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It was plain to see'that the wom
an was emotionally upset, as she
barged into Craven Superior court.
Her brown eyes were flashing an
ger, and her face, was flushed.
Downstairs, in the sheriff’s office,
she had all but exploded with in
dignation over the fact that she
was summoned for emergency jury
duty under what she considered
unsatisfactory circumstances.
A first degree murder trial was
in prospect, and a special venire
had been drawn. Her name happen
ed to be one of those pulled at ran
dom. She had been notified the
previous night, but contended that
she shouid have received an of
ficial notice in the mail.
Janice Williams, whose capable
work in the office is always punc
tuated by politeness and patience,
didn’t argue with the infuriated
lady. Waiting until she had con
cluded her impassioned condemna
tion of the way things are done in
North Carolina, compared with
New York, Janice exlpained that
she should make her coniplaint
upstairs to the presiding jurist,
Judge W. H. S. Burgwyn.
When her name was called in
the courtroom, she came to the
bar railing with the other summon
ed jurors. It was so obvious that
she -was angry, that Judge Burg
wyn singled her out and asked her
what was troubling her.
“I’ve served on a jury twice in
New York,’’ she told His Honor
curtly, “and I was mailed a notice.’’
Then she launched a denunciation
of the method used to notify her
in this instance, and made it clear
that she didn’t think it was proper,
or official.
Judge Burgwyn was surprisingly
gentle as he informed her that,
whatever her feelings, he expected
her to serve with the others. Then
he directed that the jurors be
sworn in. Everyone else put his or
her hand on the Bible for the
swearing in, but the still angry
woman made no move to do so.
“Place you hand on the Bible,”
the presiding jurist instructed her,
“so we can swear you in.” To which
the woman replied, with bitter sar
casm, “I don’t believe in the Bi-
bj^.” Judge Burgwyn scowled and
said, “You may be excused. Any
body who doesn’t believe in the
Bible ought not serve on a jury.”
The woman made no answer.
She wheeled about, and stomped
out of the courtroom. You could
have heard a pin drop, as her heels
clicked sharply and rapidly on the
floor. At the rear door she almost
had a collision with a man who
was entering.
That she showed contempt for
the court was apparent to all. In
all probability she wasn’t aware
that Judge Burgwyn, had he seen
fit, could have sent her to jail for
30 days for such contempt. And
no one, not even the Supreme
court, could have gone over his
head to get her out of there.
The writer is glad this unhappy
woman didn’t end up behind.bars.
We’re inclined to feel that a hu
man being devoid of religious faith
is in enough trouble already, with:
out being confined in a pokey. Ev
eryone, it seems to us, needs des
perately to believe in something,
and most of all in God.
One thing that the lady can say
is that she belongs to a very small
group. It may be, as she contended,
that New York is far superior to
North Carolina in its jury prac
tices, but there as here most every
body has something in common—
a belief in the Bible.
Protestants believe in it. Catho
lics believe in it, and Jews believe
in the Old Testament, along with
professing Christians. Many of us
don’t iive up to the teachings of
the Holy Book, but few of us
doubt its wisdom or its sacred
validity.
(Continued on Page 2)
The NEW BERN
Hr. & Urs.A. N.
2000 Arondfc.ll St.
Ilorchcs,! City, H. C.
CAROLINA
I
CLY
OF
H
5^ Per Copy
VOLUME 3
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1960
NUMBER 25
MIRRORING THE MAJORETTES — Pictured hure in all
their cuteness and confidendu are the New Bern High
School baton twirlers, who perform expertly at football
games played in'the local stadium and lead the high school
band when it makes a parade appearance. Left to right,
they are Head Majorette Mildred Gwaltney, Donna Jo Bell,
Martliahette PAte, Nancy Masters and Laurel Cox.—Photo
by John R. Baxter.
New Bern's Election Choice
Remains Very Much in Doubt
Most New Bernians, at this stage
of the Presidential campaign,
would be extremely hesitant about
betting on the chances of either
major candidate. They might make
predictions, and thousands are do
ing just that, but laying money on
the line to liack up those predic
tions is another mattfer.
In this respect, the average citi
zen in our town on the Neuse and
Trent is in the very same boat that
seasoned political prognosticators
find themselves in. Professional
and' amateur prophets alike agree
that the results of the election, if
held today, would be extremely
close.
So close, in fact, that the vari
ous national polls now being taken
are completely inconclusive, and
offer utterly nothing to enlighten
the public. Nationally it’s a hazy
picture to say the least, and the sit
uation in New Bern and the rest
of North Carolina is doing little to
clear it up.
Democratic leaders—cheerfully
optimistic on the outside—are be
having very much like the small
boy who loudly whistles a happy
tune while fearfully passing a
graveyard on a dark night. Repub
licans are boasting and claiming
with reckless abandon, but they
too are exhibiting a boundless opti
mism that somehow doesn’t ring
true.
Picking a horse, or to be more
specific, the donkey or the ele
phant in this one isn’t for the gamb
ler who prefers to wager on a sure
thing. The religious issue—and no
one can ignore its tremendous sig
nificance—has already erased par
ty lines. How complete this erasure
is on the local, state and national
levels is anybody’s guess.
It can be said with absolute cer
tainty that a large segment of New
Bern voters will vote for Richard
Nixon—not necessarily because of
a hankering to have him in the
White House—but rather because
John Kennedy’s religious faith
makes him an unsatisfactory Presi
dential candidate in the eyes of a
high percentage of the heavily
dominant Protestant population
here.
This, of course, comes as no sur
prise to Kennedy, to the Democra
tic party nor Catholics in New
Bern and elsewhere. His nomina
tion was a calculated risk, and if.
nothing else a tribute to the stature
of the man. All fair minded per
sons admit that he demonstrated
courage as a bonafide hero in
World War Two, and they concede
that his career in the United States
Senate has revealed wisdom, lead
ership and vision.
But for these factors, he could
never have achieved the Democra
tic nomination, his fantastic per
sonal wealth notwithstanding. An
abundance of available funds, in
his own right, didn’t hurt Kenne-
day’s chances in seeking the role
of Democratic standard bearer, but
to say he “bought” the nomination
is a mis-statement of fact.
Nixon, here and elsewhere in
the Old North State, is going to
get heavy anti-Kennedy support.
Or to put it bluntly and truthfully,
he will profit in large measure
from anti-Catholic support. This
too will be a powerful factor in
varying degrees throughout the na
tion.
Nowhere in New Bern have we
found pronounced affection and
enthusiasm for Nixon. Whatever
his qualifications may be to rate
election as President he lacks the
capacity to engender popularity
in these parts. Many local citi
zens feel a deep dislike for him—
few warm up to him in the manner
that they warmed to Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and
Dwight D. Eisenhower in Ike’s
earlier days as the nation’s Chief
Executive.
By the same token, it is also
true that Kennedy seems to lack
popular pppeal, even as Nixon. Lo
cally, his admirers far outnumber
Nixon’s, but the average New Bern-
ian doesn’t feel a closeness to him.
It’s the same political handicap
that hampered the scholarly and
brilliant Adlai Stevenson, and, in
the final ■ analysis probably kept
him from becoming President.
Like Roosevelt, Kennedy has a
social and cultural background
that few New Bernians and few
other Americans are privileged to
have. Unlike Roosevelt, he lacks
the God-given knack to do as Kip
ling wrote—“walk with kings, nor
lose the common touch.”
But for this weakness, Kennedy’s
chances of overcoming the political
handicap that his religion has in
jected would be greater in New
Bern and North Carolina. As it is,
he can be thankful that New Bern
ians feel an equal absence of
warmth for his opponent. Nixon
too is scholarly, and despite his
determined efforts to appear other
wise, has a stiff and stand-offish
manner. In some ways he puts one
to thinking of Thomas E. Dewey,
who lost a horde of votes, we be
lieve, when Harold Ickes implanted
in the public mind a picture of “the
little bridegrooni on a, wedding
cake.”
It is doubtful Kennedy ever real
ly believed that the reiigious issue
wouldn’t confront him in the
South. Here in New Bern, the Pro
testant clergy lost little time in
preaching about the matter from
the pulpit. And, it is merely stat
ing a fact to say the sermons, with
few exceptions, were well prepared
and effectively presented.
Whether they swayed the con
gregation that heard them to aban
don their usual practice of voting
Democratic remains to be seen. A
Protestant minister, or for that
matter a Catholic priest or a Jew
ish rabbi, woCIld be the first to ad
mit somewhat ruefully that a
flock doesn’t always follow the
paths suggested for it.
Ironically for Kennedy, and for
tunately for Nixon, the heated race
for governor that North Carolina
went through a few short months
ago is going to have a decided
bearing on the Presidential elec
tion at polling places from Manteo
to Murphy. This despite the fact
that the same issue injected in
that instance wasn’t religious but
racial.
Terry Sanford’s victory did noth
ing to subdue those who had op
posed him, and in some quarters
Terry hurt Kennedy’s chances in
the state when he quickly and em
phatically identified himself with
the Kennedy cause before the Dem
ocratic national convontion was
held.
(Continued on Pago 7)