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■Page Two
THE mOf-Eoutliern Pines, North Carolina
Friday, July 18, 1952
THE PILOT
Published Each Friday by
THE PILOT. INCORPORATED
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1941—JAMES BOYD. Publisher—1944
KATHARINE BOYD Editor
VALERIE NICHOLSON Asst Editor
DAN S. RAY General Manager
C. G. COUNCIL Advertising
Subscription Rates:
One Year $4.00 6 Months $2.00 3 Months $1.00
Entered at the Postoffice at Southern Pines. N. C„
as second class mail matter
Member National Editorial Association and
N. C. Press Association
“In taKing over The Pilot no changes are con'
template! ^e will try to keep this a good paper.
We will try to make a little money for all con
cerned. Where there seems to be an occasion to
use our influence for thei public good we will try
to do it. And we will treat everybody alike.”
—James Boyd, May 23, 1941.
TV Brings Political Drama Home
The magic of television brought the hu
man side of politics into American homes
for the first time during the Republican
National convention, and will do the same
next week for the Democrats.
Millions of viewers hung over their sets
to watch the “Big Show” and many of
them, we have no doubt, saw more than
numbers who were actually present. The
roving eye of TV could pick out significant
scenes, provide close-ups at revealing mo
ments and focus at will on big-shot and
little-shot alike.
For those without access to TV, radio
performed also a yeoman service, and pro
vided almost as much illumination and
drama.
The net effect, we feel, was a wonderful
ly good one, and the continuation of such
intimate views of political affairs will be
immensely beneficial for voter and candi
date alike.
The interest in politics thus generated
should lead to greater understanding,
greater participation and more widespread
democracy through increased use of the
ballot.
It should also show plainly, as was re
vealed to a considerable extent last week,
that “politics begins at home”—that it is on
the precinct and district level that a party
and its policies have their source and be-
ing.
Never before was it so clearly spotlight
ed before so many how precinct meetings
can affect the end result, and never before
was the voice of the delegate—Mr. Jones,
Mrs. Smith and Mr. Romani—heard so
plain in the land.
Court Needs Musi Be Met
The study now under way as to whether
Southern Pines could, or should, set up its
own recorders court poses a question of im
mediate importance to the county as a
whole.
Should the county commissioners set up
the Moore court on a basis adequate to take
care of the load, or must individual com
munities—this one, at any rate, as the larg
est in the county—be forced into setting up
their own?
The time is long past due for expanding
the Moore court’s term to more than one
day a week. The court has not been ex
panded since its establishment in 1928,
while the load has more than doubled, or
perhaps tripled, in 22 years.
Everyone is familiar with instances in
which defendant, witnesses and officers
have had to return to Carthage Monday af
ter Monday, with the court still not able to
reach their case. There they sit all day, at
their cost and inconvenience, only to en
dure further continuation. This amounts
to injustice, if not downright persecution,
of the innocent along with the guilty. It
wastes the time of our officers when they
should be on duty, or, in the case of night
officers, getting needed rest. And the ease
of continuing cases opens the way to fur
ther evils.
It is to the credit of our judge and solici
tor that, in the face of such circumstances,
they have been able to maintain the repu
tation of the Moore court as a good one.
This is a reputation to be jealously guard
ed, which can hardly be done if the admin
istration of justice becomes hopelessly re
tarded.
One evidence of the current injustice is
in the large number of cases of traffic vio
lators from other states and counties, most
of them arrested on US Highway 1 while
passing through Moore. They post a cash
bond of $50 to $75, then forfeit the bond
rather than come back for the one-day
court, with no guarantee their case will be
heard event then. This is piling on costs
and penalty with a vengeance, and it is this
evil, as mu6h as any other, the holding of a
local court would be designed to correct.
If the court is expanded to ttvb or more
days a week, court officials must be pmd
niore in proportion, but they are earning it
anyway, with long hours and extra work,
and in any case a good court pays for it
self. Moore recorders court is not only
paying for itself but all expenses of the
superior, court also, with a goodly amount
left over for the general county fund.
Which brings up another question: Should
the. court do more than actually pay for it
self, and if there is much of a surplus,
should not the commissioners ask them
selves if they are giving value received?
While the matter is being studied, we be
lieve consideration should be given to rais
ing the level of the Moore court from that
of a recorders to a county court. This has
been done in many counties of the State.
■The county court has a broader juysdic-
tion, covering civil cases as well as criminal
up to a point, lightening the superior court
load and speeding up the notoriously slug
gish processes of laiw in this regard.
Times move on, and there is no way in
which it is more important to keep abreast
of them than in the conduct of the courts—
no way in which greater evils can arise
than in their neglect. The court personnel
may be the ablest and most efficient
known, yet if work is such that it cannot
be handled in one day, then more than one
day should be provided in which to handle
it.
Our Jail—Good News, And Bad ■
It‘ is good news, and also bad, that the
Southern Pines jail is no longer to be used.
All persons arrested here are being taken
to the county jail at Carthage, whether for
a few hours or a period of days, m the
interests of safety.
The local “pokey”—and it rates no bet
ter name-r-has been condemned by the
Mayor, the Chief of Police and public opin
ion, with the last-named leading the way,
as is proper.
It is good news, for we have all along
known that our poor little old jail was a
shame and a disgrace to the community. It
is bad news, because it means we have got
to do something about it, and that right
soon. Though our percentage of lawbreak
ers be small, a town can’t go very long with
out a suitable jail. .
Entirely aside from its inadequacies and
discomforts as a building, our jail was left
far behind by modern thinking and prac
tice. No one holds any brief today for the
isolated lockup far from police headquar
ters and fulltime supervision. Suffocating
fires, suicide attempts, sudden illness, van
dalism, sometimes resulting in londy,
cruel death, have made headlines in North
Carolina several times in recent years.
They have pointed up the need for com
bining the jail with police headquarters,
with an attendant on constant duty.
The State Department of Public Welfare
has a bill all ready for introduction at the
next General Assembly to make this a
law. Though twice defeated by adherents
of a false economy, it is very apt to go
through in 1953. Whether it goes on the
statute books or not, the laws of humanity
and common sense dictate it.
GOP "Re-Born" For Fourth Time
Whether or not the Republican “Old
Guard” has been sat so far back on its heels
it will never come back is a matter for in
terested speculation by Republicans and
Democrats alike. .
Certainly it appeared so, as the whole
nation sat in, via radio and TV, on the
spectacle of Taft, MacArthur, et als being
washed down the drain by the upsurgent
and exuberant Eisenhower faction. Speech
es on party principle and regularity by the
conservatives were nullified as soon as
spoken by opposition speeches, or rather
shouts, that “We want to win in Novem
ber!”
What happened at Chicago, tlimaxed by
the landslide for Eisenhower and Nixon,
has been hailed as a “re-birth of the Re
publican party” and indeed this may be so.
If true, it is an event long overdue.
What should not be forgotten is that the
party has been “re-born” no less than three
times before, in 1940, 1944 and 1948. The
conservatives in those convention years got
smacked down just as hard by the same
sorts of resounding shouts, and two out of
three times it was “the Taft machine”,
which was taken apart, just as this time.
If the shouts resounded lots louder in
1952, that may have been because this was
the most extensively aired and viewed con
vention in history so far—in fact, the first
one on tekvision; and there were some im-
■ mediate issues of intensely dramatic ap
peal, those of the contested delegates, to
point up the progressive victory and keep
the whole nation in suspense.
It made a wonderful show.
However, despite a few new puppet-
faces out in front, there were revealing
glimpses of the same old wire-pullers be
hind the scenes, and the plot itself wasn’t
very new.
No. 13 — Do You Know Your Old Southern Pines?
Picket fence — cupola — wide inviting front
porch—here is a typical Southern Pines home of
a half century ago, another in The Pilot’s series
of old cuts for which it is asking identifications.
Who recognizes this pleasant home? Who built
it, who lived there and is it still standing today?
We hope one of our faithful “Old Timers” can
tell us.
Scott For Senator?
Despite his expressed intention to re
turn to Haw River and give his time to his
farm when his term expires. Governor
Scott has been considered a hot prospect
as an opponent for Willis Smith when the
Senator comes up for reelection. In Golds
boro recently the Governor indicated it’s
quite possible he may make the race.
Senator Smith scarcely has been a rag
ing success as a representative of the peo
ple of North Carolina in the Senate, and
he had the experience of hearing himself
booed when he appeared before the State
Democratic Convention last month, an un
usual experience for a Senator. Scott would
be a strong candidate in his own right, but
in addition he’d be able to capitalize on
Smith’s unpopularity with many thousands
of North Carolinians, an unpopularity
which grew out of the bitter Senatorial
campaign of 1950 and which Smith’s per
formance as a Senator has not materially
reduced.
Those who would regret to see Scott be
come a member of the Senate ought to be
looking out for a candidate, and if they
can find a strong one they ought to be
thinking about persuading Mr. Smith, if
he needs persuading, to retire of his own
volition when his term as a Senator ex
pires. —DURHAM HERALD
So many people were kind
enough to teU us they enjoyed our
story on the N. C. Writers Confer
ence at Edenton last week, and we
have so many nice memories left
over just crying to be used, we
thought we’d make them up into
a column this week.
So, if you aren’t interested in
writers—North Carolina writers—
pass on, gentle reader. But if you
are,'gather round!
Most writers we know sort of
fumble and grope their way along,
feeling out this, that and the other
thing before they know just
where they’re going—but not
James Street, one of the most
positive personalities we’ve ever
known. He’s a package of dyna
mite, who has exploded—and
keeps exploding—into authorship.
Plot holds no difficulties for
Jimmy, who admitted? “I’m a plot-
tin’ fool. Before I start a story I
know just exactly how it will end.
What’s more, I know what para
graph three on page 17 is going
to say. It’s complete, line for line,
in my mind.
“I’ve got enough plots to last 10
ordinary lifetimes. Want one?
“The main trouble I have is
wi^h romance. Oh, I’m roniantip
enough, but it’s hard to write,
that’s all. My principal charac
ters cause me trouble, too—never
the minor ones. And somehow the
minor ones always come out the
best!
“Do I have fun writing? Heck,
no, it’s no fun. It’s work!”
Frances Grey Patton, smooth
haired like a madonna, demurred
gently—but conceded, “It isn’t
ever so much fun once you start
making money at it. That
shouldn’t intrude—^but it does.”
On agents—the Writers present
agreed that to sell, you must have
'one, also that “the good ones
don’t advertise.” A novice want
ed to know, “But how do you find
one?” “Well—when you start sell
ing, they seek you out.” An old
impasse—no one’s ever found the
answer!
David Stick, former fiction edi
tor for American Legion maga
zine, gave an editor’s-eye-view of
agents’ services: “We would court
the agents, not wait for them to
court us—take them to lunch and
all, that, and let them know our
needs. We knew they’d see we
got what we wanted.
“Many unsolicited manuscripts
came in, of course, as they do to
all magazines—and all were read,
you can be sure of that. Maybe
some weren’t read all the way
through—often the first page or
two will tell you all you want to
know.
“In a year, out of about 6,000
unsolicited scripts, we were able
to cull two we could use.”
David, a strikingly handsome
young man, dark of mien and fine
of brow, and his pretty young
wife have chosen an appealing
way of life. A few years ago they
cut all ties with the world of
streets and cities, and moved to
Kitty Hav^k, bn the North Caro
lina coast. There, says David,
“during the summers we run a
handicraft shop, sell our own han
dicrafts, sell real estate and do
anything else we can to make a
living.
“The other six months of the
year, I write.”
And, he revealed, he writes just
what he wants, without regard to
whether it will sell or not. _ His
first two books, lone of them a
small tome on Dare county, he
published at his own expense. His
third came out just last month—
“Graveyards of the Atlantic,” a
publication of the University of
North Carolina Press.
David is being hailed as "a
strong new voice in North Caro
lina literature,” and we believe
it; also that his voice will be heard
again and again, saying things of
importance.
The Sticks came to the Confer
ence in a high-riding red jeep,
which caused the Burke Davises
to become childless parents, as
their young son and daughter im
mediately abandoned them to ride
with the Sticks.
Bernice Kelly Harris of Sea
board, author of “Purslane” and
“Portulaca,” suffers from that uni
versal complaint of writing folk—
she has a hard time finding time
to write. “There always seem to
be so many community service
calls,” said this gentle grey-haired
little lady, with serene girlish
face, “and of course I was a part
of the community before I ever
became a ‘bookwriter.’ I’m learn
ing to say ‘no’ but sometimes I
just can’t. You see—it’s my
friends who ask.” She revealed
that, before she ever sold a book,
she always wrote the obituaries
for the paper, and she still does—
“they expect that. When I go
back home now, I have to write
up a garden party. I went to it,
so of course I must write it upT
“Maybe I should just tell them
I can’t—but you know, I like to!”
“It’s other writers who inter
rupt me more than anybody else,”
put in Jimmy Street, with a kind
ly glare about the room “I can
handle the others, but it’s my ‘lit
erary’ friends who always walk in
with such wonderful ideas about
things for me to do—if I did ’em
all I’d never get time to write a
word, You’d think they’d under
stand but no—they’re always
‘special’.”
And it was Jimmy 'who spoke
up again, with a pungent commen
tary following a discussion on the
problems of the Southern writer,
who finds himself classified as
‘regional’’ no matter what, he & Fullenwider,
ginia’s colonial days.
After the storm which blew up
the last night of the Conference,
breaking the heat-wave which had
caused us all to suffer, it was
found that the power was off—
not only in Edenton, but for sev
eral counties around. Or so the
manager of ,the Joseph Hewes
hotel told us, as he provided each
with a candle fastened by its own
wax to a cardboard holder.
This was after we had returned
from Bandon Plantation, after a
wonderful swim, supper on the
lawn and talk session—^by candle
light. Edenton’s streets were
midnight-black. The hotel was a
cave of shadows.
And of course—the elevator
wasn’t running.
My last memory of that story
book night is of two dignified la
dies, Margarette Wood Smethurst
and Charlotte Hilton Green, tak
ing their flickering candles in
hand and starting the long climb
to their fourth-floor room. “Good
night—and pleasant dreams!”
Old Picture No. 12
Three ladies identified last
week’s picture, “The House of a
Hundred Pines”—and all three
said something different.
Mrs. Claude Hayes thinks it
was the old home of Mf. and Mrs.
George Monroe, parents of the late
Mrs. C. H. Collester,. on the
southeast corner of May and
Massachusetts. It stands there to
day, she said, considerably remod
eled.
Mrs. W. F. Morris is quite sure
the house is the old Southworth
home, later torn down to provide
a site for the present one on Or
chard road, beyond Ridge street.
It was known as “The House of a
Hundred Pines,” but—
So was Captain Berry’s home,
remembers Miss Ella Huntington,
and it looked like the one in the
picture, too, little balcony and all.
The house stood on the Boyd
place near where the entrance is
now, and was torn down after
Captain Berry’s death. ’The ladies
on the front steps she thinks are
Mrs. Berry and a relative who
lived with them.
Paging Charlie Macauley — or
anyone else who can help us out!
MOORE COUNTY.
NORTH CAROLINA
NOTICE
The undersigned, having quali
fied as Executor of the Estate of
Mabel A. Goldsmith, deceased,
late of Moore County, North Caro
lina, this |is to notify all persons
having claims against said estate
to present them to the undersign
ed on or before the 20th day of
June, 1953, or this notice will be
pleaded in bar of their recovery.
All persons indebted to said estate
will please make immediate pay
ment to the undersigned.
■ This the 11th day of June, 1952.
JOHN MOORE GOLDSMITH,
, Executor of the Estate of
Mabel A. Goldsmith.
writes. “How can the writer from
the South be accepted as just any
writer, from anywhere—his work
judged without reference to his
place of origin? the writers want
ed to know. “The editor says, ‘Oh,
yes, the Southern school,’ and
right away you’re tagged.” After
some disgruntled talk in this vein,
Jimmy cocked his head on one
side and remarked, “And if you
throw that away—maybe you’re
pitching out one of your best as
sets.”
His new book, “The Velvet
Doublet,” will be published by
Doubleday next spring.
“I’m not bothered about being
‘regional,’ ” revealed Elizabeth
Hoatwright Coker of Blowing
Rock, who is completing her third
novel. “I’m afraid my books aren’t
what you would call ‘significant’!
They’re written for entertain
ment—and I believe,” she said
firmly, “there’s a place for that
sort of book, too.” There was a
rousing chorus of agreement;
Bpauty honors were probably
divided between the auburn-hair
ed Mrs. Coker and Mebane Holo-
man Burgwyn of Jackson, author
of juveniles—her new book “Pen
ny Rose,” for teen-agers, will be
published in October. Mrs. Bur
gwyn, looking like a teen-ager
herself with her schoolgirl oval
of a face, and sweet candid smile,
deplored the lack of training in
the schools in fundamentals of the
English language. Writers of chil
dren’s books, she revealed, feel
the responsibility of giving the
youngsters something valuable in
this line.
Charming, hospitable and ear
nest Inglis Fletcher, author of
novels of North Carolina’s begin
nings, has in her Albemarle seines
ineffably enriched both the litera
ture and history df the. State, was
the consensus. It bothered her
that she couldn’t plot like Jimmy
Street, but, said he in tribute, “I
couldn’t begin to do what you
have done. You have given us a
regional history such as has never
been done before.”
Nor could we think of anything
comparable to Inglis’ great
achievement, unless it is the nov
els of Mary Johnston laid in Vir-
Attorneys
jl3jull8inc
Mrs. Kurtz Dies
16 Days After
Passing Of Son
Requiem mass for Mrs. Adam
C. Kurtz of Pinebluff, 75, was
sung Tuesday morning at St. An
thony’s Catholic churcb, conduct
ed by Father Donald Fearon, Bur
ial followed in the family plot in
Pinebluff cemetery, where Mrs.
Kurtz’s only son. Jack, had been
buried just 16 days earlier.
The mother died Sunday at her
home, after a lingering illness,
without knowing that, her son had
preceded her in death.
Jfallbearers for her funeral were
Frank Kaylor, of Southern Pines;
Glen Rounds, N. L. VanBoskerck,
Bud Henderson, Cadwallader
Benedict and Lewis Marts of
Pinebluff.
On Friday, June 27, Jack Kurtz,
51, suffered a fatal heart attack
just after visiting a neighbor’s
home to telephone for a doctor
for his critically ill mother. On
account of Mrs. Kurtz’s condition,
ttie knowledge was withheld from
her.
She was the former Miss Helen
Flaughter, daughter of Shannon
and Julia Flaugher of Port Clin
ton, Ohio, where she wa§ bom
November 1, 1876. With her hus
band, a merchant of Port Clinton,
she came to the Sandhills for the
winters several times during the
past 40 years, first living at
Southern Pines, where they own
ed a home, then Pinebluff. About
a year ago, on Mr. Kurtz’ retire
ment, they became year-round
residents of Pinebluff, where they
purchased the Manly Wade Well
man home.
Surviving are her husband and
two daughters, Mrs. William Laus-
ten of Pinebluff and Mrs. Russell
Fishack of Toledo, Ohio.
FREE
HOME DELIVERY SERVICE
(within city limits)
—on—
BEER AND WINE
From 7:30 a. m. till 11:30 p. m.
One Bottle to Two Cases
Phone 2-6572
NORTH SIDE SERVICE STATION
Southern Pines, N. C.
Cars Picked Up. Serviced and Delivered
L. V. O’CALLAGHAN
PLUMBING & HEATING SHEET METAL WORK
Telephone 5341
I^MATTRESS RENOVATING
New Innerspring mattress and box springs
made to order. Cotton and felt mattresses
converted to Innersprings. All work
sterilized and guaranteed. One day
service.
PLASTIC and LEATHERETTE
UPHOLSTERING
LEE MATTRESS and
SPRING COMPANY
Southern Pines, N. C.
Phone 2-4822
Main Plant—Laurinburg. N. C. TeL 1089