PAGE FOUR THE CHOWAN HERALD Published every Thursday by Buff’s Printing House, 103 East King Street, Edenton, N. C. J. Edwin Bufflap Editor Hector Lupton Advertising Mgr. SUBSCRIPTION One Year __sl.2s Six Months 75c Entered as second-class matter August 30, 1934, at the post office at Edenton, North Carolina, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Advertising rates furnished by re quest. Cards of thanks, obituaries, reso lutions of rfespect, etc., will be charged for at regular advertising rates. THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 1936. BIBLE. THOUGHT FOR WEEK HAND IN HAND WITH GOD: For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.—lsaiah 41:13. WHAT OF THE OTHER SIDE? A young black man was executed by gas in Raleigh last week and the newspapers everywhere made a great hullabaloo about it because it took a little longer to kill him than by pre vious methods of official execution. They characterizzed the affair as “horrible”; one ran big headlines, saying “Negro’s Death was Hell;” another said, “An Unpleasant Drama.” All agreed that the legis lature must immediately repeal the lethal gas act and get back to some thing more merciful. What a fine weak-sister world we live in! A fine upstanding, church going white woman in Hoke county was attacked by this worthless brute. He tried to rape her. The press reports say it took him seven minutes to die, but what of her? Has she been able to rid her life of the “unpleasant drama” in 7 minutes, or will it al ways remain to her as a nightmare of awfulness? Pretty cheap stuff it seems to one person, anyhow. The lethal gas form of death may not be so much, but so far as the one who writes is concerned any Negro who cares to attempt an assault on a white wom an can take an hour in dying at the hands of the law, and still it will not be “horrible.” Better than that, he can be strung up to a limb, shot full of holes, and his body left as a liv ing torch warning to all blackamoors who may crave to follow in his foot steps. And that will not be a bit “horrible” either! UNJUST CRITICISM PROVES BOOMERANG That well-worn axiom of the Pliocene Age, "Chickens come home to roost,” was never better proven ■than in the case of Nina Wilcox Putnam’s recent very impudent re ference *to Edenton in The Saturday Evening Post ,article as “a peanut center and .we could smell it before we could see it." What began as a slur on the town has hoomeranged itself into a greater-glory than Eden ton has had in many, many years. Sharp as the excuse may be to be abusive of Mrs. Putnam for what she had to say The Herald is inclined to be compassionate and believe that the magazine writer meant no insult at all, and that she just saw a Sign board as she entered and left and said something for the sake of men tioning a community. True she had been here months earlier and had been treated then with much cour tesy and hospitality, but again com passion permits the belief she just forgot in her hurry to be on her way. But cQrripassion does not require that it be omitted that prior to Mrs. Putnam’s -first visit a written request came to iEclenton’s Mayor from those in charge of the Coastal Highway Route asking for a $250 contribution to the cause. Edenton did not come across with the desired contribution. The charge has been made more for cibly in other columns that in addi tion to her magazine fee Mrs. Put nam received a subsantial bonus from the Charles ferry line for a write-up of that concern, and, true or false, Mrs. Putnam put herself out in.her article to say about all the fine things that could be said of it. However, the above is beside the issue. Mrs. Putnam could only see “Edenton is a peanut center and we could shrell it before we could see it.” She may have thought she was being smart 4t that, and was delivering a slap at, the cradle of all Carolina history.! But if so it is hoped she has followed the reaction. Franlt Smethurst in The News and Observer, started it, and it was some start. Fkpers all over the State have followed, They have all remembered that Edenton had a tea party, gave ; a resident to the Declaration of In- ; dependence, housed Sir Walter Ra leigh’s i emirges ages before any i other English speaking folks came to ] America, and they have remembered it in away that has brought Edenton ] out of a somnolent newspaper past i into thei pages of glory once again. I i That’i fine, even if they did have 1 to be pricked into doing it, and ' everybody’s happy about it for every little bit helps. But the papers that are so nobly defending and calling attention, may be referred to as local i Heard and seen By “BUFF” Readers of this column will possi bly be disappointed at not seeing a reply to Pastor Briggs’ article in which he apparently gives oo a “knock-out” blow on the baptism argument. But I’m down only for the count of nine and will be up by the next issue. Fact is, this column is usually put in type by the writer without even writing it, and due to other duties I haven’t had time to give the matter much thought this week. According to his article he I appears to try to inveigle me into an argument over the merits of lmmer . sion. He’s on the wrong track, which will be put in print next week. o Well, the soldiers finally got what they went after—their bonus. Which should prove to those not lined up with the American Legion that it is a ■ good organization to belong to, even for selfish purposes, aside from all the other worthwhile things done by the Legion. At any rate, now that they will before long be getting a stack of greenbacks, I don’t want ' any of them to be surprised if they ' see a poor newspaper man trying to be extremely friendly, and possibly bring up the subject of finances. o A fellow the other night with eyes bulged out, saw one of the slot ma chines pay off $1.50. “Gosh,” he said, “does that machine pay off every time the ball goes in the hole?” The other fellow, busily gathering up the harvest of nickles, replied, “You’re happy right, it pays off as promptly as D. M. Warren over at the bank.” o The Red Men finally got their feed on Monday night. The losing sides, however, were good sports and in stead of crackers and water, they served sandwiches and pop. What the Tribe needs as much as anything is an adding machine to keep tabs on how many sandwiches some of those birds can eat. ______o Here I goes and expects a whole front page full of big news about - prominent businesses Changing hands in Edenton. But after chasing clown the rumors it all ends up in a bunch of the stuff put out around election time. And to think t'iat the rumors had it that one of our merchants j was to be married. o : My hat’s off to Branning Perry. He’s got an ad in this issue in which he tells the whole truth about his second-hand cars for sale- Read it and you’ll be convinced. But he also has another one at the plant which isn’t advertised. Fact is that one isn’t worth a damn, and he’ll tell you so. o Unless Sheriff Bunch and some of these other office-holders who will be seeking re-election come across with a cigar, I’ll cast my vote for Cam Byrum and Dick Holmes—both of them passed out “smokes” of late. Os course, they didn’t say anything about politics at the time. o One hears some very good re marks if much time is spent attend ing court. A witness, the other day, was asked if a certain floor was cov ered with boards. “Yas, suh,” said the colored fellow, “de flo’ is all cov ered ’cept what ain’t.” o Woodpeckers! Gosh, that’s what they say put holes in the old water tank. Evolution! Maybe the bloomin’ birds will soon be carrying screw drivers.. At any rate, something might be done to try to entice them to peck, away on the rivets when the new tank is put up. o Plenty of people are squawking about the cold weather.. The only ones I haven’t heard bellyache are Raleigh, Hollo well and Spec Jones — both of them are selling coal, o Just about the best letter, except one containing a small check, receiv ed this week was from Mrs. Ivy C. Johnson, of Columbia, South Caro lina. Says this lady in closing her letter: “Thanking you for your pa per, and, if a stranger may, con gratulating you on ycur ‘grand fatherhood’ (I am a grandmother of a fine two-year-old boy myself) I bog to remain." This business of being a granddaddy is a great life if the grandmammies don’t weaken. Q-. Billiard fans will have an oppor publications. In. other words North Carolina is recalling that it has an Edenton and just how important that Edenton has been in its history and is in its commercial life today. But the Saturday Evening Post in which Mrs. Putnam’s article appears goes everywhere. “Everywhere” will not read or see North Carolina’s de fense of its first capitol, so while we are satisfying ourselves we are mere ly amusing ourselves. If the New York Times, say, or the Chicago Tri bune, or the Boston Transcript, would come as readily and eagerly to the support of a little community that has a right to shine with Plymouth and Jamestown and Williamsburg, then would some result be forthcom ing. Edenton needs no profession of Treatness in North Carolina. It does need it elsewhere. THE CHOWAN HERALD, EDENTON, N. C-, THURSDAY, JANUARY 80,198« tunity to see a world’s champion on Monday night when James Caras will perform on Chap’s New Deal billiard tables. It’s useless to say that he’ll not need any of the “good shots” to call his shots. n- - ■**- —_ Even the Taylor Theatre lias its troubles. The bloomin’ pipe busted during the cold spell and cut down 1 materially on the heat. At any rate some of the pictures of late have i been so interesting that a fellow . hardly knew wether he was cold or not. . o As explained before in this column, yours truly’s time was right much ; taken up this week and besides the i cold weather naturally puts a halt on » work, so this column this week will l be short. : 1 WHAT OTHER | EDITORS SAY I : J ; AND OF PEANUT POLITICIANS | Mrs. Nina Wilcox Putnam, who 1 recently enjoyed a trip over the “Coastal Route to Florida,” has some nice things to say about Wilmington and other Carolina towns. But she arouses the indignation of The Chapel Hill Weekly by suggesting that Edenton, home of the famous tea party, attracted her by its odor of peanuts. It is rather humiliating to think that one of our great historic centers should .suggest nothing more ro mantic to an outstanding author of sorts than the aroma of the peanut. But probably this isn’t so much the fault of the writer as of the State itself which produces not only pea nuts but oftentimes a brand of “peanut politics” which is too short sighted to se the value of preserving the traditional allure and charm of historic shrines! Winston-Salem Journal. I LETTERS TO THE | i EDITOR | \ j Raleigh, Jan. 21, 1936. Dear Editor: On behalf of the Department of I Conservation and Development I take th's means of expressing my appre ciation for the interest you have shown through the news and editor ial columns of The Chowan Herald in the State’s program for the pre servation of her natural resources. We look back over 1935 with a feeling that real constructive "steps have been: taken and some p# '-M » . S.- I H jit } THE KING OF WESTERN |||| i iTARi Rides Again! fjg| bbbp i/..'si i-M--.. I MIX I 1 The MIRACLE ■ STARTS SATURDAY, PER. 1 Don’t Miss a Single Episode Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 3-4 “DR. SOCRATES” Paul Muni - Ann Dvorak Wednesday, February 5 “MURDER MAN” Spencer Tracy Virginia Bruce SOON—“Top Hat,” “Mutiny on the Bounty,” “In Old Kentucky.” Watch this space for more big attractions.