Newspapers / The Daily Advance (Elizabeth … / March 20, 1924, edition 1 / Page 1
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********* * THE WEATHER * * Rain tonight. Fair Fri - * * day. Increasing South - * * east u-inds, shifting to Y' * westerly Friday. * * *"* *"* * * * VOL. XIV. FINAL EDITION. ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA, JONES CASE NOW WITH THE JURY Argument Completed Fore-1 110011 Session Thursday and Jury Retired Following! Charge iu Afternoon. The fate of Alex E. Jones as this newspaper goes to press is with a Pasquotank Jury. Argument In the case was com-: pleted at the close of the forenoon > session of court which adjourned < for dinner at 1 o'clock Thursday, and the judge began his charge to, the Jury promptly at 2 o'clock at the ?opening of the afternoon session.* The Jury took the case at 2:351 o'clock. Representing the defendant in ' this case is the law firm of Ayd-j lett & Simpson. W. L. Cohoon, and I W. I. Halstead of South Mills. Th* prosecution is represented by Ehringhaus.& Hall as private coun-j sel. Argument began Wednesday af ternoon at five o'clock and, as court did* not adjourn until about 7. some thing like five hours was taken up with the speech making. The trial of A. E. Jones, promln-' ent and well-to-do Newland farmer. . the brother-in-law of D. E. Williams, ' wealthy contractor an| lumberman of South Mills, was begun in Supe rior Court here Wednesday mornin< and the evidence was all in by five o'clock the same afternoon. Seldom In the Superior Court of Pasquotank County has a case against a defend-' ant charged with so serious a crime and repn Noted by HO able an array of counsel moved forward so smooth ly and with so little delay. But Judge Devin has kept the wheels of Justice turning and brooked no need less dallying, and Wednesday after noon's session of court did not ad journ until well on toward seven o'clock. That Alfred Ferebee. negro of good character and standing both Among his own people and among the white people of his section of the County, was lilt a terrific blow dealt by the defendant with a hea\y spiked club can hardly be ques tioned. Mr. Jones himself admits that he clubbe i the negro and l**ft hint lying near the bridge leading, from the Jones premises to the Stale 1 highway. Cut Jones claims that lie1 acted in self defense, and the fact that the negro was apparently not struck from behind but from in front Is in the defendant's favor. A post mortem examination left hardly room for a reasonable doubt that the blunt instrument which did Alfred FereVe to his death hit the negro squarely over the left eye. There the skull was crushed In, a triangular or V-shaped section of tho bone being driven back Into the brain. From this triangular depres sion extended two linear fractures, one ranging upward and back to n point on the crown almost perpendi cular to a line from ear to ear, the other ranging downward and back along the floor or base of the skull to a point below the end of the frac ture on the crown of the head. It was to the fracture along the floor or base of the skull. In the opinion of Dr. William A. Peters, who had the negro brought to the Elizabeth City hospital, that death was due. "One thing, nobody saw It," Alex Jones with an oath told Shorlff Held when the sheriff went to the Jones home to arrest the defendant, ac cording to the sheriff's own testi mony. And It seems that Mr. Jon?is was right about it. Not a witness for State or defense has been pro duced who testified that he saw the blow struck. There is, then, no di rect rebuttal of Jones' story of what ' happened. He declares that Fere- , bee was impudent and cursed him, that he ordered the negro off, that the negro would start off but th?-n turn back and begin mouthing again and that on his premises but be tween his fence and the State high way Ferebee finally turned and curfc ing him said that he would cut the KUts out of him before he left and that then. In fear of bodily harm nt t the negro's lianas, ho picked up a club and knocked him in the head. For corroboration of the story. Jones lias only the testimony of his wife, who admits that when Ferebee was struck down she was In the house. On the stand she told. In substance, tho same story as her hus band about Ferebee's coming to the house In the evening for money for himself and for Ned Moore, the ne yro helper whom he had hired. Sli^ itave Alfred the money, she said. Just as her husband came out of the dining room Into the porch Mr Jones then told Alfred that with the days getting so short and with such Wftges as he was getting he ouuht to $et down earlier and work later, and that he ought not to leave even Inus without feeding up. "Abble," said Mrs. Jones, refer ring to Alfred, who had been a ser vant to her family for 20 years or more, "cursed and swore that he would never feed up foi Mr. Jones, that he would quit first, and Mr. Jones told him to go ahead and quit, that he could get on without hlrn. Then Abble sasscd him, and Mr. Jones ordered him off. and Abbl-? said he would go when he got re?dy ? that he was at this house before Mr. Jones was. I went out In the yard then and told Abble to leave, and he said that he would, and started off. I thought he was gone and the troubU was over, and I went back Into the house. Then one of I CHINA TELLS SOVIET MINISTER TO LEAVE London. March 20. ? The Chinese government yesterday ordered the Soviet minister to China to leave Peking ' at once, according to dis patches received here, because of de mands on China by Russia for rec ognition. The situation is said to serious. FORMER TRAIN* KOIlltKIt HAS IlKKX SUBPOENAED Washington. March 20. ? A1 Jen nings. once famous train robber of Oklahoma, is to be summoned by the oil committee. In announcing the subpoena today Senator Walsh said he would b-i questioned in connection with the rumor that Jake Hamon, former Re publican National Committeeman from Oklahoma, undertook to put through "an oil deal" at the Chica go convention in 1920. the time hy LAWYER'S BRIEF CASK Did you notice the courthouse bell clanging lustily one morning this week at half past eight o'clock in stead of an hour later? If you didn't you missed the best joke of the week's term of Superior Court. While cleaning up the courthouse the other morning. the custodian glanced out the window and saw J. Kenyon Wilson with his brief case in his hand hurrying to the court house, as if desperately afraid that he would be late. "By Ned! I'm an hour behind time" he thought, glancing at his watch. In haste, then, he rushed to the bell rope and began to pull fran tically. And every lawyer In town pricked up his ears. "What are you open ing court an hour earlier for?" somebody asked Judge Devin. "Hut I'm not," said the Judge. Investigation followed and nobo dy enjoyed the joke more than Judge Devln himself. McADOO GETS GEORGIA Atlanta, March 20 ? Returns to day in the Presidential primary of Wednesday indicate that McAdoo swept Georgia defeating Underwood by a large majority. IMIOHK SAI.K OF AltMS Wash In ton, March 20. ? A reso lution calling upon Secretary Work for full Information regarding: tin* sale of arniH to Mexico was today adopted by the Senate. the children told me that they were; together again and when I went' out In the yard Abble was lying on the | ground. I told Mr. /ones not to hit him any more and he paid he would-! n't and went on In the house. i asked Abbie if be was hurt, but he wouldn't answer. I asked him if ho' could walk, and he got to his feet, picked up his hat and walked off to ward home. The moon was rlnin??. but we were in the shadow, and I couldn't see that he was bleeding." Mrs. Jones says that at the spot I where he fell Alfred was nearer th?? house than when she went back In to the house after telling the negro to go on home. The missing link in the eyfdenc.jj of the defense is the knife Jones d*?- , Clares that Ferebee had in his hands 1 when he struck the negro. The knife j was never heard of until Jones went . on the stand Wednesday morning. It was not produced in court. And yet. as It was dark when the difficulty occurred, the negro, of course, might as easily have picked up his pocket knife as he did 1.1s Jap. Hut there was no evidence that he did so. Ho far as evidence for prosecution or defense went. Jones was the on'y j man who ever saw the knife, though two negroes, as well as Mrs. Jones, ! saw Ferebee as he lay prone after the bludgeoning he had received. Mrs. Jones, who was the only wit ness to Ferebee's getting up and walking off. testified that the negro j picked up nothing but his cup. Not onl> Is the knife which the defendant declares that Alfred Fer ebee had in his hands when he club bed the negro missing, but nlso the club used by Jones could not be brought into court. The testimony of Deputy Sheriff Prltchard In this connection l?* Intejestlng: "I told Sheriff field," said Mr. Prltchard. "when we went to the Jones' home to arrest him on the murder charge, that Solicitor Small wanted the club. The Sheriff asked Jones If he could get it. Mr. Jones made two step* toward a door thnt I took to be a closet door, then stopped, and said that he couldn't get It. that he didn't know what became of It." Sheriff Held testified to the same circum stances. ? Counsel for the State in the nrtsu ment emphasized the facts that the defendant failed to call attention to the knife while there were witness es that Ferebee hud been struck down and thst the club seemed to have been made way with. As already intimated, however, the Sthte could offer no direct rebut tal of the defendant's testimony, but had to rely largely upon circum stance. Alfred Ferebee's lips sr** sealed. He walked home and In geml dellrlum he got out of his bed on one occasion at th<? F.ll^abeth CI'v hospital and walked about. In the esrller part of his stay at the hos pital he would answer In a fashion if he were questioned, but his an i (Continued on Page Fire) DISTRICT DOCTORS ! IN MEETING HERE Clinic at Community Hospi tal in Afternoon, Banquet and Business Sessions in Ev ening at Hotel. The Medical Society of the First District will hold its annual meet ing and banquet at the Southern Ho tel this evening at seven, with Dr. H. M. S. Cason, president of the so ciety. presiding. Reports on cases will be heard and papers will be read. followed by a round table discussion and the ; election of officers for the coming j year. The present officers are: Dr. H. M. S. Cason of Edenton. president; j Dr. M. P. Whichard of Edenton, se cretary; and Dr. H. D. Walker of Elizabeth City, councilor. The Medical Society of the First >. District includes in its membership, physicians from Pasquolank, Cam-; den, Perquimans, Currituck. Cho wan, Gates, Dare, Washington. Ty-j rell, and Hyde. The 1923 meeting! was held in Edenton. Thursday afternoon at the Com munity Hospital the doctors held a clinic. JUDGE DISMISSES UTILITIES ACTION The action brought by the utlll-i ties companies to restrain the city j from erecting its own plants was dismissed late Tuesday afternoon by j Judge W. A. Devin. The utilities will appeal to the j state Supreme Court. Tuesday's victory follows close up-J on the heels of that of March 10 when at Richmond the United States ' Circuit Court of Appeals handed | down it's opinion in Elizabeth City's j favor. AMUSEMENT PAKKOIl TO OPEN. Pill DAY EVENING R. J. Colioon. proprietor of the ' Cut Rate Drug Store on Parsonage street, has added a second story to : his building and will. open an amuse- i ment parlor there Friday evening. The room is large and airy, with new, clean walls, fixtures, and fur nishings. It is well lighted and will be prettily decorated with potted j plants and flowers for the opening ; evening. COTTON MARKET Xew York. March 20 ? Cotton fti- ' tures opened this morning at the following levels: May 29.05; July | 28.30; October 25.70; December' 25.38. New York. March 20. ? -Cotton fu tures at two o'clock stood at the fol- I lowing levels: March SK.f.f?, May 28. S3, Jul/ 28.25, Oct. 25.68, Dec. 25.41. Messages Tell Of Suffocation Twenty Six Meet Horrible Death In Submarine, Other Barely Alive (By The AttoclaUd Pr*i?) Toklo, March 20. ? Graphic de scriptions of the emotions of 18 men facinu slow death from suffocation are being received TieYe by under water telephone from members of the trapped crew within a Japanese submarine retting on the sea bottom] off Sasebo harbor, according to dis patches to the navy office here. Through the underwater tele phone it was determined that 24 men and two .officers perished wher the forward compartment was flood ed as the result of the collision yes terday with the warship Tat ust a. Ten divers are working to release the 18 men still alive. KtN'KIUL .Ml IS. FltlTCIIAltD The funeral of Mrs. Thomas] P rite hard was conducted Thurs day afternoon at 3 o'clock at the home by Rev. R. F. Hall and inter ment made in the Martin Pritchard burying ground. Mrs. Pritchard died about 3 o'clock Wednesday afternoon at her home on Route Five about two miles 1 from the city, after being in failing I health for some time though she had been confined to her bed for only the last week. She was 51 years old and is survived by her hus band. six children, Mrs. Dorsey Relf of Route Three. Misses Sarah and Lessie Pritchard. Willis. Earle and Orady Pritchard of Route Five; one sister, Mrs. Geneva Pritchard of Route Five. -and four grandchildren. PATRICK CASK TltlKl> IN LOW Kit COt'ltT Till' US DAY Calvin Patrick, charged with as sault on Officer Harris and with ob structing an officer in the discharge of his duty, and Charlie Patrick, charged with having liquor in his possession for the purpose of sale, were given a jury trial in recorder's court Thursday. The arrests were made Sunday. The ease took up all 1 of Thursday morning and the jury failed to agree. A new Jury will be 'drawn and the new trial is scheduled 'for 'next Wednesday. WILBUR SWORN IN SECRETARY OF NAVY Sun Francisco, Mar. 20 ? Curtis D. Wilbur was sworn in yesterday as Secretary of the Navy and will im mediately leave for Washington. WILL SPKKI) I P Washington. March 20. ? Cool Idge's announced drive to speed up the legislative program will begin to I morrow when Republican House leaders will be his guests at a White House dinner. A conference of Sen ate leaders will be summoned later. Boy Condemned To Hang May Go Completely Free Trinl Kilfcheil Through in Atmosphere of l\Ioh Violence Without Taking Time to InvcMtigute Age Itenills in Sentence Which (Ian Not Legally he (lurried Out lty L C. OWEN CBcyrlght. 1924, by Th? Atfvinri San Rafael, Calif., March 20. ? I Sometimes the law in its over-zeal- j ousness lo 1*11 Ti ish completely over- i steps and nullifies Itself. Also It in ' the constitutional right of every man that he shall not be put twice In Jeopardy for the same offense. The two facts working in strange legal liaison may shortly serve to snatch youthful William Alexander Hard, convicted 1 7 -year-old murder-' er, from the gallow s brink in San Quentln prison here. At the same time and In the same legal p roc esse they also may Open wide to him pris on gates and turn him loose com pletely beyond the reach of the law for a crime In which he admittedly partlcipated. Able attorney hen unite in declaring the cas?? without prccedeht In American legal annais. ! l^ist October, young Hard with a companion. Ronald Krno, 24, mur-l dered Fred SUoen, a young rancher near Yreka, Siskiyou County. They fled In their victim's automobile but j were captured and brought hack to the scene of their crime. Feeling ran high and there was danger of mob violence. Their trial, held in Yreka, was quickly over and the Jury's verdict assuaged public Indig nation. Doth youths were sentenced to hang. In the course of. the trial, how ever, attorneys for young Hard at tempted to present evidence that lie was only 17 ye.ns of age. There in, ;i California law which forbids th ? hanging of any person under 1^ years of age. The only evidence they were able to obtain for the hurried trial was a family Bible showing in [fading ink the date of the youthful prisoner's birth. The court refused to accept the Bible as evidence, or to delay the trial while other proofs were sought. The Jury's verdict was , "guilty" with recommendation of the death penalty. In tho same hurried procegges of tho law, young Hard wan si'Dt?iU!< 'l to death. He l? now in the- death house of tho prison hen- with tho date of hla hanging set for May 2'.i. It Ih legally Impossible, however, that he be hanged. Since the time he was sentenced to death, hi* attorneys and >i Ih moth er have come forward with un'jues tlonable proofs that In- lr< only 17 y?ri of age; that at the time h?> par ticipated In th?- Siskiyou murder he was only lf>. The atate law regard ing hanging Is plain and specific, and the warden of the prison cannot car ry out the death sentence without himself becoming amenable to a prison term. Ordinarily, the solution of the case would he the commuting of the di-ath sentence to life Imprisonment. 1 I iut It Is In this phase of the case that the strange complexities of the law Insert themselves. Attorneys for the convicted youth refuse to accept a commutation of senter.ee. They point out that he has been sentenced to ban; not to life Imprisonment ? and that tin state must either hang him In viola tion of itif own law. or turn him looae. At the same time they refuge to appeal from the Siskiyou court's judgment, thereby Insuring a new trial, on the grounds that, having "once been In Jeopardy," It would be illegal to try the youth again. Meantime, the 17-year-old slayer awaits in the prison death house here the date set for his execution that Is forbidden by law. With tho date of the death sentence passed an** the youth not hanged, It In sa'd that his attorneys will seek a writ of habeas corpus demanding that he be freed, because the state has not carried out the sentence Imposed up on him. President Coolidge Will Probably Sign Bonus Bill If Senate Passes House Measure Without Material Change So Different Is Bill from That at First Contemplated That It's Believed Coolidge Will Not Veto It nv DAVID UAWRENCE <C??yrlaftt. 1924, By Th. A?vanc?> Washington, March 19. ? President Coolidge probably will sign the endowment policy insurance bill just passed by the House for the' benefit of soldiers and sailors who participated in the European war, provided the Senate does not materially alter the measure. The President was opposed to j a bill that the Government] could not afford and he particu-i larly expressed his antipathy, toward the payment of funds to the able-bodied. The new bill in large part takes care of the veterans when they are ap proaching old a ge or- when they i are in acute need. It is a bill to relieve possible distress and not a measure that will permit th? ex-service man to fritter awav, 'the funds given them as argued] by the opponents of a large cash ! outlay. The principle of the Insurance I bill is ho different from previous! 'measures passed* by Congress and ve toed by the executive t li :t t Mr. Cool-' jidgc can consistently sign it. Thci | American Legion favors the bill. The total cost to the Government la! 'slightly more than two billion dol lars spread over a period 01 20 years and the annual appropriations are already available because Congress has been authorizing about $100. 000,000 for vocational training an 1 that comes to an end shortly. So the existing budget contains the funds, the total cost is not conjectural as has heretofore been the case, X7 per cent of the ex-service men will be alive to enjoy the benefits of the in surance according to the estimates | of insurance experts who have been ? able in (be past to figure out mor tality tallies, and the families of those veterans who luive died since | the war will immediately get the benefit of the insurance payments. The reason why (lie new measure will not make a serious financial burden Is the introduction of the sinking fund. In other words the maximum annual appropriation will I be $1 1 0.R3f>,5ft4 while the minimum outlay for any one year will be $f?0, 835. DM0. Such sums as that when set aside nnnuaV.y grow larger and larger because the Interest on th sutus Invested constantly Increases. The idea Is absolutely sound be cause it has been demonstrated in the case of private Insurance com panies who Invest the premiums paid by individuals, and yet the number of persons who die annually Is not equal to the number who carry In surance. The law of probability and mortality takes care of the Insurance company Just as surely as It will lake care of the Government's sink ing fund. The Government will give the Vet era.) the opportunity that private in Su ranee companies give to borrow on an Insurance policy when In need, i No loan can exceed 90 per cent of the reserve value of the policy for | the current year of the certificate or i 60 per cent of the face value at any 'time. The veteran who borrows on his Insurance certificate at the bank and fails to pay the amount back t'* the bank will find it expensive to recover the full value of the policy when he conies to redeem It. The banks will be privileged to go to the Veterans' Durcsu In ease of default and receive the amount they hav ? loaned to the veteran with the accu mulated interest; but when the vet eran tries to redeem a defaulted cer tificate he will have to pay six p? r cent Interest compounded annually. This was arranged so ns to discour age veterans from borrowing on their certificates and falling to pay up. The dumber of defaulted certi ficates will not be large, accordln ; to the estimate:* thus far made, and the Veterans* llurcau will be abb to take rare of the defaulted ease* out of the sinking fund provided. Indeed, the whole plan is work'd out so conservatively that the Gov ernment may find In a few years that the amount appropriated an nually can be cut down, for the pur pose of the fund Is not to make a profit but to fake care of the needs of the veterans. The bill provides: First, the payment In cash of the adjusted service credit to those vet-: erans to whom $f?0 or less Is due. The basis of the credit is $1 per day for each day of servlec on this side of the Atlantic and $1.25 per day for overseas service. So few men were in the service &0 days or less that the fBTlflce involved was con sidered relatively small and the cash amounts In the aggregate will not total very much. S cand, the dependent relatives of the veterans who have died will be paid Immediately the full amount of tho Insurance policy to which the veteran's length of service would have entitled him based, of course, od a SO ysar paid up endowment MEEK1NS CHOICE OF REPUBLICANS ('(invention Nutnrtt Hint for Gulicrnutoriul Candidacy and Drlegale-at-Largr ? In tilruclti l!onli(l|(e Dialr|;atni. RaU-iuli. March 20 ? I. M. Meek lns of KllzuWftli City was Wednesday nominated Republican candidate for , Governor by acclamation. He was al3o named one of the J four delegates nt largo to the Re ! publican Convention at Cleveland, j The others are David W. Blair, John J. Parker, and W. B. Bramham. I Parker was also named as National I Committeeman from the State. A I full ticket was named for Stato l offices. The convention instructed its del egates for Coolidge at the National Convention. OR. ELIOT REACHES NINETIETH MILEPOST ! Cambridge, Mass., March 20. ? Harvard alumni from all parts of i the country, and representative Am ericans not of Harvard tradition, as sembled here today to celebrate the ninetieth birthday of Dr. Charles William Eliot, president emeritus, and for more than -10 years head of Harvard X'nlverslty. An honorary [ committee of citizens with President Coolidge as chairman Joined with . the Harvard Alumni Association and j the Associated Harvard clubs In pre paring honors for the venerable ed ! ucator. PIIIOIIITV roil BO NTS Washington, March 20. ? The pre diction that (lie bonus will be given 1 priority In the Senate flnan?<i com rmlttee over Oie tax measure wan i made today by Waltson, Indiana Re publican member of the committee. STORM WAItMNO A storm warning was sent out Thursday morning from the Weath er Bureau at Washington stating that the storm is extending from the Virginia Capes southward to Jupiter Inlet, Florida, with a disturbance of Increasing Intensity central over Louisiana, moving northeastward with Increasing east and southeast winds, thick weather and rain. policy. The age of the veteran, of course, is a factor In determining tho amount o / Insurance to which he would be entitled. Third, the credit In no case ex ceeds $500 for home service and $?25 for overseas duty. The veter an receives the equivalent of a 20 year paid up insurance policy for the amount of Ills service credit plus 25 per cent and with interest com pounded annually at 4 per cent. If a veteran therefore Is entitled to $500, tho face of his policy would be Increased by 25 per cent to $t52G and that sum compounded at Inter est of 4 per cent for 20 years con stitutes the amount of money ho would receive at the end of that pe riod. If he dies before the 20 yearn, his family receives the full amount the veteran would have received if he had lived through the 20-year pe riod. Fourth, the veteran has the privl lei, * of borrowing money on his In surance certificate and the Govern ment will Indicate on the certificate tho amounts that cau be borrowed at any one time. More money can be borrowed ns the policy apmoach es the end of th$ 20-year period than at the b? ginning, for the policy will be worth more as it near maturity. Fifth, security must be given for loans made and no borrowing Is per mitted until two years after the pass age of the bill. Provision Is made to prevent these loans from becoming "frozen assets" at the banks. The House Ways and Means Com mittee estimated that the average amount of compensation for thoso who nerved over 110 days (the max imum service being 560 days) would be about *3*2. About $14, 79!), 470 would be payable to those now liv ing. About $50,000,000 would take care of the ctalms of families In which veterans have died since the war and prior to January 1, 1924, Some of the cash payments may be made during this year but. owing to the labor Involved In setting up the machinery of administration, tho war department doesn't think it will be able to Issue certificates or make payments before next January.
The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
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March 20, 1924, edition 1
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