H2k f
Gaston
basto::h r
good schools and rkmrhfa i
A good place to live, Popov
latoa 13,871, 123J n.'c gala
3 AltaB
County la 11,111. Popsl
tloa SU42; total wealthy
tJ475,T49. '- - :
1CKMBEB OP THB ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XIX NO. 268.
GASTONIA, N. CL, MONDAY AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 8, 1920
SINGLE COPY 8 CENT
A
fiVPSY SMITH,
TWO WEEKS
Noted Evangelist Opens Series of Services at
First Presbyterian Church Sunday Night -Crowds
Throng Church For Opening Sermon
Numbers Turned Away.
Rev. Gypsy . Smith, Jr., who was
expected to . preach at the First
ITesbyterian church Sunday morn
ing, ttud wai delayed several hotjfs
n"roube from New Jersey by a rail
Toad wreck arrived in the city Sun
day at 12:10 V. M.
In the absence of the evangelist
the pastor, Rev. Dr. Jas. II. Hender
lite, with only thirty minutes notice
preached an earnest and forceful
.sermon to an unusually large con
gregation at the morning hour.
Miss Abernethy, of Lenoir, the pl
anet, arrived in the city Saturday
and is being entertained in the home
of Mr. and Mrs. J. O. White. Mr.
Smith and his choir director, Mr.
George F. Allen, are guests at the
Armington Hotel.
With a leader of national promi
nence, a perfect organizaton, and a
week of preparatory prayer, the pas
tore, officer and members of the
First Presbyterian church have work
ed untiringly to make thia the moot
aoccessful meeting in the history of
the church. Mr. Smith, himself a
singer, " places great value upon
hearty song services and the music
and singing wlU be features of the
meting. All who can sing are urged
to be in the choir as early as 7 o'clock
Tuesday night.
Mr. Smith prached his first ser
mon Sunday night, and the congrega
tion began arriving as early as 6 :30
P. M. By seven o'clock there was
standing room only. The large audl
rorlom. galleries. Sunday School
room. Darlor and choir loft,
wltu
every available seat anil hundreds of
extra chars were filled with a crowa
estimated at about 1600 people.
More than two hundred were turned
away from the first service. Mr.
Allen bas a wonderful voice and is
an able choir director. Mr. Smith
possessing all the virility and power
-.. , f spech that characterizes his
Y) father brought a message full of fer
f '' vor and earnestness. Mr. Smith
' possesses a most pleasing personality
and pulpit appearance. Entirely de
'. Void of sensational methods, he nev
. rtheless preaches wonderfully force
ful Bormons which everybody can un
derstand. He will preach every night
except Monday for two weeks at
7 :30 .o'clock. Tfiere will be no ser
' vice on Monday. Announcement of
" services to be held during the day
Will" be made later. Mr. Allen and
.. -choir furnished some splendid sing
ing Sunay" night, but more voices
are need oil. Gastonla has an array
-of vocal talent that should readily
respond to the call of this splendid
director.
After half an hour8 service of
I aong beginning at 7:30. P. M. Sun
day night pray was offered by Rev.
Y Dr. J.' C. Galloway, pastor of the
ft First ; Associate Reformed Presby-
V terlan Church. Mr. Smith then read
Yl for; a ; Scripture Lesson the, sixteenth
J chapter of Judges, setting forth the
i. temptation, the fall and the death
..of Samson. After himself leading
'H the congregation in singing "There'll
Be No Dark Valley When Jeans
4 Comes," he preached from the text:
; V , "So the dead that he slew at bis
death were, more than they which he
' alew in hia'life." (Judges 16:30.)
.' .The Bible has various methods of
teaching Its truths. First of all,
there Is the argumentative mehod.
' Ton. cano get pass the logic of God's
. 'book. : Secondly, there Is the win
s'" some method. There is no more win
, . ning stories anywhere in the world
.. than the love story of the cross.
'.' Lastly, we have the dramatic method.
And I think that the deeds of some
- - of the men of the ible are far more
r, potent than anything they said or
.i wrote. . . :
. , ' 8am8on stirs me more profoundly
" h than any other of the OM Testament
V characters. : First we see him crown'
ed with the laurel of many victories.
Then as a fool,-: sneered at by . a
fawning spirit. Next, as a slave, de
throned, demoralised. .An lastly, "n.t
champion coming forth' from dark-
JR. BEGINS
MEETING
ness and crowning his life with tri
umph. He Is the type of a great many
of us. The" type of a Christian who
was honest when he united with the
church and the things for which He
stood. Then, getting careless, fell
and slipped Into unhapplness and un
rest and defeat. Then seeing the
mess they have made of t all, recon
secrate thmselves and rise to greater
victories than they have ever known.
We were all thrillH when we read for
il"' first time the early stories of Sam
sun's life his carrying off; the gates of
tho city; his tying the foxes together
and putting tho firebrand between them
and turning them into the Philistines'
wheat fields, thereby destroying their
crops; his meeting with thu lion; his de
struction of the thousand Philistines
with the jawbone of an ass. And you
will notice that Samson never took any
excuse for defeat He was superior to
all obstacles, and the secret of his suc
cess was that "the spirit of the Lord
came mightily upon lim. " He learned
early in life that he secret of power was
the law of surrender. This can be illus
trated bj the mind in its youth only at
taining its triumphs by surrendering to
the mind of the teacher. The orgafa
could never give us any melody unless it
surrendered to the touch of the player,
and so you and I ean only be powerful
spiritually as we surrender to a higher
powe.
I have sometimes thought 1 could see
the stage afll sot for the second act and
Dc-lilah in tho center of the stage. The
air odorous of olives and myrrh, and
Samson waiting in the wings for his
turn, and then I have imagined that the
o)i' re-trirtrch" that bvrv !ne on hefnre
1 inked down over the hart lenient of
! heaven and shouted to him. "Samson.
take care!" But there was one thin?
that Samson could not do. He was the
strongest man in the world's history, but
he could not take care. And he lost his
position as judge, his sight, his strength,
his liberty, all through fooling with his
weakness. Ninety-nine Christens out. of
every hundred who go down, go down the
same way. I don't mean the same sin.
but the same process through fooling
with our weakness. The devil isn't any
fool. He knows us, and he is a master
of our armor. lie knows tlie unguarded
moment. Thea vernge Christian today is
Motgnilty of murder, or lust, or gam
Ming, or drunkenness, but the devil does
oof rare whether it's pride or murder as
long as he gets us. And so Samson lost
all through fooling. (
Do you remember the morning fou I
were received into your church? Do
you remember, as .you stood before
the altar, the promises that you made
and the unspoken promises, too, your
heart was filled with, and earnestness
and sincerity that no one would
doubt? You were glad to be received
into the church, and the very best cf
your manhood and womanhood was
ruling that morning, and you wanted
your life to count. Have you lost
anything? Have you lost that earn
estness? Have you lost that sinceri
ty? Have you lost the ambition to
attain to that ideal that God has for
you? Have you lost anything? Ton
remember how, after Samson had
played the fool, they put out his eyes,
put him down in the prison house to
grind; and you know that is typical
of so many of us. If some of us were
to stop for a moment and look back
to the day when we first surrendered
our lives to Jesus Christ, we should
shudder to find how far we have trav
eled from Him. Some of us have lost
Him entirely out of our lives, but we
still go to church and we still teach a
Sunday School class, and we are still
an official member of the church, but
it is onlv grinding. There is no spirit
there. We turn to the hymns, and we
sing, but it only comes from the
throat, not from the heart It used
to come from the heart, but now it it
grinding. We turn to the responsive
reading, and, if we would be frank,
we would much rather be at home
reading one of the Best sellers. We
go tflrchurch only because it is custo
mary and -considered . the - correct
thing for Sabbath mornings, and we
don't wish to be known as heathens,
and when we get there the sermon 4s
usually so dry to nj. It it because we
have lost Christ's spirit, and we are
Just grinding. Too know it it quit
, Cbatiaaed ea page 4). .'
HERE
ESTIMATES ARE BEING
PREPARED BY VARIOUS
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS
WASHINGTON, Nov; 8. Estimates
upon which congress will make appropri
ations for the first fiscal year of the new
republican administration are now being
prepared by the various government de
partments under the direction of demo
cratic cabinet officers and in accord with
the policies of the Wilson administration
The estimates will be submitted to con
gress at the opening of the next session
on December 6. Since the republicans
have a majority, iu both the senate and
house, sharp changes are expected to be
made in most of the estimates under re
vision plans which republican eongres
sionnl lenders are expected to work out
iu co-operation with other lenders of tW
Harding administration which taken W-fii-K
on March 4.
Tlie present political situation with re
sard to Die annual appropriations is sim
ilar t,i that which obtained eight years
.'igr after tlu first election of Woodrow
VVil- lint the economic situation in the
con My wn- vasCy different. At that
I inn- he rei'.iblieaiis were in control of
the ,-i ; nt'e branches of the government
iind'T President Tnfl. bo: the democrats
find a m:t jovity in ti.'ili Mm senate and
house,
A I l.i' ''me, however, conditions in
this count;; and the world (.''"'''ally
were normal find government expendi
ture irere only a fourth of what they
are Pt this time.
The fortheoming estimates for the war
department will be based upon tho re
quirements of an army the sizo of which
already .has been fixed by the republican
congress, but the naval estimates to be
submittod next month will be based on
the democratic program. Secretary Dstn
iols had repeatedly said that unless the
United States became a member of the
league of nations it must maintain the
moft powerful navy in the world.
Under the program authorized in 10 16,
the government now is constructing five
great battle cruisers and more than that
number of snpordrendnaughtR and the
forthcoming naval estimate is expected
not only to include appropriations for
ear.y'i-g o'i tli's work, but also re cim-
j ' " inons mr nuaitions war erart.
! Estimates for all of the government
j dei-irtmcnts are expected to exceed four
I billions of dollars, this total including
i amounts for refunding portions of the
MinKr debt falling due during the next
The estimates for the pres
ent fiscal year exceeded six billion dol
lars, but these subsequently were re
duced by something like two billion dol
lars. Whether all of the annual supply
leisures will be completed at the next
Mid filial session of the 06th c'igrss
"Vilnius to be determined. President
Harding is expectiil to call a special ses
sion of the new congress soon after In
takes office on March 4 and it may In-
that some of the anoroiiriatiou bills will
g3 over to the special session.
SAYS PALMER GUT HEART
OUT OF CASE AGAINST
GOAL OPERATORS
IM1ANA10LIS. Ind., Nov. S. In
structions said to have been given Dan
W. Sims, assistant United States district
attorney, by A. Mitchell Palmer, Usited
States attorney general, regarding the
elimination of certain evidence to be
osed in the soft coal conspiracy case will
be investigated when the case is called
for trial today ;n the court of Judge" A.
IV Anderson.
Because of the recent resignation of
Mr. Si:nms, due, he said, to the instruc
tions from tho attorney general, and the
inability to bring into the jurisdiction
of the Indiana court some of the defend
ants living in Illinois and Ohio, it is ex
pected the government will ask for a
continuance this morning. ,
Judge Anderson indicated, however,
that he expects to hold an investigation
in open court to determine by what au
thority the attorney general issued in
structions concerning evidence which Mr.
Simmg said would "literally cut the
heatr out of the case ".if eliminated.
Frank C. Daley, one of the atotrneys
representing the soft coal operators un
dar indictment an,d Mr. Simms have been
subpoenaed to appear today. It is ex
pert?! thfj v.!I be called on to testify
eonee-niug tV attorney general's con
nection with the case.
Tiie esse, which is against 125 miners
sod operators charged with conspiracy to
violate the Icver act. is an outgrowth of
the strike in the bituminous coal fields
List November.
Special Sermons. '
Iu a large number of -pulpits in Gas
ton ' ' eonnty yesterday the ministers
preached special sermons against im
morality and defiance of the law. This
simultaneous action was in compliance
with a resolution passed at a mass meet
ingof the ministers of the eonnty called
on October. 11.; Some of the subjects aa
aouneed by various minsters were "On
the Wrong Train, Though Your Bins
Ba. as Searlot," and "Asleep at the
Switch." .r, -". - . i
GRUESOME
GAST0IA-BESSE1ER
MINISTER MAY BE TRIED
FOR ALLEGED MURDER
WINDSOR, Ont., Nov. 8. Wheth
er Rev. J, C. L. Spracklin, minister
and prohibition enforcement leader,
must stand trial for the slaying of
Beverly Trumble, following a raid on
the latter's inn Saturday morning,
may be known tonight. The inquest
into Trumble's death was to be con
tinued here this evening. Adjourn
ment was taken to permit officers to
search for a man named "Ed Smith,"
who is said to have seen the shoot
ing and who is expected to testify
whether Trumble was armed when he
was killed.
Rev. Spracklin was in Chatham,
Ont., today. He was spirited from
the jail here early yesterday morn
imr. when officers heard rumors that
m attempt at violence was being
planned by certain friends of Trum
ble.
Feeling ran high fn the border
towns over Sunday.
HARDING PLANS TO
GET OFF FRONT PA6E
ON BOARD PRESIDENT-ELECT
HADING 'S SPECIAL TRAIN. Nov. S
Coming to Texas for a vacation after
the trying requirements of his campaign.
President elect Harding declared today
that he was determined to put aside
thoughts of his coming responsibilities
and to give himself over for the next
two weeks to complete rest and recrea
tion .
He told his friends that he expected to
stay off the front page and to cease tem
porarily to be more than a sevond rater
in the daily columns of tho newspapers.
From the time of his arrival at Point
Isabel a small and remote village on the
southern Texas coast he was ready to
plunge unrr-servedly .into the swing of a
real vacation. Hunting, fishing and golf
arc the particular vacation offerings of
the place, but of the three he expected to
omit hunting because it never has been
among his favori'e sports A morning's
fishing expedition and an afternoon on
the golf links were to constitute his rou
tine during virtually every day of his
visit .
The fact that Point Isaln-1 lies onlv
six miles from the Mexican border, has
given rise to many whisperings of possi
Me conferences letweeji the new president-elect
and representatives of the new
regime in Mexico, but those closest to
Mr. Harding wore inclined to throw cold
water on such of these reports as have
come to their attention. Mr. Harding
himself suid today that no such confer
ence were "in prospect," and that be
had heard them expressed only in news
paper .speculation .
The same attitude was taken by the
president-elect toward published sugges
tions that he might begin, before his in
auguration informal conversations with
European governments regarding the
formulation of an association of nations.
Not only does he want his vacation un
disturbed, but he has said in public ut
terances that he desired to have no nego
tiations with foreign agents until he ac
tually had come into authority.
The delicacy of Mr. Harding's posi
tion in that regard has been pointed out
more than once by those closely associated
with him. Elected to the presidency
by an overwhelmingly majority after
promising many changes in the nation's
foreign policy, he naturally is looked to
by foreign governments to take the prop
er steps to put those changes into ef
fect. Yet, by a proviso of American
law, unique among the greater powers
of the world, he remains a private citi
zen for four months, forbidden by diplo
matic propriety to take any hand in the
direction of executive affairs.
At a time when important international
problems are pending not only with the
powers of the old world, but with Mexi
co, Japan, China, and other nations, this
situation takes on additional interest. It
is understood that several men represent
ing themselves, either truly or falsely, as
the spokesmen of foreign statesmen, at
tempted to gain interviews with Mr.
Harding at Marion even before his elec
tion, but all of them were turned away
by his headquarters officials.
JOSEPH HULL DEAD.
8AVANNAH, Ga, Not. 8.Joseph
Hull, Savannah business -man and on
of the wealthiest men in the state of
Georgia, died today at his country home
near here. Bora July 26, 1843, ia Flor
id, Hull, when a young maa, engaged
la phosphate mining, from Which he made
a fortune. His Interests In this city wcrs
very extensive. . . ..
TRAGEDY ENACTED OK
LINCOLNTON IN SHOT AND
KILLED-TWO YOUNG WOMEN?
ARE CRIMINALLY ASSAULTED
Party Waylaid by Negro Highwaymen - Miss Es
' sie Beatty in Critical Condition in City Hos- ;
pital - Ransom Killian Forced to Lie Down
Beside Companion in Death Struggles 'While
Negroes Accomplished Their Fiendish Pur
pose Two Suspects Held at Blacksburg For
Identification - Lincolnton Citizens Here hi
Force.
John Ford, a young white man of Lin
colnton, is dead and Miss Essie Beatty,
of the Trefttan mtith tmtmu of Gastouia,
lies in the Ci- H'Mal perhaps fatally
wounded, as the result of a Sunday night
tragedy on the Bessemer City-Gastonia
road, when two unknown negroes held up
and robbed the two young men, John
Ford and Ransom Gilliam, who were out
riding with the Grice and Beatty girls.
According to the story told Sunday
night at 10 o'clock when the body of
young Ford was brought to the city hall,
the party were on their way to church
and were turning around to come back
when they were held up. The account
as given in Tho Charlotte Observer of
this morning states hat young Ford was
shot while in the car. Tho story as
told by the Grice girl and the Killian
boy this morning varies somewhat from
that given out last night .
Ransom Killian when seen this morning
by a representative of The Daily Ga
zette was considerably excited and plain
ly showed the effects of the harrowing
experiences of the night before Kil
lian tells this story :
"John Ford and I had supper at the
Carolina Cafe about 7 o'clock. After
supper ve drove out Franklin uvt-mie ami
near Trenton street picked up Kfliie
(iricr- anil Essie Heatty and continued on
up Franklin avenue toward Ht-ssemer
City. Near the forks of the road beyond
the car line we stopped at a little store
and got some candy ;inl chewing gum.
We then went on toward Ressemer City
until a short distance above the Shannon
place, where we turned to the left 1o
ward a little patch of woods. We slopped
the car here and John Ford and Efhe
Grice got out of the car, taking a
blanket with them. I stayed in the car
with Essie Beatty, talking to her. In
about 10 or 15 minutes I heard someTme
walking towards the car fro mthe woods.
Thinking it was Johnh Ford, I said to
him 'What's wrong, JohnT' An answer
came back to me not to move Hnd to
hold up my hands, and a shot was fired
from a pistol . A negro man came on up
to the car and asked me if I had any
money. I told him that I had a few
dollars and he made me give it to him.
In the meantime, the girl was down on
her knees in the front of the car beg
ging for mercy. The negro shot a sec
ond and third time and the girl was
hit. Finally he made us get out of the
car. We had beard other shots coming
from the direction of the woods where
Ford and Effie were. We met this
other negro who told us that he 'had
shot the other down
yonder.' "
At this juncture Killian was inter
rupted in his story by the officers. Sheriff
Carroll, Chief Orr and others, who took
the young man with them to Blacks
burg where it was reported they had
two negroes arrested and held as sus
picious characters. This theory was fur
ther strengthened by the reports on the
streets this morning that s local jitney
driver had engaged to eonvey two negro
men to Blacksburg last night, that he
overheard them laying plots to rob some
one and that he at the point of a pistol
forced them to get out of the car at
almost the sjot where the tragedy oc
curred. At a late hour this morning the
officers had not returned from Blacks
burg. In the meantime the young Grice girl
was seen by The Gazette reporter and she
tells that she and Ford were sitting on
the blanket by the side of the road when
a strange negro came up to them and de
manded money, and that without further
words began shooting. Young Ford fell
to the ground.. All this is alleged to have
happened about 7:30 o'clock. The af
fair was not known nntO about 9:30 or
10 'clock when young KiQiaa and the
Grice girl brought the body to the dry.
It was reported around the city this morn
CITY ROAD
ing that tho negroes forced' young alii- ,
ban to lie down. beside the Ford boj ia
his death struggles on the ground aatf
that the two girls were mistreated for tu ' -hours
or mora.
Other reports current on the street ''
were that the shooting was done by1 some
of tho inhabitants of that section which. -has
become notorious on account of the
alleged practices that take place there. ,,
It is currently reported that more tlaa
oso. mysterious shooting and hold-up has
taken place on this road" and that the ;
instigators were eitisens - of that, eesv
nrunity who. have grown tired, rOf-.v.th
nightly auto rides that end upi
moral revels in the woods nearby. , .'
Mr . and Mrs . Grice when sees this
morning said that to all appearance
young Ford was a gentleman, that he
had liecn in the habit of visiting their
daughter quite often. They are of the
opinion that there is more to the story
than has yet been divulged, and that the
truth, when told, will reveal still more
startling details.
Young Ford and Killian are both prom
inently connected in Lincolnton. At an
early hour this morning numbers of Lin
coltitou citizens were in town ia as y
angry mood. They assisted local posses
of officers in scouring the woods. A
unrulier of them went to Blacksburg with
.Sheriff Carrol and Chief Orr.
The account given in The Observer i
as follows:
Two unrecognized negro men held up
an automobile party of two yoUng mes
of Lincolnton and two young girls of
(iastonia, killed one of tho men, John
Ford, and criminally assaulted the two
yung women,' last night about 7:30
o'clock about three miles from Gastonia,
on the Gaston ia-Resseuier City highway,
according to information received is
Charlotte by long distance telephone from
the City hospital in Gastonia, where the
girls were taken for treatment., One ef
the two girls was shot in the back. The
two negroes made their escape..
Local police and county officers were
notified aud a party composed of Chief of
Police Orr, Patrolman Gardner, Detec
tive Moser and Deputy 8heriff Ferper
man left Charlotte soon after the tragedy
taking along the bloodhounds to assist ia '
the search for the alleged criminals. - '
Immediately following their deed the
negroes are thought to have caught a -passing
freight train going south. One
of the young girls reported that aae ef
the negroes said "Let's eateh this traia
and get away." A large posse ef i
furiated citizens were scouring the wneus
last night in aa effort to apprehend the
negroes. Reports coming front- Gas
tonia say that feeling is at fever heat
and if the negroes are caught violence is
expected .
John Ford and Ransom Killiaa of
Lincolnton, were the young men la the
ear. Ford was killed when he attempted
to rise from his seat following the com
mands of the negroes that the young
ladies get out of the ear, according te
the report received here. It was report
ed that the' young man was shot down
with the declaration from the negroes -that
he was nothing, for they had killed
white men before.
At the point of revolvers, it is said,
the girls were dragged from' the ear
and carried some distance into the woods',
where the negroes accomplished their -purpose,
according to the incoherent '
statements ef the prostrated girls gives
to medical attendants. One of the girl,
was shot when she attempted to effar
resistance to the negroes. Her eondities
is reported serious. Coupled with the
gunshot wound she is suffering from the
errons strain ef her harrowing ex
perience. Mise Grice is also la a des
perate nervous eonditioa resultliij frca
the shock ef the dreadful experience.
The hold-ap eecurred at a poiat sV-oui
- (Ceotinned on peje 8?