NUMBER 12
PLAYS TO FEATURE
CAROLINA SCENES
Carolina. Playmakers
On State Tour Will
Be Here Thursday
Evening, Feb. 14.
3 PLAYS ON PROGRAM
By G. Y. RAGSDALE
(Special to The Herald)
Chapel Hill, N. C., Feb. 8.—The
Carolina Playmakers, appearing for
the first time in Smithfield in the
High School Auditorium next Thurs
day night, February 14, this being
the seventh State tour, \ ill present
three plays written and acted by stu
dents of the University. Two of the
plays are comedies; on? being a
comedy of farm folk, the other of
plantation days in the South. The
other play is a tragedy ot ’he ten
ant farmer, a subject dealt with fre
quently by the Playmakers.
The Carolina Playmakers is one of
the few organizations of its kind in
the United States. The organization
is based on folk lore almost entirely,
plus the native ability, energy and
the desire on the part of the young
people of North Carolina registered
in the University to dramatize these
very things so that the people of the
State may actually visuallize the
things which they have long been
told about their state and communi
ties. Every community in the state
has it straditions. The Playmakers
have capitalized these traditions;
hence the plays that they write and
present every quarter of the year
save in the summer.
The Playmakers are amateurs, and
in the strictest sense of the word.
They do the thing themselves down
to the minutest detail of dramatic
craft. First they write the plays
from their own experiences prefer-1
ably, or those of others. They are
publicly read and try-outs for the
cast are held. Every niece of scen
ery is made and painted by them.
Costumes are arranged and designed
according to the needs they must fit.
Every piece of stage machinery is
made by them. Those that do net
already know from long experience
learn the art of “making-up,” and
essential in the art of drama. Even
the stage hands are students of the
University, trained in their work as
are the others, purely because it is
a detail that every player should
know.
After several weeks of practice the
Playmakers present their plays to
the students and townspeople of
Chapel Hill in the Playhouse, the
term they have applied to the High
School auditorium of this town. Here
is where the final test comes. These
plays which are especially good are
carried on the State tours, provided
they can be easily staged in almost
any theatre. ,
These one act plays are not to be
compared with the finished drama
that one sees in the regular theatre,
backed by big money, and all the oth
er accountrements of the modern
theatre. But they are good for ama
teurs. They are better than the av
erage “home talent” productions, and
when one considers that these plays
are written, staged and acted by al
most inexperienced North Carolinians ■
zest is added to every performance.
They please the theatre goers here,
they have pleased every where they
have been North Carolina, and should
do so again on this tour, mr, Denny,
Manager of the Playmskers, and also
an actor of no mean ability, said Wed- '
nesday, “I believa this is the most,
representative and best all-ronnd
group of plays that we have ever
carried up tour.” One may expect to
l^dgh, fcftd one will laugh, for some
\>f the situations in the two comedies
irre hilarious; but one may expect
in “Fixin’s” something of a far more
serious nature, something that the
people of Johnston County have to
contend with themselves every day,
and something that admirably depicts
the condition in the tenant farmer’s
life. ,
In Tuesday’s issue we will carry a j
A Proclamation
Our nation and all the civilized
world mourns at the demise of
our great ex-President Woodrow
Wilson. He was the most sig
nificant figure of the world’s
history, an apostle of peace. His
constructive policies of better
human relations with all man
kind will ripen into reality. He
was preeminent in every sense of
the word, over his contempo
raries. He possessed that rare
sense, of, international,, under
standing and brotherhood, that
towered above all great men of
I his generation. He was almost
a superhuman in mentality; in
moral convictions he clearly
stood above his fellows, his
spiritual understanding was far
reaching in its benefits for man
kind. Woodrow Wilson is dead
in the body but his spirit and
lofty ideals will forever be fore
most in the conscience of the
American peple.
Now, Therefore, I John A.
Narron, Mayor of the City of
Smithfield following the previ
ous action of our Governor of
North Carolina, Cameron Morri
son, do hereby proclaim and set
apart Sunday the 10th day of
February as the day and time for
fitting memorial services to be
held in the Court House and to
give expression of our reverence
and appreciation for the unsel
fish service rendered to his coun
trymen and all of the civilized
world, by our beloved ex-Presi
dent Woodrow Wilson.
Done in the City of Smith
field on this the 8th day of Feb
ruary, 1924.
JOHN A. NARRON
By the Mayor:
W. L. Fuller
City Clerk.
WINNER OF PEACE
PRIZE ANNOUNCED
Dr. Charles H. Levermore Re
ceives $50,000 Offered by
Edward W. Bok
Philadelphia, Feb. 4.—Dr. Charles
Herbert Levermore of New York City,
Secretary of the New York Peace So
ciety and former President of Adelphi
College of Brooklyn, is the - uthor
of the Bok peace prize plan.
Disclosure of his idenity was l ,?de
here tonight at a meeting at the
Academy of Music, when John W.
Davis, former Ambassador to Great
Britain, representing Edward W. Bok,
giver of the award, presented to him
a check for $50,000. The eeond half
of the $100,000 of fere 1 by Mr. Bok
will be awarded to Dr Lever none if
the “referendum” on the lan, now
in progress, shows that :t has suf
ficient popular support to fulfill the
condition of “practicable’’ in the
opinion of the Jury of Award.
References to the death of Wood
row Wilson leading American advo
cate of the League of Nations, in Dr.
Levermore’s plan, co-operation with
which is advocated, were made by all
the speakers. Mr. Davis asked if it
were not possible that Mr. Wilson-s
legacy to this countrymen would not
be a realization of his vision of world
wide and perpetual peace.
Crowd of 3,500 Sees Award
The presentation of the check by ,
Mr. Davis was made in the presence
of a crowd of 3,500 which filled the
academy and the appearance of the 1
winner was greeted with applause.
Other speakers were Charles W.
Norris, President of the Phila
delphia forum, which ^foed with the j
Policy Committee ’.7i arranging the
meeting; Melville E. Stone, who pre
sided; Henry L. Stimson, former Sec
retary of War; Miss Lape and Dr.
Levermore himself.
(Continued on page 5)
brief review of the three plays which
are to be presented. By some stroke
of fate, we believe that there are cer
tain things about this group of plays
and their authors which will interest
Smithfield people especially, but that
is another story. „
Natimt Umua Jta ijraii in Oktrf
Woodrow Wilson, the Great War
President, has passed on to an earn
ed and honored rest, arid the Nation
bowed its head in grief, as the last
rites were said over his dead body.
At 3 o'clock Wednesday afternoon
the funeral was held at the home in
S street in accordance with the wish
es of the late ex-president.
The following extracts from the
Associated Press dispatches of yes
terday give some of the details of
the last sad service.
Washington, Feb. 6—A bugle,
calling softly in the fading day told
that Woodrow Wilson had passed to
day down “The Way of Peace” to
his earned and honored rest.
It sang the same soldier requiem
that once before, at the lips of the
same loyal comrade, it sang to lull
America’s Unknown to his sleep in
glory.
And as the bugle called out over
the hills that look down on the city,
a striken woman turned away from
the entrance of the stone crypt down
in the dim chapel, leaving her dead
to the mercy of God. ,
Tonight the somber casket of black
steel lies in the western niche of
the great vault below Bethlehem
chapel. Above, towering from the
hillside, looms the gray mass of the
cathedral. Below the lights of the
city that has turned back from its
day of sorrow to the crowding cares
of life twinkle through the dark of
an overcast night.
And on that casket where the great
dead lies alone at last for his endless
rest, beside the plate that sets forth
only his name and the days of his
birth and death, there still lies the
handful of soft hued blossoms that
were the last touching gift of the
grief worn widow.
Singly and in groups the little
company that could be admitted to
the house came and passed within.
Thus came President and Mrs. Cool
idge, the honor guard saluting as
their Commander in Chief passed to
stand beside the bier of a dead col
league. Thus came others wrho had
stood shoulder to shoulder with
Woodrow' Wilson in his days of great
ness and came also, those few humble
ones who could not be forgotten at
such a moment, the faithful friends
of the old days.
In the study, where a great vacant
chair before the fire place stood un
touched since last he had sat there
to ponder in the warm glow, the
casket had been set. On the w'alls
about clustered the old trusty friends
of many years, books ranking row on
row' from floor to ceiling save in the
spaces w'here old pictures made sac
red by ties of memory looked down.
At one side stood the piano brought
from the quiet schoolarly home at
Princeton of those other years be
fore greatness had found Woodrow
Wilson out and called him forth to
battle and to death.
It was among these surroundings
of a quiet, home loving thinker, the
percious memory-laden things of
home, that old friends were now gath
ering to pay him last honors.
,The mellow chime of the great hall
clock beat three solemn strokes
through the stillness. As the last
tone dwindled and died, Dr. Taylor
the pastor in Washington under
whom Woodrow Wilson sat in ad his
years of Presidential greatness, rais
ed his voice:
“The Lord is my Shepherd,’' he
read,—the old, comforting Words of
the twenty-third Psalm carrying out .
through all the rooms and up the
stairs to the tearful, women waiting
there in deepest black.
The solemn words of the funeral
service followed, and then eight men,
soldiers, sailors and marine com
rades, bore the casket from the house
to the waiting hearse.
Behind the casket came Mrs. Wil
son in deepest black, with a thick
veil guarding her sadness from curi
ous eyes. She leaned on her broth
er’s arm, and was helped into a wait
ing car that moved off at once down
the hill behind the hearse. The hon
or guard was formed in rank on
each side.
Next from the house came \\ril
liam G. McAdoo. The daughters i-f
the dead President were supported
on his arms as he helped them to
the car awaiting them. Behind
these came the other members of
the family, the brother and nephew
and those less closely kin to the
dead. There was but one vacancy
in the immediate family circle left
by the place Mrs. Sayre, the third
daughter, and her husband would
have filled had time permitted their
arrival.
Coohdges Attend
Behind the family came President
and Mrs. Coolidge, heading the
group of distinguished men and old
comrades who made up the funeral
party. They were taken in the slow
moving row of waiting cars and
gradually the funeral train reached
down to Massachusetts Avenue and
swung around to the. right for its
slow journey up to the cathedral.
There are few houses along the
broad street in its two-mile tree
lined length to the cathedral close.
Police and soldiers along the way to
ekep back the crowding thousands
who stood in deep ranks on either
side all along the way) Sffllta ,y
guardians were without arms, but
they and the police, as the cortege
passed, silent but for the noise of its
own motion, each rendered his stiff
salute to the dead. Behind them in
the ranks of crtizenry that had wait
ed so long, standing five and ten deep
at every vantage point, heads were
bared and there was weeping among
the women.
The service at the cathedral, was
in keeping with the home service in
its simplicity.
None but the eyes of the dear ones
and closest friends and of the relig
ious comforters and the loyal com
rades of the sister services saw this
last moment. The vault entrance lies
in the very center of the chapel floor
and below it in the place of utter
rest many feet down. It was not un
til the great stone had been put to
one side and the honor guard men
stood ready to lower the casket gent
ly into the hands of the comrades
waiting below to lift it to its se
cluded niche in the western end, that
the family came back for that last
farewell. The clergy men stood at
the head of the entrance, while Mrs.
Wilson took her place at the foot,
facing the chapel altar.
At the last the Presbyterian min
isters whom the dead man had wor
shipped with in life joined in saying
over him the form of burial service
his church knows. Bishop Freeman
concluded the service, repeating
verses from Tennyson’s “Crossing
the Bar,” with its message of resig
nation and faith in God’s goodness.
Then the casket sank slowly into
the stone work and from outside, be
yond the double walls and where the
gray end of a gray day was coming
swiftly, the bugle rang out in “taps.”
the soldier farwell to a fallen corn- '
rade, There were only a few re
maining about the chapel entrance
as that last, clear message was sound
ed- They stood bareheaded and the
soldier and marine guards at salute
until the last note died.
Wm. G. McAdoo, Presidential
Candidate, to Testify in Oil Case
Washington, Feb. 5.—William G.
McAdoo, a candidate for the Demo
cratic Presidential nomination, is
expected to appear next Friday be
fore the Senate Oil Committee at his
own request to tell of his employ
ment as counsel by the Doheny oil
interests after his retirement from
the office of Secretary of the Treas
ury in the Wilson Administration.
Mr. McAdoo, who is to arrive here
tomorrow from California to attend
the funeral of former President
(Continued on page 4)
Memorial Service
The following program in
memory of Woodrow Wilson
will bo given at the Court house
here Sunday afternoon at 3:30
o'clock:
1. Hymn
How Firm a Foundation
2. Prayer.
Rev. S. L. Morgan.
3. Hymn By the Choir
4. Solo. Miss Frances While.
5. Address by Hon. Charles R. Ross
of I.illington, N. C.
6- Hymn
Onward Christian Soldiers.
7. Benediction
Rev. D. H. Tuttle.
MAMMOTH INDOOR CIRCUS
HERE NEXT WEEK
Smithfield National Guard Indoor
Circus all next week, featuring the
following high class circus and vaude
ville novelties: *
Todd’s Trained Dogs, featuring the
world’s greatest leaping wolf hounds,
and the world champion high diving
dog.
Alma Fern on the flying ladder.
The Juggling Taylors, expert hoop
rollers and novelty jugglers.
The Giant Frog, presented by Wil
liam Todd.
Bozo, the south’s funniest black
face comedian.
Miss William Todd, dainty singing
and dancing souber^te.
Spark Plug, the greatest of kick
ing mules.
Bessie Herring on the flying rings.
Ollie Brothers* European novelty
Todd Duo, dancing, running and
jumping upon the silver thread.
Doors open at seven o’clock. New
show each night. Dancing every
night. Season tickets $1.00,
2ND BATTALION
WINS BY BIG SCORE
Defeats The First Battalion
From Youngsville By A
Score of 57 to 15
In a loosely played game here Tues
day night the Second Battallion of
Smithfield defeated the First Batal
lion from Youngsville by the score
of 57 to 15.
Youngsville scored the first point
on a foul and it was quickly tied
when Smithfield shot a goal. Smith
field registered again and took the
lead, holding it throughout the game.
In the beginning of the second quar
ter Smithfield lead 25 to 4- Eleven of
Youngsville 15 points were register
ed from foul line.
The Second Batallion’s offense was
decidedly superior at all stages of
the contest. The Smithfield men
were more adept at passing and were
faster to recover. They held the ball
better and showed more experience
in the game. Youngsvill fought well
but with not much judgment.
Holland and Parrish were the
great scorers, Holland ringing up 24
points and Parrish 14. Stephenson,
C. played a good game at guard.
“Mack” Parrish, who is well re
membered by basket ball fans, as be
ing a stellar performer on Smith
field’s team during 1920 and 1921,
was in the game for the Second Bat
talion and played a hard game', ac
counting for 7 of his teams goals,
K&rrts was the Oiltstandirtg per
former for Yeungsviile, he scoring
on fotils practically all of his team’s
points.
All the men of both teams played
hard, though with a friendly spirit
and although many fouls were chalk
ed up against both sides, most of
them came without intention for the
most part. Each side suffered about
the same in the matter of penalties
Services At Court House
Rev. H. R. Faircloth will preach
at the court house Sunday night at
7:30 o'clock. Everybody is cordially
invited to attend this service. Music
will be furnished by the Johnston
Union choir.
TOWN FINANCES
ARE DISCUSSED
Mr. James A. Wellons,
City Lawyer, Makes
Instructive Talk Be
fore Woman’s Club.
A TOPIC OF INTEREST
The Woman’s Club of this city has
undertaken a series of studies in
town government, a part of the regu
lar monthly program being devoted
to this feature. A month ago Mr.
F. H. Brooks made a talk Wednesday
afternoon the second calk in the series
was given by Mr. J. A. Wellons on
“Town Finanes.” Mr. Wellons is the
city attorney, and is well qualified to
discuss this subject. His talk was
such that we feel that all the citizens
of the town will be interested, and wo
are heiewith publishing it.
By reference to Book W. No. 1, at
page 206 of the Registry of Johnston
it will be seen that in 1797 Lovid
Bryan, John Brayan, Matthew Handy,
and Robert Gurley, Trustees and di
rectors of the Town of Smithfield
conveyed by warranty deed to Har
vey Bryan, James Bryan and Rheu
ben Sanders, John Bryan, Sr., and
Robert Gurley, Sr.. Commissioners,
Lots No. 53 and 54 to be used as a
court house square.
These two lots comprise the court
house square upon which now stands
our beautiful court house.
The exact date of the birth of
Smithfield as a town, is unknown,
however it will be seen by reference
to the above book W. that this town
was an incorporated town prior to
1797, and for many years it was only
a little burg upon the banks of our
beautiful Neuse River.
It is said that the land upon wh'eh
the Town of Smithfield was first es
tablished was given by a man named
Smith, and at that time there v as a
small cleared field on the tract of
land deeded by said Smith and which
was known as Smith’s field, and that
is the reason that the town was call
ed Smithfield. Of course ibis un
written history of the name of oir
town, I am not sure, but [ was told
this by Sheriff Jesse T. Elbngton.
For many years the corporate
limits of the town embraced quite a
small area, but from time to time the
corporate limits of the town were
extended, until now the corporate
limits of the town begin at the mouth
of Buffalo, where said branch
empties into Neuse River near our
power plant, and runs up Buffalo to
a point just North of the residence
of R. O. Cotter, and runs thence a
straight line to the Selma Road,
thence S. W. with Selma Road to
Hancock Street, at the store of J.
W. Alford, thence about East and
extending along Hancock Street to
a point 65 feet East of the Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad, then a little
South West 65 feet of said Railroad
1.7 miles to a point East of the Fair
Grounds, thence about West through
the Fair Grounds a direct line to a
big ditch East of the residence of S.
B. Johnson, thence about West with
said ditch about 850 feet to a point
opposite First street, thence about
North with the extension of First
street to a big ditch west of what is
hnown as the A. Vermont place,
thence dowm spring branch to Neuse
River, and up Neuse River to the be
ginning. This comprises the corpo
rate limits of the town of Smithfild,
as it now stands. And, it is govern
ed by a Mayor, John A. Narron and
seven commissioners. Two commis
from each ward, except 1st ward.
The town is divided into four wards
All that territory lying between
First and Second streets is known as
First ward. All that territory tying
between Second and Third streets is
known as the second ward. All that
territory lying between Third and
streets and Fourth streets is known
as the Third ward. All that terri
tory lying beween fourth and the
[ corporate limit is known as the
Fourth ward- We have one commis
sioner from the first ward, Mr. Will
i (Continued on page 4)