North Carolina Newspapers

NEARLY 1000 MARTIN COUNTY SERVICE MEN NOW READING THE ENTEPKISE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD EACH WEEK. THE ENTERPRISE NEARLY 1000 MARTIN COUNTY SERVICE MEN NOW READING THE ENTEPRISE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD EACH WEEK. VOLUME XLVII—NUMBER 71 W illiumston, Martin County, North Carolina, Friday, September 8, 1944. ESTABLISHED 1899 Jamesville Women HRnt^ t*® i | * r oidm By the Thousands Volunteers Here Working To Complete August Quota Early Next Week After struggling along for weeks, a comparatively few willing volun teers with valuable help from units at Jarnesville, Bear Grass and Ham ilton, have nearly completed the Au gust quota of surgical dressings in the local Red Cross bandage room. There are yet 3,900 dressings 4 by 8 to be prepared, but it is hoped that new volunteers who have not here tofore found time to help will now pitch in and rush the job to comple tion. possibly by early next week. The project was carried over the hump by volunteers at the James ville unit where more than 12,000 dressings have been prepared and where 1,800 four by eighths are now being processed. No report has been received from the o'he1' two units at Hamilton and Bear Grass, but it is assumed that the volunteers there are busy and that they will complete the woik soon. Reviewing the work handled by the bandage room during the past year, Mrs. J. B. Taylor, chairman, said iast evening that 221,800 dress ings had been handled by the chap ter, including sizes ranging from 2 by 2 and 8 by 10 inches. Approximately 40,000 dressings are now about ready for shipment. Members of the Lions Club have volunteered to pack and ship the prepared dressings. In a letter from the Red Cross, it was stated this week that volunteers in the Southeastern Area had led all other districts during the past ten weeks in the percentage of shipped dressings. Red Cross officials ex tended their congratulations to all those who had given of their time to the worthy project. “Yours are truly ‘fror.t-line’ dressings, serving in our field hospitals throughout the world. We know you will want to carry on your enviable record until every single dressing has been completed and shipped.’’ The folowing persons visited the room here since last Monday night: Tuesday afternoon: Mesdames D. R. Davis, Joe Roebuck, Floyd E. Bufflap, Larry J. Bullock. Frank Weaver and Jack Hardison. Tuesday night: Mesdames B. S. Courtney, Bill Howell, L. P. Linds ley, D. L. Simmons, Luther Peel, P. B Cone, G. P. Hall, Morris Stalls, and Misses Shamie Ramey, Bolton Cow en, Marjorie Lindsley, Ethel Guest, Mary Lib Keel, Louise Hines, Eliza beth Manning, Edith Hines, and Elsie Richardson. Wednesday afternoon: Mesdames Hubert Tayior, C. C. Parker, J. G. Cheatham, Leonard Williams, G. W. Lewis, D. L. Speight, Travis Kilchin, Calvin F. Sluder, J O. Manning and (Continued on page six) ! Order Placed By. the TcmmJor' {Fire Truck Costing $7,876.0(J\ r —.— I An order fo ra new tire truck was f placed with the Msck Company by (the town last Wednesday afternoon. the new unit to cost $7.378.VO.. In the. deal, the town traded in its old dis carded Ford fire truck bought back in the early twenties, the company allowing $500 for it. The weather worn truck will be returned to the volunteer firemen as a gift from the Mack Company. While it is possible the town will' pay for the new machine spot cash upon its arrival, the agreement en tered into this week calls for one third cash and the remainder in one and two years at six per cent. The company representative guar - anteed delivery within 120 days pro-j vided priority purchase rights are t approved during the next few days! by government authorities. i i r '- f ... *u.. specificat inns) Very few » the '.• l ie changed and the changes eull | od for an increase of only $50 in the ! original purchase price. The $7,876 j purchase price does not include noz j zles or hose and these items will like ly boost the total to approximately $10,000. Tire truck now in use cost $11,500 back in 1928 but by the time it was fully equipped with nozzles and hose the cost was boosted to nearly $15,000. Following the purchase of the truck now in use, insurance prem ium rates were materially reduced, effecting savings that soon offset the cost and operation of the truck. It is not known whether another reduc tion in rates will follow the delivery of the new Mack truck. BANANA PUDDIN’ | v_s Annfvjnr « small hfiv of va nilla wafers and finding: a bunch of bananas. Bennie Weav er closed his eyes and dreamed about the good ole banana pud ding he used to eat from the Weaver table back home. Writ ing recently from his post in far- , away New Guinea the young sol dier said the wafers and bana- j nas reminded him of home pud ding, but they failed to meas ure up to the tasty dish his moth er used to make. Better Nutrition Is Topic for Meeting Meeting in the courthouse early this week, representatives of various agencies and civic organizations ad vanced plans for stressing the neces sity of better nutrition. Known as the Martin County Council of Social Agencies, the new ly perfected organization will meet once each month for a study of p’ob lems and for the general betterment of public health through proper nu trition. September has been designated as National Nutrition Month, and the Council will begin its work by sup porting the Emergency War Food Administration in its call for better nutrition in Martin County. Officers of the newly organized council include: Jas. C. Manning, chairman; Mildred Pigg, first vice chairman; Doretha Chase, second vice chairman; Ida Roberts, secre tary, and Mrs. J. L. Goff, publicity chairman. Representatives were present from most sections of the county, in cluding J. C. Manning, superintend ent of schools; H. M. Ainsley repre senting the Oak City Ruritan Club; (Continued on page six) More Men Report For Pre - Induction Exams Most Of The Group Is From Industry; Thirteen Married Twenty-one of the Thirty-six Colored Draftees Are In Their Teens men left here yesterday for Fort Bragg to undergo physical examina tions for possible military service. For the first time in recent months, most of the group came from indus try, or, at least, only sixteen gave farming as their occupation. •j'j.f. from the teen-age group and married mad? up a fairly large portion of | the number called. Twenty-one had not reached their twentieth birth- j day, and the ages of the others rang- , ed from twenty to twenty-nine years. Two of the men will be thirty j years of age within the next sixty ] days. The twelve married men leave j twenty-one children and a widower leaves two. Names and addresses of the color ed men called yesterday follow: Clarence George Everett Whit field, RFD 3, Williamston and Balti more. Octiva Rodgers, Williamston and iVO't'ldlti. James Purvis, Everetts. Ivory Ciark, RFD 1, Oak City and Williamston. Manson Council, Bethel. Champ Scott, Williamston. Albert Fleming Wilson, Williams ton. George Ben Ruffin, RFD 3, Wil liamston. Frank Scott, Williamston. -JaHaes-. Elbert Brooks-,—feSO—V Jamesville. Louis Leggett, RFD 1, Robersou imi iy-&iA mat ui ur.iy colored (Continued on page six) CLOSE Called to report for his pre induction physical, a local col ored boy almost missed the bus yesterday morning. He did not receive his notice to report, and was notified only after friends advised him his name had been called. He pedaled his bike down to the draft board in a hurry and explained his plight. “Give me ten minutes to tell my peo ple I'm leaving and I’ll answer the call,” he was quoted as say ing. The bus driver obliged him and before the ten minutes were spent he was back and ready to Otticer.J 'TJe.stror""1 Large Distillery Raiding in the Tranters Creek area near Roberson’s Bridge in Cross Roads Township last Wednesday, Of ficers J. H. Roebuck and Roy Peel wrecked a large distillery and pour ed out six hundred gallons of sugar beer. There were two 100-gallon ca pacity tin stills and the plant was equipped with an oil burner, the of ficers finding about ten gallons of fuel oil. Picking 'in a trail the offi I cers tracked down and found five gallons of liquor about a quarter of a mile from the plant. Last Saturday the officers found a plant in sight of Hassell. They wrecked the oil drum used for a still and poured out about 100 gal i Ions of molasses beer. Picking up a | trail at the plant, the officers went to an old vacant house and found two jj a lions of liquor ir^ the dog house "and "several hundred yards from^’the plant. As a whole, the illicit business is making little progress in the county. Joseph H. Gurganus Died Yesterday At Home in Bear Crass Funeral Services Are Being Conducted at Late lloine This Afternoon Joseph Henry Gurganus, respected citizen and farmer of Bear Grass Township, died at his home there at 7 o'clock yesterday morning follow ing a stroke of paralysis suffered last Sunday. About two years ago he was stricken, but had virtually regain ed his health and was thought to be getting along very well until last Sunday morning. During recent weeks ho had been unusually active on the farm, assisting with the to bacco harvest. Last Friday he picked cotton a greater part of the day. His last work was in the same spot where his first wife completed her earthly tasks in the cotton fields about this time of the year, thirteen years ago. Arising Sunday morning, he call ed his wife and explained that it was almost time for breakfast and get ready for Sunday school. Mrs. Gurgaus went to the kitchen and when she returned to his bedroom she found him lying on the bed un conscious. He never rallied The son of the late Outland Gur ganus and wife, he was born in Cross Roads Township in December, 1866. When a youth he moved to Bear Grass and married Miss Emma Las siter and leaves by this union, four sons, Messrs. It. C., Henry O., and C. B. Gurganus, of Bear Grass, and W. E. Gurganus, of Beaufort Coun ty, and a daughter, Mrs. Fannie Beach, of Cross Roads. Several years after the death of his first wife, he was married to Miss Bottle Leggett who survives with four children, John, Eunice, Joe and James Out land Gurganus, ail of the home. He also leaves fifteen grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He was the (Continued on page six) Local Boy Returns From Italian Front Pfc. W. Harcum Capps is home for a rest after being badly wounded in Italy on last May 13 and after see ing considerable action in the Med iterranean campaigns. Although he was shot in the right kneet the young man walks all right and is in good health. He will 'be at home with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Will Capps, at their home on Smith wick Street here until about the first of October when he is to report to Maimi for possible reassignment. Pvt. Capps was in the big push from Naples to Rome when he fell wounded, the victim of a snipei ’» bullet. He was removed to cover and advised to remain there until night fall when the medical corps was to return for him under the cover of darkness. The young man held to his fox hole until about 9 o’clock and then started crawling away. He was v„j» » 'v nrt l nu^ snipers’ bullets were so thick that stretcher bearers dared not oper ate. He was placed on the back of a soldier and carried out of range and then was placed on a stretcher and hauled on a jeep to a hospital. After undergoing an operation he was in the hospital at Naples for three months. The young man arrived home un expectedly last Tuesday morning. Robbers Steal $450 From Garage Safe L> < --« Entering a shop window, robbers some time during last Monday night opened the office sa'c ;<nd •.tolo $450 in cash from the Dixie Motors on Washington Street here. No trace of the robbers has been found, and few details of the robbery could be learned immediately as the proprie tor, Mr. William Everett, was out of town. . n . [ According to a report .some one entered the office a few days earl ier and stole approximately $50 from the same safe. Allied DrivfJVleets^ 1 sealer Resistance On 170-Mile Front ! Suiter-Fortresses Strike \ itul War Industries in Manchuria Following Ei 450-mile plunge across France. Allied forces, meeting an in creasing resistance, are engaged in bitter and costly fighting as they near the German frontier. While the German forces are still retreating in some areas, it is now fairly appar ent that the retreats have been in the form of withdrawals to form a defense line, the action indicating that the real battle for Germany will be bitterly contested. German's invincibility has been shattered and there is no doubt but what, the Allies will prosecute the fight despite the Siegfried line and ;i 11 the defense measures the Ger mans offer. It has been explained that American forces have trodded Ger man soil, that the advance was by patrols. Withdrawn later, the pa trols declare they found plenty in the way of defense, but it is reason ed that the resistance will not atuiid very long. Fierce fighting is raging along a front of about 170 miles, but real action there is hardly to be ex pected until the Seventh U. S. Army pulls up from the south to connect with Patton’s forces and other divi sions complete their maneuvers. It is predicted by some that tire land forces will do little more than ap ply pressure to enemy lines while the air forces prepare for and direct a terrific pounding on the Siegfried line and on vital targets within Ger many from close bases. The Allied forces are within 25 miles of the German border, bridge heads have been established at three points along the Moselle River. Dur ing the meantime, the Seventh Army under Gen. Alexander Patch, is moving about 25 miles a day to threaten large German forces and close the Belfort gap, now less than (Continued on page six) Lewis Tlios. Taylor Shot in the Heart, Lives To Tell Story Nature of Wound Revealed in Special Communication Few Days Ago Pfc. Lewis Thomas Taylor, 24 year-old son of Mrs. Maniza Taylor Whilaker and the late Sam Taylor, was seriously wounded in France on last June 11, relatives Were advised in this county the early part of Au gust. The nature of the young man's wound was not revealed until a few days ago when a special communi cation stated that he was shot in the 1 ;art. It is believed that his case will be numbered among the really un u ual ones in that he was alone for an indefinite period after he was wounded and lived through an oper ation to tell the story, “If I had known how badly I was hurt, I guess I would have fallen down and died,” the red haired in fantryman who had fought through some of the hottest action in France during the first few days of the Nor mandy invasion, was quoted as say ing. Wliile the scene of action was not given Pvt. Taylor was further quot ed as saying; “I was. acting, (is. rear guard covering a movement of my platoon and was all alone when I got hit. I felt a violent impact and knew that I had been wounded. Then I must have passed out for several hours, because when I awoke every thing was dark and quid 1 heard someone and I stumbled ab mt 150 yards in that direction before I could get their attention. They were med ics and they took good care of me from then on.” (Continued on page six) Sixteen Points Ration points for butter will be ,eld to sixteen, the local ration hoard minted out today, after the value ad been listed in error on the re aders’ point chart at twenty points. LABOR HEARING | __' A rate of about eleven cents a stack was suggested at a labor wage hearing in the courthouse here last Tuesday for handling the peanut crop in the county this coming season. Approxi mately iiiTT tanners appeared and made their suggestions, some maintaining that ten cents would be a fair price while others thought eleven o? twelve cents would be about right. Laboring groups were not represented, and it isn’t likely that the wage to be determined as a result of the hearing and others in the peanut belt will obtain for free labor, , .. The evidence offered at the hearing will be cleared in the Kaleigh office and a fixed wage will be announced shortly. Pass Million—Pminrl M#»k On Local Market This Morning; New Selling Restrictions Ordered County Court Holds Longest Session In Months On Monday Twenty-three Cases Cleared From Doeket; Itijj Crowd Hears Proceedings With twenty three cases on the docket, Judge J, C. Smith held the county recorder’s court in session until after four o’clock last Mon day, and the jurist lost no time in handling the vvoik. The docket car ried the greatest number of cases of any in regent months. Many of the cases were linked indirectly to the 'Ptni-tv of . the tobacco marketing season, but it has been a long time since a tobacco opening stirred up so much commotion. The court attracted a packed house and the tribunal, however inferior it may be, had the appearance of an old-time session of the “big" court. For about the second time since lie has been on the bench, Judge Smith dismissed a defendant and ordered the case costs taxed against the prosecuting witness. Some rather “stiff” fines were im posed and a few jail terms were sprinkled among the judgments to make the day a most unusual one in the history, of the court. Proceedings: Pleading guilty, Turner Holliday Page was fined $10 and taxed with the cost for speeding on the high ways. Octavious Roberson was sentenced to the roads for six months for lar ceny and receiving. He pleaded guilty of the crime. Charged with driving a motor ve hicle after his operator’s license was revoked, Daniel Ryan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail for one day and fined $10, the cost to be added. In the case charging Henry God ard with an assault, the court found from the evidence that the prosecu tion was frivolous and prompted by malice of the prosecuting witness, Jaunita Godard, and was not requir ed in the public interest. The court dismissed the defendant and ordered the prosecuting witness to pay the costs. Beulah Cherry was found not guilty in the cases charging her with in assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. A second case, (Continued on page six) Cases Handled In Mayor’s Court Here Justice J. L. Hassell handled quite a few cases in his court here during the past few days. Ciias. 15. Roberson and John Hen ry White, drunk and disorderly, were each taxed with $11.50 costs. Tom Armstrong was fined $1.50 and taxed $H.50 costs for being drunk and disorderly. Robert Leggett and J. I). Gurgan us, publicly drunk, were each re quired to pay $9.50 costs. Probable cause was not found in the case charging Boot Wilson and Haywood Gardner with reckless driving and action was dismissed. Probable cause was found in the case charging William Arthur Bell with assaulting a female, and the de fendant was bound over to the high er court under bond in the sum of $100. The case charging Mary Wynne and Raymond Wynne with breaking into and entering a club house in Jamesville Township was sent to the Superior court with the defendants under $100 bonds. They waived ex , i >'.' V 'y heal ing Selective Service Takes Nineteen —*— Of the fifty-one white men called from this county on August 16 for pre-induction examinations, nineteen passed, according to an official re port just released by the Draft Board. Twenty nine were rejected on account of physical defects and three failed to report. "**,F?Te names of those passing the ex amination are: John Lawton House, Herman Bur ros Daniels, Robert Taylor, Justus Brown Coltrain, Jesse Hubert Peel, William Herbert Mizelle, Moses Par an Wheeler, Herbert Lynn Brown, William Luther Bland, Thurman George Joyner, William Marvin Col train. John Leary Hassell, Roy Crav en Martin, James Taylor Whitley, 1 lube.il Gray -CoItKiiiv, JiahsisiJBSirirs-. lev James, Jr , tytalntha Bowen Price, I Monroe Everett Turner and William! Woodrow Tice. Seven fathers are in the group. PROMOTED v Raleigh T. Harrington, son of Rev. and Mrs. W. B. Harrington, was recently promoted to the rank of major in the II. S. Army Air Corps. He is military at tache at the American embassy in Quito, Eqnador, where he has been for the past year. Prior to that time he was stationed for a year in Brazil. Draft Registration For the Past Month Twenty-four youths, neatly all of them just eighteen years old, regis-1 lered for the draft in this county last! month. One of the registrants, Phil-1 lip Hay Tyson, of UFO 1, Hobgood, had already served in the Army and held his medical discharge. Names and addresses of the other August registrants: Ponce de Leon Bullock, c, RFD 2, Williamston. Arthur Brown, c, RFD 3, William ston. William Jasper Keel, c, Everetts. Spencer Eldred Coltrain, w, RFD 1, Williamston Leo Spruill, c, RFD 1, Oak City. Otis Clifton Roberson, w, RFD 1, Robersonville. John Davis Staton, c, RFD 1, Jamesville. David Alford Bland, w, RFD 1, Hassell. M. C. Best, c, Robersonville. George Henry Lyons, Jr., c, RFD 1, Williamston. (Continued on page six) y -y Report Block Sales On Market Today For The First Time —«.— Size of Racket Piles Will Be Reduced Fifiy Pounds Beginning Monday Following a week of comparative ly light sales, the local tobacco mar ket during the past few days has ex perienced a fairly rapid increase in selling activities, the deliveries to day boosting the total to well over a million pounds for the season to date. Floors were cleared without difficulty all last week and while there was little time to spare, the sales have been completed each day this week up until today. Just how big the block, the first of the season here, will be one can hardly say. The first sale closed its doors before selling time and tobacco started moving into the other houses for sales next Monday and Tuesday. This afternoon there was much room for first sale next Monday, but it is believed that the space will be ex hausted there tomorrow, if not earlier. It is indeed apparent now that the marketing rush is develop ing rapidly, that more selling re striction will follow in the course of marketing developments. It was officially announced this morning that the size of the baskets would be reduced by special order from a maximum of 300 pounds to 250, beginning next Monday. The I new order will hardly apply to to j bacco left on the block today. Sell I mg periods will be maintained at three and one-half hours daily five days a week for the present. It was unofficially rumored, however, that the selling week would possibly be limited. Some have said that sales will be handled on four days only, and other rumors declare that it is possible the selling period will be limited to three days each week. These are only rumors, but it is fairly certain that selling restric tions will he effected to meet new marketing emergencies as they arise from time to time. Up until this moj-ning, the local market officially had sold 948,516 pounds for $403,737.91, a resulting average of $42.56 per 100 pounds. Thi‘ sales today will approximate 250,000 pounds or more, not includ ing the block. Prices were described to be as (Continued on page six) More County Men Are Called By the Services f WOUNDED I j Captain David Armstrong was slightly injured in action in France on August W>r according to a message received yesterday from the War Department by his wife, the former Miss Blanche Harrison of Williamston. The nn tore of his injury was not dis closed. In a letter to Mrs. Arm strong, the captain stated that he had been hurt and was get ting along very well. A member of the U. S. Para troopers, Captain Armstrong is understood to he in a hospital in Italy at the present time. Wan’s \muMearlv Torn Off In Wreck -$ W. 11 Sykes, 58-year-old colored man of Murfreesboro hud his left arm almost torn off and his car, a 1937 Plymouth fudor, was badly damaged in a wreck this side of Gardners Creek on the Jamesville Highway at 10:30 o’clock last night Given first aid treatment here, Sykes was removed in an ambulance to a Washington hospital where it is re ported that possibly the limb will have to be amputated. Driving toward Jamesville, the Sykes car sideswiped a pulp com pany bus traveling toward William ston. Sykes was driving with his arm in the window and was mangled at the elbow. The fenders and running hoard of his car were ripped off. LeRoy Simmons, colored man of Greenville and driver of the bus, stopped and picked up Sykes and brought him to a local doctor’s of ..... — Sykes is the third driver to lose or nearly lose an arm while operat ing a car on the highways of this ' county in recent weeks. Sixteen Colored Boys Left Today Five of Group Are Married And They Leave Behind Three Children Passing their preliminary exami nations some weeks ago, sixteen Martin County colored men were called to report today for final in duction. Five of the group are mar ried and they are leaving behind three children. Twelve of the six teen come from the farm. Eight of the draftees are in their teens and to 26 years, inclusive, Names and addresses of the men reporting for final induction call to day are, as follows: Jesse Bennett, Oak City. Larry Thomas Ruffin, Roberson ville. Nathaniel Broaden, RFD, Rober sonville. Willie Odell Williams, RED 1, Pal myra and Scotland Neck. Thurston Spruill, RFD 1, Palmyra. Leroy Broddy, RFD 2, Roberson - ville. S. r. Whitaker, RFD 1, Roberson ville and Norfolk:. Harry Daniels, RFD 2, Roberson ville. Ulysses Daniel, RFD 1, Williams ton. Sam Junior Short, RFD 1, Oak Malachi Bonds, RFD 2, Williams Jesse Thomas Knight, RFD 1 Bethel. Charlie Bussey, RFD 1, Oak City. —iliny MbVTlhgrci'Vl.'WSB i good, . ....... Walter Bui field, RFD 1. oak City. Charles Henderson, RFD 2, Rob ersonville and Hampton, Va. For Army Center City. ton.