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<*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