THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNT! * FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK THE ENTERPRISE THE ENTERPRISE IS READ Bl OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNT! FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK VOLUME L—NUMBER 46 Williamalon, Martin County, North Carolina, Tuesday. June 10. 1017 ESTABLISHED 1899 Introduction Of liial Telephones A Attracts Crowds —«—. Event Tops List in Town's Fortv-S jvent Years Of "Phone History Not since the la«° Kader Lilley constructed a telephone line from his rural home to the Coast Line telegraph office here about half a century ago has a milestone in this section’s telephone history at tracted more attention than Hid the switch from the manual to the dial system by the Carolina Tele phone and Telegraph Company at its exchange here last Thursday night. Nearly 100 persons, in cluding top ranking company of ficials, employes and special guests, crowded into the offices to witness the history-making event. T e 1 e^p hone communications have traveled a long way since fif the old Willianiston Telephone y Company was organized on July 27, 1900, with $800 capital stock. Improvements were made at, more or less, regular intervals down through the years, but all tne past progress was eclipsed when the Carolina Company re cently spent more than a quarter million dollars—$275,000, accord ing to official estimates—to give Williamston one of the most mo dern exchanges in the entire na tion. While the conversion to the dial system last Thursday night held the spotlight, the company, dur ing the meantime, moved to give this section extensive long dis tance service by installing an , eight-position switchboard and adding to its toll circuits. The .....Jural system,. ..serving .approxi mately 220 subscribers, is possibly one of the most extensive in the State. At the present time the company is maintaining fifty toll circuits directly from its local of fice. including foui to Norfolk, three to Raleigh, three to Rocky Mount, three to Tarboro, three to Robersonville, one to Greenville, four to Washington, one to New Bern, two to Elizabeth City, three to Edenton, four to Ahoskie, two to Hamilton, six to Plymouth, sev en to Windsor and four to Colum bia. Williamston, recognized as one of the main communications cen ters in this section of the State, is indeed fortunate in getting one of the most modern exchanges in the nation. Officials of the company are pleased with the progress the : exchange has made, and it was j mutual pride that they, the em ployees and special friends as sembled for the history-making • event last Thursday. Among the company officials and' employes attending the in formal program were, J. R. Por ter, board chairman; E. W. Olsch ner, vice president and chief en gineer; H. Dail Holderness, vice president and secretary-treasurer; J. T- Sadler, auditor; W. C. Dar row, commercial and traffic man ager; C. R. Jones, assistant chief engineer, E. M. Friar, plant man ager; W. W. Barrett, co-ordinator; E. P. Kittinger, traffic engineer; C. J. Logan, commercial engineer; E. B. Fowlkes, purchasing agent; W. B. Smith, engineer; Aaron Smith, engineer; C. M. Burns and A. N. Mason, maintenance; L. E. Thompson, district plant manag er; Biscoe Howell, Geo. Remmer, J. S. Dorp, Leonard Raby, M. P. (Continued on page three) -» Firemen Get Two Calls Saturday ■ —»— Following a fairly long period of little activity, local volunteer firemen were called out twice last Saturday. . The firemen were called to Barney's Grill on Washington Street at 12:15 that afternoon when grease, spilled on the stove,, caught fire. Very little damage resulted and business operations there were interrupted only for a short time . Believed to have been starter! ■ by prowlers, fire destroyed a small tenant house just back of the Dixie Peanut Company plant y on Washington Street at 10:15 o’ clock last Saturday night. The ' house w'as not occupied and ihe j fire gained much headway before jt we* discovered. : Promptly at 10:00 o’clock last Thursday evening, operators deserted the old switch board in the local telephone exchange ancf took their seats at the new board where they are pictured handling their first long distance calls following the conversion from the manual to the dial system. Pictured above are (seated) Mrs. Thelma Caruso, Miss Dora Twiddy, Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Perry, Misses Dorothy Umphlett and B. Cherry; (stand ing) Miss Helen Stapleford and Mrs. Margaret Cone, supervisors. Make Switch To Dial Here Without Hitch KOI MI-UP j Local and county officers had a busy period last week end when they rounded up and jailed fourteen alleged violators of law and order. Eight of the fourteen were placr n fhe jail on Satur day. Ten of the fourteen were booked for public drunken ness, and one each for lar ceny, forgery, investigation and the fourteenth was taken in(o custody to serve on old sentence. Four of the ten were white and the ages of the group ranged from lfi to 35 years. No Developments In Attack Case —\— After extending their search over a fairly wide section, and after questioning scores of per sons. officers are believed to have made very little progress in solv ing the case growing out of the attacks on Miss Louise Corey, lo cal young girl, on South Hough ton Street here on the night of Saturday, May 31. Several additional suspects have been detained and question ed during the past several days, but nothing tangible has been learned from any of them, it was skid. Special Agent Guy Scott, cf the State Bureau of Investigation, who has been here for almost a week at the request of the attack victim's father and who was as signed to the case at the direction of Governor R. G. Cherry, con tinues at work, and local and county officers are assisting him in every way possible. It could not bo learned how much longer the agent would work on the as signment, but he plans to be here as long us he thinks it necessary. It is possible that he will with draw from the case shortly but for a short time only. -* Local Young Man Gets His Degree At Slule T. Stuart Cr tcher, son of Mr. and Mrs. Titus Critcher of Wil liamston, was graduated with honors at State College, Raleigh yesterday. During the year just ended,1 the graduate, a student in Wjld- j life Conservation and Manage-; ment, was president of the Wild life Club, a, member of the Ag Club, the Zoology Honor Com mittee, Alpha Zeta, and Alpha Gamma Rho, and an honorary member of the Forestry Club. With the old sheepskin ready for the frame, the young n^ar. reported today to White Lake where he will w'ork with the Wildlife and Conservation Serv-! ice in making a survey of streams j in that section. Operators Desert Manual Board At Designated Hour —®— l*ortt*r In Talk (omnicmor «iti 11*4 Historic Kvcut In Fiiii’ii! System -*d— A new chapter in this section's communications system was re corded in the local offices of the Carolina Telephone and Tele graph Company here last Thurs day evening when a switch from the manual to the automatic sys I tem was effected, an informal but very fitting program marking the history making event. Mr, Carter Durrow, traffic man ager for the company, was in charge of the brief ceremony, and | he introduced Mr. J. H Porter, chairman of the company’s board of directors, who briefly address ed company employees, officials and a few special guests. •Vi art here to cut over from the manual to the dial system.” Mr. Porter said after a casual fashion, explaining that it had b< en his pleasure to officiate at an informal program marking the switch from the old magneto to the common battery system fol lowing the purchase of the old Williamston Telephone Company in January, 1926, from the late W. C. Manning. Pausing briefly, Mr. Porter paid tribute to the former owner-operator of the system here, referring to him as one of the finest men he ever did busi ness with. "He lived right, and he did right in h'is business deal ings. and I enjoyed my relations with him before and after the purchase of the local system,” the official said. The speaker then paid fitting tribute to the personnel annexed with the purchase of the loga] ex change, referring mainly to Miss Clyde Hassell, now retired, and to Mrs. Lucy Mobley, and Mrs. J. A. Leggett, present employees of the company. "1 have said that the personnel of the old company was worth every cent we paid for the | property. They have stayed by their jobs all these years, and we appreciate it,” he told the group gathered in the new long distance operating room. ‘‘For the past several years we have operated under difficulties, i (Continued on page five) I -* Holding Bible School In Cedar Branch Church -* The Cedar Branch Baptist ! daily vacation Bible, school was opened yesterday afternoon >t 2:00 o’clock with Mrs. Wendell Modlin in charge. A goodly num ber of co-workers are assisting Mrs. Modlin in conducting the classes which are being held each afternoon this week from 2:00 to 4:00 o'clock. Plans for the com mencement Sunday will be an nounced later, the pastor, Rev. W. B. Harrington, said. Leamon Hopkins Dies In County Joseph Lramon Hopkins, retir ed farmer, died at his home near Everetts last Saturday evening at 6:45 o’clock. Suffering a stroke some years ago, he had been in declining health, but his condition was not considered serious until about two weeks ago. A native of Washington County, he moved with his parents to Griffins Township when quite voung. Following his marriage in 1013 to Miss Nora Bennett he had ! made his home near Williamstoii up until about two yeai s ago when he located on a farm near Ever etts. He was a member of the Rid dick's Grove Baptist Church and | his pastor. Rev. W. B. Harringtjpn I conducted the last rites at the home Monday afternoon at 3:00 I o’clock. Interment was in Wil liamston’s Wood lawn Cemetery. Surviving are his widow; three daughters, Mrs. Lester T. Cherry of Albany, N. Y., Mrs. J. R. Law rence of Supply, and Mrs. Hansel Lower of Phoebus, Va.; two sis ters, Mrs. Wilson Holliday of \ Roanoke Rapids, and Mrs. Wilson Rogerson of An lander, and sever al grandchildren. Principal Named For Bear Grass —■»— H. V. Parker, Jr., of Murfrees boro, has been elected to the prin cipalship of the Bear Gl ass School to succeed Professor Chas. A. Hough, resigned, it was announc ed by Mr. E. C. Harrison, chair man of the loqal committee, last week-end. Mr. Parker, a World War II vet eran, has had two years’ experi ence in the teaching profession, one at Ahoskie and one at Mars Hill in Bertie County, lie plans to move bis family, wife and two children, to Bear Grass later in the summer. Reports state that there are several openings in the elemen- 1 tary department of the school, and that all the teachers in the high i school had resigned. Applications are be ing considered, but. no elec- 1 tions have been effected, it was explained. Fire Department ■' ricmm's hesi^n o Effective June 30 Not (.eilain of Thrir Stains As Km ploy rs. Firenien Comply W itli Order Not certain of their status as employees of the town and in keeping with a recent order of the local board of commissioners, calling for the resignation of all town employees, members of the local fire department last evening tendered their resignations as of June 30. In submitting their resigna tions the firemen explained that j they were not certain if they were j recognized as paid employees, or were overpaid or underpaid, that to eliminate any doubt they were complying with the board order calling for wholesale resignations in all town departments. The firemen, signing the formal resig nation in a block, said they were tendering their resignations with the assurance that they would be glad to abide by the wishes of th ■ board. In other words, the fire men said they were willing to step out lor replacements or con tinue at their posts if they could be of further service. Individually, several officials have expressed the opinion that the order was not applicable to the firemen, and it isn’t consider- I ed likely that the resignations j will be accepted. It was pointed) out at the meeting last evening, j however, that by taking the at- j lion the firemen would give the! otlicials an Opportunity to accept or reject any or all applications. j It could not he learned how [ many of the various department j employees had , Icndei ed their i resignations, but il Ik mg Mi*"' mured that seme changes in per sonnel could be expected. How ever, no wholesale changes are anticipated in any of the depart ments. A meeting of the town board will be held next Monday evening at 8:00 o’clock and it is likely that some changes in the personnel will be announced soon thereafter. Moils Consider Carnival Offers; —«— The regular monthly meeting of 1 the Board of Directors of the lead ! Dions Club war. held at “The Switch last 'Thursday evening, when Lions K. D. Worrell and Claude ,1. Goodman entertained the group with a steak .supper. Following the meal, the busi ness session was held, with Presi dent H. P. Mobley presiding. Among the items of business dis cussed were the reports on the cost of construction of the grand stand at tiic1 local ball park. It was reported that a total of $1368.04 had been spent for this structure, and this figure does not include the work done by the Lions themselves. Also discussed were offers from three carnivals Ihat want to bring their shows here this fall for the Lion's third annual Harvest Fes tival. Action was delayed on this matter. ^ '1 hose attending the meeting were Lions II. P. Mobley, K. D. Worrell, C. .1. Goodman, W. C. Griffin, W M. Baker, I) V. Clay ton, Homer Barnhill, K. M. Tra Tey. Geo. II. Guiganus and John 1 H. Edwards. Seventy- Year-Old Farmer Has Unique Health Record It. C. Brown, Martin County farmer observing his seventieth birthday last Sunday, pointed out to friends one of the most unusual health records in tins county’s medical annals. Married fifty years ago, the 30th of this month, Mr. Brown said that he and Mrs. Brown had reared eight children, that he never had the first doctor’s bill. Wlule lie explained that there had been tome illness such as the minor contagious diseases and Limes when he did not feel so well, lie had never found it neces sary to summon a physician to render medical aid. Commenting briefly on other aUbjccU, the builder of tilt unique I health record said that lie raised no tobacco on his farm in Goose Nest Township and declared that he was never broke during the | depression when tobacco formers j were losing their shirts back in I 102ver the current figure. The ■ounty is to be refunded- a por ion of the administration cost. Other than the schools which ■all for a 55-cent rate, the county s to operate on a 50-eent levy luring the new fiscal year. The 'igurcs are based on an estimated iroperty valuation of $17,500,000. (Continued on page eight) Four Marriage Licenses Issued —«.— Paying little more than casual attention in recent years to June as a month for operations, Cupid got down to business in this coun ty last month and indications now point to a record number of June brides. Four licenses were issued to white couples by Register J. Sam Clelsinger last week-end. the av erage holding to almost two a day j so far. Licenses were issued last! week-end to, Robert Worsley James and Mamie Elizabeth Keel,1 both of Roberson ville; Francis, Biggs Howard and Bettie Zereela Liggett, both of Wiiliamston; Ed- ; ward Ashley Roberson and Joyce ; Gained’ Keel, both of Roberson- i ville; Leroy Mobley of Williams- i Lon and ELio Lpeiler of Windsor, i CLINICS Vi More than 5,000 persons have been given protection against typhoid fever in the county during the past few weeks, and an additional !{, 000 or more are expected to get the protection before the special dispensaries are clos ed, the health officer said. A clinic will be held in Hamilton on Friday morning of this week and on Friday morning of next week. A clinic also will be held in Hassell Friday morning of this week at 11 o'clock, and at Jamesville next Monday morning. After that time, the protection will be offer ed at the established clinics, including the one at Kober sonville each Wednesday and at Williamston each Saturday morning. Layman Talks To Prisoners In Jail Making his annual visit in this section last week, John W. Bar tram, Episcopal layman of Fitz gerald Georgia, "broke'' into the county jail and propounded the principles of religion. Only a few prisoners were there to greet the religious leader who has visited jails and prisons all the way from Florida to Virginia for the past thirty-two years. Foiced olt tir»v"fitgjr*rfrr~M^fV his old ear and trailer by gas and lire shortages during the war, he continues to travel by bus. and de spite his 72 years he is holding up well. Depending on voluntary; contri butions to finance his missions, Mr. Bartram says the going is tough at times, but he believes he j is accomplishing something, and declares that much work needs to be done. He lias pleaded with | youth in jail, pointing out that tens of thousands of them are be ing held and that their parents don't seem to care. ‘‘We must wake up and change our ways or we are all going to hell,” the lay had two converts in this State who are carrying on the work. Both of them were drunk and ! down and out when he helped i pick them up in jail and .started them on the road in the service of the Master. To Retain County In a recent meeting, the Martin County Health Department pass ed a resolution calling for the continuance of a county milk or dinance requiring all milk sold commercially be of Grade A. Con siderable trouble has been had with milk regulations in some sec- ! tions of the State, hut wholesal ers are cooperating with the health department in this county, it was pointed out. The department also passed a resolution requiring all teachers in this county, both white and col ored, to submit a film of their chests before the opening of school next fall. The film will be handled without cost to the teach ers in cooperation with the TB Association and the Health De partment. Miss Mary L. Taylor, former nurse with the department, will resume her old duties some time in August after a leave of absence j spent in the LI. S. Army Nurse Corps in Germany. Mrs. Sarah DeCato, department nurse, is spending a month in a nurse’s training school in Golds-j i boro. Describes Comliliou Of Ilia Tobacco Crop i Describing the condition of his ; obacco crop, Farmer Don John- t ;un of Poplar Point said this j norning, "We have about two- \ birds of a stand, and it ranges ;1 n height from a doole bug hill J t o al)i u! two indies it louliu bud." 11 . * Friday Evening: I ^ o Committer To Name Chair* iiini For Various Posi tions; Reports Hi uril Meeting in the courthouse last Friday evening, members of the Martin County Red Cross Chap ter executive committee and sev eral fund drive leaders reviewed the work handled by the organi zation during the past year and heard various departmental heads submit their reports. Recognizing the need for work in water safety and production, for the world’s needy and pre paredness for the proper hand ling of emergencies in case of dis aster. the group named Mesdames l). V. Brown and S. H. Grimes and Mr C. B. Clark, Jr., to get chairmen for the three depart ments. The chapter organization hopes to be able to offer courses in life saving, to maintain an ac tive production unit for the needy, and Rave u chairman ready to act in case of tornado, flood or other disasters. Reviewing the work handled by the Junior Red Cross. Mrs. D. V. Biown, who organized the work and who made splendid progress with the young people during the first year of organization, stated that 2,191 children were enrolled that they had made and shipped 41) gift boxes containing 940 ar ticles to needy children in war torn countries. An additional fifty gift boxes arc to be shipped, Mrs. Brown said. The chairman of the Junior organization stated that the treasu.v had a balance of $256.43 and planned to send two 'iKfcfttfccrs-to : t jri Covington. Ga. Although the organization is in its first year, the juniors showed much interest in its activities. Farm Life led the chapter ill membership and proportionately prepared more of the gift boxes than those of any other school. Bear Grass was second, while lit tel interest was shown by the young people in Williamston. Treasurer Herman Bowen stat ed that the Red Cross, exclusive of the Junior organization, rais ed $3,2('ti.03 in the last fund drive, that aproximately 4U percent of that amount got-to th«~RSticr.al Ui MUili z'.mtil mV. , head of home service work, re viewed the work ol her depart ment, explaining that approxi mately 70 eases were being handled each month, most of them for war veterans. Nearly $400 had been contributed to worthy cases and quite a few veterans, experiencing adverse conditions, had been aided with transporta tion and similar expenses. Miss Chloi is Kellum, home service field worker who attended the meeting with Miss Janet Cox, field representative, explained that the funds were held in trust for the public, that while the or ganization was ready and willing to help in any emergency, its leaders must be certain that the professional beggar and unworthy eases do not share in the funds contributed by a generous public. Mrs. Joint W. Hardy, chairman of the local chapter, presided over the meeting. Fund Drive Chairman C. B. Cl.uk, Ji , briefly discussed tho last drive and expressed his ap preciation to all those who made the canvass and those who sup ported it. Bear Grass was repre sented along with Williamston, but no other districts sent dele gates to the meeting. Crowds Attend (Jiureh Meeting Opening a series of rev ival sor« vices in the West End Baptist Church last Sunday morning. Rev. C W. Bur emot e. home mis don director for tire Roanoke Dis« rut, is being heard by large eon. ^legations. Services are being teld each evening at 8:00 o'clock tnd tIk? meeting will be brought u a dose next Sunday evening. The new church at West End vas just recently completed and he pastor. Rev. W. B. Harrington, mid the first preaching sen tee here ju the attvruogu of Juiic i.