"BUY AN EXTRA BOND11 THEME OF DRIVE
THE ROANOKE RAPIDS
N. C.’s TABloid I More Netos — More!
' | Picture NBW8paper I Advertising — More j
I — All Home-Print - ? Paid Subscribers {
t _ _
VOLUME XXIX _NUMBER 45
WOMAN IS ALLEGED TO HAVE
BEEN SLAYER OF HER ‘LOVER’
Manhunt Is Ended
After Long Search
_ __ _ * _—^
ELI PUTNEY
1 ARRESTED IN
BALTIMORE
^ The “long arm of the law” has
finally caught up with Eli Putney,
negro, about 60 years old, after a
manhunt that had extended over
a period of 14 years.
^ Putney is charged with the kill
5ig of Ruth Eva DeLoach, negro
girl, who at the time of the alleg
ed slaying was about 15 years old.
The killing is said to have oc
curred on, Saturday afternoon
tout 3 or 4 o’clock, on January
, 1930, on a farm known at
that time as the Matthews place,
near Rosemary.
Details of the killing as recalled
by Chief of Police H. E. Dobbins
^ this city, follows: Henry De
Boactr,- father of the negro girl
and his family resided on a farm
I near Murfreesboro. DeLoach and
1 his wife .-separated, the negro man
I bringing his children here and lo
| eating on the Matthews place. The
I - j®itney negro at that time was
1 living near by. Soon after De
1 Loach came to this section he was
I arrested hv officers on a charge
rdf illegal *sale of liquor and placed
in jail to await trial. It was while
was confined that Putney is
alleged to have gone to the De
Loach home and engaged in a viol
I* ent quarrel in the kitchen with the
l DeLoach girl with whom he is re
ported to have been keeping com
jSny. It is said that Putney pull
ed a .25 automatic pistol from
his pocket and fired at the girl
who was standing on the step just
outside of the kitchen door, the
I bullet striking her just under the
S vfb, causing almost instant death.
After the slaying Putney went
to Dragonsville, Va., and from
there into the state of Maryland
where he located on a farm not
far from Baltimore. At the time
cdthe killing Putney is alleged to
have • been living with a negro
woman as his common law wife,
and when he fled he left her be
hind. After taking up residence in
Maryland and at the time of his
£%est he again had another com
mon law wife and is said to be the
father of five children.
, No trace of the alleged slayer
was found until about two years
after he left here. He was arrest
ed in Baltimore on a charge of
(Continued on Page 7—Sect. A)
.In Oklahoma
i
i— sai
Staff Sergeant James Braswell,
26, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. G.
Braswell of Rich Square, is in
an Army hospital at Camp Gru
ber, Oklahoma. Braswell was
taken ill while on a hike some
time ago. He has been confined
to the hospital for eight weeks.
He is the husband of the former
Miss Marjorie Bridgers of this
city. Sergt. Braswell entered the
service August 25, 1943. He is a
member of the famous Rainbow
Division, and was employed by
the Roanoke Mills prior to enter
ing the service.
C. L. Elting
Is Promoted
C. L. Elting, who has been con
nected with the Virginia Electric
and Power Company for the past
twenty years, has been promoted
to the position of Distribution Sup
erintendent of the Roanoke Rapids
District. Mr. Elting has had much
experience in this particular work.
This appointment has received
the enthusiastic approval of the
entire personnel of the Carolina
Division of the Virgihia Electric
and Power Company, many of
whom have worked with Mr.
Elting for years.
Safe Overseas
Pvt. Arthur B. Kidd has arrived
safely overseas, according to in
formation received by his wife.
Two Negroes Are
Arrested Today
Charged: Theft
Men have been arrested in
many places, but A. J. Brigman,
local police officer, was “hard
pressed” today. He, however, was
called upon to arrest two negroes
Mark Arrington and John Burns,
charged with stealing a pair of
shoes from Coburn’s Shoe Store.
And Officer Brigman, of
all things, went to the “chain
gang” to make the arrests. The
negroes, being trustees of the
state prison system, were doing
some work on the regravelling
and tarring of Roanoke Avenue in
Downtown Roanoke Rapids this
morning, and were serving “time
on the roads”, one for shooting
two men and the other for steal
ing. But Brigman made the ar
rests “right off the chaingang.”
CHAIRMAN LEE
IS OPTIMISTIC
OVERRESULTS
rsuy an extra, nunu is me
theme of the present campaign of
the Fifth “V” War Loan which
opened here and throughout the
country last Monday. The cam
paign got off to a fine start, ac
cording to officials, but because
of this fact, there will be no
letdown among the workers. A
huge amount of money has to be
raised through the sale of these
government securities—for the na
tion as a whole, $16,000,000,000, and
for Halifax County* $1,657,000.
Chairman H. E. Lee, while very
optimistic, is not over-confident,
and emphasized _ the fact that if
Halifax County’s quota is to be
reached, everyone will have to do
his part and a little more—hence
the slogan—“Buy an extra Bond.”
For the information of the pub
lic the list of agencies who are
handling the bonds direct are as
follows: Roanoke Bank & Trust
Company, Citizens Bank & Trust
Company, Roanoke Rapids Build
ing & Loan Association, Rosemary
Building & Loan Association, the
Postoffice and Radio Station
WCBT. All of these agencies have
the E, F and G series on hand
and they can be issued promptly
(Continued on Page 12—Sect. A)
tflrs. Ger'rudCdvJShM«rdef
Visiting Home
Cpl. Robert G. (Bobby) Martin
i son of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Martin,
Roanoke Rapids, is stationed at
Hammer Field, Fresno, Calif.,
after qualifying as first flight
engineer turret gunner at the
Army Air Field, Laredo, Texas.
Bobby graduated from Roanoke
Rapids High School in June 1943.
He entered the service after
graduation and took his basic
training at Keesler Field, Miss.,
where he graduated as mechanic
engineer on the B-24 Liberator
Bomber. He went to gunnery
school in Texas, and was recent
ly sent back to California and
assigned to the 4th Air Foirces
on the West Coast.
Gov. Inspector
Moves To City
1 Mrs. Florida H. Cauthen and
daughter, Barbara, of Anderson, S.
C., have taken the apartment of
Mrs. John M. Smith on Hamilton
street. Mrs. Cauthen is government
inspector at the Roanoke and Pat
terson mills.
Ridenour Now
1st Lieutenant
1st Lt. F. M. Ridenour has been
promoted to his present rank at
the Air Service Command Training
Center, Fresno, Calif., and has
been transferred to Stinson Field,
San Antonio, Texas. He entered
the Army over seven years ago,
and has seen service in Alaska.
Henry Kinnin, white, about 43
years of age, married and the
father of seven children, was shot
to death last Monday night about
10:30 o’clock.
The slayer of Kinnin, it is said,
was Mrs. Gertrude Storey, about
40 years old, and the mother of
two children. The killing took
place just across the Roanoke Riv
er from Roanoke Rapids in North
ampton County in front of the
one-room “shack” in which the
woman lived.
The motive for the slaying, it
is believed, was the threat by
Kinnin to cease his attentions to
the woman which is said to have
extended over a period of about
three years.
This threat on the part of the
dead man is thought to have been
actuated by the Storey woman’s
daughter, Iliose, 16, leaving the
home of her mother and refusing
to return until “you get rid of
that man and stop running around
with him.”
Ar'pnrriinf* fn infnrmnfirm "MVo
Storey and her eleven-year-old
son, James, left home about 3
o’clock Monday afternoon presum
ably in search of her daughter who
had left sometime during the day.
After finding the girl and learn
ing her refusal to return home she
and her son returned to her home
in Kinnin’s car accompanied by
him. They arrived about 10 o’clock.
The couple and the boy entered
the house and immediately an
argument ensued with the free use
of profanity. The windows and
doors if the “shack” being open
the heated words of the man and
woman could easily be heard by
people across the road.
Mrs. Storey, is is said, was heard
to exclaim to her son after the
quarrel had been in course for
several minutes, “get me my gun,
— d — him, I’m going to kill
him.” Whether she got the gun
herself or whether it was given
to her by her son is not known,
but the boy was heard to say to
his mother “don’t kill him mama,
don’t kill Mr. Henry.” But the
plea fell on deaf ears.
Kinnin ran out of the house
toward his car which had been
turned around and was facing the
highway, the woman following
him. The man went around the
car to get in on the left hand
side and as he was about to
open the door the woman is alleg
ed to have caught up with him
and at this point he turned around
and faced her and she is said to
have fired one shot from a re
volver point blank at him from a
distance of about three feet. The
(Continued on Page 12—Sect. A)
■— - - -