* WEATHER +
Partly cloudy and quite warm to
day and Saturday. Generally {air
and warm tonight.
Eise B aity ZEIer
THE RECORD
IS FIRST
VOLUME 7
TELEPHONE 3117 — 3118
DUNN, N. C., MONDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 2, 1957
FIVE CENTS PER COPY
NO. 195
THIS DOLL LOOKS GOOD IN ANYTHING
—In furs or flimsies, Dunn’s Becky Lee looks
good—just like a Miss America ought to look.
After an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show
in .New York last night, Becky was due to ar- '
rive today In Atlantic City where she will rep
resent Virginia in the Miss America Pageant
which begins Wednesday. She’s wearing part of
the big wardrobe given her by merchants of
Roanoke, Va. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wil
bert Lee, are leaving for Atlantic City today.
Everything Ready In Dunn District
School Bells Ring Tuesday
The Court Drags—Slowly, Slowly
Grand Jury Indicts
26-Only 2 Tried
The Harnett County Grand Jury in a busy two day
session last week returned 26 true bills of indictments and
inspected the couthouse and other county institutions.
urand jurors added a tew sharp
words to commissioners reminding!
them that repairs to the court
house long promised, were over
due.
Harvey M. O’Quinn of Mamers
served as foreman.
Out of the list of bills returped
two reached trial. Harvey Lee
Murchison, Negro bandit who rob
bed the B. and J. jewelry store
in Lillington' was convicted and
sentenced to 15 to 20 years in1
state prison.
Bobby Pope, young Dunn man,
indicted for first degree slaying I
of Harold Mayo of Four Oaks was
placed on trial by Solicitor Jack
Hooks on the lesser count of sec
ond degree murder, and was con
victed of manslaughter.
Other bills included the follow
ing nidictments:
Carlie Cotten of Lafayette com
munity murder of Jessie McLaur
in. McLaurin, Negro tenant on the
Cotten farm, was shot on August
3.
Marvin Mooney and James Ver
(Continued on Page Fire)
School bells will ring to
bring back the pupils to an
other school year at 8:30
a. m., September 3.
The school calendar will be as
follows:
Sept. 2: Faculty Meetings: Sept.
3: School Begins: Oct. 18: Holiday
—NCEA Meeting; Nov. 28 through
Dec. 1 inclusive, Thanksgiving Ho
lidays: Dec. 20, at 3 P. M. Close
for the Christmas Holidays; Jan.
2 1958, re-open after Christmas;
Jan. 21 End first semester; April
4-7 inclusive, Easter (Spring) Ho
lidays; May 29 School Ends.
As the cafeterias will not open
until Monday September 9, pupils
will be dismissed about noon until
that date.
For the first time in a good
many years there will be a regu
lar classroom available for all pu
pils, with no make-shift classes
held in church basements, Armory
etc. However, there are just en
ough. Dunn Schools have contin
ued to increase in enrollment ab
out two additional classrooms of
fContinued On Pace Six)
1
<^o3‘
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MORE COURTROOM SKETCHES—Judge Fountain relaxes; Talbot
Stewart intent on testimony.
I
Harnett
Solicitor
Resigning
Charles Williams, Erwin ]
attorney who scored a vie*
tory in his first political con- )
test, is resigning from his 1
Dost as solicitor of Harnett 1
County Recorder's Court. *
The young Wa'ke Forest law ^
graduate, 30 years old. confirmed .
today that he has acepted a posi
tion with the claims department (
of an insurance company. He de- -
scribed it as a “better opportunity’’ c
than his court job.
Formal acceptance of his resig
nation will be made at a meeting
ot the county commissioners in :
Lillington tomorrow. Board Chair
said Lofton A. Tait, Dunn banker, f
said that action will probably be 1
taken on the choosing of a sue- 1
cessor. 1
i
Williams took office as solicitor
last December 1, after defeating f
the incumbent, Neill McKay Ross, .
who was seeking renomination to {
that post.
!v
Despite his youth Williams has
been active in several careers He •
worked as a reporter for the Har- ’
CHARLES WILLIAMS
nett County News, taught school In
Erwin, been in charge of juvenile
delinquency problems with the
Harnett County Welfare depart
ment.
He started the practice of law
after graduatin from Wake Forest
and ran for solicitor only a few
months after opening his office in
Erwin. Several lawyers now active
in Harnett County were among
his class-mates at Wake Forest.
They included Robert Morgan, Jake
Lamm, D. K. Stewart, and Bill
and Archie Taylor.
Commissioner Tart said he did
not know who the board would
choose as Williams successor. “I
believe there are several who
would accept an appointment,” he
said.
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On Verdict Of Manslaughter
Pope Given 10-15 Years
By TED CRAIL
Record News Editor
Twelve jurymen returned
i verdict of “manslaughter
vithout mercy” against red
laired Bobby Pope on Sat
irday afternoon as the week
ong criminal term of Ha;
lett Superior Court came to
in end.
The 20-year-old defendant, who
I'as in county jail for three months
waiting trial, was sentenced by
udge George Fountain to a term
f 10 to 15 years in state prison.
'he minimum sentence in a man
laughter conviction is four months
nd the maximum Is 20 years.
Pope was jailed on June 2 when
e surrendered to his policeman
irother, Faison "Red” Pope of
)unn. The shooting occurred the
Tevious evening at Rabbit’s Grill
nd Bobby had disappeared af
erwards, spending the night in
vacant building next door to his
nother's house.
His own story of what had hap
ened was told for the first time
s Bobby took the stand in his
wn defense. Chief defense attor
ey Everette Doffermyre, asked
im if Harold Mayo, the Four Oaks
outh who died from a bullet in
he head, hadn't been his best
riend.
“He sure was,” replied Bobby
nth conviction.
Admitting that Mayo asked him
0 put his gun back in the glove
ompartment of the car, Bobby
aid he was attempting to extract
he bullets when It exploded in his
ands. As he started from the car
1 see if he could help Mayo, Bob- (
y said, the passenger in the mid
e had tied him up.
Then, an unreasoning fear had .
»used him to run away, he told 1
e court.
Solicitor Jack Hooks, asked Bob
y what he had been frightened
’ if he didn’t deliberately kill
ayo. “If you’d ever been in the j
ime position, maybe you would
now,” Bobby said.
Different Version
His version of events conflicted !
iarply with that given by the t
tate’s star witness, Otis West, c
fest, a lean, post-adolescent with .
criminal record, was sitting be- }
veen Mayo and Pope in the car
/here the shooting took place, j,
fhen he appeared at the trial last t
'eek, he still w'ore the long side
urns which had caused Bobby c
‘ope to nickname him "Elvis
’resley.” tl
Drinking and an argument over v
'hether Bobby was going to re- r
trn Mayo’s gun where it belong
d preceded the shooting, accord
lg to West. Bobby, he said, threa- t
;ned the other youth’s life im- t
lediately before the killing and i
Tayo had said, "I believe you’d c
o it, too.” t
West said Bobby killed Mayo t
irst, then told him, "I’m going t
» kill you, too.” 1
Struggled For Gun
But they had struggled for the i
un. West said, and Bobby final-' 1
(Continued on Page fltj I!
Witness sports Elvis side-burns; John Law waits to a[
pear before grand jury.
CHEERFUL SELLER—William A. ‘Bill’ Warren (right)
was receiving some sales tips this week from Jim Lampley, a sales
supervisor for Sears. Lampley came down to help Warren as He
started on his new job as a Sears special representative. A cheer
ful seller, Warren has been in the appliance business a long time,
knows his way around the big Eastern Carolina territory whjch
he will cover. (Record Photo.)
tears Sells Crickets, Too
Warren Appointed
To Sears Staff
Bill Warren, genial master of man-to-man salesman
;hip, was out on a new beat last week as a special represen
ative for Sears Roebuck. He approached a farmer who
ells worms to fishermen and was asked, “Bill, what are
ou selling?”
in TIflrnptt
nttanrlind cnhonl tfi
“Everything except cricket,”
e responded. “I'm working lor
ears Roebuck."
“You’re wrong there. You sell
rickets, too,” the farmer said.
Thus he is learning, said Warren,
lat the mammoth firm he now
orks for — the world’s champion
?tailer — has practically no
lanks in its line of products.
In Lillington, Erwin and Dunn, 1
barren is well-known as one of
fie county’s most active furniture
nd appliance salesmen. Until re
ently, he was manager of Wil
ourne’s furniture in Dunn. His
usiness experience goes back to
he filling station he started when
ie was just 18 years old.
Warren lives tn Erwin now and
s a past master there of the Erwin
fasonic Lodge. He was born in
lampson County but raised mostly
Buie’s Creek and Lillington. His
father, the late Eddie Warren, was
a farmer and real estate salesman,
' (Continued On Page Five)
Holiday Death
roll Still
[limbs Rapidly
By UNITED PRESS
Highway deaths passed
the 300-mark today and
Safety Council officials,
nearly certain the toll would
exceed their pre-holiday es
timate, told motorists their
traffic record in the Labor
Day weekend was “discour
aging.”
At 12:30 p.m. e.d.t., the traffic
No Fatalities
Reported Here
Harnett had its share of
wrecks this weekend though
t escaped the fatalities
which have made it a typi
cal bloody holiday for police
corces around the state.
Wrecks reported here in the
county included a damaging and
expensive three-way smashup at
the Open Air Market on the west
edge of Dunn.
Highway Patrolman W. O. Gra
dy reported that three persons re
ceived treatment at the Dunn hos
pital or Fort Bragg for Injuries
sustained in this wreck.
Mrs. Rosabelle Godwin of Dunn
has been admitted to Betsy John
son .Memorial Hospital here with
.a [feck injury. Thirty-seven-year
old' Hubert Franklin Brown, an
Erwin resident, was treated at the
Dunn hospital for lacerations of
the chin; he was later released.
Jean Hammock, 31, of 701 East
Pope St. in Dunn, was treated at
the Fort Bragg hospital for an in
jury to the left ankle.
The accident occurred about
7:40 p.m. Sunday as a car up ah
ead made the turn into Crafton
Tart’s Open Air Market. Stopping
so this car could make the turn
were a ’55 Chevrolet owned and
operated by James Wesley Autry
of 305 East G Street in Erwin and
(Continued On Page Four)
deaths totaled 344, according to a
United Press count. California led
the list of states with 45 traffic
deaths. New York was next with
22, Ohio and Texas each reported
(Continued On Page Four)
Milk Truck Thief
Not A Milk-Drinker
In the small hours on Saturday night a culprit of
some description stole off with a milk truck from Gard
ner’s Dairy.
Over 100 gallons of refrigerated
milk were on this truck but the
thief couldn’t have been a milk
lover because he didn’t drink a
TVJtBMlHI
Dairy manager James Surles
alerted local police and officers
from here to Virginia were on the
(Continued On Pare Four)
wose«
Grinning one-eyed witness; Lawyer H. M. Jackson from Sanford; the
inevitable spittoon under juror’s feet.