ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 19,1878 MORE DETAILS OF CAR THEFT RING’S HUGE OPERATIONS 44 Bad Charlie” Culler, Who, Squealed, Is Quiet Sinc£ He’s Getting Vi til 36 CARS ARE RECOVERED ASHEBORO, Jan. 2.— When a charge irom a sawed-off shotgun laid Bad Charlie" Culler low in the woods of Union township Monday night, December 12, it was as if sig nal gun had been fired for the un folding before the eyes of the of ficers of the law the operations, it is claimed, of one of the boldest and largest ring of car thieves which has ever operated within the confines of the State of North Carolina. So much have the officers found out about the unlawful trade in stolen cars by a ring of which Culler is a confessed member that the shooting of Culler has become a mere inci dent in the sordid business which is now being ferreted out. Officers from the motor vehicle bureau of the North Carolina De partment of Revenue have been in Asheboro for the past Jen days join ing hands with local officials and officers of the law in adjoining counties and at least two other states in uncovering some of the operations of this car stealing ring. Thirty six stolen cars have been recovered to date and definite leads have been obtained as to many more, and nobody seems to know where it will end. Fourteen cars were recovered at Hemp where Larkin Presnell, a brother of Ben Presnell, who is free under $3,000 bond to answer to charge of shooting Culler and for car , theft, is said to have operated a ga rage. Larkin Presnell was arrest ed at the time the cars were seized and lodged in jail at Carthage. Sev en cars were recovered in the lower ; edge of Randolph, five in Asheb#ro and others at different places thru out this section of the state. Boyd Presnell, brother of Ben and Larkin Presnell, surrendered to Sheriff Brady last Saturday and is free un der $3,000 bond on charges growing out of alleged car theft and dispo sition of stolen automobiles, all the result of investigations by officers during the past ten days. Culler’s Confession The real hunt for stolen cars and members of the alleged car stealing and selling ring began shortly after "Bad Charlie" Culler made, in Mem orial hospital, in Asheboro, what, it is stated, he thought was his death bed confession. He had a hole in the side of his head made by the charge from the shotgun and one eye was shot out. There seemed little chance for him. According to information obtained by Dr. Hay worth from Tlise Cox, who brought the wounded man to the hospital, Culler had been shot about 11 o’clock Monday night, or five hours before he was brought to the hospital. He had lost' fhuch blood and the shot \ had gone so deep into his head that it could not be probed out. So Cull er ceased swearing and started to pray. The information had been given out that it is believed he wanted to get something off his mind before he passed away into the uncertainties of the next. Few know’ the details of the con fession Culler made—only the offi cers, perhaps, know all he told. But he told enough to justify the sheriff to get in touch with the motor ve hicle department of the Department of Revenue. Culler claimed that the shot which caused the ugly wound in his head was fired by Ben Pres ycilT* of Sgagrove and that it was fired in the woods near High Pine church, in Union township. The two Culler claimed, had quarreled over the. proceeijs from the sale of a Chrysler roadster, which "Bad Char lie had disposed of in Florida. This car is believed to have been the Chrysler stolen from the street in front of the Ashlyn hotel, in Ashe boro, several months back. The car so stolen belonged to a brother m-law of Drs. Dempsey and Tiffany Barnes. Then Culler unfolded a story of the mside operations of a car stealing ring, a story which seemed incredible to the officers un t ™ they began to delve into the de- lt . . Leader# the gang, of which Culler claim ed he and Ben Presnell and others yere leaders, operated in North Ca rolina, Tennessee, Florida and .iri Georgia. "s&rs stolen in North Ca rolma were disposed of i n Florida rwv they y ere not sold in North rohna. It was an easy matter, -•liler explained, to run a stolen ? Vfir ln f° Tennessee, change the -* ers ’ and obtain a State license sos JJ* Culler claimed to have a of tools with which the numbers car * were changed. He «u>Qi a I j ßo to have a set of notarial forged title papers with if oJ? 11 Was ’* a * l easy matter to make ohf!l?J? e j r - the stolen car had been WWh ed V? ~t he re K ular manner. stmm I®* 1 ®* Culler told where the in which he n sed could bo looking! 8 - ? ot ,.! cn 5 >wn * but officers havp * ! nt ° bkely places for them tnnit • } been able t 0 locate the thpv ho n s, P a P era * The theory is that ingof Cufe m ° Ved after the shoot ' c the operations of the car (Fiease turn to page eight) Til H 1 | _ fee Record GAME LAW BOON TO RABBIT TRIBE Measure Presents Shipments of Surplus From Chatham And Other Counties RALEIGH, Jan. 2.—The kick has been taken out of the rabbit indus try in North Carolina by the discov ery that the 1927 General Assembly adopted a law making it unlawful to ship rabbits out of the state de site the fact it left an open season on rabbits and made it legal to shoot them any season of the year. As a result, Chatham county, and several others equally noted for their fast and fleet footed rabbits, which formerly shipped these lus cious and toothsome rabbits by the carload to New York and other- ern markets, find themselves with i no market for the rabbits killed, there. As a result, indications are ! that since it is no longer profitable ! to kill the rabb’ that they will be ! permitted to over-run many sec- j tions that formerly kept them down j by hunting them. Ask Repeal That the next General Assembly | will be asked to amend the gam*- i law and permit the shipment of this j game fcOod outside the state, where j a ready market awaits it, seems cer- [ tain. In fact, it was not generally j known that this law had been pass- 1 ed until the Division of Markets | started its usual work in assisting in , the shipment of rabbits to northern j markets. The result of the law’ has ; been that hundreds of farmers must ; go without what has been hitherto j the producer of a lucrative income j in the winter months. Thus the Di- j vision of Markets will actively sup- I port any move to re'peal this section I of the law’. J. K. Dixon, assistant director of the Department of Conservation and ' Development, and in direct charge j of the enforcement of the State game laws, also believes that peo ple should be allowed to market rab- , bits outside the State, if they can find the best market. He adds that he is confident an effort will be made to amend tne law’ in this re spect in the next General Assembly. . But in the meantime rabbits kill ed in North Carolina cannot be ship- j peel outside North Carolina. Carolina Coal Mines Plan To Increase Output North Carolina’s mines furnished ! 57,939 long tons of coal in 192 G, i figures compiled recently show. This j production came from mines of the : Erskine-Ramsey Coal company and j the Carolina Coal company, located j in Lee and Chatham counties, re- ! spectively. i One of the most important devel opments at the mines is thevhoistjng machine which is being installed by the Carolina Coal company, de signed to double the present hoisting capacity. A new steam plant is also being erected to furnish power for the new hoist. The boiler in this plant will be \ equipped to burn pulverized fuel and i with it tests will be made to deter- j mine the heating value of the coal J in the fine state. Much research is being done by j Dr. W. Gage of Washington, D. C., in testing the value of the coal for j by-products materials. In a recent conversation with State Geologist Bryson, Dr. Gage appeared optimis tic that the coal would be suitable for this purpose. He reported that as much as 38 gallons of oil has been extracted from a ton of the J Deep river coal. Dr. Gage is one of the leading au- j thorities on the low temperature j distillation processes. Before com- j ing to the state, he did considerable work on the coals and oil shales of western United States. The ulti mate aim of his studies >is the locaj tion of a by-products plant in ; thatp section. j j J j A new coal mine is being opened j near Carbonton by the Gulf /Coal J company of Gulf, N. C. Theres a! vertical shaft is beino- sunk to cut the seam at several feet below the surface. It is reported by the com pany that an anthracite coal will be produced there. This is the first record of anthracite coal being pro duced in the state. r - - - - ft- | 'jr-C -' < AT MRS,'. KECK*§ ; The children of Mr. Luther Eu banks are at the home of their aunt Mrs. (Gordon Keck; since the death of their mother. There~are fiWe, the oldest only twelve years 6fjpge v Mr. Eubanks, in our office* Saturday, said he would - give all ! Wftges for the/ cai*e of the .except what it takes A board where he is employed in mill. His wagee* are about s2.ftfLja day, and his board will be S2O. Ur course other personal expenses of the father will have to be met, but they should be slight. It seems that a contribution from the county to Mr. and Mrs.-Keck, or whoever’takes care of the children, would be about the best solution of the problem. It coi.ts the orphanages $25 or S3O a grponth to care for one child, but that~sum wall, with the assistance of Mr. Eubanks' wakes, probably take care of the whole lot. Mrs. Eubanks was r only ]3B years of. age when she died, 1 i* : v*v- PITTSBORO, N. C., CHATHAM. COUNTY, THURSDAY. JANUARY S. 1928 Washington Letter 1 Three Troublesome Questions 1 —Wet and Dry Contest Looms Large By WILLIAM P. HELM, Jr. Washington Correspondent of The. Record. WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.—Prohi bition, tax reduction, farm relief such are the three graces (or plagues, according to the viewpoint) that will hold high revel during the coming political campaign. A holi-. day-rested congress returning -*;to Washington finds evidence on every hand that these three issues have i sharpened their outlines mightily during the recess. .. The wet-or-dry question simply will not down ipr.jall.ithe soft smoth erings placed upori4£jfcy the drys or for all the snorting Indignation of ihe wets. It has bobbed up again j and again dating the past few weeks j and now looms as one of the prime issues, if not the leading one, of the ! 1928 presidential campaign. Thirty-odd national dry organiza | tions will pour their delegates into i the capital city soon to pool their t energies for the coming fight. The i meeting will be held January 26 in answer to an emergency call, and those steering the dry campaign ex- J pect that the mammoth gathering j will show its teeth to all candidates. They will write their demands, j those militant drys, upon all con ! te.-tants for the Presidency. , They j "id ask, say the leaders, that both ; Republican and Democratic conven | tions write a bone-dry plank in the ; party platforms. They will demand • that the conventions go on record j with a pledge to support only such j of its candidates' qs declare unequiv- I ocally “for the enforcement of the i Eighteenth Amendment and all sup ; porting legislation/’ They will re quire that the parties nominate for Presidency “candidates thoroughly | committed to this policy by their ; act-, utterances and records." The Anti-Saloon League, the Wo men’s Christian Temperance Union, the National Women’s Federation for Law Enforcement, the Flying Squadron, the National Reform Bu reau, the Prohibition Party, the ; Sons of Temperance the Inter-Col legiate Prohibitive Association, rhe Scientific Temperance Federation j —these are among - the better known | of the organizations that will attend. Back of that stands a mammoth 1 campaign of dry education—propa j ganda, the wets call it — with more than SIOOO,OOO to spend during - the big checks from some of the wealthy 1 men of the country and little checks 1 from many of the middle class—for ' this campaign,which is the pet idea : of Ernest H. Cherrington. the Anti- Saloon League’s new helmsman. El aborate offices are to be engaged and the League’s publicity depart ; ment will move, for the first time j in years, from the modest red brick ! building just off Capitol Park. J This campaign, in its essentials, I is aimed at Governor A1 Smith, of ! New York, Senator “Jim" Reed and Governor Ritchie, on the Democrat ic side and such outstanding wets as Nicholas Murray Butler and Nich olas Longworth on the Republican side. Out in the country, in almost ev ery state, the drys are even now r astir with eager energy to corral ; delegates to the two national con j ventions. They are a bit early, but j they are combing the field in a fore j harrded effort to see to it that the j drys win a majority, if possible, in t both national assemblies. If they j can’t do that, they fully expect to win more than the one-third neces sary to vote a candidate in the Dem ocratic meeting. .The wets are hardly less active, though their plans developed no new public angles during the week. They too, are going in for a vast DtFmnk Crane Says J||l Life After Death A gentleman writes me a letter, from which quotations are as fol- Jpwf: •' * "The Other day my wife died. She was 39 years old. She was a martyr, to her duties and to her children. "After 19 years of marriage and hard Work this wonderful wife and wonderful mother, who never com plained, was taken from us. . "Now is the time when she could have taken life more easy and could have enjoyed the. growing up of her children while preparing herself for old age. "In two days she is gone. My duty towards the children will keep me going and going strong, but I feel the need for something that (shall keep, me going On myself. ’“I would like to know if there is a season for such happenings and furthermore that the deceased one is. happy in another life. Please hear the cry of a spiritual man left in middle of life ‘(I am not yet 49,) de prived of the only one faithful com panion and with nine children, from 18 to two and one-half years. I j have the feeling that no other wo ; man can ever enter my life. ■ "I need a number of thoughts that shall satisfy me mentally and emo ! tionally that everything is for the j best and some certainty as to the I Marriage License Lively Trade in Marriage Li cense During The Holidays I The following white couples sec ured marriage licenses here since December 18: D. B. Hilliard and Nannie Han cock, Goldston; Volner Cheek and Edna Self; v. J. Poe and L E. Cul berson, Siler City; E. J. Riggsbe#and Myrtle Young, Lacy Lee Thomas and . Attie May Lindley; James Aubrey Johnson and Hattie Bivins Pittsboro; (L G. Gains, Goldston and ALce Phillips, Bear Creek; S. J. Fields and Lillie Braswell, Siler City; Wade Harril and Annie Brewer, Siler City; Dfcwey Smith and Edna Lee Langley, Siler City, , Colored—Hewey Trapp and Rose Seymore, Moncure; Thomas Walden and Elizabeth Brewer, Bennett; Max Hunter and Ethel Boyiin, Mer ry Oaks; Pearl Stinson and Lacy De- Graf fenreid, Siler City; Jack Smith and Alice Rudd, Corinth, James Tho mas, New Hill, and Laura Taylor, Moncure; John Mitchell, Haywood, and Amy Thomas, New Hill; Benja min Emerson and Winnie Alston, of Pittsboro; Otis Alston, Pittsboro and Cornie Emersof*; Siler City. educational campaign—propaganda, the drys call it—in wheih they ex pect to write a letter to every voter they can reach. Two letters, in fact, each costing about five cents fo|* stationery, printing, postage and labor. At ten cents per head they believe they can convince all but the most stubborn drys that prohibi tion is a farce and the laws should be modified. The cost of this un dertaking will mount past the mil lion mark. Checks are pouring into the wet treasury, too, checks from men, in some cases, who are known all over thq‘ country. The second issue, that of tax re- | duetion, is less sharply defined. There are staunch administration men in the United States Senate who fayor strongly the postponement of tax reduction till after March 15, next. r l hat would be too late to have the new rates apply, except by a re troactive clause, when the taxpay ers make out their returns for 1927. i It would help, however, in the way ; of finding out how much money the 1 government may expect to collect j £ext year, as the first tax payments, j March 15, always are a reliable guide to the year’s total. Nobody knows exactly what sort ! of year 1927 has been and just what | to expect in the way of tax reve-' nues. It has been a year when some ' of the country’s big business enter-! prises made barrels of money and j when many of the little businesses ! made nothing. It has been a spot- 1 ty year, full of pleasant surprises j and deep disappointments. The treasury experts can’t quite de termine what to say about the size of the total prospective revenue. What the year’s work will tell, dumped together and put into a common jackpot with the tax col lector taking a rake, they do not know. So, say the Republican leaders, let’s wait and find out before we cut taxes. Then we can cut according to our cloth. If the surplus promises big, let the cut be high, wide and handsome. If the surplus is shrunk en and shrivelled, then our Demo cratic friends can’t the blame on us for cutting taxes lightly. Natur ally the Democrats oppose any such business. The time to cut taxes, they say, is before the next returns are made out. Further, the Presi dent and the treasury both know’ the approximate size of the surplus. So why wait. And there we are. life after death." There is no certainty of the life after death. That is a matter that must be taken on faith and hope: ;; Os it we have a reasonable hope. Those who live the higher life*; that is above the animal, all have a feeling of another life. , While .the do not pos itively teach another .life they as-i fcume it, as Christ says,.."lf it .were not so I would have told you.” Honor, •. patriotism, self-sacrifice and devotion reac hout into another life. In this life they are often th warted. • What the Almighty's reasons were for taking this mother we cannot say. No one knows. But the best plan from any point of view is .to go on assuming that He had a good reason. Nothing can be gained by giving up. ‘ If we believe in the high purposes and devoted life of the deceased we shall ourselves participate in them. If there is another life and the deceased is cognizant of our doings here, she cannot but be gratified' to know that we are living up to our ideals. ' The memory of this mother has faded into a memory, but that mem ory will continue to inspire and bless i her children and her husband. MRS. LUTHER EUBANKS DEAD Six Children Left Motherless and With an ■ Inefficient Father Only. Mrs. Luther Eubanks died Wed nesday as a result of pneumonia fol lowing influenza. Mr. and Mrs. Tave £ooper saw to it that sfeey had a nurse for Mrs. Eubanks in her ex treme illness- But all the care that could be given her was futile, as Dr. Chapin says that pneumonia follow ing influenza is almost invariably fatal. It was only recently that Mr. and Mrs. Eubanks lost a little son thru an automobile accident. There are six more left motherless and with an inefficient father. The children were taken to an aunt’s the last day of the mother’s illness, but it is hardly assumable that she can care for them, and it is almost necessary for them to be placed in some orpha nage or other institution where they can have an opportunity to make the most cf their lives. Here is where we need an active welfare officer. What is everybody’s business is often nobody’s. This fam ily has needed help all the time, aud has been frequently helped, but the crisis is here now, and some dispo sition will have to be made of the children, else they cannot have a fair chance in the world. 1928 WILL MARK CHANGE IN SIZE OF PAPER MONEY WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. I. The year 1928 will mark the first change in size of paper money since 1861. For months the Bureau of Engrav ing and Printing, the greatest print shop in the world, will be busy mak ing row and smaller $1 bills so that upon some fixed day next fall they may be issued sumultaneuosly thru out the country and the old ones retired at one swoop, to be redeem ed, of eouise upon demand. Notes of other denomination will be print ed and put in circulation probably in 1929. The new notes will be 6 5-16 by 2 11-16 inches whereas the notes now in circulation are 7 7-16 by 3 1-8 in. By the change the Government ex pects to save $2,000,000 annually. The .reduction 4n size of the. bills is expeZ 4 ;ed : to inC¥€ase~tife A ''capacfEST '"of the Bureau of Engraving and Print ing about 50 percent because twelve of the smaller notes can be printed at one impression upon the same press which now prints but eight. Through the change in size will be more convenient to handle and wiii also be more durable. The new notes will slip into a bill-fold or pocket, it is claimed, without creasing or folding, and for this reason are ex pected to have a much longer life than those now in use. The life of the average bill is not more than six or seven months, treasury offici als say. Folding is one of the chief items cutting short the life of pa per money. Designs on the bills are also to be standardized. Many designs now ap pear on the different denominations and the various kinds of notes. Washington’s protrait, for example, appears both on the $1 and some S2O bills. Treasury officials point out that through standardizing the designs the new notes cannot be so easily "raised" to higher denominations by the crookeci gentry who make this their business. In addition to stan dardized designs on the new paper money there will be a relation be-1 tween the portrait on the face and the engraving on the back, except in the cas«s of the $1 bill and those above SIOO. ...i... On the face of the. new $1 bill will be the portrait of Washington and on the back will word "ONE" in large letters, On* the $2 bill will be a portrait of Jefferson with an en graving of Monticello, his home, on ihe back. . Lincoln’s, portrait will be on the face of the $5 bill with the Lincoln Memorial for, the back. Hamilton's portrait will appear on the face of the 10 bill arid the Treasury Building on the back. For the face of, S2O bill Glover Cleveland’s .portrait has been chosen, with ; the White House for the -back,:. v .i - Grant’s portrait , will .be on the fafee of the SSO bill. Benjamin Frank lin?s on the dslQo* McKinley’**op the ss6o, Jacksan’s>on: the $l,00O;/*Mridi son’s on the $5,0 and Chasers on the SIO,OOO. / All these been ap proved although iiorine may -be chan- - ged later. • :: T .V»r>-.f.c No retirement sos money-making machinery will be-, necessitated by the change, it is said;■rf •; TOMORROWS GOAL We strive- until the goal is gain ed, Then look for one still unattain ed; Our records point the course we take, To greater records we can make. For hope springs not from what we’ve done, But from*the work we've just be gun.—Selected. I - . ' Sam Raper of Davidson county is the pig club champion of North Ca rolina for the year 1927. KM - ’ Tom Tarheel says his radio has saved him money this past year by giving him late market information. VOLUME SO, NUMBER 16 MANY ‘FIRSTS’ ARE LISTED FOR STATE Department. of Conservation and Development Sets Forth The State’s Record RALEIGH, Dec. 29.-—This*is-what the state department of conservation and development offers as North Carolina’s “firsts” as the state goes into 1928 in greater progress than, ever: • ' ■ • North Carolina ' has the largest hosiery mills, towel mill, overall fac tory in the world. ; North Carolina has the largest denim Triill, damask mills, underwear faetory and pulp paper mill, in the nation. . North Carolina has more cotton mills than any state in the nation; is first in the number of spindle hours. North Carolina leads Ameri ca in cotton consumption. The University of North Carolina, founded in 1789, is the oldest state university in America. North Caro lina led the nation in expenditure for new schools, with New York second. Duke university, at Durham, has the largest endowment of any Amer ican college. North Carolina leads the world in tobacco and peanut production. Its tobacco crop last year was valued at $103,8012,000; its peanut crop, $7,985,000. ’ North Carolina produced more pounds of tobacco in 1927 than the next slates, in rank of pro duction, combined. North Carolina ranks first in the United States in number of native minerals, totaling 260, and in the value and quantity of scrap mica, 43 per cent of the nation, and feldspar, 44 per cent of the nation, produced, and in pyrophyllite and residual kao lin clay. North Carolina leads in variety of climate and foliage, its trees ranging from( the tropical palmetto to the firs of the far north. North Carolina leads the nation in the number of .debt-free homes, with more than four-fifths of its home owners having no debt thereon. North Carolina has the highest birth rate of any state, with but three thenths of one per cent foreign born within its borders. DEATH OF GUY G. DARK Mr. Gnv G. Dark, a well known citizen of Siler City and for years an employee of the Farmers’ Union store, died at a Greensboro hospital Sunday night. Mr. Dark, we are informed, was treated in a hospital some time ago for what was thought to be cancer of the stomach, but it was only Sun day morning that the fatal disease became acute in its effects. ' Mr. Dark was taken with excruciating pains and when a physician was call ed was taken immediately to Greens boro. But not even the pain was al leviated, it is stated, till death re lieved him at 11 o’clock Monday morning. Mr. Dark leaves a widow, who is the daughter of Mr. Ed Stone, and three brothers, Messrs. Robert W., manager of the Farmers’ Union store, A. B. and Junius A. Dark. The burial was at Siler City. COLORED PEOPLE’S COLUMN By Rev. G. C. Roberts Mr. Benjamin Emmerson, son of the late John Emmerson, and Miss Viney Alston, the daughter of Mr. Joe Alston, were unitd in holy wed lock in Pittsboro court house De -cwe. Z 6. rhe ceremony was. per formed by Rev. W. W. Long, who happened to be over in town on busi ness and of course used the temple of justice for convenience. Last Sunday was a very cold day for the two quarterly meetings, held at Mitchell’s Chapel and Sanford. It was Rev. W. W. Long’s first quar ter at Mitchell’s Chapel in 1928. This has been a somewhat’’ : odd Christmas in Pittsboro with the : dif ferent churches. Only one Christmas tree exercise was held and that ' at Mt. Sinai A. M. E. 'church. The ex ercise was appropriate and timely and the decorations were beautiful. Mr. George Leach displays 'flbe taste in this respect. He them worthy - for several years. • The holidays passed off very qtiie&- ly in‘ Pittsbord. “ No serious trouble has occurred* and only one drurhk. *; : y— i' ' HUNGRY WOLVES CHASE * • • MOTHER, DEVOUR CHfLD RIGA, Latvia, : Janl I.—ffun’gry wolves defeated the heroic efforts of a mother and a faithful horse bear the Lithuanian village of Malety, and devoured the woman’s infant child when the horse fell from exhaustion in sight of safety. Driving to the cillage in a steign with her baby, the woman was* sud denly attacked by the ' ferocious beasts when some distance out. Ur ging her horse on at full speed the woman gained sight of the village when the panting hrose dropped in its tracks. Before peasants that were aroused by her cries could get to the scene, the wolves had de voured the baby and severely injured the distracted mother. Getting a supply of pure seed is. one of the best paying jobs of win ter. When planting times comes, it is too late to .spend many days in the search for desirable varieties.