North Carolina Newspapers

JL VOLUME 38. SMITHFIELD, N. C. TUESDAY, DEC. 16, 1919 Number 99 THE GOVERNOR REPRIEVES GODLEY UNTIL JANUARY 15. Stay of Execution Granted Until the Prisoner’s Sanity May be Examined —Will Have Alienist Conduct the Examination. (News and Observer, 15.) A reprieve until January 15, 1920, was granted Churchill Godley, sen tenced to die this morning at 10 o’ clock for criminal assault upon a little white girl in Smithfield last June, and in the weeks that are given him to live, Gov. T. W. Bickett will determine the man's mental responsibility. An nouncement of the reprieve was made last night at 10:30 but too late to reach the prisoner last night. Relinquishing all hope that execu tive clemency might intervene in be half of her husband, the wife left yes terday afternoon for Washington, N. C., to be with the aged mother of the condemned man today when her son paid the price of his crime. Efforts were made to reach her last night, and telegrams were sent the mother of Godley informing her that her son was given a further lease on life. The younger Mrs. Godley is expected to re turn to the city today to be near her husband, and to lend whatever furth er help she may in winning for him final commutation of the sentence. . Aspects of the case brought to the attention of the Governor since last Monday when he set a new day for the execution, and declined flatly to in terfere with the judgment of the jury that tried him, raised doubts ifi the mind of the chief executive as to the sanity of the prisoner, and prompted him to stay the hand of the law until he could verify the representations of the petitioners for clemency. The na ture of the appeal that moved the Governor to a reprieve has not been given out. Godley resented the implication that he is insane several Weeks ago when Dr. C. B. McNairy, head of the Caswell Training School, examined him at the request of the Governor, and has since maintained that he is entirely sane. Dr. McNairy pronounced him normal in his mental development and powers, but offered the suggestion that he is a sexual pervert. With these and other considerations before him, and taking the evidence brought out in the trial as conclusive proof of guilt, the Governor declined to inter fere, and ordered him executed this morning. Ip the face of protestations of en tire innocence on the part of the pris oner with an earnest appeal on his be half by the faithful wife and by his attorney, Mr. Josiah W. Bailey, who presented, it is said, new facts to the Governor, the reprieve is granted. Godley continued yesterday to reiter ate his innocence, hoping still that he would not be called upon for the final price of his crime today. He had re tired last night when the Governor’s decision was made, the death row was locked for the night, and he will not know until early today, a few hours before the time set for his execution, that he is reprieved. In many of the churches of the city yesterday, ministers mentioned the prisoner in their prayers, petitioning that he might be granted clemency, and that if guilty he might be made * repentant, and forgiven for his crime. At the First Baptist church special prayer was made for the forgiveness of the crime, if he were guilty, and the subject of the sermon was inter cession and forgiveness. Keen interest has been aroused throughout the city and in the State by the impending execution of the Smithfield man. Everywhere yester day it was the chief topic of conver sation, opinion being about evenly di vided as to the prisoner’s guilt. Last night there were many personal ap peals made to the Governor in his be half and the hope expressed that he might be inclined to. mercy. Gasoline $1 A Gallon In Brazil. What Latin America needs is small airplanes and flying boats for training both military and civilian aviators and for individual use in pleasure flying and air travel, with larger machines for mail and passenger use. Fuel con sumption must be moderate, because gasoline costs seventy-five cents to $1 a gallon. When the Latin Ameri cans tried some of the war planes left by the European air missions they found that their flying school gasoline supply for a month disappeared in a few hours. Neither the great horse power nor high speed of the war planes is needed, and against the high ly sensitive combat motor, built for a short life of superperformance, with costly maintenance, commercial flying calls for a sturdy, long-lived motor that will stand up under a reasonable amount of neglect.—Rio de Janeiro Letter in Philadelphia Ledger. Permanent organization of the Cum berland Cotton Association was effect ed Friday afternoon in Fayetteville. SILVER SERVICE FOR MR. HORNE Agricultural Society Presents Presi dent of Fair With Handsome Testi monial. The North Carolina Agricultural Society has presented to Mr. Chaises W. Home, of Clayton, retiring presi dent of the society, a ve*y handsome silver service which has been forward ed to Mr. Horne at his home. The society at its annual meeting appointed a committee to purchase the testimonial. Col. John S. Cuning ham, of Durham, one of the members of the committee, was authorized by the committee to purchase a suitable gift. He bought a silver service and prepared the following inscription -which was engraved on the largest piece, Mr. Horne’s initials being en graved on the smaller pieces: “Charles W. Horne, President of the North Carolina Agricultural Society. Presented by the society in token of their admiration for his efficiency and as a testimonial of their high regard and in recognition of his great service and successful administration. “B. CAMERON, Chairman. “JULIAN S. CARR, “CAREY J. HUNTER, “JOHN S. CUNINGHAM, Committee.” The recent State Fair was the most successful in the history of the Agri cultural Society and members of the society and other officers of the Fair were very grateful to Mr. Horne for the energy, time and enthusiasm which he expended in advancing the interests of the Fair.—News and Observer. JOHNSTON COTTON ASSN. NOW ON PERMANENT BASIS The township delegates met at the court house at Smithfield Saturday, December 13, and formed a permanent organization to promote the building pf cotton storage warehouses here in Johnston county. The officers for the coming year are: S. T. Liles, president: J. Rufus Creech, vice-president; A. M. Johnson, secretary-treasurer. The delegates elected to represent Johnston county at the State convention December 17, are the above officers. A committee was appointed to work with the offi cers in forming a cooperative corpora tion to build warehouses here. They are S. P. Honeycutt, Benson; S. T. Price, Wendell, and J. P. Parker, Smithfield. Mr. Johnson will devote all his time to the cotton association work after January first with head quarters at Smithfield. The membership campaign commit tee reported 600 members already in and six townships to report yet. There are 11 charter members in the coun ty. The delegates voted to get the re quired 32 charter members in the county by January first, and to con tinue to canvass for regular members to the association till the 3150 mark was reached. Mr. Liles has turned in 180 mem bers for Wilders township and says that most of the farmers and business men will join if approached rightly. He says that there is no argument against the association and that the best men in the county and state are lining up with it and that it must therefore succeed. He is enthusiastic over the future of it and is entering into the work of getting it started as if it was a matter of life or death with him. He says he is well pleased with the results already. GENERAL NEWS. Albemarle experienced a serious fire Sunday morning when a large two story brick store was burned. The loss was estimated at $25,000 largely covered by insurance. Saturday a cave-in of a large mica mine in Mitchell county caused two miners to be seriously injured. It is believed the cave-in was caused by the heavy rains im that section. The steel strike is to continue ac cording to the vote of 24 union presi dents. Of the 24, two voted against continuing the strike. A man and his niece were drowned near Americus, Ga., Sunday. The man tried to drive his automobile through the back-water of the Flint River, but his car struck a washout and overturned^ Poisoned cakes in which insect pow der was used through mistake instead of baking powder, caused the death of four inmates of the county home at Kalamazoo, Mich., last week. Thirty sevem suffered from the poison. Dr. Harry A. Garfield, Federal Fuel Administrator, has resigned his job and his resignation has been accepted because of his views regarding the settlement of the coal strike. Dr. Garfield states that in his opinion, un der the pHn of settlement the public which is the chief party at interest, would never have any show. As many as 4,000 dates have been gathered from a single palm at one bearing. TOBACCO MARKET TO CLOSE. Smithficld Warehouses Close Tomor row and Will Olpen Again on Jan uary Sixth. On account of weather conditions the Smithfield tobacco market will j close tomorrow for the holidays and' open again on January 6, 1920. All the markets of Eastern Carolina will also close tomorrow, Wednesday, De cember 17. It is too cold at the pres ent time to prepare tobacco for mar ket. While the bulk of the crop has been Sold, there is quite a lot of to bacco yet to sell. The prices have ruled high and many folks who did not plant tobacco this year will plant next year. SIGNS OF THE TIMES. The other day, a Ford ear was driv en up on the Court House square, and in the car there was a very poor make-shift of a whiskey still. Sev eral citizens of the County were pres ent when the car came up. and the sight of the little old still set the men to talking. One very prominent man of the county expressed the opin ion, that the great influx of the rural population into the towns was traca ble to the very fact that men were alcohol hungry, and that in the sparsely settled sections of the coun ty, the lawless elements were taking advantage of their isolation and were making and drinking lots of moon shine liquor, thereby so demoralizing the communities that as many of the good folks as well could were selling out their possessions in the country and were moving to town where a bet ter mantle of protection was offered them against these insidious law breakers than is found out in the country. It is a fact, and you must have noticed it, that many good country folks are moving into town these days. How do you regard this seeming un rest of the people of our old Johns ton? Do you think it a helpful sign or do you think harm will ultimately result from it? Another man was in town a few days after the incident o# the still coming to town on the Ford and he complained of the very disorder the first man had mentioned, that is, he said lots of whiskey was now being made in the bushes, and that -almost all the public gatherings in his com munity were menaced and disturbed by intemperance. Now, these men are to be believed: There are no better men in the county than the two mentioned here who so casually testified and cried out against this illicit liquor making. From our youth up, we have been taught that the best place in the world to rear a family is in the country out on a farm. Now then, what is the farmer to do? Is he to leave the blessed en vironment of the quiet country and go to town in order that the lawless mgn may continue to debauch and threaten society? It does seem strange that men and womei will fight and even die for their homes against the armed burglar, and at the same time sell out and go away just because a few lawless sots will per sist in making the country their hid ing place where they can make and sell moonshine whiskey. A better way, it seems, would be for the men who oppose such immorality to sac redly resolve to solidly unite against that most pernicious of all law-break ers, the moonshiner, and be ready both by day and night to bring him into court. There is no getting away from this fact; we have been challenged. What are we country folks to do? Are we going to move to town and leave the blessed scenes of our childhood be hind as a camp ground for the law breaker, or are we going to put the screws on him and drive him out and put him to honest labor? The many splendid rural communities of Johns ton promise too much for our future common welfare for these night hawks to befoul them in the way they are now tending. These are a few signs of the time—have YOU noticed them? H.V. R. " Honor Roll for Hatcher School. The following pupils have bee a present every day and averaged 90 on their studies: First grade: Mary Alien, Helen Al len, Millard Brown, Mildred Garner and Ruth Thornton. Second grade: Arie Gamer, Nerma Hatcher, Ina Mae Parrish, Walton Parker and Clyde Thornton. Third grade: Edward Thornton, Leon Corbett, Archie Hatcher and Maude Parrish. Fourth grade: Flossie Lee Parker, Lillie Mae Eubanks and Herman Whitley. Sixth grade: Marion Bailey. Seventh grade: Matilda Brown, Clara Thornton, Bertha Hatcher and Gordon Brown. REPORTER. TO BUILD NEW COTTON MILL. To Be Located Between Smithfield And four Oaks. Machinery Already Bought. This has been a great year with Smithfield. New enterprises and new buildings have been going up all the year. Johnston County and Smith field have been reaping some of the fruits of prosperity. The latest en terprise to be projected around these parts is a new cotton mill to be locat ed between Smithfield and Four Oaks. The machinery has already been bought for it and it will be built as soon as everything can be gotten in readiness. Full particulars will be given at an early date. SCHOOL NEWS FROM GLADYS. Rev. John L. Ray who has been here for almost a year left Thursday for ■ Old Fort, where he will take up a new field of work. Mr. Ray made lets of friends here who regreted to see him leave and who hope for him much success in his new field at Old Fort. Mr. R. L. Lancaster of Bailey, is in our section selling mules and hors es. Some of our farmers are purchas ing tractors which shows that our people are getting ready to begin farming another year. Mr. N. Narron made a business trip to Raleigh last Thursday. Mrs. Lena Hawley who has been very ill with pneumonia for several days is improving. Mr. J. H. Williams of Wilson has accepted a position as Engineer on the Narron Central. Mr. W. H. Evans visited his family in Wilson Saturday and Sunday. Several of our people are attending court in Smithfield this week. Our school is progressing nicely un der the management of Misses Debbie and Myrtle Bailey. They have enroll ed one hundred twenty four students. Every student in the compulsory age has entered except one. There will be a box party and other interesting features at the school house Thursday night, December 18, and we hope to have a large crowd present. Our District is very much in need of a new and larger school building and more teachers which we hope to have by another school year. SEE E. December 11, 1919. PROFITS OF SHIP OWNERS. One Cargo Carrier Earned In One Voyage to Calcutta More Than $800j000. Profits made by ship owners during the war were fabulous and unbeliev able, John H. Rosseter, former direc tor of operations of the Shipping Board, told the Senate Commerce Committee in testimony made public Thursday by Chairman Jones. The board realized enormous profits on some ships, he said, but the earnings of prjvately owned vessels were even greater. One ship owned by a company with which he had been connected, he said, operating under the board as a cargo carrier between San Francisco and Calcutta earned in one voyage of 110 days more than $800,000. This netted the board, he said, ap proximately $750,000 over the com pensation allowed to owners and other expenses. The Quistconck, first ship built at Hog Island, on a voyage of 92 days under arrangements with the Italian government earned $597,622, Mr. Ros seter said. Net profits were $461,151 after taking care of $37,800 in depre ciation and $18,900 in interest. These earnings, however, were ex ceptional and every ship did not yield such a profit, Mr. Rosseter said, but vessels under private management ex ceeded even these returns. The board had fixed a rate during the war period of $66 a ton to Europe, he added, while the British rate was $88. “Then they had certain so-called exceptions or licenses,” he said, referring to the British rate “where the rate went as high as $120 a ton and then in trades like cotton, there was practically no control at all.” Losses due to sinkings and other causes amounted to about $27,000,000, the witness said, which was charged against the board’s insurance division. —Washington dispatch. Hoey to Win Today. The great campaign in the Ninth is over and today Clyde Hoey will be elected to Congress. Some big speak ers have been in the district and the Democrats have waged a great fight. Hundreds of Arctic birds are as far south as Maine and Michigan and that indicates a hard winter, accord ing to John Burroughs, the naturalist. FEW LIVES LOST ON SHIPS. For Every Fatality Steamers Carried 1,600,582 Persons Safely During the Fiscal Year. For every life lost of steamship passengers during the fiscal year end ed June 30, 1919, 1,600,582 were carri ed safely, the steamboat inspection service announces in its annual re port. Passengers numbering 323,317,657 were carried on vessels during the year, the report stfited. Accidents re sulting in loss of life numbered 194 and the total number of lives lost, 543, of which 202 were passengers. Of the lives lost, 170 were from causes beyond the power of the ser vice to prevent, the report said, leav ing a loss of 373 lives as fairly charge able to accidents, collisions and fonn derings. This was an increase of 43 over the lives lost in 1918.—Ex. MORE FRUIT TREES NEEDED, j TV present high prices of fruits should have the effect of stimulating larger plantings of both home and commercial orchards throughout the State of North Carolina, is the opin ion of the horticultural specialist of the North Carolina Extension Service. Though a fine fruit State, North Carolina has never produced a suffici ent amount of fruit for local use. It is a fact that numerous farm homes, both in our lowlands and mountains, do not even have the semblance of an orchard, and that our city and country people alike are greatly dependent up on outside sources for their fruit sup ply North Carolina is not excelled by any state in the diversity of its fruit crops. It is possible to produce choice fruit of one kind or another from the mountains down to the lower muck lands. Of course, no one locality in the State is adapted to the commerci al production of all the different kinds of fruit, but every section may pro duce at least one or two, or perhaps more, for market use, and a much greater number for home use. It is simply a question of selecting those kinds which are adapted to the par ticular section. In order to assist in the proper se lection of different varieties, and to eliminate the common (complaint of those who state that they do not know what to plant, the Department of Ag riculture has issued a bulletin on “The Home Orchard,” which gives the varieties of fruit recommended for planting in coastal plain, piedmont, and mountain sections. This bulletin also gives the plan of the orchard, and the number of trees needed for a cer tain area. By following the recom mendations outlined, it Will be possi ble for the home owner to supply fruit for his table, as well as to have some for the local markets. In addition, a well kept orchard will add greatly to the appearance and salability of any plantation. Most anyone wishing to buy a farm will be glad to pay an ad vanced price for the land when it has a well kept orchard. This bulletin, which was issued in February, 1918, is available to any citizen of North Carolina, free upon request, as long as the present supply lasts. In addition to the bulletin, the Ex tension Service has now added an Ex t'-nrioa Horticulturist, Mr. Paul T. Schooley, who is ready to assist the fruit growers of the State on any of their problems. Higher Clothing In Spring Predicted. Clothing prices will continue up ward next spring, Charles E. Wry, secretary of the National Association of Retail Clothes, has announced, ex plaining steps taken by the associa tion to assist A. Mitchell Palmer, at torney general, in combating the high cost of wearing apparel, says a Chi cago dispatch. The causes of high prices are be yond the control of the retail dealers, Wry declared, but members of the as sociation are preparing to hold furth er price advances to the minimum, at the sacrifice of their own profits. Popular price suits, which sold be fore the war at $25 and now retail at $50, will bring $60 or more next spring, Wry said. Piece workers in Chicago are earning as high as $135 weekly, he said. From one of the poorest paid in dustries, the needle trades have be come one of the best paid. Wage in creases since 1914 average 175 per cent. Senator Johnson to Run for President. Senator Hiram W. Johnson, of Cal ifornia, has announced that he will be a candidate for the Republican nomi nation for the presidency. The Sen ator said he would make a personal campaign in every state. Senator Johnson has been governor of Cali fornia and ran as the vice-presidential candidate with Theodore Roosevelt on the Progressive ticket in 1912. ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF Johnston County Asked to Help and Has Been Allotted the Care of 64 Orphans. Raleigh, Dec. 12.—The generous and benevolent people of North Caro lina have been asked to help America to respond to the cry of the suffering Armenians and Syrians for aid and Johnston county has been allotted 64 orphans to adopt in a big campaign to be waged February 1st to 22nd in clusive. North Carolina’s quota for adoption is 3,334 orphans of the Near East. The North Carolina campaign will be directed by an executive committee of influential and prominent citizens headed by State Chairman George H. Bellamy, of Wilmington. Mr. Claude W. Hopper is the State Campaign Di rector. The funds will be handled by Mr. Robert A. Brown, of the Citizens National Bank, Raleigh. Chairman Bellamy now is organizing his work ers and every county will have its own chairman,, who will be assisted by a corps of loyal cohorts. The final organization will be announced soon. Although the Near East Relief Committee is already caring for be tween 70,000 and 80,000 Armenian and Syrian children in its orphanages, there are still 250,000 homeless babies to be housed, clothed, fed and educat ed. Many of these little children are sleeping in the streets. They would gladly be at home in a friendly mang er. Lawyer Luts (Jut the Moonshine. One of the delegates at the Confer ence of the Hpme Law Enforcement and World Prohibition Conference in Greensboro wanted to have the dis tinguished service badge conferred on Ex-United States District Attorney Seawell, the good lawyer of Carthage, for not only cutting out the moonshine with tongue and pen but taking an axe, and in the solitude of the whisp ering pines of Moore county, literally and bodaceously hacking it out. He said that Mr. Seawell, while riding through the wooded part of one of his farms recently, caught a punjent whiff of oderous atmosphere, that became so familiar when as District Attorney he had constant contact with blockad ing defendants and witnesses, he knew as soon as he smelled, “what it ware and whar it cum frum.” He soon found that the source of the aro matic disturbance was a moonshine factory, with all equipment necessary for successful conversion of the staff of life into a fiery fluid contrary to the Statute and even now the constitution in such cases made and provided. And it was a good sized distillery too, with a real copper and every evidence of active operations right there on the land of this life long abstainer and thorough believer in prohibition and law enforcement. After the first flush of indignant mental aversion and protest at this outrage on his landed rights and his tetotal record, the jocund gentleman saw the other side —a blockade moonshine distillery run ning full blast on Seawell’s sandhill farm—and it was to laugh. And he did. And then he righteously wrench ed the worm which dieth not and is not quenched from it’s copper socket, so that nothing more could run out in his absence, he hied himself as fast as his horse could amble through the fox hunting pines amd send dunes of the forest, to the nearest neighbors wood pile. He got him an axe, prud ently saying nothing to nobody what it was for, and just cut that still all to pieces. He carried the pieces, real copper to the sheriff, and thus set an example of enforcing the law, which if generally adopted would rid not only Moore county, but every other county of the illegal traffic in alco holic aromatics, whether ye’clept, moonshine, meal tea, monkey rum, red eye, or whiskey.—Bulletin. $ Gaston county Baptists . The newspapers of the state have been lauding the Baptists here during the past day or two over the success ful completion of their drive for $6, 000,000 and, doubtless, many think The Gazette ought to say something about it, too. Ours was said the day before the drive began, when it was confidently predicted that Gaston county’s quota of $150,000 would be nearer $250,000, later amended to read nearer $300,000, or double their quota. If all the Baptists in North Carolina had performed on a par with Gaston county Baptists the drive would have been over before it got started. There was a report from every church in the county in the Raleigh office before night on Sunday, November 30. And a great deal of the credit and praise for this excellent showing of Gaston in leading the entire state is due to Rev. W. C. Barrett.—Gastonia Gazette. The coal miners are back at work and the production of coal has assum ed its normal proportions.