m mmanusB n mad by
I OTII MM MABTIN COUNTY
FAMILIES TWICE BACH WEBB
THE ENTERPRISE
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rHE ENTERPRISE IS REAR M
)VER 3.000 MARTIN COUNT*
FAMILIES TWICE SACS fTtfB
VOLUME LI—NUMBER 80
Williamtton, Martin County, North Carolina, Thursday, October 7, 1948
ESTABLISHED 1899
Twenty Cases Are
Handled By Three
► Justices Of Peace
Judges Hassell, Johnson
And Ayers Busy During
The Past Few Days
Justices John L. Hassell, R. T.
Johnson and J. S. Ayers combined
to help clean up a little crime |
♦ wave that swept this community
• during recent days. Some fairly
big cases came up for trial, fines
ranging up to as high as $50. One
defendant, Clarence Earl Steven
son, was bound over to the De
cember term of superior court un
ddr bond In the sum of $500 for al
legedly raping Earline Edwards.
Other cases handled by Justice
^ Johnson follow:
S. Howard Harrison, failing to
stop at a road intersection, was
fined $5 and taxed with the costs.
Charged with disorderly con
duct, Elmer Rodgers was fined
$10 and taxed with $5.85 costs.
Facing the court the next day on a
drunk charge, Rodgers was sen
tenced to the roads for thirty
days, the trial justice suspending
the road term upon the payment
of a $10 fine and costs.
Charged with hunting out- of
season, Raymond Fagan was fin
ed $50 and Arthur Green was fin
ed $25, each paying $5.85 costs.
Charged with cutting the up
holstery in a truck owned by W.
L. Cobb Construction Company,
Roosevelt Wiggins was fined $10
* and taxed with $5.85 costs.
Noah S. Roberson, charged with
operating a motor vehicle with
improper brakes and lights, was
fined $15 and taxed with $5.85
costs.
Noah T. Roberson was taxed
with $5.85 costs for failing to dim
lights on a motor vehicle.
• Raymond Earl Modlin was tax
ed with $5.85 costs for failing to
stop at a i,08»t trrterieetloh.
Justice Hassell handled the fol
lowing cases:
Roosevelt Mackey, charged
with disorderly conduct, was fin
ed $5 and taxed with $6.50 costs.
^ Publicly drunk, Herbert Rives
was required to pay $11.50 costs.
Charged with simple assault.
James Ridley was assessed $5.50
costs; ,
Olivia Johnson was required to
pay $6.50 costs when carried into
court on a disorderly rhnrge,
Drunk and down, James Gil
more was taxed with $7.50 costs.
Jesse Rascoe, charged with be
ing drunk and disorderly, was fin
ed $5 and taxed with $7.50 costs.
Drunk and disorderly, Roose
velt Bunch was fined $5 and re
quired to pay $8.50 costs.
Samuel Gorham, drunk and dis
orderly, was taxed with $8.50
costs. •
Clotee Watson, publicly drunk,
was sentenced to jail for thirty
days, the court suspending the
^ jail term upon the condition that
she remain out of Williamston for
one year and pay $0.50 costs.
Faring Justice J. S. Ayers this
week, Columbus Berry, charged
with disorderly conduct, was fin
ed $5 and taxed with the costs.
The fines imposed in the three
courts amounted to $145 and the
costs totaled $131.95.
* X. T. Keel, Sr.
Dies In Hospital
4
Funeral services are being con
ducted at the home, 818 Hill
Street, Rocky Mount, this after
noon at 3:00 o’clock for X. Theo
philus Keel, Sr., who died late
Tuesday in Duke Hospital follow
ing an illness of several weeks.
0 Dr. T. M. Grant, Methodist minis
ter, is conducting the service, ahd
burial will be in Pineview Ceme
tery there.
Mr. Keel was born in Pitt
County 74 years ago and located
in Rocky Mount in 1908 where he
was prominent in the mercantile
and real estate business for years.
He was married to Mary Fran
ces Hardison of Jamesville in
1908 and they observed their gol
t den wedding anniversary at the
Durham hospital two weeks ago.
Surviving are Mrs. Keel, a son,
X. T., Jr., of Carpinteria, Calif., a
daughter, Miss Macy Keel of the
home; a brother, Chas. H. Keel of
New York; and a sister, Mrs. J. M.
Highsmith, of Robersonville.
CITIZENS OF TOMORROW
The Enterprise takes much pleasure tn prescmln* another
in a picture series of this section’s "citizens of tomonow". So
far none has figured pi orrjinently in public affairs, fc it as fu
ture citizens they have a tremendous assignment to handle in a
muddled world. Certain they’ll do a better job than has been
done or is being done, The Enterprise presents the youngsters
as the one great hope for the future.
Reading from left to right, Joyce, ten, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. A. J. Manning, Williamston, Arthur, Jr., six, son of Mr. and
Mrs. A. J. Gurganus, Williamston, and Nancy Lee, six, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Corey of Williamston.
Dismisses Inspection
Cases In Court Here
Judge Smith Hears
Thirty - five Cases
In County’s Court
Fin<‘H Imposed During the
Lonft SeMHiun Monday
Total Almost 11,000
* >
Explaining that he did not
think much of the law if there
was such a law, Judge J. C.
Smith did not convict defendants
charged with failing to have their
motor vehicles inspected when
they appeared in his court last
Monday. Future action of the
court will be determined, no
doubt, by the outcome of a ease
now on its way from aother coun
ty to the State Supreme Court.
The cases charging Edward Lee
Bell and LcRoy Rodgers tinth fail
ing to have their motor vehicles
inspected were literally, thrown
out of court. In the case in which
Arthur Council was charged with
failing to have his motor vehicle
inspected, the defendant was ad
judged guilty of operating a mot
or vehicle with improper equip
ment or without a muffler. He
was fined $10 and taxed with the
costs.
The court in a long session last
Monday called thirty-five cases,
l including sixteen charging de
fendants with speeding on the
S highways in this county. Fines,
jimposed by the court during the
I day, amounted to $975.
Rocky Mount was well repre
sented in the court, the records
showing that four of the deiend
, ants were from the Nash Edgc
| combe city.
The case charging J. B. Clark
! with abandonment of crop was
I continued for the defendant un
i til October 18.
His case coming up for further
judgment, Louis Felton Freeman,
'charged with non-support, was
I sentenced to the roads for eight
months. The road term was sus
pended upon the payment of $75
j to Ethel Gray Saunders Freeman
for the support of herself and
j their child. The defendant is to
pay $20 a month, beginning Nov
ember 1. Bond was required in
| the sum of $250.
Pleading guilty of operating a
motor vehicle without a driver's
license, James Perryman Carroll
was fined $25 and taxed with the
costs.
The case charging N. S. Nichols
(Continued on Page Four)
r
REGISTRATION
..../
I
Books will be opened Sat
urday of this week in all of
the thirteen voting precincts
in this county for the regis
tration of new voters. Those
persons who registered in or
since 1940 or participated in
an election since 1940 will not
find it necessary to register
again.
The books will be open
each Saturday beginning this
week and continuing through
Saturday, October 23.
Any person, 21 years old or
older and who does not have
his or her name on the books,
is directed to his precinct re
gistrar if he would partici
pate in the November 2 elec
tion.
Mrs. Jos. Griffin and Mr.
ft. H. Gk tones are registrars !
for the two Williamston pre
cincts.
Quarter Million
Are Repatriated
Refugees and displaced persons \
to the number of 256,000 were re
patriated or resettled during the
first year’s work of the Internat
ional Refugee Organization, ac
cording to a recent report from
Geneva. Not all of these persons,
the report said, were moved by
the IRO itself. This was true not
ably of more than 50,000 persons
resettled in the United Kingdom
under British migration pro
i grams. Altogether the IRO han
dled 138,000 cases.
Nearly 600,000 persons remain
in dependent status under IRO
: care. This is only a little more
than 100,000 fewer than last year,
though more than twice that
many persons moved out. New
refugees have entered, many of
I those eligible but uncared for last
year have been accepted in camps
and there is no excess of births
over deaths in the camps.
Of 51,439 persons repatriated
during the year, nearly three
fifths went home to Poland and
4,500 returned to Yugoslavia, but
few went back to any other east
ern European country.
Some of the displaced persons
! and refugees are not returning to
their former homes but are enter
ing the United States under a
special act of Congress. The first
shipload of these will sail from
Bremerhaven, Germany, in about
two weeks. In order to be eligible
to enter this country they had to
have their livelihood guaranteed
by relatives, friends or employers.
| Many guarantees came from farm
industries, including dairies.
Ten Thousand Die
In Car Accidents
Pedestrians killed in traffie ac
cidents last year numbered 10,300,
according to figures compiled by
the National Safety Council. This
was almost one-third of the total
of 32,300 traffic fatalities that oc
j curred during the year. The coun
' cil also estimated that about 220,
; 000 pedestrians suffered non-fatal
injuries during the past calendar
I year.
THE RECORD
SPEAKS . . .
The gruesome business of
killing, maiming and damag
! ing on Martin County high
ways this year continues to
trail the record established in
the first forty weeks of 1947.
The following tabulation*
offer a comparison of the ac
cident trend: first, by corres
ponding weeks in tills year
and last and for each year to
the present time.
Accidents InJ’d Killed Dam'ge
40th Week
j 1948 .2 0 0 $ 700
1947 2 0 0 300
Comparison* To Date
j 1948 97 50 2 $21,350
1947 102 50 3 22,590
Speedsters Have
Another Reunion
In County Court
Treated So Nice By Arrest-!
ing Patrolman, Defend
ant Pleads Guilty
Sixteen alleged speedsters on
Martin County highways, repre
senting five states and one foreign
country, held a reunion in Judge
J. C. Smith's court last Monday.
A climax in the proceedings came
when one defendant, intimating
that he was hardly exceeding the
55-mile speed limit, pleaded guil
ty because the arresting patrol
man was so nice to him.
One defendant, W. L. Small
wood of Windsor, was booked
twice for speeding and pleaded
guilty on both counts. In one
case he was fined $15 and taxed
with the costs. In the second case
he was fined' $25 and required to
pay the costs, the court recom
mending that his operator's li
cense be revoked according to
law. He appealed and bond was
required in the sum of $50, the
court recommending that the li
cense be suspended during the
appeal period. Smallwood was
charged with running fifty miles
an hour down Robersonville’1-.
main street to figure in one case,
and then speeded down U. S. 64 to
figure in the second case.
Don Ceitz Smith of Staley,
Chatham County, was fined $15
and required to pay the costs for
speeding.
Roy Well pleaded guilty of
speeding and was fined $15, plus
costs.
William Walter Gray of Rocky
Mount pleaded guilty of speeding
and was fined $15 and taxed with
the costs.
Dwight A. Fry of Rocky Mount
was fined $15 and taxed with the
costs for speeding.
William Robert Wyatt, Sr., of
Rocky Mount, was fined $15 and
taxed with the costs. It was
Wyatt who pleaded guilty because
the patrolman was so nice to him.
Milton Thomas Bennett of Oak
City pleaded guilty and was fin
ed $15 and taxed with the costs
for speeding,
Pleading guilty of speeding,
James Coffield of Robersonville
was fined $15 and required to pay
the costs.
Dorothy H. Stone of Highland
Park, Illinois, pleaded guilty of
speeding and'was fined $15 plus
costs.
Raquel Bonifasin, Spanish wo
man of Miami, pleaded guilty of
speeding and she was fined $15
and taxed with the costs. One of
a party of three she entertained
court officers with her Spanish
conversation.
Humberto Medrano of Havana,
Cuba, was fined $15 and taxed
with the costs for speeding.
Joe Henry Taylor of Newport
News was charged with speeding
and failing to stop at a road inter
section and he was fined $25 and
taxed with the costs.
T. W. Davenport was fined $15
and taxed with the cost in the
case charging him with speeding.
Pleading guilty of speeding,
Joseph A. Caraglior, Jr., of Rich
port, Connecticut, was fined $15
and required to pay the costs.
Richard Clark was fined $15,
plus costs for speeding.
Frank M. Reardon, Hollywood,
Fla., hotel manager, drew a $15
fine and costs for speeding.
Fines imposed at the long ses
sion of court last Monday amount
ed to $245.
Dewey Has Not
Won Election
Contrary to claims and wild re
ports, Tom Dewey hasn't yet won
the presidential election, and ac
cording to some reports from the
agricultural west, there’s some
doubt if he’ll win it November 2.
An Illinois farmer said recently
"It would certainly be an ungrate
ful group if the farmers, of which
this state is largely composed,
were to forget the 8 cent corn and
10-cent hogs they tried to live off
during the last Republican ad
ministration.
A report from Nebraska says,
On a national basis, the Dewey
forces are entirely too optimistic.”
Army Secretary To Speak At
Peanut Festival Next Friday
Three-Day Event !
To Get Underway
Here Thursday
kriiiielli Royail Will Speak
From Reviewing Stand
Oil Main Street
Secretary of the Army Kenneth
C. Royail has accepted an invita
tion to deliver one of the main
addresses during Williamston's
first annual peanut festival which
! opens here next Thursday after
| noon with a program by the Unit
ed States Marine Corps band from
| Cherry Point. The head of the
U. S. Army wired his acceptance
yesterday and extensive prepara
tions are already underway to en
tertain the noted speaker and the
large crowd expected here. The
Secretary will speak from a re
viewing stand near the City Hall
on Main Street, and his address
will be broadcast over the Wi!
liamston Tobacco Market radio
network at 3:00 o’clock Friday
afternoon, October 15.
The Secretary’s address topic
has not been announced, but he
is expected to discuss several im
portant topics and touch on poli
tics.
While the Army Secretary’s ad
dress will highlight the program,
other big events are being plan
ned for the three-day festival.
The Cherry Point Marine band
will feature the opening day pro
gram with a concert Thursday af
ternoon at 3:00 o’clock on the
main street. Following the band
concert a baby parade will move
down the main street with white
and colored children under six
years of age participating. Sev
enty-four children have already
been entered in the parade and
contest.
Thursday night at 9.00 o’clock
Washington Street from Main to
the railroad will be cleared and
roped off for a street dance. Billy
Peele’s Tune Toppers and Bob
Taylor’s string band will furnish
the music for the dance which is
to lust until midnight.
Prior to Secretary Royall’s ad
dress Friday afternoon, the big
parade, featuring high school
bands, floats and organizations,
will form at 1:30 o’clock and
march down the main streets. The
Washington High School Band,
Williamston High School Bands,
both white and colored, and the
Pinetops Colored High School
Band will participate. Katie Leg
gett, "Miss Williamston of 1948",
will preside over the Boosters’
floats. Members of 4-H clubs,
Boy Scouts and others are plan
ning to participate in the parade.
Friday night at 8:00 o’clock a
conference football game will be
played by the Robersonville and
Williamston High School teams on
the high school field here. There
will be no admission charge, and
everyone is invited to be the
guest of Williamston’s Boosters.
The Saturday program will be
announced later.
Williamston’s first annual pea
nut festival is being sponsored by
ninety-five business firms and in
dividuals, and promises to be a
big event.
o
|More Entrants
In Baby Contest
Fifteen new contestants were
listed this week by chairman of
the Baby Parade and Contest,
Mrs. ii. O. Peel and Mis. James
Bullock.
The new entrants are John Kel
ly Gay, 4; Hazel Maye Moore, 3;
William Harrington, 2; Julia As
kew, 18 months; Fenner Hardison,
Jr., 9 months; David Clifton Rob
erson, 4; Michael Harrison, 3;
Nancy Carolyn Woolford, 3; Peg
gy Gurganus, 2; Peggy Anne Gur
ganus, 2; Mary Bess Elliott, 4;
Roberta Elliott, 5; Ella Martin
Gaylord, 4; Cora Jane Pyce, 4;
iand Judy Thrower, 3 1-2.
Co-chairman Mrs. James Bul
I lock announced today that in the
event of rain the contest will be
I held in one of the warehouses.
Marine Band To Have Part
In Local Peanut Festival
The Cherry Point Marine Band,
one of the crack bands in the
State, will participate in Wil
liamston’s Peanut Festival, the ar
rangements committee v/as advis
ed yesterday by Major General
Field Harris, Commanding Offic
er of the Marine Corps at Cherry
Point.
Engaged at other points during
the other two days of the festival,
the band will not be able to par
ticipate in the big parade on Fri
day afternoon of next week, but
the band will give a concert
Thursday afternoon from 3:00 to
3:30 o’clock. The program will be
broadcast over Williamston’s To
bacco Radio Network. If the
weather is unfavorable, the pro
gram will be moved to the Plant
ers Warehouse.
Plans for the big three-dp y pea
nut festival are shaping up rapid
ly, according to reports coming
from the various committee chair
men. A goodly number of busi
ness firms are planning to enter
floats in the Friday parade which
promises to be the biggest thing
of its kind ever undertaken here.
A detailed program is now in
the making and will be released
the early part of next week.
Will Issue Call For
Pre - Induction Tests
Eleven Men Are
To Report Next
Week To Durham
Li»l Will B»* Drawn Ttmi^lit
By Draft Board Accord
ing to Agcw
Preparing to send its first con
tingent to army camps mvxt
month, the Martin County Draft
Board, meeting here this evening,
will draw eleven men to report
for their pre-induction physical
examinations at the Durham Re
cruiting Station next Wednesday,
it was learned this morning. No
tices, instruemg the eleven men
to report for the preliminary phy
sical examinations, will be placed
in the mails late tonight or early
tomorrow morning.
No order numbers arc being as
signed to registrants, but the men
will be drawn according to their
ages. The registrant who w ill not
become 20 years of age on or be
fore November 29 is right in line
to be called if he has no depend
ents or other valid claims to de
ferment or a lower classification
in the eyes of the draft.
A date for final induction has
not been announced, but the call
will hardly be issued before
sometime in November. The pre
induction examinations will hold
for at least 120 days, meaning that
thone eleven men slated to report
to the Durham station next Wed
nesday may be called any time
during four months without un
dei'going another physical test. *
Not certain of the farmer regis
trant’s status until proper affi
davits are submitted, the board is
expected to draw the first men
from the group of single men
without dependents.
Attending a district meeting of
draft officials in Edenton this
week, Miss Mildred Everett, local
board secretary, was advised that
few deferments are to be expect
ed on account of occupation. In
other words, the peacetime draft
law virtually rules that skilled
workers subject to the draft can
he replaced, and that a single far
mer without dependents must
show that he is almost indispensi
ble if he is to escape the draft.
High school and college stud
(Continued on page three)
i NEVEK FAILS
_
It just never fails. Unee
Fire Prevention Week is pro
claimed, the local fire depart
ment is called upon. This
time, the first call came later
In the week than usual.
Firemen were called out
yesterday morning at 7:V0
o’clock when a motor on an
ice cream cabinet stuck and
threatened the Hitching Post
soda shop on South Sycamore
Street. The motor was burn
ed out, but there was no other
damage, firemen reported.
| TOBACCO SALES |
j
Tobacco sales on the local
market went over the eight
and one-third million-pound
mark this morning with
prices averaging right at $56
per hundred, a figure just
about two cents a pound un
der the peak reported last
Monday.
Through yesterday the
market had sold for the seas
on, 8,249,658 pounds for $3,
941,444.99. an average of
$48.02.
It is now believed sales
will pass the ninc-milliou
mark before the market clos
es the latter part of this or
early next month.
4,285 Lose Lives In
Railroad Accidents
Deaths in railroad accidents
last year totaled 4,285, according
to figures compiled by the Asso
ciation of American Railroads.
This number is the lowest in 49
years. While the greatest num
ber of fatalities continued to oc
cur at highway grade crossings—
1,790 last year as compared with
1,851 in 1943——all types of mis
haps showed a steady reduction.
Forty-two percent of all railroad
fatalities last year occurred at
grade crossings, and 38 percent,
or 1,436 fatalities, involved per
sons injured at crossings totaled
4,251.
Passenger casualties on trains
last year were sixty-six killed and
4,148 injured. Among railroad em
ployes there were 709 fatalities
and 35,732 injured, casualty rates
of 0.21 fatalities and 10.38 injuries
per 1,000,000 man-hours worked.
Fatally injured also were thirteen
passengers not on trains, eighty
two employes not on duty and 189
others classified as miscellaneous.
Railroads performed 46,000,
000,000 passenger miles of serv
ice last year, equivalent to trans
porting everyone in this country
a distance of 319 miles. There
now are more than 225,000 rail
road high way grade crossings in
the United States, or about one
crossing for each mile of railroad.
Cars In Accident
Near Jamesville
Approximately $175 damage re
j suited but no one was hurt when
two ears crashed at a filling sta
tion on U. S. Highway No. 64 be
tween Jamcsvillc and Dardens
late last Monday afternoon.
Rev, Claud Winstead, RFD 1,
Jamesville, was driving his 1940
Ford from the filling station into
the highway just as James Walter
Barnes, RFD 1, Williamston, start
ed by in his 1937 Ford. The
Barnes car, traveling toward
Jamesville, plowed into the
preacher’s car.
Record Salsbury
Will In Superior
Court This Week
Mrs. V, Brltie Salsbury Re
members Church and
Several Friends
Her last will and testament re
corded in the office of the Martin
County Superior Court clerk this
week, Mrs. V. Bettie Salsbury re
membered relatives, her church
and a number of friends, be
queathing to them personal prop
erties valued at $6,000,
The main will, listing in minute
detail her wishes, was dated June
25, 1948, and the codicil was dat
ed August 23, 1948, reports stating
that the personal property in fhe
home will remain intact for the
present.
Expressing the wish that her
husband be looked after and car
ed for the rest of his material life,
and good compensation be allow
ed the one who looks after him,
Mrs. Salsbury bequeathed her
earthly possessions, as follows:
Nancy Bet Davis, niece, furni
ture, watch and $500 bond.
Rusha Lancaster, half-sister,
picture, furniture and other items.
Mrs. Clara Morton, sister-in
law, picture.
Mary Frances Petty, great
niece, large diamond ring, furni
ture and $1,500 in government
bonds.
Virginia Davis Aldridge, china,
furniture and small diamond
ring.
Robert and Williams Davis-, ne
phew's, $5 each.
Mrs. Elizabeth Petty, niece, sil
ver and china and furniture.
John Allen Davis, nephew, $500
bond.
James Allen Lancaster, ne
phew, $500 bond.
Benjamin Davis, half-brother,
marble statue.
Mrs. Julia Cherry, sister-in
law, silver tray.
Frances Cherry, silk quilt.
To the following friends she
willed the listed property:
Bettie Davis Rogers, bookcase
and books.
Mrs. Mabel Cullipher, furni
ture.
Mrs. LeRoy Taylor, silverware.
Mrs. Bryant Taylor, crystal and
furniture.
Ellen Taylor, cut glass.
Janie Moye Taylor, Emma Lou
Taylor and Mary Anna Taylor,
$500 bond each.
Mrs. Louallie Peel, furniture,
Mrs. Frank Haislip, Jr., furni
ture and vase.
Miss Lucille Davis, cutglass.
Mrs. George (Ruth) Haislip,
vase.
The Spring Green Primitive
Baptist Church, near Hamilton,
where Mrs. Salsbury was a faith
ful member for many years, was
given five shares of American
Telephone and Telegraph Com
pany stock, valued at approxi
mately $150 per share on the cur
rent market.
Lucille Powell, colored, is to re
ceive bed clothing, clothes and
curtains.
Any other items not covered in
the will are to be sold or given to
her best friends, Mrs. Salsbury
said in the will codicil.
Mrs. Elizabeth Petty of Roan
oke, Va., and Mrs. LeRoy Taylor,
RFD 1, Williamston, were named
executrices.
Given Road Term
In Federal Court
Pleading guilty of violating the
liquor laws, Guilford Brown,
Martin Counity man, was sen
tenced in federal court at Wash
ington yesterday to a year and a
day in prison. The prison term
was suspended upon the payment
of a $400 fine. Brown’s fine was
first placed at $500 but was later
reduced, according to reports
reaching here.
I. J. Riddick, Fawn Little and
Chas. Williams, co-defendants in
the case, gained their freedom
when charges against them were
noi pressed or dismissed. The
four were charged with possess
ing materials for the manufacture
of -and manufacturing illicit li
quor.
Defendants in the case charg
ing them with robbing the bank:
at Columbia week before last
drew, prison tafias ranging up tu
twenty-five years.
ml