North Carolina Newspapers

NEWS Largest Circulation In Carteret County The People's Newspaper The best advertising medium published in Carteret Co. ( READING TO THE MIND 13 WHAT EXERCISE IS TO THE BODY WATCH Your label and pay your subscription VOLUME XVI 12 PAGESTWO SECTIONS THE BEAUFORT NEWS THURSDAY JULY, 28, 1927 PRICE Sc SINGLE COPY NUMBER 30 CORONERS JURY SAYS 0. W. LANE ' WAS MURDERED Insurance Companies May In vestigate The Matter. May bei Moonshiners Did It CARRIED LARGE INSURANCE New Bern, July 24 Inquest -into the death of Oscar W. Lane, promi nent banker of the section, resulted tonight at Maysville in the coroner's jury verdict that he "came to his death from shot or shots by unknown hands, not by suicide." His body was found early Saturday morning in j his car stuck in the mud off the Stella highway near Maysville. Further investigation may be made by the county or insurance companies but Dr. J. C. Bell, acting coroner, stated Inst night that so far as he had been able to ascertain the matter had been rettled definitely and that it would never be known how Mr. Lane met his death. Large throngs of persons attended locally. The hearing last ed for about three and one-half hours. The motive for a possible murder could not be learned. Fifty dollars in cash was found in the dead man's pockets untouched. One surmise in the section is that the residents of the vicinity might have thought him a revenue man killed him as an ex ample. L. T. Gillett, of Maysville, and George Meadows, of that section, who were the lsat persons known to see Mr. Lane alive, kept to their story of how they had left him in the car for the night, when he re fused to go with them totheMeadows house, after his car had become stuck in the mud off the Stella road. Much evidence at the inquest point id to the fact that suicide was im possible. This was on account of the position of the bullet, the fact that there were no powder burns on the head, and the disputed question as to whether the bullet entered from the right or left hand side of the Lead. The right hand was much larger than that on the left side. Mr. Lane was a right-handed man, it was shown, and some parts of the skull were found two feet away on the seat. He was found in a reclining position, with the revolver on his light leg and his Tight hand far re moved on the automobile seat. The paper signed before a notary in MaysvilleFrlday proved to be only a lease on some land and had no bearing on the case, as had been thought by some persons. Evidence was brought out that Mr. Lane must have come to his death between 1 o'clock and daybreak. He had been dead for some time when found a round 6 o'clock. On the coroner's jury were C. M. Mattox, E. B. Dav ison, S. M, Jenkins, W. S. Spencer, ' S, H. Waters and T. W. Collins. New Bern, July 26 No new de velopments were reported today fol- lowing the- coroner's jury's verdict last night that Oscar W. Lane, prom inent banker, met his death at the hands of some unknown murderer and not by' self inflicted wounds. His body was found in his car on a de serted mud roid early Saturday morning near Maysville. No clue has been discovered .to the guilty party and no suspicion has been directed against any certain person or persons, it is stated. The consensus of opinion is that he was thought to be a revenue officer and was killed by moonshiners. The sec tion is notorious as a whisky center. Illicit distillers in that region have been reported to maintain a patrol system. County authorities have made no plans for a further investigation into the circumstances of the death. Offi cers stated that they did not know where to start and would probably not be able to learn further details of the murder. Investigations may be continued, however, by the family of the deceased, according to W. B. Blades, brother-in-law, who today admitted the possibility that they night personally sponsor detective work that would lead to arrest and conviction. It was admitted, how . ever, that clues wereu ncertain. Insurance companies ma also probe deeper into the matter. The deceased cerried large insurance pol icies in several companies. Some of these carried the double indemnity clause that would double the policy in the event of murder or accident. Street rumors were current today that perhaps at least one insurance company might contest the payment of the double policy and some talk was heard that the body might pos sibly be exhumed in an effort to pet additional information about the '.f!is nf his rfpnth. Defendants Submit In Police Court Several cases were disposed of in Police Court Friday afternoon by Mayor Jones but as the defendants submitted to the charges against them for the most part, it did not take long to get through. The record follows Ruth Harris, wife of Jim Harris who was recently convicted of vio lating the' liquor laws, charged with having liquor in her possession for purpose of sale, admitted having the liquor and was bound over to Super ior Court under a $100 bond. Will Lupton, disorderly conduct, fined $1 and costs. Odell Mason, disorderly conduct, fined $1 and costs. Wiliam Brown disorderly conduct, $1 and costs. Sterling Chadwick, speeding, $1 and costs. Harlowe Chapin and Christopher Jones no rear lights on car. Judg ment suspended. Two or three cases were continued until the next session of court. CHEROKEE RURAL SCHOOLS MADE LARGE INCREASE RALEIGH July 25 (INS) Six hundred and 80 children were added to the total of the average daily at tendance for the past year in Chero kee County Rural Schools, according the report of Miss Elizabeth Smith, county superintendent of Public Welfare. The average daily attendance for the year 1926-27 was 2,301, as com pared with an average daily atten dance of 1,621 for- the preceding year. This was regarded by school atten dance officials as a remarkable rec ord. Baseball Fans Expect Some Exciting Games With Kenly here today and tomor row, and playton here the 5th and 6th cl August local fans are assured of, some good ball games. But the climax in perfect games of the nat ional sport should1 be reached the 12 and 13th when the Fayetteville High landers are here fr two games. FayettevHte won the North Caroli na amateur championship in 1926 and is bidding fair to repeat this year. Kenly won the first half of the Central Carolina League, and the Clayton ctab. is the champion of Johnson County. . Local moguls are trying to arrange a game with the New Bern Battery "D" team for Saturday, July 30th, right after the "Kenly seTies. NEW OFFICERS ELECTED BY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Morehead City, July 22 A "L. Stockton, iof the Greensboro Daily News,' was elected president:: J. W. Noell, of the Roxboro Courier, -vice- president, and Miss Beatrice Cobb, of the Morganton News-Herald was re elected secretary-treasurer .of the North Carolina Press association at the closing session of its annual con vention here today. Johnson A-very, editor of the Hick ory Daily Record, was awarded the Separk prize of $250 for having ren dered the most outstanding public service during the pastyear. Eric Rogers, of the Greensboro Daily Record, won second place. Leary W. Adams, a reporter for the Charlotte Observer, received the $250 Separk award for the most mer itorious -writing of the year. Miss Virginia Terrell, of the Asheville Citizen, won second place in this event. The Roxboro Courier was awarded the Walter Savory loving cup as be ing the outstanding weekly newspa per of North Carolina during the past year. CHURCH NOTICE. Revival services will be held at Straits M. E. Church South begin ping Monday August 1st. Everyone is invited to attend. Rew R. E. Pittman of Mt. Olive, N. C, will do the preaching. Mrs. J. B. Dickinson and children of Wilmington are here on a visit to Mrs. Dickinson's parents Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Duncan. Mrs. W. T. Kennedy of Norfolk, is here on a visit to her parents Mr. and Mrs. Thos. Duncan. Mr.and Mrs. J. W. Baird of Greens boro are here stopping at the Inlet Inn. Dr.( C. M. Walters of Burlington and son Charles are spending a few days at the Inlet Inn. Messrs. K. W. Wright, J. P. Mason and T. A. Maso nof Portsmouth, Va., and H. G. Griffin of Churchland who have been guests of the Inlet Inn for several days left yesterday. COUNTY HOSPITAL ELECTION IS NEAR On August 6th Public Will De cide Whether To Isue $85,000 In Bonds Or Not As the time draws nearer for the county hospital $85,000 bond election the public appears to be getting more interested in it. There has been no open, active campaign made either for or against it but in some places registration for the election has been pretty heavy. Registration books closed last Saturday. The election will take place on the 6th of Aug ust. The heaviest registration for the election took pla 'e in Morehead City where 1340 names were put on the books. Accoi ding to reports sentiment there is favorable to the proposed bond iss le for a hospital but it is said tha-, there will be a ggood many votes there against the measure. In Bea lfort 891 names were registered J or the election. Judging from street talk of tnis num ber there will be very few cast for the bonds. The Hews has not been able to get any figures as to the reg istration in the other precincts in the county but rep irts are that it was rather light in mist of them. An Atlantic man told the News this week that considerable v ork. is being done at Atlantic for the bonds but that a good many people there are opposed to the project, round Merrimon and in the Harlowe and Russell's Creek section sentiment seems to be lined up solidly agsinst the bond is sue. Reports are tiat Newport will give a majority abainst the bonds. The News has not heard how senti ment is in the other precincts in the county. Absentee votes will not be allowed in this election. persons who wish to vote in this election will have to go to the polls and put their ballots in the boxes. Those' who stay away from the pulls will not af f ect tH etect&ea- one V ay w another. It takes a majority of the votes cast to decide the matter. CARTERET PUPILS READING BETTER Tests Show Rural School Chil dren Approach National Standards On July 14th and 15th State Su perintendent, A. T. Allen called an Elementary School Conference at Chapel Hill, North Carolina built .up .standard high schools first, and now the importance of the elementary school is being realized for a pupil must go through the elementary school before he can enter high school. This annual conference brings to gether people who are especially in terested 'in elementary education. It offers an opportunity for an exchange of ideas and brings before leaders from various parts of the state worth while things which have been done in other parts of the state. One half day of the conference was devoted to rural supervision. Miss Margaret Gustin, Supervisor of Car teret County, gave a talk on "Improve rnent in Reading." Progress made in reading in Carteret County during the last three years was shown by statistics and charts. The progress made in Carteret County was com pared with the progress mmle in' ten supervised counties of North Caro Board Refuses Referendum On Sale Of Municipal Plant At a meeting of the City Board of Commissioners Tuesday evening a conditional offer of $100,000 for the c ity water and electric plant was turn ed down. The vote on the proposi tion stood three to two. Commission ers Chadwick, Mason and Whitehurst voted against the offer and Com missioners Hill and Potter voted for it. v The meeting Tuesday evening was called for the purpose of considering a proposal made by John L. Livers a capitalist of Charlottesville, Va. Mr. Livers was present aB also was an associate of his Mr. Pearce of West Virginia. These gentlemen asked the board to call an election of the people to vote on the question of accepting or rejecting the offer for the plant. Mr. Livers has been to Beaufort several times before and has discussed the matter with members of the board and other citizens. Messrs Livers and Pearce offered to pay the expense cf holding the election. They OFFICERS FIND STOLEN MONEY A Pwt Of Old Man. Hoard Found And Now He Can Sleep Dunn, July 25 Harnett county officers last night succeeded in re covering $4,885 of the $14,200 stolen from a safe in the home of David H. Truelove near Dunn last Friday morn ing. Of the amount recovered $4, 300 was found buried under a log in Black river swamp and the re mainder was found on Willie Eason, Dunn negro, when he was placed un der arrest. Eason took the officers to the place where he had buried the money. He also implicated John McLean and his two sons, John, Jr., and Willie, all negroes. These are now under arrest along with Eason. The elder McLean and his son, Willie, were arrested in Black river swamp late this afternoon. Willie McLean offered resistance and whip ped out a pistol according to the of ficers and himself was shot through two fingers of the right hand by Sheriff Kyle Matthews, a member of tha nossp which had been searching j for the two negroes all day.. His wound is not thought to be serious nature, however. -Eason advised of ficers that Willie McLean had the ma jor of the money stolen, though Mc Lean has not yet admitted that he was connected with the robbery. He formerly was employed at the True love home and is thought by officers to have planned the robbery. Offi cers are hopeful of recovering most of the stolen money. , The victim of the robbery, now 81 ! years old, said today that he ate his first meal this morning since the rob bery was discovered and that he took , his first nap last night after being I advised that a part of his life's earn ings had been recovered. lina. t At the first testing date in 1923 and 1924 the supervised counties were nearly one and one half years or grades below National Standard At the last testing date in the spring of 1927 they were only one fifth of a grade below. At the first testing date in 1924 Carteret County was nearly two years below National Standard and at the last testing date in the Spring of 1927 Carteret Coun ty was on the average only one half I of ag rade below National Standard. The average improvement in read ing ability for each year during this period was one third of a year in the ten supervised counties nad near ly one half of a year in Carteret County. This means in addition to making the .usual progress en-h year, grade standards have been raised un til each grade reads better than the next higher grade Tead in 1924. All of these counties have reached the standard foT the fourth grade. Neith- j er Carteret County nor the ten su j pervised con..tjes have reached the standards for the fourth, fifth, sixth, vand seventh grades. The talk was concluded with this statement, "It is not so important where we stand i r.s where we are moving. Carteret County and the ten supervised coun- I ties are certainly on the upward i Because of the gteat number of '. borers who have left the farms of France, farmers are installing mod ern agricultural machines as labor savers. read the figures from a recent audit and claimed that the plant was run ning behind. They said they would reduce the cost of electric current from 12 1-2 cents per kilowatt to ten cents and also said they would pay considerable taxes on the property. Furthermore they said they would improve the service. Commissioner Chadwick stated that he oonsidered the plant worth $200,000 and that the town had that much in it. Com missioner Hill said that the matter was onevfo rthe people to decide and he favored giving them a chance to vote on it. After the discussion Commissioner Whitehurst moved to i eject the offer with the result stat ed above, lit. Hill wanted to get the matter re-opened and to enable him to do so Messrs. Pearce and Livers then raised their offer to $102,500 and a motion to call an election on this was offered by Commissioner Hill. This was defeated by the same vote as the original proposition. REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS FOR CURRENT WEEK Beaufort Realty Corp. to E. E. E. Wooten, 2 lots West Beaufort, for $240. L. Rosso to F. A. Blair, Z lots West Beaufort, for $10. Bank of Beaufort, Mortgagee to C. R. Wheatly, part lot Beaufort for $325. Mart Lewis etals to Mrs. S. H. Ov erby, 1 lot Morehead City, for $10. Morehead Bluffs Inc. to Mrs. Sarah E. Smith, 2 lots Morehead Bluffs, for $10. J. M. Willis and wife to W. A. Ball, 12 acres Morehead Township lor $600. BUILDING PROSPECTS GOOD IN NORTH CAROLINA CHARLOTTE. July 27 (INS) A $25,000,000 increase in the build ing record of North Carolina this year over last year was predicted here today by V. F. Loftis, secretary of the state branch of the General Associated Contractors of America. The increase is practically certain, Lnftis declared, if contracts are let for projects already contemplated in the State. "Things look good for the build ing industry during the coming months," he said. AN UNUSUAL PEAR TREE. WILMINGTON, July 25 (INS A pear tree that bears twice each year is claimed by Junius McCoy, of Wil mington. The tree grows in the yard of his home on McRae Street. The first crop, it was said, ripens about August 1, and the other in the autumn. New Cafe Opened On Turner Street A complete transformation in the appearance of the Interiot of the old postoffice building on Turner street was made when Mr. L. T. Mathis op ened his cafe there last Saturday. For several years Mr. Mathis has con ducted a' restaurant in the wooden building next door to his present stand and has enjoyed a good pat ronage under the name of the Dixie Luncheonette. Completely new fixtures were in stalled in the postoffice building which was painted and put in good condi tion. A partition was built across the rear of the room and this space is occupied by a nice sanitary kitchen. The dining room is clean, cool and attractive in appearance. An elec tric sign will be erected on the front of the building. The new restaurant seems to be having a good business and' many persons have been heard to express themselves as much pleas ed with it. Equalization Board Was In Session Monday The Board of County Commis sitting as an equalization board, held a meeting at the courthouse Monday. The object of the meeting was to hear property owners who were dis satisfied with the tax ratings of their property. Mr. R. Hugh Hill of j Beaufort was among the number and ; he entered a strong protest on the 1 valuation of the Hill land just east ; of Beaufort. He did not get any relief and notified the board that he I would take an appeal to higher au- j thorities. The minutes of the meet ing had not been recorded in the min- J ute book at 11 o'clock this morning (Thursday) and so the News is not able to give its readers much infor mation as to what was done. BEAUFORT BALL CLUB CONTINUES TO WIN The Beaufort baseball team has added recently three games to its string of victories. Last Thursday the team mopped up with its old time rival Morehead City. The score that day was 9 to 0 in Beaufort's favor. Friday afternoon the boys tackled a pretty hard opponent, the . Messic bunch. The winning streak continu ed though and the score was 8 to 2 with Beaufort holding the or end. Saturday they played Messic again which resulted in a score of 2 and 1 in favor of Beaufort On Tuesday the team went over and played More head City on, the hoine grounds. This time the score was 7 and 2 in favor of Beaufort. Twenty-seven ladies and 52 men and boys from Franklin county made a farm tour through parts of Virgin ia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and into Washington during the week of July 11- B0"eD CONSIDERS WFJ I ARE MATTERS Some "Arsons Dropped From Poor List And Budget Is Reduced A meeting of the Carteret county Board of Welfare was held Tuesday in the offices of Charles H. Bushall who is chairman of the board. Mrs. Ida H. Hall is the secretary to the Board. Other members of the board ' . are Miss Lilian Duncan of Beaufort and Mr. H. A. Joslyn of Morehead City. The principal business considered by the Welfare Board Tuesday was a revision of the Outside Poor List. The budget for this list was consid erably reduced for the year 1928. Four new applications were received by the board and rejected. Mrs. Hall 1 made her report which described cases investigated by her and all of which were considered carefully by the board. It was suggested by Miss Duncan that all cases of charity in Beaufort and Morehead City should be referred to the local Associated Charities. This suggestion was ap proved. Fourteen former grants of help were acted on unfavorably by the board and recommended to be stop ped. Five were reduced and nine teen were left unchanged. Three families were selected for N. C. State Mothers' Aid. The board voted to continue a contribution of $10 a year to the Children's Home Society of Greensboro. A widow who has two young children dependent upon her and needs help will be reported to a fraternal order with a request for aid. All suggestions and recommen dations of the Welfare Board are subject to review by the Board of County Commissioners for final ac tion. CHURCH CHOIRS TO GIVE MUSICAL PROGRAM SUNDAt A musical program is to be given at the First Baptist Church Sunday evening beginning at eight o'clock.. It will be rendered by members of the choirs of the Baptist and Methodist churches. The numbers to begiven are as follows: Prelude "Prelude" Rachmani noff Glennie Paul. Prayer ' y Hymn Congregation. Mixed quartette Mary C Lottie Tyler, U. E. Swann, Paul, G. M. Paul. Scripture 'Baritone Solo "Face to Face" H. Johnson F. E. Hyde. Announcements. Offering Lillian Duncan, Piano. Soprano Solo Selected Mary C. Paul. Anthem Choir. Tenor Solo G. M. Paul. Vocal Duet Maybelle Neal, ginia Howe. Tenor Solo M. Leslie Davis. Violin Solo "Forsaken" R, Vir- W. Chron. Soprona Solo Jane Ray Allen. Male Quartette Messrs. Davis, Paul, Swann, E. Davis. Hymn Congregation. Benediction Postlude Glennie Paul. TIDE TABLE Information as to the tides at Beaufort is given in this col umn. The figures are approx imately correct. Some allow ances must be made for varia tions in the wind and also with respect to the locality, that is whether near the inlet or at the heads of the estuaries. High Tide Low Tide Friday, July 29 8:24 8:46 9:08 9:25 A. M. 2:16 A. M. M. M. M. P. M. 2:14 P. Saturday, July 30 A. M. 2:55 A. P. M. 2:58 P. Sunday, July 31 9:50 A. M. 3:34 A. M. M. 10:05 P. M. . 3:40 P. Monday, August 1 10:33 10:43 A. M. 4:11 A. M. P. M. 4:24 P. M. Tuesday, August 2 1 11:05 A. M. 4:60 A. A. M. M. M. M. 11:17 P. M. 5:08 Wednesday, August 3 11:33 12:02 A. M. 5:30 A. A. M. 5:55 P. Thursday, August 4 12:49 12:06 A. M. 6:12 A. M. P. M. 6:46 P. M. . Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Williamson and Mrs. L. C. Harris of Tarboro are here , guests of the Inlet Inn.