North Carolina Newspapers

THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTY FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK THE ENTERPRISE THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY OVER 3.000 MARTIN COUNTY FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK VOLUME XLIX—NUMBER 83 Williamston, Martin County, North Carolina, Tuesday, October 15, 1946 ESTABLISHED 1899 Pay $36,286 For School Operations In Martin County —«— Average Salary Paid Color ed Teacher Higher Than Others In County Martin County’s 207 school teachers received $34,711.65 in salaries for the first month of the current term, a recent review of the pay roll for the period reveals. In addition to that amount, $1, 575.00 was paid to the twelve janitors and forty bus drivers, boosting the total amount receiv ed in salaries by the teachers, bus drivefs and janitors to $36,286.65. In the first month of the 1945-46 term, the salaries received by the teachers, bus drivers and janitors amounted to $34,211.32. Although there has been a cost increase of $2,075.33, the average salary for the teachers and janitors is actu ally lower this term than it was a year ago. The increase is ac counted for by a gain in the num ber of teachers. Last year there were 104 white and 90 colored teachers. This year, there are 109 white and 98 colored teachers, a gain of thirteen. According to the records, col ored teachers in the schools of this county are receiving, on an average, $4.00 per month more than the white teachers. In one department, a single colored teacher is receiving nearly half as much as the combined amount re ceived by three white teachers in the same department. The average salary paid the white teacher in the elementary school this year is actually less than it was a year ago, dropping from $159.34 to $157.93 while the average salary paid the colored elementary teacher jumped from $166.26 last term to $167.74 this year. In the home economics depart ment, the lone colored teacher re ceives $235.90 as compared with $205.90 a year ago. The three home economics teachers in the white schools receive $509.13, an average of $169.71 which com pares with an average of $195.04 received last term. Receiving $279.60 on an aver age, the two colored high school principals average about $13 at month more than the average paid the six white high school principals. The sixteen white teachers in the high schools are receiving about $10 per month more than they did a year ago, on an aver age, but they are still trailing the six colored teachers, $156.36 to $168.20. The forty bus drivers are re ceiving the same salaries they were paid last year, orJa total of $540 for an average of $13.50 pet month. The twelve janitors last Vvuimuucu uu pagi: 17,094 War Dead Are Unidentified —•— Of the approximately 303,000 AmdffRfllF^aPTrffif^fff^LfSuies of i‘i 17,094 have not been identified, A according to information released this week by Major General T. B. Larkin in a speech at San Fran cisco on the Repatriation Pro gram. General Larkin, in his address, called upon veterans of foreign wars to participate in the repa triation program which will start bringing the nation’s war dead home from overseas next summer. In addition to the 17,094 not yet identified, the general stated there were 37,300 men who made the supreme sacrifice at sea and whose bodies were never recov ered. ROUND UP There wasn't quite as much business-for Jailer Roy Peel last week as there was the week before, but he cared for nine guests registered in the county jail at the direction of local and county officers dur ing the period. Five were booked for being drunk and disorderly and one each for an assault, affray and a ninth one was ordered to serve three day3 in jail as a result of an auto wreck. Five of the nine were white «d the ag«"3 of the group ranged front iA to 60 years. I Ask Stronger Support For Bureau Membership Drive •——-X* Addressin# a meeting of the ! membership committee’ at C'nim- ' ney Corner last Ffiday evening, President Chas. L. Daniel explain ed that the drive for members had slowed down' considerably and appealed to the members to get busy and push toward the goal. "Martin County, it has been ac knowledged, saved the farm bu reau about ten years ago when by a concerted drive it saved the state organization financial em barrassment and encouraged the leaders to carry on,” President Chas. Daniel said. “We are asked to give the or ganization the support of 2,080 members this year,” he continued. “Tt date, we have 1,301 reported. It is possible that two of three additional hundred have been signed, but the canvassers have not yet reported," Mr. Daniel ex plained. The twenty members of the membership committee present at the "dutch ’ supper pledged their support in pushing the drive on to its goal, possibly by the 25th of this month when the group will again meet to review the progress of the canvass. Farmers, business men ami others, during the mean time. are earnestly urged to join the organisation and lend their support in the maintenance of a program designed to give agricul ture a fighting chance along with other organizations. "We are en tering a critical period and unless we are ably represented at the conference tables and in the legis lative halls, we can't expect much," President Daniel declared, renewing his appeal for support of the Farm Bureau. If any one is missed in the canvass, he is asked to send his $3 membership fee to Miss Mary Curstarphen, clerk to the secretary, Williams ton. Two Robberies Near Here Friday Morning REGISTRATION s__ Registration of new voters for the election next month was off to a slow start in this county last Saturday, accord ing- to incomplete reports reaching here. Most of the precincts reported no busi ness at all, Registrar S. If. Grimes stating that hr did not have the first registrant in Williaraston's No. 2 precinct. The No. 1 precinct here, Mrs. Jos. Griffin, registrar, had one voter to transfer her name from the Jamesville books. The books will be open for two more Saturdays, and it has been pointed out that ser vicemen casting absentee bal lots without registering, must register now to qualify as electors in future elections. Blind Program At Lions Club —*— The local Lions Club was hon ored to have the Williamston school faculty as special guests last Thursday evening, in one of its most interesting meetings of the year. During the meal, serv ed by the Methodist Guild, piano selections were rendered by Mrs. W. E. Thornton. Professor T. E. Stough, from the Blind Institute of Raleigh, had two of his teachers and two pup ils with him to entertain and show what the school is doing. George Bennett, a senior, played several selections on the piano and violin and ten-year-old Har vey Miller sang several songs dur jeg the evening.. Stough made an interesting comparison on the public school and the insti tute of the blind. Lion Clarence Griffin made a very interesting speech on “Lion ism”and what the Lions are try ing to do throughout the world in aiding the less-fortunate. Several projects that have been handled by the Williamston club were also mentioned. Lion Stewart was called on to introduce his teachers, after which the meeting was turned over to Lions Horner Barnhill and Exum Ward who presented guest prizes to the holders of lucky tickets. Other guests present were Dr. Beach Ward Sitterson of Kenans ville, Miss Jill Peden, the Lions case worker with the blind, and her assistant. Miss Mary Coltrain. After a brief discussion of iou tine business the meeting was ad journed.—Reported. • Conducting Services In County Christian Church -at— Rev. Preston Cayton of Eden f.on is conducting a series of evan gelistic services in the Sweet Home Christian Church this weeK. Opened last evening, the meeting will continue through the week with services scheduled for each night at 7:30 o'clock. Homecom ing will be observed ne:;t Sunday morning, and the public u mvit cd. Robbers Abandon One Car And Take Another One Here —$—. Investigating One ('rime, Offieers Stnmlile On Another Robbers, possibly a man and a woman, broke into Dan Gardner's store and Silver! norne’s garage just outside the town limits here on the Hamilton Highway early last Friday morning. Investigat ing the two robberies, officers stumbled upon another alleged ciime, that of the registration of a man with another man’s wife in a local rooming house. No charges were preferred against the alleg ed adulterers, both of whom were said to have been brought here from Tarboro by a taxi driver. Going to the Gardner store, the robbers forced an entrance by breaking a back window'. A pis tol was stolen, but as far as the store owner could determine nothing else was carried away, the robbers leaving sugar stamps and sugar and other scarce items unmolested. The robbers then went to the garage where they forced an en I ranee by tearing off the front door lock. Nothing was missed there except five gallons of cyl inder oil. Later that morning a squirrel hunter found a 191)8 Chevrolet sedan stuck and abandoned in the mud on the path leading off the Hamilton Highway near the Whit ley farm to the old Davis or Claude Griffin farm. The hunter reported his find and officers in vestigated. Little progress was made with the invosUeatipn. but the tracks of a man and woman were noticed in the mud around the car. The officers later learn ed that a man and woman cheek ed in at the local hotel that morn ing about 4:00 o’clock. The law thought it had its prey cornered, but the officers were soon con vinced they were on the wrong track in the search for a solution to the robberies. During the meantime, the rob bers are believed to have been the ones who stole and drove away Ernest Etheridge's Ford coupe from in front of his home on Sim mons Avenue about 4:00 o’clock that morning. The Etheridge car was found abandoned on a street at the edge of Wbson Saturday. The machine apparently was not damaged. Checking the license on the car found stuck near the Whitley 1 farm, officers learned that the machine, belonging to Claude E Willie of Pollocksville. was stolen in Trenton, Jones County, about 10 o’clock Thursday morning. -a Farm Life Parent* Teachers To Meet -6 The Farm Life Parent-Teacher Association will hold its regular meeting Thursday afternoon at 3 o’clock in the Farm Life school building. All patrons and friends of the -choc! are extended a „picis! in vitation to attend thio meeting. Tragedy Strikes Twice In Family Of Mrs.* Whichard -- John Ilrrrv Wltirlianl Kill ed Instantly In Accident Near Washington Tragedy struck for the second time in the family of Mrs. Edith Whichard of Williamston early last Saturday morning when her son, John Berry Whichard, 36. was run down and instantly killed bv an automobile near the Beau fort County fairgrounds, a short distance out of Washington on the Williamston highway. Another person, Joseph W. Ford, 74, of Philadelphia, was critically hurt and Loretta Hill, address un known, suffered a broken leg. Walking along the highway, Whichard was fatally hurt when the car, driven by Michael Yanu littis of Reynoldsville, Pa., went off the hardsurface and struck him. The car, said to have been stolen, then tore across the toad and ran down the other two vic tims, coming to a stop in a ditch a short distance away. The driver got out of the car and fled, but he was arrested later and now stands charged with reckless driving, manslaughter and steal ing an automobile. Yanulittis, re ports reaching here stated, was connected with a carnival playing the Beaufort County fair. The other two victims of the man's wild drive were also connected with the show. According to later reports reaching here, Ford, was not ex pected to live, while the other victim at the time was showing improvement. Mrs. Whichard who lives here on Pine Street, lost a son, Pvt. Dennis 11. Whichard, in the war. The young man was killed in Italy on July 11, 1944. Funeral services for the last Saturday morning accident vic tim were conducted at the home in Beaufort County by Rev. M. L. Ambrose, and hurial was in the Leggett family cemetery, near Old Ford. Mr. Whichard, son of Mrs. Edith Terry Whichard of Williamston, and the late David B. Whichard of this county, was born in Beau fort County where he farmed. Survh. ing are his widow, the for mer Miss Cassie Leggett, two sons, Jimmy and Mitchell, and four daughters, Clara, Opal and Jo Ann Whichard, and Mrs. Au- ' drey White; four brothers, Char lie, Paul and Sam Whichard, of Martin County, and David Which- j ard of St. Paul’s, N. C.; four sis ters, Mrs. Charlie Hoell, Mrs. Ira Price, Mis. Palmer White and! Mrs. Frank Weathcrby, all of Wil- I liamston, and his mother. -« Youth Center Is Formally Opened Over 200 visits were made by the local teen-agers duiing the opening week-end at the local youth center. Approximately til) young people signed the register at tht I'pcri hot! v on Finlay night,, despite ;i conflicting football garni and scout jamboree. An equal number of parents and other interested persons visited the center on opening night. At 9.00 Friday night, Rev. Mr. Goff extended a welcome to the teen-agers and other visitors and expressed his appreciation to all those who helped to make the center possible. He then intro duced Mayor John Hassell. May or Hassell told of the work behind the opening of the center and mentioned the number of changes that had come about since the time of (he Lost Colony. He le cailed the time when the lot on which the center now stands was just a piece of land that “some body didn't want to pay taxes on." He also gave his listeners other interesting facts about North Carolina including a vivid description of the western part of the state. The mayor expressed especial appreciation to the Legion for the use of the hut and explained that it was open to all youth in the county. At the conclusion of Mayor Hassell's talk, Mr Goff recognized Mrs. G. G. Woolard for her work in helping to make the youth center possible. Following this, Mrs George Corey, supervisor of the center, v as introduced. Refreshments were served throughout the evening. Dies Suddenly At Home In V irginia Sunday Morning Funeral Service Here To day for the Former Miss Mary Gladys Watts Mrs. Frederick Cresswell. a na ive of Williamston, died suddenly it her home in Alexandria, Vir ;inia, Sunday morning at 10:30 /clock, the victim of a self-plan led death by hanging. She had neen in ill health for several veeks, and extremely despondent luring more recent weeks. Know ing she was the mother of an ideal and congenial home and be lieving the state of her health was not serious, members of the fam ily had not anticipated the action, and news of her untimely passing came as a great shock to relatives and hundreds of friends and ac quaintances here who remember ed her as one who loved life and ane who seemed to get so much out of living. The former Miss Mary Gladys Watts, she was born in Williams ton on August 29, 1903, the daugh ter of the late James W. and Ophelia Hardison Watts. After her graduation from the local schools, she studied at Salem. In early womanhood she was married to Robert Heyden reieh, of Staunton, Va., who was employed by a paving firm for some time. Promoted to the sup erintendency of his firm, Mr. Hoy den reich with Mrs. Heydenreich went to Albemarle and later lo cated in Virginia and established a home in Alexandria where they lived until his death following a short illness in 193(1. About three years later she wuis married to Frederick Cresswell, a native of Vancouver, Canada, and continu ed to make her home in Alexan dria. When quite young she affiliated with the local Methodist church, later joining Mr. Heydenreich in the Episcopal faith at Alexandria. Mrs. Cresswell is remembered here as one of the town's most popular girls whose genuine friendship and thoughtfulness en deared her to so many, including the old and the young in all sta Iions of life. Surviving are Mr. Cresswell; a daughter, Miss Mary Ann Hey denreich, a student at Mary Bald win School, Staunton, Va., and Frederick Cressw'ell, Jr.; tw'o brothers, Messrs. W. B. and J. W. Watts, and an aunt, Mrs. Pat Crawford, all of Williamston. Funeral services are being con ducted this afternoon at 3:00 o’clock from (he home of her brother, Mr. J. W. Watts, on Ray Si root by Rev. John W. Hardy, ector of the local Episcopal I t ( 1 1 1 ( 1 1 1 ( t I 1 I i I i (Continued on page three) i t Record Crowds < i Attend Meeting; ♦' ■ ( One of the largest, if not the ( largest congregations ever crowd- i d into the local Christian church ] icard R.'-.v^'-wton Robison, visit- ; mg minister, open the second i w< i k in a scries of two weeks’ i evening services last Sunday eve- 1 ning. No services were scheduled j in most of the other churches, and the congregation included repre sentatives from every church in town and several from other com munities. Rev, Mr. Robison, coming here from the Raleigh church, took his lext from the 13th chapter of He brews, “Christ Yesterday, Today, and Forever.” Several new members have been added to the church roll. The meeting is scheduled to close on Friday evening of this week. -O-: Three Cases In Oak City Court Justice J. B Whitfield heard three cases in his court at Oak City last week-end. Alice Dickens, charged with be ing drunk and disorderly and cre ating a disturbance in the county town late one night, was fined $15 and required to pay the costs. Mary Dickens and Billy White, facing similar charges, were each fined $5.and taxed with the costs by the trial justice. Rufus Taylor, charged with public drunker.r.r^, wo tuned $5* and uAcd with the cc^U. Local Market Will Clear 75,000-Pound Block Today -* Carrying ■ over about 75,000 >ounds from yesterday, the local obacco market will clear the un xpccted and unusually large ■lock today, a spokesman for the ioard of trade said early today, ’he sales will run well into the fternoon, however, and will car y the total for the season to well iver nine million pounds. Prices on the local market con inue to hold to the records es ablished last week when aver iges went right on by $58.00 per lundred pounds. Just before sales vere completed Monday after loon, a warehouseman pointed >ut an entire row with a guaran eed average of $61.00 or better >er hundred pounds. Prices con inue to hold to the 65-. 66- and 17-cent per pound top, a few go ng over, but not many. Sales yesterday were unofficial- j !y estimated at 260,000 and the 1 price at $58.00 per hundred or more. The market went back on a four-hour selling schedule, but even then approximately "5,000 pounds were left on the floor for sale today and deliveries were \ still coming in at the close of the ! day. Through last Friday the market had sold 8,636.676 pounds for an over-all average of $50.26 or a total of $4,340,464.38. During the first 35 selling days last season the market sold 9,433,342 pounds for $4,147,424.72 or an average of $43.97. While the current season j is trailing by 796.666 pounds, the ; actual money received by the far mers is nearly $200,000 greater .than tihe amount received in the i corresponding period last year. Seek Separate Fish And Game Division bravely Talks To County Fishermen \nd Hunters Here —•— Declares Demand Will Be Made For New Deal In Fish-Game Division • ■ ■ Addressing about one hundred ind fifty interested hunters and ishermcn in the Williamston ifigh School Gymnasium last Fri lay evening, P. K. Gravely, presi tent of the North Carolina Wild ife Federation, culled for a new ieal for the hunters and fisher nen of the State, and stressed the iced for separating the game and ’ish division from the State De partment of Conservation and De velopment. “We do not say that there aren’t iplcndid men in the present de partment, and it is not our pur pose or aim to get anyone’s job, put it is apparent that something s wrong and we believe the pres :nt system of handling game and ish problems mus' be changed,” he federation president declared, ’And there are indications now hat 25,000 federation club mcm pers will demand at the next ses ion of the state legislature a •hange in the present system,” lie tated. Opening his address, Mr. Grave y said that a fish and game com nission was created by law about wenty years ago, that regulation vas placed in the hands of the ounties. The need for conserva ion was evident and a division vas created on a state-wide basis, t was to be separate from the lepartment of conservation and levelopmcnt, but at the last min ite it. was included in the big de partment set-up, Gravely said, piece that timcjjf o rented .put, ■ach new governor appoints fif een members who, in turn, select he game and fish commissioner, tepresentatives from the various :ounties went before the legisia urc and asked that the appoint nents be staggered so that the poard would not lose its identity ivery four years. “The legislature, at first, would lot do anything, but finally igreed to limit the appointments o ten. But that was enough to :ontrol the board’s policies, and ontinue the short-term program vhich has proved inadequate in naintaining the wildlife resources pf the state. “When the legislature failed to ict to improve the system, the edcration was created by a group >f men interested in the promo ;on of wildlife resources. The edcration is sponsoring a bill calling for nine members of the fame and fish division, one to be ippointed by districts for one rear, another for two years and io on, the last to serve nine years. I’he members to be appointed are o have a real interest in hunting ind fishermen. They must be punters or fishermen, farmers or biologists, and the appointments would be recommended by: hunt ers and fishermen in the nine dis tricts.” The speaker declared that aiiy number cl programs had beer, ad (.Continued 6n page tigfct) RALLY First Congressional District Democrats are scheduled to hold a rally in the Martin County courthouse next Mon day afternoon at 3:30 o'clock. The rally is one of ten sched uled in the State prior to the November 5 election. Since there is very little competi tion being offered in this dis trict by the Republicans, no large gathering of honest-to goodness, ordinary Democrats is anticipated here. While no complete list of speakers has been announced for the rally here, the district congressman, Mrs. B. B. Ev erett, the party’s vice chair man, and a few state officials are expected here for the meeting. It could not be learned whether any or how many of those politicians of the party who have voted so consistently with the Republi cans arc to take part in the program here. Control On Meat Ordered Lifted Declaring that a few members of Congress were responsible for the meat shortagt a.id muddle, and pointing out that a few were more interested in millions of dol lars than they were in millions of persons, President Harry Truman last night ordered price controls on meat be removed, effective to day. The President, indirectly admitting that a few packers and the little clique that opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt in his every move had triumphed over the American economy, charged the packers with the responsibility of holding prices in line and heading i off any further inflation threat. Mr. Truman, explaining that every possible plan for relieving the situation had been studied and given full consideration, pointed out that decontrol was the only solution to a problem, the origin of which was traced back to last June when Congress refused to act to head off the crisis. Advance forecasts by meat in dustry spokesmen indicated that meat will be back in quantity within three weeks—by election day. Details of the decontrol order will be announced by Anderson tomorrow. The President said bitterly that his hand was forced by “selfish interests" in thr livestock indus try and a “reckless group" in Congress who combined to defeat the administration’s original price control law last summer. These men, he said, “have been determined for some time to wreck priee controls, no matter what the cost might be to our peo ple." "The people,” he added, “will know where the responsibility rests if profiteering on meat rais es prices so high that the average American cannot buy it." Mr. Truman, speaking from his White House office over all major radio networks, told the people that his decision on meat would l Continued cn page ai*). Series Of \\ reeks Reported In This Section Recently J Boy liiuMv Hurl Vi hrn 11 i 1 by (lar hi Front Of Kilpewood f)airy •" "<$ ——— One person, a six year-old lad, was badly but believed not critic ally hurt and several others mir acuously escaped unhurt in a series of automobile and truck ac cidents on the highways in this section during the past few days. One man, the son of Mrs. Edith Terry Whichard, was killed near Washington. Jimmy Baity, six-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Andy Baity, was painfully cut on the face and bad ly battered and bruised on the head when he darted into the highway and was run down by a car driven by Mack Cratt, young white man of KFD 2. Wiiliamston. Removed to the local hospital in a Biggs ambulance, the little fel low was said to be getting along very well. Playing across the highway from his home at the Edgewood Dairy, just west of the town limits, the lad saw a car traveling into town and after it passed he ran into the road. A second car, also driving into town, barely missed the lad, and about that time. Cratt accompanied by his mother and driving out of town, saw the child and turned to his right in an effort to avoid striking him. The Cratt car, ap parently traveling slowly, struck the child a glancing blow, Cratt bringing the machine to a stop a few feet away after plowing into bushes and a shallow ditch. The car did not pass over the child, and no bones were broken. Offic ers, investigating the accident, were of the opinion that there was no negligence on the pint of the driver. Tile Baitys, originally from Ala bama, moved here just a months ago from Elizabeth City. Clarence Lewis Brady and Mar tin Luther Morris escaped injury when the car and truck they were driving crashed on the Hamilton Road .just outside the town limits here earlier in the week. Morris, driving a highway truck, started to make a left turn just as Brady started to pass him with his 1041 Pontiac. Patrolman W. E. Saun ders, investigating the accident, estimated the damage to the car at $250 and that to the truck at $50. Harry Adams White, Jr., of Durham, ran a large converted army truck off the river swamp fill near Connie Creek about 4:00 o’clock last Friday morning. The driver said he was rolling up a window, that the truck an off the pavement and skukltd down the embankment. He was not hurt and very little damage was done to the truck, hut special wrecking (Continued on page six) ■o— General Increase In Farm Prices -S’—— Veording In Dcpjl fmoul of Agriculture* figure:-, there has been ;i gcnonil Increase in prices received by fanners for their pro duce. The following figures show bow much prices have increased from September, 1943 to Septem ber. 1946. Corn increased from $1.55 to $3.03 per bushel, wheat, from $1.56 to $225; rye, from $1.60 to $2.45, cot,on, from .207 to .345; hogs, from 13.60 to 10.60; beef cat tle, .rum 10.10 to 14.90; eggs, 43 cents to 52 cents; butter from 37 cents to 53 cents; peanuts, 3 cents to 9 1-2 cents; sweet potatoes, from 2.25 to 2 50. f COMM I I I LLS 1 -* AVilli.unstnn's recently re organized Parent-Teacher As sociation is planning an ac tive program ior the future, Hugh t«. Horton, president, said this week. Committee appointments are being con sidered and a working or ganization is to be expected within the next few days, the president said yesterday. The local organization is back in the state list, a goodly number of local patrons hav ing taken time out to attend a district meeting in Colum bia lart week where and whin the icmblo association was recognised.