University of ' Littery TheTruth Unbridled Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at Durham, North Carolina, under Act of March 3, 1818. FOR 28 YEARS THE OUTSTANDING WEEKLY OF THE CAROLINAS VOLUME 29—NUMBER 21 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, SATURDAY, MAY 26th, 1951 PRICE: TEN CENTS UNC Trustees Take Over NCC ? Funerals Held For Four Drowning Victims Joyous Outing Of Henderson Students Ends In Tragedy Henderson — Funeral services for the four students of Hender sonn Institute who drowned near Louisburg last Thursday were held Saturday and Sunday in the churches of which they were members. The students, two boys and two girls, three of whom were members of the Senior Class and one of the Junior Class, were also members of the Crown and Scepter Club of their school. A bout 60 of the club had been taken on an all day outing by faculty advisers. The students had enjoyed a most delightful day at the Lake view Mill Pond and were prepar ing to return to their home a bout 2:30 p. m. The pond is lo cated in Franklin County about 10 miles east of Henderson. At the time of the tragedy seven students were riding in a four-passenger boat when one of them playfully started rocking it. Suddenly the boat overturned throwing all of its occupants into the water. Another boat was hur riedly taken to the rescue by two other boys and the two girls Almeta Ilivia Williams, 18 and Elizabeth Lee, 18, were pulled into it and ordered to sit down. However, overcome with excite ment they became frantic and the boat capsized, again throw ing them and their two would-be rescuers into the water. The two boys, who attempted the rescue, swam to shore, but the two boys, Oliver Randolph Cheatham, 20, and James Alston, 20, were drowned. Efforts on the part of police and firemen to revive the vie tims were of no avail. All of the bodies were recov ered wkithin an hour after the tragedy. The funeral of Cheatham, was held Saturday at Red Bud Bap tist Church on. the Oxford Road;! that of Miss Williams at St. James Baptist Church on the Ox ford Road; Miss Lee at Shiloh Baptist Church, Henderson and Alston at Concord Baptist Church in Franklin Count. Commissioner _Rev. E. T. Browne, pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church who has been appointed to the Recreation Commission of the City of Durham. Man Dies While Police Escort Him To Jail Raleigh—George Stratley of 1902% South Person Street, died Monday en route to City Court with a police escort. He was suf fering with tuberculosis and lo cal officials sought to have him treated for the disease. Officers who arrested him said he was in bed when they arrived at his home and that he got up and dressed and they helped him inti a police car. They said that Stratley knew about the charge and “wanted to go” to court to get treatment. According to the officers, Stratley appeared to have a “spasm” just as the car reached the intersection of Blount and Lenoir Streets at about 9:20 a. m. An ambulance was called and he was taken to St. Agnes Hos pital when he was pronounced dead on arrival. Masons To Donate $20,000 For NAACP Research Department DENVER, COLORADO * A research department, esti mated to cost $20,000 a year, will be provided for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored PPeople by Prince Hall Masons of America. The decision was announced here at the close of a three-day Conference of Grand Masters representing thirty-nine states in which Prince Hall Grand Lodges operate. Principal speak ( er at the meeting was Thurgood Marshall, special counsel for the N A. A. C. P. Amos T. Hall, Grand Master of Oklahoma who was reelected as President of the Conference of Grand Masters, announced the action of the Grand Masters in the following stateinent: “Continued progress by the, Negro Race is being blocked by a false sense of security. There are too many Negroes who seem to feel that we have won enough victories over discrimination and segregation and that it is time to take a rest. This state of mind will lead to disaster, because it will give our enemies a chance to regroup. “The Conference of Grand Masters of Prince Hall Masons of America has decided to pro vide $20,000 a year to finance a research department for the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People It is only a fraction of what the t Association needs for its work, but we hope that it will give impetus to the fight which must go on relentlessly until all racial goals have been fully secured.” Other speakers at the Con ference were Charles Bynum, Director of Interracial Activities Of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis; Lemuel Fos ter, Negro consultant with the Savings Bonds Division of tho U. S. Treasury Department, and W. H. Mitchell, Negro field worker for the International Committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association, Durham Woman Honored By N. C. Employment mmmmm.-- mm % mmssam Mrs. Bessie Shearer Gilmer, prominent business woman, re ligious and civic leader of Dur ham, was signally honored here last week when she was pre sented a Certificate of Award by the Employment Security Corn fission of North Carolina. Making the presentation on behalf of the State was Phillip R. Bunn, area supervisor of the Commission, and Ernest C. Mc Cracken, director, Employment Service Division. The award which bears the seal of the State reads: The Em ployment Seccrity Commission of North Carolina expresses its sincere appreciation for the Loyal Service rendered by Mrs. Bessie Shearer Gilmer in testi mony whereof we are privileged at the time of retirement to be stow this Certificate of Award. Only two other such awards have been given in North Caro lina and they went to office managers, Mrs. J. B. Spillman, (Please turn to Page Ten) ( ] 1 Over 150 Walk Out When N. Carolina Solon Insults Race i 1 Last Rites Held For Drowning Victims Pictured above are the four Henderson Institute students who were drowned near Louis burg last Thursday in the Lake view Mill Pond while on an outing. The students lost their lives when the boat in which they were riding capsized. Read ing from left to right are: James Alston, Miss Almeta O. Williams Miss Elizabeth Lee and Oliver Randolph Cheatham. Boycott Launched In Nations Capital Against Store For Refusing Lunch Service Washington A boycott was begun in Wash ' ington last week to persuade the capital’s biggest department store to practice what it preach es on racial segregation. While selling to both Negroes and whites, the Hecht Company draws the line at its basement lunch counter by refusing to serve Negro shoppers. In a full page ad in the Wash ington Post during Brotherhood Week in February, the Hecht Company quoted a statement by Brotherhood Week chairman Er ic Johnston which read: “We talk about bridges of brotherhood around the world in answer to the Communist pre tensions, and that’s splendid vis ion. But brotherhood begins on a man-to-man basis at home . . . Without that footing it is idle talk and an empty vision. “We can’t afford to blind our selves to the disturbing and un dermining racial and religious antagonisms in America. They will defeat our good intentions for a world brotherhood until we cast them out and live asi brothers in our states, communi - ties, and neighborhoods.” Apparently this was only idle talk from the Hecht Company. ivirs. mary ^nurcn rerren, chairman of the Coodinating Committee for the Enforcement of the District of Columbia Anti Discrimination Laws, led an in terracial delegaticp'ach met several times with .Carry Sch wartz, personnel director, asking that the company put into effect its belief in brotherhood at its own lunch counter. Director Schwartz admitted that the lunch counter practices Jim Crow, but added that the brotherhood advertisement was “just public relations.” A “soulless corporation” he said could be interested only in making money. He promised further investigation, but in mid April, he cut off the talks, and the store’s general manager en dorsed his stand. A boycott was organized by the committee, and during this month it is sending speakers to organizations and 49 churches and has mailed 4,500 pledge cards which promise not to buy at Hecht’s until the Jim Crow (Please turn to Page Ten) Grand Jury indicts Burlington Man Charged With Rape Graham An Alamance County Grand Jury found a true bill here Wednesday in the charges brought against a white man for raping a young Negro woman at Burlington on the night of March 20. In a telephone conversation with Solicitor W. H. Murdock Thursday morning, a represent ative of "the Carolina Times was informed that Eugene Reid, the man charged with the crime will be tried for rape at the August term of Alamance Superior Court. The crime, which has stirred Negro citizens of Burlington and the entire county is said to have been one of the most wanton ever committed in this section. Last Sunday a mass meeting was held at the Jordan-Sellars School with approximately 500 persons in attendance, including Police Chief D. D. Matthews and Sheriff Hallie Moore, both of whom had been invited. Other officers present were Deputy Frank Warren, and Bur lington Negro officers Andraw Chambers and Earl Berry. Principal speaker for the oc casion was Nathaniel Bond of Durham, representative of the Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Miss Mildred Wagstaff, highly respected young woman and Shaw University sophomore, victim of the crime, was raped by Reid at gun point while she was baby sitting at Reid’s home. Miss Wagstaff was spending the holidays at home and was work ing in the place of her sister, Mrs. Mamie Day who was regu larly employed at the home. Efforts on the part of relatives of Miss Wagstaff to secure a warrant for the arrest of Reid at the time the crime was commit ted met with no avail at Burling ton Police Headquarters and the. Sheriffs office. A warrant was finally secured from Justice of the Peace R. E. Harden who found probable cause after which Reid was ar rested. In reply to criticism hurled at the Burlington Police Depart ment by the Carolina Times, for neglect of duty in the matter, Police Chief Matthews made the following statement: “I would like everyone to un derstand that the case was not under the jurisdiction of the lo cal department,” said Matthews. The girl came to our police stat ion and asked to take a warrant against Reid, but she was re ferred to Justice of Peace Bob Harden. Neither this department nor Sheriff Moore’s department had anything to do with the case itself. I understand that Harden heard the case, found probable cause and referred it to Superi or Court.” The Burlington Daily Times News had previously refused to print a word about the rape but carried a half-column story with a three-column head in its issue (Please turn to Page Ten) Cong. Cooley ; On Rampage I In Washington n the graduate and professional evels, the NAACP is expected to jroduce as expert witnesses lead ers in anthropology, education, ind allied fields, to testify as to ;he discrimination imposed on Sfegro students. NAACP attorneys represent ng the Negro parents and tax payers of Clarendon County are Harold R. Boulware of Columbia 3. C., and Special Counsel Thur jood Marshall and Assistant Special Counsel Robert L. Car ter of the national office. Funeral Held Here For Mrs. Daisy D. Bruce Funeral services were held Wednesday May 23, from White Rock Baptist Church here for Mrs. Daisy David Bruce, pioneer Durham resident and longtime member of White Rock Church. Rev. Miles Mark Fisher deliv ered the eulogy. Mrs. Bruce died Friday, May 18 at the home of Mrs. Blonnie Fortes, her daughter in Cleve land, Ohio, following an illness of several months. She had spent the latter part of her life at her residence, 507 Linwood Avenue in Durham. Born in Durham May 15, 1878, Mrs. Bruce was educated at tthe old Whitted School. In 1893 she was married to the late William B. Bruce." Ten children were born to this union. The children who survive, in addition to Mrs. Fortes are: Mrs. Anna Bell Belton, New York City; Mrs. Norma Keene and El wood Bruce of Cleveland, Ohio. Other survivors are: three grand children, James Belton, Joanna Fortes, and Walter Keene of Cleveland, Ohio; three sons-in law, Mrs. Laura Bruce of Dur ham. Interment was in Beech wood Cemetery.