North Carolina Newspapers

THE NBWSHERA1JX i Only Paper Published in Burke Colmty .The Burke .County News f The Morganton Herald f Consolidated November 29, 1901 Subscription Price $1.50 per Year in Advance VOL- XXXV. APRIL 22ND, 1920. NO. 44 . CTSEMAN SENTENCE mveriH Saves Life of Man Con- ,ec a:l Sentenced to Elec ti ( ution Reasons. I , i iv Governor Bickett com L'Y tw 1 Sentence of Aaron Wise $;:tei. death in the electric chair j" s in tne caau; pemicnuaij. 4 l ' W' f thp governor came as The at ... TinrV-P founv where the itrrr i" v 10 iv with which Wiseman was :ra?eJ ? ' mrted. The news innectc-i , ... . vprv Httle j boon recci" - oinment LVnoi- Bickett issued the fol- nr statement, which presents in Gov ? . ; Vio matter: .Mhi. ww : .i ..... 2 1 rrr in VlO 1 1 T.t 1 P. 0f Glen Alpine in Burke ..-o n hi nod v battle in junt c , . TiDtinoscpn killed t;,,i 11. "i"""'" , " 1 haii 1 ' , t t v.; v?ol fnr UDon his trial for flom-.-ide Dr. Iiennessee was ac 'V'a On the night of January I jois Dr. iiennessee saeppuu "m vvist bound passenger train 1 I 1 nt filen Alpine and al- '?vt"'iinn'diately thereafter was tc1 times in tuc uciv.iv v ,tl n nistol balls coiner en- ri'v through his body, instantly '.'fy immediate circumstances of kiiliiii: pointed to Garfield Pitts -ain Pitts as the assailants of iu" '.vse-e and tnev were at once Vcl A brother of Dr. Hennes jt -"tiiicd in the trial of Wiseman, thnv was bitter feeling between y' Pitts boys and his brother, and a: it was generally talked in the r,;y that there was a feud between A true bill was found against 'n ;.r.d Garfield Pitts, but when f'caso came to trial they were ac ;;:teil. There is a widespread feel Tjn Ijitke county that the jury re Tved all doubts in favor of the Pitts y because of the fact that Dr. Hen hnd killed their brother and :i been acquitted. The jury seem i to have been influenced by the Mo vie law that demands an eye for an e end a tooth for a tooth. "M. N. Iiennessee, brother of the ceased, appeared at the hearing -fore me and said that he was still :' oririon that the Pitts boys were -.plicated in the killing of his (Continued on ninth page.) HE SENATE PASSES A NEW ARMY BILL rovides P'or Voluntary System I of Military Training Between the Ages of 18 and 21. The army reorganization bill pro- 1 1 t ing for a regular army of 297,000 :cers and men, a national guara oi 3,000 and a voluntary system of .n tary training for young men, be- 3 een the ages of 18 and 21 was ased by the senat yesterday and t goes to conference. Except for the provisions fixing the ze of the regular army and the na al uard the senate and house asures are widely different. The ?e bill authorized a regular army 299.000 men and 17,832 officers. ile the senate measure provides ' 280,000 enlisted men and 17,832 -cers. Universal military training prom- 3 2 j 5 the principal obstacle, for the a e and house conferees. I he f;e bill made no provisions for ir.?. Leaders are planning to out a separate training measure' 'n the fenate measure provision is tie for four months training after 5?ary 1, 1922. Enlistment in the s i 8 tional reserve or national guard is "onai but not compulsory, upon "fusion of training, wder both the senate and house s the national guard would con lof 800 men and officers for each - i Wer of congress and be support- n u tne federal government, al under direct orders of the ernors of the several States. BOY IS EF.FrTROCITTEn i Hickory Record of yesterday a J iat l .ester Pruett, a doffer boy gl'ed ,t the Shuford mills in si.and, vas electrocuted about 3 f Tui sflay aftrnodn when he hold of the wire fence enclosing "'i.i- : mer in tne mm lot. ine ,:e charged with electricity hi. r we sn.jck sufficient to produce 1 in ;i f..w minutes. Th voung ?was lifted from the fence and I in u : w " v minutes. n? fer.ee was rlinrcrw) from what ioun(i later to be a leaky motor, aampros:- of tho nir havine" some- ? to do with it: The fence was i;ea around the transformer to the public from the high 'w'rcs and nobody had an" "e fence carried a current of CHANGE OF PULPITS ' J- MacLean, of the Mor- u" i resbytnan church, and Dr. in I31'" of the Hickory Presby . church, exchanged pulnits for ndays services. Dr. Craig is jndn! preacher and the local C .vvas lad of the opportunity arr liim. ..JJces will be held Saturday af- at . o'clock and Sunday iifl O r l -t -4 -V- m 1 1 joi ii at L.inviiie cnurcn, ana f hSimday afternoon at 3 w,,1,!e pastor, Rev. J. B. Ta 5 u be assisted in these services J- W. Bennett, of Rutherford LOCAL BRIEFS IN AND AROUND TOWN Short Items of Local and Per sonal Interest Gathered During the Week. The Maude Stevens Concert Com pany, of the Alkahest Lyceum Sys tem, will appear in the auditorium here on May 7th. Mrs. Albert Wilson entertained the Music club on Monday afternoon. Mrs. Frank Gulley was an invited guest. A salad course was served. In the recent campaign for funds for the Y. M. C. A. Morganton and Burke county contributed $160. Miss Wilhelmina Tate was chairman for Burke county. In rearranging, assignments of teachers in the graded school Miss Janie Pearson has been piaced in the second grade, Miss Mary Moovc hav ing resigned. Mr. C. F. Kirksey has been ap pointed committeeman from Burke county on the Democratic Executive Committee from the Ninth Congres sional District. The Ladies' Missionary society of the First Baptist church observed last week as Week of Prayer and on Fri day afternoon the officers of the so ciety were hostess at a tea to all the members of the society. The Burke Grocery Company is planning to extend the building which the store occupies 40 feet in the rear and to install elevator service to the second story. This addition will in crease their floor space at least 2000 feet. The April issue of "The Lyre," the monthly publication issued by the stu dents of the Morganton high school, has just been published by The News-Herald job department. It is a neat, newsy little paper, a credit to its youthful editors. A special meeting of the American Legion has been called for Saturday night. All members who can possibly do so are requested to attend. The meeting will be held at 7:30 in the K. of P. -hall. Every ex-soldier should belong to the Legion. Mr. R. T. Claywell has a very fine barometer in the accuracy of which he takes much pride. Mr. Claywell intends to bequeath this much prized instrument to the Charlotte Observer, he says, to aid them in determining weather forecasts. Ke says "Jo-Jo" always misses it. One of the teachers in the Mor ganton school asked her class to name important events in the past year or two. One bright-eyed little fellow, the son of Mr. and Mrs. M. F McAllister, raised his hand and answered, "The Seventy-five Million Dollar Campaign. Mr. S. S. Lane and family moved on Tuesday from Green street to" the house formerly occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Barns on East Union street, which was recently purchased by Mr. Lane. Mr. and Mrs. Barns moved into part of the Moran house on West Union street. Mr. John Wa caster, of the State Hospital, has purchased the Lane hosue and will move in very soon Last Wednesday night Mr. R. W. Pipkin was attracted by 'the noise of a stalled car on Morehead street and, investigating, found a Hudson super six, seven passenger car stuck in the mud. The occupants had fled. It turned out later that the car had been stolen in Asheville by two ne groes wh6 were attempting to take it through Morganton without going over the principal streets. The owner telephoned along the- route he sup posed they would take and got in communication with Mr. Pipkin. He came the next day for his car. The ne groes gave themselves away by in quiring the way to the Morganton sta tion and were arrested on Thursday and placed in jail. TORNADO IN SOUTH TAKES HEAVY TOLL Series of Violent Storms Sweep Mississippi Valley Death List Reaches at Least 140 Destruction Great. A death list which was reported at more than 140 and property loss of many millions of dollars was the toll exacted by a series of tornadoes which Tuesday swept a score of towns, villages and isolated farms in eastern Mississippi, northwestern Al abama and the southern counties of Tennessee. Commmunication with many of the stricken districts was difficult but fragmentary reports agreed that the tornadoes swept down with a deadly suddenness, oblitrating everything that lay in their path. In at least one case that of Rose Hill, Miss., -practically the entire town is believ ed to have been destroyed and in sev eral instances all members of a fam ily were reported to have been caught in the debris of its home. Striking first apparently in Lau derdale J county, Miss.,' about 10 o'clock Tuesday morning, the storms swept a narrow path across the re mainder of the State, carrying de struction to a dozen or more com munities. About the same time ef fects of the same or similar disturb ance were reported from counties in the northwestern corner of Alabama, the extreme force of the wind being expended before the Tennessee line was reached, in Williamson and Maury counties. Meridian, Miss, the heart of a rich farming district, . suffered heaviest, according to late reports, with a known death list of 21. The village (Continued on sixth page.) I r ' : . MORGANTON SCHOOL BUILDING ' ... ,-. : ' '"' d?'rf ,. J! m v ffgj ? --il.il W'iJC-y' ,i, i, - "Ssfr -l f - ini irni"f-i-in HiiHf-iia-rinnnrirnmnrT Hiw'inf-r .mi v , Phot o bv Webb The town has outgrown this building and is now in great need of ad ditional school room to take care of the more than one thousand children DEATH IN VIRGINIA OF MR. W: A. McGIMSEY Pneumonia jCIaims Former! i2urnc uizen weaves Large FcEiily Burial Here. 1 -"' The remains of Mr. Walter A. Mc Gimsey. who died last Friday morn ing at his home in Clarksville, Va., reached Morgantcn Saturday after ncon, sccoTnpanied by the members of his family and Messrs. Wade Gibbs and Bob McGimscy. The two latter had gone to Clarksville last week upon learning of Mr. McGimsey's condition. Mr. McGimsey was ill for about two weeks, developing pneumonia, which caused his death. From almost the first of his illness his condition was considered hopeless. He was 41 years of age, a native and long-time resident of Burke county, having moved from his for mer home at Gibbs to Clarksville about six years ago. He had been married twice, his last wife, nee Miss Cora McCall, and eight children sur viving. - - While residing here Mr. McGimsey had the respect and confidence of his neighbors and acquaintances and their friendship and esteem followed him j to his new home in Virginia. The news of his untimely death was the source of much sorrow to many friends and relatives in Burke. The funeral was held Sunday af ternoon, at the home of Mrs. McGim sey sister, Mrs. W. H. Gibbs con ducted b f .Rev. C. M. Pickens, and in terment made irv the Morganton cem etery. Out of town relatives here for the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Mc Call, of Hendersonville; Mrs. T. M. Minish, of Pitts, and Mr. and Mrs. Charlie McGimsey, of Linville. Mrs. McGimsey and children will not return to Clarksville but will re main here indefinitely with relatives. EVENTS CAUSING WAR INTIMATED BY KAISER In Gerard's Presence He Said He Would Start Something in Three Weeks Time. The former German Emperor, in a remark dropped in the presence of James J. Gerard, on board the kai-1 ser s yacht in 1914 on the day of the assassination of the Austrian crown prince, gave intimation of the events which led "'to the world war, Mr. Ge rard declared Saturday at a luncheon given by the Women's Democratic club in honor of the memory of Thom as Jefferson, The kaiser said that because of the attitude of some of the common peo ple, who had refused to accord him the proper respect in the reichstag, he" would 'start something in three weeks time,' " said Mr. Gerard. "I have never written this before," the former ambassador added, "but I was stupid enough not to understand what he meant; I did not realize at that time that this man could throw the whole world into chaos and com mit wholesale murder." NORTH CAROLINA ROADS The report of the North Carolina highway commission to be made to the special session of the legislature in July" will show that of 114 pro jects submitted to the Federal gov ernment for approval there is now completed and under construction, 109.7 miles of hard surfaced roads and 1 233 miles of soil roads. This makes a total of 343 miles of road, approved for 87 of the State's 100 counties. The highway commission now, has 30 projects under way and has ap proved 95 miles of hard surfaced roads and 748 miles of soil roads. There are now 25 other projects' be ing surveyed and plans for 26 other projects are being prepared. North Carolina is now jimong, the. most active States in the matter of road building; interest in the work is very keen in all parts of the State. MARRIAGE LICENSES Zack Cook and Mary Brittain. Claude L. Oxentine and Cora Ben field. Dollar Day May 11th. Mm-: ry - ft'IBrt T . .: FREE SPEECH IS AMERICANS' RIGHT Marshall Says It is Not For Tiiose Who Seek a Ha. ven in This Country. Vice-President Marshall was ap plauded by members of the Associat ed Prsss in New York Tuesday when he advocated freedom of speech and press as guaranteed by the constitu tion but favored "soaking it to the fellow who causes trouble in the American republic by what he s-dys." ' He drew a distinction &s to rights of free speech between those who, were born in the country and others. Native born, he said, had the right" to advocate alteration of the govern ment v by "constitutional means to so cialism or a monarchy, but those who sought a haven in this country had no. j right to propose a change in the sys tem of government. - After deprecating the great amount of publicity given to crime and sug gesting that newspapers pour oil on the troubled waters , of 'unrest by speaking of the fine things, in Ameri can life. Mrl Marshall told the meet ing what, he thought would "be f eal needs, namely, "a clarion call f ronl every newspaper in America for man to stand for justice, for freedom, for right, for the maintenance of the old constitution and .'the- old principles upon whic hthe republic was founded." "There are a great manv neonle he continued, "who think we are go ing back to where . we were before August 1. 1914.7 We are not going back to where' we were before August i'I, 1914. We are not going back there, gentlemen. 1 would to God it were possible to go back to 1849, but we live in the year of grace 1920. and we are not going back. And you know and I know, whether we close our eyes to it or not, that ten million men did not agonize and suffer and die upon the far flung lines of Flanders and France that the world might be what the world was." OVERALL PARADE WILL BE NATIONAL AFFAIR New York Extends Invitation to All Overall Clubs to Join In Saturday's Parade. New York's big overall parade next Saturday will be given a nation al flavor by the presence in the line of march of delegates from qther cities having overall clubs, it was an nounced yesterday. Expansion of the parade plans fol lowed the arrival of J. Newton Bar ker, a volunteer marcher frofai Sa vannah, Ga. The cheese club com mittee in charge of the demonstra tion decided that if one man came all the way from Savannah to march, others would gladly come from other cities and it was decided to extend in vitations to all overall clubs to send delegates. Police Commissioner Enright has promised the committee a platoon of overall clad policemen to lead the march, provided Mayor Hylan will sanction temporary doffing of regula tion police attire. A STARTLING STATEMENT University News Letter. At a recent meeting of the Amer ican Public Health Association in New York, Dr. W. S. Rankin, the president, made some startling state ments with reference to the physical and mental health of the population of this country. The 110,000,000 citizens of this country, 45,000,000 are physically im perfect; 15,000,000 died annually; 3, 000,000 are in bed all the time; 1, 000,000 have tuberculosis; 2,500,000 contract veneral diseases each year; from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 are cases of hook worm and malaria. Only 37,500,000 are fairly healthy and 19,500,000 are in full vigor. With all our vaunted support of higher educa tional institutions, it is interesting, perhaps surprising, to find that there arermore persons in the insane asy lums, in this country than in all the colleges and universities. It is also estimated that the former cost more to maintain than do the latter. Pay your, poll tax NOW. FIRST REGULAR MEETING OF THE WOMAN'S CLUB Held Tuesday Afternoon; Consti tution and By-Laws Adopt ed; Another Department. The first regular meeting of the Woman's Club since organization last week was held Tuesday after noon. The principal object of the meeting was to complete the organi a.tion by adoption of a constitution and by-laws. The name decided upon was "The Woman's Club of Morgan ton." , The officers, committees and departments are practically the same as those outlined in last week's, pa per with these additions a corres ponding secretary, year book commit tee, finance committee and a literary department. The president, Mrs. A. C. Avery, Jr., presided, over meeting, which was attended by a most gratifying per centage of the membership. Mrs. A. C. Chaffee was at the dsk as secre tary. Mrs. Jerome Rogers made the re port of the legislative committee, reading the proposed constitution and jy-laws. which were acloctod article by article and then as a whole. Miss Ruth MacNaughton was unan imously chosen corresponding secre tary and Mrs. Ben Kibler was ap pointed chairman of the department of education and Mrs. W. R. Patton chairman of the literary department. ?Txs. J. W. Vernon accepted the chairmanship of the department of civics. These committees have been ap pointed by the executive board: Yearbook: Mrs. Jerome Rogers, Mrs. R. B. Boger, Mrs. F. A. Bower. Finance: Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Starrett, Miss Rose Davis. The membership committee report ed 49 new members, this number with the 85 enrolled at the first meeting bringing the membership of the club to date 134. This is con sidered a splendid beginning but it is hoped that as many more women will jo"n before the close of the month. The club decided to request mem bership in the State Federation. Quite a number of of tho ia;Qe will go to Newton today to attend the ui"m meeting aim proDaDiy several will go to Charlotte . for the State meeting there,' next week.. DEATH OF MR. SIDNEY WILSON Mr. Sidney Wilson, who for a num ber of year lived near Rocky ford, died at 3:30 on Monday afternoon at Grace Hospital at the age of 69 years. He had been sick since Christmas. Mr. Wilson was married three times. To the first union was born seven children, five of whom survive with the widow. These are as follows: Mrs. J. T. Johnson, of Pmeville; Mrs. Hassel Beach. Mor ganton; Mrs. L. J. Womble, Colum-i bia, S. C; Mr. W. N. Wilson,-Kins-ton; A. F. Wilson, Kings Mountain. The . funeral was conducted at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Hassel Beach, on Wednesday morning at 10:30 and interment made in Forest Hill cemetery. All the children were here f dr the funeral. Mr. Wilson was a highly esteemed citizen. SERVICES AT GLEN ALPINE Therd were three preachyig ser vices at Glen Alpine Sunday. Rev. A. P. Brantley preached at the Meth odist church at 11 o'clock, Rev. W. K. Houk of 3Iorganton, preached a special sermon to the Junior Order at 2:30 p. m. and the pulpit at the Baptist church was filled Sunday night by Rev. Z. D. Harrell, of El lenboro. . ELECTRIC RIGHTS GLEN ALPINE Glen Alpineis now being furnished with electric current and the town is much pleased to have electric lights. Current was turned on last week. MERCHANTS TO HAVE A BIG DOLLAR DAY Merchants Planning Big Trade Event For May 11th Plans Being Made Now for Mak ing Real Bargain Day Three years ago Morganton mer chants carried through most success fully a big "dollar day," which at that time they planned to make an annual event. One thing and another has interfered until this time but this week an organized movement is on foot to repeat this big trade day on May 11th. A canvas of the mer chants has shown that practically ev ery one is enthusiastic on the subject and is already beginning to make such plans as will make the 1920 "dollar day" in Morganton attract such a crowd to town as good bar gains can bring. Coming at almost the opening of the season, dry goods and clothing merchants are expecting that their olferings will prove espe cially attractive. . The following merchants have sig nified their intention of entering into the plans for dollar day, " arranging for special inducements on that day, and there are a number of others who will in all probability come in: X. H. Cox, Lazarus Bros., I. I. Davis & Son, A. A. Connelly & Son, B. F. Davis & Son, W. A. Ross & Son, Avery & Harbison, H. O. Houk, Tay lor & Taylor, T. C. Morgan & Co., Sam Katz, McK. Kincaid, Lane & Oo., E. A. Greerr, Morganton Hardware Co., Kirksey & Co., P. F. Newton. " Don't forget Dollar Day May 11th. BRIEF -NEWS ITEMS FROM OVER BURKE Items of Interest Gathered From Different Sections of the County By News Herald Correspondents AMHERST North Catawba church had no ser vices Sunday on the regular time. But the church held conference. Rev. W. R. Bradshaw asked to be released from preaching. He had been sup plying for us almost twelve months. We are very sorry indeed to give up Mr. Bradshaw but on account of his health the church accepted the resig nation. We feel that Mr, Bradshaw has done a great work here in thi3 church. The ladies held their W. M. U. at the home of Mrs. Ina W. Benfield Sunday afternoon. . The B. Y. P. U. at North Catawba is progressing nicely. Mr. and Mrs. A."E. Pishel, of Ral eigh,, spent the week-end with Mrs. Fishel's mother, Mrs. D. B. Moore. Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Bradshaw spent Lae week-end with Mrs. Bradshaw's brother, Mr. Anderson McCall, near Chesterfield. Messrs. Charlie Eller and Luther Whetstine and Miss Gladys Moore were dinner guests of Miss Lola Bradshaw Sunday. The North Catawba choir heM a practice at the home of Rev. H. S. Benfield Saturday night. Mr. W. J. Benfield has been elected superintendent of North Catawba church .Sunday school. We wish Mr. Benfield much success as he takes up this work. Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Johnson visit ed at the honre of Mr. Johnson's, par ents, Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Johnson, near Morganton, Sunday, the 11th. The bridge force is getting along nicely with the Hoffman bridge, and hope to have it completed before many weeks if no more misfortune. Fire caught from some new ground Saturday close to the home of Mr. Brotherton, and they came very near ly losing their home. It also came very close to the home of Mr.rR. N. oetzer. ... -vi- MrH. S. Benfield's school closed' at Rhodhiss last Friday. There will be services at Catawba Valley next Sunday morning at eleven o'clock, preaching by the pas (Continued on fifth page) NEGRO'S BODY FOUND . NEAR BRIDGEWATER Evidence of Foul Play in (Con nection With 4he Death of "51 Dad." Tuesday when fencing in a pasture near Bridgewater belonging to Pitts & Giles, Pink Lefevers and Lee Evans were horrified to find the body of a man, the appearance of the remains indicating that he had been dead over a week. The body was so de composed that it was only by the hair that it could be told that 'the man was a negro. From .the suit he wore and other evidence that developed the man was identified as "51 Dad," the " only name by which he ha.a been known since he came to the camp several years ago. An inquest was held Wednesday and the coroner's jury returned the verdict that the negro came to his death at the hands of an unknown party who inflicted gun. shot wounds in his side and behind the ear. Wheth er, any further evidence can be found that will locate the murderer re mains yet to be seen. s GERMANY WANTS LARGE ARMY i Germany has asked the interallied, conference at San Refo to" increase from 150,000 to 200,000 men the size of the 'German army provided for in the treaty.' The request was trans mitted to the French foreign office with the request that it be sent to the allied conference. The note set forth that the in creased force was necessary before the preservation of order in the in terior and that furthermore the army would not accept its dissolution. The note further made request that Ger many be allowed to retain the entire corps of officers, which would mean the framework of the former military machine. PROGRAM ARRANGED FOR COMMENCEMENT General Plans Made For Com mencement Exercises of the Graded School May 21-26. Superintendent W. F. Wampler has made the following announcement for commencement, plans: 1 Friday a. m., May 21, boys' contest. Friday night, May 21, senior con tests drills and play, "Too Much of a Good Thing." Saturday night, May 22, class night and operetta, "American Girl" ex pression department. Monday night, May 24, play "Green Stockings." . Tuesday night, May 25, sermon by Dr. Willis G. Clark. Wednesday a. m., May 26, address by Prof. J. E. A vent; graduating ex ercises. . It will be noted that a slight change has been made in the dates, this hav ing been done on account of a. con flict with the Chautauqua date. Pay your poll tax before May 1st. 1 i i "I