Hertford County Herald
THIRD NEWSIES^ WEEKLY PAPER IN THE STATE A PAPER WORTH WHILE BEST ADVERTISING MEDIUM IN EASTERN CAROLINA
Volume XIH. Eight Pages Ahoskie, North Carolina, Friday, January 12, 1923 One Section No. 36
MOT TO TRANSFER
AHOSK1E FOREMAN
I I II I ??
Report Of Expenditures By
Road Board Mada At Meet
ing Last Monday
WILL SEND CONVICTS
TO EVERY TOWNSHIP
Upon the recommendation of com
missioner J. R. Garrett of Ahoskie
township, the Hertford County road
' board voted unanimoualy to rescind
the order made at a special- meeting
held Jast week, which requested sup
erintendent Hines to transfer the
road foreman from Ahoskie township
to some other point in the County.
Mr. Garrett had previously made com
plaint against Mulder, the road fore
man, and had asked for another man.
But,'on last Monday, the Ahoskie
man said he had been out on the road,
had seen Mr. Mulder pt work, and
talked^'with him. The result of his
investigations, he said, was to find
that Mulder had only been foreman
about fwo months, and that the large
number of complaints which had been
made against the working of roads in
this township were not directed at
Mulder, but at his predecessor. He
thought Mr. Mulder was doing the
best he could, and to "swap" foreman
now would only work hardship on
both Mulder and the man sent here
to take his place.
It was thought Mr. Hines was plan
ding to move his Moneys Neck man
- here. Commissioner Worrell >, of
Moneys Nock did not want to see hia.
man Ipave, and said he, too, might
not be able to give satisfaction in
Ahoskie, whereas he was giving per
fect satisfaction in Moneys Neck.
Acting upon the suggestion of Mr.
Garrett, the board voted withous dis
sent to rescind its former action.
The report of expenditures on
roads since the creation of the county
.unit was read by secretary John
r Northcott. This report was ordered
prepared by the board at its initial
meeting in December. So far as Seas
possible, the expenditures had been
listed according to townships, showing
the amount expended in each. Mr.'
Northcott explained that it was diffi
cult to secure accurate figures for
each township, and many of the ex
penditures could not be charged off to
? township.^. ,ne report was ordered
adopted t;iJ published.
Reference was-frequently made to
towna^ps, and there seemed to be a
disposition among some of the mem
bers to charge every item possible to
the separate townships. Commis
sioner Snipes said he could see no
reason in keeping the township
records so long as the bc*rd was work
ing under a county system. It
was suggested then, that Representa
tive Lloyd J. Lawrence was drafting
some kind of change for the county
road law.
Secretary Northcott had - a postal
card from Mr. Lawrence requesting
a copy of the report on expenditures
''?the report thai was presented Mon
day. What his changes or amend'
ment will be is not known here.
After approving the pay rolls and
bills against the county road forces,
'tile board voted to distribute the con
victs, allocating a number to each
township, and providing quarters for
them. This step was taken to fore
stall any possible shortage in labor
when, good weather comes, and road
building will begin in earnest
PRUDEN QUITS ENGINE
Mr. Charlie Prnden who for many
years piloted the passenger engine
at the Wellington A PoweUeville
Railroad, from Ahoelde to Windsor
and return, has been promoted to
assistant general manages of the
B running Mill at Ahoslde. His duties
now are to supervise, and assist in
buying timber for the large mill here.
"Sleepy" Newsome, who has had
charge of the freight engine oser this
line, is now working at engineer on
the passenger. Walter Parker has
taken the freight engine, a job he
held for many yedrs.
REPAIRING CAFE
New wainscoting is taking the place
of the old, dingy walls in the Man
hattan Cafe. A coat of paint and
other slight improvements are also
being made to the cafe, which is
located on the first floor of the Man
hattan Hotel.
? v ? a - -m f ^ ?
MR. LAWRENCE STARTED
LEGISLATING IN A HURRY
Legislature Has Done But Little
Governor Delivers Strong
Message
Only about seventy bills had been
introduced into the General Assembly
up to Wednesday of this week, al
though it had been in session practi
cally one week. However, with the
speech of Governor Morison made to
a joint sesion son Tuesday, the bill
hopper is expected to get into work
ing shape, and the members get down
to real busines of legislating.
As had been predicted, Governor
Morison's one big recommendation
and plea to the legislators was to
authorise $2,000,000* for a state-own
ed steamship line, and provide for the
purchase or lease of port facilities.
He spoke feelingly on the proposal and
plead with his hearers to create a
commission to help him work out the
plan and make the money available
for its effective culmination.
Other proposals included support
to the educational institutions of the
State, planting oysters off the coast
of the State, constitutional limitations
of State's power to contract debt to
five per cent of assessed value of
property, and establishment of sink
ing fund to retire outstanding bonds;
establishment of State Banking De
partment; establishment of . a State
Commission of Commerce; additional
$16,000,000 bond issue; for State
highways.
About the only bill that has created
any special interest and which is .ex
pected to arouse even greater inter
est is a bill directed against the Ku
Klux Klan. Bills have been intro
duced in both the House and Senate^
Hertford's representative, Hon. J.
Uoyd I. Lawrence, got into the busi
ness of legislating early, and put three
tin the hopper on the very first
of the session. The three bills
entitled as folows:/*To "aibend
relative to banks and banking,"
require motor vehicles to stop be
fore crossing railroads,"1 'to yrfe
guard crossings by ferry."
Mr. Lawrence also introduced a
resolution in the House falling upon
the National Congress to submit a
constitutional amendment providing
that all amendments to the constitu
tion be ratified by popular vote in the
separate states rather than by the
legislatures.
In the committee appointments
which were made on Monday of this
week, Mr. Lawrence was named
chairman of the committee oh Jour
nal, and was also named on the fol
lowing additional committee. t)n
Courts and Judicial Districts.
Representative Sumner Bu?gwyn of
Northampton County has again .in
troduced his .bill designed to reduce
the personal property exemption
from $300 to $100. Mr. Burgwyn
fought for a similiar bill when he was
in the State Senate at the last session
of the Assembly.
A hill has also been introduced in
the legislature to' abolish the death
penalty.
POPE-CATLING
Misi Julia Gatling, daughter of Mr.
Mark D. Gatling of Ahoskie, and Mr.
Hampton Pope of near Enfield were
quietly married at the home of Rev.
J. T. Riddick, pastor of the Park
Avenue Baptist church, Norfolk, Va., _
on last Saturday afternoon, January
6. Only a 'few very close friends of
the contracting parties witnessed the
ceremony.
Mr. and Mrs. Pope, after a short (
wedding trip, returned to Enfield, ,
where the former is a prosperous (
planter.
Mrs. Pope is the accomplished
daughter of Mr. Mark Gatling of this
town, and before Christmas was
teaching in the Belmont Graded
School. She is a graduate of the East
Carolina Teachers' College of Green- 1
ville.
i
' POLLING ROADS
Continual rains, and inability to do 1
any road building for several weeks
have aarved to put the county roads
in very bad condition. Not only are
tha county roads almost impassable,
but the atate highway from Ahosldei i
to Winton is in no batter shape- Sev- ?
eral bad places in the roads have been 1
"polled" within the past two or throe i
weeks, in order bo allow tha Fords to i
go. Other cars hover closely in the <
garages.
Ahoskie Township Is Largest
Payer Of Taxes In The County
" ?' ? 1 ??
In the issue of December 29, 1922, the HERALD
gave some facts about property valuation in Hertford
County, paying particular attention to the aggregate
value of real and personal property within thfe county
and the amount of taxes derived therefrom, giving
the amounts allocated to general -county expenses,
to roads, and to schools.
This week, a review .of the listed property in
Ahoskie Township wil be undertaken. According to
figures taken from the scrolls, Ahoskie Township is
the wealthiest in the county. This situation is due
to the large amount of town property in this town
ship, a large majority of which is listed at a reason
ably high rate.
There are 306 white people in the township who
pay poll tax, and 244 colored persons who pay poll
taxes. The 23,647 acres of land listed by white persons
in the township is valued at $917,759; colored persons
own 5,340 acres, valued at $191,544- Manufacturing
property in the township is valued at $10,000, and is
owned exclusively by white persons. There are also
690 acres of timber rights owned by whites, which is
, valued at $6,299. Of the 496 town lots in the town
ship, 324 are owned by whites and are valued at
$786,735; and 172 owned by negroes, valued at
$140,608- *
The aggregate value of real estate, including
all of the items listed above is: Whites, $1,720,793;
k colored, $332,152.
Personal property listed in Ahoskie township is
as follows:
Stocks of merchandise?$10,696 by whites, $135
by negroes; material being manufactured?$27,749
by whites; household and kitchen furniture (less $800
exemption provided by law)?$27,159 by whites,
' $1,140 by negroes; horses?198 owned by whites tlnd
Valued at $12,575, 121 owned by negroes and valued
at $7,400; mule3?231 owned by whites and valued
at $17,520, 101 owned by negroes and valued at
$6,802; bheep?131 owned by whites, valued at $491,
goats?73 by whites valued at $121, 23 by negroes at
$44; hogs?1602 by whites at ^4,385, 748 by negroes...
at $1,062; milk cattle?188 owned by whites and
valued at $4,050, 89 by negroes and valued at $1,521;
other cattle?171 owned by whites with value of
$1,173, 58 by negroes at value of $391; dogs?52
listed by whites at value of $462, 17 by negroes at
value of $61; firearms and other personal property
incfuded in items 53-80?$67,741 by whites, $5,487
by negroes; stock as set out in Section 4, 1921 Act?
$710 by whites, $25 by negroes; net solvent credits?
by whites $232,362, by negroes $11,825.
The aggregate value of all personal property in
the township is $540,253, divided as folows: whites,
$503,460; colored, $36,793- Total value of all real
and personal property listed in the township is
$2,593,198, divided as follows: whites, $2,224,253;
colored, $368,945.
As pointed out in the first article on taxation, the
tax rate for county purposes is 92 cents on the $100
valuation.. Figuring the taxes en this basis, Ahoskie
township taxpayers pay $23,857 into the county
treasury on real and personal property. Divided
?among schools, roads and general county expenses it
is as follows: for schools, $13,484.63; for roads,
$6,482.99; for county expenses, $3,889.80.
These figures do not include the special tax paid
' for the Ahoskie school and other school districts with
in the township. Neither does it include corporation
taxes paid, which amounts to several thousand dollars.
MAKING IMPROVEMENTS
A, fresh cost of varnish has been
idded to the walls and furnishings of
die Colonial Barber Shop this week.
'Everything, clean and nifty, and
?anitary," is the New Tear reaolu
.ion of the proprietors of this shop.
ANOTHER WIND STORM
Early Monday morning a severe
wind, and thunder storm broke over
\hoskie and vicinity. Rain fell in
:orrenta for a considerable length of
time, and an electrical storm of the
rammer-time variety accompanied the
rain and wind.
ENACT ORDINANCES
The Ahoakie tow* council met in
ipecial seaion last Friday night and
ipent about three hours in enacting
new ordinances for the town* Only
i few mors now need to added, and
ioon as the work is completed, the or
iinaneea will be ptfbliahod in full and
listributed about the town
? . =
EXAMS AT SCHOOL
Many of the students of the local
school are having a few days off thil
Steele on account of examinationi
which are "now in progress. _Only i
limited number failed to secure ex
emptions from examinations, whict
accounts for their having holidays.
INFLUENZA IS HERE
There are several eaaes of genuirn
influenza in Ahoakie, some of the pa
tients being confined to their beds
Among those who are suffering wit!
it are W. T. Farbes, L. T. Sumner
Clarence Perry and Troy Newsome
There are many other milder cases ol
influenza prevalent hereabouts, ac
.cording to statements of local physi
cians.
. A fertile soil is the basis of goo<
farming.
Some of the local sweet potsti
growers associations in the State ban
formed a State Federation with abow
70,000 bushels of sweets for sale thii
7?r.
HERTFORD COUNTY RANKS
HIGH IN LIVESTOCK VALUE
Only Twenty-Nine Counties In
State Are Ahead Of Us In
This Respect
Counties surrounding Hertford
have made much better showing in
the general health of its citlxenry,
but facts hare just been unearthed
which prove that this county can
show the others up on the value of its
livestock per farm. We may not pay
much attention to our people's health
and, late happenings, indicate no
change of sentiment for better health
conditions, but our people are strong
on good horses, mules, cattle, and
pigs.
Figures based on the 1920 Census
of Agriculture, covering (1) the total
value of livestock on farms in each
county, (2) divided by the number of
farms in each county, giving Hertford
County farms an average value of
$430. There are only twenty-nine
other counties in the State that have
a higher value placed on its livestock,
while there are seventy counties in
which the value is lower.
Northampton County stands fifty
fourth in rank, and has an average
value of $394 for each farm; Bertie
ranks seventy-third, with a value of
$805; and Gates ranks ninety-third,
with a value of $334. The average
value per farm in the entire State is
only $413, or $17 less per farm than
the Hertford County average.
Fifty-nine per cent of the live
. stock values of the state is repre
sented by horses and mules, and only
20 per cent by dairy cattle. In 1920,
Nortfl Carolina had 56,000 fewer cat
tle than in 1910, but 112,862 more
mules and horses. The decrease was
mainly in beef cattle and calves since
the 1910 census of livestock is of
April and the 1920 census if January.
According tp S. H. Hobbs, Jr., De
partment of Rural Social Economies,
University of North Carolina, the
high rank in some of the Eastern
counties is due almost entirely to
their large number mules, and horses
on cotton and tobacco farms, not to
dairy and beef cattle as in the moun
tain and hill counties.
PLANS FOR HOTEL
ARE MOVING FAST
Site Owned By R. J. Baker Eetate It
Voted A* Choice Of Majority Of
Of Chamber Members
? Still another step forward has
bffen taken in the matter of building
a modern hotel in Ahoakie. Last
Thursday night at the first quarterly
meeting of the chamber of commerce,
an open discussion was had on the
proposition of a site. Mr. Benton,
architect of Wilson, was ,a special
guest at the meeting, and entered in
to the discussion of sites, and plans
for a hotel here.
Mr. Benton said he believed a hotel
lgere would pay at least 6 to 8 per
cept. He advised a building with
not less than forty rooms, and possibly
two or three stores on the lower
floor, thereby providing other meth
ods of securing revenue- than from
the rooms in the hotel.
On the matter of site#, a vote was
taken on the following three lots:
Basnight property, lying next to
Stanley Leary's at $7,000, all of
which Mr. Basnight agreed to take in
. stock; site owned by J. R. Garrett, in
cluding his present store building,
which was offered at $22,600; and lot
I owned by R. J. Baker heirs, across
, Street from - Mitchell hoteL The
, Bake site was designated as the
i choice of a majority of the members
. voting.
i At a special meeting of the cham
ber directors held Monday night of
this week, H. S. Basnight was
authorised to secure a 00-day option
on the Baker property. If option can
! be secured, the business of drawing
' plans, securing a 60 per cent loan
? and raising balance of stock will be
1 entered into immediately. The di
> rectors voted to accept Benton A
? Benton's proposition in furnishing the
r plans and securing contractors.
- ?
MANY KILLING HOGS
It is hog killing tim? in this vicinity,
I and producers of pork have boon en
gaged in that business thia week. The
> drop in temperature during the past
! few days has been a boon to thoae
t who had uneasy lest the wand weath
> er prevent the successful peeking of
the 1923 supply of household meats.
RECORDER'S COURT
CREATEDBY BOARD
The HERALD Failed To Grre
Complete Report Of Monthly
Meeting Last Week
The reporter on the HERALD
made a complete fall down on
the job of telling what the
county commimrinnora HiH at?
their regulSr monthly meeting
laat week. Not that the re
port carried hi this newspaper
was inaccurate; it was all right
so far is it went. But, there was
one important item overlooked
in Reporting the meeting.
Not until the day ?wfter the
paper was issued did\his office
know of the action taken by the
board in creating a recorder's
court for Hertford County.
And, to add to the embarass
ment of the newspaper, was an
editorial that appeared In the
same issue, and which wis an
tagonistic to the possible crea
tion of any such court. \
Nevertheless, it is a tact, s<X re
corded in the board's official minutes,
that the commissioners did create
such a court, under the provisions of
Chapter 27, article 19, Consolidated
Statutes of North Carolina. This
statute confers upon county com
missioners the power; to establish a
recorder's court, which shaf be in
session at least one day each week.
The same statute confers upon the
commissioners the power to appoint
a recorder who shall serve as judge
of the court; and also a recording
clerk who may be the clerk of super
ior court or a deputy clerk, and a
solicitor, who may be the county at
torney or any other attorney the
board may designate. They shall hold
office until the next regular election.
The appointment of recorder was
not made last week, although the ap
pointment must be made within thirty
days of the creation of court, accord
ing to the statute under which creat
ed. The salaries of the recorder,
clerk, and prosecutor are to be set
by the commissioners, and cannot be
decreased or increased during their
term of office.
Representative Lloyd J. Lawrence
appeared before the board and pre
sented the plan for recorder's court,
stating that the majority of the
voters answering his questionnaire
referring to a recorder's court had
said they wanted it. That is what the
board based its action upon. There
was no. opposition offered by apy of
the commissioners.
************
* COMMISSIONER HART *
*1 FORGETS A PROMISE *
? *
* Don't fool yourselras, door *
* folks of Hertford Countyl ?
* ' There will bo no asphalt, or *
* herd-surfaced roads of any land *
* built in this county by the State *
* Highway Commission. All prom- *
* ises heretofore mode by First *
* District Commissioner Hart about *
* a bard road from Aulander to *
* Winton, through Ahoakie, bare *
* gone up in smoke. Ho has fallen *
* down flatly. And, that, too, *
* right on top of the fact that he *
* has not yet made any risible *
* motion of doing anything about#*
* building a bridge across Chown *
* ri*er at Winton?another grand *
* and glorious undertaking of *
* which there was much talk back *
* when Hertford County was talk- *
* ing about issuing bonds for its *
* county roads. *
* The Associated Press has an- *
* nouncod that a contract will bo *
* lot by the State Highway Com- .*
* mission on the 1st day of Fab- *
* ruary, for lfl-B miles of soil road *
* from Aulander to Winton, the *
* last piece of state con trolled *
* road in the county. According *
* to this story coming out of Hal- *
* nigh, Hartford County will not *
* or en got a sand clay, or grarol *
* road. It is just a plain soil road, *
* the like of which folks in this ?
* county cannot use during the *
* winter months. *
* Over in Bertie, Windsor to ?
* Aulander, the road will be gtad- *
* ad only. ?
The Chamber of Commerce of *
* Ahoskie is planning to sand a *
* delegation before the (suMb- *
* si an in an effort to saeuro a bet- ?
* tar road for this mute. *
*?**?*?????*