Newspapers / The Journal-Patriot (North Wilkesboro, … / Sept. 23, 1943, edition 1 / Page 2
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Kiriot 6w»fi)S|T m iK&ncs^ rr^-*fy l ii ~ ' •. TkarMliiyg at ?*!■?■?! :■■■ . ■ . '■'■»■'■' ' Ifi I V. ... --^: - -■ ..^ •- mat mum C. mTBBAJW FaUttriiirt suBsdupnon rates: ( rjsio^' ^ 'MoBibs L60“* 60 ” r Of ®€;^te $2.00 POT tear Sntend at tha post offics at North Wilkes- ■ore, North Caroliaa, as sMead-elau matter •lador Act of March 4, 1879. ^ ^ THURSDAY, SEPT. 23, 1943 Two Verdicts Have Been Rendered The so-called Lentz-Scott liquor trial is history—almost. And two verdicts 'have been rendered. One by the court, and one by the people. The court said: “Not guil ty” as to Lentz and Scott. The people, ap parently, are yet convinced that a quantity of Phil Yates’ liquor was stolen by some one the night of the raid. Judge R. Hunt Parker came to Wilkes, as instructed by Governor Broughton, and was on hand the opening day of eaurt, So~, licitor Hall was present to look after the in terests of the great State of North Caro lina. There were friends from Raleigh, and elsewhere, to “backstop” for Defen dants Lentz and Scott. But as the trial got underway, it soon became evident that the case had already been “fixed” in accord ance to reports current here several week.s before it was scheduled to begin. Only the formality of a trial was necessary and the result entered into the court r'icord. Far be it from us to criticize in any re spect Judge Parker. It did not take us long to determine, for ourselves, that which jve had heard about him. He was firm, fear less, and fair to all parties in his court. If it had been possible for the proper evidence to be brought before him, there is no doubt in our mind that he would have allowed the case to go to the jury, and meted out proper punishment against the guilty parties. Then, too. Solicitor Hall did his best with what he had as state’s evidence. Phil Yates, one of the main state witnesses, had proved himself, for the time being at least, bigger than the courts. It was ap parent, too, that something, or somebody, changed the state’s evidence materially be tween the sitting of the grand jury at the August term of court and the special criminal term. To any person, attending the trial with any regularity it became apparent that the trial soon developed into a steam-roller af fair—with so many present from various state department in Raleigh—v/ith the steam-roller coming to a climax with the expected directed verdict of acquittal. At times, it was impossible to tell whether some witnesses were for the s^Le or de fense. Has it come a time in North Carolina that liquor, liquor interests, and liquor money, is more powerful than .our courts? Has the judiciary of our state lost the sub stantial support of many good law-abiding men whom you seldom see in a courtroom anymore ? The vast majority of the people of Wilkes county, in our opinion, have a cer tain belief today that somebody stole a number of cases of the best liquor Yates had at his home on the night of June 1st, thereby defrauding the schools of the county of several thousands of dollars. This view of the whole episode places the entire state bureau of investigation under suspicion, and too, is a reflection against the entire state hig^iway patrol operating in the western part of the state as directed from Raleigh. , . It WB3 icfiint tiiBt during the trial, orders from high officials in the state patrol were produced and entered into the record commanding every member of the patrol in the western district not to molest tracks hauling bonded, or red, liquor. Was 'this the beginning of wholesale rum-run ning through the dry counties^ we have C^rs of the state highway patrol been “protection money” from these ' These are only a directly, in the case. There is yet much to be learned aom Ltbe Yates liquor raidr^P doubt. oyer, Is comes to light, ifeinato to be sw9:. So far, two verdidts have be4Ui rendered-^ one correctly by Judge Parker, the other by the people. And it se^s to ua that it is a situation yet unsolved that has landed on the doorstep of his Excellency, the Gover nor of North Caroluia.^,i;i?‘ ' K is'entirely pp to him to* determine whether or hot the.pePpie^shall have,, in the future, proper respect for the two law enforoement agencies ftat have been l*i* volved in the Yates-Lentz-Scott drama that started in our county on the night of June first. —^v- No Evidence (Statesville Daily) The sudden termination of the Wilkes whisky trial leaves too many questions 'un answered. First and foremost among these questions of course is, what became of the 90 missing cases of high-priced whisky? When raiding officers drove up to the warehouse of western North Carolina’s leading wholesale bootlegger, Philip Yates, owner of the booze, was very co operative. '“You boys will need some trucks,” he said, and forthwith furnished the rolling stock. Shortly after the liquor was checked in at the Wilkes court house, there were rumors in Wilkesboro that thir ty cases of Scotch whisky seized from Yates had mysteriously disappeared. So persistent was the street talk that a re- t'heck was made, showing 609 cases on hand. The Scotch war g.one, and so were cases of other high-grade fire-water. . Who got it? When was it taken? None of these questions were answered at the trial. Why did Lt. W. B. Lentz issue an order to State Highway patrolmen not to bother whisky trucks? And if it was not the du ty of the Highway Patrol to make liquor seizures, why the sudden change in policy? Yates had been one of the State’s largest liquor wholesalersf and for years ran his business wide open. There seemed to be nothing furtive, secretive about his traf fic. Everybody with eyes to see and ears to hear knew where his wholesele depot and retail outlets were located. At the time of the seizure, Yates did not seem worried. He helped the officers load and check the stuff, furnished the trucks to haul it off. Then came the indictment of SBI and Highway Patrol officers and when the case comes to trial Yates fails to show up. Why? The case against Scott and Lentz has been dismissed for lack of evidence. Yates is still under indictment. When and if his case comes to trial, we may get the answers to some of these questions. But we rather think he will plead guilty, say nothing, pay his fine—and that will be the, end of the celebrated Wilkes liquor case. ■V Flimsy Smoke Screen (Ne—' and Observer) Proceedings so far in the strange liquor cases in Wilkes County Superior Court have served to tear away the flimsy .smoke screen behind which the real culprits sought to hide. Now that has been done. Judge R. Hunt Parker, who is presiding, can be depended upon to see to it that all the facts are developed and that those who are guilty are pu. ished in accordance with their deserts. Judge Parker has properly directed a verdict of not guilty against Guy L. Scott, agent of the State Bureau of Investigation, and Lt. W. B. Lentz of the State Highway Patrol, who were charged with the larceny •a I •t #1 ■■ tea^mtlw acr«« s* fly«-ceiit W«r,into a moikmL . octtidii we lieerd W4 --wwnnf^. Wen thejr:^tsH»4. ^ membered. Md forgot to puf « bKk «gWj, i . that .oBs'e jn^de. the trip, aged theft thne; the nwl gwwilne tpiUp a nrJtoKt l^t, > try id tro]^bIe. If you 4»n^'then' Sift talw m*r tteeee. *** tOi thip^iem -old dauidtoar eat ntdto IMwfng ‘n dto q4"o®!» in > nallh&*i^ noug^enti# ■tatkw ab* ,«Otr. hOBto' , to tiT a p!mn H»’tit|l#b flab fbad. MidA-t '6. atamad'jS 'Ot the no monk' Atni GONSSBrVS JrtnOB-^. ,The Duke Power company la co operating with the War Rrodue- tlon Board in an'appeal to eon- serve eleetrlcity. And this reminds us that there ate many ways customers can help the company to conserve man power, Urea, gasoline and other scarce krticles. It used to be that we could call the'company on the slightest pre text. ‘It was easier to go to the telephone ' when the lights went Off end call the company than it was to try to find the trouble. Often a'fuse Is blown. It Is easy for any person with a sprinkle of common sense to re place a fuse plug, and some should be kept on hand for Just such emergencies. It takes- too much time of employes, too much wear of tires and too much gasoline for a company employe to drive out V- VINDICATED (Winston-Salem Journal) Law-abiding citizens through out the State willl find occasion for relief and reassurance in fhe di rected acquittal of Guy A,. Scott, agent of the State Bureau of In vestigation, and Lt. W. B. Lentz, of the State Highway Patrol, on charges connected with the pur ported disappeanance of 90 cases of liquor seized in a WMlkes high way raid. The integrity of the state branch of the law enforcement system was challenged In the in dictment against these two vet eran officers. But when the case came to trial the prosecution fell ed to present any convincing evi dence tending to show irregulari ty or wrongdoing on the part of the two officers. Had it succeed ed in doing so. Judge R. Hunt Parker, one of the most fearless and independent jurists on the bench of the Superior Court in North Carolina today, would have seen to it that the case reached the jury. The vindication of Messrs. Bcott and Lanlt, we assume, means that the State will continue to benefit by .the services of these widely experienced and highly capable officers. Few men en gaged in law enforcement activi ties have established a better rec ord as a detective end man hunter than Guy L. Scott, whose skill in running down suspects is almost uncanny. Lieutenant Lentz has also made-quite a name for him self as a highway law enforce ment officer and his services heve constituted an invaluable asset to the Commonwealth. SIZABLE VOID (Greensboro Daily News! The Daily News is in complete accord with Judge R. Hunt Ptsrker’s ordering of a not guilty verdict against Guy L. Scott, SBI agent, and Lt. W. B. Lentz of the state highway patrol after their trial in a special term of Wilkes county Superior court on charges of larceny of 90 cases of whihky seized in a naid In which they par ticipated. The state patently fail ed to make out a case against the two officers. But this turn of events, although accepted on its face value, does not mean that everything is sweet ness and light in Wilkes environs! There remains what we talie from this distance to be a sizable void in both the court record and public interest and responsibility. Phillip Yates, at whose home the seizure was made, is still missing. £ QA 4.V.A /?A-7 i? • 1 • , , Yates, a. defendant himself and ,0f 90 of the 697 cases of whiskey seized by previously termed one of the prin- State officers at the home of Phillip Yates, cipal witnesses against the two The important work of the court re- hfflcers, had been placed under $.'>00 bond but disappeared mains to be done. The evidence adduced j^to thin air. Meanwhile the against the officers was amazing and,count had denied a motion of showed clearly that their real crime in the!®®“"®®* continue his casq until eyes of those responsible for their prosecu- ^ourt. ruled that this case and the tion was not the frivolous charge against charges against the SBI and pa- of Ae questions that might SSL from » ^nation that has been preye- a nkrt of North Carolina during ^ ^ ^ ^ rumored two them but was in daring to arrest Yates and seize the enormous amount of whisky found at his home. Much of the evidence concerned a ridiculous effort to show that highway patrolmen acted beyond the scope of their authority in participating in the raid. It is most significant that the principal witnesses against the two acquitt ed officers were other officers who had signally failed to perform their own du ties in connection with Yates. Yates, who fled from Judge Parker, is still at large. He must be punished. It. is even more imperative that the court ascer tain who was responsible for Yatfes’ assur ance of immunity, an assurance which ap parently extended to a feeling that the ma chinery of the law itself could be used to punish officers whose crime consisted in having dared to enforce the law against him, ■‘tl trol members were related and or dered officers to find the missing witness-defendant when he failed to-answer when called. But Yates' whereabouts remains a mystery, in so far as the public knows, and the course of justice has been ob scured, deterred or altered ac cordingly. A.'parently there are situations and conditions in the state of Wilkes which bijve not yet been brought into the open and judicial accountability, and the urge there fore remains for proper authority to keep digging away until more of the elements of screwlness have been removed and the full course of justice run. Th"^e is no get ting away from the fact that Judge Parker himself held tbet the two cases, one now cleared by direct Verdict, and the other held up by flight of a key figure, were relat^. It is diasolntlon of this relationship and whatever ranilfl- cations It has that tho puMlc stlU ' It.*' ’>4 TiC; FOR WAR PURPOSES! Highest Cash Prices Paid For Old Field or N. a FOUR-QUARTER Key City Furniture Ce. J. E. Caudill,--Buyer NORTH WILKESBORO, - NORTH CAROLINA The., Government Asks You To HELP SAVE Fuel Man-Power Vital Materials Transportation Continue Using Electricity For— Ligliting essentia) public health Eyesight Conservation Safety t to Plant Protection T ransportation War Production Military Purposes Aviation Lighting Police Protection Outdoor Recreotionol Activities and oil other essential needs! WHERE TO CONSERVE Indoor and outdcxir advertising $ Promotional ^ond dis- ploy sign lighting Decorotive and orna mental lightino Decorative flood lighting Non essential lights and onces use,of oppli- Lighting of outdoor business establish ments. Non essential Interior and show cose lighting Show window lighting Lighting of morquees Moderation of air- conditioning Careful use of oil lights and appli ances to ovoid any waste of electricity. Elactrictiy and Gas Are Vifal in War-—Don't Waste Them
The Journal-Patriot (North Wilkesboro, N.C.)
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Sept. 23, 1943, edition 1
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