THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY
k OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTY
FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK
\
THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY
OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTY
FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK
VOLUME L—NUMBER 56
ftilliamston, Martin County, North Carolina, Tuesday, July /.>, 10 17
ESTABLISHED 1899
Story About The
Flying Saucer Is
< Without Support
♦
People In Forty States Are
Said To Have Seen Hie
Stranee Missiles
-7--$
Although persons In forty
states claim to have ' seen the
strange missile, commonly refer- j
' red to as "flying saucers,’’ no one
has yet produced a specimen for
inspection, according to available
I reports. During the meantime,
the reports are being recognized
It as another American move toward
the realm of hysteria, or a mere
hoax to promote the sale of papers
and hold radio listeners spell
bound.
Hero for a while was Vernon
Baird, a pilot photographer, who
dished out the story that he
fought a sort of battle with a
saucer over Montana's Tobacco
Root mountains at 32.400 feet-—
^ and won.
“It was a pearl-gray clam
shaped airplane, with a plexiglass
dome on top.” averred Baird. “It j
was about 15 feet in diamter and
about four feet thick. It got caught
in the propwash of my P-38 and
came apart like a clamshell. The
pieces spiralled down someplace
in the MacHson range. There were
seven of hers darting around like
a batch of molecules doing the
rhumba.”
“Don't believe .a word of that
yarn,” continued Baird's boss, L
J. Archer, of the Fairchild Photo
grammetric Engineers Co. “Three
or four of us were sitting around
the hangar gassing. We just made
* it up.”
Copenhagen cabled there was
no basis in fact whatever in rc
rorto nyhlished in the Stock
Aftonbladet that flying saucers
were sighted over Copenhagen.
At Syracuse, N. V., an unidenti
fied resident said he met an in
ventor in 1931 who said he had
invented a rotary motor which
creats its own power while fly
ing and the inventor had written
W him from Montana saying the fly
ing saucers were his creation.
The Rev. Joseph Brasky, of
Grafton, Wis., reported a saucer
grounded in his back yard but
when dawn came it proved to be
a circular saw blade stamped
“high carbon 100 percent steel.”
John Heathcote, 14, has the dis
tinction of being the first to re
New York metropolitan an^l^
saw his at Valley Stream, L. I
17 miles out. and they looked like
large aluminum plates moving
west in V formation.
At Palmdale, Cal.. Mrs. Amy
Herdliska said she s'ighted a moth
er saucer followed by five small
er discis which seemed to fly
away from and then return to
the larger disc.
At Kingsport. Tenn . Charles T.
Hamlet said it was all old stuff.
He saw flying saucers two years
ago but kept his mouth shut, fig
uring it had something to do*with
the secret war plant over at Oak
Ridge.
Anyway, 1947 is the Year 6f the
Flying Saucers.
At Dayton. O., Orville Wright,
75, co-inventor of the aeroplane,
said the flying saucer craze was
"propaganda dished up by the
Government to support the cur
rent State Department campaign
to get us into another war.”
At Pittsburgh, Conrad Dunbar
testified under oath that he saw
(Continued on page eight)
f TRAFFIC LIGHTS j
v._*
Williamston’s first traffic
lights, one at the Watts and a
second at the Haughton inter
sections with Main Street,
were placed in operation last
Saturday morning at 9:00
o’clock when former Mayor
John L. Hassell turned the
control switches.
Following a three-day cas
ual observance, officers stated
that the authority vested in
the lights was generally re
spected, that few motorists
ran ‘‘through” them. Traffic
got a little mixed up when the
‘‘U” turns were eliminated,
but most of the motorists
fouqd their way around the
block or went to the Biggs
Street corner to make their
“t” tunii.
elcomcs State President
Shown above is Mayor Robert It. Cowen presenting the
"Key to Williamston" to the North t'arolina State President of
the Junior Chamber of Commerce. E. T. Ellis of Charlotte. This
presentation was made recently when President Ellis visited the
local organization as guest speaker for their installation and
ladies’ night program. (Photo h\ J-C Lawrence Lindsley.)
Youthful Robber Is!
# I
Arrested Saturday
f~~ LICKNSES |
v_'-/
Effective this week, drivers
of motor vehicles will apply
for the new type licenses at
the county courthouse each
Wednesday and Thursday be
tween the hours of 9:00 a. m.
and 5:00 p. in., and at the
Robersonville police station
each Friday from 0:00 a. m. to
5:00 p. m., it was announced
by Safety Examiner James
Royce. Licenses will also be
issued in Plymouth each Mon
day and Tuesday from 9 to 5
and each Saturday from 0 to
1:00 o’clock.
0®^. f*1.ttnn i Wi/.t. i- ill
the licenses in the Marlin
County courthouse and Ex
aminer Harry L. Martin,
Jamesville young man who
was recently added to the
staff, will issued the licenses
in Kohersonville. >.
Potato Council
To Hold Meeting
—I
Irish potato growers, forming
an organization of their own. have
met witl^ success in advancing a
price protection program. Re
cently the sweet potato growers
in the Carolines formed the Sweet
Potato Council and the new or
ganization is holding its first an
nual meeting in Florence, S. C,
on Friday of this week. The meet
ing will attract prominent agri
culturists from several states, in
cluding Dr. Julian Miller who is
recognized as the country’s out
standing research horticulturist
and who is considered the lead
ing authority in the world on
sweet potato breeding and de
velopment.
Improved strains of sweet pota
toes, marketing and potentials
will be discussed at the meeting
it was announced by A. R How
ard, secretary of the organization.
--
!\o Additions Hade
To Police Torre Here
— ■ $>
Reports, stating that Larry
Parker, retiring member of the
Ahoskie police department, had
been employed for the police de
partment here, are apparently a
bit premature, It was learned
that Parker had beeh contacted
that something was said about
making him a motorcycle cop in
Williamston, hut no official actior
has been taken on his applica
tidn, as far as it could be learnec
today. Parker’s resignation is ef
fective today with the Ahoskk
department, according lo report:
reaching here,
j Slaughter House
A\\d Blue Star
Cleaners Robbed
—*—
\nollirr |{itl>l>« r ,|;iil«‘il For
l$n-aUiiiju; Into Hnhrrsoti
Slanglilrr lloust;
-*
A new wave of robberies was
nipped in the bud here over the
week-end when local and county
I officers arrested five persons, two
for breaking and entering and
robbery and three for allegedly
holding up and robbing a taxi
driJur. Sour of tlie live arrested
wr : i■ given preiiniunir^^fSR/Igs
i before Justice of the Peace Robert
Cowen and booked for trial in the
superior court next September.
The fifth defendant is in the
hands of Juvenile Judge L. B.
i Wynne and it is likely the 14
j year-old lad will be placed in the
superior court for trial.
The first in the series of arrests
was made last Friday night when
Matthew Williams, 33-year-old
colon d man, was taken into cus
tody by Sheriff C. B. Roebuck for
, allegedly breaking into and rob
bing Roberson’s Slaughter House
j on the night of June 28. Pleading
: guilty when arraigned before Jus
| tire Cowi n yesterday morning,
j Williams is charged with stealing
five stands of lard, a dozen hams,
a quantity of fat back, pork loins,
1 several pounds of butter and
I about twenty pounds of cheese.
Williams hid most of the stolen
i property in some weeds beside the
railroad where it was found be
fore he could make arrangements
to have it hauled away. Officers
established a lead in the case sev
eral days later and Williams’ ar
le.-t follow'cd.
Following his arrest, Williams
claimed that he was about half
drunk when he broke into the
' slaughter house through a win
! dow. Sobering up the next morn
j ing he claimed that he realized
he had done wrong and decided to
; leave the stolen goods where the
owni r could find them. Williams,
a former employe of the slaughter
house, was released under bond
in the sum of $300.
Cornelius Jones, 14-year-old
colored boy, was trapped at the
cash register of the Blue Star
Cleaners on Washington Street
early last Saturday evening by
j one of the ownei s-operafors,
George Hatton Gurganus, Jones,
one of seven children who with
I their mother were deserted by
their father some time ago, ad
irnitted breaking into, the Blue
(Continued on page eight'
Alleged Hold-up |
Men Arrested By !
Officers Sunday |
Deny Huld-iip Blit Admit
Running Away Without
Paying Taxi Driver
Warren Griffin, Williams GU
iam and Sam Brooks, young Gra
ins Township colored men, wore
irrested Sunday morning for al
egedly holding up and robbing
Dennis Whitaker, local taxi driv
er. of about $35 in cash shortly
ifter last Saturday midnight.
Dartied before Justice of the
Peace Robert Cowen, the three
nen denied the hold-up charge
but admitted they did not pay the
taxi driver his fare.
Whitaker said at the hearing
held in the county court room just
ahead of Judge J. C. Smith Mon
day morning that be picked up
the three men at a filing station
on Washington Street at 11:55
o’clock Saturday night, that he
drove them beyond Hardison’s
Mill. “One of the men got out.
poked a gun at me while another
one reached in my change purse
and took between $30 and $35 in
cash," Whitaker told the court.
The men allegedly ran, Whitaker
explaining that he turned around,
drove back to town and reported
to the sheriff. »
Investigating the case early
Sunday morning, Sheriff C. B.
Roebuck went to the scene of the
alleged hold-up learned that the
three men went to a near-by
home and soon established their
identity. Griffin and Gilliam vig
orously denied that they had rid
(Gontinued on page eight)
County Young Man
■ Thomas Mayo Grimes, native of
this county, was recently elected
to the editorship of Ruritan Na
tional Magazine, it was announc
ed this week by Tom Downing,
national secretary for the organi
zation.
Mr. Grimes who will have his
editorial offices in Petersburg
will make his home in Wakefield,
Va., and is to enter upon his new
duties the 'first of next month. He
lias been engaged in Ruritan work
for the past four years, serving at
present as governor of District K
gradmffe^uP^the University of
North Carolina class of 1928, he
was a member of the college
newspaper and magazine editorial
boards. He has taught school in
'eastern North Carolina for a
number of years and has been ac
tive in Ruritan work for the past
«
o
severul years.
Crops Damaged By
Hail And Wind In
County Last Week
Tobacco Crop Kslitnnlcil \l
About 65 Percent Of
Normal Fifjiirt1
While the coin and peanut
crops continue in unusually bright
prospect tobacco is still taking a
severe beating at the hands of the
elements in this county. Conser
vative estimates point to a tobac
eso crop hardly 65 percent of nor
ma! in some sections o£ the coun
ty. and in others production is al
most certain to fall considerably
below that figure. Some indi
vidual farmers see no more than
25 percent of a crop.
The unfavorable outlook for to
bacco was further aggravated in
the Bear Grass section last Satur
day and again on Sunday when a
severe wind and hail storm struck.
Centered over about a two-mile
path, the storm swooped down
along the Martin-Beatifort boun
dary and did considerable dam
age to tobacco from about Farm
er J. D. Wynne’s place to the Eld
er B. S. Cowin farm. It was esti
mated that an average of three
leaves were ruined on each stalk,
Farmer Zaek Cowin explaining
that m some distances entire hills
were ruined by hail and wind.
Following the Saturday afternoon
storm another struck in part of
the same territory on Sunday and
again Monday eevning. The Sat
urday storm did some damage to
property on the Bill Bullock farm.
So far this month more than six
inches of rain have fallen in this ,
county, reports indicating that '
the precipitation was greater in j
some sections than in others. This I
immediate section had its largest
, , , I
rain 01 die yeui a ween ago
while the lower part of the coun
ty reported an unusually heavy
rain Sunday afternoon.
Tobacco is turning yellow fast
and where the plant is large
enough, farmers are pulling the
lugs in an effort to save .them.
How ver, in those cases where the
farmers were late in getting a !
(Continued on page eight)
I KOUNIMJP
I ’
Eleven persons were round
1 ed-up anti jailed here last
i week-end to face the courts
lot alleged v'loin
lows. Two were charged with
breaking and entering, four
with being drunk and disord
erly, two with assault and
three with highway robbery.
A|l of the defendants were
colored and their ages range
from a low of 14 to 3!i years.
Martin County Tax Values
Recovering from a slight decrease reported in the
1946 listings, personal property values in Martin County
for the current year pushed upward to approximate the
record listings of the 1918-19 period. Tax Supervisor M.
L. Peel recently stated that personal property values
climbed from $5,280,892 in 1946 to $6,659,249 this year, a
gam of $1,428,857 or a percentage jump of 27.8
While several townships reported losses in their per
sonal property listings for 1946, every one of them came
forward this year with a gain, ranging from about $10,000
to almost half million dollars. A review of the listings
for 1946 and 1947 follows with the increase and percent
age gain, as follows by townships and races:
PERSONAL
NO 1
Jamesville
Williams
Griffins
Bear Grass
Williamston
Cross Roads
Robersonville
Poplar Point
Hamilton
Goose Nest
1946
$1,000,569
107,569
294,387
250,848
191,155
207,464
883,178
117,888
261,617
857,469
1,
WHITE
1947
$1,882,858
117,851
387,947
279,061
1.627,763
268,351
1,196,897
136,980
317,664
380,841
Gain
882,284
10,282'
43,610
28,213
436,608
60,887
313,224
19,092
56.047
22,872
Pet.
38.2
9.5
14.8
11.2
36.6
29.3
35.
16.1
21.4
6.3
Totals
$4,672,089 $6,045,208
COLORED
$1,373,119 29,
Jamesvilltr
Williams
Griffins
Bear Grass
Williamston
Cross Roads
Robersonville
Poplar Point'
Hamilton
Goose Nest
$
1946
48,204
15,168
19,560
25,278
93,121
28,989
134,239
12,553
70,351
111,340
1947
$ 53,945
16,803
19,480
28,450
102,484
34,046
149,993
12,554
81,192
115,094
Gain
5,741
1,635
80
3,172
9,363
5,057
15,754
1
10,841
3,754
Pet.
11.9
10.7
0.4
12.5
10.
17.4
11.7
0
15.
83.7
Totals $ 558,803 $ 614.041 $ 55,238
Real property listings will be compared in a future is
9.8
,ue.
County Favors Leaf
Program 2,080 To 2
Record-Size Vote j f
Reported In This j
State for Program
—*—
lo Collect I eii Cents Perl
Acre During Coining
Three Seasons
Martin County farmers along |
,vith those in the other tobacco |
sections of this State and South j
Carolina went all out in support j
.if a program designed to promote j
.he export of flue-cured tobacco I
ay overwhelmingly voting to tux
themselves at the rate of ten cents
per acre for each of the next three
years. The money raised by the
special assessment will be used to
finance Tobacco Associates, In
corporated, reports from the Hal
:-igh office stating that J. B. Hut
son, the nominal head of the or
ganization, is in Europe at the
present time working for improv
ed markets for flue-cured tobacco.
Mr. Hutson, it was further stated,
is expected to return from Eng
land early next month and will
report to the organization at a
special meeting tentatively sched- '
ulcd to be held soon after his re
turn.
Only two votes were cast in op
position to the plan in this county,
one in Goose Nest and one in
Jamfcsville. The vote was unus
ually larger; in fact, it was almost
twice as large as was expected
both in this county and in the
State. The affirmative vote fol
lows, by precincts, in this eoun
Jamesville, 154; Williams, loti;
Griffins, 214, Bear Grass, 21)2;
Williamston-Poplar Point, 350;
Cross Roads, 186; Robersonville,
407; Hamilton, 106; Goose Nest.
238, and Hassell, 67 -Total, 2,080.
Incomplete returns from the
State show that 105,545 votes were I
cast in favor of the measure and j
that 1,036 were in opposition to
the plan. South Carolina tobacco j
farmers voted 14.065 for and 122
against the proposal. Official re
turns will be tabulated at a meet
ing of the organizations officials
in Raleigh on Friday of this week.
It has been pointed out that no ;
candidate or proposal ever polled j
a vote of 100 to I as the proposal
did last Saturday.
In the face of uncertain condi
tions existing on the world front,
tobacco exports are certain to en
(Cuntinued on page cigtit)
-dr
New Oil Company
Starts Business
—*—
Recently organized here, the i
Wholesale Oil Company opened
for business last week-end with
W. Tom Crawford as manager
and John Roebuck as salesman.
The company completed its
storage plant on Highway f>4 be
tween West End and the county
home last week and the first Con
oco products were delivered
Thursday. Handling the Conti
nental Oil Company’s products,
including Conoco gasoline, kero
sene, oils and greases, the new
firm is now making truck deliv-,
erics to consumers and is comp let- '
ing preparations for supplying oil I
for tobacco curing to farmers in
this section.
Locating their bulk plant out- j
side town upon the recommenda
tion of the patent company, the
new firm will be supplied with oil
products by large transports op
erating out of Norfolk where the
Continental Company supplies its
large storage center by tankers.
Refined near the fields in Okla
homa, the products are piped to
seaports and loaded on tankers
for distribution to eastern centers.
"The Continental company for
merly .supplied other companies,
but now it is expanding its own
sales outlets and we are assured
an ample supply of products,”
Manager Tom Crawford said. The
manager of the new local firm has
had about fifteen years of ex
perience in the oil business ex
cepting a few years spent in the
Navy as a chief petty officer. Th0.
firm's salesman, Mr. Roebuck, was
a mepiber of the local police
force fur abuut twelve years. I
KDITOK
Mayo Grimes, Marlin Coun
ty young man and a brother
of S. Harcum Grimes of YVil
liamston, was recently elected
editor of Kurilan National
Magazine with editorial of
fices in Petersburg, Va.
[aycecs Planning
Contest and Danee
——*—
The local Junior Chamber of
Commerce will spopsor their -ee
ind annual beauty pageant here
the evening of July 3|Hh. at which
time a "Miss William -Ion" will be
rhuson to represent the town in
the state beauty pageant being
held at Wnghtsville Beach next
month.
According to Co chairman Urn
L'st Mears, the plans for the event
are being formulated similar to
those used last July, when the
first annual contest was held, and
which proved to be a definite ue
cess, both from the participants
and sponsors standpoints.
Present plans call for each con
testant to be sponsored by a local
business firm, and any firm in
tcrcstcd in sponsoring should eon
tact Mr. Mears. There is consider
able publicity attached to a spun
soi ship, and thu.se firms that spon
sored last year will be given pref
erence this year.
test, in which the contestants will
be .judged while wearing bathing
suits and evening dresses, the
Jaycees plan to have a danee fol
lowing. Arrangements are pend
ing with an out-uf state orchestra
to furnish music for the occasion.
Former Resident
Passes Suddenly
-£
Stanley Burt Sessions, former
Williarnston resident, died slid
denly of a heart attack while at
tending a baseball game in Sul
folk last Thursday night. A na
tive of Coleraili, Mr. Ses-.ums was
employed by Garrison Brothers
anti Company here for several
years. He was 53 years old and a
veteran of World War 1.
After leaving Williarnston he
was married to Miss Maude Me
Lean of Haeford, and she with two
children, Jean and Martha Ses
sums, survives. He also leaves
three brothers and one sister.
Funeral service; were held in
Suffolk last Saturday morning,
and interment was in the Haeford
cemetery.
-0-—--;
Doctor Looking
For A Location
According to unofficial but re
liable information received here,
Dr. E. C. Jenkins of Pinehurst is
contemplating locating in this
section. The young doctor, a
member of the American College
of Surge ons, was here last Satur
day afternoon surveying the field,
but he could not be reached for
an interview, and it could not be
learned if he reached a decision
or whether he will give this sec
tion further consideration.
A World War II veteran, the
surgeon is a native of Ohio, it w as
learned.
Rites Tomorrow
In Hamilton For
Mrs Ray Bunting
I'opuiar Yoirtif? Woman
I>i<*«I Momlay In Hos
pital Vl Durham
Funeral services will be held at
the heme in Hamilton at 3:30
o'clock tor Mrs. Myrtle Everett
Bunting who died in Duke Hos
pital. Durham, Monday morning
at 11:55 o'clock. Burial will be in
the Hamilton Cemetery.
Mrs. Bunting had been in ill
health fur several weeks, spend
ing much of that time in hospitals
receiving treatment. Before she
was removed to the Durham hos
pital she was unusually bright
and cheerful, her many friends
little realizing her condition was
so critical.
The daughk : of Mrs. Clara
Johnson Everett and the late Jesse
Everett. Mrs. Bunting was born in
Hamilton on June 13. 1908. Com
pleting tin schools in Hamilton,
she attended the Woman's College
of the University of North Caro
lina, Greensboro, and later studied
at East Carolina Teachers College
in Greenville Decembei 38, 1933,
she was married to Ray Bunting
who died in 1934.
Devoted to her mother and all
members of her family, Mrs.
Bunting .pent most oi her time
at home until the early part of
the last war when she accepted a
position with the ra'ioning board
in Williamston where by her un
tiring paticnei and understanding
she endeared herself to so many
people. Few could have served
in the living position with more
thoughtfulnc s and consideration
of other than he did during
ti ise heel ;c da\ when demands
■: .o. ■ • of uppli were ex
l. erne!v 1 in itod. Hers was a work
wi 11 done, and she seemed to get
much consolation out of it, know
I mg that .-lie was doing her bit on
] (he home front while loved ones
(were ear: ying on in actual battle.
! More recently she was employed
I hv the Ayers Electric Company
] here, and during her stay there
she made more friends, all the
i while appearing to be getting so
j much enjoyment out of life.
Mrs. Bunting was a member of
the Hamilton Missionary Baptist
j Church since girlhood, remaining
I faithful in its sc vice and support
I until the end.
Surviving are her mother, one
' \', ' * t ■' •' 1 • *
d Everett, and
a nephew.
Jamesv ille Hoys
\\ in I>iji Honors
c
-•-- t- .
Competing on a state-wide
basis, three Jamesville youths,
: Hilly lircwcr, Billy Martin and
|James Herbert Petty, walked
away with great honors at a live
stock judging contest held in Ra
leigh last week. Representing
I the Jamesville Chapter of the Fu
ture Farmers of America, the
three young men won top plage in
the contest and they are to re
ceive a free trip to Missouri next
October.
In addition to the judging con
ic t, Jamesville was well repre
en ted an an oratorical contest by
Per lie Modliiiv Jr., who won
fourth place with an essay on
wildlife conservation. Modlin
was also elected an officer of the
state organization for the coming
year.
The young men w< re accom
panied to Raleigh by Professor
Hairr.
r..~~\
Sl RIM-l S SV1.ES |
v_/
Surplus property costing
the government SI7,867,165,
000 has been disposed of since
1044, according to last reports.
Although the government
paid nearly eighteen billion
dollars for it, the property
brought only $3,534,833,000,
or a recovery rate of 34.3 por
oent.
At one time the War Assets
Administration was disposing
of property at the rate of one
billion dollars a month.
However, very little of the
property has reached indi
vidual hands at onc-Unrd
the. original cost.
$