1949 * J&- — THi: ENTFRPRISE IS READ BI OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNT! FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK THE ENTERPRISE - ■ —---••^3 THE ENTERPRISE IS READ B! OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNT! FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK VOLUME UI—NUMBER 101 ESTABLISHED 1899 Williamston, Martin County, North Carolina, Thursday, December 22, 1949 Handled Thirty Cases On Monday In County Court Tribunal Will Not Holdi Another Session Until January 9th Judge Chas. H. Manning and Solicitor Paul D. Roberson handled thirty cases during a long session of the Martin County Re corder's Court on Monday of this week. Quitting about 3:00 o’clock, the court announced that its next session would not be held until Monday, January 9. The day af ter Christmas and the day after New Year’s are recognized holi days. Fines imposed at the session this week amounted to $555. Proceedings: Charged with bastardy, Lonnie Brown, Jr., was sentenced to the J roads for six months, the court suspending the judgment on con dition that he pay the cost and $3 a week foi the support of his child. Charles Sheppard was fined $25 and taxed with tlie costs for op erating a motor vehicle without a license. Guilty of an assault with a deadly weapon, Jasper Perry was sentenced to the roads for three months, the court suspending the judgment upon the payment of a $25 fine, court costs and $18 doc tor’s bill. Pleading not guilty of bastardy, Floyd Melton was adjudged guil ty and was'directed to pay $4 a week for the support of the child and the court costs. He appealed to the higher court and bond was required in the sum of $100. Charged with non-support, Sam Manning was directed to pay $5 a week for the support of his fam ily and the court costs. Garland Gray Mobley was fined $25 plus costs, for allowing an un licensed driver to operate a motor vehicle. Judgment was suspended upon the payment of the costs in the case charging George Bonds with assaulting his wife. A second case, charging Bonds with non-support, was nol prossed. Pleading guilty of careless and reckless driving, Jonah Clemmons Was fined $25, plus costs. James Glover, Jr., was fined $25 and taxed with the costs for oper ating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license. Charged with possessing illicit liquor, Charlie Mason, Lewis Chance and Gene Anderson were each fined $50 and taxed with the costs. It was reported that the three were busy transferring part of a gallon of raw liquor into a pint bottle when they were book ed for trial. Archie Hardison, charged with driving a motor vehicle without an operator's license, was fined $25, plus costs. Pleading guilty of operating a (Continued on page eight) Few Cases Heard In Justice Courts Only a few cases were heard in the juctice of peace courts here during the past few days. Drunk and down, Alec Bonds was sentenced to jail for thirty days by Justice John L. Hassell. Judgment was suspended upon the payment of $7.50 costs. Janius Thomas, charged with operating a motor vehicle with improper equipment, was taxed with $5.85 costs in Justice R. T. Johnson’s court. ' Judgment was also suspended by Justice Johnson in the case charging General Columbus Free man with disorderly conduct and R. H. Roberts with failing to pay taxi fare. The defendants were taxed with the costs. Capt. W. H. Harrell Died Tuesday Night A representative of the North Carolina State National Guard headquarters will meet with the newly organized unit in the Legion Hut here Tues day evening, December 27, at 8:00 o'clock, and young men between the ages of 17 and 35 are invited to attend along with the recruits. During the meantime, Cap tain Jimmy Harris and Thad Harrison will be glad to ex plain the project to interested parties dropping by the Wool ard Furniture Company. Stresses Safety For The Holiday Season This Year | “Don’t Let Death Take Your Holiday,” Safety Council Urges ‘Don't Let Death Take Your 1 Holiday!” That is the slogan of a nation- ! wide campaign by the National i Safety Council to hold down the I Christmas-New Year holiday acci ^ dent toll this year. Council figures show the year- 1 end holiday season is the most , dangerous period of the year, and that accidents annually mar the i the holiday celebration in thous ands of homes throughout the na j tion. 1 na united effort to focus pub lic attention on the extra holiday hazards and the extra caution I needed to meet them, city and 1 state officials, civic groups, local safety councils and 160 national I organizations are joining with the ; Council in the Christmas safety I campaign. | The Council pointed out that traffic accident deaths on both I Christmas Eve and Christmas Day | run about twice as many as the | annual daily average. Heavier travel and the festive spirit of the holiday season add to the nor mal winter hazards of bad weath er, slippery roads and added hours of darkness. I "Every family in America should put one extra gift under jits Christmas tree this year,” said i Ned H. Dearborn, president of the I Council. "That gift is life. It j could be the life of some member of the household, or of a stranger, j But it will be saved because some one has used just a little extra (Continued on page eight) Dozen Speeders In County Court ] A dozen cases in which the de fendants were charged with speeding were handled in the Martin County Recorder's Court last Monday. All but one of the defendants pleaded guilty, and all were fined $15 each, plus costs. The defendants were, Braxton Dunn of Kinston, Sam Jones of Robersonville, Roy Boston of Wil liamston, Curtis Overton of Nor folk, David Willie Branton of Rob ersonville, Curtis Lee Cherry of Windsor, Walter Singleton of Washington, Mrs. Alice Ward of Clearwater, Fla., John Gazzo Moore of Norfolk, Fred Miller Castelloe of Windsor, and Wil liam J. Temper of Springfield, Mass. Pleading not guilty, J. Wil lis Wier, III, of Williamston, was adjudged guilty and drew the re Igular $15 fine. Funeral Service In Local Church Friday Afternoon -—4>-— Practiced Medicine In Wil lianiston Two Years Af ter World W ar I Captain William Henry Harrell, | one of Williamston’s most dis- J tinguished sons, diet! in U. S. Nav al Hospital at Portsmouth Tues day evening at 6:00 o’clock. He had been in declining health for about six months, but continued in active service, his condition be coming grave over the week-end. The son of the late Dr. William H. Harrell, a distinguished physi cian here at about the turn Of the century, and Mrs. Bettie Moore Harrell, a prominent figure in the field of education here for a num ber of years, Captain Harrell was born in Williamston on March 6, 1805. After attending the local schools, he studied at Randolph Macon, completed his studies at the University of North Carolina and entered the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia, where he was grad uated with honors in June, 1917. He immediately volunteered for service in the Navy, resigning his commission in 1910 to return to his home to practice medicine. During the two years he practiced in this section, he endeared him self to all the people, rendering a service still remembered by many throughout the territory. Re-entering the Navy about | 1921, he launched a career in the military equalled by only a few men in the history of this coun ty. He served with marked dis tinction in all parts of the world, holding positions in the recent war first in the North Atlantic on a hospital ship when enemy sub marines were playing havoc with U. S. ships. He was then moved over to the Pacific theater where he was cited as one of the heroes in the Battle of Guadalcanal. He was referred to in each of several chapters in the book, "Old Name less,” the author explaining that Dr. Harrell risked his life in the interest of others when his ship, the South Dakota, was battered by enemy fire. Transferred from sea to land duty, he was placed in charge of the hospital on Okinawa, and was supervising the construction of another when the war ended. Re turning to this country he was placed in charge of the Naval Hospital in Miami, later transfer ring to Philadelphia. Six months Continued on page eight) SCHEDULE All local business firms, in cluding the post office, will close Sunday and Monday for Christmas, and a two-day closing will be in effect Sun day and Monday, January 1 and 2, for New Year's. Beginning Wednesday, lo cal stores are remaining open until 7:00 o’clock each even ing through Saturday of this week. Four stores, Rose’s 5 h 10, Eagles’ 5 & 10, Bulluck’s and Leder Bros, have an nounced that they will remain open until 9:00 p. m. until Christmas. The Enterprise, going to press a bit early with its edi tions this week, will follow a recognized custom and skip the first issue next week, re turning the latter nart of next week with an edition. John A. Gardner Died In Hospital Tuesday Morning Well-Known County Farm- j er Had Been in Declin ing Health Some Time John A Gardner, well-known Jamesville Township farmer and community leader, died in a Washington hospital Tuesday morning at 7:45 o'clock. He had been in declining health for some months, receiving treatment in various hospitals at intervals dur ing that time. He entered the hos pital about two weeks ago and underwent a major operation last week. The son of the late Thomas and Emily Hardison Gardner, he was born in this county 72 years ago on April 28, 1877, and lived in the Jamesville - Williams Township community all his life. Mr. Gard ner was a successful farmer, a good citizen, thoughtful father and friend. He interested himself in the schools of his section, and , worked diligently for his church, exemplifying in his daily walk| through life its principles and teachings. He was a member of the Siluam Methodist Church in Williams Township for half a cen tury, and figured prominently in its leadership down through the years. He was highly regarded by all who knew him. He was married about forty three years ago to Miss Eva Viola Barber who died last April Surviving are five daughters, Mrs. Dick Hardison of Jamesville,1 Mrs. Irving Goodman and Miss1 Eloise Gardner of Norfolk, and1 Misses Hilda and Dorothy Gard ner of the home; three sons, J. i Ernie Gardner of Jamesville, and! Rannel and James Gardner of the home; a brother, Mr. Wheeler Gardner of Williams Township; a sister, Mrs. Robert Parrisher, also | of Williams Township, and four , teen grandchildren. Funeral services were conduct ! cd Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock in the Siloam Methodist | Church by Rev. Mrs. B. E. Bing ham of Roper, assisted by Rev. W, B. Harrington, county Baptist minister. Interment was in the Gardner Cemetery near the I church. | Special Programs Largely Attended The special Christmas programs in the Memorial Baptist Church last Sunday afternoon and the one in the high school auditorium that I evening attracted capacity crowds. .Both programs, rating high in the ' Christmas entertainment plans, j were well received by the record size groups Most of the evening religious services were cancelled for the program at the high school. More than two hundred partici pated in the Christmas cantata pageant, “Come Yt To Bethle hem,” directed by Mrs. Beecher Patterson in the high school. Miss Ida Privette directed the Baptist choir in the Sunday afternoon program. Little Change In License Tag Sale The sale of State automobile li cense tags is just about holding its own at the Carolina Motor Club Bureau in the offices of Harrison and Carstarphen here. So far about 1,200 plates have been sold by the bureau, about thirty under the sale on the corresponding dato last year. The sale of town tags is also progressing very well, Treasurer Dan Shaipe said this morning. Vehicle owners must display the 1050 tags by February 1. Flare-Up In The Liquor Business Cheeked In Bud Officers Destroy Number Of lllieit Hunt* During Past Few Days Flaring up apparently in antici Dation of an increased demand luring the holiday season, the il licit liquor business was quickly .■hocked in the bud, according to a I report coming from the office of ( ABC Enforcement Officer Joe H. Roebuck this week. Five plants were wrecked in rapid order, the officers pouring out large quanti ties of mash anil raw liquor. While there is still some of the illicit business, the officer advanc ed the opinion that operations are j not near as extensive as they were a year ago. Prices for the raw li- | quid are said to have tumbled in 1 recent months, but staged a limit-1 ed comeback during- the past few days. Aided by Deputies Roy Peel and Raymond Rawls, the officer wrecked a large plant in Crost Roads Township on Tuesday o! last week. The outfit was equip ped with a 100-gallon copper ket tle, four 50-gallon and two 500- j gallon fermenters. The raideit poured out 1,200 gallons of mash j about twenty two gallons of raw j liquor jmct confiscated 400 jtburirli’ of sugar and 100 pounds of corn meal. Last Friday, the officers wreck ed a plant equipped with a 50 gallon drum and three formentersj in Bear Grass Township, and poured out 100 gallons of sugar mash. Moving into the Oak City section that afternoon, the raiders wrecked a cheap 20-gallon drum still and poured out fifty gallons of nasty sugar mash. Last Saturday a 50-gallon oil drum still was torn up in the Has sell section of Hamilton Township the officers pouring out 250 gal lons of mash and two and one-half gallons of inferior liquor. The op erators had just disappeared, leav ing the plant smoking when tho officers reached it. Going to the store of Thurston Davenport, colored man who lives near the old Bear Trap Millpond, the officers Sunday morning con fiscated a pint of illicit liquor and booked the man for trial in the county court on January Si. Working in the Reedy Swamp section of Williamston Township Sunday afternoon, the officers wrecked a 40-gallon copper ket tle and poured out 100 gallons of sugar mash. Tuesday afternoon Officers Roe j buck and Peel wrecked a plant (Continued on page mx) THE RECORD SPEAKS . . . The 135 automobile acci dents reported on Martin County highways during the first fifty weeks of 194!) art running neck and neck with the 136 reported in the same period of'1048. Fewer people have been injured, but more have been killed and the pro perty damage this year is less than in 1948. Just to ponder over: there were eleven accidents in the county during the Christmas period in 1943. 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. 50th Week Accidents Inj’d Killed Dam’jte 1949 2 0 0 $ 450 1948 100 350 Comparisons To Date 1949 135 00 7 $29,675 1948 136 78 2 32,935 ) $421,000.00 Building Program Approved For County Schools Making Plans For 'Taking The 1950Census in Nation Preliminary plans for taking the 1950 census in the nation are well advanced, but only the office per sonnel and leaders have been i* named. Reports state that the enumerators—those who get out and make the actual count—will not be named before March, that a time and place for applicants to file for the jobs will be announc ed next February or March. Webb Williams, Elizabeth City man, will direct the census sur vey in this the First Congression al District, at the direction of Con gressman Herbert Bonner with the approval of the Census Bu reau, of course. The district of fice will be maintained in the i Original Washington when' twen ty office employes will carry on j while the eighteen crew leaders and approximately 2277 enumer ators handle the outside survey in this and the other thirteen coun ties in the district. Approximately 4,500 enumerat ors, directed by 254 crew leaders, | will handle the census survey in ! North Carolina. Approximately 150,000 will he employed to handle . the task in the nation, according to preliminary estimates. The actual survey requires com paratively little time, and hereto- | fore there has been no big rush i for the jobs in this county. The rate of pay has not been announe- I Legal Whiskey Sales Continue Downward - - - w?- i Total Of $5,07f,327r Spent for Whiskey i Since July in 1935 Kiglil of Nino Tuwiin In the County Slum* in Profits On Copulation llasiw Legal liquor sales, while‘main taining a downward trend from the all-time high peak recorded three years ago, plunged over the live million dollar mark in this county during the quartet ending j September HO, according to an of | l'icial audit recently released by I the Alcoholic Beverages Control Board. The sales, it will be not ed, are about $10,000 greater than .those for the June quarter, but they are about $20,000 below the figures recorded for the corre ! spending quarter in 1040 and are I the smallest for the period under .consideration since September, 1044. Legal liquors combined with the sale of all alcoholic beverages, in cluding beer, wines and the illicit “spirits,” will take well over a million dollars from the economy in this county this year. Of the $120,370.00 spent for le gal liquors, $88,152.56, or 73.23 percent, went to breweries outside the county and State. Operating expenses took another $6,602.40, leaving a net income of $25,664.00, including $13126 earned dis counts. In accordance with a law ..nass;. ed by the last legislature, four ad ditional county towns—Everetts, Parmele, llassell and Hamilton— are sharing in thy net profits for the first time. The store towns— Jamesville, Williamston, Rober sonville and Oak City—are receiv ing about the same percentage of profits under the new plan as they did under the old, but where the county has been receiving about 40 percent of the net profit it is now receiving a scant 41 percent. The new plan of “splitting” the profits of the pie places the State of North Carolina almost in the number one favored position. The county is receiving from the third quarter profits $10,417.08 and the State of North Carolina is receiv ing $10,232.19. The remainder of the $25,604.90 in profits is divided, as follows: Williamston, $1,825.18; Robersonville, $048.46; Oak City, (C< 'uiued on page sue) It is w ith a great deal of pleasure that The Enterprise presents an array of greeting messages from local firms and individuals to all the people everywhere. Devoid of all the commercial aspects, the mes sages portray the genuine Christmas spirit. Each message is directed to every reader personally. Read each one carefully and reap a merrier holiday season this 1949 Christmas. Appreciative Of Treatment Here Painfully hurt in an automobile: accident near here a few weeks ago, Mr. Hunter Brown of Pensa cola, Florida, wrote to Harrison and Carstarphen local insurance men, and expiessed his apprecia tion for the' treatment and cour tesies received while he' and Mrs. Brown were in the local hospital. The letter reads, in part: “There is something abeiut your little' city that 1 think you should know. Never in our lives were we moie sympathe tieally and cor dially received than at your hos 1 pital by Dr. V E. Brown and his I associate:- following our automo | bile accident. My wife's nephew is a prominent deietor in Norfolk, I therefore, we were in Williams I ton only long enough to have Dr | Brown approve our taking an am bulanee'Dae k to "Norfolk. Every thing possible was done for our physical and mental comfort, and we shall always have a feeling of gratitude and appreciation for the kind treatment wi received at the hands of your citizens.” ; STILL <;oing HI* Decorations, carrying oul the Christmas motif and giv ing the whole town an invig orating holiday air. are slil* going up. While the public buildings continue to offer the ole, bleak appearance, indi viduals are moving forward with their decorations on a scale remindful of the days before the war. Lights are lo be on for the judges in the decorations contest Thursday night be tween !) and 11 p. m. Include Five New Projects In Plan Suggested Monday -« St'vni Colored School* Vrr To lie Consolidated l n school m Williamston or the colored high school in Oak City. Tlie program leaves about $13, 000 balance in the special building fund for the county, and that will be spent along with additional county funds for Negro schools, leaving other needs to be met as they arise. It was pointed out that archi tects will start working on the plans immediately, that possibly j the preliminary work can be com j pleted and bids asked for about ( next February. If no obstacles are | encountered, construction work lean get underway by early spring j with the possibility that some of the buildings will be ready for use j the latter part of 1950. The building program will bring about the consolidation of at least seven Negro schools. The units to - be consolidated can be determin ed only aftei space conditions are appraised at the completion of the building program. As lai as it could be learned no further consolidation ot white school, is on the progra-m-wa*im mediate consideration. —-A ■w-W - Few Marriages Here Recently Unless Cupid makes up l'or lost I time during the next day or two. j , lie’ll report a mighty poor holiday business in this county. Very few marriage licenses havi been sold by the register of needs here up until early Wednes day morning. Recent licenses went to the following couples: Dennis C. Mobley, RFD 3, Wil liamstcn, and Betty Speller, RFD 4, Windsor; Rufus Wynne, RFD 3, Williamston, and Christine Lt>g gett, Windsor; Obed Linwood Lee of Edenton and Mattie IJdmond son of Williamston; and Jimmie Darrell Keel and Betty Jean Moure, both of Williamston. I