North Carolina Newspapers

Advertisers will find Beacon and News columns a latchkey to 1200 Washington County homes. The Roanoke Beacon * * » » * » v and Washington County News ******* Plymouth, Washington County, North Carolina, Friday, October 29, 1937 A home newspaper dedicated to the service of Washington County and its 12,000 people. VOLUME XLVIII—NUMBER 44 ESTABLISHED 1889 Dr. McGowan Finds Delicacy in Nice Raw Green Peanuts Friends Thought Physician Lost, But He Says He Just Couldn't Cet Back ——$ There is no food more delicious than raw green peanuts and the sweet succulent fruit of the per simmon tree, according to Dr. Clau dius McGowan. The Doctor made this discovery while wandering about in the woods just east of Plymouth without din ner, supper or breakfast this week. “Someone told me that there were a lot of squirrels In the woods down by Hampton’s Field, so I thought I’d just take a little walk in there and see where they were,” the Doctor ex plained. “That was about 11 o’clock Sun day morning .1 had Julius Ange with me and we didn’t seem to find any squirrels, so we just kept on going and pretty soon souldn’t get out. “Of course, we weren’t lost for we could hear the cars passing along the road to Roper but it was marshy and bad going. "By and by it came on dark and got cold, so we made a fire and hav ing no ax to work with, had to drag whole trees to bum. “The next morning when we heard the factory whistles blow in Plymouth we just headed right for them and broke our way through reeds and bushes and finally got out to where someone had stacked up a field of peanuts. uo you Know,—mere s uuwuug tastes quite as good as a nice raw peanut.” When the Doctor failed to return Monday morning his friends began to be really worried, fearing he might have been lost, met with an accident "He couldn’t lose his way after all the years he has been hunting in these woods,” one man said, and this appeared to be the general opin ion. but there were some who pointed out that the best of hunters may sometimes lose their bearings. Acting on a report that he had gone up the river a searching party set out in that direction, but no one seem ed to think he might have gone down the river instead. -# Plymouth Men Get 125 Pound Deer This Week -$ W. J. Meyer, superintendent of construction at the pulp mill, and D. W. Beall, an electrician employed there, returned from a day’s hunt near Roper with a 125-pound deer Wednesday afternoon. Nine Tickets Drawn To Get Five Prize Winners The supply of silver dollars avail able in Plymouth having given out, winners in the regular Wednesday drawing of the merchants’ fall cam paign received crisp new $1 bills this week. Two numbers were called, and as neither was claimed a third was picked before anyone could be found to take away the $20 first prize. It was finally awarded to Lillian Phelps of Mackeys, who held a ticket from Alma’s Beauty Parlor. The fourth ticket drawn was claim ed promptly by Vernon Hart, colored, of Plymouth, who produced a stub from R. S. Browning’s store. The fifth ticket, from L. S. Thompson’s, was not claimed. The sixth matched a stub obtained by Lewis Price at E. H. Liverinan s and the seventh was elamied by Mary Downing, colored, of the White City section. The eighth ticket was not claimed, but the ninth brought Bill Spruill, of Plymouth, forward to receive his $5 on a ticket from the Yellow Front Market. The crowd this week was about the same size that it has been at past drawings, but the fact that four out of nine tickets drawn were held by persons who failed to attend the drawing caused considerable com ment. And the fact that two persons missed the $20 first prize by failing to attend will probably bring a larg er crowd next week, the merchants believe. Man Disappears Off Burning Barge Here COTTON NEEDS PICKING I 'V---' With the pulp mill rapidly near ing completion, many farmers are hoping that they will soon be able to get the rest of their cotton picked. Driving through the county from the Martin County line, all the way to Creswell, one sees fields of cotton that should have been picked weeks ago, but was not, as farmers have been unable to hire enough pickers. It is said that the wages earned by many men working at the mill were sufficient to make their families less interested than usu al in cotton picking. Mackeys ‘Resident Dies Unexpectedly —®— Mace Sennett, 65, a farmer, who has lived most of his life near Mack eys, was buried last Friday following funeral services at Saints’ Delight Church. Mr. Sennett, apparently in good health, dropped dead in his yard Thursday afternoon. He had been living with Mrs. William Ann Phelps near Mackeys. The Rev. Luther Ambrose officia ted at the funeral conducted by Nur ney. There were close to 75 friends, neighbors, and relatives present. Crop Control Is Vital County Agent States W. V. Hays Calls Big| Meeting of Farmers Here for Saturday Effective Program for Price Stabilization To Be Dis cussed by Experts A meeting of Washington County farmers to discuss a program for the stabilization of production and prices has been called by W. V. Hays for Saturday afternoon at the Plymouth courthouse. “At least 25 Washington County farmers have requested tobacco bases or larger acreage for next year during the past week,” Mr. Hays said. “One of our cotton farmers offered to swap a 50-acre cotton base for a 5-acre tobacco base. “It appears that the tobacco ioiks, unless a different program is insti tuted for next year, will be in a con dition similar to that of the cotton and potato growers. “The ballot recently taken among potato growers shows positively that control is desired,” he continued. “Our Congressmen and Senators need to know how our peanut, cot ton, and tobacco farmers feel about control of their crops. “We must realize that control, to be effective and fair to all, must ap ply to all crops and possibly to hogs. A good many of our farmers believe this is true and contend that Con gress will bring this about when shown that the farmers really want it. “Discussion of the proposed plan will begin at 2 p. m„ with R. C. Holland, president of the Peanut Sta bilization Corporation, talking on the plan now in operation for holding peanut prices at 3 1-3 cents par pound. “E. F. Arnold, secretary of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, will lead a discussion on the proposed con trol program for cotton, tobacco and potatoes. “Every farmer should familiarize himself with this plan before taking a vote. f MAY BE LAST CHANCE 1 Football fans may have their last chance to see the Plymouth Panthers in action this year Fri day afternoon. The game sched uled is with Scotland Neck and is the last one booked for the home field for several weeks. But the “dope” is that after the first-term marks come out this week, there will be hardly anyone left to play on the Pan ther team. Failure in two sub jects automatically bars students from membership on the team. And, as though this wasn’t bad enough, the ball park where the games have been played up to now is being sold at auction Fri day morning, and there is no knowing how the new owner will feel about letting the high school use it for football. Harry Gurkin Hurl As Auto Turns Over Into Ditch by Road —<$.— Machine Forced Off Highway By Another Car Near Sweet Water Creek -§ Badly cut and bruised about the face, Harry Gurkin, 26, of Ply mouth, is reported considerably im proved. He was injured while riding with BUI Smith, 24, also of Plymouth near Sweet Water Creek on the WUUams ton road Sunday evening. The accident occured when an ap proaching machine forced them off the highway and caused their car to roll over into a ditch by the road side. The automobUe was badly damag ed and, while Smith escaped practi cal unheart, blood was streaming from a gash in Gurkin’s throat. Taken to Williamston, he was treat ed by Dr. J. H. Saunders. The ma chine which forced their car from the road did not stop and the driver’s name is unknown. Strange Case Has Friends Puzzled As Hope Gives Out T. J. Burgess Known To Be Highly Nervous; Afraid of Bugs and Razors -$ The strange disappearance of T. J. Burgess off a blazing barge near Plymouth Saturday night is still puz zling fellow workmen and police. Burgess had been hired by the Tidewater Construction Company to remain on the barge day and night as a safeguard against fire. He built a small house 7 feet high and 8 feet square on one end of the barge and began living in it. He did his own cooking on a small stove which the company furnished him. A few days ago it was necessary to move the barge from the Edenton side of the new bridge, where it had been used in connection with cement mixing operations, to the pulp mill, where the Tidewater Company was nearly ready to pour a section of ce ment. The tug "B. F. Huntley,” took it in tow and started for Plymouth. As the barge was entering the mouth of Roanoke River, Burgess was seen aboard and everything appeared all right. That was shortly before dark. When the barge was nearing Plym outh a Are broke out and in the ex citement no one worried very much about Burgess until it had been ex tinguished by the crew of the tug. Then someone noticed that he was missing and a search began, but he was never found. Burgess was a highly nervous man, tall and very slim. “That man was scared of every thing,” declared N. V. Steele, proprie tor of an Eden ton boarding house, where he stayed before moving onto the barge. “One time last summer a big bug of some kind got into his room and he started screaming for help. We were not able to quiet him until the insect had been killed.” Some of the jokers at the boarding house handed him a razor one day and then informed him that it had been used to shave a dead man. Burgess, it is said, started shaking and threw the razor on the floor. There are varying opinion as to how the man disappeared. Steele thinks Burgess was “just tired after a week's hard work (he was a steam crane operator during the daytime) and, as night came on, moved into his little shack and started a Are, then fell asleep. “The smoke probably awoke him and he jumped through the window without thinking of anything except getting away from the Are. He was that way, just nervous.” Burgess could not swim. Carpenter Dies On Job Stricken By Heart Attack —$— Bill Barrett Had Worked on Pulp Mill Homes and New Theater Here -$ Bill Barrett, 32-year-old carpenter who worked on the pulp mill anc new theater here came down off the roof of a building he was putting uf here Tuesday because he felt sick. Three or four minutes later Her man Jackson found him dead. He had been suffering from heart trou ble for some time. The body will be taken by Nurne: to the dead man’s home at Moun Gilead for funeral services. He wai married, but whether or not he ha< any children is not known here. Mr. Barrett came to Plymouth i short while ago to work on the house at the Kieckhefer village and hai been staying at the home of Hermai Jackson. New Principal Has Same Old Trouble At Cherry School Mr. Matthews Hopes To Raise Some Money; Finds Live P. T. A. Big Help On the job a month now, S. E. Mathews, new principal of the Cher ry school, is already worrying about the problem that worries most other principals: how to raise the money to buy things needed for his school. Cherry has a live Parent-Teacher Association, however, and this is go ing to make the task less difficult, Mr. Matthews believes. Recently the Association purchased five large maps for use in the study of geography and last year it bought a piano for use in the school audi torium. Just what will be puchased next is not yet decided, not just how the money is to be raised, but several things are under considera tion. Mr. Matthews is 35 years old, sin gle, and describes himself as a “Jack of all trades” adding that he hopes no one will add any more to that. He comes to Washington County from Turkey, N. C„ and for two years before he took over the Cherry school was educational adviser for the CCC camp having a total of 400 boys. His headquarters then were at Fort Bragg. Mr. Mathews is a graduate of the University of Norh Carolina, where he took an A. B. degree. His favor ite subject is history, and he tells his students that if they want to judge the future, they must know the past. His favorite pastime is hunting ducks, and he admits that the pros pect of some good hunting in the Lake Phelps region had “something to do” with his coming to this county to teach. Mr. Matthews succeeded B. L. Causey, who resigned shortly after the school year began. Hallowe’en Carnival Will Be Held Friday Night in Plymouth —— Amateur Show, Popularity Contest, Dance and Tur key Raffle Planned -<s> There will be a Hallowe’en Car nival an ddance Friday evening in the Plymouth high school Gym nasium. The affair is being sponsored by the Parent - Teacher Association, with Mrs. Kathleen Spruill of the Federal Little Theatre in charge. Two important features of the evening will be an amateur program under the auspices of the senior class, in which anyone may enter, and a popularity contest, under the sponsorship of the junior class. There will be a novelty show by the high school band, and of course, the usual bobbing for apples, also a turkey raffle for the benefit of the band, and a cake raffle to raise mo ney for the purchase of new window shades. Dancing will begin early and con tinue until late in the evening. It is expected that there will be many weird and fantastic costumes. Armistice Program To Include Parade And Half Holiday -<$> Former Lieutenant Governor Will Speak in Plymouth Theatre at Noon Former Lieutenant Governor Sandy Graham will make the Armis tice Day address in Plymouth this year, it was announced this week. He wil lspeak at 11:30 a. m. in the Plymouth Theatre under the auspices of the American Legion. All stores are to be closed in ob servance of the holiday from 10:30 I to 1 o'clock, and there will be a pa rade of members of the Legion, Sons of the Legion, Boy Scouts, and i school children, starting from the high school promptly at 10:30. The high school band will furnish music. -- Creswell Parent-Teacher Committee Will Mee i -$. The executive committee of the Creswell P. T. A. will hold its next meeting at the home of Mrs. Bet tie Davenport Thursday evening November 3 at 7:30 p.m., it was an | nounced this week. -« Mrs. Davenport Breaks Leg in Fall on Doorstej i ———< 1 Mrs. Guliford Davenport of Skin nersville fell from the back door step i of her home Sunday breaking he » leg and was taken to a hospital ii l Norfolk in C. N. Davenport’s Am i bulance by Joe Baker Davenport am Dr. W. H. Harrell of Creswell. Operation of New Pulp Plant Under Way Here This Week; On Schedule of 24 Hours Daily Unofficial Opening of Golf Course Is Planned Sunday Plymouth’s new golf course will be open Sunday, Vice President L. J. Meunier, of the Kieckhefer Container Company, announced this week. It is expected that there will be a formal opening in two or three weeks, when the new country club building is completed, but officials decided not to wait for this before beginning to play on the course. Mr. Kieckhefer is expected to be present for the occasion. The greens are not in perfect condi tion, but will do, and otherwise the course is practically ready with the exception of benches and ball-washing stands, accord ing to J. E. Maples, the pro. It may be possible to have these, too, by Sunday, he said. 300 Women at District Meeting of Clubs Here Representatives of Seven Counties at Sessions Monday -- Mrs. O. L. Williams, of Swan Quarter, Elected President Fifteenth District Close to 300 women came to Ply mouth this week to repersent Junior and Senior Womans Clubs of the seven counties in the 15th district. They were greeted by Mrs. T. L. Bray, president of the Plymouth Sen ior Club and by Miss Martha Mayo, president of the Junior Club. Mrs. Eidson Davenport extended the wel come of the home demonstration clubs of the county. The new district officers, elected during the meeting are headed by Mrs. O. L. Williams, of Swan Quar ter, as president; Mrs. J. H. B. Moore or Greenville, vice president; and Mrs. Metro Swindell of Swan Quar ter, secretary. Every club in this district now has its dues paid up for the coming year and all have made contributions to the Sally Southall Cotton Loan fund for educational loans to college girls, it was announced. This is considered a tribute to the work of Mi's. H. G. Ethridge, state president, who has worked very hard to put the clubs on a sound fi nancial basis. The newly organized Creswell Wo mans Club was well represented at the meeting, but the prizes for best attendance were won by the Junior club of Ayden, and by the Senior Club of the same place. The registration was 265 members in all present, including both Jun ior Clubs, but it is believed thiat a number of women who attended did not register. Following the morning session at the Methodist Church the two groups separated for lunch, the Jun iors going to the new social hall of the Christian church, where the la dies of the Episcopal Church served a dinner, and the Senior Club mem bers going to the Community hall for luncheon served by the Parent-Tea cher Association. Mrs. B. G. Campbell addressed the Junior members, conducting an in stitute and answering questions re lative to club work. L. J. Meunier, Jr. To Wed in New Jersey. Then Return Here Sou of Company Vice Presi dent Is Graduate Engineer; Will Live in Plymouth Louis J. Meunier, jr„ who has been working with his father at the pulp mill here since March, will be mar ried Sunday in Camden, N. J., it was announced this week. He will marry Miss Agnes Douh erty in the Baptist church at Cam den, then return directly to Plym outh in order to be on the job again Monday morning. Mr. Meunier, sr„ vice president of the Kieckhefer Container Company, will act as best man. Miss Doughetry is 22 years old, and has been working as secretary in a large Philadelphia department store. Mr. Meunier is a graduate engineer from the University of Alabama. Be fore coming to Plymouth he worked i for nine months on a mill being built near Manchester, England, and prior . to that worked two years in a paper j mill at Delair, N. J. He is now 27 years old and plans l to continue working at the mill as ■ an assistant to W. M. Cary, plant I superintendent, and will occupy one of the new houses built by the firm I FAIR IS POSTPONED I ; The first annual Washington County Fair, which members of the Plymouth post of the Ameri can Legion had hoped to sponsor here this year, will be put off un til next year, due to the lateness of the season, Dr. McGowan an nounced this week. Spruill Is Elected Treasurer of New Building & Loan -<s> Payments on Stock To Be Made Weekly at Office of City Clerk in Future -® M. W. Spruill has been elected to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Plymouth Building & Loan Associa tion. When the association was first or ganized a few weeks ago, L. S. Thomp son was selected by the board of di rectors to serve temporarily in this capacity. With the election of Mr. Spruill, stockholders of the association have been requested to make their regular weekly payments of 25 cents per share to him at the city clerk’s of fice in the municipal building. There is still some stock in the first series available, but subscriptions to the first issue must all be in before December 31. Later, other series will be issued. First Shipments To Be Made Early Next Week by Kail Nearly Two Weeks of Hard Work Required in Tuning Up Machinery Plymouth’s new pulp plant began operating Wednesday night, follow ing nearly two weeks of tuning up and adjustment. The first cars load ed with pulp are expected to start on their way north to the Kieckhefer’s finishing plant at Delair, N. J., early next week. Some pulp was produced last Mon day and Tuesday, but much of it was torn and mangled as it came off the rollers of the machine supposed to strain out the water and form it into sheets. Most of this was turned back into the vats to be softened and rolled out again after the machinery had been adjusted as required. Some, however, was salvaged and this was enough to make about half a box car full. When the mill is operating at full capacity it will turn out about 250 tons of pulp a day, according to L. J. Meur.ir, vice president of the com pany. He figures on 40 tons of pulp to each box car, so it is estimated that about six cars a day will be loaded at the mill as soon as every thing is operating smoothly. Company officials expect that it will take a while to train the neces sary crews of from 250 to 300 work ers in the operation of the compli cated machinery of the mill. The crew of experienced men who have come to Plymouth from other mills to form a nucleus for the new organization has been working al most day and night for weeks in get ting things started. And Vice Pres ident Meunier, as the man who de signed the mill and is responsible for its successful operation, has hardly left the plant for more than a few minutes at a time during the tuning up process. Because of the nature of the chem ical process involved, once the wood chips are started through the long series of tanks, ovens, and digesters, they must be kept going. For this reason, the mill will operate on a 24 hour a day schedule, and for the same reason, once the tuning-up process began, it had to be complet ed as rapidly as possible to prevent loss of pulp. (Continue on page four) Many Women Attend Roper Meet Thursday I REASON FOR OMISSION ) i >-_> The health article which Dr. S. V. Lewis writes regularly for the Beacon was omitted this week due to the death of the doctor’s father, Mr. J. A. Lewis, of Mid dlesex. Mr. Lewis had been in ba^l health for four years as the re sult of a stroke and died last Thursday. Dr. Lewis left at once to attend the funeral, which was held on Friday, and returned Monday. Mr. Lewis is survived by his wife and leaves two other chil dren besides the doctor, Cecil Lewis, of Rocky Mount, and Mrs. Joe David, of Wilson. $300,000 Addition To Pulp Mill Is Now Being Considered I Vice President Says Bleach ing Room Would Not Add Many Jobs -<$> The Kieckhefer Container Company is seriously considering the addition of a $300,000 bleaching room to the new mill here, according to L. J. Meunier, vice president. If the room is added it will mean additional employment during the construction period, but when com pleted will not require any notice able increase in personnel for oper ation, he said. The room would be built on the j south side of the west end of the mill and the pulp flowing from the main plant directly into the straining, dry I ing and rolling machines, which now are the last stage in the process here, would be diverted. It would flow first into the bleaching room, then into . the straining and drying machines. -® Fall Federation Chooses Officers For Coming Year -<8> Prizes Awarded, Handiwork Exhibited and Speaker Heard at Meeting -<s> New officers elected at the fall fed eration of home demonstration clubs in the Roper High School Building last Thursday are Mrs. Grace Bowen, president; Mrs. Kitty Norman, vice president; Mrs. Edison Davenport, secretary; and Mrs. F. D. Wilson, treasurer. Professor Ralph Deal, head of the language department at Eastern Carolina Teachers’ College, in deliv ering the principal address, suggest ed that the women become more in terested in books, flowers, and music. The newly organized county chorus sang two selections and members of each club in the federation displayed crocheting, knitting, embroidery, and other handiwork. A silver loving cup, offered by the Roanoke Beacon each year, was won by the Cross Roads Club, a small but hard-working and enthusiastic or ganization. Free trips to the Farm and Home Week in Raleigh next were were won by the following women for the out standing work they have done in their clubs this year: Mrs. Stuart Darden, of Alba Club, for the most work of improvement done in yards; Mrs. Wilbur Daven port, of the Swain Club, for the best gardens; Mrs. Joe Nooney, of Scup pernong Club, for the largest number of jars of fruit and vegetables canned. Mrs. Gus Owens, of Creswell, won a trip for the most garments made under the clothing project. The Cherry Club won the $5 prize given by W. F. Winslow for the best gardens.