Watch The Label On Your Paper. As It Carries The Date Your Subscription Ciplraa THE ENTERPRISE Advertisers Will Find Our Col umns A Latchkey To'Over 1.800 Homes Of Martin County. VOLUME XLIY?NUMBER 33 ff'illiam?ton, Martin County, North Carolina, Fritlay, April 25, 1941. ESTABLISHED 1899 Suj>erior Court In Final Term Session Wednesday N i ? h t K?hk (her Domestic \niiiiaU And Pet Settled Alonu With Other Cases. ? Handling a varied calendar of cases ranging from a $15,000 damage suit down to one involving a claim to a 50-cent dog, the Martin County Su perior Court ended a "short two weeks term here Wednesday eve ning Several cases were continued, but the court, created by special leg islative act, removed a fairly large number of actions from the files The court, sitting three full days last week and three days this week, attracted more spectators than usual the old courtroom being fairly crowd ed during one or two trials. The $10,000 damage suit brought by Willie l>ee Chesson against the Town of Robcrsonville climaxed the cases as far as judgments were con cerned. but disputed ownership of a cow and a 50-cent dog was the unus ual highlights in the court this week Chesson was awarded a judgment in the sum of $2,500 in his suit against the town. Trial of the case was start ed Tuesday morning, the jury re turning its verdict at 5:35 after de liberating the issues fifteen minutes The plaintiff called nine witnesses and the defense called six Alleging that the town was negligent in leav ing a ditch or a canal across a street unmarked and unguarded, the plain tiff brought out in the evidence that the superintendent of streets had been notified of the existing danger and that he had answered that any one who could not see the ditch "ought lo run into it." The defense maintained that the plaintiffs own contributory negligence caused the accident that broke his neck and in jured Miss Marjorie Bunting, driv er of the car The defense also main tained that the car was running without lights at (he time of the ac cident Apparently serving as a de tective prior to the trial, Leighton Nelson defense witness, gave a de tailed record of Chessons activities following his release from a 39-days' stay in a hospital. Dr E L. Roberson, plaintiff's witness, stated that Clies son would have a slight curvature in Ins neck and that he would have 10 per cent stiffness in his neck. Tried in two courts during recent months, the case of Mrs. Allie Tay lor against Mrs Nora Grimes was settled by a jury in Judge A Hall Johnstun's court Wednesday after noon. when Mrs Grimes was de clared the owner of a red cow. Ac cording to the evidence. Mrs Taylor gave Mrs Grimes a cow some time ago Mrs Grimes was to keep and feed the cow and have the milk, but Mrs Taylor was to have the calves Mrs. Taylor received two calves when the mamma cow in some way broke her neck and passed out of the picture. Mrs. Grimes maintained that Mr Taylor said that she could keep the third calf which was very small at the time. Mrs. Grimes rais ed the calf, feeding it from a bottle at times, and at maturity the animal was claimed by the plaintiff When the defense attorney spoke. Mrs Taylor wept, and when the plain tiff's attorney spoke, Mrs Grimes wept It was just another of those un fortunate cases. That some people think more of a dog than some people think of their own children was well demonstrat ed in the court Wednesday afternoon and evening. Opening the case at 3:45 that afternoon, the plaintiff, J C Miller told the jury that he bought a dog from Joe Glenn, paying him $10 for the six-weeks-old bull ter rier. The very next day, October 18, the dog was stolen from his leash at the laundry. Several months pass ed, and Miller learned the dog or a dog very similar to his was in the possession of Sam Godard, the de fendant A claim and delivery pro ceeding was started, and Justice J L Hassell declared Miller was own er of the dog. The defendant appeal ed and the case went to the "big" court where Miller had witnesses identify the bull terrier as his own. The defendant maintained that he bought the dog from a colored man and paid a dollar for him. Called to the stand, the colored man said he bought the dog for fifty cents from a colored man in Robersonville. The defense called witnesses who testi fied they had seen the dog in the cus tody of the colored man before the dog was missing here. Taking the case about 5:50 that afternoon, the (Continued on page six) Funeral Saturday For George Steele Funeral services were conducted in Raleigh last Saturday morning at 10:30 o'clock for Mr. George Steele who died in a hospital there the previous day Pneumonia, de veloping after a goiter operation performed a month ago. caused his death. Survivors are ,Mrs. Steele, the. former Mrs. Allie Hadley Rose, of Williamston, and five children by his first wife, Mrs. C. A. Kimbrey, Misses Nancy and Juliet Steele and James Steele, of Raleigh, and Mrs. Cary Jenkins, of Panama. Mr. Steele was an engineer with the state highway department. Spread of Blue Mold Favored Bv Rains and Cooler Weather The rapid spread of blue mold in Martin County tobacco plant beds is being anticipated today following rains yesterday and lower tempera- , ture readings. Definite reports could not be had from many areas in the i county up until noon today, but the mold was said by some farmers to be gaining a foothold rapidly in their plant beds, and that an extensive damage was to be expected It is now expected that transplant ing in this county will be delayed at least three weeks, and if the attack is very severe the small plants will die and result in a general shortage, certainly in some sections of thej county and possibly over the county. ! as a whole. Several farmers stated yesterday j that their plants were about ready j for the transplanter. It could not be learned today whether blue mold had made its appearance and delayed the i transplanting schedule As far as it could be learned no tobacco has been transplanted in this county, but transplanting has been started in Beaufort on a very small scale. Control methods, fairly new to this section, are being tested possibly by eighteen or twenty farmers, most of whom are relying on the spray treatment Several of the farmers using this method, started spraying a few days ago. W. H. Everett spray ed 5,000 yards on his farm near Pal myra yesterday morning. Spray equipment can be had for $.10 up to $125 The other recommended con trol method is applicable at about the time or right after the mold strikes The cost of treating with paradichlorobenzene ranges around $6.40 per 60 square yards for the sea son. Farmer Heber Jenkins, of near Rohersonville. is demonstrating this method STIRCKON Fishing his rock lines early Wednesday morning, James Straw bridge pulled up a 11 1-2 pound sturgeon, the first report ed caught on the Roanoke this year. The sturgeon, measuring 38 1-2 inches, was caught when it passed the fishing line and tackle, the hook entering the right finn socket. The sturgeon at one time was caught in large numbers in the Roanoke, but few are tkken from the stream now:? ] Local Post Office Receipts Decrease Tor First Quarter More Money (mm-n To the Mail Order House* During Period, llottever \ . ? For the first time in Severn I years; postal receipts at the local office re- j fleeted no gain for (|?, f,rst qUartei I but the stamp sales for the past , months of January, February and ! March actually show a slight I decrease as compared with those for the corresponding period in 1940, ac cording to a statement issued this I week by Postmaster Is'slie T. Fow den riie decrease is not at all alarm ing. Mr. Fowden went on to explain and be is confident the office this , year will experience the greatest j business in its history Quite a few j business houses, in a hurry to get their 1940 bills out, bought stamps! and had the cheery notices in the ' mails before the last day of Decern-' ber. This is a slight departure from old customs for most business houses I-ast quarter stamp sales amount ed to $4,939.58 as compared with sales amounting to $5,022.70 in the corresponding period, 1940 The first three months sales, just about $80 short of the $5,000 mark, were $83.12 under the first three months' figures for 1940. A comparison of stamp sales by months for the first quarter in 1940 and 1941 follows: 1940 1941 January $1,842 56 $2,003.63 February 1,484.36 1,365.20 March 1,695.78 1,570 75 $5.022 70 $4,939 58 While stamp sales were reflecting a slight decrease, money order busi ness handled by the local office con tinued to climb, the January total approaching or establishing a new record for the month. The amount of money sent to mail order houses jumped from $19,87572 in the first three months of 1940 to $23,706 95 this year, a gain of $3,831.23 A comparison of money orders sold in the two quarters: 1940 1841 January $ 5.855 14 $ 9,114 99 February 6,497.17 6,365 58 March 7,523.41 8,226.38 $19,875.72 $23,706.95 Starting Work On New Bank Building Construction work on a new build ing for the Branch Banking and Trust Company here will gel under way next Monday, the contractors, D. J. Rose and Son, of Rocky Mount, having already placed a temporary office and tool house on the main street lot between the Watts Thea tre and the Woolard Hardware Com pany. Materials are being placed on the site today, and workmen will start laying the building foundations next Monday Measuring 99 feet long and 30 feet wide, the building will be of brick and stone construction and oqe story high The five-foot alley between the new building and the Woolard Hardware Company is to be paved Plans call for the completion of the building on or about the first of August. No cost estimate was made public, but It is understood the proj ect will represent an outlay of about $26,000. Tenth Draft Call To Take Four Men From This County Draft lloanl To Ken Kef?i*truut* at Me^'l iiif? Here Tin* l'\oiling The tenth draft call is expected to j take four young white men from this | county on May 16. according to ad vanced information gained here yes terday The call has not been official- I ly filed with the county draft boarrbj office, but official notice is expect ed shortly. The eighth call, received | in this county last week, is to take four colored volunteers from here on May 8th. The eighth call takes J no white trainees, and as far as it could be learned here today the tenth call will take no colored train ees No ninth call v\ as received 111 this county. The four colored men will be se lected in order from a rapidly di minishing volunteer lift. Draft Board | Clerk Marion Cobb stating that there are only a few more left oil the list, that a heavy call will necessitate se lections from the regular draft j group Three white volunteers are in line, and a fourth man will be tak en from the draftee list to fill the May 18 quota The three volunteers' I names are, Billie John Davis, of | HasseII, Albert Earl Lewis, of Wil liamston Route 2, and Dossie Griffin, of Kveretts John Clayton Johnson, of Robersonvitle, is next in line on) tin- draft list Tonight at 8 o'clock the draft I board is meeting to reclassify about fifteen registrants and consider ap- | peals for deferment Five of the number have married since they | were classified and the change their status virtually means they will be grouped in Class 3-A. Six of the number are asking occupational deferments, and two are claiming dependency as a basis for reclassi fication. The board will also classi fy thirteen registrants whose ques- | tionnaires were left untouched at tin last meeting pending an investiga tion of claims of dependency. The investigations had been virtually | completed yesterday. ? & College Glee Club Here Sunday Night J O 1 As part of the spring tour of East ern North Carolina, the Glee Club of Atlantic Christian College will sing in the Christian Church of Wil liamston Sunday night, April 27th They will be in Elizabeth City in the morning. The group this year, under the direction of Professor John Winston Fontaine, head of the music department of the college, has al ready sung in Farmville, Vanceboro, Kinston, Belhaven, Arapahoe and I Robersonville, and will continue its | tour to Raleigh, Goldsboro and oth er towns in the eastern part of the | state. The Glee Club will sing "O for the Wings of a Dove," by Mendelssohn; "Lead Kindly Light," by Dudley Buck; "Still, Still with Thee," by Nevin; "List the Cherubic Host," by Gaul; "Fling Wide the Gates," by Stainer; "Dust, Dust and Ashes," by Nathaniel Dett, and "Flee as a Bird" by Danna TKe members of the club, which will be accompanied by Miss Vir ginia Dare Adkins, of Wilson, are Wilma Williams, of Elizabeth City; Janie Perry, of Robersonville; Ruth Peele, Mary Catherine Houston, Jes sie Stephenson, Anna Ray Conyers, and Edna Earle Reynolds, of Wil-1 son; Margaret Garriss, of Margar ettville; Ernestine and Christine Gardner, of Saratoga. Charlotte Thomas, of Elm City; Elizabeth Browning, of Washington; Audrey Rouse, of Kinston; Betty Miller, of Cumberland. Md., Catherine Rough ton, of Tarboro; Elbert James, of Wallace; Howard James, of Grimes land; Liibi Castro, of Oracoris, Puer to Rico^Clyde Broughton, of Mer ritt; Charles Harrison, of Williams |ton; Elmer Mottern, of Asheville; Charles Byrd, of St. Paul, and Phil lip and George Banks, of Arapahoe. British And Greeks Made Last Stand At Thermopylae Pass SerioiiMH>n of W ar lirou^lil j Lh?M'r Home H\ Kerent Kuropean 1*1 vents After making a last stand at his toric Thermopylae Pass. British and | Greek forces this morning virtually threw in the sponge to give the Ger man hordes a free pass to Athens, the fall of which was expected at any time this afternoon. Turning to ihe hills just as the Persians of old did. German forces flanked the en emy and the defenders withdrew. Late reports state that German mech anized equipment was sailing down the main highways toward Athens just a few miles away It was claim ed that the British had evacuated early today large numbers of men and big quantities of war material. However, the Germans claimed tbuj large quantities of war equipment had been captured. During the meantime, conditions similar to those at Dunkirk, were re ported at the Greek jxirt of Piraeus where women und children were bombed while trying to reach safer positions Refugee ships were dam aged and many women and children were killed by Nazi bombers there Germany, while virtually taking control of Greece, is said to have paid dearly for her gains One report de clares that nearly all of Rumania has been flooded by German wound ed. that public buildings and many homes were being used to treat the wounded estimated to numbci as high as 270.000 men The Gorman dead will number in excess of 70.000 in the Greek drive, it has been es timated While the Balkan picture offers nothing but gloom and stark disap pointment. the British are reporting favorable trends in the battle of Africa, both in the east and in the north. Turkey is being lined up as the next, victim of Hitler., possibly by peaceful means or by a bloody at tack It has been reported that Ger ' many has issued an ultimatum to Turkey, demanding the surrender of the Dardanelles and other conces sions The drive on land is fast setting the stage for a great war on the At lantie, and the seriousness of the sit nation strikingly reflected in recent events, is being brought closer to our own shores. Secretary of State Cor dell Hull and Secretary of Navy Erank Knox said last night that the Allies must have American helfj now. that some way must be impro vised to get needed supplies to Brit am and her Allies There is a sweep ing move toward convoys, and while the slow to act American people have veered away from such acts, they are now waking up to the danger lurking at our own shores and are favoring the convoy and even more daring aid to beleaguered England and her Allies Mr. Hull said last night that "events have shown be yond possible question that the safe ty of this hemisphere and of this Country calls for resistance wherever i resistance will be most effective." Hull and Knox spoke as reports de clared that 40 per cent of American aid to Britain is being sent to the bottom of the sea It was unofficially announced in Washington today that Greenland, taken under the protectorate of this country only recently, may already be occupied by Axis forces Greece may be in the hands of Hitler today, but it is rapidly becoming apparent that this country is sharing a simi lar danger British Ambassador Hali fax stated today that the Battle of the Atlantic is now certain to be the most critical one of the war, that England will be unable to handle it alone. The only bright spot in the late (Continued on page six) Man, M'antad In County, Is HfilitinK Extradition Simon* Cowan, wanted in this county for alleged abandonment and non-support, was arrested in Suf folk a few days ago, the office of the sheriff was notified here this week. Cowan is fighting extradition, Sheriff C. B. Roebuck stating today that papers are being prepared to extradite him. Dean Herring To A (hires* Seniors Here Wednesday Dr. Herbert Herring, Duke University dean, will deliver the main address in the aeries of lo cal commencement eaerclses neat Wednesday evening at eight o'clock. D. N. Ilia, principal of the achoola, announced thia morning. Sunday morning at II o'clock in the high school auditorium, Rev John L. Goff, local Christ ian church paator, will preach the commencement aermon, us ing aa his topic, "Living in a Cris is." The several churches will hold no services that morning and the congregations are Invit ed to worship with the seniors at the high school. Farm Leaders Speak To Bi-State Meeting (Indifference Is Said To Be Threatening Peanut Referendum Homier. Kvuiim uiiiI State Farm Leader* in Miirfree*l>oro For Meet WedneMluy a Addressing farmers from Virginia | and North Carolina in the auditor ium of quaint old Chowan College Wednesday afternoon, state and na tional farm leaders declared that the j peanut program is facing what is be ! tieved a strong opposition' in some areas and pointed out that the appal out indifference on the part of a vast majority of farmers in the old peanut areas is threatening the ret I erendum set for tomorrow in this and many of the other thirteen pea nut producing states. Realizing the apparent indifference facing the program, prominent dirt farmers in this State and in Virginia I called the meeting, and brought be fore the assembled group Congress man Herbert Bonner, Administrator R. M Evans of the Agricultural Ad , Ijustment Administration. Cal Huth inson, director of extension in Vir ginia. Dean I O. Schaub. director of extension in Ninth Carolina, com missionors of agriculture from the j two states, officials uf UU1 urowefri I I Peanut Cooperative, state commit 1 teemen and others. Martin County was poorly represented, hut other counties to the north and east were ' (there is large numbers, pledging to' participate in a badly needed drive to get out an overwhelming vote to j morrow Briefly addressing the meeting. Congressman Bonner said that it was a long trip from Washington to Murfreesboro and back in a single day, but that he felt it his duty. Con gressnieh would not have voted for i | the bill had they believed the farm j ?rs dul not want it The congressman, xpressmg his appreciation for tin-! support accorded him in the past and j expressing the hope for a continued support in tlu' next year, stated that ! we have launched on a vast sea. that I we must put-our shoulders to the oar and pull for a planned produc , tion fen all crops. "I urge every far mer to study the-problem-ami? Saturday," Mr. Bonner concluded Porter Hardy, state AAA commit teeman from Virginia, declared Sat urday. April 26. is the most import ant day in history fur the peanut i growers "Quotas will put peanut I production on a business basis," he said, adding that without quotas, the edible trade price may actually drop ' I below the oil trade price. "We have! got to get out . a big and favorable vote. There is the possibility of an unfavorable vote in some states to the South, and if we lie down we 1 will lose," he concluded. Pleading for support of the pea | nut program. Hutchinson, extension j director for Virginia, outlined the seriousness of the situation facing the ! agricultural South. "We can't go through what we are going through now without some one having to pay the pi ice. There are still scars in1 Virginia from the Civil War and the World War. We must get ready now to meet the emergency facing us Ad justments made in the past 10 years as they are related to production con trol and a shift to soil conserving ! | plans are minor compared to those I reasonably expected in the next 10 ! and 20 years. We spent the past 75 | years doing things that are proving economically unsound. We are try ing to balance agriculture, labor and industry, we are trying to unscram ' ble the eggs that were scrambled through economic fallacies in years gone by We must learn to adjust our selves to meet new emergencies. We have got the brains and resources to live and live well in this country, but j j we must apply more brain work This is riot the end, we must keep go- I ing." Dean Schaub, briefly addressing the meeting, explained that without quotas farmers will have no re- | course whatever, the law clearly j stating that without control no di version program will be possible. The I diversion program held up prices. It ^ is now vote quotas or everyone for himself. "I hope every farmer will > vote," the dean said, adding that (there was apparently little interest in the referendum. The main address of the afternoon was delivered by R M. Evans, AAA I administrator from Washington j There has been too much attention given production and not enough to (the economic side of the problems facing civilization," Mr. Evans de dared. "We can hang together and succeed, but to work separately we will go down to ruin Disaster has (overtaken those who refused to change and make adjustments in ac cordance with needs." Addressing the peanut growers di rectly. Mr. Evans said that they had the finest machinery for handling I the peanut program than for any other crop. It was quite apparent that the peanut farmer has much to gain with the program and that he has much to lose without it. Mr. Evans scored a major point for (Continued on page six) M \<;\Z1>KS A cull is being issued by the local Woman's Club for old max aiines and possibly other read BiijC material for distribution to the army hospital patients and library at t-'ort Bragg The local cluh building will be o|?en each morning Irom 9 a. m. to 12:00 n|iro\iiimli-l\ 2.1KKI \rpc? Of % Iturne.l Since Fir?l of Month purest fires, breaking ihi! in var lous parts ??f tin- chip it y during the past three weeks, have been defi nitely check first 'by a hard working ton st fire patrol and secondly by timely showers th.it started falling yesterday noon Official estimates are not yet available but preliminary reports would indicate that at least 2.000 acres of timherlaods were burned over and that the damage will run well into the thousands of dollars Since April ! tin- county Jo rest fire service headed by Warden Mar vin L.eggett has handled fifteen fires. Fourteen