North Carolina Newspapers

Negro Escapes Conviction On' Rape Rap Periodical Dept ^ if if it ir "W it if 'k if if ^ ^ Mon Wos Identified 3 Times By Young White Woman DIES IN SMITHFIELD- Recluse Leaves $100,000 Estate? WUlle MaMey smllM tiuuikfully with Ids fmuUj after belnf ■ 'enburc Co _ _ 1 with Maacw here are hie wile, Arlene, and their six month* old son, Bobbie. Massey is the first Necro in freed last weelc by a MeeUenburc County Jury on charces of rap ing a white woman. Shown with Itfass^ hi North Carolina ever to be aeqnitted of rape by an ail white Jury of men after having been identified as the atiaclcer by the prosecntolx. The Masseys live In Monroe. WILUE MASSEY GOES BACK TO OLD JOB, HiEE, HAPPY HAN SMITHFIELD This coastal plain farming town wae set buzzing here early this week with the revelation that the estate of Henry Restus Cole, v(rho died quietly last week with some $7,000 in cash on his body, may reach a total of $100,000 after a CMnplete survey is made. Cole, a recluse, was found dead last week on a woodpile outside of his little farm house in the Bentonsville township, in the southern part of the cotmty near the Wayne and Sampson county lines. Ei^ty-six years old at his death, he was never married. His closest relative is his 88 year old brother, William, who is now living in the Bentonsville CHARLOTTE WlUie James Massey, 33 year- old brickyard worker, holds a distinction probably unequalled by any otiier Negro in this part of the country. As far as the TIMES records show, he is the only Negro in the Stat* who, after having been three times Identified by a white woman as rapist, was ac quitted—and tty an all white male jury in Mecklenburg County! I JUate 'this week, reports indl- eated that Massey was a happy, thankful and humble man, back with his family, his wife and six montlis-old son, Iq Union Coun ty and on hit old job at Ken- ''tLritok Brick and Tile Company in Greenville, S. C. Massey was tried twice on cliarges of raping the wife of a Greenville, S. C. dentist. The first trial, in the December term of the Superior court, ended in a mistrial after a Jury failed to agree on a verdict. Then, last week, Massey faced trial again, and, alter four days of tedious court proceedings and 30 anxious mlnytes of waiting for the jurjr’s 'decision, the young father was set free on a verdict of “not guilty." According to court testimony, the attack occurred on Oct. 31. The alleged rape victim, a 25 year old white woman, testified that while she walked alons > (Please turn to Page Eight) GET OUT THE VOTE!! A drive to get lOp^OOO additional voters in North Carolina will be launched at a ^ate-wide Registration and *‘Get-out-the^ote** Conference at Mtartin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh on Satur- dayjMareh 20, Announcement of thexme-day Con^ f^ence came this week from KeUy Alexander, iRresident of the North Carolina NAACP, .Some 1,000 delegates are expected to attend the Conference which will hear Clarence Mitchell of the NAACP Washington staff address the meet ing, Also expected to be speak are Sen. Alton Len- non and Kerr Scott, candielates for Senate in the Spring Democratic Primary, YOUNG FARMER SHOOTS WIFE FIT OF JEALOUS RAGE A youn like th* other ma OXFORD Tfaand who didn't his wife and an- the "slow drag” together ^ At Granville county Jail h^ypending the outcome of his y^e’s condition at Duke hospi- taJ> vames Rice, 30, who told offi- B^rs at first that the shooting was accidental then reversed himself and admitted that he tired in a fit of Jealotis rage, told V Sheriff Roy D. Jones here of ^how he shot his wife when he ^returned to his home and foimd his wife in the arms of their house guest, Joe Gill. He went on further to say, according to reports, that he found his wife and Gill lying in t>ed in each other’s arms when , he returned from a neighbor’s house. Before he left home, re ports say. Rice jtated that his wile, M^ El^abeth Rice, and Gill had been dancing. “1 didn’t like the way they were doing the slow drag," he was quoted as saying. And, when he returned home, discovered bis wife and Gill in each other’s arms in bed, he warned his wife that he was go ing to kill her. He opened fire a short range, the bullet entering his wife’s left breast, puncturing a lung and lodging in her kid ney. lUce said that Gill advised him to tell police officers that the shooting was aceldental, but he later changed hla mind and ■aid that he acted In a fit ol Jealousy. Late tills week there was no (eport on the condition of Mrs. Rice, who is in Duke hospital at Durham. The Rev. Charles B. Cobb, partor of th« St. John't Congre gational Church, in Sprlnsifield, will be the Religious Sm- phasit Week tpeaker at North Carolina College February 14- 18. The Rev. Cobb, a native of Durham and a graduate of the North Carolina College, with a BD degree from Houmrd Univer sity, will deliver the keynote od dreis in Duke Auditorium at 4:30 Sunday afternoon, Feb. 14. Event* during the week in clude special assemblies, butt sessions, forum* and Rev. M. M. Hsher Admitted To Famed Society DURHAM Rev. Miles Mark Fisher, pas tor of the White Rock Baptist Church here a»d author of a re cent work in church history, has been accepted Into honorary membership of the International Mark Twain Society. Notice ^Rev. ^'ii^er’s acc^- tance by ttie body came'in the form of a letter last week from the organization’s president, Cy ril Clements, a nephew of the great American humorist. Rev. FUher, pastor of the White Rock Baptist Church lor the past 21 years,, is the author of “Negro Slave Songs in the United States,” wliich came off the Cornell University press a lew days ago. The book is an en largement ol a paper submitted lor his doctor’s degree in church history at the University of Chi cago. The Ph.D. degree was confer red on Rev. Fisher by Chicago in 1049. He received his B.D. degree from the Northern Bap tist Theological Seminary, also of Chicago. The membership roll of the Mark Twain Society, "inspired by the writings of Samuel Lang- hom Clemens to honor world literature,” reads like an intetr national "Who’s Who.” It has re presentatives in nearly every country of the free world and some of its honorary officers in clude: Harry S. Tnunan, John Mase field, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, David Lloyd George, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Jean Sibelius and Lady Nancy Astor. International representatives ol the organization are Winston Churchill, England, King Paul, Greece, King Baudouin, Belgi um, Andre Maurols, France, Alcide DeGaspler, Italy, Jawa- harlal Nehru, India, King Mo hammed Rlza Pahlevl, Asia Ml- norm.King Sldl Mohammed, North Africa, aqd Thomas Dew ey, New York. Twain’s nephew, Cyril Cle mens is President of the Society, and some of its active officers are Edna Ferber, Carl Sandburg, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Fritz Krelsler, Helen Hayes, Church ill, the Archbishop of Canter bury and Norman Rockwell. According to spokesmen for the Society, it was "or^nally (Please turn to Page Eight) community, also. An old sack containing $7,008 was fouind pinned to tils chest and early tills week Smlthfield bank officials discovered $5,150 in cash and bonds amounting to $1,000 in his safety deposit box. In addition, it is reported that property deeds amounting^ of some $4,500 and 10 shares of stock in a Washington, D, C. apartment house firm were found in ills four room house. The belief was expressed that Cole might have deposits in other banics In the county and the state and county court offi cials estimated tliat his estate may total $100,000 after a sur vey is completed. Already a will has been pre sented to court officials by a 35 year-old white man wlio, re ports say, was a long-time friend of Cole’s and a nearby resident County Superior Court Clerk H. V. Rose told the TIMES Wednesday that Herbert Langs ton presented will for probate Tuesday, but that one of the witnesses to the document is now dead and Rose thought it probably would be Thursday or Friday l>efore it could be filed. Rose expressed the opinion tiiat tiie wiU 'Vas written by a layman and that be believed the date ol signature was some where around 1948. As far as he could remember. Rose said the contents of the will provided “liberally” for the closest rela tive, the dead man’s brother, William, and several neices and nephews. Cash found on Cole’s body in cluded a $500 blU, 59 $100 bills, ^3 $50%llls, a number of smaj^O^ bills and some ehange.J'Ota^or tlie dollar biUs was a large one which has been out of circula tion since 1923. Cole, well-kn^lph around Ben- tonsvUl»^mmunlty, Is thought by several of the community’s residents to be a wealthy man. He had farming interests in Johnston. Sjampson, Harnett counties ’ and supervised farms in ttiese Muntles lor many years. He is also thought to have sev eral business Interests in Wash ington, D. C., where he went on many trips. On» six children, he was the only one to receive an educa. tion. He graduated Irom the State Normal College lor Ne groes at Fayetteville, and alter teaching lor several years be came a mercliant. • His lour room farm house, wliich has a leaky rool and is badly in need ol repairs, is the same one owned by his lather, a lormer slave. Cole lived alone, did his own coolUng and had the most simple lumlshlngs. In virtual seclusion lor the past decade, he had frequent callers, however, seeking loans. County Coroner James Pitt man ruled that Cole died Irom natural causes after an exam ination. itoiren North Carolina College's campus as me looioau scar visuea me college campos lasi weec-ead t* U* heart-throb, NCC co-ed Sallie Mae Hughes of Caroline’s hometown, Columbia, South CarwllM. J C Caroline, Illinois’ All-America halfback, is shown here surrounded by atoiren th Carolina College’s campus as the football star visited the college campus last week-end t* ' Last Rites Held For Hational Baptist Officer CHARLOTTE Funeral services for the Rev. Thomas Frank Fraylon, 53, of 608 E. Ninth St., who died Feb. 2 in a Durham hospital, were held Sunday, February 7 at 2:30 at Greater Mount Slnal Baptist Church, which he founded. The Rev. W. H. Davidson, pastor ol Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, officiated, and burial was in York Memorial Park. Serving as active pallbearers were Reverends J. B. Bradley, R. H. Fraizer, W. H. Peterson, J. W. Walker, S. M. Hardin, T. C. Sanders, A. J. Brewer, Rev. M. L. Davidson. Honorary pallbearers were Robert Davis, Byrd Jameson, Jotm Twltty, Jake Haclcett, Wil lie Young, Thomas Biggers, Lu ther Floyd, Tom Lyles, Thomas Cherry, Geter Jackson, James Crowder, John Imes and James. Stroud, deacons and trustees of Mt. Sinai Church. Rev Fraylon led a campaign (Please turn to Page Eight) REV. THOMAS FRAYLON ^ ^ ^ > IP —^ FOR THIRTY YEARS THE OUTSTAN DING WEEKLY OF THE CAROLINAS Enttred a» Sttond CIomm Motter at the Post Office at Durhtm, North Carolina, und«r Act of March 3,1979. VOLUME 31—NUMBER 2 DURHAM, N. C., SATURDAY. FEB. 13, 1954 PRICE 10 CENTS Pictured above are officers of the North Carolina National As-1 branches throughout the Sute atwnded the confmnce, scaslons of " Colored People in a recent state- ‘ ' More than 55 representatives of I and sociation for the Advancement of Colored People in a recent state; | whi^ were held at a Charlotte Hotel wide meeting held at Charlotte. KERRY FIRES NAACP MEET CHARLOTTE The tendency of the Christian Church to skirt its obligations to society was attacked and a call for positive action on the part of all Christians was sounded in an address delivered at the cele bration of NAACP Sunday here recently by Rev. Coleman Ker ry, pastor of the Friendship Baptist Church. The celebration program was held at the Ebenezer Baptist church and followed the one day state-wide meeting of the NA ACP here. Rev. Kerry traced the history ot ideas wliich prevailed in the church during the various stages of Its development and gave rise to its different emphases, and concluded that the church faces a clear and concise course of action in regards to society. ’The young minister was se vere in his criticism of what he termed the Christian church’s tendency to escape from world problems in the contemplation of another, heavenly world, and its complacency toward social evils. (Please turn to Page Eight) NORTH CAROLINA NAACP LAUNCHES VIGOROUS PROGRAM FOR I9H IN QUEEN CITY CONFERENCE CHARLOTTE A vigorous program of action for 1954, which includes all out attacks on segregation in transportation, discrimination in housing, educational and hospl- talvfacllities and the Inltatihg ot a’imve for 15,000 new members was outlined by officers of the North Carolina NAACP in the state-wide meeting here recent ly. More than 55 representatives of the various branches of the organization throughtout the state attended the one day meet ing held here Saturday, Jan. 30. The broad program ol action, outlined by State president Kel ly M. Alexander and several olficers of the organization, was approved by the assembled dele- gatei. Parts of the program were presented by Attorney C. O. Pearson, chairman ol the State Legal Redress committee; N. L. Gregg, treasurer; Rev. L. W. Wertz of Hamlet; Mrs. L. I^. Graham of Burlington; W. C, Chance of Parmalee; and J. B. Harren of Rocky Mount. Broken down, the comprehen-lic funds; sive program of action approved by the meeting, is as follows: In Education: Encourage qualified Negroes to attend the University of N. C., and too seek admission to private schools; Seek appropriate action on the elementary and high school levels following a decision of the Supreme Court in schools cases now before it; In Transportation: Attack segregation in bus travel, railway station waiting rooms and airport facilities; In Housing: Seek to prohibit exclusion of Negroes from public housing projects; Establish educational pro grams against residential segre gation and to prepare for legal action against residmtial segre gation; Recreational and Public Ac commodations: To seek a concerted legal at tack on s^regatlon and exclu sion of Negroes from places of recreation provided for by pab- Employment: To attack instances of racial discrimination wherever poaai- ble; Hospitals and Health Ser vices: “To" "prepare for legal action against segregation and exclu sion of Negroes from city, coun ty and state health fadUtiea. President Alexander made It clear that the objective ol the NAACP is to completely elimi nate all forms of discrimination and segregation practicca In ttas State. He expressed th* opinlca that legal, legislative and «ta- cational techniques used sureaaa fully in the part by the (MraMBl- zatlon make it plain that they are the most effective meUMkh for securing minority rights. Re alao noted the growth la importance of the organiaatkMi and declared it a neceaaify ttat much of the work of the naHo»- al organisation be planaad aad executed on the state leveL Alexander praised two organisation’s staff (Please turn to Page Sight)