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Friday
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ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA, MONDAY MORNING, FEBRURY 28, 1921
EXTRA 5C.
EXTRA 5C.
Triple Tragedy At" Soiitliem Hotel
Man Kills Wife And
Shoots Girl And Self
With Bullet Through Brain Man
Lives For Hours Girl Has Slight
- Chance To Recover
A triple tragedy was enacted at the South
ern Hotel Sunday night shortly after the arrival
of the night express when John E. Emory of
Norfolk shot and killed his wife, Mrs. Grace
Emory, shot three times and probably fatally
wounded Miss Eva Harrell of Norfolk and then
fired a, bullet into his own brain. The girl, who
is only eighteen years of age, may perhaps re
cover. She was shot in the left shoulder, thru
the mouth, the ball splitting her upper lip and
passing out through the right jaw; and also
through the abdomen, the ball entering at the
back and lodging under the skin after passing
through her body.
The two women were
, prisoners , at he
hotel
4 having been brought
here from Norfolk by
Chief Holmes about six
o clock Sunday even
ing. Thinking the jail
no fit place for women
the Chief made arrange
ments for them to stay
at the Southern,' and
officer Comstock was
on guard at their door
expecting momentarily
to be relieved by Officer
Webb.
Emory came in on the night
train. He had been drinking
and appeared nervous but
talked coherently. He went
to the desk at the Southern to
: register nd, telling the night
clerk that one of the women
in room 210 was his wife start-
ed to assign himself to the
same room.
"Hold on, you can't do that
-said the clerk. I'll assign you
a room if you want one ;" and
he did assign the man to a
: room on the nejct floor.
Mr. Spence, proprietor of the ho-
" tel had been down to the train with
ta friend and after Emory had
istered asked him
it he wished to
igo to his room.
"No replied Emory, "I want to
go down to the police station first."
Uora t.o an. I. 1 I
V DLUI . i. L. I Hl III. II V n .
ll'VT Comstock.
v r-mory approacnea the door of
room number 210 and inquired of
Comstock, who was on guard:
"What time Is court in the morn
Mng." "Nine o'clock was the answer. Are
'you from Norfolk f
"No I'm from Michigan," said
Emory; and according to Officer
Comstock, Emery disappeared down
the hall.
"I stepped down the hall to a
' bathroom for a drink of water, and j good balance and that the amount at
when I left the door was locked on one time was $1800. He shot hlm
.tSe Inside," says Offlcer Combstock. jself In the back of his head and the
""While I was ta the bathroom I bullet Is lodged In his skall Just
heard shots. 1 rusheffback to the back of the right eye, discoloration
room and theifloor was open. The of the skin Indicating Its presence.
sin iy onanist m tne doorway. The
! man anc wife were
across the bed
All of them
were still living."
Medical aid was promptly sum
moned, Dr. T. S. McMullan, room
ing in the building. Dr. I. Fearing
and Dr. Z. Fearing were also sum
moned, and what medical skill could
do was done for the sufferers. Then
began the long vigil till morning.
Mrs. Emory died at 1.S8.
The matt was still living when this
paper went to press.
The girl will be taken to Norfolk
to a hospital on the early morning
train.
So ends a story that had lis be
ginning Saturday evening when
Camden Blades drove the Blades
Cadillac car down to Spence & Hoi
lowell's about half past eight to get
something from the store for a cus
tomer. They left the car at the
curb and went up on the third story
on the elevator. When young
Blades and the customer came down
the car was gone.
The police were Immediately noti
fled and It was found that a car an'
swerlng the description of the Blades
car had crowed the Camden Ferry
bridge at about nine o'clock. Other
towns and cities were notified of the
theft and the car was picked up In
South Norfolk. In it at the time
were Mrs. Emory, Miss Harrell, J. R.
Sawyer who Is in Pasquotank coun
ty jail, and another man who was
driver and who escaped. Discover
ing that he was pursued the driver
headed his car for a passing freight,
threw on his breaks as he neared
the track and Jumped. It is sup
posed that he caught the train.
Camden' Blades and Chief Holmes
went down to Norfolk on the early
reg-,traln Sunday morning to get the car
and those who were Its occupants
when it was taken, all of them hav
ing bSen taken -in custody. Mr Emory
begged permission to come to Elisa
beth City with his wife but Holmes
saw that he had been drinking and
refused to let him do so.
"My refusal probably saved my
life." says the Chief.
John E. Emory has the appearance
of a man about thirty-five years old.
He was well built and well dressed.
In his pocket was an Income tax
blank filled out and showing that
for tire last year his Income was
13,000. There was also a bank book
showing that be was a regular de
positor the Norfolk National Bank
ana inaicaung mat ne baa kept a
Grace Emory was formerly
a '
Mlss Ballance. 'Her father la Cap
tain Henry Ballance of Mooneypolnt,
Va., but formerly of Dare county,
who Is know here and has relatives
in the city. She had recently se
parated from her husband, leaving
a note to him saying that she had
become tired of living with him.
Her father is expected to arrive in
the city Monday morning. She was
shot through the head the ball en
tering on the back and coming Out
above the left eye.
Eva Harrell's mother is dead. Her
father lives In Brambleton, "Norfolk.
Communicated with over long dis
tance telephone during the night, he
is quoted as saying he wished Emo
ry had killed her and he did not care
what became of her.
She admits that she opened the
door for Emory.
The weapon which Emory used
was a patent automatic, apparently
iof a foreign manufacture. On the
barrel it bore the name "J. P. Sauer
& Sohn, Suhl." On the stock was
the number 9563 and "Cal. .7.65
Emory used 32 caliber steel jacketed
ed bullets and five empty cartridges
in the weapon bore mute witness that
not a shot bad gone wild.
Other details of the affair may be
aired in police court Monday morn
ing. .
Hostilities Begin
Vicinity of Coto
Panama, Feb. 26 (By The Associ
ated Press) Hostilities have begun
between Panaman and Costa Rican
forces in the vicinity of Coto on the
Pacific end of the frontier between
the two countries, according to un
official dispatches. Official confirma
tion Is lacking. Formal declaration
of war had not been made ud to late
last night.
Each Twilight Team
Has Own President
The Elizabeth 2tlf twilight
League Baseball Association held
their scheduled meeting Friday
night in the Y. M. C. A. and etAsted
Bert Parsons as vice president and! t,
H. Snowden as secretary-treasure
for the coming year.
The league this year is organized
along more business like lines than
heretofore. Each team in the league j
Is represented by a president who
flOQ ahanlllta a 11 tlin.Uw tnm tU. , m
he represents. This method will dolsent lt back t0 tne County Represen-
awav with most argument which
were generally left to the opposing
teams to settle among'themselves.
Those present last night were
John Wells, president of the league;
J. H. Snowden, secretary; M. E.
Dennis, representing the Red Men;
J. W. Selig representing the Elks,
and C. V. Ballard representing the
Cnbs. 1
The next meeting will be held
Wednesday, March 9th, in the Cham- .
her of Commerce club rooms in the
Hinton Building.
EDWIN DENBY AT
. ST. AUGUSTINE
To Talk Over Duties of Secre-
tary of Nary With Prest!
dent-EIect Harding Seal
J ri If
Appointment Today
St. Augustine, Feb. 21. Edwin
Denby, once an ordinary gob, re
cently sergeant In the marines, and
unless the official slate of the coming
administration Is overthrown, Secre
tary of the Navy-to-be, talked over
naval policies with Harding today In ance premium It Is a double premium
a conference which is expected to'hecause I am outside the fire protec-
nnally seal his appointment to the
cablnet.
AT BITERIXTEXDEXTS MEETING)
Superintendent S. L. Sheep Is In
Atlantic City attending the national
meeting of school superintendents
now In session there.
DIVERS OPINIONS
FILLING THE AIR1: Guil
d.l.i -t t' . r it- r ,
Business .Men And Mer-,
chants On One Hand And
City Council On Other
Members of the City Council, or a
number of them at any rate, are
disposed to think that not only sec
tion one of Representative Cooke's
Charter bill ought to be repealed.
They would like to see the whole
bill knocked in the head. That it
may be not without some good points
they admit. But they maintain that
it was sneaked through the General
Assembly without notice to the
Council or to the general public;
that it is too late now for intelligent.
discussion before the close of this
session of the Assembly, and that
the best thing to do is to kill the
whole measure. It is altogether
possible that the Council may Bend a
representative to Raleigh next week
armed with a petition signed by ev-1
ery member of the Council to seek
the repeal of every section of the
measure.
The action of the Merchants' As
sociation and Chamber of Commerce
passing a resolution
condemning
the new license schedule bill drawn
at the behest of the Council and!
sent to Representative Cooke for
passage at this session of the Legis
lature still riles members of the
Council also. They Join City Man
ager Commander in protesting with
no little vehemence that the mer
chants are the ones who have been
guilty of high handed methods and
not the Council.
City Manager Commander admits
that he drew up the schedule but
he says he drew It up only after a
careful study of the license taxes
in other towns and after care
ful consideration of local conditions
also. He says further that after
drawing it up he presented it to a
committee of the Council who went
over it carefully and passed it. He
then presented it, be says, to the sec
retary of the Chamber of Commerce
who endorsed it. He says further
that he showed it to numbers of
prominent citizens, among others to
W. 0. Saunders, all of whom were
willing to let U fQ through,
There art also Members el the'
Council who say that the matter was
taken before the Merchants Associa
tion before ths "indignation meet
ing" held this week and that the
suggestion of these representatives
of the city government was that the
bill should be sent for and gone over
before the Merchants Association
aitd any inequalities smoothed out.
Members of the Council feel that
their authority wag flouted when the
Merchants Association, after a hasty
reading of the schedule of licenses,
condemned the bill In its entirety and
'tative without a word to the City
Council. They feel that the mer
chants should have taken the mat
ter up first with the Council. City
Manager Commander goes so far as
fo say that the chief reason for the
merchants' indignation was a mis
understanding of the schedule thru
confusion of the license with the
bond rennirfid of certain comnanteii
or businesses to hold the city harm-
lesH aralnat damaee to the treet or
such matter by these companies
or
businesses.
Again members of the Council feel
that in fighting the passage of a bill
providing a new schedule of licenses
for Elizabeth City and In seeking to
impose a property tax for the pur
chase of new fire fighting equipment
the merchants are evading their
share of the expense of the purchase
of such fire fighting apparatus.
They nolnt out that the aerial truck.
which is the chief item of ex-
nnnaa
pense in the Fire Department bud
get, is for the protection of the busi
ness district alone as this piece of
equipment will not be needed in
fighting fires In the residence dis
trict. , "
"Then take my own case as an ex
ample," says Councilman P. C. Co
hoon. "When I pay my fire Insur-
tlon district. And yet under this
proposed bill I will have to pay just
as much tax on the hundred dollars
valuation of my property as does the
man In the business district who en
Joys the advantage of the fullest fire
protection. I am not speaking for
myself, however, but for the hun
dreds of other small property own-
Mrs. Varnerls
I Greensboro, Feb. 2fl. The
j federal court Jury In the case of
Mrs. Florence Varner, who sued
her husband", Col. Henry M. Var
ner, Lexington publisher, for
support today, returned a ver
dict for the defendant after two
days deliberation.
One issue required the Jury to
find whether Bhe was guilty or
not of the charge of improper
relations with Baxter McRary,
wealthy negro of Lexington.
The Jury answered this affirma
tively. BESTCITY ENTERS
STATE DEBATE
And In Triangle With itdenton
and Hertford Again This
"Year
-Chapel Hill, Feb, 28 (Special)
That Elizabeth CityHigh School de
baters will again contest with Eden-
ton and Hertford it the state-wide
triangular debates "was announced
today by E. R. Rankin, secretary of
the High School Debating Union of
North Carolina. Tfe query which
will be discussed ttiis year Is: Re
solved. That the policy of the open
shop should prevail in American In
dustry. It is expeeted that 225
schools representing 90 counties will
participate In these debates. '
In other triangles arranged In
this section of the state are: .Curri
tuck, Moyock and Poplar Branch;
Manteo, Shiloh and South Mills;
Gateaville, Reynoldson and Sunbury.
Two dual debates have aho been ar
ranged between Columbia and Roper
and Windsor and Woodland
The High School Debating Union
was Inaugurated eight years ago end
each successive year fiebn.te on time
ly subjects have been held to the
benefit of both the participants and
their communities. The number of
schools in this union, and thereby
the number of people reached in the
discussion, has Increased rapidly
with each new year. 1 It is said to be
a conservative estimate that an av
erage of 80,000 people have listened
to the alsculfilon: each year,
Ust year" ths AyflOCk Memorial
Cup was won by" th Asheville H'gh
School! the year beffifa" ilie I by" the
Durham High School. CUrritacK anal
Roper by winning both sides' 6 Me4r
debates gained the right to eritet
their teams in the preliminaries at
Chapel Hill.
The triangular and dual debates
will be held throughout the state the
latter part of March and the final
contest at the University will be held
early in April. Those schools ifhlch
win both sides of their query will
meet at Chapel Hill for the prelim
inaries and semi-finals. The final
debate which determines the winner
of the Aycock Memorial Cup will
take place the night following the
preliminaries.
The Debating Union is training
high school students to take active
and constructive places in college
and in life. All three of the repre
sentatives of the University In the
Carolina-Pennsylvania debates this
year once ok Par ' the high
school triangular debates. Most of
the participants in the past debates
are now making good in business life
and many are successful lawyars.
On April 14-15 at the same time ,
the finals at Chapel Hill a state In-j
terscholastlc track meet and tennis;
tournament will be held
U. 8.
INTERVENTION
PONSIOETIED REMOTE
Washington, Feb. 28. Interces
sion by the United States In the
Panama-Costa-Rlcan conflict con
tinues1 to appear remote. Should it
endanger American lives and prop
erty a special Latin American squad
ron might be ordered to Panama.
ers whose case Is similar to mine."
The foregoing views were brought
out at an informal meeting of the
City Council at which there was not
a quorum present Friday afternoon.
Inasmuch as the viewpoint of the
merchants was set forth In a news
stofy on the front page of this paper
one dy last week, that of the City
Council so far as the seme of that
body was to be ascertained froth ex
pressions from' members pending
the Informal meeting Is let y forth
In this Issue as a matter of commoo
fairness and also at sv nutter of gen
eral Interest.
HAS REPEALED
SECTION ONE
Griffin Introduces Measure In
Seriate td Make Void Recent
Change! In Elizabeth City
Corporate Limits
Cooke ' Repeals I
City Limit Section
The following telegram
was received in the city
Saturday mofhing, from
Representative Cooke:
"I repealed sectionv6ne
of charter bill yesterday."
iif s a. a. . i ' .a. I
Ik 3k'
Raleigh, Feb. 26 Special) Sen
2" tSp'eclal) S
ator Griffin has Introduced a bill to
repeal section oneqf the Cooke bill
passed this session relating to the
corporate limits sjhfclizabeth' City.
While the "road bill had right-of-way
Friday, moflffH-plcfure censor
ship edged its way in ahead of the
road, bill and consumed about two
hours of mighty valuable time in the
Senate before it could be disposed of.
One-half of the discussion of the pro
posal to re-refer the bill to the com
mittee on education came" after the
motion to table had been made, and
was In the opinion of some members
of the Senate out of ordet.t
A bill to be entitled act to
authorize, empower and, direct the
governor and council of stai,i to sell
the state's stock In the Ndith Caro
lina railroad and the Atlantic and
North Carolina railroad, ojid with
the proceeds of said salos to con
struct, operate and maintain a rail
road from North Wllkesboro to May
mead, Tennessee, connecting the ter
mini of the Winston-Salem division
and the Appalachla division of the
Southern railway; and also'complet
ing the construction of the Elkln and
Alleghaney railroad, the Watauga
and Yadkin River railroad, and there
by constituting a trunk line of rail
roads from the northwost section to
the southwest section of the State,
from Bristol. Virginia, to Wilming
ton, North" Carolina, and -also re
deeming the "Lost Prov&ices" of
North Carolina. This is the title of
a bill Introduced In the lower branch
J the7 General Assembly Friday
morning !by Representative, , Tarn
Bowie, of Ashe County.. .. t, "f j
Passage of the munlcipa) finance
act as amended, the introduction of
petitions of protest from farmers
against revaluation, consideration of
the revenue bill ana passage of many
local bills consumed the day's ses
sion. OKLAHOMA CITY "
HAS A BIG FIRE
Flames Break Out In City Hall,
Are Brought Under Con
trol Finally By Eight Fire
Companies
Oklahoma City, Feb. 26. Fir
cnuslng, it is estimated, damage of
$300,000, broke out in the cltv hall
here shortly before midnight.
The flames were brought under
control at 1:30 this morning by
eight fire companies.
valuable records were destroyed
Labor Council
Meets To Protest
Washington, Feb. 2 The execu
tive council of the American Federal
tlon of Labor met here itoday to con
sider the action of the government
In prosecuting officials of the United
Mine Workers for alleged violation
of the AntlTrust Sherman Act.
Matthew Woll, vice president of
the Federation, declared that the In
dictment of the mine workers struck
at the very foundation of collective
bargaining.
FORCED
PASKFORT8
ARE BEING
ISSUED
Washington, Feb. St. Forged
passports to enable undesirable dan
gerous aliens to enter the United
States are being Issued In almost
every European county, the State De
partment announced today. Pass
port swindlers have been operating
o a wholesale scale.