North Carolina Newspapers

Country, God and Truth. SINGLE COPIES 6 CENTS. VOL. XXXVIt NOi 26, LUMBERTON, NORTH CAROLINA FRIDAY, JUNES -1; 1006. WHOLE NO. 2143 ESTABLISHED 1870. CONSIDERING PLAN Op. FOBEST PLANTING I Assistant Forest Service United States lakes Report-Cutler Lands to bJlmproYed,- '' m . . i la . i 1 furnisbed with a copy of the pre TT.'i limination of lands pwuedty tne Butters Lumber wmiftny, in ' Robeson County, North Carolina, mede by Mr. Jay P. Bond.Forest Assistant,: Forest Service of the ? United States Government. The i material portions of the report are as follows: j - Several thousand acres of cut ; over land, owne by the Butters Lumber Uoinpanyor uoardman were examined by the Forest service to aetermme me aa vis ability of the forest planting. The examination was general and no attempt was made to locate accurately the lands upon which the planting is practicable, it was found, however, that severaj hundred acres of land required artificial reforestation if a satis factory future stand is to be as sured. ' On the great bulk of the cut over land natural reforestation should provide a satisfactory fu ture stand. Fire and grazing, however.have absolutely prevent' ed reproduction in almost every instance, and in some localities the damage has been so great as to make natural reproduction ex tremely doubtful It is advised, therefore, that cattle and hogs be 4cept off the tract, and that all fires be prevented whenever possible. If this be donerthere production of loblolly and long leaf pines will re-stock the cut- over pine lands, which have not suffered too severely in the past. This latter class of lands should be planted to long leaf and loblol ly pines, and a detailed planting plan should be prepared to deter mine the area of the feasible planting sites, and the proper distribution of the two species. The Butters Lumber Company is willing and amply able to adopt such measures as' will insure a future timber crop in the cut over areas. The entire manage ment of the property shows care ful and sane administration.,, and the lack of protection given the cut-over lands has been the re sult of inadequate laws, and the existence of supposed grazing rights established by long usage. The officers of the company are fully awake to the great damage to young timber which has ac companied the raging of hogs and cattle, and mean to take effective measures to eliminate the clan ger. It is undoubted that the greater part of the fires are started to improve the range.and with the prevention of grazing, the danger from fire would .be nominal. The detailed planting plan, however, should be prepared at an early date, as it is imperative that the cut-over lands be satis factorily stocked at once. It must be clearly understood that no planting would be advisable unless the land can be protected from trespass and fire. Without such protection the reforestation of these areas is impossible. NEGRO KILLED IN FIGHT. Wednesday night at Flora College, near Maxton, Geo. Mc Eachern, Colored, shot and killed Alex Alford, also colored. j It is understood that Alford and McEachern and about four others negroes were together at a colored woman's house whtn some trouble arose between Al ford and the woman. Alford threw the woman out of the house and as a result of the mix-up McEach ern shot Alford. Three shois were fired, but the one that struck and proved fatal, entered near the heart, producing instant death. This happened at about ten o'clock. McEachern made his escape and when last heard from was near John Station in Scot land County. Officers begin per suitof him yesterday. Three others of the negro men and the negro woman were ar rested. Driving but Saloons. " Cleveland.O.,May 28. Accord ing to computations made by agents of the brewing companies ttboutr-600 saloons- in51evelan4 closed their doors today through inability to pay' the $1,000 tax provi ded under the recently en acted law. The time for the sec ond semi-annual installment of the tax comes around it is believ: ed that 600 more saloons will be compelled to stop doing busines s. . OFFICERS ELECTED. I Melon Growers Association Has vv Important Meeting. i-rlrfaxtoiv May 31. -There was a stockholders meeting of the Rob eson Mtfloa Grower's Assoclaton fiere last Friday night... The fol lowing oflicers and directors were! elected: H. C. McNair, President Treasure. H. C. McNair, A. jMc Kinnon. L. W. McKinnon. G. I Hall. W. S. Cobb, J. S. McRae, D. Z. McGougan and Martin Mc Kinnon were elected Directors. The Baptizing of McKay Mc Kinnon Jr. on Friday afternoon at the home of his parents was the occasion for a pleasant social gathering of young ladies. Afte the ceremony was over refresh ments were served Mr R. M. Williams and wife and Miss Emma Belle McRae and Messrs. F. L. Black and J. G Baldwin, and T. A. McNeill Jr. of Luinberton, attended the an nual "Hop" at the Hotel Town send on Friday night, the 25th inst. An interesting character here Monday was Rev. Mr. Johnson, a Presbyterian Preacher of Texas, who is ninety eight years old. He was passing through her on visit to relatives in the upper end of the County. Messrs. J. D. Croom Jr. D. R Barnes, H. Ramsaur, Gilbert Baldwin had a succesf ul fishing expedition Tuesday morning at Red Banks. Col. E. F. McRae returned homo tsaturaay morning irom Charlotte, where he had been at tending the celebration Mr. A M. McNair returned Saturday from New Yorx City and other points, where he went on business Misses Mary Eliza Robeson and Annie Hill are the guest of Miss CammTe ftJcCaskill this week. Mr. G. B. McCallum of Red Springs spent Sunday here. , MissKate Southerland was the guest of Miss Clarkie B McNair last Saturday. Mr X. W. McDiarmid, represt inc the Wilmingtdn btar, was here Tuesday. Rev. L. A. McLaunn, of Rae- ford, was a visitor here Saturday. Mr A. J. McKmnon is in Wil mington this week on business. Lynching at Wadesboro. Wadesboro, May 80. Sunday night about 1 o'clock a mob took John V. Johnson, the white man who was charged with the mur der of his brother-in-law, Guinn Johnson, both of Morven town ship, from tho jail at this place and carried him about a quarter of a mile from town on the Mor ven road, where they hanged him to a tree and riddled his body with bullets. The jailor was overpowered, two of the jail doors were broken down and when the sheriff hesi tated in giving the keys to the mob, they crowded around the cell and threatened to shoot Johnson there. At the last term of the crimi nal court here there was a mis trial made in this case. Eleven of the jurors stood for murder in the second degree and one for manslaughter, and this'i up-ss posed to have angered the people and led up to the lynching. J. V. Johnson was tried at the April term of Anson county criminal court for the murder of his brother-in-law, Guinn John son. The killing was committed on the 7th day of last December, due directly to the ill treatment of J. V. Johnson to his wife. For many months, as the testimony showed, there had been bad blood j between J. V. and the members' of his wife's family. On the day of the shooting Guinn passed J. V's house on a wagon loaded with brick. J. V. went out to the road and asked Guinn what had happened that they could not be friendly. Guinn stated that he thought it best for J. V. to have nothing to do with his wife's people. This led to cursing on the part of both men. In a few minutes Guinn re turned in his wagon followed by another wagon driven by a negro boy. The state's evidence showed that J. V. went out to the road and, . without provocation, shot Guinn down, 35 shot taking ef fect in the breast. Death followed in a few seconds., $10,000 Fire at Fayetteville. FayetteviU -May 29.-Last night fire destroyed much ef-the large Foe brickbaaking plant boil er, cooking machinery, dry house and, great shed, the office being saved. The loss is $10,000, with $2,000 insurance. The plant will be rebuilt at once. Workmen are to-day clearing off the ruins. MR. CARTER ANSWERS THE a. --v4 . -: .a - J .... , . . - T . . signed bfmhfStst peared in The Robesonlaftv'yet il deem it proper that the citizens' of Robeson county, before they pass their judgment in the mat ter referred to in Mr.Townsend's communication, should have the true status of it placed before them. It may be said in the out set, so tar as the Board of Com missionors of Robeson county, are concerned, that they, at all times, endeavor . to handle the chain gang as appears to them to be to the best interest of the county, regardless of criticism of their course in that respect. The chain gang has always been more or less of a burden on the tax payers of the county, and more especially so since the en actment of the present road law. Under the present road law, the Board has been advised that it could not allow the chain gang to be worked in a township and charge the costs of suoh work against the road fund of that township, but that the cost of the chain gang must be borne out of the general -county fund, regardless of the township in which the work is done. V When it is considered that the total net amount of the county fund is only about $21,000. and that out of this fund the costs of holding the criminal courts and such costs of the civil courts as are properly chargeable against tho county, the bridges, jail, j county home, and the outside poor, the expense of furnishind the stationery, books and other supplies to the several county of fices and various other expenses which cannot beenumerated here, have to be paid, and that the fund is barely sufficient to meet the actual needs of the county for the purposes for which this " tax is levied, and when it is further considered that it has been neces sary to pay for a jail costing $15,000 out of this fund, it is, to say the least.a somewhat difficult proposition to determine how the funds to support the chain gang, the average cost of which is from five to seven thousand dollars per year, witn tne present numoer, is to be taken from this fund without leaving a considerable deficit. It will perhaps appear surpris ing to some of your readers to note that tho bridges on aJl the larger streams in the county, in cluding Lumber River, are paid for out of the general county fund. The Commissioners have been advised, under the present aw, that the road fund cannot be charged with the cost of any of them. The Commissioners, for a while hired the chain gang at reasonable prices to the vari ous townships, but when the townships were advised that the cost of the chain gang could not be properly chargeable against them under the present road law, they declined to pay for them, and such work as the chain gang ms done upon the roads in the County since that time, including he construction of a road across Ashpole Swamp, between White House and sterlings Township, has been paid for out of the gen- ral county fund. The commis sioners have several times renew ed the proposition stated above to several of the townships, and so far as Howellsville, Mr. Town send 's township is concerned, made the proposition to them that if the township would pay one half cost of maintaining the chain gang, that they would be sent there, but they refused to do this, although we understand hat at that time, the township had idle funds in the bank to its credit. When Mr. Cottingham, gener al manager of the L T. Cotting ham Lumber Co., made the pro position to hire the chain gang at $1.50 a day, for each member of the force, it appeared to me as a matter of economy from a business stand point so far as the county was concerned, as a good proposition. 1 immediately pooli up the legal aspect of the 'ques tion withe our attorney and he advised us so far as the law was concerned that he saw no reason why we should not take such ac tion. 1 f urthe r com muicated f -r- The, heavy, rains which fell Sunday did some damage in homnson's township. The land wasconsiderably washedin places and - the dam at Aron Swamp was washed away. OF MR. TOWJilSEND f - i ... .'. T.i 'TUti Mft-J.i : u- DrOT3itioh.'I couldnotreacti ttv Bnei j&bMfflfi&tiwHwW but notified Mt fBzlfa mho rr& cuf ed cbmmunicatiOBjtth Mrf Barnesvand jifterwarrta' advirfM me that he af4llf' fijcn tract. It" was my understand ing that Mr. Barnes would, take up the matter with Mr. Olt' ver, and that we would be advised if Mr. Oliver disapproved. Noth ing was heard from Mr. Olivei and I took it that jt likewise met his approval. It is trae, as stated by Mr. Townsend, that the CoAJ tinghain Lumber Company i.fl private corporation,; but nanus are treated as convicts it every respect; suitable guards arc maintained, and they are un der the same restraint, and are in every way confined: and treat eo as they were when toey were worked on the county roads. The net amount derived by the county from the first fifteen days which they worked, was ?d(j.00. This was the amount after paying all expenses, which to say the least, makes a considerable dif ference when compared with an expense of Keeping tnem, as heretofore, of from two to two hundred and fifty dollars for the same length of time, and no reve nue whatever therefrom. When the expense, which he have paid to maintain the gang.is consider ed, this will make a difference to the county in a year of about $10,000. Here. I desire to refer to Mr. Townsend's refere: con-1 nection with the Vpttingnam Lumber Company, Mr. L. T. Cottingham is the general mana ger of the Company, is in active charge of it, own all of the capital stock of $25,000, except $L'UO,and of this latter amount I own one- half. Iam neither directly nor indirectly connected with the management of the Company and I have held this stock at tne ear nest insistence of Mr. Cotting ham for the reason that I was at one time more largely interested in the company, and when I sold it to Mr. Cottingham he desired me to retain the two shares and hold the office of president, so that its corporate existence as it then was might be maintained and that no legal necessity for any reorganization might exist If this is sufficient to impugn my actions and impeach my char acter, so far as the aiTairs of the county are concerned, as Mr. Townsend seems to think that it is, I plead guilty. Mr. Townsend asks if the Board is allowed to do these things, what will they do next? -The Board will, in my opinion, do in the future as they have en dea ored to do in the past, their duty without fear or favor, and will act as they see it, for the best interest of the county and its tax payers. I am not a lawyer, nor have I read law, as it will appear from Mr. Townsend's article that he has. Before we took the action indicated above, we consulted ou r attorney, in whom we have confidence, and upon whom we thought we had a right to rely. He advised us that we had the legal right to take the action which we did. If the present road law repeals the act passed, I think in 1899, which allowed the commissioners to hire out the chain gang, it is more sweep ing in its provisions than many persons have thought and that our attorney advised us, and one of the attorneys who is now rep resenting Mr. Townsend and his friends, about two months ago, appeared before us and took di rectly the contrary view to that which he and Mr. Townsend are contending for so strenuously at tho present time. If our action is illegal, we should like to have some authority to this effect, and we do not think that Mr. Town send is'serious if he expects us to take his views of the law as such. He says that Howellsville town ship "should be given" the bene fit of the convict's labor. I take it that Howellsville is no more entitled to be given this labor than any other township. Mr. Townsend states that the road law was gotten up by the board of commissioners and they ought to have known, that persons sen tenced to the chain gang should be Worked on $he public road. The road law was not gotten up by the commissioness, but by a committee appointed for that purpose. The commissioners know, of course, that it provides for working the chain gang on the public roads, but it is only recently that it has ever been ad vised Dyany one mat this pro vision WW mandatory and was a I ppsiUve prohibition of the use of ctyvjewittany, other way what soever, ana mat it repeated every Ittw and each section of the same heretofore, passed, allowing com miAsioners of, Robeson county to take any other action in any respect' Whatsoever in regard to tbem.''.fv ;,i r I have already adverted to the U$ittfet the? taxes for county inrpodes amount to-net, about 21 000,4 th rad taxes now amoimfiVto about $31,000 net. TOi;frtobunt, it would seem to riiei JiOflld be sufficient to put tho roads in good condition and in the township whore the funds tiilhato been properly expended, this has been uone. it seems to me, further, that it is unreason able to expect of the tax-payers that an en roach m en t of from five to seven thousand dollars should be made on the general county fund annually for the support of the chain gang when no portion of this can -be charged against the road fund proper. In addition to this, the bridges, as stated above, and which really form a part of the public road system of the county, are paid for out of the county fund, and the cost of these is now nearly double what it was two years ago, and with all of these enrcachments upon the county fund and with the tax of 25 per cent, levied for road purposes, it would seem that the commissioners have some show of reason lor attempting to re duce the burden of the tax-pay ers. To be plain, it was necessary either to arrance for.- the chain gang as we did, or to increase the present rate of taxation for county purposes, and if Mr, Townsend is correct as to the law, and we have no authority to proceed as we have done, we shall yet be driven U) do this. I am glad to note that Mr, Townsend has given to the board at least one small crumb of com fort in that he states that he does not pretend to say that the board has acted corruptly in the mat ter. This, coming from him, is praise indeed. J. W. Caktek, Chairman. Maxton, N. C, May 29, 1906. PARKTON NEWS ITEMS. Parkton, May 30. Mrs. Ch; s. Livingston, of Scotland county, and Mrs. Katharine Gillis, of Galatia, are spending some time with their brother, Mr. J. C. D. MoNatt. Little Misses Sadie and Julia Thompson, of Lumberton, are visiting their aunt, Mrs. Taylor Fisher. We are- glo.1 to state thatMrst J. C. D. M Natt, who has been critically ill, is much better. Mrs. Smith and children, of Sanford, returned home Thurs day after s tending several days with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Haywood. Mr. and Mrs. Collier Cobb re turned from Charlotte Friday, where they attended the graded school commencement, their niece, Miss Maud McKinnon, graduating with high honors; also taking in the numerous at tractions of the 20th of May celebration. The many friends of Dr. Mc- Natt, of Maxton, are glad that he is able to come over and spend the day with his sister, Mrs. J. B. McCormick." Mr. J. G. Hughes went to Lou- diwi, Ga., Saturday returning Wednesday, accompanied by his wife and little daughter, Mar garet. Mrs. Hughes had been away a month spending part of the time at Indian Springs, Ga. Mr. Byrd Haywood, of Bladen county spent a few days at home last week. Mr. Philip Hancock, of Nor folk, Va., is at his sister's, Mrs. J. C. D. McNatt's. Capt. J. D. Malloy and daugh ter, Mrs. Smith, spent Friday in Fayetteville. Several qf pur young folks attended commencement at the Presbyterian College, Red Springs, and report a fine time. Mr. Gray Culbreth, of Fay etteville, is spending part of ,this week at home. Mrs. Babson, from Telfast, Tenn., .is visiting her daughter, Mrs. A. McA. Blount. Work is progressing nicely on Dr. N. A Thompson's hospital. The frame is up and. the entire building is expected to be com pleted by the first of k August. The building will have twenty rooms and an operating room. LOCAL AMD PERSONAL. 15 11 centt Cotton to-day, cents - Mr. A. J. Cottingham, of Max- ton, was in town Wednesday. Mr. J. S. Johnson, of Marion. S. C, was in town Wednesday. Col. J. C. Steele, of Charlotte, is spending several days in town Mr. J. W. Carter, of Maxton. was a visitor to Lumber ton Mon day. Mr. J. W. Davis, of Maxton, was among recent visitors in the city. Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Bullock, of Ashpole, were visitors in town Wednesday. Mr. Geo. L. Posehau.of Bruns wick county, was here to attend the convention. Congressman G. B. Patterson. of Maxton. was in Lumberton Monday on business. Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Stephens have begun house keeping in the house formerly occupied by Mr. II. 1J. Robinson. Mr. R. B. Branch, editor of the Red Springs Citizen, attended the Democratic County Conven tion Thursday. Mrs. Daniel Shaw, of Laurin bunr. N. C. isvisitine the family of Mr. O. M. Whitfield. Mr. L D. Rivers was calledlto Wadesboro. Monday afternoon on account of the illness of his moth er. Daniel I Marley has been ap pointed regular carrier.and G.'tt. Thagard substitute in the-rural free delivery service at Lumber Bridge. Mrs. G. B. McLeod returned Tuesday morning from Balti more, where she has been under treatment in a hospital there for some time. Mr. D. E Harlee, of the Cen tral Hardware and Mantel Com pany, Greensboro, N. C, is. in Lumberton on business for his company. Mr. J. C. Harris, for several years engineer on the Carolina between and Northern railway, Lumberton and Marion. S. C, has resigned. He will move his fami ly from Kingsdale to Lumberton to live. Mr. H. C. Freeman has opened a shop on the west side of the river, near the iron bridge, and has equipped it with machinery for making tables, desks, safes, etc., and for upholstering furni ture and for doing turn work. The Seaboard Air Line railroad will run an excursion from Wadesboro to Wilmington and return, Saturday .J une 9th. The train will leave Wadesboro at 6 o'clock in the morning and re turning will leave Wilmington at 8 o'clock in the evening. Seper ate cars will be attached for colored people. Candidates for county offices are. in the language of the street, "getting busy." Two announce themselves in this issue of The Robesonian Mr. A. Nash for clerk of court, and Mr. J. A. Barker for sheriff These are not the only ones who are in a re ceptive mood for these particular offices but they aro first to an nounce it through the paper. Valuable Horse Killed. A horse owned by Mr. Archie Prevatt was shot on a bridge three miles from town Tuesday afternoon, after the horse had broken two legs in an attempt to cross the bridge. The horse, with a number of others, had been carried over to graze and had gotten apon the track when the west bound train came by. The horse ran on the trestle in an attempt to escape from the train. As soon as the animal reached the trestle his legs went throughj Children's Day Services. Children's Day services will be held at the Presbyterian church Sunday morning. A special program of music, recita tions and drills has been pre pared and, while, those in charge have not given the chil dren the practice they desired, jt promises to be quite an. inter esting service. A cordial invita tion is extended to the public. At the Methodist church Suh'- day night, there will be appro priate exercises by the children, of the Sunday school. An inter esting program, includutg reci tations, music, etc, has been pre-pared. REV. ANGUS JOHNSON IS BACK AFTER MANY Y0' t not UoBiy-fctvir 10m tm s PreacbedrorTliree-qaarters ol CenlDry Red Springs. Mav PA Xl Angus Johnson, of whom we have had occasion to write be fore, is back literally on hi n. tive heath. He was ho 97 years ago on the hills through which Big Rockfish runs an ma. jestically. After preaching 71 years of the 97 he has lived and doing most of it in Texas, lie has come back to the lami of nativity on a visit. He and his Wife stepped off the n rH with kindly help, for the weiirht of years is now heavy on him, Mon day morning. The venerable mother of Messrs. Duncan and Frank McKay, Mrs. Frank Cur rie, Mrs. E. C. McNeill an.l M C. B. Cox is his fi I'st, r'misin There is iittle here now be run recall. Great chances have taken place during the (55 years that have intervened since he wa he A and preached at Antitch and else where. The people are nearly all gone. Others fill the pews of t he , the churches. The farms linvn changed. Woodland hae been converted into fields and more, larger and handsome dwellings appear e ver v where. Kniiwavs everywhere. course throuirh the poBsiojynoia race is to be met he will be able to recall while he remains. That was an elecrant renn.t 2 dinner served the vounc n- dies of the to wnand their visiting, friends by the young gen tU men Monday p. m. We were not there. but we are told it was elabort without being prolix and in all ways exquisite in style. "It wa all just like the boys. " The Hotel lownsend was a scene of beauty unsurpassed on any former no.- casion while the eniovment wilm unalloyed and reat. Certainly. Miss Mary Eliza Robeson is visiting friends in Maxton. . We had the pleasure of meet ing our old friend. D. S. Poole. J of Raeford, who reports that his I Paper is growing in patronage. success to it. Rev. Dr. C. G. Vardell is at! tending Davidson College com mencement this week. Rev. R. W. Jopling returned from the meeting of the General Assembly last Saturday. Mr. Alex. McMillan has been appointed railroad agent at Shan non. Mioses Lida Law and Phebe Shaw spent Thursday at Lum ber Bridge at the home of Mr. A. L. Shaw. COUNTY CONVENTION. To Elect Delegates to Slate and Otner Conventions. The Democratic Convention of Robeson county met here Thurs day, morning at 11 o'clock. The convention was for the purroM of electing delegates to the State, Congressional and Judicial con ventions. There was quite a large delegation from the several pre cincts and many other Democrats of the county are in attendance. A full report of the convention. with a list of the delegates elected will appear in The Robesonian Tuesday. WItb our Advertisers. - The Freeman Printing Co., E. B. Freeman manager, will do . your job printing satisfactorily. Commercial printiug a specialty. The Southern Life Insurance. Co., of Fayetteville, has ah inter esting ad in this issue. It makes a creditable showing for what it has already done and for ; the future. The first death claim of the company was paid to a Robe son county lady Mrs. Rebecca J. Smith. Her letter appears in the ad. Edwin P. Slocsmb and Co. publish a notice to tresspassers. W. H. Humphrey gives notice pf an action against EP.Slocumb snd Co. . vChas, M. Stieff offers special bargains in highgrade square pianos. Mr. H. C. Freeman, proprietor of the Freeman's Wook working Plant, is now ready for business and solicits your trade. prepared to do good work v line. - See his . acL-elsewher the paper. "7 Mr. A. INash announces Him self a candidate for Clerk of tha Superior Court. Hotel Townsend opens uxiay. Mr. J. A. Barker will be candi date for sheriff. ft