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The Johnstonian-Sun
VOL. 25
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SELMA, N. C., THURSDAY,; MARCH 19, 1942.
Single Copy 5c
NUMBER 12.
SELMA MAN KILLED
IN PERFORMANCE
OF DUTY, SERVICE
Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Sullivan Re
ceive Telegram From Navy
Dept. Stating That Their Son
Was Killed In Perfiormance Of
His Duty.
The following telegTam was receiv
ed from the U. S. Navy Department
in Washington during the past week
end;
'“Joseph Herman Sullivan,
Route 1
Selma, N. C.
“The Navy Department deeply
regrets to inform you that your son,
Charles William Sullivan, ship’s cook
third class, U. S. Navy, is missing
following action in the performance
of his duty and in the service of his
country. The Department appreciates
your great anxiety and will furnish
you further information promptly
when received. To prevent possible
aid to our enemies please do not di
vulge the name of his ship or sta
tion.”
Surviving besides his parents are
the following brothers; Marvin, Dal-
mon, Thomas and Bobbie, all of Sel
ma Route 1. He was a nephew of Mr.
J. C. Avery, real estate dealer, of
Selma.
LEHER FROM SON
HELD HIGH HOPES
The following are a few para
graphs from the last letter Mr. and
Mrs. J. H. Sullivan received from
their son, Charles W. Sullivan, who
later lost his life while fighting for
his country. The letter was written on
November 29, 1941.
“I got your letter Friday, Novem
ber 28th, and am trying to answer it.
We came into Manila Friday for .the
first time in 4 weeks, and liberty was
fine last nite, and I hope to go over
again at 10 o’clock this morning for
we leave for the Navy yard Sunday,
November 30, to take on stores for
the nexit three months. The talk sure
has been hot for the Navy the last
few days and we are ready to start
shooting any time, anybody who steps
out of place. But I think they know
better than to fool with the U. S.
Navy for they could blow anybody
off the world in a very short time.
“But don’t worry about me for I
am O. K. and happy. Mama, I sure
was glad to get the picture of daddy.
Everybodoy that has seen it said it
looks just like me. When we were in
China we wore our blue uniforms.
Mama, I think I’ll send you and the
rest some money and let you get what
you want for lOhristmas because I
guess I’ll be at sea Christmas and I
won’t be able to buy anything, and it
costs so much to send it, so I hope
you will take it as you would some
thing I bought.
“I am going up for class about a
month but I don’t have any idea of
making it for it takes a lot of study
ing and I have a lot of work to do.
I am happy at what I got for I am
making more than I have ever made
in my life. I will send the picture to
you by mail before long. .
“Hope all the boys can go to school
and make good marks, for I wish I
had gone a while longer, I could use
it now. Tell Tom to finish school and
join the Navy, but to finish, school
first. Sure was glad to know that
Dalma is able to go to school and is
so much better. Hope he can finish
school and get him a job as office boy
somewhere.
“Well, I say I’m glad I’m in the
Navy and I hope you all are glad for
me to be in it for I am happy here,
but I think I’ll go out after 20 years
or so and take life easy. So please
don’t worry about me for I am O.K.”
R. A. Jones Resigns
As Member of Board
Argentina Keeps Her Powder Dry
A sturdy, tough army, biggest iit South America, shows that Argentina
is ready to back herseif up when her iwlicy of neutrality runs out. She
knows that the fact that she has not severed relations with the Axis will not
save her from being an Axis objective when the time comes. Here her
army is pictured in review. Notice the helmets, not much unlike German
helmets.
Easter Seals On Sale;
Help Crippled Children
At a meeting of the board of al
dermen of the town of Selma Tues
day evening, R. A. Jones, a member
of the board for the past several
years, tendered his resignation, which
was accepted quite reluctantly. Mr.
Jones has been called into service in
Uncle Sam’s Navy and is leaving the
first of next week.
R. E. Suber, a member of the board,
was appointed water and light com
missioner succeeding Mr. Jones.
The board went on record as favor
ing thei restoration of trains Nos. 13
and 14, on the Southern railway.
These trains were discontinued some
time ago, and since that time the
mail service to and from Selma from
East-West -directions has been rotten.
Mail buses come in at all times of
the day, and there is never any
certainty as to when to expect an im
portant letter or when one will start
on its way.
Uncle Sam has yet to find any bet
ter method of transporting mail than
the .train system.
From now until Saturday before
Easter everyone is asked to buy
Easter Seals in order that there may
be funds to help crippled children in
Johnston county. For the past two
years there has been no drive made
in Johnston county*1for this purpose,
although some children from John
ston county have been helped from
this fund.
According to W. T. Woodard, Jr.,
Superintendent of Public Welfare in
Johnston County, there are about 10.-
000 crippled children in North Caro
lina in need of medical attention.
Most of these children could not hope
to have the needed attention if it
were not for .th weork done by the
Vocational Rehabilitation Division,
and Crippled Children’s Division of
the State Board of Health, and the
fund raised by the campaign put on
each year for this purpose.
You might be interested in hear
ing a recording which Kay Kyser has
had made to help advertise the cam
paign. He has become vitally inter
ested in crippled children’s work and
has contributed liberally of his money
and time to help put it across. He
has made five recordings for .the
campaign, which may be heard over
the following stations;
Fayetteville - WFNC - every day at
convenience of station
Goldsboro - WGBR - 8;05 a. m. every
day of the week
Greenville - WGTC - 7;00 p. m. every
day of the week
Kinston - WFTC - 7;00 p. m. every
day of the week
Rocky Mount - WEED - every day
at convenience of station
Raleigh - WPTF - Sunday at 6;50
p. m.; Wednesday at 8;15 a. m.;
Friday at 1;30 p. m.
Last year the 4-H Club in one of
our eastern counties held a contest
to determine the girl with the best
physical development. Eighteen-year-
old Jane won the award of the judges.
A physician in the audience came
forward, had Jane to roll down her
hose and exhibit to the group of on
lookers two great scars on her shins.
Then he said to .those present; “Five
years ago this girl was suffering
from tuberculosis of the spine. I took
seven inches of bone from her shins,
grafted new bone to her vertebrae,
and today she wins the prize as the
best physical specimen in this coun-
.ty.”
Mrs. Richard (Dick) Lewis is the
chairman for Selma and she is ex
pected to have something of local in
terest along this line soon.
Chairmen for other sections are as
follows; Mrs. Ed Johnson, Benson, N.
C. ; Miss Margaret Strickland, Four
Oaks; Mr. J. F. Smith, Smithfield;
Mr. Noble Hinnant, Micro; Mrs. Nina
D. Fulghum, Kenly; Mrs. Atwood
Uzzle, Wilson’s Mills; Miss Grace
Aycock, Princeton; Mrs. D. J. Thurs
ton, Clayton; and Mr. Earl Funder
burk, Pine Level.
National Red Cross
Representative Here
Enthusiastic Meeting Held Here
Thursday Evening To Discuss
Advisability of Organizing
Red Cross Auxiliary In Selma.
Thursday evening a representative
group of Selma citizens met repre
sentatives from the National Red
Cross Society of Washington, D. C.,
.to consider the advisability of or
ganizing a branch auxiliary of the
Johnston County Red Cross here in
Selma.
SupL O. A. Tuttle was made chair
man and presided over the meeting.
He introduced Braxton Wilson of
Smithfield, head of the Disaster Com
mittee of the Johnston County Red
Cross, who, after pointing out the
great need for such organizations, in
these critical times, introduced Miss
Moses, national representative of .the
Red Cross. She prefaced her remarks
by saying that she was glad to see
the interest manifested by the Selma
group and that “Public Enemy No. 1
was Indifferent”. “It seems that our
people cannot realize that we are in
War and that the need for Red Cross
and First Aid workers may arise at
any moment. To ‘Be Prepared’ is the
least that we can do in .this national
emergency.”
Miss Moses outlined steps that
(Continued on page three
MINISTER DIES
DURING FUNERAL
Elder T. A. Stanfield, Uncle of
Walter L. Stanfield of Selma,
Collapses As He Conducts
Reidsville Funeral.
Reidsville, March 14.—Seventy-four
year-old Elder T. A. Stanfield com
pleted the final words of his eulogy
beside the bier of one of his church-
members this afternoon and collapsed
himself, dead.
Moderator of the County Line As
sociation and pastor of New Hope and
Pleasant Grove Churches near here,
Elder Stanfield was thought to have
been the victim of a heart attack.
He was conduoting the funeral of
Mrs. Bell Robinson of Reidsville.
Funeral rites will be held for the
Elder at Pleasant Grove Church
Monday afternoon at two o’clock, and
burial services will follow.
Born in Person County, Elder Stan
field came here in early manhood and
has had a long and prominent career
as a minister.
Surviving are his wife, the former
Miss Florence Mozies; four sons,
William of Sanatorium, Paul, Eldrid
and Eugene of Route one, Reidsville:
five daughters, Mrs. Carl Crutchfield
of Winston-Salem, Mrs. Allen Hopper
of Tarboro, Mrs. Scott Bennett of
Churchroads, “Firginia, and Mrs. Lou
ise and Frances Stanfield of the
home; and one mster, Mrs. W. S.
McKinney. \
HEAVY HAILSTORM
IN MEADOW SECTION
Mr. Wilbur E. Wiggs of Selma,
told the editor of The Johnstonian-
Sun Wednesday that on Tuesday af
ternoon he passed through the Pea
cock Cross Roads section of Meadow
township and .that one of the worst
hailstorms he had ever seen had just
visited that section, and that the
earth was still covered with ice late
in .the afternoon when he passed that
v.',a.y. Mr. Wiggs said he noticed that
there was a thick fog floating near
.the earth and that it appeared to be
covered with ice. To "make sure That
his eyes were not fooling him, he
said he stopped his car and got out
and gathered up a handfull of the
pellets which were about the size of
moth balls, he said. Mr. Wiggs said
the ground was littered with debris
which had fallen from the trees, eith
er by being beaten off by the hail or
by both hail and wind. He said the
path of the storm appeared to have
been about three miles in width.
Only 25 Per Cent Waste
Paper Is Being Salvaged
It is regrettable and serious that
so many of our people are burning
and wasting discarded paper, card
board boxes, cartons and corrugated
boxes. Prof. O. A. Tuttle states that
the school has been handicapped on
account of shortage of storage space
for collected papers. Ample space is
now available and a plea is now being
sent out to Every One to save all pa
pers, tie them in bundles. Press boxes
and cartons down flat and tie, then
store until called for. We must collect
and save paper and cardboard of all
kinds, else soon there will be nothing
in which to ship cans of food or shirts
or bullets to our soldier boys.
Former Slave Dies In
Johnston County At 106
One American steel company alone
has more steel capacity than all of
Germany.
CITY FATHERS
ARE COMMENDED
The town board has recently had
the dead grass burned off the vacant
lots in., town. These places were fire
hazards, besides being so unsightly.
One new airplane plant uses over
2,000 types of machine tools.
“Uncle” Doc Richardson, Negro
preacher who lived in the Coonsboro
section of Johnston county about five
miles north of Selma, died at his
humble cabin home Sunday night. at
the age of 106.
“Uncle” Doc, as he was known by
the white people of this part of the
county, was born on '.the Pharaoh
Richardson farm in Johnston county
where he was the slave of Pharaoh
Richardson prior to the Civil War.
In an interview with “Uncle” Doc
some time ago, the editor of The
Johnstonian-Sun was told tha.t the
Negroes were not permitted to have
newspapers and books to read during
slave time, but after the close of the
Civil War, his old master .taught him
to read and helped him to secure
reading matter. Prior to the war be
tween the States, he said that if a
Negro slave was caught "with reading
matter of any kind he was severely
whipped for it . He told us that he
was an ordained minister of the Af
rican Methodist Church and that he
preached .the Gospel for more than 75
years. He made a dilligent study of
the Bible, and after making several
trips as a journeyman preacher over
North Carolina from the mountains
to the sea, he said he learned to. speak
three different languages. He told us
that he was 30 years old at the close
of the .Civil War in 1866, which
would make him 106 when he died.
He said he could well remember when
Investisation Is Begun
Into Johnston Tragedy
On Way Out
This picture is typical of what is
happening throughout California,
where alien Japanese are being
evacuated by the government to
prevent sabotage and aid to the
enemy. Photo shows a San Fran
cisco resident hanging out “evacu
ation sign.’’—Soundphoto.
Coroner’s Jury Hears Several
Eye-Witnesses To Explosion
Give Testimony On Different
Angles of County’s Greatest
Tragedy.
Additional Supplies
Of Burlap Bagging
Are Made Available
Additional supplies of burlap bags
for bagging seed potatoes, peanut
seed, and wool have been made avail
able for North Carolina farmers by
the War Production Board, according
to G. Tom Scott, Chairman of the
North Carolina USDA War Board.
Chairman Scott said the original
order for burlap bags for peanut seed
and seed potatoes was short of needs
and that additional amounts have been
made available. Farmers and shippers
requiring bags, he said, should con
tact their normal suppliers of these
items.
The amendment to .the Burlap Con
servation Order, M-47, provides that
those wishing to obtain burlap bags
for the purposes covered in the
amendment provide the bag manu
facturer with .the following form:
‘"Ijhe undersigned hereby certifies
to his vendor and to the War Produc
tion Board, that the agricultural bags
covered by the annexed purchase ord
er are needed for packing and ship
ping of (insert here, wool, seed pota-
.toes, or peanut seed as the case may
be), and that they are needed by him
for such use by him or for distribu
tion to others for use by them; that
to the best of the undersigned’s'
knowledge and belief, such bags will
be so used within the next thirty days
after (insert date receipt of the bags
is required). The undersigned fur
ther certifies that the amount of
agricultural bags covered by the an
nexed purchase order, together with
all such bags, new and second
hand, now being held by the under
signed or now scheduled to be receiv
ed by the undersigned on or before
the delivery date specified in the an
nexed purchase order, will not be in
'excess of the amount required by
him for use in the said thirty-day
period.
“The undersigned further certifies
that all reasonable efforts have been
made by the undersigned to obtain
and use some o.ther form of packag
ing but have not been successful.”
Smithfield, March 17.—Formal in
vestigation regarding the disastrous
explosion near Selma on the morning
of March 7, causing the death of sev
en people and the destruction of thou
sands of dollars worth of property,
was begun by Johnston .County Coro
ner E. N. Booker of Selma Tuesday
afternoon when a number of witness
es w'ere examined before a jury, com
posed of H. B. Marrow of Smithfield,
Jack Wooten of Princeton, J. N.
Wiggs and M. L. Stancil of Selma,
G. I. Ford of Smithfield, and John 0.
Ellington of Smithfield.
The investigation will continue
Friday morning when Coroner Booker
and the jury will meet at 10 o’clock
at the Johnston County Hospital to
hear the testimony of Raymond Av
ery, driver of the truck loaded with
munitions that exploded, and Mr.
Lewis, who was in the car that alleg
edly caused .the wreck and resulting
explosion.
Among those examined today was
Harry Whitley of Selma, yard clerk
of the Southern Railway, who told of
being in his room at the Talton Hotel,
of hearing a woman scream and see
ing Mrs. Lewis sitting down, as peo
ple tore away her burning garments,
He said he ran back and got a
blanket to be thrown around her to
extinguish the flames and then call
ed the fire department. He said he
heard her say that she was driving
the car.
Both vehicles were .then on fire and
the children had not been taken from
the car. He told of hearing an explo
sion inside the truck that sounded
like a “22 rifle going off,” before the
big explosion.
‘Patrolman H.-C.' Bobbitt, who was
next examined, said he got there
around 1:15 and found the truck,
trailer and automobile in flames. He
explained the locations of both vehi
cles, as to the highways and the ho
tel and what part of each had been in
collision -with .the other. He said that
flares were put on all three approach
es to the burning truck and men were
stationed to warn traffic of the dan
ger and said people were told that if
•they passed they did so at their own
risk.
Bobbitt said the driver of the truck
told him that he knew it was ammu
nition, but did not know what kind,
and apparently he did not realize the
danger, said Bobbitt.
In questioning Bobbitt, Attorney
L. H. Wallace called attention to the
fact .that there are a number of road
(Continued on page three)
Seen and Heard Along
THE MAINDRAG
==By H. H. L.
“UNCLE” POC RICHARDSON
a pond of water stood where the main
Americans Chamoion
Chopper Entertains
Peter McLaren, America’s champi
on chopper, entertained a number of
our citizens today (Thursday) at 2
o’clock, when he chopped through a
black gum log in exactly one minute
and .twenty seconds. The log measur
ed three feet and two inches in cir
cumference and 11 and a a half inch
es in diameter. The demonstration
was under the sponsorship of Messrs.
Floyd C. Price & Son and took place
in the rear of their store.
The champion demonstrated that
the blade of the Plumb axe, which he
used, cuts fast and clean, and does
not bind in the wood. It- holds its ra
zor edge and the balance of the
Plumb axe makes it “fall” .true and
hard.
He challenged the Mayor of Selma,
I Mr. Barnie A. Henry, offering $50 in
cash if he failed to cut through the
log in one-third the time it took the _ _
Mayor, but His Honor declined to en-1 who is in the army has been sent to
iter the contest. I Fort Crowder, Missouri.
JAY BATTEN, for a number of
years linotype operator for The
Johnstonian-Sun, sent us this week a
copy of “The Daily Argosy,” a news
paper published in Georgetown, De-
merara, British Guiana — the front
page is composed entirely of adver
tisements, the second and third pages
of legal advertising — flour is quot
ed in the paper at 28c per pound;
grade A milk 4c per pint; chickens,
young and juicy, 23c per pound, and
fresh eggs, 28c per pound — kite
flying is not allowed on any “public
way” in Georgetown—any one con
victed will be fined $25—thanks, JAY,
for the paper — SOPHIA HINTON,
well known “colored lady” of Selma,
says on the morning of the explosion,
when her doors flew open, her win
dows blew out, and her chimney fell
down, she jumped from bed and look
ing toward her store located nearby,
she saw the door open — “I said to
myself,” reported SOPHIA, “that was
a mean man to drop a bomb on my
house, when I’ve never done any
thing .to him.” “I was satisfied that
I heard a plane fly over my house,”'
she told us — DR. BOOKER took us
over to his farm in Cleveland town
ship yesterday — the doctor, who is
one of Johnston county’s biggest
fal-mers, has 100 or more acres of the
prettiest wheat this writer has ever
seen — and, talking about hogs, there
were plenty of those, too — another
fine farm is that of Johnston Coun
ty’s sheriff, KIRBY ROSE, adjoining
the Booker farm — no section of
Johnston has prettier farms or farm
houses than Cleveland — while pass
ing through the State of Mississippi
the day of the explosion, JAMES P.
TEMPLE, JR., bought an afternoon
paper to see what GEN. McARTHUR
was doing, and lo, and behold, on the
front page in big lines he read “Big
Explosion Near Selma, N. C.” — he
immediately wrote his parents ask-
ling for more information — JAMES