*
ROBERT E. MAY, Navy, May 8, 1942 JAMES W. WHITBY, Navy, Oct 26, 1942
R. H. McCOMMONS, Merchant Mar., July 6, 1942 WILLIAM H. CAMP, JR., Navy, Nov., 1942
f) —————i
THE ROANOKE RAPIDS
*—-i L I p J I A
» IT" ^ I I 1^ CAROLINA'S HRS^y I M
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VOLUME xxvm_ROANOKE RAPIDS, N. C. THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1943 NUMBER 51
GARNER DEATH IS UNSOLVED
•SATURDAY IS
ELECTION DAY
'FOR TOBACCO
14 Polling Places In
County Meetings
3 Are Held
All producers engaged in the pro
duction of flue-cured tobacco in
1943 are eligible to vote in the to
bacco referendum that will be held
Saturday, July 24th, from 9 a. 'm.
to 5 p. m.
Led by County Agent W. O.
Davis, meetings will be held at
Ringwood Cross Roads, at the
9 white school house in Enfield, and
• 'the white school in Scotland Neck
on Friday for the purpose of ex
plaining the tobacco referendum.
Similar meetings are currently be
ing held at the Court House in
Halifax, and at Littleton today.
Fourteen polling places in the
county have been established for
Saturday’s voting on the referen
dum, and they are as follows:
for the Brinkleyville, Essex and
i» Hollister communities at Hollister;
Glenview and Ringwood vote at
Ringwood; Airlie and Aurelian
Springs vote at the Aurelian
Springs School; Conoconnara and
Slashes communities vote at Til
-lery.
The election will be held in the
Town Hall in Enfield for that sec
tion and for Hardrawee; Darling
ton and Heathville growers will
vote at Darlington; .the Halifax
“election will be held at the Court
House; Calvary and Thelma,
Weaver’s Chapel and Littleton vote
at the Town Hall, Littleton; grow
ers in Palmyra section will vote
either at the Mayor’s office in Hob
5»good or Everett’s Store,' Palmyra.
Roseneath voting place will be
at C. E. Cotten’s Store; Dawson
and Scotland Neck No. 1 and 2
vote at the Town Hall in Scotland
-Neck; Weldon votes at the Town
Hall while, growers of the Roanoke
Rapids section will cast their'bal
lots at Harrison’s Gin.
»NO "LOAFERS"
AT MONDAY'S
CITY COURT
An unusually light docket at
city court was disposed of in
short order sit the regular Monday
session this week by Mayor Kelly
Jenkins.
The Governor’s “work or fight”
(§> ultimatum recently handed down,
obviously was responsible for not
a single violation of the “no loaf
ing” ordinance.
Altho’ neither the city dads or
county commissioners have a<s yet
gt taken definite action outlawing the
sale of beer on Sunday, observers
report that its scarcity coupled
with the fact that most '/‘beer
emporiums” are closed for business
on the Sabbath, resulted In It
g) sort of “freezing itself.” |
__ _ <
CORPORA!//
Cpl. Wm. T. O’Berry, shown a
hove, is the son of Mrs. Della L.
O’Berry, 1924 South Roanoke Ave.
He is a former employee of Halifax
Paper Co., and married Miss Shir
ley Moore, of Triplet, Va., who is
making her home with her parents
for the duration. J
- |
FUNERAL FOR
WOODRUFF IS
HELD MONDAY
Soldier Who Died On
West Coast Given
Military Rites
v
Funeral Services with full mil
itary honors were given Sgt. Gro
ver Woodruff, son of Mrs. Mary
E. Woodruff, at the Roanoke Rap
ids Cemetery here Monday evening
at 7 p. m. The local man died
from drowning on Saturday, July
10th, at Moses Lake, Washington.
The body arrived Monday after
noon accompanied by Sgt Baron
Kinsey of the Army Air Corps,
who was stationed at the Wash
ington State post.
Mrs. Woodruff was notified of
her son’s death last week, by a
wire from the company command
ant, stating that a letter of de
tail would follow. Mrs. Woodruff
received a letter from army of
ficials this morning, but said that
few details surrounding the death
of her son were divulged, stating
they had not completed their in
vestigation.
It is thought, however, that he
was not killed while on maneuv
ers. It is said that Sgt. Woodruff
had recently arrived at Lake
Moses, Wash., and after the com
pletion of one or more short class
es, expected to be shipped over
seas. Sgt. Kinsey, who accompan
ied the body of the Roanoke Rap
ids man, knew little of the cir
cumstances surrounding his death,
and was not a close personal
friend of Woodruff’s, but spoke
highly of his splendid record with
(Continued on iPage 8—See. A)
HOLD NEGRO
FOR THEFTS
AT HOSPITAL
JameS* West, 17-year old col
ored boy who lives in the Lin
coln Heights section, was arrested
at noon today by City officer
Clayton Matthews, and is being
held in city jail in default of
$100. bond on charges of stealing
several cartons of fine surgical
steel blades used in the operating
room at the local hospital. The
Negro had been employed as an
orderly there for several weeks.
Hospital attendants are conducting
a further check for goods that
might have been stolen during
the tenure of his employ there.
The arrest of the young Negro
uuy tame auoui. wnen ne sola a
I pocket knife to Stanley Clark,
who was then employed at the
lunch counter in the local bus
terminal, for the sum of ten
cents. Clark reported to Officer
Matthews that he bought the knife
in good faith. His suspicion was
aroused when West returned and
tried to “buy back” the knife.
When Clark stated his reluctance
to part with it, the colored boy
offered him a carton of six fine
steel surgical blades in trade.
Clark accepted the latter bar
gain, and suspecting the blades
had been stolen, turned them over
to Matthews, who investigated the
case resulting in the arrest of the
colored youth today. Hospital at
taches reported the blades were
valuable, and particularly hard to
obtain today because of the acute
shortage of fine surgical steel.
Several cartons of them were
found to be missing. Because of
their small size (they are about
two inches in length) it would be
comparatively easy for an attend
ant in the operating room to hide
several packages of them on his
person.
COUNTY LADY
IS SAFE AS A
JAP PRISONER
Relatives of Mrs. Harry M. Hod
ges, Jr., daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
F. M. Taylor of near Enfield, and
a sister of Lt. Col. T. J. Taylor,
former staff member of Roanoke
Rapids Hospital, have received
word from the Office of the Pro
vost ' Marshal General in Wash
ington, that the Halifax County
woman, who was interned in Man
ila by the Japenese, is safe and
in good health.
The war department stated that
efforts to verify the message had
not proved successful. The letter
is reported to have said that since
Jan. 1, 1943, Mrs. Hodges has been
at the University of Santo Tomas,
Manila, along with other British
and Dutch civilians.
Her husband, Harry Hodges, is
a former Carolina athlete and a
coach at Guilford College. He is
a son of H. M. Hodges of Fay
etteville.
GETS WINGS /
Lt. Carlton L. Grissom, received
his commission and wings as a pi
lot at Douglas, Arizona, on June
22nd. Lt. Grissom visited his mother
and relatives at their home, 907
Madison St., recently, and has now
returned to his new base at Pyote,
Texas.
LEE TO PITCH
IN CITY OVER
THE WEEK-END
Romancos To Play Two
Double - Headers
With Concord
Coach Claude “Wimpy” Plott and
his flashy Concord Cannonballs
will roll in this week-end to clash
with Coach Doug Worsham and
his State Champion Romancos.
The visitors will be here for a
double-header Friday night at the
Romanco’s home base, Ledgerwood
Park, and will remain overnight
and clash with the Romancos a
gain Saturday night in a double
header. Starting time both nights
will be 8:15 p. m.
Howard Pruden, business mana
ger of the Romancos, announced
today that a big surprise would
be in store for local softball fans
Friday and Saturday night. Dick
“Swink” Lee, former Romanco ace
pitcher who teamed up with Russ
DeBerry for three years to hang
up one of the greatest records in
the country, and make the Roman
co softball team known from coast
to coast, will pitch a part of the
double-header Friday and Satur
day night. Lee is home on leave
from an Army Medical unit which
is stationed at McDill Field, Fla.
It will probably be the last time
Russ DeBerry and Swink Lee
team up together for the duration.
Coach Claude Plott has made a
great record in softball for the
past five or six years in the Wes
tern part of the State. His Con
cord Cannonball teams are always
rated tops in his section. In addi
tion to coaching and managing the
(Continued on Page 8—Sec. A)
BODY FOUND
TUESDAY ON
SAL TRACKS
Last Seen At 2 A. M.
By Wife; Money
Is Missing
A coroner’s inquest into
the death of C. Leslie Garner,
.whose hadly mangled body
was found on the Seaboard
railroad tracks just back of
his home within a few hun
'dred feet of the depot, re
sulted in a verdict of: “We,
your coroner’s jury, are un
able to render a verdict from
the evidence presented, and
recommend that a further
and fuller investigation be
made.”
The jury debated some 30
minutes, after hearing half
dozen or more witnesses to
night.
Tho OK ~ r,,.
is reported to have been last seen
by his wife, Mrs. Glenn Long Gar
ner, when he returned to his
home on Henderson St. about two
o’clock Tuesday morning. It is
reported he told his wife he was
going to step outside the house
for a few minutes before retiring,
and that she dropped off to sleep,
and did not know of the tragedy
until shortly after 6 o’clock that
morning when his remains were
discovered by Vester Finch, local
textile worker walking down the
tracks on his way to the mill
where he works.
Coroner Rowe immediately im
panelled a jury which visited the
scene of the accident, and view
ed the remains. Local officers
and Seaboard detectives are re
ported to have been investigating
the case.
Young Garner had been an agent
for the Southern Dixie Life In
surance Co., of which Stuart G.
Wilson is local manager, for near
ly two years. He was formerly
employed in local textile mills here.
Wilson reports Garner was en
gaged Saturday and Monday get
ting in the bulk of his monthly
collections and should have had
between $150. and $200. on his per
son Monday night, prior to his
regular checK-up at tne insurant
office Tuesday. Relatives report
he is known to have worn a
money belt. No evidence of the
belt was found on the remains,
and only a small amount of change
was reported found in one pants
pocket when the body was dis
covered.
It is supposed Garner’s body
was run over by one, or possibly
two Southbound freight trains,
which passed through the city on
their way to Norlina between 3
and 4 o’clock Tuesday morning.
Parts of the body were found
for a distance of 50 to 60 feet tip
and down the right-of-way of the
Seaboard tracks.
The coroner’s jury was composed
of: J. V. Moore, J. W. Shay, Lloyd
(Continued on Page 8—Sec. AJ