Newspapers / The Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.) / March 24, 1949, edition 1 / Page 1
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J-—-■== THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTY FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK THE ENTERPRISE —— * . ■■■ . ,i.aasg THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTY FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEES VOLUME LI I—NUMBER 24 Williamston, Martin County, North Carolina, Thursday. March 24, 1949 ESTABLISHED 1899 Commends Sheriff For Rounding Up Venire For Jury All But Seventeen of the Venire Contacted In Matter of Hours Judge Cheste^ D. Morris, pre siding over the ..current term of the Martin Count:' Superior Courjpt appeared a hit surprised Tuesday afternoon when 183 of a special venire cal'ed foi potential duty in the first degree murder - case against 1'ohn R. Coltrain either re ported as instructed or vyere ac counted for. “It is as near a perfect record as I have ever seen,” .'the jurist said in commending the sheriff and his deputies in searching out the special venire of two hundred members. Aided by Deputies Joe Roebuck, Buck Holloman, and special agents Dallas Holliday, Alton Har ris, Wiley Craft and Edmond Early, the sheriff had accounted for most of the 200 by midnight Monday, or about six or seven hours after the order was issued. Only one case of mistaken iden tity was reported. J. C. Ross was summoned instead of his son, Jos. C. Ross. The father was excused. The following were out of the county or state: Jeff D. Etheridge, Henry H. Corey, G. W. Sawyer, R. H. Alexander, Bruce Fagan, Carroll Brown, Mrs. Will Johnson, Thomas Crockett and A. W. Ange. The following could not be found and their whereabouts could not be determined: L. A. Bullock, Jesse Terry, William D. Hardison, Roy G. Manning, H. L. Whitaker, Roy Hardison. The following were excused for reasons acceptable to the court, mostly on doctors' certificates: J. V/. Green, V. G. Taylor, L. C. Brown, A. P. Purdy, Mrs. Harry E. Jarman, Mrs. Christine Bailey, Rufus Chance. W. O. Donald. Mrs. V/m. H. Gray, Marvin Peed, Mary Gray, A. W. Boyd and Joe H. Per ry. Ben Whitehurst cut himself with an axe accidentally after he was summoned to appear and he, too. was excused. In all. thirty-one could not be found or were excused, leaving 169 special veniremen or venire women plus the seventeen men called for regular jury duty to choose a jury to hear tire murder case. And when all the special venire (Continued on page eight) Former Resident Of County Passes Funeral services were conduct ed in Sanford’s First Baptist Church last Monday afternoon for Thaddeus Mavo Lawrence, form er resident of this county who died in the Lee County hospital in Sanford Sunday morning at 10 o'clock following an operation. Rev. Yancey C. Elliott officiated and interment was in the Buffalo Church Cemetery, Sanford. The son of the late Tommy and Louise Salsbury Lawrence, he was born in Edgecombe County 68 years ago, and when a young "man1 lie cafiVe county, lo gaged in farming for a number of year and left for Sanford in 1924 to accept employment with a rail road. Mr. Lawrence was held in high esteem in his adopted home, the Sanford Herald, stating, in part: ‘He counted hils friends by the scores and probably knew more Sanford people by name than any other citizen. He always had a kind word for everyone and was interested in them well being. 'His lasting memorial is in the fine family of children he reared, all of whom hold places of re spect in the towns in which they reside.” Surviving are his widow, the former Miss Alice Pender, sister of Mr. Joseph Pender of Wil liamston; seven sons, Cecil of Durham, Aubrey of Washington, D. C., Roy and Joe, students at the University of North Caro lina, Billy, Fred and Lee of San-j ford; four daughters. Mrs. Gilbert Blue of Winston-Salemn C. Jor.vs cl Richmond, Mrs',fluP Murray of Charlotte and Mrs Gladys Botzis of Sanford; and five grandchildren. Discharge Venire In Capital Offense Case REGISTRATION Little interest is being ad vanced in the town’s munici pal primary election to be held on April 11. The list of announced candidates con tidies two short of a needed nfllnimum, and Registrar John ’E. Pope said yesterday that /the name of only one new elector had been added to the registration books. f The new elector moved into town since the last mu nicipal election. Registra tion books for the primary on April 11 will be open on Sat urday of this and on Satur day of next week. One Case Remaim On The Criminal Docket For Trial Trial of Criminal Cases I Certain To Continue Into I\ext Week Sidetracked to give the Col train trial the right-of-way, on' lone case remaining on the crim inal docket in the Martin Count; Superior Court is almost certaii to get no further attention befor next week. Joe Clark, Hender son Moore, Grover Peel, Lemai Janies and Dave Leonard Janie are charged with the theft o peanuts from D. D. and R. G Coburn. Proceedings in the crimina court not previously reported fol low: Jimmie Watts, the young col ored boy who was sentencei earlier in the week to serve eigh months on the roads for larceny of overcoats from parked cars, hu< six months added to his sentence when it was pointed out that hi was on' probation. Tin youth convicted on a larceny charge was sentenced a year ago to serv six months on the roads for lar ceny. He was placed on proba tion at that time. The case charging Charlie Bel with an assault with a deadl; weapon was continued until tb June term. Pleading not guilty in the casi charging him with robbery of tin person, Charlie Griffin was foun< not guilty. Charged with larceny, Waite Hebrew Purvis pleaded guilty o receiving goods knowing them ti be stolen, and was sentenced ti the roads for two years. Thi l oad term was suspended and thi defendant was placed on proba tion for two years. • In the case charging Fran! Fowell, Wiley Lyons and Colum bus Marrow with violating th< (Continued on page c-jght) Red Cross Fund ITiive^earboal A report from the chairman late yesterday stated that the annua Red Cross Fund Drive iff ' th'i: chapter is nearing the $2,700 goal While reports are not yet com plete in several districts, approxi mately $2,200 had been raisec and reported late yesterday. An encouraging report was sub mitteu by Willis Williams wh< canvassed the colored citizenry ir Poplar Point. Given a $15 quot; the little area raised and reportec $22.75. Williamston, up until late yes terday, had raised and reportec $1,753.16, and the other district! reported $393.99 in hand at tha time. Chairman Woolard is still con fident that the approximate^ $534 due on the quota can anc will be raised The colored cit izens in five townships with < quota of $450 have not yet re ported and the canvass is not yel complete in the other areas. Ii TnoaomenU m car. :m.-: rdavrv-'r days longer, 'thu eon will be readied, the chairman de clared. I First Try To Get | A Jury Costs The ! Taxpayers $1,20® I Abandoned Hope of Gel* I tinp jury After Examin ing; 55 of Venire Examining fifty-five persons ! and finding only two acceptable | for jury duty in the first degree i murder case now pending against j John R. Coltrain, Judge Chester Morris in the Martin County Sup erior Court yesterday morning at 10:15 o’clock announced that the selection of a jury from within the county appeared hopeless and that it would be useless to con , tinue the interrogation. The pro * secution, suggesting at the time [ the defendant was arraigned in [! open court Monday that it would ; be almost useless to try to get a j jury within the county, and the defense, maintaining when the case was first called that a jury ' could be had in the county, both j agreed yesterday that it was use , less to continue the interrogation Judge Morris immediately dis charged the venire, and following » a conference with counsel for the defense and members of the : prosecution ordered the with ' j drawal of the two jurors that had lj been selected. : j The first man selected was Clin ton Jones, colored farmer of Wil liams Township. He was a mem ber of the regular jury called for service during the term, and the first to be examined. Confusing answers were offered at times by the man, but at the end of about twenty minutes he was accepted with the possibility that he would have been excused before any evidence was offered. Nine others were questioned be fore a second man, Henry A. Hais lip, farmer of near Hassell, was accepted. The two men were plac ed in the custody of a special jury officer, Chas. R Mobley, and kept together until the venire was dis | charged yesterday morning. After Jones had been question ed eight or ten minutes, one of his answers caused laughter in the * courtroom and Judge Morris rap ' ped for order, warning that seri ' t ous business was being handled : and that the Court would tolerate ‘, no further demonstrations. !; The state exercised its right to ' dismiss a potential juryman for announced cause only once. The defense, allowed to reject as many ^ as fourteen without announced ’ cause, did not exercise that pre ' rogrative in a single instance. ‘ Most of those questioned for jury ; duty declared they were consci ' entiously opposed to capital pun ishment and were automatically ■ dismissed. Several said they had already formed an opinion that ‘ the defendant was guilty, and one or two said they had formed the opinion that the defendant was innocent, automatically dis qualifying themselves for jury m^'itv. Several sair^ had, formed opinions and were oppos Several of tnose questioned j gave contusing and sometimes ! evasive answers, but C. W. Forbes I expressed the feelings of most of those in the venire when he said that while he would serve as best he could and render a verdict ac cordingly, he did not think it right that he should be called when he knew the defendant and 1 members of his family. It was al so pointed out that he had serv ed as a juror in a capital offense case (state against Ottis Ragland about two years ago), and that I he believed he had fulfilled his obligation to the state. About the time that the 22nd man on the special venire had been examined and declared his conscientious objections to cap ital punishment, Judge Morris called a conference with defense counsel and members of the pros ecution. He was quoted as saying, “they (the veniremen) had found a sure way out.” It was suggested tha^, ‘‘(fort he ooutAuued hut. ti tiv the time fifteen been questioned without success (Continued on page eight) Twenty Cases On Civil Doeket For Trial Next Week Cases Believed To Bo of Lil lie Consequence Domi nate the Calendar -» .. Scheduled more than a week late, first on a/count of the Rob | erson murder case, and then to j give right-of-way to a dozen divorce actions, the trial ofjcivil' leases will hardly get underway | before the middle or latter part (of next week in the Martin Coun-1 ty Supf/rior Court. The calendar carries / compara-j lively small number (ft cases andi it is believed that just about all of i ! them are of little consequence. I Certainly, there ar<- no big dam- [ age suits and the civil ca’enda; I trials are likely to get no more than passing attention from the public. Several of the cases are built around referee hearings and final action is expected in possibly j three of the actions of that type. Some of ^*re suits date back to 1938, and there is a possibility that some of the bewhiskered cases will be disposed of, at last. The case brought by Standard Fertilize}' Company to recover a $225 account from J. S. McCollum and others was instituted just about eleven years ago. Involving a tiny bit of land, the boundary line dispute case of H. ! H. Cowen against C. E. Jenkins J will be called again, this time with ja 50-page referee report. A 46-page referee report is ready in the boundary line case of ■ W. W. Griffin against Ada Jones and others. The case of Willie Bullock J 'against J. D. Wynne involves a i boundary line. The case of Thurston Davenport j against Dorothy Taylor is again in' the courts, The issue of owner ship of certain land has been agreed upon, but the matter of the | value of improvements is yet to be considered. Judge W. H. S. Bur 1 gwyn set aside a verdict in which the improvements were valui'd at about $7,500. In his case against M. E. Hyman, R. S. Critcher charged violation of a timber contract and is ask ing $650 damages. Suing S. T. Leathers over a farm contract, William C. Lawrence is 'asking $1,802. A referee has heard j I the accounting and is to report his I findings. . James Daniel is suing Jay Grif J fin (colored) to get possession of I a 1935 Tudor Ford, worth at one time about $100. Alleging a farm contract was broken, James Everett is suing | Claude Smith for $556.86. Louis Williams is suing King David Rogers for possession of certain property in Williamston and, at the same time, claiming damages in tne sum of $100. Van Lee Reddick is suing Theo ! dore Gurganus for $482 damages, 1 alleged to have resulted when the plaintiff’s car driven by James Willis Reddick, and the defend an’t truck figured in an acciden: last August 23. In the case of Standard Fertiliz er Company against B. J. McFar lanti, the plaintiff is seeking to re- j leowFli,5Rw.27 on a note. ri'"" (Continued on page eight) Income Reported For Past Month — Martin County la.st month re ceived a total of $4,293.liti in fees, fines and forfeitures, the income from the county court for • the period having approaching a new record. The register of deeds reported an income of $545.05, including $438.55 for recording papers, $30.50 for issuing various certifi cates, and $76 for marriage li censes. The sheriff’s office reported $239.32 income received for sol v ing nearly 200 papers during the period. Most of the income—$3,509.29— was reported by the clerk of court. The report shows that fines in the county court in February amount ed to .’ , -V.V.t ,',A ,,,,,,' ,.,. Htcor/tu.’ llol/i lot- cot tl was $21.85 and miscellaneous fees amounted to $232.29. Call Hundred Veniremen Fmm Hertford County For Jury Duty In Coltrain Murder Case Here Call Eight Cases In Local Justice Of'Peace Courts j •— ~q>~ TIip Hoys Arr Opening The Fishing Season a (lit Early In (bounty Admitting that the b g court was the main show, Justices of the Peace John L. Hassell and R. T. Johnson said that they were not pushed entirely out of the pic ture, that they had handled a com bined total of eight cases in their courts during the past few days. Two of the cases were carried into the courts when an attempt was made to open the fishing seas on a bit early. Cases handled by Justice Has sell: Drunk and disorderly, Clyde Silverthorne was fined $5 and tax ed with $5.85 costs. Harry Clinton Stokes, charged with being drunk and disorderly, was sentenced to the roads for thirty days. The road term was suspended upon the payment of $7.50 costs. Charged with assaulting a fe male, Ed Pilgreen was bound over to the county court for trial on April 4, Bond was required in the sum of $100. James Barfield, charged with assaulting a female, was bound over to the county court for trial on April 4. The following cases were hand led by Justice Johnson: Moses Lee Anthony and James A. Mozingo, charged with fishing out of season, were each fined $5 and taxed w’ith the costs. Charged with disorderly con duct, James Willie Thomas was fined $5 and required to pay the costs. Henry Wiggins, charged with public drunkenness, was taxed with $6,85 costs. Electric Meeting Held In Ely month Local electric appliance deal ers and their employes were rep resented at a district meeting, sponsored by the Virginia Elec tric and Power Company in Ply mouth last Tuesday evening. Forty-eight dealers, represent ing Edgecombe, Martin, Pitt, Tyr rell, Washington and Halifax Counties, heard addresses by Mr E. T. Moore, director of residen tial sales for the V. E. P. Co., oi Richmond, and Mr. Tom D. Ful ford, general sales manager foi th" company, also of Richmond Mr. Moore addressed the group on "L. i’.'Gas versus Redy Kilo watt’ , comparison of bottle gas and electricity for use in homes Amending from Williamstor were Messrs. Jimmy Harris, K D. Worrell, Lewis Pippin, Morris Roberson, Johnny Rawls. In Harrison, Ben Courtney, Hoke Brown, Jessup Harrison and Ed Powell and department heads from the local V. E. P. office. THE RECORD SPEAKS . . . The accident record took a decided turn for the worse lust week when the life of a young man was snuffed out on the highways of this coun ty. At the end of the 11th week, the record this year is very little better than it was for the corresponding period in 1948. The following tabulations 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. 11th Week Accidents Inj’d Killed Dam’ge 1949 1 0 1 $ 900. ’Y's SV&t* 1949 24 11 1 $5,400 1949 30 13 1 5,875 f P.-T. A. MKKTING | vJ The regul ir meeting of the. \Villiamsto£ Parent-Teacher Association will be held next Monday evening at 8:00 o’ clock in the grammar school auditorium. An interesting program has been planned and parents and other patrons j of the school are asked to at tend. “One Great Hour” I Program Planned -For This Week-end Over 75,000 Churches Will i Participate; Nation-wide Broadcast Saturday j Over 7(5,000 churches represent i ing every major Christian denom ination and communion have unit ' i'd to take one simultaneous offer ing for world relief at Church ser . vices on Sunday, March 27, ac ' cording to a joint statement issu ed from New York City by Bishop John S. Stamm, president of Fed eral Council of Churches of Christ j in America and other church lead Whole hearted, nation-wide support for tins history making j effort of churches in America was ; urged in the statement whicli j quoted in full as follows: | “Never before in the history of tlie world have the churches of ; Europe and Asia been faced with 'greater problems and responsibili ties. The fate of our civilization ! may lie in the ability of the churches and especially the churches overseas to meet their responsibilities in carrying forth , the Christian ministry. That is , why this nationwide united effort . by America’s Christians has an ! importance far beyond the prac | tieal goal of fund raising. For this 'great joint program will not only strengthen the vitally important ! relief and rehabilitation work of j the churches overseas but will also prove to all the world just how great is the power generated when Christians unite in such a great common cause.” All the major denominations and communions arc participating in this one great offering on Sun day, March 27. This inter-denomination promo tion will culminate on Saturday evening, March 2(5, with a nation wide radio program—“One Great Hour”—which will be broadcast for tin1 churches of America by the contribution of the full net works from 10 to 11 p. in. “One Great Hour”—written under the direction of the great playwright ('"ontinued on page eight) -i- . ... __ \\ iil rvirtTi’/pate— fii TaKeiif SIJovv —«— 1 Severe! Martin County young j people will participate in a talent show sponsored by the Roper Ruritan Club in the high school auditorium there Friday evening of this wo k at 8:00 o’clock, it was announced yesterday. The contestants from this coun ty are, Miss Geraldine Angc and Miss Jean Stevenson of James ville, and the Griffin Brothers, known as the “Ditch Diggers Quartet”. Miss Stevenson en ters the contest with three awards already earned in contests held at various centers in this section of the State. Youth Center Not To lie Opened Tomorroic Night -♦ Due to preparations for a Post master’s meeting in the American Legion Hut on Saturday morning and afternoon, the Youth Center .v;P r.-' Vi • wrs Y\\tV>y ?%•<? uinr . The .Center wi/i he opened on Saturday and Sunday evenings as usual. Selection Of Jury Going Forward In Court Here Today ^ ^ I Fairly Fortum Trial Will Continuo Woll Into Next ^ Week f A turn, predicted earlier in the! week, took place in the trial of John R. Coltrain, Griffins Town ship man charged with murder, j yesterday when efforts to obtain! a jury from a special venire in this county were abandoned in the Martin County Superior Court I [ and Judge Chester Morris, pre siding, ordered 100 veniremen ! called from Hertford County, A report on the venire service I could not be had immediately but apparently a majority of the 100 whose names were drawn from i the jury box reported here this morning. The court is now work ing to get a jury from the group It is an all-man venire, reports 'stating that two women drawn I were excused at the time. Mrs, j Pauline Craig was excused be cause she was alone in a little business establishment in Alios j kie, and Mrs. W. L. Hopkins was I excused because she has children under six years of age, and, too, her husband is included in the venire. Most of today likely will be j spent selecting a jury, and unless I the case takes an unexpected turn from now, the trial is fair ly certain to continue into next i week. Names of the Hertford County j venire drawn by 5-year-old Bart lett Ward of Winton, follow: Marvin Futrell, Then. Mitchell, I Stephen Leicester, Jack Futrell, James M. Forbes, Jr., T. E. Fu trell. Rex Rawls, L. B. Rice, L. 11 Brittonham, H. T. Downs, Gordon Rawls, J M. Dunn, W. C. Brit ton, A. T. Byrum, James L. How led, Roy Howell, H. C. Moore, Dil ! lard Sumner, Franklin Taylor, IS. L. Barnes, Earl D. Moore, R. C. Holloman, J. R, Felton, Jack i R. Morris, J. G. Jernigan, 1. S. | Lassiter, J. W. Sexton, Lawson Wiggins, J. II. Lynn, Bruce Wil liams, Jake Parker. R. L. Spivey, I N. L. Riddick, G. R. Holloman, Rufus Worrell, J. L. Charles, B. J. Liverman, Walter Futrell, R. L. Baughman, O. C. Powell, Thos. E, Rose, Jason Futrell, Jodie R. Brinkley, J. R. Evans, J. F. Chit ty, S. W. Godwin, Abe Feldman, Roy King, Wm. W. Hill, J. N. Clark, P, A. Phelps, R. L. Dilday, Leonard Holloman, A. C. Hollo man, Jr., James A. Whitley, Al bert Benthall, James E. Baze I more, Jr., S. A, Liverman, H. R. I u-onunuea on page eigni) |-O-~ Postmasters ^ ill ■Met'roirSnrurdny' Announcing the program today, i Postmaster W. K. Dunn said that a ! Marge majority nf the 117 post-1 | musters in the first district are I planning to attend the annual | meeting of their chapter of the I National Association of Postmast ! ers in the American Legion Hut here on Saturday of this week. I Following the registration at 11:00 o'clock that morning, the I postmasters will discuss a business I calendar and various topics. | Lunch will be served at 1:00 j o’clock. D. Staton Inscoe, former Wil liamston man, who is president of th" North Carolina Chapter and Raleigh postmaster, Miss Pearl Linville, chapter secretary and na tional vice president of Oak Ridge, and Central Accounting Postmas ter George K. Wilson of Charlotte will speak briefly, and the Honor able M. H. Ackerman, inspector in charge of the Atlanta Division, will deliver the main address. Several district inspectors, led i by J. M flisley of R:. », w •• _ j answer quest'ons and discuss vati- i | ous phases of pustal activities. (/rand jury Files Quarterly Report In Court Tuesday Rmiinmonds Repair* To County Home ami Better Sehool Water Supply Completing their work Tues day afternoon, members of the Martin County Grand Jury in terrupted the proceedings in the Joltrain case long' enough to ■submit their re-port in open court, fudge Chester D. Morris, presfd* c'g over tin/ term, expressed hit appreciation to the jury for its iplendid jfork and / commented .-cry favorably on the report. Nine dew members were added to the 'grand jury this week, in rluding W. R. Banks, J. W. Hol lo well, Jr,, William Hadley, D, O. Weaver, Frank Holliday, Marion Cobb, Andrew Mobley, Nat Ellis, and Warner Bailey. They are to serve until next March. The nine other members of the jury who will complete their tenure six months from now, include, Jessup Harrison, foreman; Thurman Roberson, Claude Keel, G. El. Co burn, Ernest V. Jones, J. H. Forbes, Leonard C. Bennett, S. D. Roberson and C, A. James. W .E. Early served as jury officer. In addition to the regular re port, the jury filed a supplement al record on the condition of the school busses. Judge Morris had warned that he would stop any that were not in good mechanical condition The report showed that thirty-seven busses were O. Keh, that ten had minor defects such as faulty horns, cracked win dows and so on. Nine busses were said to be dirty, five of them serving the Parmeic school. The regular jury report fol lows: “We passed on all hills of in dictment presented to us. ‘We visited the office of the Clerk of Superior Court and found it to be in excellent condi tion, with all guardian accounts filed and recorded up to date. “The sheriff's office and tax col lector’s office were visited and found to be in good condition with all records up to date. "We found the register of deeds’ office in excellent condi tion and all bonds in order, “We visited the office of the superintendent of schools and found it in excellent condition. We inspected the certificates in this office and found that all school bus drives have proper licenses. “We checked all justice of the peace reports and found them all filed with tin- clerk of the court and fines submitted to the treas urer. (Continued on page eight) Hundreds Attend Cooking School The two-day cooking school and Appliance Show, sponsored by the Thrower Hardware and Ap plance Company, opened, yester day afternoon at 2:30 in the A meiican Legion Hut with a ca pacity house of approximately ____ Electric appliances were dem were prepared by Miss Mary Es telle Doyle, home economist of Walker-Martin, Inc., assisted by M Eleanor Hall, home econo, mist for the Virginia Electric and Power Company. Those attending registcrd upon entering the hut and following the school, names were drawn Li determine winners of the prizes offered. Mrs. Reg Simpson was the winner of the oven meal; Mrs. Frank Lilley, saucepan meal; Mrs. John VanLandingham, spiced meat loaf; Mrs. Jesse B. Everett of Hamilton, Spanish onions; Mrs. James H. Ward, toasted potatoes; Mrs. M. E. Hyman of Palmyra, Dutch apple pie; Mrs. L. L. Whit field of Robersonville, hand iron; Mrs. 1'. E. Forehand, waffle iron, and Mrs. David Modlin won re frigerator cookies. Two-pound bags of flour were given to each person attending The flour was donated through the courtesy of Martin-Eliiott Co of Williamston and W. H. Bus night < \. Nes. .,ie coffee w as se, t, ca liuut a OuoUi Oj' 4 ciU&i sentatives.
The Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.)
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March 24, 1949, edition 1
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