerfW^ j pay checks, amounting to * ""lc er $20,000. represented the month salaries. Forum Sponsored By Farm Bureau Is Held Last ISipht Holding their first oper.forum under the Farm Bureau Federa lion. Martin County farmeri dls cussed a number ?' U,tfr??id topics in the agricultural build ing here last evening. The topics centered around grape culture, standard "tjjjb*" (or sweet P?Ut? packs, I^Cf shipments and Uie use erf?? stone under the soil building program. Attended by *?out to firmer, from all county, the meeting UMMWM up to espeeUtions and ^ forums will be held each Th"1?' day night from 7 to ? ? cl?*k the agricultural budding All farmers are urged to make thrtr highly beaoAelal to the farmer. No Material Change h Expected In Total Slight Gum* in Keul EmIuIc And ProviHioiH On Farm* ': ? The close of the tax-listing period Wednesday night found most of the real and personal property in this county on the books, early reports from County Tax Supervisor S. H. Grimes .indicating there'll be no ma terial change in the total values this year as compared with those of a year ago. "At least 98 per cent of the property in Williamston Town ship including polls is on the books," | List-taker H. M Burras said yester day, the county supervisor stating I that the percentage figure is appli cable to the work in nearly all the other districts With slight gains evident in real | estate in some sections and with in creased provisions reported on farms, the total county property values not including the corporation listings are expected to remain about the same despite apparent decreases in auto mobile listings and in reduced mer chandise stocks. A marked drop in automobile purchases was noted dur ing the lattt.1! part of last yeai, but | sales picked up materially after the first of last month, the purchasers I escaping the strong arm of the tax listers It is estimated the total prop [ erty valuation, not including corpor ation listings, will stand at about $10,244,905 this year or at virtually the same figure entered on the books for the tax year 1939 The list-takers are scheduled to transfer the lists from the abstracts to the regular scrolls and have them ready for delivery to the county au thorities the early part of March, Su pervisor S. H. Grimes said yester day. The county-wide rate will not be fixed by the commissioners before late June or early July, and taxes for 1940 will not be due until early October A varied group of stories has been j heard from the various list-takers ov-1 perrhircmintyrpossihly the most dtl |ficult task was experienced by tnel county tax supervisor himself. While he owned a home on January 1, firel crept in and destroyed the struc ture but it did not cheat the tax list er The property was valued at the-1 same figure recorded last year. It is a well known fact, most peo ple are reluctant to list their prop-1 erty for taxing purposes, and more| reluctant to list all of it at it* tru< value. According to reports coming from Mr. H. S. Everett and many of the other list-takers in the county, people are surprisingly poor in per sonal property this year "There an no 1940 automobiles. Women who re ceived wedding rings when they married, have lost them. Prac tically all radios are out of com mission and several years old. Mules I and horses are all over 15 years old) wifh the average something like 21. Sewing machines are 40 to 50 years I old. Cows are usually dry and the I dogs are either lost or have left | home," the listers complain. i The old story, told on several pre vious occasions at listing time, was heard again A ring owner gave it away last December and called it back soon after listing time. But the | climax was reached when a smart ly dressed woman appeared before | a certain list-taker with long tight fitting gloves covering a diamond | ring. a Chamber Of Commerce Meeting Thiu Evening Directors and members of the newly organized local chamber of commerce will meet in the agricul tural building tonight at 8 o'clock A representative attendance is urged by the secretary, Billie Clark. Spruill Announce* For Kerr Scott's Agricultural Post ( I'rriM'iit (ioiiiiui* ftioucr of Agriculture To Joint Debate* 111 1 ? ' = Windsor?C. Wayland Spruill. far mer and State senator for the third district, of Bertie County, today for mally announced his candidacy for commissioner of agriculture in the Democratic primary. Entry of the "silver-tongued ora tor from Bertie" assures a lively race for the State post now held by Kerr Scott, who is expected to run again "Cousin Wayland." as he is known to hundreds of men with whom he has continuously served in the gen eral assembly since 1933, is recog nized as one of the most successful dirt farmers in this section of the State. On his farms he grows cot ton. tobacco, peanuts, corn, grains, truck and livestock He has attract ed wide attention by providing for each of his tenants a milk cow and the essentials of a "live-at-home" way of life. As a member of the general assem bly Spruill has been active in be half of farm legislation, sponsoring among many measures the present law to prohibit the sale of rotten scrap tobacco and the law to eradi cate Bang's disease among cattle. He introduced the bill which was pass 4he 1933 general assembly to take the State tax off land. In addition to his primary interest in farming, Senator Spruill sponsor ed and put through many humani tarian measures. He was author of the bill to establish the Eastern North Carolina Tuberculosis Sana torium at Wilson. In addition to his fatuous oratory in the assembly in ; behalf of the public schools, Spruill has been the leader in every session in measures to enlarge and improve the facilities for deaf, dumb, blind | (Continued on page six) Mrs, Wade Everett Dies In Hospital Funeral Service* Conducted In tin* llaiiiilton HapiiHt Church Ycwtcrduy Hamilton ? Mrs Carolyn Blanche Poo Everett well known and widely beloved resident of Hamilton, died in a Washington hospital early Wednes day morning. She was 39 years of <e Death came us u result of pneu ?"nin ind?"ti"*?eomplifiitiom^_ funeral services were held Thurs day afternoon ui the Hamilton Bap tist church of which she was a mem ber, her pastor, the Rev. K C Shoe officiating IE*" ,as sJ1?' affectionately called by her friends here, was a na tlve of Apex. She taught school fol lowing her graduation from Black stone College. Va., first in Hendor son later at Samarkiind, and finally in Hamilton where she married De cember 18, 1926, and made her home until her death. Sim was active in a|| phagcg of church work and community af fairs, was a devout Christian and truly a guiding light to those with whom she came in contact Interment was m the Hamilton cemetery. Members of the R. A. and Cr. A., of which ahe was leader, ear ned the many and lovely f|?rai ferings lo lhe~"last resting place" of their beloved "Miss Poe " Pallbearers were L. F Stokes W i,HrrW son, Jr B. B Taylor and D G Mat thews. Mrs Everett is survived by her ?n,WHWa,de E EVerett' a"d 'wo sons, Wade, Jr. and Edwin Poe; also a sister, Mrs. Bessie Harris, of Dur ham, three brothers, Rev. W. D Poe, Apex R ? a"d H M Poe' "r Specialist Holds Concrete School ? schmd i'',rn'sUng and instructive school demonstrating the advan tageous use of cement was held in th< Martin County Agricultural building here last Tuesday by the Cemin' A??At enmn *L contractor., engineers from twenty eastern Car towns, the school was held without cost to them. th" S Pt]''llp"' 'cacher-engineer for h- association, demonstarted with he use of slides the proper methods of mixing concrete and cited flaws erf a great deal about the use of con crete, and found Mr. Phillips' lec tures unusually interesting. The meeting was arranged by Mr. I. r. Green, representative of the as sociation in this State Similar meet ings are now underway in this sec w?n ,1 C*rol,n?' *nrf other, will be held by the association's tech nician throughout tha United States. Report Acute Water Shortage In Hundreds of Local Homes A preliminary survey bttrrted+y completed (oaiy revwls an acute water shortage in nearly two hun dred homes here, the superintendent of the town's water department with holding any estimates of the damage 4hnt is certain to come with the re turn of normal temperatures. Nearly every one of the old-type homes has j been without water part if not all the time that the mercury held to low points, the superintendent said, adding that the-situation was aggra vaUd by freeing pipe* buried a* deep as ten inches in the ground and under concrete sidewalks. j Household members in numerous cases have carried water from their neighbors, and in one section of the town a large number of families went to fire hydrants to get a skimpy supply of water or just enough for drinking and cooking purposes He ports from one or two grades in the r local * 5chiHit mitigate thai j shortage is far more serious than it appears to be Some <>f the little tot* have not had a peek at a bathtub in weeks. Plumbers warn water customers : to keepaclose w atch tm their ptpe lines and to ready to act when the weather begins to break" Several homes and buildings have, been flooded by bursting pipes already, and it is quite likely there will be more. A warning was issued Today by" I the water department, urging wa ter customers not to build fires in ( meter Imixc.n Few boxes have froz . en but in those eases where the cus tomers think the boxes are out of ' commission they are directed to call I the water plant and a man w ill be , sent to check the meters Several customers have already damaged me ters by building fires in the boxes. Propose Water-Sewer System For Everetts Plan For Extending p i Local Water - Sow er Lines Is Considered llrallli ItrparliiH iil FiigiiieerH| To Outline Plan* llere \ml In Everett* Plans for a new water sewer sys-1 tern in Everetts and for the exten sion of water and sewer lines in Wil liamston will be placed before sep arate meetings of the officials of the two towns on Monday and Tuesday of next Week, it was officially learn ed here today State Board of Health engineers County Health Department will up pear before Williamston authorities at a regular meeting of the. town board next Monday night A mass meeting of Everetts citizens has been called for next Tuesday night at 7:30 o'clock when plans for the proposed system will be discussed, A complete study of Williamston sanitation is slated at the meeting of tin1 local board next Monday night Basic facts have been gathered in connection with the operation of the present system and the possibility of improving conditions through'the extension of the sewer and water lines Assistant Chief Engineer Abel of the'Statu Health Department will outline methods for advancing tl;e proposed projects and offer sugges tions for consideration by authori ties in each town. A preliminary survey of needed sewer and water line extension here was made two years ago when the town proposed a $75,000 bond issue to finance the project. The bond is sue carried hut failed of actual Sale and the project was deserted. It is now proposed to handle the project through the Works Progress Admin istration. It is understood that the town can finance its share of the cost through the Reconstruction Fi nance Corporation. Now without water and sewer con nections, Everetts citizens are ser iously considering the proposed pro gram. Some time ago the citizens there took stops?to huve a - water-1 sower system installed but the cost dBlTMMe W^7xfnSTd(TTs?rTn?TlTg7r?irm^ the matter was dropped until a short time ago. It is understood that a rnmpleb- vystem offering fin- f taction as well as water and sewer line connections, can be installed for approximately $30,000, the WPA fi nancing about half the amount and the towh financing the other half through a loan from the Reconstruc tion Finance Corporation. Everetts citizens are expected to turn out in large numbers to hear health authorities and town author ities outline the proposed system and to offer their opinions. Future de velopments in advancing the project will be determined by the action of the next Tuesday night meeting j which will be held in the school au ditorium March Of Dimes Raises $20 Here The sale of paralysis tags here last j Saturday netted $20.10 which willj supplement funds raised to fight in fantile paralysis in the nation-wide celebrations of President Roosevelt's birthday. Approximately 200 tags were sold by Carolyn Lindsley, Nan cy Biggs, Marjorie Grey Dunn, Mary Charles Godwin, Elizabeth Parker and Ruth Ward, lorul high school girls, who volunteered to conduct the canvass.) While the sale.of tags was not as great as hoped for, it exceeded last year's sale by approximately four dollars according to David Hix, who conducted the drive. The funds have been turned over to Leslie Fowden. who promoted the ahtt-paralysis fight in Martin Coun ty in connection with the birthday of our president. , I RAN ki.im; fikkman Gates Matthews, worker in the local Works Progress Admlnls tration office, is fast becoming known as a traveling fireman, and a valuable one, too. Mat thews, for three years chief of the New Bern department, took an active place along with Wil liamston firemen last Saturday night when they battled Ihe stubborn fire that wrecked the (irimes home on the corner of llaughton Street and Simmons Avenue. Two nights later he took his place along with New Bern firemen when thev an swered a call to Oriental and fought a stubborn fire there At 4 o'clock here Sunday morning, Matthews resembled kit Ice covered snow man with lengthy icicles hanging from liis coat-tail. Threatens Life Of Local Undertaker An unidentified white man. slight* 1 lv over middle age and tall of statue. | threatened the life of Birrissa Sludc, | operator of a colored undertaking | business here, early last Tuesday t evening ?? Posing as a representative of a casket manufacturing firm, the man entered the Slade home on Church Street, and demanded payment of a $ 150 hill allegedly due ins com pany. According to officers investi gating the case, no such account was held against the local undertaking establishment, hut the intruder de manded payment at the point of a gun. Help was summoned by a mem ber of the Slade household and the intruder left before officers could reach the home on West Church Street. Said to have been drinking, the man was driving a 1935 grey model Ford. No lead m the case has been established. , Hoard Of Education I n Hold MerlinMoutlay The Martin County Board of Edu cation will hold a regular meeting h<>r<' n<'xt Monday morning at 10 o'clock. (July routine matters are on the board's business calendar I'rominrnt Cimnly Man (oriliiimx Srrionsly III Mr. Harry Waldo, prominent coun ty citizen and a resident of Hamil ton. continues critically ill in a Rich mond hospital. He underwent a ma jor operation in the Virginia hospi tal last Monday Rules 3,000 Miles Tit IImil Turkeys In Martin (bounty With much leisure time on his hands, Mr. B. J Scott hopped in his car out in California several weeks ago and started out to hunt turkeya in Martin County. Accompanied by his wife, Mr. Scott of course enjoyed the new scenery ss his car marked off approximately 3,000 miles, but cold weather greeted him along the Atlantic seaboard and tur key hunting haan't been ao hot since his arrival. With Walter Gurganus?Mar tin County's ole Dan Boone?as his guide. Mr. Scott can rest as sured he'll get a turkey if he stays long enough. And he pi??. to stay Just that long, If not long' er. Mr. and Mrs. Scott are guests of the George Reynolds Hotel and are apparently enjoying their May hero on this aide a# the continent. iJDrive Underway To Have Farmers Bear Burden Of Economy I'ropoM'K Double IJIuw at Farm and Needy Copulation Vt ith the mouths of hungry muni tion makers to feed with one hand through the defense program, the House Appropriations Committee bent on economy for the satisfaction of budget alarmists, are turning to and saddling the farmer and the needy with the burden. A few mil lions have been sliced here and there but when the farm was reached, the bb.vs in Washington realjy applied the axe. slicing off some seventy.mil lion dollars ordinarily used in the purchase of surplus farm commodi ties for distribution among those un-" rtble to buy and feed themselves. Proposing sharp curtailments in the administration's farm program, the committee sent to the House a bill carrying $634,374,256. This is 211 per cent below President Roose velt's budget requests of $788,929. 519 and compares with Sl.301.34o! 315 for this year Farm state congressmen, under the leadership of Representative Jones (I) Tex ), immediately raised the cry that the farmer was to be made the ?goat' of economy; one committee member retorted that when "you've "pTi^J.'d aubaidi r an dependent of the Federal treasury. Meanwhile, the current Congres sional economy drive suffered its fiist major reversal when a Senate appropriations subcommittee restor ed to the "independent office" ap propriations bill a $39,000,000 item to pay for building new merchant ships. Senator Byrnes (D-S.C ), also dis closed that the Senate group had found a way to carry on the work of three of President Roosevelt's new agencies for which the House re fused to provide funds on the ground thorized by Congress. Byrnes estimated that the net in crease ill the independent offices bill, | after taking into account certain re ductions made by the senators was 1 $38,000,000. . The deep slashes in the farm bill. | coming at the start of a year when each House member must stand for re-election, w iped out these major recommendations of the president: 1 $72,678,812 to supplement auto matic appropriations of about $100, 000,000 to facilitate disposal of sur plus commodities 2 $47,975,000 to continue benefit payments to sugar growers under a 1937 act .1 $25,000,000 for nation-wide loans (Continued on page six) (*ooti Forest Fire Record In County Martin County had a splendid forest fire record during the last six months of 1939," County Warden Marvin II. Iwggctt said yesterday in addressing an appeal to all fanners tiiging them to get permits and ex ercise every precaution possible in burning woodlands between now and next June In accordance with Chap ter 207 of the Public Laws of North Carolina, any one wishing to burn .woodlands even on his own farm must apply to the county or district -warden for 3 Permit. "This practice lias helped to reduce the number of fires, and we hope the people of Mar tin County will continue to sv.r,. ate with the program." Mr Leggett Midi. . tT"1 Permits are issued by community warden without cost. During the past six months there were only four forest fires in the county, resulting in an estimated damage of about $50 Two of the fires were started presumably by careless Cigarette smokers. People cooperated splendidly in the forest protection program, ten persons actually con tributing their labor free in bring ing the four fires under control, the warden explained. One Hurt In Wreck OnJaniesvilleRoad Lillian Bo wen, colored woman, Was painfully bruised and slightly cut on her knees when the car, a Ford sedan, driven by her husband, Eddie Bowen, went out of control and turned over just beyond Gard ners Creek on the Jamesville Road last Tuesday night. Bowen was not hurt, but he admitted he was graatly frightened as the car started climb ing a high bank and turned over on its side. Bowen stated that he left his home on the farm of County Commimion er R Lee Perry early that night As he rounded the curve Just beyond Gardners Creek, the car lights went out and before he could stop, the machine climbed nearly to the top of a 12-foot embankment and tui over. Bowen and hia wife wen their way to Jameaviile to aae sick mother.