Newspapers / The Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.) / Sept. 29, 1953, edition 1 / Page 1
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I THE ENTERPRISE IS READ BY OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNTY FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEEK THE ENTERPRISE THE ENTERPRISE 18 REAS BS OVER 3,000 MARTIN COUNT* FAMILIES TWICE EACH WEE* I VOLUME LVI—NUMBER 78 Williamaton, Martin County, North Carolina, Tuesday, September 29, 1953 ESTABLISHED 1895 I Two Fatally Hurt In Train-Auto Accident Brother and Sister Killed Instantly Near Williamston Head of One Vietiin Cut Off In Grade Crossing Crash Sunday -4» Two persons, their bodies ter ribly mangled, were killed in stantly when their car was struck by an east bound A. C. L. freight train at a grade crossing over in Williams Township at 1:03 o’clock last Sunday afternoon. Death struck so quickly that witnesses said they never heard a scream. Accompanied by his sister, Ma rie Rodgers, 22, Jas. Willis (Bill) Rodgers, 19, was driving toward Holly Springs on the Farm Life road, one report stating they" were returning home from some re ligious meeting to their home on the Taylor Brothers’ farm near Williamston. A light rain was falling and the road was wet at the time, witnesses declaring that the driver apparently exercised little precaution as he approached the railroad which is referred to as Hardison’s Crossing. Frank Williams, nine-year-old colored boy, was within about thirty feet of the track when the rqr passed him. He said the car driver struck the brakes just be fore reaching the tracks, releas ed them and then applied them just about the time the car was on the track. Tl% coupling on the diesel en gine tore the left front door of the car loose, and drove the Reeling wheel and most of the panel board against Rodgers’ chest. He also suffered a head in jury, and it is believed one and possibly both legs were broken. The back rest of the front seat was jammed against the back seat Embedded around the engine toupling and other parts of the (Continued on Page Eight) Three Sentenced In Peanut Theft Case Last Friday \<)<iilional Kviilrncf Begins To Leuk Oul From An Unofficial Sourer Three young colored men— • Dscar Burnette, William Henry Brown and Charles B. (Candy Cake) Williams were found guil ty and sentenced to the roads by Judge Walter J. Bone in the su perior court last Friday afternoon in the big-time peanut larceny rase dating back to last January when 71 bags of peanuts were Stolen from the Roanoke-Dixie Warehouse in Williamston. Found guilty only of larceny titiu to and Brown were sentenced to the roads for not less than two and not more than three years. Wil liams, apparently a victim of cir cumstances, was found guilty of breaking and entering and larceny and drew not less than three and ■ not more than five years in prison. The action, it is generally be a;* bnes only partially solved. It has been established that between five and six hundred bags of pea nuts were stolen last winter from the Roanoke-Dixie and Planters Warehouses, but only 71 bags have been accounted for. When the trial of the case was com pleted and sentences were impos ed idSt "f ■ fdaYV. y.ii T.’io1 fe'' fTf mors were heard floating around in the anterooms. Some names were mentioned, but even then some of the story is yet to be told, officers believe. Just before passing sentence at 10:35 last Friday morning, Judge Bone called for a showing. The .Stale called Officer Chas. R. Moore to the stand and he said that it was known that Brown and Burnette worked little, that Brown^i acked balls in a pool room and had been indicated but not convicted of gambling. The of ficer said he knew little about Williams, that he had never (Continued on Pagj Seven) f "STATION PERMIT j \ __/ A permit was issued last night by Building Inspector G. P. Hall to Robert L. Co burn for the erection of a $7,500 bus terminal on North Smithwick Street, just back of the Hotel George Reynolds. The structure, measuring 30 by 40 feet, is to be of con crete block and brick con struction, and is to be located about 30 feet from the street. The bus companies are | now using a station that is a disgrace to the town. Intruder Turned Back By 14-Year Old'Girl Friday (Jlygses Harrell Died In Hospital At Tarboro Sunday Night Ulysses Harrel, 18-year-old colored youth, was shot and fatal ly wounded by a 14-year-old girl, Hilda Dolberry, at the Dolberry home near Oak City about 10:00 o’clock last Friday night. Harrell died early Sunday night in a Tar boro hospital. Struck by a .22 caliber rifle bul let, the man’s brain was pierced by the pellet which lodged in the rear of the skull. X-ray pic tures, according to information released by Sheriff M. W. Hollo man who made the investigation, show that bone and brains were mixed inside the man’s skull, and that possibly some of the man's brains leaked out the opening made by the bullet. Harrell was carried to the hos pital soon after the attack by Officer Garland Bunting of Oak City and Patrolman Jack Arthur Harrell, accompanied by Clar ence Myrick and Columbus Wil liams, and three Hobgood girls, Mattie Harrell, Eva Sta ton and Rea Hill, went to the Dolberry home and tried to break through the front door. Unable to gain an en trance there, he went to a side window and when he refused to leave, the girl got the rifle and fired through the window. The bullet went through the right eye and lodged near the left back of the man’s head. Following his investigation, Sheriff Holloman said that Har rell had been going with one of tile Do,beny gills, that the man had caused troubled and had been ordered to stay away. The girl using the rifle was one of ten brothers and sisters at home that night while their parents went to Oak City, about three miles away. No action has been taken aginst prepared, and a preliminary hear ing is to be held before Justice Edmond Early in Oak City later this week, Sheriff Holloman said. It was the second shooting fa tality in that are^uynp recent months. Mrs. Laura Modlin Dies In Hospital Mrs. Laura Stubbs Modlin, a resident of Jamesviile for almost a quarter century, died in a Wash m&m-** -p^nr ing at 8:25 o’clock. She was born in Beaufort Coun ty 66 years ago, the daughter of the late Hgnry and Laura Jack-1 son Stubbs, She spent her early | life in Beaufort County near Pine- { town, and was married in early womanhood to L. G. Modlin oi Jamesviile. Kmsv? au. fj-J'-ui'reg. wiert ceatSu'-t ed at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Samuel Henry Modlin, in Jamesviile Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock. Interment was in the Jackson family cemetery near Pinetown. She was a member of the Mount Olive Free Will Baptist Church near Pinetown. Surviving are her husband; two sons, Elbert Modlin of Conetoe and Henry Modlin of Rocky Mount; three daughters,' Mrs. Willie Logan of Belhaven, i Mrs. Hilton Squires of Tarboro, j and Mrs. Sam Henry Holliday of j Jamesviile; 20 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren; dnd a brother, Arthur Stubbs of Wash ington, N. C. * Oscar Anderson Died In Hospital Early Saturday I Last Riles Conducted Inj Riggs Funeral Home Sunday Afternoon Oscar S. Anderson, retired busi ness'1 man, died in a local hospital at 2:00 o’clock last Saturday morning following a long period of declining health. Undergoing a throat operation more than two years ago, he was able to be up and attended to various duties un til late last fall. Since that time he had been confined to his bed, spending the past several weeks in the hospital. The son of the la*e Arthur (Lad) Anderson and Lula Hardi son Anderson, he was born in Williamston 56 years ago on Nov ember 30, 1896, and spent all his life here. Following his gradua tion from the local high school, he attended the University of North Carolina and a business school in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He was as sociated with the mercantile firm of Anderson and Crawford for a number of years and more recent- | ly handled the tax lists in this township for the county and town. During the marketing sea- , son he was with the Production- | Marketing Administration on the local tobacco market and adjust ed hail losses for a number of leading insurance companies. He was married in 1917 to Miss Fannie Biggs Martin who died in i 1937. His second marriage was in [ 1940 to Miss Gertrude Rodgers of j Columbus, Ga., and Williamston. Mr. Anderson was a member of j the Memorial Baptist Church, a Skewarkey Mason and a Shriner. He was active in the civic affairs of the town and community and i a leader in the business field for a number of years. Surviving besides his widow are four sons by his first marriage, Lt. Col. Oscar S. Anderson, Jr., of Arlington, Va., Captain Arthur Anderson of Tampa, Fla., Capt. Martin Anderson, U. S. Air Force, now stationed in Korea, and Ed ward Ransome of Birminghatn, Ala., and five grandchildren. Funeral services were conduct ed in the Biggs Funeral Chapel on West Main Street Sunday aft ernon at 4:00 o’clock by the Rev. E. Gordon Conklin, pastor of the Memorial Baptist Church. Inter- , I merit was in Woodlawn Cemetery i | where Skewarkey Lodge Masons | conducted the last rites. Good Attendance At P.-T. A. Neel The Williamson ►Parent* ; Teachers Ah.MK-ia'.itsi! held its, fast meeting of the new school year last evening in the High School auditorium with President Asa Crawford presiding and a goodly number of parents present. The association heard Sherwood Roberson, member of the County Board of Education, explain the importance of getting a good vote Saturday on the State School and Mental Institutions bond issue and later joined in a social hour dur ing which teacher .vui'ld -gHM? , became acquainted with each other. Signing 194 members the group awarded a door prize to Shep Holliday and Mrs. Smith’s First Grade won the attendance banner and accompanying $1.00 prize. Prisoner Of War Presented New Automobile S Sgt. Martel Hardy, just recently returned after a stay of nearly three years in a communist prisoner of war camp, was presented a new ear by the people of this county at a special celebration held in Williamston last Thursday. The young man, all dressed up in a new uniform, embraces his mother, Mrs. Nellie Hardy, as Henry A Johnson and Wm Everett present him with the car and other gifts immediately after the special exercises held on Washington Street. Jamesville Opens Annual Committeemen This Week Plans have been completed and all is in readiness for holding Jamesville’s annual community fair, it was announced today. And it will be bigger and better than ever, a spokesman for the Ruritan Club, the sponsoring organization, declared. A big parade, led by the Wil liamston High School Band, will open the annual event at 1:15 o’clock on Friday of this week. The parade, forming near the A. C. L. freight station, will follow an indirect route to the school grounds where Secretary of State Thad Eure will make the princi pal address. The exhibit halls will be open earlier in the day and will remain open all that day and certain hours until 10:00 o’clock Sunday night. The Saturday hours at the exhibit hall will be from 1:00 o’clock until 11:00 p. m., and on Sunday from 2:00 o'clock until 10:00 p. m. Refreshments will be served by the Jamesville Woman’s Club from 10:00 a. m. until 0:00 o’clock on Friday in the school cafeteria. Rides and other enter tainment will be provided for the youngsters. | Efirly reports from the sponsors state the exhibits this year will be the best ever seen at the fair. In addition to numer ous commercial exhibits, there'll be family live-at-home booths, field crops, livestock, club fea tures, school displays, and hund reds of individual showings of just about every item coming out of the ground, from the store houses and homes. The people of Jamesville are extending a cordial welcome to the public to visit with them and “take in” the fair this week-end. f FIRST MISTRIAL J The first mistrial recorded in the Martin County Su perior Court in years on ac count of a ‘ hung" jury was reported last Friday after noon when the twelve men | filed out of their room and explained to Judge Walter J. Bone, presiding, that they were hopelessly deadlocked, that they believed an all night sitting would not break the knot. Seven stood for the convic tion of Simon Jenkins, notori ous bootlegger, who had ap pealed from the county court when he was fined $1,000 road sentence. .■ • > Jurors had been withdrawn in other cases, but not be cause of a "hung” jury. The case remains on the docket and is likely to be called for trial at the next term of court to be held in December. Suffer Eye Inuries In Freak Mishaps Tim, 7-month-old of the Rev and Mrs. Gordon Conklin, and Thomas Jackson Rhodes, son of Or. and Mrs. J. S. Rhodes, Jr., suffered eye injuries in freak ac cidents at their home here Sunday afternoon and yesterday after noon. The infant was playing with a newspaper and stiuek himself in the eye, cutting the eye ball. He was treated in a Greenville hos pital and is getting along fairly will. Tommy, six years old, was beat ing on a bottle with a hatchet in his backyard and cut himself Hj»'ht‘r severely in tin u,.,o oI his eye when the bottle broke and a piece of glass flew up and struck him He was removed to a Washington hospital where seven stitches were taken to close the cut. The outcome of the injury will not be known for three days. Son Shoots Father For Attacking His Mother In County -& Jake Downs (ioii(iiir<l To A Hospital With 200 Shot In His Hotly Explaining that, his intoxica tion was the cause of it all, a father pleaded in a Plymouth hospital that his son be not jailed for a shot-gun attack upon him at their home in Jamesville Town ship last Sunday aftcrmm about 3:00 o’clock. During the meantime, the fath er, Jake Carroll Down, 55-year old white man, continues in a serious condition m the hospital with 200 bird shot in his body. His right arm broken by the main load, Downs is peppered in the face, shoulder, chest and right side with shut—200 by actual count. Sheriff M. W. Holloman said. However, he is expected to recover if no complications de velop, it^vvas learned early today. Said to have been drinking (Continued on Page Five) Plan Funeral For Accident Victims Rouble funeral services will be conducted in the Shiloh Bap tist Church in Wilhamston Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock for James Willis “Bill” Rodgers and his sister, Marie Rodgers, victims of the Sunday afternoon train car acci dent at Hardison’s Crossing on the Holly Springs-Farm Life road. Interment will be in the ReddidtCemetrry neat Williams Children of II. D. anti Van'Lee Reddick Rodgers, Marie was born March 18, 1931, and the brother was born April 2, 1032. They sang with different religious groups And were loyal members of the Cedar Hill Baptist Church. [TobsccO’ Sales I^cis s ]\i2icvv j\iillj on Pomi Js New Price Record Set By Market On Yesterday's Sale I I* I JntifToduy Marki l Had Sold 8,868,840 Pounds For 858.71 Avrragf —t — High pmi record:;, chalked up during merit weeks, have toppl ed one after the other, hut the greatest jn the history of the local tobacco market was officially re ported yesterday when $348,010 pounds were sold for $229,924, an average of $66.06. Nothing to compare with the sale yesterday has ever been seen on this mar ket, and the record will rate (Continued From Page Six) | County Fanners To Name Community Fair on Friday Meeting in Vurioas | tin County farmers on Thur sday | evening of this week at 7:30: o’ ( clock will name nominees for their Production-Marketing Ad ministration community and coun ty committees, Jt was announced by the P. M. A. office this week. The meetings, open to all farm ers, are to nominate a chairman, i vice chairman, regular member and a first and second alternate for the community committees, and a delegate and alternate to the county convention to be held later. The meetings are to nomi nate not less than ten and not i more than fifteen for the corn imunity committee posts, it was| . KtMMkW. " The nanjbs of those nominated will be voted on later in elections to be held in various parts of the county on dates to be announced. Meetings for the nominations on Thursday of this week have been scheduled as follows: School auditorium, Bear Grass; Taylor’s Service Station, Cross; Roads; school auditorium, Goose nest one and two; Farm Life school, Griffins; P. C. Edmond sor’s store, Hamilton and Hassell; Ernest Whites Store, Poplar Point; City Hall, Robersonville ane an dtwo; school auditorium, i Jamesville one and two; county house, Williams; and agriculture building, Williamston. ROUND-UP I Before the superior court had closed for the week last Friday in its efforts to deter • rtin County, cri isuhai violations popped up in numbers from one end of the county to the other. By late Sunday, fifteen per sons had been arrested and jailed and bond was arranged in still others, not to mention two others in which action is being delayed. Seven were booked for public drunkenness, three for drunken driving, two for larceny and one each for vio lating the liquor laws and breaking and entering. Nine of the fifteen were white men and ages of (In group ranged from 1!) to 52 years. Martel Hardy Given A Big Homeeoming Two Thousand Or More Present At Celebration Here _ A Young Man and His Mother Showered With Gifts Including Auto S Sgt. Martel Hardy, just re cently back from Korea where he spent nearly three years in a prisoner of war camp, was given a warm homecoming here last Thursday afternoon when he and his mother, Mrs. Nellie Hardy, were showered with gifts, includ ing a new 4-door Plymouth au tomobile. Approximately 2,000 persons gathered here for the event which was centered on Washington Street following a parade. Delayed a short time, the pa rade, led by the Williamston High School Band, moved on Smithwick to Main and thence to the speakers’ stand. Sgt. Hardy and his mother occupied the first car, followed by other members of his family, Mayor H. S. Eve rett of Robersonville, Mayor James Hope Avers of Oak City, Sherwood L. Roberson, member of the Martin County Board of Education, members of the Mar tin County Board of Commisr sinners, Attorney Clarence Grif fin, the main speaker, and mem bers of the local board nf com missioners. Mayor Robt. L. Co wen was detained in court and could not participate in the event as planned. piaster of Ceremonies Henry'A. Johnson was on the stand to re ceive the former prisoner of war, his mother and the dignitaries. Mr Johnson, on behalf of the mayor, welcomed Sgt. Hardy home and the visitors, aud after recognizing the special guests, in troduced Mr. Griffin. Called upon for a few words, the honored guest said he w’as not much of a speaker, but his iContinued on page eight) -* J j CON OKI PLAIN'S Plans are shaping up rapid ly for launching the Martin County Community Concert Association member ship drive, it was announced to day by Mrs. Tom Skinner and Mrs. Chas. H. Manning, co chairmen. The drive is to be launched October 19. Mrs. Ben 1). Courtney, Mrs. J. T. Llewellyn and Mrs. J. Paul Simpson have been nam ed division leaders, and de tails for advancing the con cert series will be discussed at a meeting of the association board this afternoon at 5:00 o'clock. Special Venire Is Drawn In County In Murder Case —<*.— Our II1111<I1< <I ami Twenty Six Left For Today Wil son Superior C.onrt One hundred and fifty Martin County Citizens were called yes terday afternon to report in Wil son County Superior Court this morning at 9:30 o’clock as po tential jurors in the murder case against Mrs. Doris Crocker, young white woman who stands charged with the- shooting of her husband, John L. Crocker, at their home in Stantonsburg August 26, 1952. The case was called for trial last May but was called off when sev eral jurors become involved in a drunken braw 1 The special venire was ordered .in Wilson Superior Court by Judge W H. S. Burgwyn yester j day when it was shown that the j case had been too widely publi cised then4 for the court to get a jury in that county. Wilson court officials, accom panied by the defendant, attor neys and the dead man’s father, came here soon after lunch and spent more than an hour while little Miss Shirley Daniels drew 150 names from the jury box. Sheriff M. W Holloman and six | deputies, Harry Jones, Cecil Bui lock, Roy Peel, Dennis A. Rober son, J. S. Ayers and Wiley Craft immediately started the county j wide search, and late last night they hail served notice on 120 of the 150. Of tin4 twenty-four not making the trip this morning several pre rented medical certificates show ing they were physically unable to serve. Others were out of the county, a few others could not be found and in one case thy name was typed in error, leaving the particular venireman to escape by the skin of his teeth. The 124 making the trip from central points in the county, travel ing in private cars. Only j one, realizing that he could be “cornered” in Wilson for several days, went -t C Ander son carried his suit case. The names of those not making the trip include, Robert Hollis, Mrs. D. R Everett, Mrs. Walter Wynne, George B. Ange, Wil (Continued on Page Eight) Handle Operation Saturation on 17 No official report could be had immediately but it is believed that operation “saturation” handl ed bv the North Carolina State Highway Patrol on U. S. Highway 17 over the week-end was most satisfactory. Pew details could be, learned here, but it Wi».-» understood that a goodly number of patrolmen were assigned to the route last Fri day evening at ti:00 o’clock that they patrolled the road from the Virginia to the South Caro lina line from that hour until midnight Sunday. No fatal accidents were report ed on the route during the period, and few if any minor accidents were listed. Speeders and other traffic law violators were cited to the courts in numbers, it was unofficially learned. Sensing the saturation tactics, motorists by late Sunday were exercising great care in operating their vehicles on the route. Court Quits With Twenty-Six Cases Left On Calendar -- Liquor law \ iolator Seu* tciicpd lo Roads For Four Mouths -- AfU. ch.ning twenty five eases from its criminal docket, the Martin County Superior Court at 4 20 o'clock last Friday after noon folded its tent for the week end, leaving twenty-six cases to be docketed again for trial at the one-week December term. The tribunal was reconvened yester day for the trial of civil 'cases only. After getting off to a slow start the early part of last week, the court made ..pit hifea* A# 'fB-* * clearing weighty cases from the docket, but it encountered an other snag last Friday in the trial of Simon Jenkins, notorious bootlegger who was charged with violating the liquor laws for about the fourth or fifth time in recent years. During the trial of the case, ca-.•!. laborer, moved in to take the rap for Jenkins. Battle claimed that the seven pints of illicit li quor found under Jenkins’ bed pillow last July 17 belonged to him (Battle). It was pointed out that Battle’s claim did not neces sarily givp Jenkins a cle^n bill of health, but the jury could not agree apparently on that js§ue.. The case was called at 9.40 last Friday morning and the jury filed out its room at 4:20 that afternoon declaring it was hopelessly dead locked, standing 7 to 5 for con viction. The court ordered a juror withdrawn and a mistrial entered in the records. During the meantime and while tHe jury was out an hour argu ing the issues in the Jenkins case, Battle was called to account and he pleaded guilty of trans porting and possession of illicit liquor. Judge Bone sentenced him to the roads for four months. Anthony Lanier, charged with (Continued from Page Six)
The Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.)
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Sept. 29, 1953, edition 1
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