Watch The Label On Your Paper, Aa It Carrie* The Date Your Subacription E x p i r H THE ENTERPRISE S Advertiser* Will Find Our Col A Latchkey To Over 1,600 Of Martin County. \ OLl'ME \LIII?NUMBER 44 Williamaton, Martin County, North Carolina, Friday, May 31, 1940. ESTABLISHED 1899 Filling Station Is Damaged By Early Morning Fire Here Ixtsh of $700 Is Reported To Sinclair Station in "Tobacco Town" Thought to have started from a coal heater used in heating water, fire wrecked Die barbecue pit and cook room and did considerable dam age to the Sinclair Filling Station operated by Mr. Jule James on Wash ington Street next to the Roanoke Dixie Warehouse at 5 o'clock yester day morning. The rear part of the building was charred and large volumes of smoke pouring from the lightwood timbers caused the paint to run from the walls in other parts of the building Damage to the building was estimat ed at $400 and the loss on the stock and equipment will amount to around $300. according to Fire Chief G P. Hall. Mr. James built a fire in the stove about four o'clock and was at the station with Mr. Emmett Whitley who was barbecuing two pigs in the rear of the building. The fire gain ed a foothold rapidly and by the time the fire-fighting equipment was car ried to the scene flames were pour ing from the back and two sides of the building and the dense smoke blocked most of the Washington and Haughton Street intersection. Mr. James suffered severe burns on his fingers in trying to check the fire and remove a few articles from the burning building. Hooking up one large hose to the fire truck and laying a second one the volunteers had the fire under control in less than a quarter of an hour. Spectators, answering the alarm with the firemen, expressed fear that the fire would spread to the ware house and to other nearby property. Firemen were held out of the build ing during the greater part of half Mi hour by the stiffling smoke which filled the entire building and po'ur ed through the top and around the eaves of the root. The loss was recorded among the largest here so far this year. During the past few years, th fire company has answered seven calls to the huildinff. The Sine la calls to the building. The Sinclair Oil Company, owner of the station, will repair the damage in strict ac cordance with fire regulations, Fire Chief flail said today. ? Charles Williams Dies In Griffins Charles Williams. 39 veara old. died at the. home of his sister, Mrs Don Griffin, in Griffins Township last night at 11:20 o'clock following an illness of less than one week dur ation. He suffered an attack of pneu monia last Saturday. The son of Phillip Williams and the late Mrs. Williams, he was born in Griffins Township where he spent all his life. He was partially blind all his life and confined his activities to a few duties around the farm, get ting out very little. Besides his father he is survived by three brothers, Henry P., William L . and James H. Williams, and two sisters ,Mrs. f^imon Corey and Mrs. Don Griffin, all of this county. He never married Funeral services are being con ducted this afternoon at three o'clock at his late home by Rev. James H. Smith, pastor of the Williamston Memorial Baptist Church. Interment will follow in the Manning Cemetery in Griffins Township. * Primary Saturday ~ Cost Nearly $1,000 It cost Martin County nearly $1,000 or about 37 cents for every ballot placed in the precinct election boxes last Saturday. Due to several (actors, the primary was possibly the most expensive held In the county In re cent years if not in its history. Considerable cost was attached to the new registration. Repeated calls were made to the citizens to register and finally the registrars were offer ed a premium of three cents for each new name placed on the books dur ing the latter part of the registration period. The round-up of the regis tration cost $73.11, the drive netting 2,437 names. The registrars were paid at the rate of $3 a day for each of the four Saturdays they held the books open for names and challenge, the thirteen officials receiving a total of $323 in salaries alone. Judges of election shared in the pay-off, but their checks will be small. Outside the chairman of the board of elections and not including sup plies and a few other items, a total of $701.68 was paid the thirteen reg istrars, twenty-six judges of election and the two members of the election board. ? Director* Of Chamber Of Commerce Meet Tonight An important board of directors meeting of the chamber of com merce will be held tonight in the secretary's office. Members are re quested to attend. Outlook for Tobacco Crop in TheCounty Very U?tfavorable Delayed first by cold weather, next by blue mold, and more recent ly by dry weather, the tobacco crop in Martin County is now being sub jected to a wire-worm attack de scribed by some farmers as a real ole German blitzkrieg. Briefly stat ed, the outlook for the current to bacco crop is very unfavorable, and many farmers are said to be great ly disheartened over the prospects not to even mention the price pros pects. Transplanting of the crop has been virtually completed in the county this week, but goodly num bers of farmers are still resetting in an effort to get something like a normal stand. In some urea* a heavy worm attack was experienc ed. the farmers plowed their fields anew and transplanted the crop in its entirety. Considerable damage has been done by worms in the Cross Roads. Bear Grass and Jamesville Townships and some sections in Grif fins and Williamston Townships Some farmers declare that the most damage is being reported m thope fields where the land was planU&i to rye last fall. Th^y explain t)*af the worms fed off the green rye and left a large crop of the pests. In several of the upper-county sec tions especially in the Goose Nest area the outlook for a good crop is quite favorable. The seasons have been more favorable there than in the other sections of the country. Less than one and one-half inches of rain had been recorded here up un til early yesterday, the fall being the smallest ever reported for the particular month Second Contest For Treasurer in County DAY OF PRAYER The suffering, unimaginable hardships and cruel disregard for life itself, that is at this very hour being endured in Europe by Christian people demands at least our deepest sympathy. In order that these horrors may soon be brought to a peaceful end the Presiding Bishop of the Epis copal Church has asked that each church pray for peace. In his words, ?Tnthis.hour.iiL catastrophe I call the Church to Join with Christians throughout the world in solemn supplication for world peace." Sunday morning at thr eleven o'clock service it is hoped that as many people as possible will be at the Church of the Advent and concerted prayers will be for a peace that wilLpgaln bring health and happiness to the whole world; that fellowship and love may reign in the place of selfishness and hatred. Public Opinion Is Pointing To War With few exceptions public opin ion in this immediate section favors a more active part in world affairs by the United States. While there has been an increased hate for Hitler ex pressed, Martin County people de clare in certain terms that?some thing should be done to stop the murder and wholesale slaughter and check the blaze that is about to in gulf the world An address by Rt. Rev. Henry W. Hobson, Episcopal bishop of Ohio, to a graduating class in Raleigh this week received much favorable com ment here. He said, in part: "If we expect to save our freedom by sitting here with no concern over what is happening in the rest of the world, we are sure to lose it. "Unless we move at once we will be easy victims when the destroy ing hand reaches toward us. The world is on fire. God help us if we fiddle while it burns." Bishop Hobson warned his listen ers that "distances are obliterated with ease by modern mechanics. We will be nothing but blind fools if we rely on distance for a false secur ity." The speaker lashed dictatorships, saying, "Ttiis struggle is one that sooner or later has to be settled un less man is to become enslaved and enter into another dark age. We must realize," he said, "before it is too late, the fundamental differences be tween dictatorship and democracy." Presbyterians Close Daily Bible Schools The Poplar Point Bible school came to a successful close last Sun day when an interesting and profit able commencement program was given in the church. The enrollment of this school was 62 and practically all of thasa wars present last Sun day at two o'clock for the commence ment exercises. The church was packed and there was not a single vacant seat. A few were compelled to stand or leave. Church school services are held at this point every Sunday at 2 p. m. The Bear Crass Bible school which has been in session for the past two weeks closed its formal services Fri day morning at 11:30 o'clock. Around 83 pupils have been in attendance upon the school and a corps of some 10 or 12 teachers have been doing a splendid work. Rev. J. W Vinson, Jr., who leaves in August for China as a foreign missionary, has been in charge of tills acliuol The Vacation Bible school at Rob eraon's Chapel will get underway next Monday morning at I a. m. A large corps of teachers under the direction of Rev Z. T. Plephoff and Rev J. W Vinson, Jr., will be on hand to begin this all important work among the children of the commun ity. Be sure to tend your children to the school. Courtney Will Go Into June Primary Against Diek Smith Martin* Voter* Will AI*o Par ticipate in Run-Off For Governor Reforming their lines hurriedly following the tabulation of the first primary results, Wilkins P. Horton this week announced he would go into a second primary to contest J M B rough ton for the governorship, and Ben Courtney has signified he .would contest Dick-Smith for Martin County treasurer. The artnounce ments place two contests before Mar tin County voters for their consider ation in the second primary which will be held on Saturday, June 22. Courtney, pointing out that a sec ond primary had alerady been sched uled at the request of W. P. Horton, runner-up in the gubernatorial race, stated that he had decided to go in to the second primary "after giving the matter due consideration and at the suggestion of many of my friends." In the first primary last Saturday, Courtney trailed Smith by 458 votes. Smith polled 1,303 votes as compar ed with 845 polled by Courtney. The two men polled a total of 2,148 votes as agmni.t 1,436 polled by the other three candidates combined. A third contest was expected, up until yesterday when Erskine' Smith, runner-up in the race for lieutenant governor, announced that he would not contest the office with Reg Har ris, Roxboro man, who maintained a lead of about 20,000 votes in the last Saturday primary. It is hardly likely that the size of the first primary vote will be main tained in this county on June 22. The race for treasurer will possibly at tract more attention, certainly as much, as the contest for governor, but with the elimination of commis sioners' and other contests for mem bership on the board of education, a decrease in the size of the vote is to be anticipated. No registrations will be in order, but the registration figures are believed large enough in this county for a representative vote expression. Battling a lead estimated to range as high as 45,000 votes, Horton has got to materially increase his pow er if he will successfully challenge Broughton for governor. Early re ports from the various political sub divisions in this county indicate that Martin voters will swing to the Broughton candidacy. It is possible that Horton will do a good job of repairing his lines and offer a strong battle, but many Martin voters, ques tioned these past few days, state they plan to support Broughton if for no other reason than that they believe he will win and they want to vote for a winner one more time. Reports from over the field in the county and State maintain that both candidates for governor are lining up their forces for the second contest. Considerable work has already been advanced by Horton forces in this county while associates in the other camp are considering what strategy they will employ in directing an ap peal to the voters for their support % Loral Man Take Plunge In Creek While Fishing Two local men, Roy and Garland Coltrain, took a plunge into the cold waters of Mobley's Mill Pond early one morning this week when their boat turned over while they were" starting a fishing trip. "Ooh.ooh, wah," one of the young men yelled as the culd water pouted Into hlr boots and quickly wet him to his neck. They rushed home and changed clothea. but only one of them letuiu Mr^ Ann Askew returned last week from New York where she went with a party of friends to visit the world's fair. County Electorate Casts Record Vote In First Primary Total of 3,705 Vote* Placed In Thirteen Election Precinct Boxe* An all-time high record vote was recorded in this county last Satur day when 3.705 citizens went to the polls in the thirteen precincts to participate in the primary election. The vote exceeded by more than 200 the record established two years ago. Even with the large vote, the records J show that hardly more than two thirds uf the citizens eligible to vote participated in the election. Nine of the precincts repurted increases in their vote counts over those record-' ed two years ago in the first pri mary. Nearly 1.800 of the people who reg istered did not vote last Saturday, but it is believed that the percent age of the registration voting in the primary was the greatest on record. The absentee ballot eliminated pos sibly 50 or 75 votes, and the little interest shown in the Republican primary apparently had some weight in holding the total vote to the re ported figure. Less than two dozen votes were cast by Republicans, sev eral precincts reporting no Republi can votes at all. In one or two cases where there were Republican poll holders. not a single Republican vote was recorded Submitting a guess on the size of the vote, Luther Peel missed by ten votes But his guess was the best re ceived and he gets a year s subscrip tion to The Enterprise free. The guesses ranged from 3,300 up to 4,000. Martin citizens are invited to study the political situation as it pre sents" Itself during the next few weeks and submit guesses on the.aize of vote that will be cast in the sec ond primary on June 22 A year's subscription to this paper will be given the person submitting the best guess. A comparison of the registration figures and the 1938 and 1940 pri mary votes follows: 1938 Precinct Reg. Vote 1940 Jamesville 538 382 396 Williams 261 173 150 Griffins 430 376 "233 Bear Grass 412 251 255 Williamston 1 681 878 492 Williamston 2 739 ? 590 Cross Roads 400 197 262 Robersonville 963 395 477 Gold Point 150 98 122 Poplar Point 206 146 156 Hamilton 170 169 156 Masse II 150 89 106 Goose Nest 402 206 250 5502 3354 3705 'The 1938 vote is combined with that for Precinct No. 1. .* Escapes Injury In Automobile Wreck Jack Epstein, Baltimore salesman, escaped injury yesterday morning about 11 o'clock when bis car went out of control and turned over on Highway 64, near Sweet Water Creek. The cur plunged down i bankment, tore down quite a few yards of wire fence and came to a stop in a group of cypress stumps. Epstein, traveling alone, told Pa trolman Saunders that someone ran him off the road and caused him to lose control of the car Damage to the machine will ap proximate $300, and Epstein is con sidering the purchase of a new auto mobile. Sunday Service* To Be Held In Cedar Branch Church Regular services will be held in the Cedar Branch Baptist church Sunday morning at II o'clock. The evening service will be held at 8 o'clock. The services will be conducted by E. C. Sexton. THE RECORD SPEAKS . . . Martin County motorists man age somehow or other to keep the accident record fairly crowded with new figures week after week. But fortunately they are steering away from the grim death column where only one recording has been made so far this year The summer vacationing sea son is getting underway and thousands of children will bo walking the streets. It is only fit ting and timely to appeal to the motorists to exercise greater pre cauliohl and help save human? life. The following tabulations of fer a comparison of the accident trend: first, by corresponding weeks in this year and last and for each year to the present time. 21st WNt Comparison Accidents InJ-d Killed Dam'gs 1940 1 2 0 $ 165 1939 1 0 0 200 Comparison To Date 1940 39 28 1 (4830 1939 15 14 4 3823 European Outlook Gloomy As German Hordes Talk Expanding Program of Ruthless Invasion Completion of Census Survey Expected Within Short Time "The 1940 census survey m Wil liamston will possibly be completed tomorrow or early next week." Mrs. L. H Gurganus, enumerator, said to day in directing a last appeal to lo cal citizens for their continued coop eration in handling the task it is possible that some persons or famil ies have been missed, and they are asked to notify me so that I may in clude them in the list." Mrs Gur ganus explained. In this day and age when people are moving here and there and are finding so many things to take them from their homes during Jong hours each day. it is possible that the cen sus-taker was unable to list a num ber of persons Any person who has not been listed is asked to notify Mrs. Gurganus that the survey may be completed without further delay. No estimate of the number yet unlisted is available, but it is fairly certain Short Session 0! Recorder's Court Held Last Monday Half Dozen Lases Are (Henred From Docket !? Judge -II. O. Peel Converting a regular session of the Monday, Judge Herbert (> Peel cleared six cases from the docket and adjourned the tribunal well before the noon hour There were ho Sen sational cases on the docket, and the attendance upon the session was comparatively wmull ? Charged with drunken and reckless driving. J. W. Belflower pleaded guilty of reckless driving but denied the drunken driving charge. He was foiind not guilty on the second count, and in the first the court fined him $25 and taxed hifn with the cost. Klliott Jordan, charged with ail assault with a deadly weapon was sentenced to the roads for a term of five months. Papers wi re issued for the arrest of Fannie Jordan, a second defendant in the case Charged with being disorderly and with an assault, John Whitehurst was found guilty of committing sim ple assault and was sentenced to the county jail for ten days. Brownie Whiichnrst, facing sim ilar charge, was sentenced to jail for ten days Simon Jenkins was sentenced to the roads for a term of three months in the case charging him with vio lating the liquor laws. Pleading guilty of drunken driving, Paul W. Henderson was fineH $5o taxed with the cost and had his driv er's license revoked for one year. ? Church Croup In Meeting Yesterday The auxiliary members of Group 1 held an Auxiliary Officers Train ing School in the Presbyterian Church here yesterday. The sessions of this school got underway at IT a. m. The morning session was begun with a devotional conducted hv the Hev. Z. T. Piephoff. Following this devotional the following program was followed: Mrs. H. T Hicks, of Rocky Mount, taught the course for the Secretary of Causes. Mrs. Lea, of Wilson, taught the course for the General Officers. Mrs. T. C. Young, of Rocky " Mount,"Taught the course for the Circle Chairmen, and Mis J. C. Gardner, of Tarboro, the history of Woman's Auxiliary, An offering for the erection of the auditorium at Montreat, N. C , which was destroyed by fjre a few week*, ago was taken. A delicious luncheon was served by the ladies of the local auxiliary and the ladies of Bear Grass and Roberson's Chapel. The following churches are in Group 1: Elizabeth City, Ahoskie, Wiiliamstmr, RobtTSon'fl Chapel, Nahala and Tarboro All of the churches were represented ex cept the last two. There were forty-five in attend ance. ^he closing program followed the luncheon. Rogue Raid* Refrigerator //,,, f. ,i ? I ? /ill I 11 11 I Ml III \ * f t'rr rjtlrtJ f rft f fifff HfMiJ Slipping through a screen door opTing on tin, hack poeetr e rttgw raided the refrigerator in .the home or Mr and Mm Roy Bailey on Wil liams Street between four and five o'clock yesterday morning. A pound of bacon, a few egga, orange* and lemons were stolen, but no other ar ticles in the home were missed. that some one has been missed, un-1 intentionally, of course. No official figures on the local survey have been released to date. pected to reach a point possibly in excess of 4,000. It was estimated at | one time thqt the 1040 census would; show a population of 4.500 or more, but it is now fairly apparent that there aren't as many people on the north side of Main Street as there are on the south side. Registration figures tabulated tor the recent poli tical primary are greater on the north side than they are en the south side, and it would appear that the census figures would reflect a correspond ing increase on the north side over those on the south side ll won't be long before an official count will he available and if the town can boast a 4.000 population at that time it will have made an appreciable gain over the 2,731 listed ten years ago i cot M Y Itl DCCT The Martin County budget for the new fiseal year beginning July 1 will he a topic of discus sion at the regular meeting ol the board "of commissioners here next Monday. It is already ad mitted that the authorities will encounter much difficulty- in holding the budget figures to the current level; that a decrease in the tax rate is hardly to be -expected ? ? "There'll be some close figur ing on every departmental item in an effort to head off a rate Increase," a member of the board was quoted as saying. Arkansas Traveler V ietimOl Accident Reginald Elliott, 75-year-old Ar kansas traveler and sewing machine tnonder* suffered a compound frac ture of Ihi* right leg when he was struck by a car driven by S. W Man rung, Jr., on East Mam Street here yesterday moiinng at 10 o'clock The old man, walking across the street toward the home of Mi and Mrs. Dick Daniel, was watching a truck approaching from the direction of up town, did not see the automo bile and continued walking. Man ning sounded his horn and the old gentleman stopped, the right front light and bumper striking and knocking the pedestrian to one side. Manning was not running very fast at the time, according to Officer J. H. Allsbrooks who investigated the accident with Carried to the local hospital, the Arkansas native was said to be get ting along as well as could be ex J peeled today. Asked if he would have the police notify anyone, the old man who had just come here the evening before was quoted as saying he had no one to notify, no one to tell and possibly no one to care It is likely that he will have to continue under the care of a physician for several months. Colored Woman Is Accidentally Shot Beatrice Mabry, young colored woman, was dangerously shot by Wilmer Brown, colored, on the farm of Mr Sylvester Lilley in Griffins Township yesterday morning. Said 10 have been accidentally shot, the woman was given first-aid treatment in a local doctor's office and remov ed to a Washington hospital where later reports state she is expected to recover. The bullet, fired from a .22 calibre rifle, entered the woman's breast and went almost through her body. Brown was preparing to shi^it a crow when the woman suddenly walked in fiont of him and just in time to stop the bullet After inves tigating the case, officers stated the sbfwdmg was accidental and that no arrest would be made ? Loral Hoy Seouln Leave Sunday For World** Fair Five local Boy Scouts, James Car row, Jack Bailey, Conrad Getsinger. Stuart ClitLhei and Bilhe Mercer will leave Sunday for New York where they will serve with-several hundred Boy Scouts from all over the South in handling a varied schedule of duties at the fair. They will be at the ftttr w week and than the youths plan to spend two or three day* "taking in" the big ctty. James Wallace, of Jamesville, will accompany the boys from here. They will leave Rocky Mount on special pullmans Sunday evening at 7:15 o'clock. Tottering English Soldiers (?ivr Word Account of Fighting c c ? Vlli?-?l llt-ft-ttl in Hiimlrr* I* Kv|>?tIi-iI Tn Uriu? Ijalv ln?o \\ nr "Shortly" Civilization hangs m tTvo balance and empires tutor as the threat to the peace t?f the entire world was aggra vated yesterday when the Allies ad mitted defeat in Flanders and the German hordes boastfully talked of an ever expanding program of in vasion Tin* critical hour is at hand, and no one seems to know which way and how the invader will move next to continue lus attack on the last remnants of democracy and Christian culture in the world. Half of Europe's people are already en slaved Will they he freed or will the other half fall victim? England with the aid of a strife torn France are feverishly promoting plans m the cause of freedom while Hitler and his savages lay their plans to widen their sweep that will | enslave additional millions and paw the way for possibly 1(H) million men. ? women and children to starve ere | another winter is gone. today. thr Allies art- making a last stand m an effort to save hu man life after the (Irnnaiis had swept to victory in the first major phase of the war. Battered on land and in air, tin- Allied leaders are desperately rout timing their task of '?removing from Flanders across the 1 channel'a ragged aiul tottering army ? tn?w?estimated ,ot le-s?than 200.000 ! men How many have hern moved to l safety across the Channel is not : known "No accurate, st??r> oil the losses has iHt'n released, -but" jt has . been estimated that the French have j lost 250.000 men, the English a like number, and (!i*iniiuii about 500.000 soldiers these past three weks. Losses sustained by other nations offering to defend themselves are said to run well in excess of a million people Broken and maimed bv the strain they have been under during the past two weeks, tottering English soldiers gave word- accounts - upon their arrival on home soil of the mass slaughter and horrible events trans piring during the period German soldiers dead were left five-tier deep Ml spots iil'Mii' the timidly shifting battle lines The return of the men brought a grimer realization of war and its devastating effect to those back home As the clean tip of the first whole tent ion is being centered on other fronts, and anyone's guess as to where Hitler will strike next is as good as another's. Some think he will resume his march on Paris Oth ers say an attack on England across the 20 mile Channel is imminent. M111 ut I in s say the next phase ur the war will see the wop, Mussolini, playing a major part. "He is expect ed to take action within a week or two." one observer said early today. Activities along the Channel have (Continued on page six) Timely Tacts On Second Primaries Raleigh Unless there is a sharp reversal of form-J M. Bi'oughtOn, Of Raleigh, will he North Carolina's next governor. Since 1916 when the present primary system was estab lished, the high man in the first gu bernatorial primary invariably has defeated the runner-up. Except in one instance he not only has achiev ed victory hut has increased his mar. gin between the first and second pri maries. The exception came in 1932 when Dick Fountain cut The Ehringhaus lead from 47,371 to 13,084 in the run off primary. In that campaign there was a clear issue betwt t n Fountain and Ehringhaus. In all other second primary bat tles the winner of the first primary has been swept into office bv n ***? able margin. In the famous 1920 cam paign, for instance, Cameron Morri son led O. Max Gardner by less than 100 votes m-the-first gubernatorial primary Four weeks later in the runoff the margin was increased to 9,259 votes. In 1924 A. W. McLean defeated Jo siah Bailey decisively. In 1928 Gard ner was nominated without opposi tion Then followed the Ehringhaus later in 1936 Clyde R. Hoey increased his first primary lead of 4.468 votes over Dr. Ralph McDonald lo 51,940 in the runoff primary. In Saturday's gubernatorial pri mary Mr BrnUghton. running against six opponents, polled approximately a third nf the entire vote and ran more than 30,000 votes ahead of his closest rival. His margin of victory was the greatest ever polled in a multiple contest such as was con ducted last Saturday.