0 «
ENTERPRISE (S READ BY
>,Mt MARTIN COUNTY
HOLIES TWICE EACB WEEK
THE ENTERPRISE
THE ENTERPRISE 18 READ Bl
OVER 3.000 MARTIN COUNTS
FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEKB
VOLUME LI—NUMBER 87
Willinmston, Martin County, North Carolina, Ti:<-siiuy, No ram bar 2, 1 9 111
ESTABLISHED 1899
County Board Delays
. Revaluation Action
Uncertain About
Conditions, Board
Inclined To Wait
—■ •
* Monday Meeting Heard
Several Delegations For
R«Hul Improvement*
Discussing the problem and ad
mitting that conditions in an elec
tion year are a bit uncertain, the
Martin Conoty Commissioners in
session Monday delayed calling
for a revaluation of all properties
^ for taxation next year. The board
members are inclined to review
any apparent inequalities and
compromise with an equalization
program rather than undertake a
complete revaiution of II real
properties. No definite action will
be taken on the matter until the
first Monday in December, it was
learned.
“We don’t want to go ahead and
revalue property and then have
conditions change so drastically
that the new values will be more
out of line than the ones now on
the books,” one official was quot
ed as saying.
The board was in session until
1:00 o'clock studying the revalua
tion problem, hearing reports
from the various county depart
^ ments and appeals from road
delegations. Several errors found
in tax listings for 1948 were cor
rected.
A contract for the installation
of a septic tank and lines for the
but $2,017.17 of $207,294.03 levied
Plumbing Company for $780. The
work is to be handled under the
i supervision of County Sanitarian
W. B. Gaylord, Jr.
Robt. Nelson of Robersonville
appeared before the board and
asked that the widening of a road
near Hassell be recommended.
The road begins at the D. W. Eth-1
eridge homeplace near Hassell |
^ and runs westwardly via Johnson
Heirs, Eubanks' farm, Mack Cher
ry, Rufus Chance and Nelson farm
to Edgecombe County line, a dis
tance of one and one-half miles.
A delegation, headed by Gar- j
lafid Forbes and armed with a
tHiPWHFtight signature petition,
asked that the Bear Grass-Ever
etts Ifoad or the old Bailey Road
be widened via George Taylor,
Jr., farm, Reuben Bailey and oth
ers to A. P. Barnhill farm, a dis- 1
tance of one and three-quarters
miles. The road, serving a school
bus and mail delivery service, is
little wider than a washed 'tater
ridge.
Jamesville Township citizens
asked that the old Jamesville
Plymouth river road be improved,
beginning one-quarter mile west
j of Highway 64 near Dardens and
thence through Fagan Farm to
old Fagan homeplace, serving
four families.
The board was also asked to re
commend the improvement of
dne and three-quarter miles of
road leading off Highway 64 at
No’. 90 station to Frank Barber's
(Continued on page eight)
Democratic Fund
Nearing Its Goal
The Democratic Party's 1948
county fund is nearing its $750 t
goal, and Elbert S Peel, chairman !
,of the county executive commit-)
tee, is confident the goal will be
reached before the voting is com- j
pleted today.
I- Up until last Saturday a total of j
$031.80 had been raised and re- j
ported in the county. Eight of the
ten townships had reported.
Floyd Moore led the list when !
he submitted Williams’ $25 quota, j
Luther G. Leggett was second;
when he reported $25.30 for Pop
lar Point. Williamston reported
$200.50. Buck Ayers reported $38
for Cross Roads. Goose Nest rais
ed and reported $50 early in the
week. J. R. Winslow reported
$J.ft5.50 for Robersonville-Gold
Point. George C. Griffin raised
and reported $52 for Griffins.
Bear Grass raised its $50 quota
last Friday, leaving Jamesville,
Hassell and Hamilton to report.
LATE
r
s.
It’s better late than never, i
Farmer Joe Perry of Williams '
Township reasoned as he
went about the task of dig:- j
ging the last three acres of his
1948 peanut crop. Farmers
have completed the task late
in the season in other years,
but Farmer Perry is believed
to have set a new record this
year. Several other farmers
only completed the task last
week.
No definite report on the
quality of the late crop could
be had, hut it is thought that
the late goobers are better
than those dug early this sea
son. It could not be learned
whether Farmer Perry used
st^ck poles previously used |
by other farmers this season
as was the case several years
ago in the Bear Grass area.
Ten Vehicles Are
Involved In Four
Road Accidents
One Victim Suffer* Broken
Leg; Another Injuries
To Arm - Shoulder
-♦
Two persons were hurt badly j
but possibly not seriously and
several others were slightly bruis
ed in a series of four accidents re
ported on the streets and high-!
ways in this county last Saturday
and Sunday. Property damage;
was reported in excess of $500. No
one was killed but the victims in
several of the accidents narrowly
escaped with their lives. Drunk
en driving figured in at least one
of the accidents, patrolmen said
Driving his 1935 Ford coupe
north on Hamilton's main street
last Saturday night, Artie Hardi
son, RFD 3, Williamston, started j
to pass a 1941 Ford sedan driven
by Alfred Sylvester Craft of Oak
City. Passing on the right, the
Hardison Ford damaged the right
fender on the Craft car and then
struck Herman Everett’s 1941 j
Plymouth which was parked. Da
mage to all three vehicles was es
timated at $185 by Patrolman It.
P. Narron and B. W. Parker who,
made the investigation. No one
was hurt but Hardison was de
tained for alleged drunken driv
ing. The Hardison car stopped
when it pumped into a truck.
The accident w'as the second to
occur almost in front of the Ham
ilton theater in two weeks. Jas
per Ellis, driving while allegedly
drunk, hit two parked cars, doing
damage estimated at $90.
Later Saturday night at 11:30
o’clock, Frank Moore, colored
man of Hamilton, lost control of
(Continued on page eight)
-o
Negro Painfully
Shot At Hassell
Augustus Hopkins, 25-year-old
colored man, was painfully but
believed not seriously shot by
Francis Thomas, also colored, at
the Thomas home in Hassell last
Saturday night about 11:00
o’clock. Thomas fired a load of
gun shot into the man's leg. After!
receiving treatment in a Tarboro
hospital, Hopkins was returned to
his home Sunday.
Investigating the attack, Sheriff
C. B. Roebuck said that the two
men had quarieled in a Hassell
street, that Thomas went to his
home. Hopkins followed him
there and tried to break the door
down with a piece of timber. Aft
er he failed to break the door
down with the timber, Thomas,
wife went to the door and asked 1
him to leave. He struck at her 1
with a hoe, driving the blade into
the door. Hopkins then ran into
the yard to get a pole and Thomas
brought his gun into play, firing
the load of shot into the muscle
of Hopkins' leg.
No arrests were made, but war
rants, charging assaults, are be
ing drawn against Doth men. i
Forming The Big Peanut Festival Baby
Parade
I ictured above are Little Misses Judy Bullock and Mary Emma Pool, Master Ben
hott and Master Jos. Griffin as they took their places in the Peanut Festival baby
task to form the parade, but the big job confronted the judges when they picked
Courtney and Misses Mary Bess and
p• a t ad(■ held here on October 14. It
the winners.
Roberta El
was no little
Two Badly Hurl In
Series Of Accidents
Ten Injured When
Truck Turns Over
On Fill Near Here
Red From* Moves In in (lure
For !Migruiit Workers
In Accident
Ten persons were injured,!
three of them critically, when a
truck carrying them and fifteen
other migrant workers to their
homes in Florida turned over on
the Roanoke River fill about one
half mile from Williamston’s town
limits yesterday afternoon about
3:30 o’clock.
James White suffered a broken
neck and other injuries and ac
cording to last reports received
from the local hospital indicated
that the chance for recovery was
slight. His wife, Mary White, suf
fered a broken pelvis and hip in
juries, and their daughter, Jose
phine, 10, was hurt internally.
Annie Mae Bankton received a
dangerous head injury. Other vic
tims of the accident, most of them
treated in the hospital here, were
discharged after receiving treat
ment here and in Windsor. The
injuries received by the others
were principally shock, bruises
and jjarasions.
While ten were being hospital
i/ed at least four were placed in
the Bertie County jail for public
drunkenness. The driver of the1
truck, Milton Sturgis, 31. of Bell
Glade, Fla., was jailed and book
ed for drunken and reckless driv
ing and operating a motor vehicle
without a driver’s license.
Completing their work in the
potato and buck fields, the group
of twenty-five, including one or
two aged persons and four small
babies, left New Jersey about
three weeks ago in a ton and a
half truck owned by C. Hudson,
of Mt. Vernon, Maryland, and
equipped with a wooden body
with a canvas top.
Sturgis with three or four
others was said to have liquored
up in Windsor while the truck ‘
was stopped for repairs and he 1
took the wheel from the regular
driver. He had not driven very '
far when the sober ones in the *
group sensed danger, one of them ‘
(Continued on page eight; (c
DRAFT CAM, |
The Martin County Draft
Board has been instructed to
send sixteen men to the pre
induction center at Fort
Bragg on November 18 for
preliminary examinations.
The group, not vet announc
ed, will leave on a regular
passenger bus that morning
at 10:45 o’clock and reach
I* ort Bragg that afternoon
about 3:00 o’clock.
No report has been receiv
ed lrom the examinations
held for a group of eleven in
Durham on October 13.
Painfully Hurl
In Local Wreck
Mi s. Jack Parkhurst of Robe i
sonville was painfully but riol
seriously hurt when the car in
which she was tiding crashed in
to a telephone pole on North
Smith wick Street just off Main
at the Sinclair Service Station
about 1:00 o'clock this morning.
Her chin badly cut and suffering
(Continued on page six)
!Escapes Allackcr
On County Hoad
Fighting off i!»*• --rrrtvnnbr'B rrf'
her suitor, J. 1). Carr, young col
: ored man, Sally llrown. 17 year
old colored girl of Roborsnnville
ran and hid in the woods just nfl
N C. 125 a short distanee out of
Hamilton on the William,ston,
Hoad, and finding her way clear
walked most if not all the way to
her home, reaching there about
midnight Sunday.
iiie girl leit hona that morn
ing about 8:30 o’clock with Carr
and they rode around Hamilton
and other parts of the county un
til about 5:00 o’clock when hi1
drove into the woods and at
tempted to assault the girl.
Carr did not worry over the
turn ot events there, one report'
stating that he returned to Rob
ersonville and picked up anotluu
girl. The troubled parents of Sal
ly Brown got in touch with Carr!
and threatened to call officers.
He agreed to take them on the
old roadster and search for the
girl. He brought them to Wil
liamston arid alter failing to find
the girl, they reported him to of
fleers about M:00 o clock. Carr
said that the girl got out the ear'
in Hamilton and said . he was go
ing to catch a taxi home, lie was
booked lor drunken driving and
denied bond. The parents, strand
ed here, finally made their way
baek to Robersonville, reaching
here just ahead of their daughter. '
Peanuts Start Moving To
Market In Volume Locally
Delayed a few days on account
of weather conditions and other,
factors, peanuts started to moving
to the market here in fairly large
volume the latter part of last
week, incomplete reports indicat
ing that approximately 25,000
bags were handled during the past
four or five days.
Pickers were placed in opera
tion in most sections of the < ounty
last week and the goober: started
moving directly from the field to
the market. Observers are of the
opinion that there’ll be few pea
nuts stored on the farms while the
growers wait for an advantageous
market. All seem to be ready to
sell just as soon as the nuts are in
the hag. threatening weather -
today is likely to delay picking i
operations, resulting in little ae- i
tivity on the market for a few
days, at ieust. i
A. far as it could be learned the 1
upon market is adhering closely to 1
government- support prici with '
lew peanuts being offered to gov- 1
eminent warehousi - anywhere in 1
the la !t. An uiiulfinal report 1
heard late ye.stride- imhrated ‘
that the market was averaging'
light at 11 cents or possibly a j
fraction over.
Reports received after tin goob- 1
ers were placed in the hag sub
stantiate earlier reports which'1
stated that the crop wa., .-potted. '
Some farmers are picking as few '
as e'ght and (en bags per acre C
while tin yield in -ome areas is
over twenty hags per acre. It is '
fairly certain that if weather con
ditions are at aji lavorabio from
now until the harvest is complet
ed, the farmers ot this county] 0
will market the Lust crop of pea- 1
nuts in several seasons.
»
NOTING
Karly developments at the
«Iu«;tioii pniis »r this county
pointed to an unusually large
vote. More than three hun
dred had east their ballots at
the two local boxes in the
first two hours after the polls
were opened at 6:30 o’clock.
The ballots were accumulat
ing so last at the No. 2 pre
cinct that a rush onTer for
another box was placed.
Over in Williams, one of
the smallest precincts in the
county, reported twenty bal
lots cast in the first hour. If
the trend is maintained until
closing time at 6:30 this eve
ning, the county will have
cast well over 4,000 votes
with most of them going into
the Democratic column.
Preliminary reports from
the nation also point to a
large vote.
Reports On Rat
Control Program
Now In Progress
Si\|«*«*ii I'rmiil of lto<l<‘itiiv
I'.xaniimul I on,i,I Willi
Typhus (><*riu
U.v W. H. <>AYM)ltl)
County Sanitarian
Uniing tlic v.cu ol September
-I. I Ml, tbe North Carolina State
Hoard of lh alth cooperating with
the Martin County Health Dept,
carried on a rodent examination;
covering bleeding and combing.
At that time there weir fifty-four
rats examined. Laboratory re-1
ports showed that there were Hi1
pe'ci nt of th<‘ rats that showed a
positive fixation test, which
meant that they had the typhus!
* rm at the present time or had
had it in the past. The ectopara
site which ale the fleas, the ex
amination showed that there were
-0.-1 fleas per rat, which are the!
yphus transmitters.
The town of WilJiamston is car-1
ring on a rat eradication pro-!
rum in cooperation with the
Stab Board of Health and the
■ aunty Health Dept
Rats must have four things in
uder to live, air, water, food, and
belter, and they thrive most
vhere these elements are easily
ibtained. Female.-, breed at the
uie of three months and the ges
ation period is about twenty
(Continued on page three)
New Well Offers An
Ample W ater Supply
Salt Content Is
Lowest Found In
The Water System
—•—
(!oiii[>1<‘1«mI l nil Will <;«st
Some Over Fourteen
TIioii*uimI Dollars
Williamston's water supply pro
blem is believed to have been
solved, at last, a report from the
regular meeting of the town com
missioners last evening stating
that a new well had been dug and
tested, that the 437-foot well is
pumping between 550 and 600 gal
lons per minute. "We are now
certain of an adequate source, and
all we need now is an adequate
storage to guard against emergen
cies," one of the board members
said.
The cost of drilling the well
amounted to $10,976.00. the engi
neer's fees boosting the amount .
by $6511.56. Bids for a pump and
equipment are being asked, and
it is hoped that the new well can
be placed in production within a
matter of a few weeks. The of
ficials, recognizing the damage
caused by the water if high salt
content being drawn from some
of the old wells, are anxious to
shift to the new water source as
soon as possible and Engineers
Rivers and Rivers are rushing the
details for the installation of the
pump and equipment.
Geologists, making exhaustive
tests after the well had been
pumped for twenty-four hours
straight, found that the salt con
tent ranged below eighty parts in
a million. The salt content of the
water pumped from the well at
the courthouse ranged upward to
more than four hundred parts in
a million.
Very little business was dis
cussed at the meeting of the board
last night other than to accept the
well in accordance with the terms
:d the contract. The contractor
lug a 450-foot well some months
igo, but it did not come up to ex
pectations and he filled it up with
two carloads of fine rock at his
>wn expense. He moved a few
cards away and hit the "jack pot,”
co to speak.
The town attorney was instruct
'd to draft an ordinance designed
to check feeding places for rats.
The taxi problem was mention
'd and the board plans to meet
A'ith representatives of the taxi
ipcrators in an effort to formu
ate uniform operating regula
tions, parking and so on.
An order was issued, directing
(Continued on page six)
-o_
r
v.
ROUMU'I'
Following two weeks of
peace and quiet, quite a little
storm broke loose on the
crime front in the county last
week-end. Patrolmen ar
rested thirteen persons, jail
ing four of them here. Other
officers arrested about t^n
alleged law violators, jailing
six of them.
Six of (he ten placed in the
county jail were white, the
ages of the group ranging
from 21 to 55 years. Five
were charged with public
drunkenness, three with
drunken driving one with
breaking au<> entering and
one was detained for skipping
bond.
Man Charged With
Robbery Of Store
Here Early Sunday
SuiutiH (>orliiim Admits
l$i<akinp Into ltt‘d Front
(j'rorrry Knrly Sunday
»■ ——
Samuel Guham, 35-year-old col
ored man, was arrested at his
home on Wilson Street early Sun
day morning and charged with
breaking into and the larceny of.
, several dollars in cash from the
Ked Front Grocery on Washing
ton Street a few hours earlier.
Gorham, allegedly involved in
other thefts and robberies here in
past years, denied the charge at
first but when officers presented
strong circumstantial evidence, he
admitted the robbery.
Going to a side window, Gor
ham knocked out the top section j
(glass and sash) of a window and
j crawled into the store, lie got
| $(3.54 in pennies, nickels, dimes'
and quarters out of the cash regis
ter, and apparently started out
with a five-pound bag of sugar,
but left it. The owner-operator, i
1’ G, Holloman, said that he could
i not miss any thing other than the
cash.
A tenant, occupying a room in
the back of the store building,
heard the intruder between 2:00
and 3:00 o'clock that morning but
officers knew nothing of the rob
bery until they discovered (he
broken window about daybreak
Capt. Arthur Sessoms was asked
to bring his bloodhounds from the
prison camp and the dogs picked
up a track and followed it to the
home of Dave Melton, several
blocks away on Elm Street. Mel-1
ton, asked if anyone had been to
his home earlier that morning,
stated that Gorham went there i
that he (Melton) chased the man
away. Officer Chas. It. Moore
went to the Gorham home on Wil
son Street and found the man
sleeping. Placed under arrest,
Gorham was carried to the police
station and questioned. Officers
later searched the home and
found the stolen money, and
when it was showed to him, Gor
ham admitted the crime.
He has been placed under bond 1
in the sum of $200 foi his appear
ance m the superior court the sec
ond Monday in December. Gor
ham was unable to arrange bond ‘
immediately.
Add Few Dollars
To Crusade Fund
-m
'I’Ih' fund for hungry children
in war stricken countries was
boosted in this county by $20 over
the week-end, according to a re
port released yesterday by Mrs.
N C Green, treasurer. So tar,
$1,135.32 lias been raised and re
ported.
Donations not previously ac
knowledged, include the follow
ing:
Mrs. K. B .Crawford, 50c; Mrs.
Marvin Britton, $1; Titus Critch
er, $1; Mrs. Geo. H. Gurganus, $1,
Mrs. F. J. Margolis. $7.50; Mrs. C.
A. Harrison $3; Harrison Shop, $1;
Mrs. Daisy W. Pope, $1, Mis. Bill
Thrower, $2; Mrs. Mamie G. Tav
lor, $2. *
l(
Struck By I rain,
Woman Improving
—»—
Struck by an A. L. Railroad
freight train on the West Main
Street trestle at 12:20 last Satur
day afternoon, Mary D. James, 40
year-old colored woman, was re
ported recovering in the local hos
pital yesterday. No bones were
broken, but she was said to have
suffered painful abrasions and
bruises on her face and hip.
Accompanied by Roscoe Mar
row , she was walking toward the
switch as the train approached
from the rear. Apparently she
failed to heed the warnings of sec
tion railroad workers who waved
to her to get off the trestle ^ind
did not hear the engine whistle
in time to get out of the way.
The engineer set his emergency
brakes and skidded into the wo
man, knocking her off the track.
Marrow climbed to safety on the
trestle iron railing. The train stop
ped withing three ears of the spot
after striking the victim.
She was removed to the hos
pital in a Biggs ambulance.
Suffers It luck it
Home hi It cur (trass
la declining health for months,
Elder B. S. Cowin suffered a
slight heart attack last Friday arui
is now confined to his bed at his
home in Bear Grass. The mine
ter had almost recovered IroitT
stroke suffered some months