North Carolina Newspapers

ENTERPRISE IS BEAD BT OVRB 1,000 MARTIN COD NTT FAMILIES TWICE BACH WEBB THE ENTERPRISE THE ENTERPRISE IS READ life OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTS FAMILIES TWICE EACH WBHfe VOLUME LI—NUMBER 84 William Hon, Martin County, North Carolina, Thursday, October 21, 1918 ESTABLISHED 1800 Peanut Market Most » Ready To Open Here — » —____ « ♦ ) K • I i i Damaged Goobers Not Expected To Find Ready Bids Government Support Priee Expected to Prevail for Most of Crop — ■ Williamston's peanut market, one of the largest in the country, is making ready to open the i»4<3 49 season, but only scattered ac tivity on the market is anticipat ed during the next two weeks. One firm announced this week that it was ready to start receiv ing peanuts, but explained that only merchantable goobers would be considered. In other words, it is fairly apparent that peanuts picked too wet will not find ready bidders, and growers arc urged to make certain that their peanuts are dry and in good shape. Dam aged peanuts carry a penalty, and if the damage is too great bids arc likely to be withheld. The town’s two large plants are all set and ready for operations, but the crop is hardly expected to start moving in sufficient volume to maintain steady operations be fore the early part of next month. Quite a few buyers are of the opinion that picking operations should be delayed another week or more except in extreme cases where the peanuts were dug early and were properly stacked. Only a few bags of the current crop have )>een picked and no open market price has been men tioned- It is generally believed that the price scale will hold close to government support' figures. The support prices are about 58 points or a little over onc-half cent a pound higher than they were last season. An unofficial report stated that the first sam ples of the current crop graded 11.04 cents a pound. The samples, it was said, graded sixty-nine per cent% meat and seventeen percent cxtfa large with little or no dam aged nuts in the lot. The average base price based on 65 percent meat and fifteen per cent extra large free of damage and foreign matter stands at 10.35 cents, a figure 55 cents per hun dred pounds higher than the com parative price last year. The gov ernment support price ranges from 9.55 cents for offerings grad ing 60 percent meat, and fifteen percent extra large, to 12.15 cents a pound for peanuts grading 70 percent meat and 55 percent ex tra large with an additional 16 cents per hundred pounds for each 1 percent meat content over 701 percent, plu« a small premium for all extra large over 55 percent. Sixteen cents a hundred will be deducted from the base price for each one percent of meat content under 60 percent. Fiheen cents per hundred will be deducted for1 each full one percent of damage,1 and other similar penalties arc stipulated in the government pro gram for foreign material or mat ter. The government will maintain a receiving station at the Carolina Warehouse here tfiis season and1 it will be operated by Messrs. S. C. Griffin, Elmo Lilley and Le-1 man Barnhill. It was also unof- j (Continued on page six) —---o Suffers Broken Bones In Wreck • ~ W. L. Hollis suffered a broken collar bone and a broken rib when his car went out of control in a curve on the Gold Point-Spring Green Road last Tuesday after noon at 12:25 o’clock and turned over. His four-year-old son was not hurt. • Investigating the accident, Pa trolman M. F. Powers said the 1942 Ford traveled 234 feet on the shoulder and plowed twelve feet into a corn field before turning over on its side. A passerby pull ed the child from the wreck, but the driver was pinned there for a while. Damage to the car was es timated at $250 by Patrolman Powers. I THE RECORD 1 SPEAKS . . . October is maintaining its record as being a dangerous month for travel on highways and streets in this county. During the first seventeen days of October, 1947, there were 11 motor accidents. Through last Sunday there had been eleven in this month, and two have been added since that time. The re cord for the two years is run ning mighty close together. The following tabulation! offer a comparison of the ac cident trend: first, by corres ponding weeks in this year and last and for each year to the present time. 42nd Week Accident* Inj’d Killed Daas’ge 1948 4 6 0 $ 2,000 1947 5 2 0 1,000 Comparison! To Date 1948 106 58 2 $24,450 1947 110 53 3 23,690 Funeral Saturday At Home Here lor M 3-c 0. S. Cowan -o Lo*t Him Life On Destroyer During Invasion Of Southern Fra nee t -o Funeral services will be con ducted at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. O. S. Cowan in West End Saturday afternoon at 3:00 o'clock for Metalsmith 3/c Oniley j Shepard Cowan, Jr., who made the supreme sacrifice for his country on August 18, 1944, dur ing the invasion of Southern France. Rev. N. J. Ward, assisted 'uy Rev. J. Floyd Williams, form er pastor of the Pentecostal Holi ness Church here, will conduct the service at tho« home and a detail' from the John Walton Hassell j Post of the American Legion will officiate over the military rites at the grave side. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery here. The young Navy man was born' near Williamston on June 7, 1924, i and was graduated from the local high school with the class of 1940. He was one of three members of his class to lose thei. lives in World War II, His two classmates,! making the supreme sacrifice, were Lt. James Willis Ward and1 Sgt. Jimmy Watts. He volunteered for service while in his teens and was serv-j ing on a destroyer. He was on deck when his ship was bombed just off the coast of southern France. He was wounded and knocked overboard, and is believ-1 ed to have drowned. His body, re covered and laid to temporary rest in France, moved out of the depot at Philadelphia late last night for the last homeward jour ney, reaching here this morning.! It will lie in state at the Biggs Funeral Home until Saturday morning at 11:00 o’clock when it will be transferred to his parents’ I home on the Slaughter House Road for the service that after noon. His ia the fourteenth body of a Martin County young man to be brought from World War II bat tle areas in nearly every part of the world for interment in na tive soil. Surviving besides his parents: are three sisters, Mrs. William N. Cherry of Everetts, Mrs. Robert Smith of Greenville and Joyce Ann Cowan of the home. --- Feteer Divorces Reported In Nation Last Year —■ ■ • A report issued by the United; States Public Health Service in Washington on September 8 said that the divorce rate and also thei marriage rate had decreased sharply during 1947. The divorce and marriage rates were lower, i however, only in comparison to the all-time highs set in 1946. Both remained well above prewar lev- j els The number of divorces in 1947 was estimated at 471,000, compared to 610,000 in 1946. Judge J. C. Smith Hears Dozen Cases In County’s Court Impose Fines In Sum of $250 During Short Ses> sion Last Monday -.♦ Judge J. Calvin Smith held the Martin County Recorder's Court in session only a short time in clearing the docket last Monday. Only twelve cases were heard, the eort continuing several when it was pointed out that patrolmen, witnesses in those cases, had been ordered to Raleigh for patrol duty during President Harry Truman’s visit to the capital city. Fines, amounting to $350, were imposed by Judge Smith. Proceedings: Charged with speeding, Floyd Baker, big league baseball player, pleaded guilty and the court sus pended judgment upon the pay ment of the costs. Adjudged guilty in the ease charging him with an assault with a deadly weapon, C. S. VanLand ingham was fined $10 and requir ed to pay the court costs. Pleading guilty in the case charging him with drunken, care less and reckless driving, Dewey Davenport was sentenced to the roads for six months. The court suspended the judgment upon the payment of a $125 fine and costs. The court recommended that the defendant’s license to operate a motor vehicle be suspended for fifteen months. The case charging Ben Edwards with larceny was nol pressed or thrown out of court. Charged with larceny, Perlie Williams was adjudged not guil ty. Charged with maintaining a public nuisance in the operation of his place of business, James "Bud” Brown was adjudged guil ty and drew ninety days on the roads. The road term was sus pended upon the payment of a $25 fine and the costs. The sus pension was allowed on the furth er condition that the defendant be convicted of no criminal law vio lation during the next twelve months. Pleading guilty of drunken driving-, James B. Warren was sentenced to the roads for six months, the court suspending judgment upon the payment of a $125 fine and the court costs. The court Recommended that the de fendant’s driver’s license be re voked for fifteen months. Charlie Moore, colored, was sentenced to the roads for ninety days for violating the liquor laws. The road term was lifted upon the payment of a $25 line and the costs. The defendant is not to be convicted of any criminal law violation for one year. Samuel S. White was fined $15 and taxed with the cost for speed ing. Pleading not guilty, Richard Jones was adjudged not guilty of simple assault. Robert Louis Amon, pleading (Continued on page five) Woman’s Club Has 20th Anniversary -' ■ • The Williamston Woman’s Club field its second meeting of the year Tuesday night, October 19, in the club room. Guests and mem bers were greeted by Mrs. Ross Froneberger who gave them at tractive book marks and door prize numbers. The meeting was called to order try the president, Mrs. Wheeler Martin, Jr., and then turned over to the Reviewers Book Club who presented a pageant "Through the Years”, written and directed by Mrs. R. H. Goodman. This pro gram was in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the char tering of the woman’s club. As the> found their seats of honor, ten of the ex-presidents re ceived a warm welcome and cor sages from the Book Club and its president, Mrs. Reginald Simpson. The narrator, Mrs. H. Grimes, read the many services rendered by the iJub. The audience was interested in learning that the first club was organized through the instigation of Mrs, James G. Staton and incorporated in 1928. (Continued on page five) Registration For Election Novem ber 2 Ends Sa tn relay -- Registration for the general election on Tuesday, November 2, ends on Saturday of this week, re ports stating that comparatively few new names have been added to the books so far. However, a fairly large registration is antici pated on the last registration day, reports stating that a goodly num ber of potential voters had inquir ed about the registration this week with the aim of getting their names on the books. Complete and accurate reports could not be had on the registra tion handled the first two Satur days, but Jamesville, Williamston 1 and 2 and Hamilton reported that nearly 100 names had been added. Unofficial reports from the other precincts indicate that the registration has been small in those districts. As far as it could be learned every registrant entering his name on the books for the first time declared his affiliation with the Democratic Party and had his name entered in the Democratic primary registration book as well as in the general election registra tion books. The names of several colored citizens were added to the j lists in both the general election and Democratic primary registra tion books. It is now apparent that Martin j County voters are taking more in terest in the approaching election, and it is fairly certain that the county will record a fairly sizable vote, and that most of it will be for a straight Democratic ticket. SPOTTED | /■ >, v Starting the harvest this week on a large scale, Martin County farmers are reporting a “spotted” sweet potato crop. Farmer Henry Green said he is harvesting less than half a normal crop, that he would have hardly 300 bushels where he had 800 last season. In other sections where the rains fell at more opportune times, the growers are report ing normal yields and good quality potatoes. Wreck Distillery In Martin County Raiding in Griffins Township along the Beaufort County boun dary last Monday, ABC Officer J. H. Roebuck and Deputy Roy Peel wrecked an illicit liquor distillery last Monday and captured a 40 gallon capacity copper kettle. The owners had moved away part of the equipment, leaving only the still, a doubler and cooler and one fermenter. The plant was the second one wrecked so far in this county by the officers. Justices Of Peace Hear Eleven Cases In Past Few Days -o Third of llu* Ciimcm Are Sent To Higher Court* For Trial Next Week Justices John L. Hassell and Ft. T. Johnson handled eleven cases in their courts here during the past few days. Reports indicate | that the business of the courts has shifted from the criminal to the civil side, that quite a few claim and delivery papers are now before the courts. Labor liens are pending in eigh teen cases against Lester Keyes, Jamesville Township farmer, who allegedly employed that many workers in Williamston to help dig peanuts. The group worked half a day and claimed that Keyes promised to pay them when he came to Williamston. Justice Hassell handled the fol lowing cases: Jefro McQuarin and Eva Bell Everett, charged with the posses sion and sale of illicit liquor, were (Continued on page six) Local Tobacco Market Will Close Season October 27th —-» Williamston'.s tobacco market will close one of its most success ful seasons next Wednesday, Oc tober 27, it was announced yes terday. It is understood that quite a few markets plan to close about that time. Sales have dwindled rapidly during the past week, and it is believed that all farmers will be able to finish their marketing by next Wednesday. Sales will be held the last day on Wednesday with all companies re presented. While no new poundage record has been established this season, the market has actually sold this season more tobacco in proportion to the size of the crops for the two yqars than it did in 1947. The price average set no new record either, but it is about seven cents a pound higher than it was last year, and about two cents a pound under the 1946 figure. The mar ket, it is conservatively estimat ed, will pay within about one-half million dollars for a little over nine million pounds of which it paid for a little over twelve mil lion pounds last year. If prices had been maintained at or about the opening-day figure, the grow ers would have received just about as much for nine million pounds this year as they received for twelve million pounds last season. Up until this morning, the mar ket had sold 9,058,144 pounds for $4,392,010.73, an average slightly under $49.00 per hundred pounds. According to an official an nouncement this morning by Z. Hardy Rose, supervisor of sales on the Robersonville tobacco mar ket ,the Robersonville warehouses i will close next Friday, October j 29th. Home Damaged By Fire on Wednesday Starting apparently from a de fective chimney, fire and smoke did considerable damage to the home of Mrs. Nick Griffin on Biggs Street shortly after 9:00 o’clock yesterday morning. The fire burned through the wall next to the chimney and was spread ing in the attic when firemen reacher there. The house was filled with smoke which poured from the attic ventilators in vol ume. Firemen, thinking the roof was amlost burned in, hooked a large hose to a hydrant and man aged to knock out most of the fire when they went info the living room and poured water around the chimney. Several pieces of furniture were broken and considerable damage, possibly approximating $750, was done by water and smoke. Father Of Local Resident Passes - ■ »— Funeral services were conduct ed last Monday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock in the First Methodist Church, Washington, for Mr. Hi ram Anthony Swindell, Sr., 68, j who died in a hospital there Sun day afternoon after an illness of six days. His pastor, Rev. C. Freeman Heath and Rev. M El more Turner conducted the ser vice and burial was in Washing ton's Oakdale Cemetery. . Surviving are five daughters, Mrs. Marion Cobh and Mrs. George Whitehurst, both of tWil- | liamston, Mrs. Fred Poore of i Washington, Mrs J. C'. Harris of Durham and Mrs. Jack Henton of Washington, and one son, H. A. Swindell, Jr., of Washington: one brother, J. M. Swindell of Hend erson: two sisters Mrs. B. T. Bon- j ner of Aurora and Mrs. Clement J Credle of Oxford. i Propose Increase In North Carolina Legislators' Pay 'V oters To Ou In General Kleelion To Be Held November *2 By Albert Coates Director, Institute of Government For fixing salaries of members of the General Assembly at twelve hundreds dollars ($1,200) and presiding officers at fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500) and fix ing salaries for extra sessions at two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) and three hundred dollars ($300) respectively. Against fixing salaries as out lined above. Article II, Section 28 of the North Carolina constitution al lows members of the general as sembly a salary of $600 each for a regular session every two years, and $8 per day for extra sessions —not exceeding twenty days. It allows the Speaker and the Lieu tenant Governor—presiding offic ers of the House and Senate, a sal ary of $700 each for regular ses sions and $10 per day for extra sessions—not exceeding twenty days. On Tuesday, November 2, the people of North Carolina will vote i for or against an amendment to the constitution allowing mem bers of the General Assembly a salary of $1,200 each for a regular session of sixty days and a salary of $250 for extra sessions; allow ing the speaker and the lieuten ant governor—presiding officers of the house and senate a salary of $1,500 each for regular sessions and $300 for extra sessions. The present pay scale was voted by the people in 1928, changing the pay scale in force since 1875 —$4 per day for members and $6 per day for presiding officers for sessions of sixty days, with like pay for as many as twenty days in extra sessions, and ten cents a mile for one round trip between home and capitol. The rise in living costs during the past twen ty years has practically doubled, and the proposed increase in pay will leave legislators in 1949 in little if any better situation than legislators in 1929. Most if not all people will agree that the pay of legislators should not be high enough to induce can didates to run on the profit mo tive. The pay increase proposed will leave most if not all legisla tors facing the question their pre decessors have faced before them — not how much money they will make, but how much money will they lose: in paying for room, board, laundry, tips and other in cidental living expenses; in pay ing for stationery and postage, telephone calls and telegrams in the course of dealings with con stituents; for regularly recurring trips home on week-ends to con sult with their constituents, keep in touch with their families, and give a lick and promise to the business they left behind them. Present and proposed pay is (Continued on page five) -o————— Organize Ruritan Club In County .. Meeting in Bear Grass Tuesday night of this week, thirty-eight leading citizens of the communi ty organized the county’s third Ruritan club and perfected the organization with the election of officers. Similar clubs are func tioning in Jamesville and Oak City where much good work is be ing sponsored and handled by the Puritans. The officers of the newly organ ized Bear Grass Club are, Leon Rogers, president; E. C. Harrison, vice president; H. V. Parker, Jr., secretary; LeRoy Harrison, treas urer; W. M. Harrison, three-year director; M. S. Cowin, two-year director; H. U. Peel, one-year di-i rector; Ralph Mobley, sergeant at arms; Sidney Bcucham, chaplain, j Mr. Noel Lee of the Pactclus { Club was in charge of the pro- 1 grain and lie introduced Mr. Elgin White of Elizabeth City, the Dis- j triet Ruritan Governor. Dinner was served the group by the Presbyterian Woman’s Auxili ary. Regular meetings will be held each first Friday night. Cam Morrison Makes Strong Party Speech HARVEST Leu Roberson, Willhimstoii Township farmer, opened the season for the 1948 peanut harvest on Tuesday of this week. He h id picked one ban: of the goobers last Saturday to test his picker, and while he did not open the sesaon in earnest on Tuesday of this week he did pick fifteen more bags. Quite a few pickers were placed in operation yesterday in the county and a few pea nuts are beginning to move to market. No official report could be had, but it was stated that the first of the Roberson pickings graded about 69 percent meat and 17 percent extra large, placing the price, according to government support levels right at $11.04 for the sam ple. Fifteen Present For Fifty - Year Election Reunion —»■ Elbert TVel ami Cameron Morrison Pay Tribute To Tlu* Obl-timers » — Memories of old ballot box bat tles were appealingly revived in this county last evening when fifteen staunch Democrats met in the courthouse and occupied seats of honor to hear a gallant contem porary, the Honorable Cameron Morrison of Charlotte, deliver an old-time, honest-to-goodness poli tical speech. Elbert S. Peel, chairman of the Martin County Democratic Execu tive Committee, paid tribute to the group and had them recogniz ed before the big crowd assem bled there. Each of the fifteen was asked to stand and they were applauded. Mr. Morrison, opening his speech, recognized the old-timei. but explained that for emotional reasons he would address them di rectly near the close. His appeal for support of the straight Democratic ticket sound ed, Mr. Morrison said, "Martin County has offered leadership in battle, legislation, citizenship and politics, and 1 wish we had R J. Peel, Colonel Wilson G. Lamb and Harry W. Stubbs here to re call the trials and tribulations ex perienced in rallying the people behind the Democratic Party. God forbid that the people of this State shall forget the degredation practiced on the people by the Republican Party.” Comparing present conditions with those back yonder, Mr. Mor rison said that the red flag of sectionalism is being waved again. "1 don't think much of Truman, but he has got more De mocracy in him than any Republi can in the United States, and he'll stand up for Democracy. Let us remember that all the friends we have m the North are in the Dem ocratic Party, that the Republi cans will not do one thing for the South.” Speaking directly to the little group of fifteen members of the Fifty-Year Election Club, the party leader said that because of their efforts back yonder in 1898 and in the years that followed, North Carolina is the fairest State in the Union, that its beauty stands out in bold relief in the waters of the east and in the mountains of the west with a hap py people in between. Mr. Morrison’s address was well Continued on Page Five) —■-♦—» Suffer* Hr okra Arm While ('.rankinfi Motor — u Leslie Roberson suffered a bad fracture of the right wrist while cranking a large motor at the Roberson Slaughter House early this week. Both bones were brok en one report stated, and the ac cident victim has been in much pain. Big Crowd Hears Former Governor Here Last Night — ♦ Pleads for Straight Party Vole In Election On November 2 -o In an eloquent address, coming direct from the heart, Cameron Morrison, former governor and United States Senator, last night in the county courthouse pleaded i with a crowd of several hundred to support the Democratic ticket all the way in the November 2 election. Past his seventy-ninth birthday, the party’s noble leader from knee-pants days right on down through the years ably re viewed the work of the Democra tic Party and solemnly warned against the Republicans, his vig or, earnestness and eloquence running true to old form. Introduced by District Elector nominee Hugh G. Horton, Mr. Morrison opened strong and warmed up as he briefly reviewed the record of his party and went on for a short hour to warn against the glowing promises of the Republicans. “The Democra tic Party is the only party that has done anything about govern 1 ment for a long time in North j Carolina. The Republican Party has done nothing for fifty years, and what they did before that they are now ashamed of," the | old party war hurse and leader declared. “I challenge any stud ent of history to find any state | that has shared more than North Carolina has shared under the De mocratic' Party in the past fifty i years," he said. “No where has there been a finer, cleaner, wiser and nobler government than that under Ayeock, Glenn, Kitchin, Craig and on down the line,” he added. Virtually overlooking the Dixie crats and Wallaceites, the speaker admitted that during past years “we have during that time had trouble in Washington, but the people always endorsed the Dem ocratic Party in North Carolina. “We have a democratic plat form in North Carolina and all party candidates stand on that platform and in that stand they are better able to fight in Wash ington for what we need and want back home. The President can only make recommendations, but it will be Broughton, Bonner and the others who will vote, and they will do a good job of it," he assur ed the crowd. “There’s no need to get out of the Democratic Party. If we ‘bust’ it up in North Carolina the State will go for Dewey not Thurmond," Morrison said, warming up to the main issues in the heart of the na tional campaign. “Truman be lieves in most of the principles embodied in the North Carolina platform, but Dewey, he believes in nothing. "I’m just over 79 and I never agreed with everything a candi date believed in except possibly in what Wilson and Roosevelt be lieved in, but it is better to vote (Continued on page six) Ask For Higher Telephone Rates —-•— The Carolina Telephone and Telegraph Company is filing a pe tition with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, seeking an increase in its rural telephone rates. Asking an increase of 75 cents for lural residential and $1 for rural business telephones, the company will plead its case before the commission in Raleigh at 10:00 a. m. on November 5, it was an announced. At the present time the com pany is charging $1.75 for rural telephones within six miles of C towns and $2.25 fur residential telephones eleven miles from ': town. The offices in this county have ^ an unusually large rural su er list.