Carolina’s Only TABtoid NEWSpaper
The Roanoke Rapids Herald
VOLUMN EIGHTEEN_ ROANOKE RAPIDS, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 9th, 1933 NUMBER FORTY-SEVEN
Stubborn Floor Fight Friday To
Give People Their Right To Vote
- - - I
SAYS PETITION NOT WORTH
PAPER IT WAS WRITTEN ON
UP AND DOWN
"Ghc Avenue
WITH THE EDITOR
With “politics” crowding if off
the front page, and Mr. Wilson’s
absence from the city intervening,
this column has been conspicuous
by its absence the last couple of
weeks, but we will see what can
be done about it this week.
The biggest thing “Up and Down
—and All Around” the Avenue the
last few days has been the ditch
ing crew on the sanitary work.
Merchants in the North ward,
where in some instances streets
have been temporarily blockaded,
and the dirt piled high in front of
the sidewalks, declare it is not the
best thing in the world for their
business, but recognize it is a
“necessary evil.” Guess the South
ward will get their taste in a few
days.
Our candidate for the “dumb
est girl” title is the young
lady who said that the Fiske
Carter men certainly must be
careless . . . she noticed they
went away every night and for
got and left a bunch of lighted
lanterns around the ditches.
She must have been from Lit
tleton.
Many Roanoke Rapids people at
tended the Inauguration in Wash
ington last Saturday, and doubt
less many more would have gone
had they not become “fed up” on
politics from Raleigh.
11 c
f , -
(Cont“ .ued on back page, col. 2)
In his address before the House Committee on Cities,
Counties and Towns, Wednesday afternoon, Senator T. W. M.
Long, author of Senate Bill No. 242, declared that the peti
tion signed by 2,900 Roanoke Rapids citizens, asking the leg
islature to kill the bill, or at least amend it, adding a refer
cuuuiu au as lo anow tne ioiks
back home the right to vote on this
issue, “was not worth the paper
it was written on.”
The stenographers record con
cerning this bit of testimony is
as follows:
SEN. LONG (Answering
Mr. Pope) “I want to say to
you this, with rare exceptions,
the ladies and gentlemen who
sit opposite me; the ladies of
the Woman’s Club; the mem
bers of the Parent-Teachers
Association; of the Kiwanis
Club — “God Bless ’Em;” the
members of the Town govern
ment, with rare exceptions
... all of them did everything
unaer niffn Heaven prior to
and even up to Sundown June
4th to keep me out of my seat
in this Legislature.”
MR. POPE: “Do you repre
sent the 2,900 whose names
appear on the petition that
has been presented here?”
SEN. LONG: “Yes -sir! I rep
resent the 2,900 ... I certain
ly do ... I have not question
ed who circulated that peti
tion or who wrote the names
because I don’t want to go in
to personalities. I want to
say to you that those 2,900
names, with the exception of
these organizations represent
ed here, are not worth the
paper they are written on.”
At the city Western Union office,
Beaman Helms, manager, stated
his company had sufficient cash
on hand to take care of money
order transfers, but that they had
been limited to $100 by his Co.
Bank Holiday Has
Little Effect On
Business In City
According to business men and
officers of local banks, very little
inconvenience has been encounter
ed thru the National bank holiday
in Roanoke Rapids. Business, for
the most part, has gone on as usu
al, and it would appear that there
is a spirit of more optimism and
confidence than in some time on
the part of city business leaders.
Many have voiced their opinion
that the moratorium will keep a
great deal more money at home
that has heretofore leaked out to
other towns, states and mail-order
houses.
Koanoke Rapids business men
and bankers are particularly proud
of the fact that North Carolina
banks were the last in the Nation .
to close, and only then by order of
the President, and that at no time
was withdrawals of deposits limit
ed at either of the city banks or
branches.
When the moratorium is lifted,
it will see Roanoke Rapids banks
with really more deposits than
when it was imposed since substan
tial sums have been deposited since
their authorization Wednesday.
, Payroll checks are being cashed
by city banks starting Thursday,
when it is shown conclusively on
the face of the check that the
check is drawn for payroll pur
poses, as are also checks for food
shipments, the requirement here
being that a bill of lading be at
tached.
The fight goes on for giving the people of
Roanoke Rapids their right to vote on Senate
Bill No. 242, which changes the form of City
government and the city boundaries of Roa
noke Rapids.
Defeated in this before the two committees
and by the Senate, the fight for the referendum
will be waged on the floor of the House by Rep
resentative R. Hunter Pope when the bill comes
up for a second reading and vote before the
House tomorrow.
If this amendment is defeated on the floor
of the House when Mr. Pope will make an im
passioned, plea fcr the referendum amendment,
the bill will come uo for th’rd -*ir«d probable fin
d reading Monday.
Should it pas' in its present form on the fin
al reading, it is the law of the State, the Mill
plants will be included in the new corporate
limits; the present City officials will be thrown
out of office and a new election of city officials
will be held in Ms y under the direction of a spec
ial election board consisting of Dr. W. E. Mur
phrey, J. A. Lipscomb and W S. Saunders.
The two-ward system will be wiped out and
all candidates will run at large from one ward.
Undaunted by set-backs, citizens at Raleigh
and in Roanoke Rapids are continuing their
fight until the last for a vote on these matters
~f such vital importance.
■ctrocuted
Eddie Drake, 15-year-old colored farm youth who lived
a few miles below Halifax, died in Roanoke Rapids Hospital
this morning as a result of burns and injuries sustained when
he contacted a high tension line of the Virginia Electric and
Power Company late Wednesday
afternoon in throwing a very small
wire from a Ford coil over the line.
It appears that the Negro youth
and a companion had been cutting
wood near the hi-powered line
Wednesday. After completing the
day’s task, the Drake boy started
playing with a wire from a Ford
coil. For some reason, he threw the
wire over the line, suffering a
shock which caused severe body
burns.
Doctors were summoned, togeth
er with a First-Aid crew from the
Virginia Electric and Power Com
pany. After working diligently for
several hours with the colored
youth, an ambulance was called and
he was brought to a local hospital
for treatment, but the burns were
itoo severe, and death came early
Thursday morning.
VALIANT EFFORTS OF V. E. P. CO. SAFETY
CREW FAILS TO SAVE LIFE OF NEGRO
County Farm .Youth Dies This A. M, From Shock From Hi-Tension Line(Details Above)