Established 1870.
Country, God and Truth.
Single Copies Five Cento.
VOL XLI NO. 78.
LUMBERTON, NORTH CAROLINA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 19 10
WHOLE NO. 2616
ARCHIE
ENDS
t
OWN
LIFE.
SUPERIOR COURT.
G. MCKAY
II tt : ir
mm- mm -rr m
Luffiberton Profoundly Shocked
by a Tragedy Thursday Eve
ning A Popular and Capable
Young Man Shoots Himself
Through the Heart Deliber
ately Planned -Leaves Pathetic
Note in Which He Give Whis
key and Cigarettes as the
Cause.
Archie
.ears old.
G. McKay, &buv.
".I
chief clerk at the Sea
board station here, ccmnited
?aicide Thursday ever.in.L.- a lew
minutes belore 7 o'clock in his
i;oui at the home of Mr. J. u .
Morris, cashier at the Seaboard
depot, comer of Walnut ar.d
First streets, by shooting him
self through the heart with a
Colt's automatic revolver. Death
resulted in about five minutes
after the fatal shot was fired. '
The deceased was a son of Mr.
M. G. McKay, an aged and well-to-do
citizen of Laurinburg, and
the remains were taken to Laur
inburg Friday morning by Rev.
Mr. Williams, pastor of the Bap
tist church of that place, and Mr.
G.T. Goodwin, both friends of the!
family, who arrived Thursday!
night about two hours after the!
ragedy. j
It was inexpressibly sad. per
haps the saddest tragedy ever
enacted in Lumberton, and when
it became known, as it did in an
incredibly short time, the entire
community was prof cundly shock
have carried him far in the!??d d hra . door
world, a personality that had j Mf Beverly went into his house,
won him many mends during his
snort stay in Lumberton, all the
promise of young manhood
these tilings skilled nothing in
his hour ol fierce trail, and shut
ting himself alone in his rcom.
wim no suggestion of bitterness
toward tne worm, or to any pe
son in it, with a hearty
!1
right, old boy, come in" upon hi
lips in response to the earnest j
appeal of a friend to be allowed
to come in, he coolly placed a pis
tol to his breast and sent a steel
messenger of death into his
heart.
That he had fully made up hi3
mind to take his life seeral hours
before there seems no doubt.
Wednesday night, while sitting
in the office at the Seaboard
freight depot, Mr. J. D. Mc
Millan, night operator, the only
otherlman in the room, observed
Mr. McKay throw his right hand
back to his hip pocket and lean
himself forward with his head
bowed, in which position he re
mained for some time, as though
hi proiouna aeoaie wun nim
self . Finally Mr. McMillan gave
the young man a dig in the side
and Mr. McKay .immediately
straightened up, jerked out the
pistol upon which his hand had
been resting, and fired 9ix shots
in rapid succession into a desk in
the room. Mr. McKav had evi-!
dently been drinking then and
.... -, ,
the following day he did no work,
but in the afternoon was about
the depot for some time. He
told two men with whom he fro
licked for'a while to wait until
tomorrow and they could do any
thing with him they pleased.
Later he tried to borrow a pistol
from Mr. C. E. Rogers, but Mr.
Rogers refused on some pretext,
and after that Leslie Biggs, to
whom he had loaned his own
DlStol rptnrnpH if tn Viim nrf
dreaming, of course, that the
young man contemplated doing
himself injury. Lonnie Fisher
bought a telegraph instrument of
McKay Thursday and McKay
told him to pay him be
fore the evening pc.s?enger train
left. Just about train time Fish
er offered him the money but
McKay told him to keep the
money and not let anybody know
he owed him anything, that he
would not need it, that he had
always been a bother to every
body and was going to "settle it
all right here" pointing to his
heart. Many other expressions
of like nature were made during
the afternoon, but no one paid
special heed, tanking, naturally,
tat they were but the careless
expressions of a man who had
indulged too freely. Shortly
after 6 o'clock McKay went to
POPE
DRUG
CO.
iouse op
IS
UK
Q. T, WILLIAMS
- FRE INSURANCE -
no?
. Miss Josephine Breece
COTTON TIT
W.J.PREVAT
FOR BEST PRJCES
AND BUY GOOD T HER
TQGETVAUUe RECEIVE
Bank of Lumberton
capital $ioaooo.oo
Assets &Respohsikuty. $671,000.00
4 Interest Paid on Savings Deposits
Compounded Four times
A Year
the home of Mr Beverly, Sea-
boara agent, under whom he
worked, ana told mm goodbye.
Mr. Beverly became uneasy and
asked McKay to give him his
pistol. McKay said no, that was
! his best friend, and when Mr.
.Beverlv started to accompany
m McKay took him by the arm
tola his wire he was uneasy
about McKay, and got bis hat
and followed immediately. A
short distance down the street
McKay had dropped his
hat and glasses and
Mr. Beverly assisted in ihe;
search and accompanied -him to
the home of Mr. Morris. On the
iway McKay remarked that it
was a Deauatui nignx, a Deauu
ful world, and he hated to leave.
At the door of Mr. Morris' home
Mr. Beverly turned and went to
the home of Mr. E. B. Huggifas,
near by, returning, however, al
most immediately. McKay had
before this told Mr. and Mrs.
Morris goodbye, and Mr. Morris,
realizing that the young man
was probably not in a responsible
condition, told Mrs. Morris that
she had better go to the home of
Mr. Huggins for a while. This
Mrs. Morris did. Mr. McKay
asked for writing paper and shut
himself in his room, and Mr.
Morris and Mr Beverly returned
from Mr. Huggins' together and
knocked
at McKay s room.
There was no response. They
tried the door. It seemed to be
locked. Mr. Beverly shook the
door and called 'Archie," and
presently McKay answered "All
right old boy, in a minute." and
Mr. Beverly stepped to the front
',i:i.. v :.i n ,uf
lllllilV-UitlCtiJ lit iiviu ouui,
McKay called "Come in Marvin,"
the pistol fell to the floor, and
when Mr. Beverly rushed, into
the room it seems that McKay
had ciuietlv sliuued to the door
and unlocked it as soon as Mr.
Beverly stepped away the
young many was lying across the
bed, near which he was standing
when he fired. Mr. Morris did
not wait to enter the room bot
went for a doctor at once. Drs. W.
A. McPhaul, H. T. Pope and Jno.
Knox, Jr., all reached the room
within a few minutes,, but the
unfortunate young man was past
all aid.
The following pathetic note
wa3 found upon the dresser in
the room:
Wednesday night . 7.4S
"Dear Father
Do not be surprised when
you sep thi. I could not quit
smoking cigarettes and drinking
liquor so I did not want to be a
ditfvace on mv family, so I left
ttom in Mfv-c iiood-oye, MSb
Ruby. .Walker. Fk. Will, sister
and all for me and tell them that
I love them all. Good-bye
Arcnie.
Though the note was dated
Wednesday night there seem5 ro
doubt that it wa3 written just
before the shot was fired; and
(Continued on page four.)
aw.,
J", ICS
II smm i m i ;
m mtmWMrttMwxsz-' u km m 11 i i .m ir mt y i mm n 4 1 1 . 1 1
wmm mt -ji lis :vj.s ..ui -mmr , c, ut w m i mm
ora 1 V- '. 1 m. . - I l;l IfUi ml ! I ll! I I I
1 W, 0X II 8
1 x
I ' ' ,l1 ' ' ' v
A I
GOOD ROADS ASSOCIATION
Robeson County Good Roads
Association Organized in
Lumb erton Saturday
State Geologist Pratt Ad
dresses Good Roads Meeting
A Start for Real Good
Roads Work.
The Robeson County Good
Roads Association of North Caro
linasounds good, Doesn't it?
That ib what was organized in
Lumberton,, Saturday and the fol
lowing officers were elected: A.
J. McKinnon ef Maxton, presi
dent; W. S. Cobb of Lum'oer
Bridge, vice president; A. E.
While of Lumberton, secretary
treasurer. The executive com
mittee, to be selected later, will
ov; composed of one member from
each township in the county.
With two minor changes relating
to the number of members of the
executive committee, the consti
tution recommended in the good
roads circular issued by the North
Carolina Geological and Economic
Survey was adopted.
Briefly, the above is what was
accomplished; at the good roads
meeting held in Lumberton Satur
day alter an address on good
roads by Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt,
State Geologist and president of
tne Southern Appalachian Good
Roads Association. As announced
in The Robesonian, the call for
this meeting was issued by Mr.
A. E. White as chairman of a
committee appointed at a good
roads meeting held in Lumber
ton September last for the pur
pose of getting Dr. Pratt to ad
dress a meeting and organize a
good roads association. Owing
to the fact that a two-weeks'
term of court had just closed the
meeting wras not as well attended
as it otnerwise would have been,
I out those present are very much
in earnest about tnis subject of
good roads, all joined the associa
tion, anujithis organization gives
a starting point for work which
will result in untold good to the
county.
Mr. White called the meeting
to order, was made permanent
chairman, and introduced Dr.
Pratt.
Dr. Pratt showed at the outset
of his remarks that good roads
are of more importance to- the
rural sections than to the towns,
and he thinks that the iest re
sults cani;ot be obtained with t;w
township system Robeson coutuy
has 'r it is not just to the e uaiy
as a whole, lor some townships
are not aoie to do much work,
and it costs more for machinery,
etc He thinks that the road.s ui
this countygmay be improved 100
to 200 per cent, with the proper
sort of work. We do not need
macadam roads, but sand-clav
roads, and we have the material
necessary for building them. The
best sand for roads is the kind
that a plasterer wants for mak
ing mortar, and alt clay will do
i.i 1 1 i : i
except what he caned . outter-
rnilk" ciay,, the kind that when
SSI X SWr r 9-WC. YbJO. I r III f HI '
wet foams and forms a scum.
The county has revenue enough
if some adequate plan is decided
upon. We are losing thousands
and thousands of dollars yearly
in transportation charges alone
on account of bad roads.
Throughout the State, he said, it
has been carefully estimated that
the loss on account of bad roads
amounts to $10,000,000 to 12,
000,000 yearly loss on account
of not being able to haul, loss of
time, increase in cost of hauling,
etc. j
Good roads" have a vital relation j
to .schools. In some States in!
the West they have found it j
cheaper and better to maintain I
one good graded school for a dis-!
trict and haul the children to j
school in free busses than toj
maintain many small schools. !
T T T 1 I i ,
we win unquestionably have to
come to that sort of plan, but it
would not work except where
the roads are good the year round.
So the limit of our advancement
along educational lines has been
reached unless roads are im
proved. Dr. Pratt believes that the right-
! of-way of roads should be40 feet.
instead of
tne zu ieet now re
j quired. Dirt roads can be kept
in good condition, he said, except
when they "freeze w h i c h is
mighty seldom in this section
all the time by the judicious tree
of the split-log drag, a simple
devise that can be constructed at
a cost of from $2.50 to $5, and
advocates letting individual
farmers look after different parts
of the road, each man to go over
his section with the drag after
each rain.
Dr. Pratt's talk was exceed
ingly practical and full of good
suggestions. It is to be regretted
that he did not have a larger au
dience. In subsequent issues of
The Robesonian mention will be
made of other points that he
brought out and the constitution
adopted by the association will
be printed.
All who are interested in secur
ing good roads for the county
are urged to join the Robeson
County Good Roads Association.
The membership fee is and
this includes membership in the
State Good Roads Association
and a year s subscription to
Southern Good Roads, a monthly
magazine
ton.
published as. Lexing-
Tb,-ug!i Train Service to the
h ri:- and Las.
Ttro-jgh trains Nos. 33 and 85
on tne Atlantic Cua&i Line now
stop at Hope Mill for all Lum
berion and Virginia & Carolina
Southern passengers, to and from
Richmond, Va., and beyond. This
means that , Lumber ton
haa advantage of through train
service to and from Richm .no'r
New York and the East over the
Virginia & Carolina Southern and
gives Lumberton really first-ciiss
train service.
- Count Leo Tolstoi,, the noted
Russian novelist and reformer,
died at Astapova,. Russia, yester
, day.
GooS
LUMBERTON
DRUU CO.'
sos L. H.CALDWELL
l AM ON MYWAXJ2gRg)
tit, Bsi- Cv
TABLE DELICACIES FRUIT i
't STORE I
C. B. REDMOND Proprietor. J
Farmers & Merchants Bank
Every Accomodation
EXTENDED
MAXTON NEWS ITEMS.
In Social Realms Two Autos
'Collide Miss Clarkie Belle
McNair Has Narrow Escape
From Fire Personal.
Correspondence of The Kooeaonlir..
Maxton, Nov. 18. This after
noon at 3:30 o'clock the Merry-Go-Rounders
began to gather at
Miss Margaret Baldwin's. The
drawing room wras decorated in 1
yellow autumn leaves. The pro
m
gramme was carried our, which i rl.
consisted of a poem by MI33 Sallie j Rlmton'
Austin, a reading by Miss Lillian There will be a moving
Austin, a piano solo by Miss Kate j picture show at Ten Mile Wednes
Southerland. The first contest i cay evening, and after the shovr,
was to give names to the 15 dif- j refreshments will be sold for the
ferent leaves,' represented, Miss i benefit of the school.
SiaUStiThone tra?i "Ex-Sheriff Geo. B McLeod,
PlU ih P ?r ? p 9nH wS who bas been at tne Highsmith
Lhzabeth Lurrie and Master . ff..;ii, .i...
Honrs Pi-anqnaosoH srnrmr t,!!,-
cards for the members to en
gage in a progressive game of
tiddiedv-winks. Miss Kate South -
erland was awarded the prize,
which was a handsome hand
painted party book. Dainty re
freshments were served. At a
late hour the members departed
to meet next time with Misses
Clarkie Belle and Bessie McNair.
Yesterday afternoon about
dusk as Dr. Gibson was coming
into town and Dr. Kirkpatrick
going out, they met near the
Methodist church, the result
being a collision of their automo
biles. The damages were con
fined to the machines, none being
hurt. The accident,was attribut
ed to want of lights on the re
spective machines.
As Miss Clarkie Belle McNair
was engaged this morning, in
making candy on a chafing-dish,
her dress became ignited by the
flames and a serious accident for
a moment seemed imminent, but
owing to the presence of mind of
Mrg. Jno. McCailum the flames
were quickly extinguished by a
rug and a valuable life was
saved.
Our hearts were Sade glad
this morning by the return of
!Mr.. Walter J. Pace, who has
been absent for the past year in
i search of good health. This he
; has regained and is looking well.
At .the last meeting of the
; stockholders of the Bank of
j Robeson Mr. Hector McLean was
! elected president.
Mr. S. B. McLean is in Lum
berton to-day, this being court
j week.
Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Croom's
ihaby, Robert Jr., is very ill.
Mr3. A. B. Croom entertained
the Edinborough Book Club
Tnursday.
Miss Alice Fowler of Rocking
ham is visiting Mrs. B. F. Mc
Lean. County Teachers' Meeting De
cember 3d.
On account of the fact that
many of the teachers desire to
; go home for Thanksgiving, Supt.ldeath fought for pieces ot the
i Poole has deeided to postpone the
i meeting of the County Teacneis'
Association from Saturoay ot
next week to the Saturday fol
lowing, December 3d.
John Calvin George Gets 5
Years for Second Degree
Murder Term Closes.
Ihe criminal term of Robeson
Superior Uourt which began on
the 9th? Judge O. H. Allen of
Kinston presiding, closed for the
terra Friday night. The jail wa9
almost emptied, only four prison
ers being ;eft. Ihree were sent
to the penitentiary ane 7 to the
chair: gang.
The jury ir. the case against
John Calvin George, colored, for
lulling Marshall Clarx, colored.
jt Kirsuale September 25, 1909.
j returned a verdict Friday night
cf murder ir. the second degree
j and George was -sentenced to thy
S cnain gang for 5 years.
" ctUcr cases were diposed of as
follows:
1 -John Townsend. a. d. w. ; plead
i guilty; W days on roads.
Lardir. Bass, using profanity;
former judgment stricken cut
and judgment suspended on pay
ment of costs.
Haynes Wiicox, resisting officer
and a. d. w, : judgment susDended
on payment of costs.
Claud Blount, retailing; 12
months in jail with leave to com
missioners to farm out.
Gus Thompson, a. d. w .: ad
judged insane by jury and court
i it, .
oraers mat he oe taken by the
sheritf to the State hospital for
the insane at Raleigh.
Wm. McLeod, retailing, con
tinued; D. B. Walters, a. d. w.,
nol pres.
LOCAL BRIEFS.
Licenses have been issueed
for the marriage of Emeline Mc
Millan and Leslie Whitehead;
i111'11 " l aJ'cucv llc Li'c
auto wreck near Raeford two
! 8 h
i eecAe5 ilr.n! lnl ele7
ning. tie has about recovered
! from his injuries and was able to
j be on the streets at Fayetteville
Saturday.
Mr. J. WV Morris, who for
several years has been the effi
cient cashier at the Seaboard de
pot, has been made chief cierk to
succeed Mr. Archie McKay,
whose unfortunate death is men
tioned elsewhere in this paper.
Mr. Morris' successor has not
yet been appointed. Mr. Lee
Caldwell is assisting at the depot
for the present.
Fire which is supposed to
have originated from the care-
lessr.eis of smokers did damage
yesterday amounting to more
than $100 to the cotton belong
ing to the McLeod estate stored
on the vacant lot on the corner
of Elm and Fifth streets. It was
discovered about 9 o'clock a.' m.
and was quickly extinguished.
Four of 5 oales were badly dam
aged and several others scorcned,
Tne cotton was guarded all night
and small blazes broke out about -dark
and again about midnight.
Four men were killed at the.
Indian Head, Md.. proving
grounds of the navy Saturday by
cfie premature explosion of a gun.
In a fight between soidieis and
police on one side and revolution
ists on the other at Puebla. Mex
ico, Friday, more than 100 per
sons were killed. Dispatches yes
day stated that the troops were
in control of the situation and no
futher conflicts were feared.
Ralph Johnstone, the brillian
young aviator who at Belmont
Park, New York, recently broke
the world's record for altitude
with a flight of 9,714 feet plunged
from a height of 500 feet at an
aviation meet at Denver, Colo.,
Thursday when one wing of hi
machine broke and was instantly
killed. Some of the thousands
of spectators who witnessed hi'
broken plane and one man even
natch ed a stay tnat had gone
almost through Johnstone's body
and rushed away with it. the
blood still dripping from its ends.
t
1
-1
v
i