One observer
of the missle-caused light in the
sky early Monday night tells
how it looked. Page 19.
^iqbral
fGl^ndon
ql«5pqL Cameron pi
’Vaj»
Mlo'JlS
™‘sa=
lora/
A mink ranch
in the Sandhills? Yes, and it’s
proving successful. For a report
and photos, turn to page 20.
VOL. 42—NO. 10
TWENTY PAGES
WAS LAST SEEN SATURDAY NIGHT
SOUTHERN PINES, N. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1962
TWENTY PAGES
Body of James Herbert Briggs, 33,
Reeovered From Car in Little River
The tip of a car hood, showing
five or six inches above the
flood-swollen water, Tuesday
afternoon was the clue to a car
which had submerged, drowning
its driver, at the Little River
bridge on US 1 between Lakeview
and Vass.
State highway department
School Absences
Declining After
23 Per Cent Top
^ An outbreak of illness that on j
^ Wednesday caused absences of|
235, or 23%, of the students in the i
East Southern Pines schools ap- :
pears to be on the decline, Supt.
Luther A. Adams said this morn- j
ing. He said there is nqw no ques
tion of closing the schools.
Today’s absences in East South
ern Pines schools numbered 228.
Monday’s absentee count was
168, 16% of the students, jumpmg
to 205 on Tuesday.
There have been only one or
two faculty absences, Mr. Adams
said.
Illnesses have included a light
type of flu and various virus in
fections.
Absences in West Southern
Pines schools have been normal,
for this time of year, all this
week, Mr. Adams said, reflecting
no serious outbreak of illness in,
that part of town.
Cameron Youth
Named Candidate
For Annapolis
John Atlas Phillips III, a senior
^ at Cameron High school, is very
happy to have received Congress
man A. Paul Kitchin’s nomina
tion as a principal candidate for
the U. S. Naval Academy at An
napolis.
He said this week he knows he
will have a hard row to hoe to
meet all the requirements, b.ut
is going to do his best. Judging
from past performance, his best
is going to be mighty good.
In senior superlatives this year.
Johnny was voted “most likely
to succeed,’’ and said he hopes
this will hold true for the Naval
Academy exams. He is awaiting
instructions as to when these will
(Continued on page 5)
workers replacing a highway sign
I at the bridge alerted the Highway
Patrol about 4 p. m.
Nearly two hours later, the car
with the body of James Heroert
Briggs, 33, of Cameron, Rome 1,
had been drawn out with great
difficulty by a wrecker.
Coroner Ralph G. Steed render
ed a verdict of death by drowning
but said that, because of the cold
ness of the water, it was impos
sible to tell how long the boay
had been submerged. Investiga
tion by Patrol Sgt. J. S. Jones and
Trooper H. A. Hight, Jr., indica
ted it had been there since Sat
urday night.
Trooper Hight said Briggs, who
was unmarried and lived with a
brother, had not been seerf by
members of his family since early
Saturday evening, though he was
reported seen later that night at
(Continued on Page 8)
Minister Elected
Rotary President
PRICE: 10 CENTS
-i
Democratic Officials
To Seek Reiiomination
AT CARTHAGE TUESDAY
The Rev. Carl Wallace, pastor
of the United Church of Christ,
was elected president of the
Southern Pines Rotary Club, at
the club’s luncheon meeting in
the Southern Pines Country Club
Friday.
Other new officers are: Marvin
Cornell, vice-president; John A.
McPhaul, treasurer; and L. D.
McDonald, secretary. Robert Bis
hop and Arthur Rowe were elect
ed new members of the board of
directors.
All the new officers will be in
stalled in June. Robert Leland is
the current president of the club.
Roy Palmer of CUiai^otte, ..-an
illuminating engineer with the
Duke Power Co., spoke to the
clifb on residential lighting, say
ing that while lighting in busi
ness establishments and office
buildings is generally good,, home
lighting is often poor. Residential
bghting should be planned when
a house is planned, he said, noting
that new fixtures such as hidden
lights and light panels can give
adequate light without glare.
FIRM WINS AWARD— 'Thomas T. Hayes,
Jr. (left) and W. Calvin Howeb, of the local
architectural firm, Hayes-Howell and Associates,
are pictured with enlarged photos depicting
exterior and interior views of the Southern
Pines Savings and Loan Association building,
designed by the firm, which has received a
Merit Award in a contest sponsored by the
North Carolina Chapter of the American In
stitute of Architects. This and other awards
were presented at last week’s convention of
the Chapter at the Mid Pines Club here. Out-of-
state judges picked the winners of the architect
ural awards. Meeting with the architects was
the Tar Heel Chapter of the Illuminating En
gineering Society, of which John L. Ponzer
of Southern Pines is president.
(Hemmer photo)
Two State Troopers Assigned Here
’Two troopers arriving here to
day, assigned to Southern Pines,
bring to six the strength o fthe
State Highway Patrol in Moore
County.
Sgt. J. S. Jones, who heads the
three-county district Patrol office
at Siler City, said the troopers
assigned here are:
Pfc. Jack F. Cardwell, a native
of Ellerbe, who was transferred
here from Parkton in Robeson
County; and Pfc. F. Ray Wicker,
a Sanford native, who comes here
from Wendell.
Both of the officers said this
morning that they had not yet
found living quarters here.
Pfc. Cardwell is married to the
former Essie Dawkins of Rock
ingham. 'They have two sons.
Jack, 7, and Bobby, 5.
Pfc. Wicker’s wife is the for
mer Carolyn Spinks of Burke
County. They have twin daugh-
,ters will six years old
next month,’ Leslie Carol and
Lisa A^ne, and a son, Ricky, 9.
Today’s assignment of two new
troopers to Moore County in
creases l^y one the allotment the
county has had for a number of
years. A request for an additional
trooper was officially made by
the county commissioners at their
December meeting.
Pfc. W. R. Austin, who came
from Ansonville, went on duty
'■December 15 and is now living
in Pinehurst.
Former patrolmen now not on
duty in Moore are E. G. Sho-
maker, who was transferred Dec
ember 15 from Southern Pines to
Salisbnry and J. Frank :^waim
of Aberdeen who . was suspended,
at first temporarily and then per
manently, late last year, on
charges never made public by the
Patrol.
Troopers who have been serv
ing in Moore and remain are Pfc.
R. R. Samuels of Southern Pines;
Pfc. Henry Hight of Carthage;
and Pfc. Tommy Clark of Rob
bins.
Collection
Of Blood Set
Here Monday
A bloodmobile from the Red
Cross blood center at Charlotte,
will be at St. Anthony’s School
auditorium from noon to 5:30 p.
m. Monday, to give residents of
ihe Southern Pines area an op
portunity to give blood in the
continuing program that supplies
Moore County’s two hospitals.
The Jaycees, with President
Tom Ruggles as chairman of the
project, have taken over sponsor
ship of bloodmobile visits here
and are busy lining up donors o
meet the 125-pint quota for the
collection. Mr. Ruggles.urges that
all persons who have signed don
or cards previously honor their
signatures by giving blood Mon
day.
He pointed out that Moore
County, whose residents have
failed to give as much blood as
the amount used by the county’.s
hospitals from the Charlotte cen
ter, will lose its blood program,
if quotas are not tsurpassed, to
make up a large deficit, in forth
coming visits of the bloodmo
bile.
The bloodmobile will visit Car
thage Tuesday, stopping at the
high school gymnasium from 11
a. m. to 4:30 p. m. T. Roy Phillips
is donor chairman.
It’s early in this Election year,
but at least five county officials
were found this week ready to
state they’ll be running for re
nomination in the Democratic pri
mary in May.
In fact, one of them. District
Superior Court Solicitor M. G.
Boyette, who files with the State
Board of Elections, has already
filed as a candidate for a fourth
four-year term.
Sheriff W. B. Kelly, who won
the office in a race and runoff
in 1958, said, “Yes, I will be' a
candidate, and if you’d asked me
four years ago I could have told
you the same thing.’’ Nothing has
happened since, he noted, to make
him change his mind.
Clerk of Court C. C. Kennedy,
elected in 1950 and twice reeiect-
ed since, answered, “Indeed I do
want to keep my job—preferably
without any opposition!’’
This was in essence the same
answer as that of Mrs. Audrey B
McCaskill, register of deeds, who
is completing her first term. She
had worked at various times un
der two previous registers and
noted, “There is more and more
to learn about this job. I feel I
have learned a lot and want to
keep on using it.”
Rep. H. Clifton Blue, who is in
a race for speakership of the
House in 1963 and—from reports
all over the State—well in the
lead, noted, “I am definitely plan
ning to be a candidate for renom
ination.”
After eight terms. Rep. Blue is
currently the second in length of
service in the House.
(Continued on Page 8)
Old Man Acquitted by Jury on Murder Char;4e
Beck Succeeding
Swaringen in Post
The State Highway Commis
sion has announced the appoint
ment of Fred H. Beck of Carthage
as District Two engineer for the
Eighth Highway Division.
Mr. Beck is being promoted
from a position as resident engin
eer in Asheboro, to replace Dis
trict Two Engineer Sam Swarin
gen of Aberdeen, who died re
cently.
As District Two engineer, Mr.
Beck will be responsible for road
work in Hoke, Moore and Lee
Counties, with district headquar
ters in Aberdeen.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. T. L.
Beck of Linwood, Mr. Beck is 43
years old, and began working
with the Commission in 1945 as a
rodman.
He is married to the former
Miss Bessie E. McDonald and
they have two children, Fred
Henderson Beck, Jr., and Lauree
Beth Beck.
Though working out of Ashe
boro, Mr. Beck has ' maintained
his home at Carthage. He is ac
tive in Boy Scout work at Car
thage.
THE WEATHER
Maximum and minimum tem
peratures for each day of the past
week were recorded as follows at
the U. S. Weather Bureau obser
vation station at the WEEB
studios on Midland Road.
Max Min
January 25 68 45
January 26 76 58
January 27 73 54
January 28 59 29
January 29 53 19
January 30 51 22
January 31 41 21
Alec Everett, past 80, was ac
quitted Wednesday by a jury of
second-degree murder in the
fatal shooting of Henry Boggs,
49, last September. The trial took
place in Moore County Superior
Court at Carthage.
'The little old man with grey
hair fringing his bald pate, wear
ing a battered brown jacket rag
ged at the elbows, had freely ad
mitted to th4 shooting at the time
of his arrest, but said it was in
self-defense.
The jury was out only 30
minutes at the close of a day and
a half of testimony, ■most of it
taken up with Everett’s rambling
and hair-raising tale of terror
covering a period of several
months.
Cupping his hand at his ear to
hear the questions, jabbing the
air with his forefinger to empha
size his answers, he got lost in his
own testimony several times, ad
mitting that “I don’t remember
very well.” Apologetically he told
Judge John D. McConnell, “My
intellect comes and goes.”
As defense counsel H. F. Sea-
well tried to keep him on track
under examination, but his client
admonished him briskly, “Well,
all right- I’m gittin’ there, I’m
gittin’ there!” When his defender
intimated at one point that Eve
rett was repeating himself, the
old man retorted, “I ain’t begun
to tell it all. I ain’t made a hole
in it, even. I got it all banked up.”
The tale he had to tell was of
an univited guest, who moved in
on him at his isloated farm home,
shared his meager food without
repayment, wouldn’t leave when
asked to “find another place to
board,” then began “drinking
wine,” hiding bottles in the
woods, and beating, choking and
injuring his unwilling host.
Referring to Boggs, who had
been a Butner Hospital patient,
Everett said, “He wam’t crazy at
all, he was smart as the very
mischief. He wanted to kill me
but so as the law wouldn’t find
out he had done it.”
After several beatings, he said,
he armed himself with a pistol,
then when Boggs started chok
ing him on that September day,
told him, “Turn me loose or I’ll
shoot.” It took three shots, he
said, to make Boggs “turn loose”
and fall face down in the sandy
road.
Everett went into his house and
sat with his shotgun on his lap,
afraid “he’d get up and come
after me.” The next day he went
and looked and Boggs was still
breathing. Everett waited another
night, and went in the morning
to poke Boggs with a stick and
watch him a while. He “warn’t
gettin’ any air” so the , old man
went to a neighbor’s to phone the
sheriff a man had been “found
dead.”
While the shooting might have
been in self-defense. Solicitor M.
G. Boyette told the jury—and
Judge McConneU indicated in his
charge—leaving the man two
days in the hot sun to die was
a different matter.
The not-guilty verdict perturb
ed Judge McConnell, who asked
the jury foreman, “What do you
think we should do with him?”
The foreman answered, “We think
he ought to be put some place
he can be cared for, but we don’t
think it is up to us to say.” To
defense counsel the judge coon-
mented, “We don’t want people
to think that in Moore we condone
shooting people and leaving them
in the road for three days to
die.”
“We don’t condone it but this
old man had lived there 40 years
and hadn’t given anybody a
speck of trouble, and he isn’t
going to now,” said Seawell.
In his youth, Everett admitted,
he had killed another man, and
had served 15 years at hard labor
in prison at Raleigh till 1919. A
couple of years later he bought
(Continued on Page 8)
FIRST TIME IN MOORE COUNTY
GQP ^uvejatioii
Set for Feb. 10;
Races Expected
Moore County Republicans will
hold their 1962 county convention
at the courthouse in Carthage at
2 'p. m., Saturday, February 10,
James E. Harrington, Jr., of Pine
hurst, county chairman, announc
ed this week.
The convention will elect coun
ty officers for 1961-62 and dele
gates to the 8th District and State
conventions.
Current county GOP officers,
in addition to Mr. Harrington, are
Mrs. Katherine McCpll of South
ern Pines, vice chairman; and Ar
nold Garner of Robbins, secretary
and treasurer.
“Some years ago,” Mr. Harring
ton said in announcing the meet
ing, “these conventions were con
sidered nominating conventions.
However, it is now our policy
that nominees be selected by in
dividual filing and primary elec
tions where there is a contest for
any particular office.
“A number of people,” he con
tinued, “have indicated to me
their interest in running for va
rious offices, and there appears
to be a good possibility of several
primary contests.
Democrats Will
Recommend 2 for
Elections Board
\
A meeting of the Moore Coun
ty Democratic Executive Commit
tee has been caUed for Monday,
February 12, at Carthage at 5
P- m. it is announced this week by
County Chairman Lament Brown
of Southern Pines.
The meeting has been called
for the purpose of recommending
appointees as Democratic mem
bers for the Moore County Board
of elections. The county execu
tive committee will select the
names of three Democrats to sub
mit to State Chairman Bert Ben
nett, who in turn will make rec
ommendations to the State Board
of Elections for appointment for
iwo-year terms.
In a letter to all Deanocratic
county chairmen, Bennett asked
that the county committee submit
the names in the order of local
preference, since two will be rec
ommended. The third member of
the local elections board is a
member of the Republican Party
selected in a similar manner.
'The State Board of Elections
will meet in March to make the
official appointments for both
parties.
Harding Speaks to Historical Croup;
County History to Go to Press Soon
rv^ 1 i ^TT.^ —l-t— ,.i It
Judge McConnell Presides at Court
Snowy weather brought a wel
come surprise to Moore County
this week—Judge John D. Mc
Connell of Southern Pines pre
siding over the Superior Court
term at Carthage for the first
time since he was sworn in as a
special judge last July.
Judge Robert M. Gambiil of
North Wilkesboro, who presided
over last week’s civil term, was
expected back for the criminal
term this week but found himself
pretty well snowed in Monday
morning, with travel precarious
in his mountain area. Judge Mc
Connell, slated to hold court in
Wilkes, didn’t care to travel so
far from home either, so the two
judges arranged a swap of com
missions.
Judge McConnell, in his home
county courtroom, found himself
amid familiar surroundings and
friendly faces. He also conducted
his court under a portrait of the
late Judge W. A. Leland Mc-
Keithen, his former law partner.
The portrait hangs on the court
room wall. The Pinehurst firm of
McKeithen and McConnell is be
lieved to be the only one in the
history of the State in which both
partners were appointed to the
Superior Court bench.
JUDGE JOHN D. McCONNELL .. . ai Carthage
Edmund Harding of Washington
in Beaufort County, who is na
tionally known as an after-dinner
speaker, entertained the Moore
County Historical Association
with many of his humorous anec
dotes Tuesday night, while urging
them seriously to “keep history
green” by revering “a heritage of
which we can be proud” and by
working untiringly and enthusi
astically to preserve the best of
the past.
The Association, with nearly
100 members and guests attend
ing, met in the court room at the
municipal center, with Norris L.
Hodgkins, Jr., president, presid
ing.
Mr. Harding was introduced by
Mrs. Ernest Ives and by J. Talbot
Johnson of Aberdeen, an old
friend.
The Beaufort County man is
chairman of the Historic Bath
Commission which is restoring
the old community of Bath and
is immediate past president of
the North Carolina Society for the
Preservation of Antiquities.
A specific suggestion made by
the speaker was that members of
the Historical Association search
out old neglected grave yards and
try to clean them up. “We owe
something to those who have
gone on,” he said.
A unique and entertaining feat
ure of his talk was his rapid-fire
commentary on the lives of all
69 sons fathered by the 24 presi
dents of the United States who
had sons, many of whomj were ap
parently considerably less dis
tinguished than their fathers.
Reporting on various aspects of
the Association’s work, in the
business session, were:
E. T. McKeithen who said that
the completion of the second vol
ume of the County history by
Manly Wade Wellman had been
delayed because he (Mr. Mc
Keithen) had been injured in a
fall and that it is now expected
that the completed work will be
in the hands of the printers by
the middle of February.
Mrs. Katherine McColl who an
nounced the opening of the Shaw
House, v^ith several improvements
(Continued on page 8)