Newspapers / Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids, … / April 10, 1930, edition 1 / Page 1
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[ssnfflmsamHinHn=n::Hmin'S5=aH=55S~:u5K:n:5n;nais=U5nu=sHs:=u5«jmH:Hn5isn ^P BP BP BP®®^ A BP siHsssm-jnrj-SHinns-s^nissnsnnissasnnsns^-ni-iSinnHsmaiEUiES^a THE GREATER CITY | I LJ L LJ M IJ /V III NO ROOM FOR 15,000 POPULATION | f J[ JL lLjl\iV Mm4MS I KNOCKERS NOW!— j ..> IN *93.4!.-J OF THE TWIN CITIES-ROAN OKE RAPIDS-ROSEMARY I_—-J VOLUME 15.___ROANOKE RAPIDS-ROSEMARY. N. C. THURSDAY. APRIL 10th. 1930. NUMBER 52. OFFICERS CAPTURE ERNEST SHEARIN AND ROY JOHNSON MONTH’S SEARCH IS FINISHED Sherain Faces Half Doz en Charges; Johnson is Hospital Fugitive Ernest Shearin, who has elud ed Halifax County officers for a long time, facing a half dozen or so charges, bond skipper twice, and Roy Johnson, notorious for his Houdini escapte from- the Roanoke Rapids Hospital, leg in cast, one month ago, were both captured by Halifax and Pasquo tank County officers early last Friday morning. While the frogs croaked on the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp some six miles from Elizabeth City, Shearin and Johnson were asleep in a two story frame house which one of them had rented, ignorant of the fact the law’s net was closing in on them as Chief Gray and Police L. E. Keeter of Roanoke Rapids, Sher iff Johnson of Halifax county,j Sheriff Cows wall of Pasquotan County and two deputy sheriff j from that county, closed in on their hiding place. Front and tog hung thick over the Swamp in tha first gray gleam of tha cold morning light as the officers surrounded the house. While Sheriff Johnson and the Pasquotank depu ties guarded the doors and windows patsldewphk g%*y, Renter end Sher iff Cornwall aitked down the front d oor and entered the bouse. There was no one on tl e first floor. Upstairs ttiey kicked in the door of the first room anti when they "J heard Shearin yell out in a second room. He hit the floor, gun in hand. The officers battered in the door to hia room and ordered him to come out. “I will kill any man whs comes in this room,'7 Shearin suid, accord ing to the officers. The Sheriff re plied tha the might kill one of them but not all and someone would get him. Chief Gray told him to start shooting quick and get it over with. After more conversation, Shear!' agreed to surrender. He passed out his gun, a wicked looking 45, and came out of the room with his hands up. He was handcuffed to Chief Gray. In the meantime, Sheriff Johnson and the other officers had entered the room and arrested Johnson, who was unable to walk although h'e had dis carded the cast from, his injured leg. Dorothy Faison and Marie Ham mill were in the house with the two men and were als oarrested. The Ham mill woman was turned over to the Sheriff of Pasquotank while the Fai son woman was brought back here. She is in jail under a $200 bond to await Superior court. The two men are in jail at Halifax and no bond has been named. They will be given a' preliminary hearing next week. Aitnougn i-uc rants for Johnson and the Faison wo man, their capture came as a surprise. They had information that Shearin, for whom a capias had been issued, was in the neighborhood, but did not know the other two were there.. I-ast week, Chief Gray and Virginia of ficers had missed capturing them by fifteen minules near Alberta, Va., and lost the trail near Franklin. One of the three persons who tool: Johnson out of the second story hos pital window is in jail at Emporia* He is Vance Vassell, who will be tried at Emporia today on another charge and then turned over to Chief Gray to be brought to this county. Another man and woman assisted Vassell and the officers hope to find out who they were soon. According to information the officers now have, the three persons entered the hospital via a ladder in the early hours of the morning of the escape, bundled John son, cast leg and all- to the window, where he was carried down on the back of one of the men. They sped in a waiting auto to Virginia and for three weeks stayed with relatives and ' friends in different parts of the State. (Continued on back page) SEND FIRE FIGHTERS TO SCHOOL Citizens Donate to Fund to Send Five Members To Wilmington The Fire Department members ai: feeling pretty good over the response shown by Twin City citizens to their request for funds to send five mem bers of the Department to the four day State Firemen’s School at Wil mington, April 21 to 25. As is well known, this is a volun teer department and the boys receive no pay for their work. T. J. St. Sing is Chief and E. R. Myrick, assistant Chief. The Department is on the job day and night and gathers almost as quickly as a full paid department. ; They have cut the fire loss consider ably here since organization. In Rosemary, Chief of Police Dob bins took around a petition and the merchants and citizens responded nobly with a total of $133. In Roa noke Rapids, members of the Depart ment started yesterday afternoon and w’ere finishing up today soliciting. The following made donations to the cause: Roanoke Mills Co., Halifax Builders Supply Co. J. T. Chase, W. f Manning, Gold Star Store, Norris Hannan, W. F. Joyner, R. P. Beck wth, G, C. Fitts, Rosemary Cafe, L. R. Harris, T. M. Jenkins, W. S. Ivey, B. F. Hedgepeth, Dr. W. E. Murph rey, W. O. Iddings, H. H. King, 2. Mack, H. M. Johnson, J. H. Cullom, J. C. Leath, W. L. Crowder, S. Fligel, J. J. Wade, Traynham & Grimmer, Hunts Store, J. R. Walker, J. L. Weis sner, W. H. Marks, Geo, N. Taylor, Taylors Drug Store, R. L. Chesson, Wayne Gro. to., G. C. Grixzard, Roa-. noke Hdw, Cp., H. F. Solomon, Oak Stores, D. N. Etheridge, J. T. Cogsdale Northington Gro. Co., W. V. White, (Continued on back page) DEBATE ON PROPOSED TAX CHANGE Hicrh School Debaters to Speak to You Thru The Herald With an affirmative team which won all three votes of judges, the local High School team was eliminated from the State Contest this week when the negative team lost by a vote : of two to one. For some unknow reason the High School State Debating Society has ruled that both sides of a debating team must win in order to compete in further contest debates. As was the case here, many wonderful de bating teams are dropped through no fault of their own. They may win but still they lose. In order to give our readers an op portunity to know the type of speech es used by local teams and also to give publicity to the proposed consti tutional amendment which will be vot ed on in November in regal'd to the classification of property for taxa tion, we are publishing for the next four weeks, th espeeches of our local ■ High School debaters. j You, the readers, are urged to ioi- | low the debates closely each week and j act as judges. These High School stu dents have made an intense study of the proposed amendment about which the general public knows little. The first speaker for the affir mative is Miss Laura Nell Thrift. Her speech follows. Mr. Chairman, Honorable Judges, Worthy Oponents, Ladies and Gen tlemen: The question for debate is “Resolv ed, That North Carolina should adopt the Proposed Constitutional Amend ment, Authorizing the Classifica tion of Property for Taxation.” “The present provision of the Con stitution of North Carolinais : ‘Section 3 of Article 5. Taxation shall be by uniform rule and ad valorem. Laws shall be passed taxing by a uniform rule all moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint stock compa nies, or otherwise; and also all real and personal property according to (Continued on page nine) PICTURE OF NORTH CAROLINA GAZETTE, NEW BERN 11 'HE first newspaper published in North Carolina was established in 1755 at New ■» Bern by James Davis. The paper was called "The North Carolina Gazette". During the Revolution printing of papers ceased and there is no record of a paper in the State until 1763 when Robert Keith started a weekly paper at New Bern. Keith said the people had learned the "Worth by the Want”. There are now thirty, eight daily and one hundred and sixty three weekly papers in the State. The news, papers of North Carolina thru the broadcasting of facts about our State have been instrumental in building up community and State pride. Their public-spiritedness is manifest. The material benefit it negligible to most newspapermen who take special pride in producing a good paper filled with profitable and enjoyable information for people of their communities. Large corporations are today spending millions for news, paper advertising. Retail merchants and small manufacturers are fast realizing that newspaper advertising is a good investment. " ~ ^ ■ * —. PRE - EASTER S RVICES AT THEATRE Short Service at. 11:30 Every Morning During Passion Week On Monday, April 7, the ministers of Roanoke Rapids met in the study of the Methodist Church to discuss the advisability of holding special mid day services in the local theatre dur ing Passion Week. All were agreed as to the value of such services and plans were discussed as to how the meetings might be arranged. Manager Edgcrton of the Peoples Theatre offered the use of the theatre building for this service and it was decided to accept the offer. Mr. Hal! was asked to express to him the ap preciation of the ministers. Beginning on Monday, April 1 l at exactly 11:30 the bell of the Methodist Church will ring. At 11:35 the ser vice 4n the theatre will begin and close promptly at 11:55. This will give everyone time to get home for dinner or to go by the school and get the children to take them home. The Reverend and Mrs. JE. P Weathers of Rocky Mount, who will be here that week assisting Mr Hall in special services at the Methodist Church, will have charge of the mu sic. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weathers are talented musicians and their contri bution to the services will be in spiring and helpful. The speakers will be as follows: Monday, Rev. Hugh Bradley of the Presbyterian Church. Tuesday, Rev. A. P. Mustian of the Baptist Church. Wednesday, Rev. J. N. Bynum of the Episcopal Church. Thursday, Rev. E. D. Weathers. Friday, Rev. L. M. Hall of the Me thodist Church. It is hoped that the merchants of Roanoke Rapids will cooperate with the churches in these services as far as possible. It is the hope of the min isters of Roanoke Rapids that these brief noon day services may be a fit ting preparation for the observance of Easter. Many other communities in the South are uniting in special services similar to this with splendid results, and there is surely a need for here as well. Everyone is urged to come and join in these union services every day at 11:30 in the Peoples Theatre building. It is especially hoped that the men will come in large numbers as the plan for the services was specially de signed so as to make it practicab’e for them to attend. The public may count on these special services begin ning and closing on time, so you arc asked to come promptly and worship. _n_ Miss May Sutherland, London sten ographer, is continuing her work de spite the fact that she has produced a s'ucesftful novel. METHODIST REVIVAL ONSUNDAY A series of Evangelistic services will be held in the First Methodist Church at Roanoke Rapids beginning Sunday, April 13th and continuing thru Easter. Rev. natfjJWr*- E. D. Weathers of Rocky Monnt will have charge of the music and the work of the young people. Mr. Weathers is the pastor of one of the churches of Rocky Mt. Mrs. Weathers possesses a beautiful soprano voice and has vsiited our church before. Mr. Wetfbh^ks was trained in evangelistic work at Wi nona Lake, the home of Billy Sun day’s evangelistic party. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weathers have done consid erable work of this kind in the many churches of the North Carolina Con ference. Rev. Leon M. Hall, pastor of the church will do the preaching. Plans for this meeting have been under con sideration since immediately after Conference, when Mr. Hall was sent back here for his fifth year. One of the outstanding features of the com ing meeting is the careful prepara tion that has been made. The Stew ards as a body have pledged them selves to support this meeting by their presence and by visits in the in terest of this series of services. The Ladies Aid and the Epworth Leagues have likewise committed themselves in sharing the responsibili ty for the success of the meeting. A feature of special interest will be the music. The two choirs have been combined in order that more ef fective service may be rendered. Thirty members of the Hi-League have volunteered their services as a junior choir. The hour for the services will be 8:00 P. M. Fifteen minutes before this hour, prayer mcetins will be held in the Sunday School department, one for men and one for ladies. Or. Easter Sunday night the meet ing will close with a pageant entitled “The Risen King.” -□ Johnson Announces For Legislature I). Mac Johnson of Enfield has thrown his hat into the political ring with an announcement received by this newspaper yesterday. He, also, is running for the office of Represen tative as one of the two members to be selected by Halifax County Demo crats in June, running to total aspir ants to date to five. Mr. Johnson is a member of the law firm of Dunn & Johnson, Enfield. His announcement is as follows: I hereby announce myself a candi date for the House of Representa tives subject to the Democratic Pri mary, June 7, 1930. D. MAC JOHNSON, Enfield, N. C. 4-10-tf. DAM WORK IS HELD UP BY STATE Says Wall Street Journal —Exact Reason Not Known Here With everybody wondering when the work on the darn here will start and wondering at the delay, the Wall Street Journal last week reported that permits for four dams in the country were being held up by the Federal Power Commission for various rea sons. The reason attributed for the per mit delay in the local dam work was given in the Journal as because of differences not yet settled between the Power Company and the State of North Carolina. ! 1 he exact nature ot those differ [ cnees has not yet been made public in the State, but this newaspaper hopes to have some definite information by this time next week so that the pub lic may know pust where the delay is. The Power Company has secured all the land and right of way necessary to start work, has completed prelimi nary surveys and soundings, and has applied to both the State and Federal Government for the necessary per mits. In short, it seems to have gone as far as it can. If the State is holding out its per mit for some reason or reasons, the citizens should be acquainted with the exact nature of the State’s action in this important matter. The. Virginia Electric and Power Co. subsidiary of Stone and Webster, yes terday placed on the market tv/o mil lion dollars worth of stock. Roanoke Rapids division quota of $100,000 was sold yesterday, according to Manager J. T. Chase. We quote below a newspaper dis patch from Richmond regarding the new stock and what the money will be used for. ‘‘This is the third issue of six per cent preferred stock by the company under the Stone and Webster manage ment. The first issue ,of preferred storck bore interest at seven per cent. Each of the issues have been for $2, 000,000. The company’s program for 1030 calls for expenditure of large sums in expansion of its electric and transpor tation divisions in Virginia and East ern North Carolina, more than $500, 000 to be spent in and around Nor folk in the immediate future. The principal local expenditure thus far announced is to provide for the erec tion of an office building here, the total cost of land and building being approximately $400,000. “The company is also preparing ior an extensive hydroelectric develop ment in North Carolina where it took over several years ago the Roanoke Rapids Power Company and is pre paring to expand the hydroelectric fa AURELIAN SPRINGS STEPS OUT Debaters Win; Student Wins Essay Contest; Athletes Honored The Alheltic Club of A. S. H. S., held a meeting Tuesday evening. The members of the girls and boys teams had as their guests their parents and the faculty. Mr. A. E. Akers was al so a special guest. At this time letters were awarded to Thorne. Butts, Morris, Crawley, Liles and Warren. William Thorne was elected captain for next year. Marvin Butts was elected treasurer of the club. Joyce S callings was chosen leader of the girls sextet for next year. Six members of the girls team received their letters, namely, Blanche Shearin, Mabel Butts, Catherine Taylor, Nan Liles, Ruth Hamlet and Ava Qualls. There were a number of interest ing talks made at the meeting. Chief among these were Messrs Matthew's, Akers, Thorne and Jackson. There were others who spoke with much en thusiasm over securing a new' gymna sium for next year. At the close of the meeting refresh ments were served. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meeting, and hope this meeting will be an incentive to great er work and cooperation in athletics for A. S. H. S. Our school won another honor this week when we learned that Hannah Iieptinstall won second place in a County wide essay contest on “De veloping a Suitable Method of Taxing North Carolina Woodlands.” This es say will be sent to State Forester Holmes in Raleigh, where a final se lection will be made in the State-wide contest. The debating team will journey to Chapel Hill April 17, as a result of the victory over Norlina and Little ton last Friday evening. Virginia insco and Camilla Alston constitute the negative team, while Lorenzo Pit tard and Henry Morris represent the affirmative team. We wish them much success. GIRLS ARE GUESTS OF LOCALCLUB Interesting Program At Womans Club With Girl Reserve An interesting meeting of the Wo. mans Club of Roanoke Rapids was held Monday afternoon in the voca tional building, with Mrs Fred Brown presiding. The matter of securing de legates to atir.ru the Bi-Annual Fe deration meei'ng at Denver, Colorado, and to the State 1" deration meeting at Pinehurst, was discussal and Mrs. W. II. Prudcn and Mrs. J. M. Jackson were asked to .lecuvs rc; resentatives from the club. The president anounced that a Flower show would be held by the Carden Department this spring. The Better Homes Department, with Mrs. A. L. Taylor chairman, will have "Better Homes Week“ from April 27 to May 3. The next regular meeting of the club will be held on Saturday, May 3, closing the “Better Homes Week,” at the Country Club with a j picnic dinner at 1 o’clock. It is hop ed tha tevery member of the Womans Club will be present at this meeting. Anyone desiring to pay their dues for the coming year can do so at this time. A nominating committee composed of Mesdames C. L. Grimmer, George L. Hayes, A. E. Akers, E. M. Hall ai.d J. M. Jackson were appointed to re port at the next meeting. The Civic Department had charge 'of the program for the day and the i Girls Reserve Club and their Counsel ors were honored guests. A welcome was given by Mrs. Brown, telling the girls that they are the future mem bers of the Womans Club and that when they become members they will have a nice club house in which to hold their meetings. The president introduced Rev. Hugh Bradley, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, who made a most interesting (Continued on back page) cilities of the Roanoke River. High tension lines are to be constructed through the territory intervening be tween hat locality and its Eastern Virginia operations. 40 YEARS IN PRISON FOR GANG Which Robbed Seaboard Bank and Jackson Drug Store A total of 40 years, in prison was meted cut to the five men and one woman, the gang which robbed the Seaboard Bank and the Jackson Drug store in De cember, when Judge W. A. Devin of Oxford passed judgment on them in Northampton Superior Court the first of this week. Ralph Catlin, alleged leader of the gang, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison; Tracy Hart who fought ex tradition and denied ail charges, be ing found guilty by a jury, was sen tenced to ten years; Charles Caiiear, who broke down and confessed, spill ing the beans on the rest of the gang, was sentenced to seven years, possibly earning a three year reprieve for his turning State’s evidende; Joe Wil son and Albert Herholzer, who dtove the two cars from Richmond, were given three years each; the woman, .Demure rat'K, cnargea wiin partici pating in the robbery of the bank, also said to have been the cause of jealousy in the gang, was given a sentence of two years. The drug store robbery was called first, All pled guilty except Hart. The testimony of the State was built for the most part on the tracing of the two cars used in the robberies and in the confession of Callear made to police in Richmond where he was ar rested and later on the stand. Callear told of the band getting to gether in Richmond under the leader ship of Catlin and planning the North ampton County robberies. He stated he had made two other trips in North Carolina for similar purposes but it was not brought out where these rob beries occured or who was with him. He said all of the mob was from Richmond except Tracy who claimed Portsmouth as his abode. Catlin told them about some soilf* pickings acros the Virginia line. On the night of December 18 they came down, stopped in Weldon, passed thru Seaboard and pulled up in Jack3on« While part of them waited with car engine running, the others entered the drug store, carried out the safe and some merchandise and stopped this side of Emporia to open the safe. Callear claimed he did not get any money from the safe. He admitted going around with Ber nice Pack and that Tracy Hart took her away from him, but said his con fession did no tcome to get even with Hart or because he had been promised immunity by the State. As stated be fore, Tracy refused to submit and was tried on the durg store robbery. When he was found guilty, the gang decided to give in and all, including Tracy1 and the woman confessed to the robbery of the Seaboard bank at a later date. On this job they brought a complete outfit for blowing a safe. While the woman and one of the men stayed out side as lookouts, the rest entered the bank, emptied the safety deposit box es and blew the safe. Catlin, the lead er gave the details of the second rob bery. Several local people were also tried at the Jackson Court. Ridley Smith, negro, charged with striking Wiley Mason, aged negro, with a car. was sentenced Jo from one to five years, and fined $500, most of which was to pay the hospital till and damages of Mason. Den Faison pled guilty to operating a car while intox; and trans porting liquor. He was given a two suspended sentence and given hours to leave the state, a capita to be issued for him should h6 return within two years. Claud Parks pled guilty to driving a car while intoxicated and’ senten ced to 12 months on the road. | -n-- ! Aged Citizen Dies; At Gum berry Monda^j Mr. Frank Kee, age 80, one af oldest residents of this section, Monday noon at the home of hia R. T. Kee at Gumberry. Another S. J. Kee, lives at Weldon. . He a relative of Walter Kee of. this Funeral services were afternoon at Bethel. Paul and Walter Kee, G. R. E. Daniel, J. L, Paw cill. The deceased was 01 eat and most v>romin«ni the yes
Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.)
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April 10, 1930, edition 1
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