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VOL; 3a—NO. 35
SIXTEEN PAGES
SOUTHERN PINES, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1959
SIXTEEN PAGES
PRICE; 10 CENTS
Berserk Policenian Killed In Hospital
After Holding Woman As Hostage
Ralph E. Medlin, 26-year-old
policeman who had served ex
actly seven weeks on the local
force, was killed in a corridor of
Moore Memorial Hospital Mon
day night after he had gone ber
serk and tried, in the short space
of 55 minutes, to kill at least a
half dozen people.
The shot that felled Medlin
was fired by Pinehurst police
officer Rudolph Frye as they stood
outside the room of Mrs. Dorothy
Clippard of Southern Pines, one
of those whom Medlin had fired
at in his wild and rampaging
romp that still has his fellow of
ficers baffled.
An official inquest that had
been called by Coroner Ralph
Steed for tonight (Thursday) has
been postponed until next week.
Steed said, to allow him time to
secure more information.
Medlin, described after the
shooting by Chief C. E. Newton
as “a man who appesired to me
to be an excellent officer,” was
in an automobile accident in
Philadelphia several months ago.
his brothers told local officers
Tuesday, and had sustained a
head injury. That, plus what sev
eral of his acquaintances have
said was “an insane jealousy of
Mrs. Clippeird,” were thought to
be the reasons he went on his
wild spree Monday night.
Before it was over he had fired
at least eight shots at people, sev
eral of whom he had never seen
before. At one point he tried to
kill his roommate who was at
tempting to restrain him, and
fired wildly at Mrs. Clippard in
her room as officers grimly closed
in to take him dead or alive.
Movements Traced
Chief Newton traced Medlin’s
movements from the time he
(Medlin) was relieved from his
11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift Sunday
night to the moment he was kill
ed.
He was at Joe’s Grill from 7
a.m. to 9 a.m., and then apparent
ly went to his rooms in, an up
stairs apartment at Mrsl Clip-
pard’s home on N. Ashe Street.
He .roomed there with Wesley
Thompson, another member of
the police force.
Shortly before 8 o’clock Mon
day night Medlin was at a tavern
on N. May Street operated by
Robert Yonts, a former member
of the force. He had a beer, Yonts
recalled to Chief Newton, then
asked if he could borrow Yont’s
car. He wanted it, he said, so that
he could go to Moore Memorial
Hospital to visit Mrs. Clippard,
who had been there about 10
days at the time with a back ail
ment.
Yonts loaned him the car, a
1959 Ford, and Medlin then went
to Earl Walker’s house just off
Highway 22 in the Knollwood
area. Walker, aji employee of
CP&L, and Medlin had grown up
in Apex.
Threatens Friend
When Medlin arrived at the
Walker home he called Walker
outside and told hirn he was in
trouble. “I’ve stolen a car,” he
told Walker. He also said that if
anyone in Walker’s house called
police “he would kill Walker.”
Inside Walker’s Jiouse were Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Wilson, friends
of theirs. Wilson recently joined
the police department and, like
Walker and Medlin, grew up in
Apex.
As Walker related the story to
The Pilot, Medlin told him that
he (Medlin) wanted to go to Ra
leigh “to kill his wife” and want
ed Walker to go with him.' (Med
lin lived in Raleigh before com
ing here and had been divorced
from his wife, who has since re
married.) Medlin, known by Chief
Ne'wtqn to have had family dif
ficulties, told Walker “he had
to get her.”
Walker declined and tried to
talk Medlin out of either going
to Raleigh or doing anything else.
He urged him to go into the
house and cahn down.
Medlin went into the house
a few minutes, talked with the
two couples and reiterated his
threat to kill Walker if anyone
called the police.
The two went back outside
and got in the car and contin
ued talking for a few minutes'.
Then Medlin saw Mrs. Walker
and Mrs. Wilson going towards
(Continued on page 8)
BULLET HOLE in the windshield of a pick
up truck that Ralph Medlin tried to comman
deer on his mad dash to Moore Memorial Hos
pital is pointed opt by Leavern Maness, owner
of the truck and the peirson Medlin was firing
at. At bottom 16ft is the grill across from the
station wl}ere Mrs. Maness was first approached
by Medlin looking for a car, and at bottom right
is the car he was driving, showing the dent on
the side made when he sideswiped a tree on
Midland Road. Medlin drove the car to the hos
pital with a flat tire, leaving a trail of chewed
rubber scattered aU along Midland Road. The
car had bet-i borrowed less than an hour before.
Carthage Youth Is
County’s Seventh
Road Death Of ’59
Killed When Car
Overturned Near
Carthage Friday
David Wilton Powers, 16, of
Carthage, was killed Friday night
at about 11:10 when the 1957
Pontiac in which he was riding
left the highway two-and-a-half
miles east of Carthage.
He was Moore County’s sev
enth highway fatality for 1959.
A second passenger in the car,
James Michael, 18, also of Car
thage, was taken to Moore Mem
orial Hospital suffering severe
lacerations, head injuries and
possible internal injuries.
The car was reported a total
loss after it left the Union Church
Road. It went out of control, hit
the right side of the road and
left the shoulder to tumble down
a slight embankment and over
turn at the bottom according to
State Highway Patrolman H. A.
Hight, investigating officer.
’The car was found some 20
feet from the highway on the
curve. Patrolman Hight said,
adding that the curve was not
considered too hazardous.
Funeral rites for Powers were
held Simday afternoon at the
Cool Springs Methodist Church
near Glendon with Rev. Jeffer
son Davis, pastor of the church
conducting. Burial took place in
the ohurch cemetery.
Powers is survived by his par
ents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Wilton
Powers; two brothers, Howard
Reginald and Wayne, both of the
home; and his paternal grand,
mother, Mrs. J. A. Powers of
Route 1, Carthjage.
FEW DETAILS KNOWN
Mt. Pleasant Man New
School Superintendent
LUTHER A. ADAMS
' ' ' Hi. * '
r
JAMES E, WALSER
To Nurse Youngblood: A Bouquet ^nd Constable Accidentally
RALPH E. MEDLIN
1
Hospital Officials
Commend Staff’s
‘Splendid Conduct’
Members of the staffs of every
newspaper in Moore County plus
personnel of 'radio station WEEB
were invited to Moore Memorial
Hospital Tuesday afternoon to
hear a detailed account of the
events of the night before when
Ralph Medlin, Southern Pines po
liceman, went berserk and terror
ized the pediatrics wing for about
10 minutes.
John Taylor, chairman of the
Board of Directors, Thomas
Howerton, the hospital adminis
trator, and Mrs. Emily Yoimg-
blood, who was the supervisor of
nurses at the time of the incident,
were questioned closely as were
several other nurses and hospi
tal employees who had witnessed
any part of the events.
Howerton said later that he
was “more than pleased wth the
splendid way our personnel hand
led the matter and the way they
conducted themselves. All of
them are to be commended for
their efforts to protect and com
fort their patients and, soeaking
for the rest of the staff, I hereby
express our gratitude and humble
thanks. "What they did was in the
best spirit of the nursing profes
sion.”
Mr. Taylor said that in his
memory no other incident had
happened at the hospital that had
(Continued on page 8)
Mrs. Emily Youngblood, night
supervisor of nurses at Moore
Memorial Hospital, is what any
person would call an ideal nurse.
Efficient, dedicated, extremely
capable, attractive enough to be
a fashion model, and she’s cool
and calm in an emergency.
That last attribute, her associ
ates said Tuesday, probably ac
counts lor the fact that not one
single person was harmed when
a rampaging policeman went ber
serk at the hospital Monday night
and kept a whole wing terrorized
for several agonizing minutes.
Here’s what she did: when sbs
heard that Ralph Medlin was
holding a woman patient in her
room at gunpoint and threatened
to shoot other people, she went
into the room i-n an effort to free
the patient, Mrs. Dorothy Clip
pard. Hit sharply on the arm and
sent almost sprawling across the
hospital corridor, she got up, re
strained two other nurses from
enterng the room, and set about
finding some other way to bring
order back to her domain.
It was she who snatched Po
liceman 'Wesley Thompson into
a bathroom, pulling him from the
line of Medlines fire.
'While huddling in the bath
room worrying about her pa
tients, she remembered that W. O.
Spence of Southern Pines was di
rectly across the hall suffering
the effects of a heart attack. She
dashed across, got him back in
the bed and made him comfort
able.
A minute or two later Medlin
was killed by bullets from anoth
er policeman’s gim. Almost as
soon as he hit the floor Mrs.
Youngblood was there feeling for
a pulse, trying to the very end to
give comfort to someone who
could’t use it.
When she learned that Medlin
was definitely dead, she hurried
down the hall, looking into all
rooms and asking about her pa
tients.
One grandmother, she discov
ered, had wrapped a youngster in
a blanket and was huddling un-1
der a bed.
Another patient, a teenager, had
heard all the commotion, locked
himelf in the bathroom. 'When
Mrs. Youngblood arrived in the
room, the youngster was back in
his bed watching television. No
need to worry there.
She called the Hospital Admin
istrator’s house: “Let me speak to
Dr. Howerton,” she said. (Hower
ton, no doctor, thanked her next
day for the compliment. He ask
ed her again, too, if she wouldn’t
stay on at the hospital instead
of following with her plans to go
away for study in order to be
come an anesthetist.)
A reporter managed to get her
stopped long eough Tuesday
afternoon to ask her reaction to
all the excitement.
“We really had it, didn’t we?”
she said, bustling off down the
hall to look after her patients.
Kills Boy Near Robbins Early Today
Harold Jean Sheffield, 17, of
Route 1, Eagle Springs, Was
found dead early this morning on
Highway 27 about three miles
west of the Robbins crossroads.
Sheffeld had been struck by an
automoble driven by Constable
Oscar Bailey of West End, who
told State Highway Patrolmen
Jm McCohnan and Thomas Clark
that he did not see the boy ly
ing in the road until it was too
late to stop. The accident occur
red about 3:30 a. m.
A full investigation will be
conducted by the Patrol and Cor--
oner Ralph Steed.
Steed said ths morning that he
had not questioned Bailey at
length. Cpl. McColman was out
of town and unavailable for com
ment.
Gen. Marshall Is
Annual Poultry
Day Slated For
Highfalls Gym
The annual Highfalls Poultry
Show will be held at the High
falls school Saturday, August 22, Reported Still
according to Harold Purvis, the
chairman.
Purvis, who lives on Route 1,
Robbins, named the following of
ficers and committees: Mrs. Nor
ris Shields, Route 1, Robbins,
vice-president; Miss Lucy Rey
nolds, Route 1, Robbins, secre
tary and treasurer; W. F. Ritter,
Jr., Route 1, Robbins, publicity
chairman; Norris Shields, Route
1, Robbins, chairman Of broiler
show; John Chisholm, Route 1,
Carthage, vice-chairman of broil
er show; Willie G. Harris, Route
1, Carthage, chairman of egg
show; Luther Paschal, chairman
poultry princess contest and Carr
Paschal, chairman of prizes com
mittee.
This year’s show will include;
broilers, ages six weeks through
nine weeks of age; eggs—both
brown and white shelled; 4-H
Club pullets; and a poultry prin
cess contest. Free door prizes will
he given.
The educational program will
be on “How Poultry Auction
Markets Help Growers” and
“Poul.trv Management For More
Profits.”
Seriously Ill
Six months after suffering two
severe strokes, Gen. George C.
Marshall still lies seriously ill in
Walter Reed Army Hospital, ac
cording to an Associated Press
dispatch this week.
Hospital officials said the con
dition of the 78-year-old soldier-
statesman is unchanged. The
strokes early this year left him
nearly helpless.
Last month when the Senate
paid tribute to the World War 2
chief of staff and former secre
tary of state it was announced
that Marshall could read and un
derstand but that his speech had
been impaired.
Last month citizens of Pine
hurst had a marker erected re
naming the Pine Grove in Gen.
Marshall’s Iionor. Formal dedica
tion ceremonies have still not
been set, though they are ex
pected to be held in the fall. The
marker is on the roadside about
50 yards from the Sandhills
Woman’s Exchange.
Joe Allen l^amed
To Welfare Board
Joe H. Allen, Carthage mer
chant, has been named a member
of the Moore County Board of
Public Welfare replacing E. H.
Garrison, Jr.
The announcement of Mr. Al
len’s appointment was made this
week by Paul Butler of Southern
Pines, chairman of the board.
Mr. Garrison, who was farm
agent of the county for almost
three decades, has been on the
board for three years.
“He was an active member of
our board during his tenure of
service,” Mr. .Butler said, “and
he always had an abiding interest
in the social betterment of the
people in the county. He knew
the county and its people well
and his knowledge was inval
uable. We feel that the Moore
County welfare department has
advanced during his service.”
Allen is actually an appointee
of the Board of County Conuriis-
sioners. He was officially sworn
in Monday by C. C. Kennedy,
Clerk of Court.
Mr. Allen operates Allen’s
Drug and Sundrjj Shop across the
street from the courthouse. He
came to Carthage 27 years ago
from Anson County, where he
had operated a similar business.
He is a member of the First
Baptist Church in Carthage and
serves as the budget director and
on the Board of Deacons.
He is president of the Build
ing and Loan Association in Car
thage, a vice president of the Car
olina Bank, and a member of the
Board of Directors of the bank’s
branch in Carthage.
A Rotarian, he has been active
in both Boy Scout and Girl Scout
work, and during the war he
served on the rationing board for
Carthage. '
The other member of the
Board of Public Welfare is Mrs.
John L. Frye of Robbins. Mrs.
Walter B. Cole, who is superin
tendent of the department, serves
as the Board’s secretary.
School Board
Also Approves
New Principal
The Southern Pines Board of
Education has elected the princi
pal of the Mt. Pleasant (N. C.)
school, Luther A. Adams, as sup
erintendent of the local system
to succeed Dr. A. C. Dawson.
The Board also announced yes
terday that James E. Walser, as
sistant principal of the Clover
(S. C.) High School, had been ap
pointed principal here to succeed
Irie Leonard.
Adams, reached at his home
last night, said he planned to be
in Southern Pines next week to
look for housing. His election as
superintendent here is effective
immediately, John M. Howarth,
school board chairman, said yes
terday. Mr. Walser’s tenure be
gins in August.
The school board has held
many meetings and interviewed
several candidates for the sup
erintendent’s position. It became
vacant when Dr. Dawson resign
ed in June to become executive
director of the North Carolina
Education Association. The prin
cipal’s job was also vacated in
June when Leonard resigned. He
has since been appointed princi
pal of the Shallotte schools.
Adams, who is 36, has been in
education since 1948 when he
taught for one year at the Alta-
hamaw-Ossippee High School in
Alamance County. In 1949 he
moved to Mt. Pleasant as head
coach of the three major sports.
Appointed principal in 1951,
he became what his neighbors
described as a “human dynamo,
dedicated almost completely to
public education and the better
ment of his community.”
. While at Mt. Pleasant, accord
ing to a resume of his career pub
lished yesterday by the Concord
Tribune, Mr. Adams (1) saw his
school accredited by the Southern
Association of Colleges and Sec
ondary Schools, (2) directed two
building programs, one for a
complete high school plant and
another for a vocational building
and cafeteria, (3) instituted many
improvements in his school’s com
mercial department, (4) initiated
a guidance program with a full
time guidance director, (5) init
iated the first foreign language
program in the elementary
schools of Alamance County, (6)
instituted an elementary school
library and enlarged* the high
school library, (7) initiated a
drive for funds and built a mod
ern football stadium for the
school in 1955, (8) directed the
construction of a gymnasium, the
first one in Mt. Pleasant’ls his-
torv, and (9) started courses in
baad and instrumental music in
the school.
His activities in civic affairs
also are impressive. He is a for
mer president of the Mt. Pleas
ants Lions Club, was chairman
of the March of Dimes campaign
there for eight years, chairman
of the United Fund drive for
five years, and worked closely
with the Society for Crippled
Children and Adults.
In educational circles he is
well known. He has served as
president of the Cabarrus Coun
ty chapter of the North Carolina
Education Association, and is a
past president of the Cabarrus
County Principal’s Association.
He holds the usual memberships
in educational associations.
He is a Lutheran and served
his church as a Councilman and
a Sunday School teacher. His
wife, the former Elizabeth Wal
lace of Albemarle, also was a
Sunday School teacher.
Mr. Adams is a native of Gas
ton County. He was orphaned at
six and went to Winston-Salem
to live in the Children’s Home.
He graduated from R. J. Rey
nolds High School in Winston-
Salem in 1941, then spent three
years in the Marine Air Corps,
part of that time in the South
Pacific Theatre.
He received his Bachelor’s De
gree from Lenoir Rhyne College
in 1948 and his Master’s Degree
in school administration jointly
from Appalachian State Teacher’s
College and George Peabody
College in Nashville, Tenn. His
bachelor’s degree was in physical
education and social studies.
'When he moved to Mt. Pleas-
(Continued on page 8)