ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 19,1878 BANK AT BENNETT LOOTED BY TRIO Forced Cashier Purvis to Open Safe; Drove Officers Into Vault Under Threats A telephone message shortly a i&t* noon Saturday to the effect that"' It trio of bandits had robhed the Peo ple’s Bank and Trust Company at Bennett, in the south-western cor ner of the eouipty, put Sheriff Blair and his deputies on the alert. But what to do was the question, for the men had gone off in a fast car and like the geese in the old play of„ “William Tremble toe” might have flown east, west, north or south. The wires were used to notify offi cers in all directions and the men placed themselves at strategical points along as many of the high ways as they could cover, while, pre sumably officers from every town in the section were on the alert; but night came without any capture, save the arrest of two men at Asheboro who easily proved themselves inno cent of the crime. The story of the robbery as given by a dispatch from Bennett to state papers follows: “BENNETT, Jan. 7.—Two em ployes and a customer of the Peoples Bank and Trust company, of Ben nett, were locked in the vault of the bank here today while the funds of the institution were carried off by three robbers. Between $3,500 and $4,000 were secured by the rob bers and the bank was practically depleted of ready cash. While the men remained locked in the vault and before the alarm could be given the robbers got safely away. Two men were arrested at Asheboro later in the afternoon, but were declared "by officials of the bank not to be the men who committed the robbery. The robbers chose the noon, or dinner hour, for the hold-up and en tered the bank when only one per son, Keller Andrews, assistant cash ier, was in it. Two men went in, while a third remained in a car, par ked nearby. One of the men who entered the bank is believed to be a Negro. Some of those who saw him, however, think that he was a white man disguised as a Negro. The Ne gro, or supposed negro, asked for change for a ten dollar bill. While Andrews was counting out the change the white man moved around to the entrance to the enclosure and drew his gun. The Negro also covered Andrews with his and the two of them' shoved" Turn into the vault and locked the door. Before they could get the money and get out J. A. Purvis, the cashier, came in. He was ordered to open the vault. He had _some difficulty in doinp- so and was threatened with death if he failed. He finally got it open, Eu gene Brady, a customer, coming in in the meantime. Brady also was lined up with Purvis and was march ed into the vault and all three men were locked up while the bandits lei surely finished ransacking the insti tution and as leisurely entered their car and drove away. While the robbery was going on inside the institution the third man of the party talked unconcernedly with any who chose to stop and pass the time of day. He told those who inquired that he was from Florida, was merely passing through and had stopped to rest for a few minutes. The next man to enter the bank was Will Brady. He couldn’t find anybody at first and soon sensed that something was wrong. Then he heard the frantic cries of the imprisoned men, confined in a death chamber unless relief should come quickly. He ran out and spread the alarm and the village afid visitors flocked to the place. Arthur Andrews, of Bonlee, listened closely and got the combination from Purvis and unlocked the door and the men were liberated after being im prisoned for about 35 or forty min utes. “Sheriff Blair, of Chatham coun ty, was called to the scene and spread a net all over the surrounding sec tion and wired news of the robbery and description of the men to more 'distant cities. The net failed to catch the men, however. Two men, traveling in a Chrysler sedan, the same kind of car as occupied at Ashe the robbers, were arreated at Ashe boro and they are still being held. They give their names as Maness and Wilson. Purvis and Andrews both went to Asheboro to identify the men. They are positive that “they are not the men who roblyjd the bank. They are being held be cause they had whiskey in the car when arrested. There have been reports that the men had been seen at other places and these are being investigated but up to midnight to- Tnght none of them had proven re liable.” SUSPECTS ARRESTED Three men are said to have been Rested at Charlotte on suspicion of being the robbres who looted the Bennett bank Saturday. Sheriff Blair and Deputy Desern left Tues day for Charlotte to investigate and probably bring the men back for identification. THREE TURKEYS ONE SHOT Mr. Casper Harris killed three wild turkeys the other day at one shot. His rich cousin from New York had been down here a week hunting, at the cost of .00, and didn’t get a single turkey. The day after he left, Casper got the three *at one shot. Hunting is a gamble. me Chatham Record MR. K. W. THOMPSON IN SERIOUS CONDITION Mr. K. W. Thompson had to un dergo a serious operation at Watts hospital ten days ago. He had his appendix taken out last August, and trouble developed at the place where it was cut off,, resulting- in a seri ous condition to the neighboring bow els. - • : ■■' ' ' •• *" • His brother Mr. J. C. Thompson, who. left the cedar mill his brother’s hands several weeks ago and was working at a mill in South Carolina, came in just after his bro ther had been taken to He went on up to Durham Hflrd'stay ed with his brother steadily for a week. Down here last Friday morn ing, he reported the condition of the sick man as improved, and it is hoped that he will continue to im prove till fully recovered. Mr. J. C. will be here now. His wife at present is visiting home folk in Davidson county. Interesting Visitors Pastor Barclay Has Visit From Brother and Business Man Something like several years ago, one Sunday at the home of the edi tor's cousin, J. R. Peterspri, near Clinton, we found with our old friend David Millard, of Baltimore, a Mr. Barclay, a cartoonist on the j Baltimore papers, and recall his; amusing our two flapped, then chil- j dren, with off-hand drawings. Lat er, we found Rev. Jonas Barclay at Pittsboro as pastor of the Presbyter ian church, and though he had told us of a brother of his who is a vet eran newspaperman, we had not as- j sociated the visitor in Sampson with ! the same. But Sunday it came to I our ears that a friend was at the • home of Mr. Barclay and a visit dis- i covered the same two gentlemen, \ and revealed the fact that we had i seen the preacher’s brother, David, j since he had himself seen him., at , least before this visit. David, Millard and McKee Bar- j clay are two interesting men, the j one of backwoods Sampson descent j and the other from a Kentucky farm. Nevertheless, they are big men in Baltimore, where Millard is one of the leading druggists of the city and owner of a splendid farm in Maryland, specializing in Guern sey cattle, and where McKee Bar clay has long been associated with the city papers. Mr. Barclay has also served as Washington corres pondent of the daily press, accom panied ‘-Wilson on his pre-conven tion tour of the WestyAn 1912, was an intimate of Wilson during the latter’s administration, and other wise concerned in public affairs, but for the greater part of the time a producer of political cartoons for the two Baltimore dailies. It had been 13 ytears since the brothers Barclay had seen each other, and they had much to talk of. while David Millard and the writer could have talked many hours of as sociations in Sampson and at Wake Forest, where he was a student a bit before our day, and where his brother, Junius, one of the biggest Baptist preachers in the south, be fore his death, was a classmate of ye editor, and we believe we could write a string of interesting remi niscences recalled by contact again with the off-shoot of the Vanns, of Sampson county, and by the way, a cousin of the Vanns of Mt. Vernon Springs; but we refrain. The two gentlemen were making a double trip of it this time, coming here to visit the Barclays, and thence down into Sampson to visit the Pet erson family and other relatives of Mr. Millard, and to hunt a few days. MAN SAID “THANK YOU" AWARDED $5,000 PRIZE The importance of courtesy is em phasized by the following stoTy of the winning of a $5,000 prize in a business contest. It is well worth repeating: The head of one of the largest retail stores on the continent offered $5,000 to any one who would suggest the best method for improv ing his business system. British students of economics visited the store and were accorded every oppor tunity to study its methods. They investigated and wrote reprots. Ex perts in store management and effi ciency engineers, armed with charts and diagrams, were among those who sought the prize. They sent in vol uminous reports. As. a young man —a customer —was leaving the store, he saw a notice of the $5,000 con test. Apparently he had not been treated'just right by a sales person. He bought a postal and wrote: “Tell your clorks to say ‘Thank You.’ " He won the prize. • Those two words “Thank You," and their importance in business, according to the Rail way Review, have prompted the or ganization of the “American Thank You League," the object of which | is to promote the idea of courtesy. “One wonders how long the new born league will last,” comments the | publication; “but if it only survives long enough to put a little more kindness and greater dgeree of the 1 ‘thank-you* idea into life generally, ‘ it will have done something."—Ar kansas Democrat Retailer. Sam Rkper of Davidson county is the pig club champion of North Ca i rolina the year 1927. 7 Hog raising and dairying are be c coming established as two new farm 1- industries in North Carolina. Well j j feu hogs from North Carolina com -3 mand a premium on certain eastern ‘ markets. PITTSBORO, N. C., CHATHAM COUNTY, THURSDAY, JANUARY, 12, 1928 Siler City Plant Does Big Business And H. C. Parka, Former Cole ridge Bank Cashier, Large ly Responsible For It (Asheboro Courier) A business concern which has had' a phenomenal, growth is the Chatham Sash aiid Door Company, of Siler City. At a meeting of stockholders of the company held last week it de veloped that the company had done a SIOO,OOO business during 1927. Indications that the business will be materially increased in 1928. .. An additional 2,500 square feet of floor space has been provided for activi ties during the new year. The sec retary and treasurer of the company is H. C, Parks, who resigned as cash ier of the Bank of Coleridge in Oc tober 1925 to take the position. It is said that it is largely due to Parks’ management that the com pany has had such a wonderful growth during the past months. It was only after Mr. Parks took in charge that the company began to be a real factor in the business life of Chatham county and the capital stock began to increase in value. At a meeting of the stockholders of the company, held Friday after noon, the following officers were elected: President, J. Sam Dorsett, of Siler City; vice-president and sec retary, C. L.. Brower, of Siler City and Thomasville; treasurer and gen eral manager, H. C. Parks, of Siler City; board of directors, J. Sam Dorsett, C. L. Brower, H. C. Parks, D. H. Hart and R. A. Williams. C. G. Foushee, of Liberty, and R. H. Johnson, of Siler City, are also stockholders. * KIMBALTON NEWS Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence McManess of Bear Creek spent Sunday at Mr. and Mrs. A. V. Ferguson’s. Mrs. Ernest Harris has returned to Raleigh after spending a week with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Dorsett. Jessie Justice and family visited Mr. and Mrs. George Jones Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Harris of Raleigh, and W. B. Dorsett motored to Charlotte last week. Mrs. Bud Perry churned four gal lons of whole milk and made three and one quarter pounds of butter. • The wheat and other small grain crons have been hurt by the severe cold weather of last week. Elmer Perry turned a fox loose last Frdiay afternoon and almost -all the hunters of this neighborhood and their dogs took part in the arce. Some of the hunters were out nearly all night. Bud Perry was out bird hunting Wednesday and ran into a crow’s nest. He killed six at once. He tied his dogs and waited quietly a while and got several more. He did this a few times and got quite a lot of crows all told. COURT NEXT WEEK Court for trial of criminal cases will begin Monday. Judge Nunn, of New * Bern will preside. There is a rather full docket. Pittsboro hopes to see many of the county’s good citizens in town during court week. Then is a fine time to renew your subscription to the Record. Please come prepared and tell your neigh bor to subscribe if he isn’t getting the county paper. mu v DcFrank Crane Says Lats, Ccttrrtfhto 4M The Columbia Basin President Coolidge, in an address the other day, alluded to the effort of the Government to create new ter ritory. This is the true method of con quest. A lot better than going to war an