North Carolina Newspapers

THE ENTERPRISE IS READ Bf OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTT FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK THE ENTERPRISE "-** • •-<»*••#. t..V«V TIIE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTY FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK TiMAiSMM-i « VOLUME LI1—NUMBER S? ffilliamston, Marlin County, North Carolina, Thursday. July 21, 1919 ESTABLISHED 1899 I Justices Handled Ten Cases During Past Several Days ——♦—— No Major Cases Before Jus tiees R. T. Johnson ami Janies S. Ayers -® Justices R. T. Johnson and James S. Ayers handled ten cases in their courts during the past several days. Justice John L Hassell reported no cases, ex plaining that he was still on “va cation". No major cases were in the lo cal courts and the proceedings at tracted very little attention. Justice Ayers hit on a uniform fine in the three cases he handled, as follows: Charged with disturbing the peace, James Thomas was fined $10 and taxed with the costs. It was reported that Thomas took a door of a neighbor's home on feur ganus Street and used abusive and profane language. A 30-day road sentence, imposed in the case, was suspended. George Murnford, drunk and disorderly, was sentenced to the roads for thirty days, the coui'1 suspending the road term uoor the payment of a $10 fine and costs. Drunk and disorderly, Lillie Berry was sentenced to jail foi thirty days. The jail term was lift ed upon the payment of a $10 fine and costs. Justice Johnson handled the following eases: , James Everett was fined $5 anc taxed with $5.85 costs for failing to stop at a stop sign. Governor Casin, charged with an assault was found not guilty. Charged with assaulting a fe male, Jos. Robert Beacham wa; bound over to the county court ir $200 bond. Alleged io have abandoned £ crop and obtained money undei false pretense, Charlie' White hurst was bound over to the coun ty court under bond in the sum of $100 He was found not guilty in the county court. In the case charging Frank Speller with failing to give proper Signals when stopping his vehicle the defendant was taxed with th' costs, the court suspending judg ment on condition that he pay the damages. Judgment was suspended upoi the payment of the costs in the case charging Ivey Mae Browr with an assault. Ransom Whitehurst was taxed with $7.85 costs when he was found guilty of being drunk ir public. Interruption In Power Service Power service in this area will be interrupted next Sunday mor ning between the hours of 4:3( and 8:00 o’clock a. m., it was an nounced today by S. P. Woolford manager of the Virginia Electric and Power Company. The manager explained that the interruption of service was planned so that changes could be made in the company's 110,000 rffAi at viding a greater capacity of elec trical energy in this area. He alsc cxplr’ned that the halt in service was necessary fur the protectior of tile iiic-ii iiamni-firg Htc-vhMtge*. In case of bad weather, the work will be delayed until the following Sunday at the same hours. The interruption will affect ser vice in just about every town in this county and many outside the county. HAVE PATIENCE --- Officials are asking all GPs to have patience, and not write about their insurance dividends. To write the Vet erans Administration will cause delay in the distribu tion of the dividend checks, it was explained. Special application blanks are now being prepared, and are expected to be available sometime in August at every post office, veterans service office or service organization. Report Increase In Illicit Liquor Traffic | NO GREAT DAMAGE ] v* Outside the flood areas in | Williams, Jamesville and Griffins Townships, the heavy rains in June and so far this month have not ma terially damaged the crops, according to reports reaching here. Some crops such as watermelons and cotton have suffered a bit from the rains and grass is getting out of | control in peanuts where | plowing has been halted by the rains, but tobacco seems to be doing all right, as a whole. The tobacco crop is about half harvested, and farmer^ still report good curings. Seventeen Cases In County Court Monday Morning • ■ Fines Amounted To $3(H) In Short Session Of The Tribunal -<*> Attracting comparatively few spectators, the Martin County Re corder’s Court handled seventeen cases and folded its tent in less than two hours last Monday mor ning. Fines were imposed in the sum of $300. Judge Chas. H. Manning was on the bench and Solicitor Paul D. Roberson prose cuted the docket. Proceedings: Pleading guilty of allowing an unlicensed driver to operate a motor vehicle, Jake Purvis was fined $25 and taxed with the costs. Charged with careless and reck less driving, Lovingood Modica j pleaded guilty and was f ined .$35, | plus the case costs. | Rose Purvis was fined $25 and I taxed with the costs for operat I ing a motor vehicle without a [ driver’s license, | In the case charging L. H. I Hamm with issuing a worthless check, the defendant pleaded 1 guilty and the action was con tinued under prayer for judgment j until September 12. Charged with operating a mof i or vehicle without a driver’s li , cense, Robert Stanton was found , not guilty. j Pleading guilty of assaulting a' | female, Joseph Robert Beach was I sentenced to the roads for three | months. The court suspended the j road term upon the payment of a j $25 fine and cost, and the defend I ant is to remain of good behavior and law abiding for two years. | The pistol owned by the defend ant was ordered confiscated and destroyed. I Walter Columbus Davis, the young colored man from Rocky Mount who had just about every ' thing in the book thrown at him, 'pleaded guilty nf drunken driv | ing, and the action was continued [uTmi"SBP(m5u- 12 with the de iwMWfivi tut fc.JS*|»» I $200. The continuance was al | lowed under condition that the I defendant surrender his driver's j license. Davis, the wild driver -tfcc -hitfhvsy patrol ■■ j members a merry chase in the county last Friday, was turned over to Wake County officers fol lowing his trial here and returned to Raleigh where he stands charg (Continued on page eight) 4---- - - Orphanage Group Plans Visit Here The senior class of the Meth odist Orphanage, Raleigh, will make a short visit here on Friday of next week, Superintendent Larkin advised friends here yes terday. Traveling by bus the group will continue to Roanoke Island for a showing of the Lost Colony that evening. While here the group of 25 or 30 will be guests of members of the Methodist church at a picnic lunch, it was learned. Wreck More Than Hundred Stills In County Last Year Pour Out Efttinialcd 33,250 Gallon* Of Boer At 137 Plants The illicit liquor business in Martin County more than held its own last year in the face of legal competition, an able law enforce men force and a worsening of con ditions on the economic front. Reviewing his department’s ac tivities for 1948, ABC Enforce ment Officer Joe H. Roebuck said that 137 illicit plants were de stroyed, that 231 gallons of white liquor were confiscated and that 33,250 gallons of mash or beer were poured out. Twenty-two persons were arrested and nine teen were convicted of alleged violation of the, liquor laws. Fines imposed in the cases amounted to $1,342.50 and road terms totaled 190 months. Three defendants were found not guilty when they were carried into the federal courts. One was convicted in the federal court and the other eigh teen were handled in the courts in this county. In 1947 the enforcement bureau wrecked 142 plants, but hardly half as much beer—18,850 gallons —was found in 1947 as was found and poured out last year. Seven teen persons were arrested in 1947 for allegedly violating the li quor laws and fines amounted to $915 that year. The officers con fiscated 420 gallons of white li quor in 1947 as compared with 23! gallons last year. Most of the li quor confiscated last year was found at two points, the enforce ment chief stating that sixty gal lons were found at one distillery just before, the Christmas holi day. That the business continues on a fairly large scale in the county is evidenced by the capital involv ed. The officer, estimating the unit value at 25 cents, said the beer, made mostly with sugar instead of with molasses as was the main practice back during the war years, was worth some over $7, 090. The 231 gallons of liquor had a market value of from $6 to $100 a gallon, or about $1,600. Copper kettles, after going al most out of existence during the war and the period immediately after the war, were back in about one-fourth of the cases last year, pushing upward the average plant worth to about $100. Including the capital, the illicit liquor business, it is estimated, amounted to be tween $50,000 and $75,000 in this county last year. (Continued on page eight) ate speeds, motorists started (ly ing low again on Martin County highways recently and seven of them “flew” right into the courts. Elvtcs-zeere. imposed by - ..Judge. Phas. H. Manning in recorder’s L’ourt at the rate of $15 each, plus :osts, running the bill for each defendant to $37.05. Nearly everyone of the defend ants was unusually polite, made 10 slurring remarks, admitted their guilt, paid off and continu ’d on their way. The Lombardo witness, most polite, is not related i to Guy, he explained. Cpl. Fear-1 ing, handling the charge, explain ed to the defendant that other Lombardos had traveled this way, that they, too, had paid the fiddler for playing on the highways. The defendants were listed as follows: George Jeptha Winslow of E tizabeth City, William Oliver Hlark of Tarboro, James Henry Madrey of Moyock, Joseph J. Lombardo of Brooklyn, Gustos Williams ef Richmond, Daniel Mardozzi of Watcrbury, Conn., and Lovick Hullan Lavender of □range, Florida. In County Court State Preparing For Big Program In Roadbuildiii<£ —— JB* New Program Expected To Pick Up Steam Early Part of Next Spring By William D. Snider Pnblic Relation!* Director State Highway Commission When the people of North Caro lina approved a $200,000,000 bond issue for secondary roads, they i set the wheels turning on one of the most ambitious roadbuilding programs in the United States. No other state ever authorized that much money for county road construction in one lump. Few times in history have the people voted to increase their own taxes. Both these things happened in North Carolina on June 4. Pouring $200,000,000 into road construction over the next five or six years, in addition to the Commission’s regular income, will have a tremendous impact on bus iness conditions in North Caro lina. Its repercussions will be felt directly and indirectly on many levels—from general stimu lation in the construction field to the enriched income of the farm er suddenly able to get his pro duce to town on a regular sched ule. How docs the new State High way Commission plan to launch this program? The eleven-man body which meets every month in the High way building at Raleigh is a far different organization from the first five-man commission auth orized by the General Assembly in 1915. Legally the 1915 Com mission could only extend aid to the counties in employing engi neers and laying out an integrated road program. They had very lit tle real authority in the road building field. Today the Highway Commis sion is a highly organized techni cal department of State Govern ment which spent about $90,000, 000 during , the last fiscal year building roads in North Carolina. The Commission has over 10,000 employees and a two million dol lar monthly payroll. As the good roadbuilding sea son approaches its peak, road con struction is underway from the mountains to the sea. And in each highway division commissioners and engineers have passed along the signal to speed up the already fast-moving pace. From a scries of division meetings held in Raleigh last month word went out to rush to completion all projects already authorized but not let to contract. This, in the opinion of State Highway En gineer, W. H. Rogers, Jr., will clear the deck for the $200,000,000 program. In the meantime commissioners and their staffs have been work ing overtime mapping the ex panded program. A reshuffling of engineer personnel July 1 sent new engineers to each division. Along with their newly appointed commissioners these technical executives will survey the needs of each division. From their re (Continued on j>aje sijM> • j Lose More Curing Barns In County Delayed reports reaching here have boosted the tobacco barn fire | loss to at least seven in the eoun-! ty so far this season. Farmer Dennis Barber lost a barn last Monday on the R. J. Hardison farm in Williams Town ship. The barn was equipped with furnaces and burned wood. There was no insurance. The farmer had lost heavily on account of ex cessive rains previously. T. B. Slade lost an oil-fired barn in Poplar Point last week. One of the most telling blows was reported in Jamesville Town ship where Farmer L. W. Ange, after losing heavily as a result of excessive rains, lost a barn and considerable tobacco racked next to the barn. Trying to save the rain-damaged tobacco, the farmer had pulled and racked it against the barn while he was curing a I quantity of tobacco. The barn! I burned and destroyed much of j that racked outside. Carolinians Have Several Billions ^Jn Life Insurance Dri'lli Benefits Ainoiuited To More Than Twenty One Million Last Year North Carolina families owned $3,188,000,000 of life insurance at the start of last year, according to the 1949 Life Insurance Fact Book, published by the Institute of Life Insurance and released to day. This represented an increase of $775,000,000 over the ownership reported in this state two years before. During 1948 the people of this state purchased $257,000,000 of new ordinary life insurance, the Fact Book also shows. Death benefit payments in North Carolina during 1948 are reported as $21,040,000 under 20, 137 policies. In a table listing the location of the 584 legal reserve companies in the U, S, this state is listed with 13 companies whose head of fices are here. "For policyholders, as for the companies,” the yearbook says, “the 1948 highlights of the U. S. life insurance business were: first, the investment earning rate went up; second, more families had more life insurance protection than ever before; and third, pur chases of new life insurance stay ed near the very high level of the past three years. "Probably the most important single development was the up turn of the investment earning rate on life insurance funds after a decline of about 20 years. The rate in 1948 was 2.90 percent, up from 2.88 percent in 1947. There were two chief reasons for the up turn. One was the continued di rection of funds into higher earn ing investments such as business and industrial securities, real es tate and mortgages that began in 1947. The other was the upward trend in interest rates in general that also began in 1947 “Today nearly eight times as many people have life insurance as in 1900. Four out of five Am erican families arc protected. The largp amounts of new insurance bought in the past few years, to gether with the low lapse rate, brought the total owned in the U. S. at the end of 1948 to $202,000, 000,000. This is twice the total only thirteen years ago and near ly thirty times the amount in force in 1900. "Purchases of new insurance in 1948 were again near the high level they first hit in 1948. For three years now, 1940-7-8, new in (Continucd on page eight) -o Teen Age Parly Friday Ni Announcement has been made of another teen-age swim party to be held at the local swimming pool this Friday night from 9 to 10:30. There will be no charge for the event which is part of the recreation program connected with lbp Youth Center. -4b, had been planned for Friday eve ning of last week. All teen-agers are invited. Refreshments of some kind are planned during tRe port y THE RECORD SPEAKS . . . They were not serious, but three- more street and high way motor vehicle accidents were reported in the county last week. Just about one- i third of the accidents report ed so far this year were cent ered on town streets. 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. 28lh Week Accidents Inj’d Killed Dam’ge 1949 3 0 0 $ 400 1948 1 1 0 200 Comparison* To Date 1949 02 27 2 $14,005 1948 .73 37 1 15,000 Tobacco Quota Vote Scheduled Saturday Urge All Farmers To Take Part In Important Event Polls Opon at 7:00 A. M. And Close al 0:00 P. July 23 Far pi leaders yesterday came out with a reminder, urging all farmers to take part in the to bacco referendum scheduled for Saturday of this week. The polls open at 7:00 o’clock that morning and close at 8:00 o’clock that eve ning at ten voting places in the county. All Jamcsville farmers will vote in Jamesville's City Hall. The polling place in Williams will j be at the county house. Griffins j farmers will vote at Manning’s Store at Piney Grove Church. The polls will be open in Harri son’s store in Bear Grass. Wil liamston and Poplar Point farm ers are to vote in the agricultural building. Cross Roads larmers! will vote at Everetts. The polls | will be open in the Ford Motor | Company in Robersonville for all farmers in that township. Ham ilton Township farmers will vote I at two places, Hassell and Hamit j ton, in accordance with establish-' ed precinct lines. Goose Nest far mers are to vote at Ayers’ Store I in Oak City. With well over 3,000 farmers | eligible to participate in the ref erendum, farm leaders are "pull ing" for 2,000 or 2,500 votes. It is fairly certain that Martin farm ers will support the quota plan, and farm leaders are anxious to make it unanimous and with a big vote. Every person having an interest in a tobacco crop, be he tenant, landlord, sharecropper, has a right to vote in the referenskw>: Farmers are expected to cast their votes in which their main farming activities are located, but they will be limited to one vote per person. Farmers under 21 years of age are entitled to vote if tliev have a share in the crop. There will be three questions j on the tobacco quota ballot: 1. Are you in favor of quotas for three years, 1950, 1951 and 1952? (2) Do you favor the quota for one year, 1950, but op pose quotas for three years? (3) Are you opposed to any quotas? In addition to the volt on mar keting quotas, the farmers are be ing asked to vote for or against continuing Tobacco Associates, an agency set up to help dispose of flue-cured tobacco. The pian calls for a continued levy of ten cents per acre on tobacco. While the agency is said to overlap the op erations of four or more govern ment bodies, farmers are expected to support it at the polls Saturday for another period. Martin County farmers are ask ed to recognize the importance of the program and report to the polling place*-- in capacity rotm bers on Saturday of this week ! ~Y'lie.y*?o r asked tffTTelp get*’ then neighbor farmers to the polls and li*onunuea on page tignt) Plans Go Forward For Celebration —•— Plans are going forward rapidly \ for a big celebration, marking the observance of the Brown’s Com munity Hospital’s tenth annivers ary here next Wednesday after noon, Chairman W. D. Daniel an nounced yesterday. "We are looking for hundreds of people here for the event,” Mr. Daniel said, explaining that the program will be climaxed by a big basket picnic. To supplement the baskets individuals will bring, Mr. Daniel said that several per-j sons and firms are giving pigs fori barbecue. Six pigs have already! been donated along with slaw, bread and other foods, Mr. Daniel said. Former United States Senator Wm. B. Umstead is to make the main address, and an old-time j song program has been planned, i MORI*: RAIN v_ “It has been raining right wide open out our way for days," a Martin County farm er sail! this week, and tie had it about right, according to the gauge keeper, Hugh j Spruill, at the river here. The i records show that following a total of nine inches of rain in June, 7.21) inches of rain fell here up until this morning. Rain fell on fifteen of the twenty-one days, turning loose in farily large volume on the I ith for four straight days. The Roanoke is on a small rampage and is expected to reach a crest Sunday at 11.3 feet or about thirteen inches over the bank. It was 10.il feet late yesterday. James T. MeClaren Died Yesterday At Home of Daughter -o Funeral fur Keliri-d Farmer To Be Held Mear Here Friday Afternoon —- -<$ — Janie:; Thomas MeClaren’, retir ed farmer and well-known coun ty citizen, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Urr.ee Hunting, near Williamston yesterday after noon at 2:21) o'clock following several years of declining health. He hud been ill for more than four years and his condition had been critical for about four weeks. He was born, in this county 74 years ago oil September 24, 11174. and spent all his life on the farm in the county. Mr. MeClaren made his home in Cross Roads Township near Everetts for a long number of years. When ill health forced his retirement about five years ago, he made his home with his daughter near here. He was married in 1900 to Miss Mary Virginia Moore who died October Hi, 194.'). He was a mem ber of the Everetts Christian | Chuieh for a long time, and Rev. | John L. Goff, pastor of the local i Christian church, will conduct the! funeral service at his late home Friday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock. Burial will be in the family plot in Woodlawn Cemetery lure. During his long illness Mr. Me Claren bore his affliction without (Continued on page eight) Plan Jury Trials Twelve Martin County citizens were drawn this week for special duty 1.1 tiie recorder's court next Monday when two defendants, charged witli drunken driving, are scheduled to have their eases air ed. Names of the jurors are: tiee Jones, Thurston Wynne, Jr., | of Williamston; Henry Lee and K C. Harrison of Hear Grass; II. K Roberson and James li Daniel of Cross Roads; C. M. Mills, of Pop lar Point; J. W. Kubanks of Ham ilton, and John Daniel of Goose Nest. Defendants calling for jury trials next Monday are L. A. Poole and If. D. Adams. Sells Business The special accounting and bookkeeping service, organized and maintained by the late E. M. Trahey here and in other towns in this section of the State, was told by the estate this week to W. L. Howell. Taking over the business yes terday, Mr. Howell moved into the business firm’s office on Balti more Street just back of Davis’ Pharmacy, yesterday and will rarrv it on without interruption, it was announced. In County Court Largr Srssioii 01 The County Court For Next Monday Four I)riinkrn l>ri% i*t" anil Trianglf Assault Cases On Tin* Docket With about twenty cases, in cluding four drunken driving charges and a triangle assault af fair, on the docket a big session of the Martin Countv Recorder’s Court is almost certain for next Monday, according to information coming from the office of Clerk of Court L. 13. Wynne yesterday. Up until that time, four drunk en driving, five assault, one care less and reckless driving, two li quor, one bastardy, two no oper ators' licenses, and one drunk and disorderly cases were on the docket. Another defendant is charged with violating the motor vehicle laws. Two of the drunk en driving cases arc to be aired before a special nine-man jury. The assault with deadly weapon cases, growing out of un alleged love triangle, are expected to at tract a goodly number of witness es and spectators. While the cas es have attracted much attention in two counties, the trials are hardly expected to develop any startling evidence that has not al ready been heard. H. J. Lupton, former Windsor police chief, Lee Overton, former Windsor mer chant, and Mrs. Lena Overton, es tranged wife of Lee Overton, stand charged with assault with deadly weapons. Lupton and Overton are also charged with disorderly conduct and an affray on the streets of Williamston. The charges grew out of a meet ing here on North Laughton Street, just off Main, last June 113, of Lupton and Mrs. Overton, The two were in or near a taxi when Overton drove up and double parked. An al'iray followed, local officers stating that two pistols figured in the affray. It was ex plained that while one of the :n firing position no shots were fired, but. the warrants charge that the defendants struck with the pistols. At a preliminary hearing held before Justice K. T. Johnson on June 21, Mrs. Overton did not testify. Four or more attorneys have hern employed by the defendants. Solihull Directors Work Out Plans Tlie directors of the Church sponsored Softball League met last 1' i iday night and worked out details concerning the remainder of the schedule and the play-off. All r;uned-out games save one be tween the Methodists and Chris tians were cancelled. • The Meth odists and Christians play on Thursday night first, and will play two five-inning games so that the same number of games will have been played by all. Starting time for the Thursday games will be 8:00 and the class of ball being played during these Crial riuii.i., dead\c better p„t date will be announceTTer y*ooii when two all star teams will play an outstanding softball team a double header here on the local diamond At tin- lime, I he iin ec.. tOfs‘J.uiu, the Williamston High School Hand will make its final appearance during the softball season. The all-star team will he chosen from the rosters of the local participating teams. ! DELAYED S_ _ The formal opening of Tay lor’s dairy plant scheduled for this week lias been delayed, Manager Van Kalph Taylor announced today. “He are still waiting on the arrival and installation of one ma chine,” Mr. Taylor explained. He added lh.it the machine had been shipped several weeks hut apparently was lost in shipment. During the meantime the plant is buttling milk and op erating the fountain in the salts loom, offering dairy specials.