Watch The Ubtl On Your Paper, Aa It Carrie* The Date Your Subscription Expire* THE ENTERPRISE Advertisers Will Pind Our Col umns A Latchkey To Over 1,600 | Homes Of Martin County. VOLUME XLI\?NUMBER 5 ff'illiamaton, Martin County, North Carolina, Friday, January 17, If tl. ESTABLISHED 1899 Missing Man Found Dead In Tranter's Creek Last Tuesday Last Ritea For lulyir Ayer?| Held al Rose of Sharon Church Wednesday Missing since Sunday afternoon. Edgar Ayers, former Bear Grass man. was found dead in Tranters Creek swamp about noon Tuesday by a searching party numbering from 60 to 75 men including officers from three counties and citizens in the community. Apparently the man had been dead thirty hours or more, one report stating that the body was in a preliminary state of decomno sition. While it is still believed by some I that Ayers. 31 years old, came to his | death by foul means, a jury, inves tigating the case under Acting Cor oner Wilkerson from Pitt County, rendered a verdict Wednesday after noon stating that Ayers came to his death from some unknown cause but possibly from exposure or heart trouble. The verdict was rendered after a two-hour examination of six witnesses, the testimony throwing very little light on the man's un timely death. According to information reaching here from Pitt County, Ayers' body carried no scars or signs of foul play An autopsy was performed and no water was found in his lungs, indi cating that the man died of exposure or heart trouble It was declared at the investigation which was held in Willis Bullock's filling station on the Bear Grass-Stokes Road that Ayers had experienced heart trouble just a short time before. Willis Bullock, the first witness called by the coroner's jury, stated that Ayers came to his filling station shortly after the noon hour Sunday. About 4 o'clock he borrowed a rifle and stated he was going off to look a drink. He saw him no more. Marvin Farmer, Beaufort County farmer who lives possibly three quarters of a mile from the spot where the body was found, stated that he heard someone yelling in the swamp between H and 9 o'clock Sun day evening. He thought some one I was hunting there and paid no at tention to the calls. Charles Hoell. operator of a fill ing staiton in Beaufort County where the boundaries of Martin, Pitt and Beaufort converge, heard some one yell In the swamp about 8 o'clock, but paid no attention to it. After closing the station about 10 o'clock he heard the yelling again and he with W. E. Gurganus got a boat and paddled up Tranters Creek about two or three hundred yards and j found Ayers. At the hearing. Hoell I stated that they found Ayers in a j "very drunken" condition. "I have ] lost my rifle and I am lost myself," ' Hoell quoted Ayers. "Mr. Gurganus got out of the boat and Ayers got in. I paddled him across the creek and put him out. He told me that he knew where he was, that he saw the opening ahead and that he could get I out all right I paddled back across the creek, picked up Gurganus and returned home," Hoell testified to the jury. Hoell said that he put Ayers out on dry land, but admitted that there was much water in the swamp be tween the creek and high land. Hoell also stated that Ayers was wet from his belt down, and that his elbows were wet where he had fallen down. He did not offer to take the man home, and judging from ))is story there was very little conversation carfied on between the two men. Gurganus told about the same story as that told by Hoell. James Moseley, young man who found the body. was questioned briefly, and Paul Whichard answer ed a few questions. (Continued on page six) ? B1 ow Liquor Stills' In County This Week Two large liquor stills were burn ed and blasted to pieces on Wolfpit Island in Bear Grass Township by county officers led by ABC Officer J. H. Roebuck Wednesday morning. The Wolfpit plant was in the cen ter of a disturbance that led to the untimely death of Edgar Ayers, for mer Martin County man, last Sun day. Threads of evidence are being woven together by officers, and it is now considered likely that the dis turbance at the plant will be brought into the open. Several men, alleged to have participated in the fight or observed the brawl, are laid to have | made certain remarks that are ex pected to open the case. Officers are of the opinion that there will be a break within the ranks of those con nected with the operation of the plant or among those indirectly as sociated with the illicit business in that section. It is certain that the deplorable conditions existing in the ares where the boundaries of three counties Con verge will be made subject to a strict law enforcement drive in the fu ture. Wednesday afternoon, Officer J. H. Roebuck and his deputy, Roy Peal, raided in the Free Union sec tion of Jamesville Township and wrecked a plant, capturing a 30 gallon capacity copper kettle and pouring out ISO gallons of beer. Property Revaluation Reveals Gross Inequalities in County While there is little hope of solv ing the tax problem, early reports from the field indicate that quite a few gross inequalities are being eliminated. Some startling facts in Martin County's taxing system are being brought to light through var ious sources. It has been establish ed in at least one case that the net taxes on certain properties were ac tually greater than what the proper ties would sell for on the open mar ket. It has also beeh pointed out that in addition to inequalities with in the townships there are marked variations in values in one town ship as compared with values in an other township. According to the tJesi information available just now, Goose Nest Township properties, as a whole, are possibly on the books at a higher valuation than proper ties in any of the other townships. It has also been learned that property owned by those whose educational opportunities have been few is list ed at higher figures than in most other cases. As a whole the revaluation to date is showing a ten per cent gain over the 1937 listings, but there have been some sharp reductions in indi vidual cases. One board of assessors states that values have been lower ed as much as $1,000 in some cases and increased by $1,500 in other cases. It is certain that the revalua tion work will not be completed in the county by the first of next month. Personal property listing is pro gressing slowly, too. In this town ship. List-taker H. M. Burras said this morning that not more than one-third of the property owners had listed, that only two mercantile stocks had been placed on the books, and that eighty per cent or more of the personal holdings had been giv en in for taxation. Property owners are warned about late listing this year. APPLICATIONS Nearly 500 applications for soil conservation payments have been filed by Martin County far mers and forwarded to the Ral eigh and Washington offices. The first checks should be made available to the applicants in late February or early March. Moot of the applications were filed by fanners in Bear Grass, Griffins. Poplar Point. Williams and Williamston Townships. Applications are being pre pared and signatures of farmers in Jamesville, Cross Roads, Rob ersonville, Hamilton and Goose Nest Townships will be received within the next ten days or two weeks. Right To Redeem Farms Is Upheld By Supreme Court1 Derision Wan llainli-il Down On Dt't'finln-r 9th, 1940 By Jurists The United Stetes Supreme Court] handed down a decision on the Fra zier-Lemke Moratorium Act, up holding the right of a farm debtor ! to redeem his mortgaged farm and \ thereby reversed its previous stand taken in the case of Louisville vs. 1 Radford. The court lias now ruled that if the debtor so petitions, he must be given the right to re-purchase his farm at its reappraised value or such value as the court determines, be fore the farm may be offered at public sale. This decision was handed down in j the case of Wright v. Union Central i Life Insurance Company on De-1 cember 9, 1940, and contsitutes the second case that the same parties I have taken before the Supreme Court. Farmers throughout the county will be affected by this decision, which reverses the Supreme Court's earlier interpretation of Section 75 (s) and which now prevents the mortgage holders from negating the rights of farm debtors by demand ing public sales. In writing the unanimous decision of the court, Justice Douglas stated: "We hold that the debtor's cross petition should have been granted; that he was entitled to have the property re-appraised or the value fixed at a hearing; that the value having been determined at a hear ing in conformity with his request, he was then entitled to have a raesonable time, fixed by the court, in which to redeem at that value; and that if he did so redeem, the land should be turned over to him free and clear of encumbrances and his discharge granted. Only in case the debtor failed to redeem within a (Continued on page six) Geo. S. Feed Dies In Fayetteville| George S. Peed, Sr., brother ol Mrs. Frank Weaton of this place and a resident of Aurora, died in a Fay etteville hospital yesterday. Well known in Beaufort and adjoining counties. Mr. Peed had been quite ill I in the hospital since Christmas, and | although hla condition was consid ered serious the end came unexpect edly. Death was attributable to a complication of ailments. Besides his sister here he is sur vived by his widow who before her marriage was Miss Jessie Rowe, of Small. He also leaves two sons. Joe Lawrence and George S Peed, Jr., of Aurora, and two daughters, Misses Jessie and Ernestine Peed, students at the East Carolina Teach ers' College, Greenville; his mother, Mrs. John Clayton, of Aurora, and a sister, Mrs. John Brincefield, of Suffolk Funeral services will be held at the home in Aurora this afternoon and. interment will follow in the cemetery there l^iriie Number Of r Cases Continued In County Court ihiuiul in Swiion 1st*** I littu Two Hours Last Moniiav In one of the shortest* sessions held in recent weeks, the Martin County i Reocrder's Court last Monday con- j tinned a majority o? the cases on the docket and adjourned in less than two hours. "It was one of the sorriest courts I have attended in recent months," a spectator was quoted as saying as litigants, law yers and witnesses crowded around the judge's bench and offered their services in handling the cases. Proceedings: The bewhiskered case in which Joe Lanier Godard,* Jr., was charged with operating a motor vehicle af ter his license was revoked, was continued under prayer for judg ment until January 27. The defend ant pleaded guilty Andrew Andrews, charged with violating the liquor laws, failed to answer when called, and the court lssui-d papers for his arrest. The ease charging Cary Whitehurst with an assault with a deadly weapon was continued under prayer for judg ment for one week. Pleading not guilty in the case charging him with an assault. Num phus James was adjudged guilty of a simple assault, the court sentenc ing him to the roads for two months and placing a $10 fine on him with the costs, added. The road sentence | is to begin at the direction of the, 'court at anytime within the next, two years. , Calvin Hill, charged with the lar ceny of oil from a river warehouse, 1 had his case continued until next Monday. Willie Powell and Clinto Smith, charged with aiding and 1 abetting in larceny, were granted continuances, their cases being closely associated with the one against Hill Chester Mooring maintained his innocence in the case charging him with the theft of a pair of gloves, but he was adjudged guilty and was sentenced to the roads for a term of two months. It was pointed out that Mooring was wearing the stol en clothes when he was arrested. # Reapportionment To Center In West| V To add another distric t to North Carolina's Congressional set-up. the reapportionment group will not al ter lines as they are established in the east according to reports com ing out of Raleigh this week. The first nine districts will likely re main unchanged, while the new -twelfth district is carved out of the tenth and eleventh congressional set-ups. r It was pointed out that after the division is effected, each of the three districts would have a larger popu lation than the first. According to some reports it had been proposed by some to elect the 12th congressman at large, but the creation of a new district gained fa vor when Emery E Denny, chairman of the Democratic Executive Com mittee, told the House Committee on Congressional Districts in Raleigh this week. North Carolina gained a new seat in the Cungli'si with lltl increase in population figures Colored Youth li Jailed Here On l^arreny Charfte Richard Lee Morgan, one of a big gang of colored boys who roam wild on the local streets, was arrested Wednesday by Officer J. H. Alls brooks for the alleged theft of cost ly parts from a $400 electric switch belonging to the Virginia Electric and Power Company. Sold to a lo cal junk dealer for $1.23. the parts were recovered from a dealer in Greenville. | Morgan, 13 years old, is being held in the county jail while efforts are being made to get him into - i training school. World Looking To National Congress For Viar Decisions British ami (iermuiiH Pound-1 ing Important Military Ha?e* Teniav While Britain and Germany are pounding away at vital military | bases, the world is centering its at tention on the program America will follow in the future. The spotlight for millions of war weary souls is centered on the outcome of the Unit ed States lend-lease bill which is I now undergoing bitter attack in com-1 mittee hearings at Washington. Some the war and the future of the civi lized world depends upon the events in Washington during the next few [ weeks. Government leaders who are position to know the facts as they exist today have strongly intimated that this county would be subject to invasion if Britain falls. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and Secretary of War Stimson stated to the foreign affairs committee at a hearing this week in Washington that it was their opinion that every aid possi ble should be made available to Eng land. that if necessary our battle ships should enter the war zones. Mr Stimson said it was not advis able to tie our right hand behind | us at this critical time. "The prob lem is not so much keeping America 1 out of war but keeping war out of | America." Mr. Stimson said. There is a bitter fight brewing ov er the plan, and those nations try ing to hold democracy together ire getting weary of-all our talk and our feeble efforts to act. The Tur key press stated yesterday that the United States is talking too much and doing too little in the way of helping Britain stunned by brutal attacks on" land, sea and air over thousands of miles of war fronts. In that connection, Martin County peo ple can aid in supporting the plan by writing to their congressmen und senators urging them to work for the lease-lend program or any other plan I that offers aid first to Britain and | then to ourselves. Costly blows have been dealt by both Germany and Brtiuin during the past few days. The British wrcckr (Continued on page six) A .. Influenza Continues To Spread in County Estimating there were more than 200 eases in the county the early | part of the week, local doctors are of the opinion that influenza is I claiming added victims each day. | pushing possibly the number of | cases to around 300. The epidemic, while having possible serious effects, I is not yet considered alarming in the county, however. No plans have been advanced to close the schools, | and as far as it could be learned no deaths have been traceable to the flu-pneurjionia in this county. While attendance figures are sag ging in most of the schools in the county, school authorities state that | not all of the absences are trace able to influenza. Hog killings and unfavorable weather are keeping I quite a few of the little folks out of school. With the exception of a few locali- I ties, the disease is scattered over the | county. Ten cases of influenza were reported in the George Reynolds Ho tel here one day this week, but the | victims are recovering. The epidemic is on the wane in other sections, but many schools continue closed in a number of coun ties in the State. 'March Of Dimes' To (jet Underway Here "The March of Pnpes" with men bers of the local Junior Woman's Club taking the lead, will get under way hrre tomorrow, County Chair man E. Thayer Walker stating that the sale of the little tags would al so be advanced in the several dis tricts by the community chairmen, most school principals, A booth will be maintained by the club on Main Street here tomorrow, and the pat ronage of everyone is eamostly sol-1 icited in support of the nation-wide drive against infantile paralysis. Dr. Walker states that plans for the President's birthday ball on Tuesdayr January 28, are shaping up rapidly, and that present indications point to a record attendance. LICENSE SALE The iiale of automobile tags here thi* year la holding Ita own, a report from the Carolina Motor Club lleenae bureau today stat ing that the aalea thla year are slightly ahead of thoee for the corresponding period a year ago. Up until January 13, 1M0, the bureau here aold 3,445 ear, 5ZZ truck and 45Z trailer licenses as compared with Z.454 ear, 5?Z truck and 474 trailer licenses aold this year up until the same Few Would Get Divorces and Deny Their Wives Insurance It is fairly certain that the call to I the country's colors hastened a num ber of marriages, but believe it or| not. reliable reports state that se\ eral young men are seeking divorces because they are subject to the draft. It is also a fairly well estab lished fact that a few young married men are seeking entrance into the j service to gain their freedom from marriage contracts, temporarily, at least. As far as it can be learned at this time, none of the "war" divorces has been granted, the seekers carefully hiding the real motive behind their action. Going over their eases with a In. cal attorney recently, three husbands pointed out that if they went to the army and were killed they did not I want their wives to get "all that in surance money." Those who would deny their wives the last dime are colored, but the re ports have it that those who would gain temporary xfcfedom from then marital contracts are young white mm.??? -, Apparently the value of depend ents in keeping a young man out of the service is dropping in this county. There are exceptions, of course. The records show that a sur prisingly large number of married men are seeking to get into the serv ice And it is entirely in order for the draft board to call upon married men for service, especially in Ihust1 leases where the wife is working and contributing to the support of her I husband. Guaranty Bank lias Annual Meeting In Greenville Tuesday Institution Uu? I Ik Moat Slir-e ee*?fiil llimineM During The Pawl Year The 40th annual meeting of the stockholders of the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company was held in Greenville Tuesday with Col Ed Flanagan presiding. I J. H. Waldrop. cashier, reported I that total assets of the bank are '$8,600,000 with more than $7,700,000 I in deposits, lie also reported that the past year was one of the hank s most successful from the standpoint of to tal deposits and profits W. H Woolard. executive vice president since 1920. reported that the Guaranty Bank and Trust Com pany's investments in federal, state and municipal bonds would show a I profit (if liquidated) in excess of $85 000 and this is in addition to the hank's $35,000 reserve account, carried to take care of fluctuations in bond prices He commended the various branch cashiers and other officers for their pall in making 1940 a successful year N. O. War ren. former cashier of the bank and a director, reported that the Exam ining Committee had examined and appraised lire bank's assets and had found them in excess of the book value. All the directors and officers of the parent office and the branches were re-elected. Stockholders were allotted 10 pel cent in new stock and a dividend of 15 per cent was authorized by the stockholders ' Messrs. J. D. Woolard, II. U Co burn. J. W. Eubanks. of ilussell; H. W. Salslniry, of Hamilton, and D. V Clayton represented the Wil liumston Hamilton branches at the meeting Bennic Gil ley Hurt In Auto Accident Bonnie Ulley, well-known farmer of Jamesville Township, was badly injured and Samuel P Sawyer, 54 year-old Elizabeth Cily man, receiv ed painful but not serious cuts in an head-on automobile collision near Roper Tuesday afternoon. Ulley. re moved to a Washington hospital af ter receiving first-aid treatment in icr iiTciviHR Plymouth, wus not expected to live 4c that I lYIIIOUl"! at first, but late reports state his recovery is expected if no com plications develop Sawyer, suffer ing from shock and cuts on his face, is recovering at his home The James ville farmer was rut on his face and knee one report stating that twen ty-six stitches were necessary to close the knee wound Ulley also suffered fractures of two or more ribs and possibly internal injuries. Lilley's car, a comparatively new Dodge, was wrecked beyond repair, and the Sawyer car, a new Chrysler, badly damaged. Pending the outcome of the injur ed men's conditions. Corporal Tom Brown of the Highway Patrol is delaying his investigation of the ac cldent. Check Lice Spread In Local Schools After spreading rapidly among children in the grammar grades, un wanted head inhabitants hsveh the State legislature thsi week. The new budget calls for nearly seven million dollars more the amount budgeted for the present hien"'"m ??* ? In the new budget is seen a vir tually unchanged program of State government for the next two years beginning July 1 Provisions are made for the creation of a retire meld fund for school teachers, but hopes for increases in teacher salar ies other than in earned increments, an extensive secondary road system and an enlarged facility for the men tally unbalanced and tuberculosis victims are lost in the figures that pile tip into one massive blur with appropriations for such, agencies as tin State ABC board and Conserva tion and Development departments sticking out to claim particular at 1 tention along with a tew othei boards ?II... olil budget lias its fimMw? heed* sticking imiI To start off the p.-ntiitiK orgy. n?' legislature calls fur $290.1)00 .lustid' in Hit' high places, including salaries, expenses ami a few other items in the supreme ami superior courts, will rost right close to half a million dollars, the figures being exclusive of the court costs hack home It'll take, the hud gctceis estimate. $32,103 to run the ! governor's office The Secretary of Stale will have to have $2H.U03 and the State Revenue Department is demanding more than half million III fees for rounding up the dough The budget starts skimping when it real ties such agencies as the Library Commission, the State Library, pub lie health, and the institutions, hut Mr Collar Moore's Stale Uquor Hoard gets a $1,311(1 increase over the 1940-41 estimate As for agriculture extension, the budget is recommend ing about $106.00 less than the amount asked for by the department head There's no provision for a twelfth grade 01 a ninth school month, but the budget recommends a thousand dollar increase for the school commission over the 1940-41 estimate The Department "f Con servation and Development is to get about $40,000 more than the last budget estimate it the commission's recommendations are heeded The new budget commission, an imputing floods and othei damages I., highways, recommends a three million dollar fund fur repairs. A lugh spot in the budget is an increase the fund lor road primary and secondary systems maintenance. An additional one and one-half millions would go for improving secondary roads This amount will make pos sihlc the "bushing" of half and the improvement of about five or six 'miles of the 'later ridges in Martin County Proposals have been inauc hi broach n the sales las exemptions on food and products, hut for that one item the tax picture is very like ly to remain the same ill the State during the next two years The com mission recommends exemptions foi the following flour, meal, meat, fowl, lard, milk, molasses, salt, su gar coffee, Holy Hibles. bread and rolls, eggs, cereals, grits, rice, but ter butter uhstitutes. fresh and canned vegetables, fresh fruits, cam oed milk, fish and canned fish and jmvab* ~ *. _?? 4 - ( oiinty Native Dies At New York Home Robert Roebuck, a native of this [county, died suddenly at his home [ ID cy.rdner, New York, Last Tues day, the victim of an heart attack A great lover of horses, Mr Roebuck was found dead at the stables. The son of the late lien. R L, and Klm/a White Roebuck, he was born II, this county about 45 years ago | lie traveled extensively and had a fealtu<* act m the HI1 Ranch shows at one time. He was later filmed with his educated horse at Holly wood lie spent some time in the West and then went to New Jersey where he lived a few years before locating in Gardner, New y?rk. where he was employed by the Unit ed Slates Government fur a num-? her of years 1 Mr Roebuck had many friends in this county, and was highly regard ed in his adopted community in New York. He married Miss Rachel Edmondson, of Hamilton, who sur vives him. He also leaves two broth ers. John Roebuck, officer on the Williamston police force, and Nico demus Roebuck, of Philadelphia, and four sisters, Mrs. Carrie Dell Ptp pen. of Hamilton; Miss Martha Baa buck. Mrs. Ben James, and Mrs. James White all of Poplar Point The body reached this county at noon today and was placed In the church at Spring Green where the last rites are being conducted thh afternoon by Elders B. S. Covin and William E. Grimes. Interment will follow In the family plot In the Spring Green Cemetery.