A Pap*r with a Preitiga
of a Half Century. A
a Com*
maafty Paper
ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 19, 1878.
New Appraisals
to Begin Jan- Ist
VV. H. Ferguson Appointed
Supervisor of Revaluation of |
Lands at Salary of $5.00 a |
Day— Township Appraisers,
or Listers, Appointed.
/
—<s>
The law provides that new ap
praisments of property, real and
personal, shall be made each fourth
ve ar, and provides that the com
missioners shall appoint a county
supervisor at a per diem of $4 to
<sand that an appraiser, or lister,
shall be appointed for each town
praisers shall be freeholders and
men of sound judgment. The county
supervisor superintends the whole
work, advising with the various
township appraisers and presumably
having the final word about the
value of any property in question,
though appeal from the appraiser to 1
the board of county commissioners :
gives another check upon the work
of appraisers.
In conformitv with the require
ments of the law, the new board .
of commissioners has appointed Mr.
\Y. H. Ferguson, of Hickory Moun
tain township, county supervisor and
has fixed his per diem at $5.
Mr. Ferguson is general consid- ■
ered one of the best farmers of the
county and a man of sound business
judgment. He should have the
knowledge that will enable him to
estimate all the factors making for
the value of land or detracting
there from. In fact, it would be
hard to find in the county a man :
better qualified for such a task. '
Moreover, the remuneration is mod
est, when it is considerd that Mr.
Ferguson must travel all over the
county time and again and furnish 1
his own car, gas and oil. There is
no definite period for Mr. Fergu
son’s task. He begins the first of
January and continues till the job
is done, and then subjects himself
to criticism for the next four years,
for it will be impossible for any
man to satisfy all property owners. :
The wage of the township as- ;
,-essors is $3.50, and the following
citizens have been appointed to the
task in the several townships:
TOWNSHIP APPRAISERS
Albright township—J. B. Ing'e
and VV. G. Andrews;
Baldwin—W. B. Cheek and G. G.
Ward;
Bear Creek —D. H. Ellis and W.
T. Brooks;
Gulf—T. B. Burke and J. R.
Moore;
Hadley—A. E. Thompson and Os
borre Mann;
Haw River—J. Walker Thomas
and VV. J. Hannon;
Hickory Mountain —T. M. Brooks
and T. H. Harris;
Matthews—E. H. Foust and J. S.
VVrenn;
Xev Hope—X. J. Wilson and J.
B. Mills;
Oakland—Dick Seagroves and J.
T. Griffin;
Wil iams—Z. J. Johnson and W.
C. Johnson;
Cape Fear—S. W. Harrington and
J. D. Mclver;
Center—W. H. Griffin and W. E.
Brooks.
It 0 noted that there are two j
appraisers for each township. The '
section of this article above was !
written and g : ven to the printer be- !
fore tiie township list was available I
and v hen the writer was under the j
hnpre-'ion that there was only one*
aprrai-er to the township.
Those who know the gentlemen j
named above should recognize the j
fact that the townships have been
gleaned for as good men as can
he found. These men, with the ad-
Vs ce of the county supervisor, whose
ness it is to keep valuations in
: the townships as nearly on the
*'3me basis a possible, are to place
the tax value upon all the property
m their townships. The law, in ad
dition to these men who fix values,
seems to have provided also for the
regular tax-lister, and the following
list-takers have been appointed:
LIST OF LIST-TAKERS.
Albright township—M. W. Dun
ean; Baldwin, W. A. Snines; Be°r
B. A. Phillips; Gulf, D. T.
*ooks; Hadley, J. W. Dark: Haw
Liver. W. H. Lassiter; Hickory
Mountain, R. H. Thomas; Matthews,
J: W. Dark; X T ew Hope, D. L.
IV) mas; Oakland, C. M. Pattishall;!
VV ilhanrs, J. T. Mills; Center, Char es !
Lutterloh; Cape Fear, E. E. Wilson, j
Wages Not Determined. j
While the appointments of town- j
vrp appraisers and list takers was j
made, there was some confusion in
Am minds of the commisioner a to
v ‘ hether the list-takers are to be
compensated in the usual way or
v> netner all three of the township
m<n are t 0 b e gj ven a p er diem.
- ccordingly, the fixing of the per
<l! eni for even the appraisers was \
postponed till after the meeting in 1
set for the tenth, or yes
erday, when all the county super- j
msors were to attend for instruc- :
ions trom the state authorities. *
us meeting, Mr. Ferguson, the
supervisor, attended, and it
1 * )e part of his business to get
m latter of compensation cleared
P. However, one thing is certains
The Chatham Record
INFLUENCE OF TRINITY
COLLEGE SEEN IN THE
CHINESE REPUBLIC
Father*in-Law of The Founder and
President of the Republic Edu
cated in Randolph County—Was
Chinese Waif and Educated Thru
Charity and Own Efforts.
I ,
The following story taken from
the last issue of the Asheboro
Courier makes interestinf reading:
Staid old Trinity, village which
mothered Duke University, was in no
wise startled to learn of Charlie
Soong, father-in-law of both the
founder and present president of
the Chinese Republic, having been
educated in this State. In fact, a
dozen people living in the com
munity well remember “Charlie
Soong” in the three years he spent
in old Trinity College, and the cord
hammocks he made and sold to add
to the necessary expenses supplied
him by General Julian S. Carr. He
never moved his membership from
the local Methodist church where
he was baptized.
The little Chinese waif, apparent
ly deserted at Wilmington by a
tramp schooner, was found by some
church women who befriended him
and wrote to General Carr about
him. The Durham philanthropist im
mediately agreed to supply funds
to send Charlie to Trinity and turn
ed him over to Dr. Braxton Craven,
the president.
Charlie boarded at Prof. W. T.
Gannaway’s home. He was popular
with the students and was the ob
ject of much interest on the cam
pus. Every householder in the sec
tion owned at least one of the
hammocks he had learned to make
while working on the tramp ship.
On the Sunday before Christmas
in 1880, he was converted and bap
tized by Dr. Craven, who was pastor
as well as coTege president, and the
ceremony in the old college chapel
is well remembered by old residents;
even Dr. Craven’s text, “Go ye
into the world and preach the
gosplet to every creature.” is re
called.
Charlie Soong left Trinity in the
spring of 1881 and returned to
China. He wrote Dr. Craven after
leaving, but as the Trinity leader
died in 1882, Charlie’s connection
with the village was broken off
after that. He prospered in China
and kept his religion—technically he
is still of the church here,
for there is no record of his ever
having moved his membership.
After returning to China, ap
parently a “g” was added to his
name, but Trinity students remem
ber him as “Charlie Soon.” His
eldest daughter was the wife of
President Sun Yet Sen who is credit
ed with being the founder of the
Chinese republic and woh died in
1925. Another daughter, Mayvill
Soong, was married several years
ago to the present President Chaing
Kai Shek, who recently announced
his conversion to the Christain re
ligion and joined the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, in which
a 1 of Soong’s children are members.
<s>
Chatham Vote
A Criterion
✓
The Record is in receipt of a
questionaire from Senator Nye’s
election committee and has replied
that not one cent was spent for ad
vertising by either Senator Simmons,
J. W. Bailey, or Geo. Pritchard in
the Chatham Record. Furthermore,
iwe reply that very little was spent
ifor either candidate in the county
in any way. Bailey didn’t need it,
and it would have done either
| Simmons or Pritchard very litt e
good. Moreover, Chatham is the one
' county in the state that has out
! lawed absentee voting in the pri
mary, consequently was no froud
along that line in Chatham.
Hence, the vote in Chatham, both
in the primary and in the general
election, may be accepted as a
criterion of the sentiment ot tne
state, particularly in the contest be
tween Bailey and Simmons.
Senator Nye is persistent, and
there are places in the state where
signs of fraud are in evidence, but
such fraud as was perpetrater was
affected results very little. It was
the work of those rouges who would
steal even when there is no necessity
for it. And the likely consequense
of such rottenness Is the placing of
congressional elections under the
supervision of National authorities.
Such a bill has already been intro
duced by Senator Patterson, a mem
ber of Senator Nye’s committee.
When that happens, the election
rouges in North Carolina may sim
! ply thank themselves for tne na
| tional interference.
$
Goldston—Knox
I Mr. and Mrs. John J. Knox of
!Wi mington announce the engage
ment of their daughter, Mary Etnel
to Eugene F. Goldston. The Knox
family is one of the most promi
nent of Brunswick county. They
live just across the Cape Fear
river from Wilmington. "Mr. Gold-
I ston is the son of Mr. and Mrs. R.
iL. Goldston, now of Wake Forest
but recently of Chatham county.
;He is a graduate of State College
of class 1929.
j "" "" > -
—the per diem will be as low as
the law allows, for the, board is
clearly on the watch for the op
portunity to save every dollar pos
sible.
PITTS2ORO, N. C., CHATHAM COUNTY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1930
Photos from Wide World Photos
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT POSES FOR
OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH
This is the approved official photograph of the United States Supreme
Court as it is now constituted, the first group photograph made under
Chiel Justice Charles E. Hughes. Standing left to right: Justices, Stone,
Sutherland, Butler and Roberts. Seated, left to right: Justices Mcßey
nolds, Holmes, Chief Justice Hughes, Justices Van Devanter and Brandels.
The official photograph was made exclusively iby Harris & Ewing.
Gant Draws Ten
Years in the Pen
—* — I
Former Clerk of Guilford
Court Pleads Guilty to Va
rious Crimes Attending Rob
bery of Confederate Pen
sioners and Orphans.
Responsible for the loss to the
state and to Confederate pensioners
of nearly SIOO,OOO. and charged
with a shortage of SIOO,OOO in his
management of trust funds, much
of which was held in trust for or
phans, Mason W. Gant, former clerk
of Gufford Superior Court, througn
counsel last Monday, pleaded guilty
to certain charges and entered pleas
of nolo contendere in numerous oth
ers, thus considerably shortening the
time expected to be required in dis
posing of the scores of cases against
the man.
Counsel attempted to make some
plea for mercy, but reports indi
cate that it was faint-hearted. It
is generally admitted that Gant’s
health is very bad and that he will
probably not live to serve the ten
years in the penitentiary to which
he was sentenced by Judge Devin,
but even that condition and the
sad plight of his family can not
arouse any great degree of sym
pathy for a wretch so heartless as
to stea 1 the pension of a hundred
year old man splurge on it while
the poor old soldier is snendine- th°
101st year of his life in the Guilford
county home.
j Gant’s rogueries have been going
jon for years and were not even
slightly checked by the discovery
and punishment of similar crimes
by the clerk of the Sampson county
court six or seven years ago. In
deed, the pension checks have proved
much better pickings since that
date, as the checks now are very
much larger than tho-e which Clerk
Sessoms and Gant had to satisfy
themselves with in the earlier days
of their thievery.
But equally indifferent to the le
sons of the Sessoms case was State
Auditor • Baxter Durham, who by
the discovery of Sessoms’ defalca
tions shou’d have been thoroughly
put on guard against similar defal
cation. Yet it seems clear that the
state auditor not only did not guard
against future thievery by the same
means but veen failed to check up
the Guilford pension warrants with
the vital statistics records, and pre
sumably neglected to do the same
in other counties. Thus Clerk Gant
was given carte blanche to continue
his stealings.
DEATH OF DR. CAIN
After living 83 years and serv
ing efficiently in many capaci
ties. Prof. William Cain, so long
teacher of mathmatics at the Uni
versity, was the victim Saturday
evening of an automobile. The old
teacher, the last time the writer
saw him was as straight and trim
as an Indian. He was an o’d
time gentleman and a wonderful
mathematician. But the modern
nemesis got him. Dr. Cain was a
native of Hillsboro and was bur
ied in that old town Monday.
—
JOHN G. CLARK A CANDIDIATE
Mr. John G. Clark, a Chathamite,
we believe, by birth, but living
' just across the line in Alamance,
■ is a candidate for sergeant at arms
in the senate. Mr. Clark has served
; one or two terms, we believe, as an
assistant, but now seeks promotion.
! Well, here’s hoping Mr. Clark gets
the job. He is sure one Democrat,
if not one and a half, and those
s senators who wish to reward party
>- loyalty would as well get ready
■ to vote for John G. Clark. He doubt
less has a friend in Mr. Fountain
who will preside over the senate.
New Office Room
Planned for C-H*
I • —<e —
Room 10 Feet by 20 Feet to
, Be Made for Tax-Collector’s
, Office by Simply Cutting off
Southern Entrance Hall.
As long as an additional room or
two has been so badly needed at the
court house, no one seemed to have
thought of simply cutting off the
south entrance hall and thus with a
ten-foot wall securing a good of
fice room ten by twenty feet. But
that was the solution offered by
Commissioner Hester when the ne
cessity arose to provide an office
for the tax-collector without oc
cupying the grand jury room.
Those who know the building,
as practically all citizens do, know
that two great halls cross each
other, giving four entrances to
the lower floor. The south hall
and entry is very little needed,
if at all, and is certainly little
used. But a ten-foot wall wi 1
convert it into a good office ten
by twenty feet, while the wide
double-door space allows for all the
windows needed to light the room.
<s>
Girl Uses Knife
I —<§> —
Gurtha Cotten, a colored girl,
got on the war path with a knife
last Thursday. She and other girls
were picking cotton for Marin Scur
lock when the fuss began. Ollie
Crutchfield, a buxom damsel, got
a three-inch slice in a cheek and
Beulah Green a cut on the nose
and one on an arm. O lie chased her
assailant home, unmindful of the
clash in her cheek. Dr. Chapin did
the patching, and Judge Lysander
Johnson the binding over to court.
He bound over all to the court ex
cept me, said Ollie.
! L. C. ELLIS WRITES
——
The Record is in receipt of a
nice letter and check from Mr.
L. C. Ellis, one of the Chatham
county ex-service boys, who spent
several years at Oteen Hospital but
a year or so ago. was transferred
to the hospital at Fort Bavnard, New
Mexico. We had supposedly been
contributing the Record to this
brave ex-soldier as our part to
ward making his exile more pleas
ant, but the gallant young fell
ow sent us a three dollar check
and called for a statement for the
who’e time. But he may count
himself up to Jan. 1,’32 or as
much longer as he pleases,
i Continuing his letter, Mr. Ellis
says: “Being exiled . from Old
Chatham, I enjoy the news the
Record gives of the affairs of the
county and the news items from the
state at large. Your editorials are
also read with interest, and they
would do 'credit to any news
paper.
It would be appreciated if you
would announce the name of the
publisher of the First Volume of
Dr. George Paschal’s History of
the Baptists of North Carolina
when it is issued.
Yours very trulv,
Leßoy C. Ellis.”
; ®
j EXECUTOR’S NOTICE
Having qualified as executrix of
the last will and testament of the
; late James L. Griffin, of Chat
, ham County, I hereby warn all per
. sons holding claims against the
. estate to persent them duly prov
s en on. or before the Bth day of
, December 1931 or this notice will
i be pleaded in bar of their recov
■ ery. All persons owing the estate
r will please make early payment.
This the Bth day of December
i 1930.
Mrs. Hettie Griffin, Executrix.
Low Farm Income
Dooms Tenant System!
The* antiquated cropper system of
farming, as practised in North Caro
lina and the South, is doomed.
“This is no new revelation,”
says R. H. Rogers, farm manage
ment economist at State College.
“The system! has been doomed since
its inception, as it is not logical to
expect a year’s living from a half
year’s work. Neither is it likely that
slip-shod operations and manage
ment in any business will long sup
port one family let alone two or
more.”
The day *of reckoning will be 1
hastened, says Mr. Rogers, by six -
things and these are the expansion i
of cotton growing towards the west, 1
the increased use of rayon and other <
cotton substitutes, the continued
heavy boll weevil infestation, mount- <
ing cash expenses including taxes, '
the expansion of tobacco acerage ’
which has resulted in over-produc- 1
tion, and more recently a curtailed <
domestic buying power. '
Mr. Rogers says the unprofitable- i
ness of the tenant system is not <
new. However, in former days it :
would provide the landowner with ;
enough cash to pay his taxes and to
arrange for the next season’s produc
tion. At the same time it would give
the tenant some kind of living. Now
the tenant gets a living and there
is nothing left for the landowner.
This makes it imperative that a
change be brought about.
The live-at-home program must
be intensified. This will release ten
ants who must find other farms or
go into the overcrowded ranks of
labor. At any rate, the landowner
cannot continue to feed and care for
tenants who return his no profit.
Alert farmers are now changing,
says Mr. Rogers, and others will
soon be forced to change through
bankruptcy or curtailment of credit.
In the future more work must
be done with modern machinery
causing small farms to be thrown
together for ‘ economical operations
and extra labor needed wi 1 be
hired on a cash basis, says the eco
nomist.
Mrs. Johnson Dead
—<s>
Mrs. Joanna Johnson, widow of
Peter Johnson, who lived in the
extreme northwestern part of the
county, died Sunday morning, Nov.
30, at the age of 78. She had long
been suffering from the effects of
a stroke of paralysis. The burial
was at Big Meadows Primitive Bap
tist church.
Mrs. Johnson was the mother of
Messrs. H. W., Cicero, S. Y., and
Seymour Johnson, and Mrs. Martha
J. Smith, all of Siler City R. F. D.,
and Mrs. Julia Marley of Pittsboro,
RFD. She has one brother, Mr. Sey
mour Lewis of Saxapahaw. There are
39 grandchildren and 30 great
grandchildren. Mrs. Johnson was
most highly esteemed in her com
munity.
FARMERS’ UNION TO
MEET AT ASHEBORO
■
Notice comes from J. C. Cox
sec.-treas. of the N. C. Farmers’
Union to the effect that the meet
ing of the state union will be held
at Asheboro next Tuesday, Dec. 16.
John A. Simpson of Oklahoma,
president of the national union,
will address the meeting.
All interested in co-operation
among farmers are urged to at
tend, and all local and county un
ions to have delegates present.
—3>
SON SUCCEEDS LEE
McIVER AS MANAGER
(Sanford Express)
At a meeting of the board of
directors of the Lee Furniture
Company recently held in the office
of the company, Mr. Wilbur Mc
lver was elected secretary-treasurer
and business manager of the com
pany, to succeed his father, the late
Lee G. Mclver. Mr. Mclver has taken
charge and is now managing the
business. He has assisted his father
in handling the business for sev
eral years and is familiar with the
details of the work. In fact he
grew up with the business and is
well qualified to handle it. He is
assisted in handling it by Mr. J. R.
Tally, who has been with the com
pany several years.
€>
McBANE-COLTRANE
Dr. T. W. Mcßane and Miss Berta
Coltrane were married last Friday
at Trinity, the home of the bride-
They left after the ceremony for
a bridal trip through the north
ern states.
Dr. Mcßane is the well known
Pittsboro physican, a native of the
county, and known by a large pro
portion of Record readers. The bride
is a cultured young lady of one of
the best known families in the
state. She was conductor of the
teacher-training class in the Pitts
boro school for several years. Her
coming to Pittsboro is a real ac
quisition to the town
The happy couple wil lmake their
home with Mr. and Mrs. W. P.
Horton.
The Record extends heartiest con
gratulations.
®
Did you ever come home disgust
ed with the squawking picture you
paid half a dollar to endure.
I Postoffic* and All R.
F. D. Rout** ia Croat
I County of Chatham.
VOLUME 52—NUMBER
j W. B. Straughan
Accident Victim
Killed Monday Evening at Lib
erty by Car Driven by Prof.
Andrews—Accident Consid
ered Unavoidable.
The following dispatch to the
Greensboro News, dated Liberty,
Dec. 8, gives the story of the death
of Mr. W. B. Straughan, a well
known citizen of the western part
of the county:
“W. B. Straughan, 57, of Siler
City, route on, was instantly killed
here tonight about 7:30 o’clock
when struck by an automobile driven
by Prof. T. G. Andrews, principal
of Staley high school. Andrews was
exonerated of blame by a magistrate’s
court, held shortly after the acci
dent, after three eye-witnesses testi
fied that the tragedy was unavoid
able.
Straughan is-survived by his wife,
three sons, Wade, of Walkertown;
C. L., of Richmond, Va., and Frank,
of Greenville, a member of the fac
ulty at East Carolina Teachers Col
lege, and three daughters, Mrs. Dal
ton Harris, of Siler City, route 5;
Mrs. Clarence Willett, of Siler City;
and Miss Pauline Straughan, a stud
ent at N. C. C. W.
The accident in which Straughan
was killed occurred on highway 60,
in front of the Staley Lumber com
pany. Straughan, according to An
drews’ testimony at the hearing,
which was corroborated by other wit
nesses, stepped in front of Andrews’
car from behind another machine.
Andrews said he did not see
Straughan until his car had struck
the man.
Straughan, who had been to
Greensboro on business, together
with N. F. Barksdale, of Siler City,
was standing by the roadside just
prior to the accident. Barksdale had
stopped a car driven by P. F. Carter,
and Straughan, who had gone to
the rear of Carter’s car, stepped into
the highway just as the car driven
by Andrews was passing.
Andrews was placed under arrest
immediately following the accident
b.y Deputy. Sheriff .A. A. Coble. Pre
liminary hearing was held before
Magistrate E. R. Williams and May
or J. G. Martin, of Liberty, and
Mayor C. M. Staley, of Staley.
Funeral arrangements for Straugh
an had not been completed at a
late hour tonight.”
Elements of Style
Gerald Johnson, speaking before
the students of the Wake Forest
school of journalism, said: “First
of all, have something to say, and
then let the writing take care of it
self”. The speaker also rather dis
counted fancy rhetoric. Now, it hap
pens that the writer has just read
Seneca’s disquisition on the style of
Fabrianus, and he finds a striking
similarity in the ideas of Mr. John
son and of the ancient Roman. Says
the latter, of the style of Fabria
nus, a Roman philosopher: “And,
finally, be makes it clear that he
meant what he wrote. You under
stand that he aimed to make you
know what he was thinking and
not to please you. All this makes
for progress and sanity.” The two
qualities stressed by the ancient and
the modern, alike, are to have some
thing to say and to say it in such
way that it can be understood.
Seneca berated also the torturing
of sentences into “artistic” shape,
and his own stlye is a model of
clearness. Though one of tne most
profound writers we ever followed,
yet his meaning is almost as plain
as that of tiie old blue back’s classic
sentence, “She fed the old hen”.
But Mr. Johnson insists that the
present-day writer must analyze his
characters in the light of modern
psychology. But read Tactus or
Seneca and you wi 1 be convinced
that those worthies needed nothing
of modern psychology, or possessed
its essentials under another name,
or no name. We wish we could find
a modern author who shows the pio
fundity of Seneca or wields the
flashing phrases of Tacitus.
Houses Burned
There seems to have been an
epidemic of house-burnings in tnis
county recently. Two good homes
were burned Wednesday of last
week. Mr. B. H. O’Neill, who moved
to this county from Davie county
about a year ago and bought the
old Ben Poe place five miles north
west of Pittsboro on highway 93,
lost his good residence. Fortunately,
most of the household goods were
saved, and he had SBOO insurance
on the house, which was a good
two-story house of six big rooms,
built out of real lumber. Mr. O’Neill
is living at the Margum Perry place
recently vacated by Rev. B. L. Gup
ton.
Henry Rives, a worthy and pros
perous colored citizen, lost his good
two-story residence a mile or two
west of Pittsboro on highway 90.
His insurance policy had just ex
pired. He lost his household goods,
with the possible exception of his -
piano and a few other things. Henry
is a good farmer and a good
carpenter.