r-irar? ROBERT E. MAY, Navy, May 8, 1942 WILLIAM H. CAMP, JR., Navy, Nov, 1942
I <11 II 1 R- H. McCOMMONS, Merchant Mar, July 5, 1942 GROVER WOODRUFF, Army, July 10, 1943
I L'nUL JAMES W. WHITBY, Navy, Oct. 26, 1942 WINFIELD HASTY, Army, August 19, 1943
_ _illmiMlMMil
THE ROANOKE RAPIDS
VOLUME XXIX ROANOKE RAPIDS, N. C. THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 17,1944_NUMBER29
BLOCKER FOUND NOT GUILTY
. LIEUT. CARLTON L GRISSOM
REPORTED MISSING IN ACTION
~ Second Lieutenant Carlton L.
Grissom, 25-year-old son of Mrs.
John A. Grissom, has been report
ed as “missing in action” by the
War Department. The message
notifying young Grissom’s mother,
twas received yesterday afternoon
about 4:30 o’clock. The action
-mentioned in the message was over
Germany, and since Lt. Grissom
is reported as not having been
heard from since January 29, it
^ is believed that he was in the
™ large-scale raid over Frankfurt on
that date.
A native of this city, Lt. Gris
som was widely known. He re
ceived his education in the local
schools and prior to entering the
4? service ’n June, 1942, was employ
ed by >ne Rosemary Manufactur
ing Company. There are two oth
er sons of Mrs. Grissom in the
service, John Henry Grissom, be
lieved to be “somewhere in the
0 South Pacific,” and Frank A. Gris
som, USN, Bainbridge, Md. A
fourth son, Horace W. Grissom,
is employed in defense work in
Newport News, Va.
Lt. Grissom, “Bootsie,” to his
<jg hundreds of friends, was a pilot in
the Eighth Army Air Corps, sta
tioned “somewhere in England. In
June of last year, he received his
wings as a pilot at Douglas, Ariz.,
and soon afterward visited his
mother at her home, 907 Madison
street, this city.
*-1
Reported Missing
Above is 2d Lt. Carlton L. Gris
som, reported missing In action
over Germany since January 29.
He is believed to have been
among pilots of RAF bombers
which staged a tremendous raid
over Frankfurt, Germany, on that
date.
CITY AND COUNTY OYER
* QUOTA IN BOND SALES BUT
* "E" BONDS LAG; AUCTION
Halifax County has gone over
Its quota in dollar sales for the
-4th War Bond drive, but is still
lagging in the sale of “E” Bonds,
according to County Chairman F.
41 H. Gregory.
The county quota was $1,334,000
and a total of $1,450,000 had been
sold. The “E” Bond quota was
$552,000 but that amount has not
been reached. However, the sale
'% of these bonds will continue until
Feb. 29th.
Roanoke Rapids had sold a total
of $338,000 as of March 14th of
which $122,000 was “E” Bonds,
leaving $42,000 in “E" Bonds yet
• to be sold here, says H. E. Lee,
local Bond chairman.
It is hoped that a good portion
of this will be sold tomorrow af
ternoon (Friday) when the High
School students will hold a Bond
£ Auction sale at the city park at
the corner of Roanoke Avenue
and 3rd St. Mr. Lee said he and
Chairman Gregory were very ap
preciative of the fine work done
by ihe Roanoke Rapids High
^ School in this drive, students there
having sold about $50,000 in bonds
to date.
The students of the local s<
have been a most important 1
in past War Bond campaigns
H county in raisin i
qu<
Frank R. Thomas
Jains The Herald
Frank R. Thomas has joined
the staff of The Herald as news
editor and advertising manager,
succeeding Howard Hancock, re
signed. Mr. Thomas comes to
Roanoke Rapids from Lumberton
where he held a similar position
for a short time. Prior to that
he was associate editor and ad
vertising manager of The Rox
boro Courier for two years.
A native of Georgia, Mr. Thom
as spent several years in news
paper work in Springfield, Mass.,
returning South in 1941. He and
his wife have an apartment at
217 Jackson street.
Postman Slips On
Ice; Breaks Rib
L. R. Hasty, 327 Charlotte
street, letter carrier for the Roan
oke Rapids postoffice for 15 years,
suffered a painful injury last
Monday when he slipped on the
ice-coated Hamilton street, in the
200 block, and fractured a rib in
his left side. The accident occur
red about 10 o’clock. Mr. Hasty
is now confined to his home.
- -^
825 Textile
Employees Here
In Armed Forces
A total of 852 employees of the
three textile mills in Roanoke
Rapids are now in the armed ser
vices of the United States, ac
cording to facets released this
week by local mill officials.
Roanoke Mills Company has
363 in the service, Rosemary
Manufacturing Company has 301,
and Patterson Mills Company has
188.
PUPILS WILL
HOLD AUCTION
AND PARADE
As a climax to the Fourth War
Loan campaign activities of the
Roanoke Rapids High School stu
dents a big auction sale will be
held tomorrow afternoon at 4 o’
clock. The auction will be held
at 300 Roanoke Avenue, where Ike
Rochelle, auctioneer, will “knock
off” to the highest bidder for War
Bonds, many articles of various
sizes and kinds which have been
donated by merchants of the city.
The articles can only be bought
for war bonds.
The Girls’ Glee Club will furnish
entertainment for the occasion.
Prior to the auction sale, a big
parade of more than 1,000 stu
dents, is scheduled to form in
front of the High School and
go down Hamilton street, then to
Roanoke Avenue. “Hitler’s Fu
neral Procession” will be featured
in the parade with many dummies
and banners being carried by the
marchers. The High School Band
will furnish the music for the
event, which will start at 2:40 p.m.
Lieut. Benton's
Father Dies
The father of Lieutenant M.
Scott Benton, U. S. N. R., died in
S unberry, Saturday and was
buried there Tuesday.
lieutenant Benton is on active
duty with the navy somewhere in
the Pacific and could not be im
mediately reached. Hie is a mem
ber of the firm of AUsbrook and
Benton, Gay and Midyette.
The only immediate survivors
are lieutenant Benton and his
mother.
Dwelling Damaged
By Fire and Smoke
A two-story frame dwelling
house located at 204 Jackson
street, owned by Mrs. B. Marks,
was damaged considerably by fire
and smoke last Saturday after
noon about 5 o’clock. Local fire
men, arriving soon after the alarm
was sounded, found the kitchen
and dining room on the lower
floor of the building ablaze, with
the flames rapiding eating their
way to the second story. The fire
was quickly extinguished. Damage
done is fully covered by insurance,
--^
NO "LIQUOR STILL FOUND
AT END OF COMMISSIONER'S
ROAD," SHERIFF ADMITS
K. B. Blocker, who lives near Thelma, near old Gaston
townsite, was found Not Guilty in Halifax County Recorder’s
Court Tuesday, on a charge of having in his possession
equipment to manufacture liquor and the manufacturing of
same. The warrant against Blocker was sworn out Novem
On Active Duty k
Seaman Second Class Edred W.
Strickland, son of Mrs. James E.
King, 1332 Roanoke Ave., is now
on active duty in Uncle Sam’s
Navy. Edred received his basic
training at the Pensacola (Fla.)
Naval Air Base.
LT. PENDLETON
IS IMPROVING
SAYS MESSAGE
Mr. and Mrs. A. O. Pendleton of
this city have received a telegram
stating that on February 8, their
son, 1st Lt. Cecil A. Pendleton, was
making normal improvement. Lt.
Pendleton was reported by the War
Department as being wounded in
action in the Bougainville area on
Friday, February 4.
News of Lieut. Pendleton being
wounded was carried in last
week’s issue of The Herald and
since that time hundreds of his
friends have made inquiry of his
parents as to the extent of his
injury. For the information of
Lieut. Pendleton’s friends, his
father has released the following
address of his son: First Lieut
Cecil A. Pendleton, 0-358127
(Hosp.), Theatre Directory, APO
502, care postmaster. San Fran
cisco, Calif.
Safe Overseas
Staff Sergeant J. Wilton Dickens
has sent his parents a cablegram,
saying that he has arrived safely
overseas.
I—.— - -.
ai, aotu, vy suciiu ntury j
House. It was not even necessary
for Blocker to take the stand in
his defense, as the state failed to
make a case against him.
Ed Gibson of Roanoke Rapids,
against whom the sheriff had
sworn out a warrant on a similar
charge, was also found Not Guilty.
No evidence was presented by
the state to show that Mr. Blocker
had ever owned or operated a still
and no still was found; although
the Roanoke News of Weldon in
it’s issue of November 18, 1943,
printed a front page article with
the following headlines;
“Liquor Still Found At End Of
Commissioner’s Road”; and printed
further, “Blocker lives at Old Gas
ton town site near the end of the
new road built 18 months ago by
Highway Commissioner Carroll L.
Wilson of Roanoke Rapids. This
road has been the subject of much
criticism, since up to now, its only
apparent use was by Blocker who
is supposed to be a catfish fish
erman by trade, and Wilson and
his friends attending fish fries,
political meetings and parties at a
shack or club house on the bank
of Roanoke River, directly at the
end of the road. Blocker has been
serving this group as a host at
these gatherings."
A jury in ntuna.a. ouycnur wun
last week found that all the
charges made hy the Roanoke
News, including the charge that
Wilson owned the shack, were
false.
Mr. Blocker, who is a textile
worker at Roanoke Mill Company
No. 1, was one of the principal
witnesses for Wilson in the libel
suit, and sheriff Harry A. House
was one of the principal witnesses
for the Roanoke News of Weldon,
although he was not called upon
to testify. B. F. Turner, editor of
the News, had testified that he
printed the charges against Com
missioner Wilson, based on infor
mation about the road and shack
which he had received from sheriff
House and J. R. Wrenn.
The Roanoke News f urther
stated in the article, “A raiding
party led by sheriff House found
the still-site and complete whiskey
making equipment near Blocker’s
home”.
No such evidence was presented
at the trial this Tuesday. Sheriff
House, on cross examination by
Blocker’s attorney, did admit that
he had done all he could against
Wilson in the libel suit ■which
Wilson had brought against the
Weldon Roanoke News.
The state’s evidence showed the
supposed location was not near
Blocker’s home on the mainland
hut on an island In the Roanoke
River some distance from the
Blocker home and in Northamp
ton County.
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