THE ROANOKE RAPIDS
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VOLUME TWENTY-SEVEN ROANOKE RAPIDS, N. C. THURSDAY, MARCH 5,1942_NUMBER 31
FAR REACHING AGRICULTURE
SURVEY CONDUCTED HERE
City Taxis
Must Carry
Insurance
Taxi automobiles operating with
in the city limits of Roanoke Rap
id* will be required to carry prop- |
erty damage and liability insurance
on and after April 1, as a result
of an ordinance adopted at the
regular meeting of the City Board
of Commissioners at their regular
meeting held on Tuesday in the
municipal building, it was learned
here yesterday. I
The Commissioners passed and
adopted an ordinance requiring
companies operating taxi cabs
within the city to take out liabil
ity insurance in the amounts of
$4,000 and $8,000 and property
damage insurance in the amount
of $2000. If no insurance policy
(Continued on Page 12, Sec. A)
OVERSEAS
Curtis Britton, above, who has
served 19 years in the Army it
Hawaii. See details on Page 13.
COUNTY IS
ONE OF 28
SELECTED
A group of officials of the De
partment of Agricultural Econom
ics, Washington, have been in Hal
ifax county this week making a
survey to determine just how far
farmers of the county can go in
growing and meeting the expand
ing production of soybeans and
peanuts to be used for their soil
content, County Agent W. O. Da
vis said yesterday.
Davis said that Halifax county
/had been one of twenty-eight coun
, ties in the nation selected for sur
veys in one or more crops and an
effort was made to select one in
each case that was typical of the
surrounding section. Halifax was
chosen for surveys in peanuts and
soybeans.
In the county for the survey
are R. T. Melvin, State Represen
tative of the Bureau of Agricul
tural Economics, with headquar
ters at State College, Raleigh;
Kenneth B. Buckman, of the Di
vision of Farm Management and
Costs, of Washington; Dr. M. Tay
lor Matthews, of the Division of
Farm Population and Rural Wel
' fare, Atlanta; Douglas Schepnoes,
> (Continued on Page 12, Sec. A)
ANNOUNCES
I
\ I5. C. Lutor, local police officer
who this week entered the race for
I Sheriff of Halifax County.
Candidates
Announce
For Office
Halifax County’s political pot be
gan to simmer this week with the
announcement of three new can
didates for one or more of the
various offices that will be contest
ed in the Democratic primary on
May 30th.
Two candidates, both of Roa
noke Rapids, announced their
candidacies for the office of Sher
iff. while one candidacy was an
nounced for Halifax county’s only
seat in the House of Representa
tives.
New candidates in the field are:
P. C. Luter, Roanoke Rapids po
liceman, and S. M. Thompson, ice
and fuel dealer here, both for the
I office of Sheriff, and B. B. Ever
I (Continued on Page 12, Sec. A)
Trio Of City Wreck Victims
REPORTED
IMPROVING
Bqfry Suffers Greatest Injury
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Johnson
and their daughter, Jacqueline, are
resting comfortably in Roanoke
Rapids hospital this afternoon from
injuries received Sunday afternoon
at Vaughn, near Warrenton, when
their car was in collision with a
bus and another car.
Hospital attaches said that in
juries of all three were of a se
rious nature but that they were
expected to recover. Johnson re
ceived cuts about the head and
legs, a chest injury and possible
fracture of the ribs, while Mrs.
Johnson suffered multiple lacera
tions of the forehead and face and
numerous bruises on the body. The
child, more seriously injured, suf
fered lacerations and contusions of
the face and scalp, and two frac
tures of the skull.
None of the occupants of the
other car, driven by W. P. Curtis
of 105 North East Street, Raleigh,
or the bus were injured. The bus
was driven by J. H. Mayeur of
Richmond.
State Highway Patrolman Park
Alexander, who investigated the
accident, said that the Johnson
car was headed toward Warrenton
and that the bus was going to
ward Littleton. The Johnson car
and the bus collided almost head
on and Alexander said that the
car was pulled almost from under
the bus.
The Curtis car was headed in
the direction of Warrenton and
struck the wreckage of the two
other vehicles.
HATS THEY LEFT BEHIND 'EM
— Before Joining Unde Sam's Armed Forces!
In the above picture you see the hats of youths
who were formerly employed by E. W. Smith, Inc.,
city electrical firm, hung there by them when they
answered the call to the armed forces of the United
States. Corporal Joe Crawford, one of the owners
of the hats, is shown at the left in a recent photo
graph taken at Fresno Field, California, where he
was last heard from three-weeks ago. Complete
details will he found on Page 7 of this section.
Work of r-iftk Coiutnnisfsf?)
FAKED DEATH
MESSAGE SENT
Boy Here To Assure Mother!
i Tlf»n TJrtnn r\f fViia r'ifV ULTOS
the victim of a fake death mes
sage which caused her no little
trouble and mental anguish the
first of the week. The Roanoke
Rapids vfroman had been working
in a textile mill in Rocky Mount
for about a year, and it was in
Rocky Mount Sunday that she re
ceived a telegram stating:
OUR SON GOT KILLED IN
CAR WRECK. SENDING
HOME TOMORROW EVE
NING.
—BURLEY WARD
The telegram obviously referred
to her son, Carl Barnes, stationed
with the 20th Engineers at Camp
Blanding, Florida. Burley Ward,
who signed the wire, was unknown
to Mrs. Smith, and there was noth
ing to indicate his official status
with the army. Mrs. Smith wired
back to ship the body to Roanoke
Rapids and came here to make
funeral arrangements.
She contacted a local undertaker,
showing him the wire she had re
ceived. He became dubious as to
the authenticity of the telegram
when he found it was sent collect.
Ho met the train on which the
corpse would logically arrive, how
ever, to find that there had been
no shipment of a body from Camp
Blanding to this destination.
A series of investigations were
then started by Rev. Gordon L.
Price, chairman of the local chap
ter of the Red Cross, to whom the
woman had been referred for as
sistance by friends, terminating in
(Continued on Page 12, Sec. A)