SHED SEPTEMBER 19, IS7&.
’if.; \,e” Convicted of
i Degree Murder
. \Vr,u Fugleman, After Hard
ftl > by His Counsel, Con
«i ’st Decree Murder.
V ‘i TO DIE MARCH 11
y . \ttend Trial—Fine Or
■/; Trial —Hard Fight for
d iegree Verdict.
week and an hour of the
V, iiiiam Fogleman at Ore
i v night, January 15,
u'li, the negro charged with
was convicted of first de
ana sentenced to be elec
,?i Friday, March 11.
•••[ revs': was packed with
' >r. jtators the th-’e? d \vy
... yet the best of order pre
he court room an : in town,
a. intent feeling that might
{ - kirn out if the cuinrit had
; a less penalty than the death
: hough the danger of that was
ijv lessened bv the able de
;uie by his council. The news
, tories, including that in this
w. 1 largely responsible for
. n* i*K extreme degree of
• that might have resulted in
hohavii r discreditable to the good
::: rue m the county, since the stories
,v -iished and generally accredited
nu.ic the negro’s crime appear much
more cold-blooded and treacherous
han the evidence bore out. Accord
ry.y. the opinion prevailed that the
rial was only a matter of form.
Defense Counsel Criticized
Consequently, when the counsel for
the defense. Senator W. P. Horton
and Attorney R. H. Dixon, Jr., ap
pointed by the court, showed a deter
mination to make a real fight and
urned down more than a hundred men
before securing a jury, resentment
was more or less freely expressed at
what was supposed to be an unneces
sary waste of time and money, and
men were wondering on what possible
grounds the defense’s counsel could
hone to make even a shauowv defense.
But so soon as young Cheek’s story
had been told cn the witness stand, it
was clem* to the discriminating mind
that the case was vastly different
from that supposed from the publish
ed rep- rts ex the crime, and that the
iefense had a fighting chance for a
-econ '-degree verdict.
The Story of the Trial
A venire cf a hundred men had been
irawn Wednesday to report Thurs
day. The selection of a jury began
early Thursday afternoon, and con
tinue' 1 . d the venire of a hundred
was cihatmud and only 10 jurors had
been selected. Another venire of 50
was draw and there was scurrying
by the si. irTs forces to have them
present delay morning. But the
elimina; n continued. Man after
man declared that he had already
tornifcd an opinion, and mostly sub
ject to no change. At last all but one
man ha 1 been chosen, but the venire
was exhausted and another of fifty
was drawn. Again the telephone and
deputies were put into commission
and summons were hurried to every
township in the county. The court
was at a standstill, and it was late in
the afternoon before the jury was
rounded out with the choice of Mr.
Q. Covert as the twelfth man.
The Testimony
Solicitor Williams had ready an ar
ray of witnesses—in fact, a good
many more than were necessary to
establish the crime as revealed by the
testimony. But it was clear that the
defense was preparing for a stubborn
an d every man was put on.
The first witness called w r as Dr.
Thomas, of Siler City, who told of the
condition of the body when examined,
the wound as made by a
(dstol ball of probably 32-calibre,
mch entered an inch below the right
m e and traveled toward the left of
v : , lodging in the back of the
head. The bullet was not recovered.
Allen Cheek’s Story '
-Wen Cheek, the 19-year ©ld hero
' u y , tra £ic night, was next called,
<l p‘‘ to ' ( j a vivid and straight-forward
events of the evening
)‘\ aen h‘ s companion was slain and he
mse “ w as engaged in a desperate
encounter with the robber and killer.
. 1 m young man, weighing one would
scarcely 140 pounds, came to
c stand with the whole scalp cov
* • y h a white bandage, resembling
skull cap, and his arm in
yCe. There were no scars visible,
1 ; s -ace had escaped injury.
, . ' ■' i how he and Mr. Fogleman
", " atc^ in the store three nights
; y slacks in the snow on Tuesday
, .. ln 1 revealed the means of
+ / l ( the thief who had been en
iy store occasionally for
1 ‘ was inept in giving the
mi 1 .' ° ns the store, which were
H V? definitely given by Mr. N.
tv f as long and thir-
U T with a fifteen-foot sec
‘ r ° J tne 45-foot length cut off at
r b y a partition, leaving the
-tore room thirty by thirty.
( c , nu r - Foglem&n had come to
.‘ i about seven o’clock. They.
. the fire and talked for a
a k r i l i des and had then gone back
’ y undressed and gone to bed
r * on the side of the rear
wl. ' T.T’ osi t e the window through
hic'Vj ; f "hies was expected to make j
nis appearance. I
sor> T no * there long when
°P ene d the window, came in,
to T . tl ? rou ß'b the rear room and in
midJi ! ront . st() re room through a
Tjgm \ in, the partition, and
i t k,. a am P in the store room,
could n S severa * minutes before they
' S(: and noiselessly grope their
The Chatham Record
I way to the partition door. Ready,
I C heek opened the door, with Fogleman
at his heels, saw a negro behind the
j counter on the right front of the
.|score, \v rapping up goods. He threw
j tne light from his flashlight upon the
negro and called “Haiti” The negro'
threw up his left hand, but was stuf
fing the bundle in his pocket with his
i;gm. He saw him reaching his hand
:n his pocket and sunoosing that he
was getting a gun fired upon the
negro with the 45-automatic he held
m his hand. The negro, with left
hand still raised and his right in his
pocket hoLowed not to shoot and ran
, toward the front (presumably around
the end of the counter near the front j
door—Ed.) By this time the witness i
was at the left t i the stove approach- \
mg- from the Tear and pulled down ;
aimu Hie negro again as he turned
(w.th left hand still up and right!
I hand in pocket ) and fled down the |
| ciiwr side of the vacancy between the I
| covn.ors, bus his pistol had jammed'
!'-Tud failed to fr?, As fL; nv* >nw
i j down the stort toward the back-room '
door, Mr. Fogleman, with double-bar-I
reled gun to his shoulder, called to the !
negro to surrender, saying that they
did not want to kill him. The negro
> j continued running till he was within
arm’s reach of the muzzle of Fogde
,iman’s gun, when he whipped out a!
[ pistol anti shot Fogleman dead. The
negro hadn’t drawn the pistol before
■, nor made any attempt to attack the
■ man who had shot at him once and
! was still attempting to shoot again.
I By the time Fogleman had fallen,
the whtnc£> had reached across the
stove anti attempted to shoot the
negro at close range. The gun failing '
; to fire, the witness fiJyled h-mself at !
the negro, the negro turning his fire \
upon him and a bullet glaziflg his !
head, knocked him to the floor. The*
negro fell upon him and they strug
gled upon the floor. The witness
, managed to get on top. He felt the
j muzzle of the negro’s gun against his
j body and pushed it far enough to a
; roid a fatal wound, but w as grazed on
j the 'side. The negro again had the
muzzle of the gun against his fore
head and pulled the trigger but the
gun failed to Are, there liaving been j
only three bullets in the pistol as it;
was afterwards discove red. Now be- i
! gan a desperate tooth and nail strug- i
gle. They were up; the negro pom- ’
meled him over the head with the pis- j
to!. The witness had lost hold of his j
pistol when he fed. The struggle *
wavered from one end of the store j
to the other. They were near the I
scales not far from the front of the [
store; the negro had seized tw r oof J
the fingers of the witness in his teeth *
.nd was biting so hard lie could not I
•ull his hand away; with the other |
hand he managed to get hold of a ,
. cale weight and began to hit the;
negro over the head w ith that; finally j
they struggled through the partition)
door into the rear room. The wit
ness, growing weak, told the negro if j
he would turn loose he might go. The
negro said he would not go till he |
killed him. Finally they w r ere at the ,
outside door of the partition and the i
witness lifted the latch and shoved
the negro toward the open door. They ;
1 fell down the steps together. The i
negro rose and fled, file pursued, hoi- !
lowing murder. The negro fell but (
got up and ran on. At Mr. Hannah’s I
house he stopped and there he told j
the story to several persons. He didn’t
know whether Mr. Fogleman wms
dead, but feared that he was as he ,
didn’t hear anything from him, even
when he called him. Here Dr. Wy
song came and dressed his wounds.
He had bitten the negro’s face in the
struggle.
The Newspaper Story
The story as reported and published
in the papers had differed essentially
in the matter of the first shooting.
As published, the negro had thrown
up his hands when called upon tq do
so and when the men approached,
supposing that he had surrendered, he
had drawn a gun and shot Fogleman
uead and then turned it upon Cheek,
w r ho shot about the same time. -
The recognition of-* this important
discrepancy first indicated the fight
ing chance of the defense for a lower
degree and from this point onward
the theory of the defense began to re
veal itself, to the effect that the negro
had surrendered before, he was shot
by Cheek, that his right hand accord- '
ing to the evidence of the state’s wit
ness w'as engaged in ramming the
goods in his pocket when he was call
ed upon to surrender, that in the ex
citement he failed to raise his right
hand, that his neglect to draw his
gun and fire at the man shooting at
him and running down the store room
on the opposite side of the stove from
his assailant indicated that he was
thinking not of resistance but of es
cape, and only drew his gun and shot
when he had run squarely into the
’ man with the leveled shot gun at the
partition door and found his way of
escape blocked and two men assail
ing him after he had surrendered.
Court had adjourned after Cheek’s
testimony Friday evening, assembling
for the continuation of the trial Sat
urday morning at nine o’clock The
/jury had been kept together under the
charge of Officer Paul Farrell.
Mr. Cheek, owner of the store and
father of Allen, identified certain
goods, ladies’ hose and garters, as like
those he kept. Witness after witness
corroborated Cheek’s story by relate
ing a similar story told by him after
the battle. Mr. D. T. Vestal related
that Mitchell had come to his house
about eight o’clock that evening and
called for his sons, who were not at
home. Another witness stated that
he came to his house and asked if he
knew where he could get any whiskey.
Will Frazier, a , smalß negro ..poy,
PITTSBORO, N. C., CHATHAM COUNTV, THURSDAY, JAN’Y. 27, 1927
swore that Mitchell was at his home
that afternoon and borrowed his cap
to wear to Ore Hill. Robert Burnett
went with him to Ore Hill. Robert
swore that he had paid two dollars he
owed Mitchell and given him two dol
-1 'nrs more to buy them some whiskey;
that he had also loaned him that morn
n:g a second overcoat of his which
Mitchell still wore; that at Mitchell’s
request he had borrowed his brother
Harry Burnett’s pistol and given it
to Mitchell; that he stopped at Sam
Barber’s while Mitchell went to find
the whiskey; when Mitchell did not
return he went to the Frazier home
where they were to return and not
I find’ng Mitchell there went on over
,to Mitchell’s house and learned that h/-
i had not been there.
| Harry Mitchell told of loaning the
pistol and of Mitch-lVs coming to his
. house that night and telling that hi
j had had a fight and of his shoulder’s
! being out of place and of his trying
| to pull it back right, and of Mitchell’s
.baying he !TA?7t »0 ami of
1 his telling him that ic looked like he
I had better go and in a hurrv. Officer
■ Pickett of Siler City told of Mitchell’S
surrender at his uncle’s home at Siler
City, and that he voluntarily told him j
he shot Mr. Fogleman, and when
asked why he had not surrendered I
J said that he “didn’t know—that he j
was for getting out of there.” Vari- i
ous witnesses toid how there were
evidences of a struggle in various
parts Os the store; how blood had
purted from the wound in F'ogleman’s
head and formed a puddle . and even
bloodied a box two feet distant.
There was blood oil the counter and !
{ blood on the back door sill, etc. The
! gun was found by Fogleman’s side
! with two loaded shells in it. Two
j bullet holes were found in the ceiling
of the store. One had gone straight
through, from a point near the parti
tion door and had lodged in a rafter,
from Which it had been taken and
found to fit the Mitchell pistol. The
other, apparently also a 32 calibre, the
size of the Mitchell gun, had gone
slantingly through the ceiling as if
shot from near the rear door, enter
ing the ceiling near the front of the
j store. No bullet from the 45, the
; gun Cheek said he shot, was found,
; and this became the basis for a mo
; tion by defense counsel later to have
! the body of Mr. Fogleman disinterred
I and the bullet taken from his head to
j see whether it is a 45 or a 32, arguing
1 that the non-discovery of the 45 and
; he natural excitement of young Cheek
inevitably raised the question of the
[ possibility of Fogleman’s having
i been killed by the bullet fired from
; Cheek’s gun. This motion was over
■ ruled by Judge Harris.
| Coroner Brooks, Officers Edwards,
i Burns, and possibly others also gave
I evidence as to goods, guns, etc., and
j it was well along in the afternoon of
I Saturday before the state announced
the close of its evidence.
The motion referred to just above
J was made by Attorney Horton. This
i overruled, the defense after a con
, ference announced that it would also
j rest, thus securing the first, and the
last speech in the argument.
The Argument
The opening address to the jury
was made by defense attorney R,. H.
! Dixon, Jr., who devoted his time to
■ a review of the evidence and particu-
I larly raised the question of the possi
; bility of Fogleman’s being killed by
a bullet from Cheek’s pistol, since no
: sign of the 45-calibre ball had been
found in the walls of the store.
Mr. Dixon was followed by Solicitor
C. L. Williams, who made an exhaus
tive and effective argument for a
first-degree verdict, citing the sta
tute that places killing taking place
while the slayer is in the act of rob
bery as murder “deemed” to be in
the first degree. '
Next came Senator Horton, who
throughout the trial had manifested
the deepest concern that his client,
even though a poor negro, should
have the fairest kind of a trial. It
was manifest that Horton was not
only determined to fight for a second
degree verdict but actually believed
that his client did not deserve a death
penalty, on the grounds that despite
the presumption of premeditation
and deliberation in that the crime was
committed while a robbery was taking
place, as the statute the evi
: dence, verbal and natural, implied that
the shot had been fired in panic and
not with deliberation and after pre
meditation. He developed his theory
as outlined in the beginning of this
article, suggesting that the robbery
of the store was a secondary thought
that night and that there was no evi
dence that Mitchell was the man who
had robbed it on former occasions. It
was in the evidence that Mitchell was
seeking whiskey, that he was to go. „
back to Cora Frazier’s, where a Bass
girl lived, and that when he failed to
get the liquor he decided to carry the
women some nice hose and proceeded
get them. He had his whole heart
in the address, yet it was evident
from his words that he feared that
he might be injuring himself with the
people for his unqualified defense of
the friendless negro, but professed
himself ready* to take the conse
quences of his ,act rather than for a '■
moment to feel that; he had not done
his duty to hi 3 client: To this ad-v
dress, as well as to that of Attorney
Dixon’s and Solicitor Williams’ the
jury paid the strictest attention.
The Judge’s Charge . ?
It was supper time when Horton
closed and adjournment was taken till :
eight o’idock. Hundreds, of the coun
try folk went home but when court
reassembled the: -house, was again
packed, the vacancies being filled by
town folk, black and white. j
Judge Harris’s , instructions were'
.vj - Jji .1
Moncure News Letter
Moncure boys basketball team play
ed Goldston team on home grounds
last Friday afternoon. It was a good
game, but the score was 24 to 22 in
favor of Goldston’s team.
We are glad to state that little
James E. Cathell, who was recently
operated on for appendicitis, is im
proving fast and will soon be able to
come home from the hospital.
We are sorry to hear that Dr. P.
D. Laster is very sick at this writing.
Mrs. C. T. Dezern, his daughter, is
at his bed-side. We hope he will soon
be better.
Miss Mamie Sockwell, the 7th grade
teacher, who has been sick, is able
to be a'f~schooi today, Monday. Mrs.
vV. T. Utley taught for her while
she wa« sick, -
An interesting Epworth League
meeting was held last Sunday eve
ning- at seven o’clock at the Methodist
church. Miss Annie Lambeth, the
president was in the chair and called
meeting to order. The secretary
being absent, the meeting was turned
over to the “Juniors.” Little Misses
Lols_ Ray and Camelia Stedman were
| th§ leaders £§r the evening, who pre
sented a play on “Service” with the
j following as characters s Lois Ray,
I -Camelia Stedman, Dorothy Lambeth,-
| Lliciig Maynard, Beatrice Wilkie, Em--
i ..la Lee Mann, Ruth Stedman, Ro
berta Lambeth, Margaret Strickland,.
Mary Helen Lambeth, Margie
Ray, Melba Moore, Ruby Womble-Jul
ian Ray, and Miss Annie Lambeth.
Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Canady of
Goldsboro have moved to Moncure and
occupy Mr. Mini’s house on Cathell
avenue. We welcome them to our
town.
CLUB NOTES
The music department met with
Mrs. R. G. Shannonhouse on Tues
day evening with sixteen present. This
department pldged $25.00 towards the
club piano and will sell candy at the
quilting party on February 14th to
help raise this amount. A delightful
msical program on the violin was
rendered by Dr. R. M. Farrell accom
panied by Mrs. Farrell, he playing
Traumerie and Humoresque, and by
Miss Annie Bynum who played Mis
erere from II Trovatore, Mrs. Bynum
*:• aying the accompaniment. Mrs. C.
U. Lance read a paper of vital inter
-st on “Music and Art in Education.”
Dr. Farrell and Miss Bynum then
closed the program, playing as a duet
Cavalier Rusticani.
Twelve squares for the quilt the
•hi' is making were then completed,
after which delicious refreshments
were served. The department will
meet with Misses Cordie Harmon and
Bertha Jones in February;
clear and unequivocal. He showed
that, while the statute presumed mur
der under the circumstances to be of
the first degree, an actual proof of
*ack of deliberation and premeditation
would overcome the presumption.
Thus the jury was left free to sustain
the presumption of first degree mur
der or to accept Attorney Horton’s
theory of the shooting’s being done in
a panic after the negro had been fired
upon by Cheek and when, in attempt
ing to escape, he had run squarely in
to the muzzle of the gun.
It was 8:45 when the jury got the
case. Fifty-five minutes later they
returned with the verdict, and the
deepest quiet reigned while their
spokesman, Mr. S. W. Harrington, de
clared the verdict to be guilty in the
first degree. Inquiry revealed the
fact that the first vote had stood ten
for first degree and two for second
degree. The writer did not ask for
the names of the two.
After consulting the calendar,
Judge Harris made his first death
sentence, for this was his second term
of court since he ascended the superior
court bench, and fixed the date as
March 11, ordering the Sheriff to take
the prisoner in charge and deliver
him to the penitentiary authorities.
It is' Mated that the defense will ap
peal, and it is a fact that the defense
took many exceptions which were
overruled, particularly the exception
to the admission of all evidence of
what followed the murder.
. v The Jury
The jury consisted of the following
good citizens.:* W. J. Smith, C. R.
Lambert, J. H. Snipes, Ruffin Farrar,
John Irving Moore, J.. L. Stephens, Joe
Tysor, F. A. Smith, N. W. Yow,
James Greaves, S .W_. Harrington
and J. Q. Covert.
Four were chosen from the regular
panel for the term. Accordingly, it
took a venire of 200 men to get £
more jurors, though only part of the
last venire of 50 were called.
The Criminal
- Pearl Mitchell is evidently a bad
egg. The evidence disclosed that he
spends his money for liquor, while
evidence debarred by the decision of
the defense not to put on any wit
nesses would probably have showr
that he neglects his wife and childrer
and gives his devotions to another wo
man, while the fact of his being ir
the store shows him to be a thief an(
a murderer and following the fight r
very devil. Yet he comes from one o'
the best negro families in the county
His father is a good, reliable negro
his ; grandfather was the venerable
Calvin Mitchell who died ■: here les c
than two years ago at the age of 9f
and who was noted in this section a£
a WQod workman. Yet it was Pearl’;
.other meanness that made a defense
possible. He was stealing for hi;
woman, arid debarred evidence mighi
have shown that he was armed on thi;
occasion because of threats of som<
orie to kill him if he should be foum
again ’at"the Roman’s house. ’ ‘
The Legislature
WHAT THE LEGISLATURE
HAS DONE THE PAST WEEK
Our Raleigh correspondent wrote
the first of the week that nothing is
being done in the legislature; that the
j bodies are marking time till the bills
prepared by the commissions are
i brought before them for their o. k.
lie bewailed the lack of leadership,
and said that Col. Watts was on the
| grounds and had probably been sent
to tell the fellows what to do. For
mer leaders are not leading.
On the other hand, the same paper
bore a comparative report of the ses
sion of 1925 and this one, showing
that this body h-nl Tfiov-i
| bills and passed more than the 1925
i one had at the same stage. Moreover,
the three big bills of the session are
before the committees. Accordingly,
it is evident that nobody is splitting
his shirt about anything simply
cause it is not necessary. Uis a good
sign when men capable of leading- are
content to let well enough alone and j
not start something for the mere sake
of being in the limelight.
The Australian ballot bill is boom
ing along and seems sure of passage.
Senator Horton reports that the sen
ators are generally favorable to the
repeal of the absentee voters’ law,
but that newspaper men have quizzed
him as to his i*easons for wishing
the repeal, the demand for its repeal
being rather unsuspected on the part
of the correspondents, who probably
have not seen the law working as it
can and does work in Chatham coun
ty. The time is apparently ripe for
the passage of laws making elections
I fair and decent.
It seems probable at this writing
chat horse-drawn vehicles will have to
be provided with tail lights when on
the roads at night. It is generally
recognized that to drive without a
iight is suicidal, yet there will doubt
less be a number of legislators who
will refrain from helping put this lit
tle trouble upon the “poor farmer.”
The bill making it incumbent upon
car manufacturers to fix the lights
in accord with the requirements of
the state law before the cars are ship
ped into the state is likely to pass
too. Those two bills, with the third
introduced requiring drivers entering
: a main road from a side road to stop
should lessen the toll the automobiles
are taking from the lives of the state,
which is almost at the rate the battle
i fields took them a few years ago.
The University trustees are back
with a request that the University
receive the full amount asked for,
which is $600,000 more than proposed
in the budget committee’s bill.
$600,000 additional to the $1,700,000
assured in the bill compares—no it
has passed that stage of comparison
contrasts with the measly $20,000 a
year which the University felt lucky
to get thirty years ago. Very prob
ablv the institution can irk along with
its "$1,700,000.
It has been estimated that the reve
nue bill before the assembly will pro
duce nearly a million more than reve
nues of this year. It takes money
from the places where it is in big
chunks. But it will be needed in even
bigger chunks if the pensioners are
o get a million more, the school equal
ization fund three millions more, the
institutions, each, a bigger appropria
tion.
New bills are being daily intro
duced. One introduced Tuesday would
provide for a school for delinquent
negro girls, similar to that at Sam
arcand for white girls.
But it is not likely that any very
important measure will have been
passed before this paper reaches its
readers. It takes time to get a
measure in perfect shape. For in
sance, there was Brother Scott Poole
about ready to put his monkey bill in
the hopper Monday, when he found it
had bad grammar in it, and he with
held the righteous ardor with which
the daughty defender of the faith is
introducing it. But a little bad gram
mar would not bother the average sup
porter of such a bill, as he would
never recognize it.
>N.EW ELAM NEWS ’
New Hill, Jan. 24, has
been received here that Mr. Linwood
Crowder of Richmond, Va., was ser
iously injured in an automobile wreck
'.ast week. Mr. Crowder married Miss
Alma Dickens of this section. We
hope it will not prove fatal for him.
Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Mann.and Miss
Dora Holt attended the funeral of
Mrs. Julianna Farrell, which was held
at Zion Christian church in Lee coun
ty last Thursday. Mrs. Farrell was
an aunt of Mrs. Mann and was near
eighty years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Hughes of Kin
ston were week-end guests of his sis
ter Mrs. G. F. Carr. ;
Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Mann and chil
dren of Raleigh were Sunday guests
of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Mann.
Mr. J. H. Webster has gone to At
lanta to attend the banquet which
the case company is giving. He will
be gone a week.
Mr. E. H. Holt continues in bad
health. We wish he could get well and
anjoy good health for a long time.
Miss Nina, and Bailey Sturdivant
of Pittsboro, spent Sunday with their
parents.
Mr. Glenn Tysinger will return tc
Davidson county today.
We had a very good attendance at
C. E. Sunday night. The subjec
was a very good one. Mrs. Carr wa
leader. We were glad to have s=
many visitors and had some very good
talks from them. .
Miss Grizell Copeland of Raleig
spent the. week-epd with her, father *
V QL. 45, Kv
Cold Down in Florida
Pittsboro Girl in Orlando Was Think
ing of Home and Home Folk
Orlando, Fla., Jan 12, 1927
Greetings!—
Gee! it must be cold in North Ca’-
lina, ’cause its cold enough here to
have a fire—and this is the very first
time we’ve had to have one since I’ve
been here. If it gets any colder I’ll
have to be getting out the 010 faith
ful red flannels even if I am in such
a warm climate. (I hope the above
won’t be censored by the gracious
editor.) The birds, the trees, the
bees, she flies do not sing, and rustle
and sting. ?.nd hop so merrily the they
did -you sec, Florida is not as com
fortable for ’em as it was. Even I
am. less disposed to be on the go.
So much for Florida weather., though
one would think from the fore
going- that I had, mayhaps, exchang
ed places with the weather man.
And, another vital subject which I
wish to discuss—and n very vital
question which I wish to ask'is this:
i “What has become of Virginia Mae
i Connell?” When one has been in _a
habit of receiving long epistles fronf
her almost daily and they suddenly
cease coming, (l haven’t heard from
her in three dayg) Oil# is likely to
judge that said young lady is ill—-
bedridden, as it were, —or, perhaps,)
a paralytic stroke. All information,
will be very gladly received in re
gards to her.—Has she eloped—been
abducted? Is some one holding her
for ransom? I wildly cry and tear
my hair and sob to the four winds—
“ Some one give me info’mation about
my Jennie Connell.”
Has Pittsboro changed much? Any
new skyscrapers? Is the courthouse
still there? Do all the school kids
still congregate in the local drug
store? (Ah-h! me that is getting so
old and decrepit. Pity the poor “goil”
that wants news of her ole home
town). And can anyone tell me if
Lester Farrell, handsome and deb
onair, is still the ladies’ man of yore? - ?
Ah-h! Lester, me lad, “its a great
life if you don’t weaken.”
While the birds do twitter, and the
leaves do rustle merrily—(Pardon.
Perhaps I’m getting my date a trifle
mixed. Maybe I’m contradicting my
self—l stand corrected. It’s too cold
for the aforementioned things to hap
pen.) Essie Modena does sit by the
fire and recall scenes of her childhood
and how she is always getting tickled
in the wrong places. Evidently, I
have not out grown t.:is childish hab
it. I relate the following incident
which happened at a very formal re
ception at which I was present the
other day:— Going down the receiv
ing- line i was the essence of dignity
’til one kind lady grasped my tender
paw and in a very cordial manner
said, “Dowdy Hoo!”: I looked right
at her and said “Haw!, Haw!” The
poor woman had “howdy dood” so
many folks that her tongue became
twisted and she “dowdy hood” me.
I went giggling down the rest of the
line, and the more I thought about
it the more tickled I became. The
harder Aunt Nellie looked at me the
more I laughed. I’m afraid that I
was rather silly; but—oh, well, it
was a good joke and I enjoyed it, so
why worry!!!
Maybe when I come back to Pitts
boro I can get a job on “The Chatham
Record”—l’m all for journalism—
maybe papa will let me have the
marriage, birth and death column, and
I’ll head it—“ Matched, Hatched and
Snatched”— What cher say, O. J.?
Well, owing to the fact that I’ve
written about six pages of nothing
I’ll quit. Here’s hoping all you folks
are in good health and spirits (not
spirits that come in a fruit jar). The
very best regards to each and every
one of you.
Sincerely,
. ESSIE
MRS. T. W. HACKNEY BEREAVED
Mrs. T. W. Hackney received news
as we were preparing for press last
week of the death of her mother, Mrs.
Julianna Farrell, at the home of her
son Mr. Paul Farrell, in Fayetteville,
on Wednesday afternoon.
The burial took place at Zion church
just across Deep River in Lee county
on Thursday. The funeral services
were conducted by Rev. Mr. Under
wood of this community, where Mrs.
Farrell was long a resident.
Mrs. Farrell was the relict of Hen
ry Farrell. She reared 15 children,
only one of whom, Mrs. Hackney, re
sides in the Pittsboro community.
They scattered far and wide.
THE MARTINDALE CASE
Young Martindale, tried last week
on the charge of murdering Lewis
Tilman, was convicted of manslaught
er and sent to the penetentiary for
six months, though the term in the
penetentiary seems to be rather for
the hospitalization of the feeble-mind
ed and physically ailing .youth.
The boy is said to need four oper
ations, and it is directed by the judge
that such surgical attention as he
needs shall be given him while in
the prison. . .
Martindale shot Tillman while the
latter was riding along the road on
a truck with his two brothers. The
boy was not seen nor the shot heard
and Tillman did not know what caus
ed the wracking pain that set up in
his side.
The boy did not, of course, know
that he had wounded Tillman till later
informed. " ~
There was evidence of a quarrel be
tween the twe. i
Martindale was defended by Attor
xey A. C. Ray.
Mr. Lonnie Copeland.
Mrs. W. A. Drake spent the week
end with her mother Mrs. J. A. Thom*-
‘ as* '