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VHfi NLWS-RECORD
MADISON COUNTY RECORD
Established Jun 88, 1901. ?
FRENCH BROAD NEWS f
Established May 16, 1907.
Consolidated November 2, 1911
PRICE A YEAR
Thm PROGRESSIVE FARMER
THE NEWS-RECORD
BOTH A YEAR FOR
THE ONLY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN MADISON COUNTY
MARSHALL, N. C, FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 1928
1800
VOL. XXI
' 1
MRS. LOTTIE B. COWARD
FACES MURDER CHARGE
Spring Creek Woman Charged
With Shooting Husband
To- Death
FRISBY CASE CONTINUED WITH
PRICE TO GO ON TRIAL FRIDAY
Other Intereting Case On Septem
ber Term Calendar
(By GLENN W. NAVES)
Charged with shooting to death her
husband, the late Shuford R. Coward,
on Friday afternoon, April 27, 1928,
following an alleged quarrel at their
Spring Creek farm home, Mrs. Lottie
B. Coward went on trial shortly after
noon Thursday, thus placing before
the September criminal term, which
convened here Monday morning with
Judge P. A. McElroy, of Marshall,
presiding, its most interesting and
complicated case.
Through her counsel, George M.
Pritchard, of Asheville, and John H.
McElroy, and J. Coleman Ramsey, of
Marshall, Mrs. Coward entered a plea
of excusable homicide the conten
tion of the defense being that she
acted only in self-defense and protec
tion of her own life when she took
her husband's life, her original story
told on the night of the tragedy, hav
ing been to that effect.
come engaged in a quarrel, and, la
ter, a scuffle ensued, during which
the husband was shot, Mrs. Coward
stating that the former fired two
shots at her with a revolver and that
when the gun came into her hands
she' shot him twice in self-defense.
The two sons, both near 20 years of
age, were away at the home of a
neighbor at the time, it was said, and
other than their mother, there were
no eye-witnesses to the tragedy.
Trial of the case is expected to
consume a great deal of time.
PRICE CASE
Charged with hurling his estrang
ed wife, Mrs. Alene Price, to her
death from a precipice on the French
Broad river bluff, on Friday after
noon, June 29, Abe Price, 35, South
ern teelgraph operator, will go on
trial Friday, should the Coward case
be disposed of by then. At liberty
under bond of $1,000, Mr. Price, who
has employed John H. McElroy as his
attorney, will enter a plea of not
guilty, he and his counsel have de
clared. 'R. R. Reynolds, of Ashe
ville, is counsel for the private pros
ecution. Mrs. Price died still unconscious,
in the Marshall hospital early the fol
lowing morning, and did not speak
T ' 1 i- '. 1 fnlnl.i in ! 1 1 M
With an imposing array of State ." . -
and defense witnesses slated to testi- , until death claimed her.
fy, none of whom have made any FRISBY CASE CONTINUED
sworn statements so far, due to the j The case of the State vs John R.
waiving of preliminary examination t Friiiby, 68, well-known Redmon citi
by Mrs. Coward, who was released zc-n and Constable of No. 1 Town
under bond of $3,500, the case is at- ; f hip, charged with shooting to death
tracting much interest, and the trial i his son, Erna Frisby, 47, at the lat
is expected to be rather closely con-iter's home at Redmon, on Saturday
tested, since the private prosecution ' night, August 4, 1928, was continued
has employed by the private prosecu- to the November term Monday morn
tion and will appear with Solicitor ! ing, thus removing from the Septem
Robert M. Wells. ber calendar the most interesting of
Old citizens and veteran members a listed trio1 of murder case
of the Madison County Bar have stat-1 Mr. Frisby, represented by Mr. Me
ed that to the best of their know- ' Elroy and Mr. Pritchard, whose case
ledge, Mrs. Coward is the first wo- was partially tried, resulting in a mis
man to ever face trial on a murder trial at the August term, has entered
charge in the history of the County's a plea of not guilty, and is at liberty
legal system. under bond of $4,000, formerly
Brief History of Cue $5,000, and later reduced.
Upon receiving news here on the NOTE: The News-RecorJ regrets
night of April 27 that Mr. Coward that due to the necessity of going to
had been killed, Sheriff R. R. Ram
sey, Dr. Frank Roberts, County Coro
ner, and others went to the home, 32
miles from Marshall, to conduct an
investigation. Arriving there, they
press on Thursday afternoon, the
court term cannot be thoroughly
covered in this week's edition. A
number of interesting cases have
been tried, with a number of defend
found Mr. Coward dead, with two ants found guilty, being confined in
bullet wounds in his head. His hand jail pending imposition of sentence,
was also punctured by a bullet, but while other cases have been nol pross-
it was concluded that all wounds were ed, and continued. In our next edi-
made by two shots. Meagre infor- tion we shall cover both the Price
mation gathered was to the effect and Coward cases and give a com-
that Mr. and Mrs. Coward had be- plete account of court proceedings.
HUTCHINS PRESENTS HIS
SIDE OF LIBELOUS REPORTS
McDevitt And His Lieu
tenants By Libelous
Matter Undertake
To Destroy The
Character And Repu
tation Of Dr. J. H.
Hutchins Republican
Candidate For The
Legislature
It has come to my knowledge from
different parts of the County that N.
B. McDevitt and some thirty of his
supporters went to Kingsport, Tenn.,
last Saturday night for the purpose
of procuring an affidavit from a wo
man who was supposed to have been
a patient of mine in the ' Spring of
1923, while I was practicing dentistry
at that place. I have nothing to cover
up about this matter. Sometime in
April 1923 the woman in question
had contracted Novocane poison; my
1 hands and arms were in bad condition
and my physician previous to this
time had advised me to return to the
mountains and change climate, which
had prepared to do.
About four or five days after I had
treated the woman, I had packed my
household and office stuff, prepara
tory to coming to Marshall. To my
great surprise a man came into my
office and stated that he was the hus
band of the. woman whom I had
treated, and said his name was
Wampler. He stated to me that his
wife had told him that while she was
in my office that I had grossly in
sulted her, and informed me that I
would have to make some arrange
ment about the matter or he was go
ing to law me, and if he could not
get a lawyer in Kingsport that he
would go over into Virginia and get
a lawyer. In about an hour he re
turned to my office where I was pack
ing npT , with an attorney. In the
GREAT PLANT TO LOCATE NEAR
ASHEVILLE, X. C.
The great Rayon Plant to locate near
Asheville means much to all our State and
especially Western North Carolina. Fol
lowing are some points from last Sunday's
Citizen:
ENKA IN A NUTSHELL
The plant will be the largest rayon mill in the
world.
It will employ 5,000 persons, 2,000 men and 3,000
women.
The annual payroll will be about $61000,000.
The plant will cost $10,000,000 and construction
work will begin this week. (This work has already
begun. )
The land, which is opposite the Valkyrie dairy,
cost Enka $750,000.
Two miles of railroad siding will be built for the
plant.
An impounding dam to hold 150,000,000 gallons
of water will be built.
Enka will use 5,000,000 gallons of water a day.
When the Enka village has been completed it will
house 25,000 persons, which will give Asheville a pop
ulation of more than 100,000, making this city the
largest in the Carolinas.
' Enka will manufacture only raw rayon. The
thread will be sold to other manufacturers for weaving
into cloth.
Enka will bring other industries here. Such
plants invariably follow a rayon plant so as to be near
the source of raw materials.
Enka will use spruce wood, both from Canada and
from Western North Carolina forests, to make rayon.
Enka officials will residrid Asheville for several
years or permanently.
Local labor and materials will be used in every
instance possible.
The Enka site comprises approximately 2,000 a
cres of land.
The plant will consume 30,000 to 60.000 tons of
coal annually.
The plant will use 125,000,000 kilowatt hours of
electric power' annually.
The plant will consume about 6,000 tons of sul
phite pulp annually and about 35,000 tons of chemi
cals. The plant will operate on three shifts, running
continuously from Monday morn to Saturday evening.
The value of the annual production will be about
$10,000,000.
Paving, street railway lines, bus lines, telephone
lines and water mains will be extended to the plant.
Dr. A. F. L. Moritz will have charge of the plant.
Dr. Moritz, his wife and six children will live in Ashe
ville, the children attending school here.
Work will begin on the grading for foundations
this week.
More than $3,000,000 will be spent in construct
ing the plant.
The plant is supposed to be fully completed and
operating within 18 months.
The plant will cover 75 acres of ground.
Rayon is silk manufactured from wood.
FOUNDERS
DAY EXERCISES
AT MARS HILL COLLEGE
LETTERS FROM R. L. MOORE ing of a school, and all the speakers
AND J. A. McLEOD CON- have had training here.
CERNING THIS EVENT j In the morning Rev. J. Ben Eller,
reared in the Jupiter section, now
The program for the Founders' pastor of the First Baptist Church of
Pay celebration at Mars Hill College Statesville will speak. He will be
held annually on October 12, will this followed by Rev. J. Marcus Kester,
year be devoted to former students, pastor of the First Baptist Church of
according to plans announced by Wilmington.
President More. Last year teachers Tn tne afternoon the Euthalian and
of the past and present were honored, Philomathian library societies will
and the years before tributes were join in an Anniversary program con
paid to the benefactors who have sisting of a debate, orations, and dec
contributed to the endowment and lamations, all brief, and it is hoped,
physical equipment of the institution. 0f usual excellence.
EfTort is being made to have as At night the Societies will hold
many as possible of the alumni to re- reunions to which all former mem
turn. Each of the four literary so- bers are invited. Preceding the re
cieties on the campus is issuing invi- unions the college will give a compli
cations for a reunion of its former mentary dinner at 5:30 P. M. to all
members. Two of the societies, the former students who return. There
JSuthalian and Philomathian, will hold are several score in Madison County
their joint program on the evening of who ought to come back for the din
ihe 12th. ner ano; attend the reunions of their
Many from a distance have ex- literary societies. The interest be-
pressed their intentions to be present ing shown in this occasion indicates
,for the occasion. President Moore is a large attendance,
eager that every alumnus or alumna
if possible from Madison and nearby At 5:30 P. M., at the compliment
counties be present. ary dinner, special tables being pro
i J. A. McLEOD. vided for all returning students,
grouped by societies, Dr. Zeno Wall,
Founders Day, October 12, 1928 President of the Alumni Association,
The program this year magnifies Shelby, N. C, will preside. Dr. Wall
the place of the student in the mak- is well-known in this County.
wife made complaint to me about
having been mistreated while in the
office of Dr. J. II. Hutching at Kings
port, Tennessee, where she had gone
to have some dental work done. I
called to see Dr. Hutchins and he de
nied having improperly mistreated
my wife and denied having been guil
ty of anything immodest or improp
er.' Thereafter I continued to live
with my wife in Kingsport until I
This affair was generally regarded as
purely blackmail. I make this state
ment without being solicited and
solely for the reason that I believe in
fair play in any kind of a game.
Signed
O. S. HAUK.
While at Kingsport I was an active
member of the Masonic Order, the
Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of
found that she vrn&dtoir'mtnk44 World, and a member of the Bap.
considered, improper conduct with
other men. I found that was cor
responding wiih other men and that i
tist church. I did NOT run away
from Kingsport; I am well known
there by the best people, and have
from the correspondence which Infrequently returned to Kingsport
found there was no doubt but what since I left there and still own prop
she had been g'lilty of adultery with 'erty there.
5 !.
t
v'.'iicv men. I found my wife in com
pany with r'1-"- rr- - .........
CiiSlOllS UtlU Uilt.ci tauullidLana'a UKU
respited in a divorce suit being file'.
in ih'e Chancery Court at Kingsport,
Tennessee, in the year 1927.
I have found since investigating , fa!se, libelous and slanderous reports
tiiac that charges against Dr. Hutch-j that I understand are being secretly
ir.s were wholly false and I beliV'ejand clandestantly circulated among
were made for the sole purpose of ithe neonle in various narts of MarH-
son County.
I am perfectly willing and anxious
' cWaci.er -and reputation to
tie put to the severest test among the
pci ple of Kingsport. I appeal to the
people of Madison County for fair
play, an:, not to be condemned by the
and another woman whom I did not
know came to my office and had some .meantime I had called my brother,
Dental work done. The women were Dr. Will Hutchins, who was there
In my office thirty or forty minutes, when this man came back with the
While I was treating the woman, he ' lawyer. ' Wampler .with the lawyer
other woman , was sitting in an ad
joining room a few feet away with
the door open between, and in plain
view of the chair where I was oper
ating. The two women in the mean
time - kept up some conversation In
a rather gay manner,- and while these
women were there, there was abso
lutely nothing out of the ordinary
transpired, and I treated the woman
who was my patient in a gentlemanly
manner, and without1 any improper
demanded some settlement out of
me which I refused to make for the
reason that I was "'absolutely . inno
cent of any misconduct. , My brother
reasoned with me that they had the
advantage of me, and that as I was
ready to leave that it would be bet
ter to suffer to be blackmailed and
to pay something than to be held up
and nave to go through a legal pro
cedure. Jiv .t W
I left the next day for Marshall at
left the matter in the hands of my that' she was a bad woman and pro-
brother to make whatever adustment cured a divorce from her in the
he saw fit. Chancery court of Sullivan Co.,
In the adjustment a note for five Kingsport, Tenn. This matter was
hundred -dollars was given, or pos- absolutely a frame-up on me for the
sibly there was some cash given; and purpose of black-mail and this wo
the note was cashed in at the bank man has the common reputation of
by the accusers for fifty per cent. It having black-mailed others in the
was the intention of my brother Will same way, and as a matter of fact
to give the note, and refuse to pay has black-mailed at least two other
it upon the grounds that it was given .men, and is now reported to be of
under duress or pressure. But when very questionable character.
he came to investigate the matter he In corroboration of this statement
found that the note had passed into
the . hands of innocent purchasers,
and decided that further investiga
tion would not for this reason defeat
payment of the note. The charge
that I had any misconduct, or at
tempted any misconduct with this
woman' at the time mentioned or at
any other time is absolutely - false
and without any foundation, and that
what I have here stated is absolutely
true and correct. - -
I here offer the affidavit of C. E.
Wampler, the former husband of this
woman, which is as follows:
STATE OP TENNESSEE: .
COUNTY OF SULLIVAN:
Personally appeared before me, B.
H. Kinkead, a Notary Public in and
for- the State and County aforesaid,
C. E. Wampler, with whom I am per
sonally acquainted and made oath In
due form of law as follows: V
I was at one time the husband ef
; This man Wampler continued , to Nora Wampler, who, I understand, is
live with his wife until four, years, now a resident of Johnson City, Ten-
conduct whatever. In the meantime I I bad formerly planned to do, and .afterwards, when he was -convinced betsee. About Ave years' ago my
forcing him to pay money and for the
further purpose of concealing from
me my wife's relation with other
men. I know that my former wife
has brought similar charges against
other responsible citizens and forced
them to pay money for her silence
and knowing her character as I have
since found it to be I know that there
was no foundation for the charges
she brought against Dr. Hutchins.
I make this statement freely and
voluntarily and because I feel that
justice demands that Dr. Hutchins'
name be cleared of this accusation.
C. E. WAMPLER.
Sworn and subscribed to before me
this 25th day of September, 1928.
My commission expires on the 12th
day of October, 1929.
B. H. KINKEAD, Notary Public.
The following is a letter from Hon
O. S. Hauk, of Kingsport, who for
merly represented Sullivan County.
Tenn., five times in the Legislature.
which speaks for itself:
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
State of Tenneuee
Nashville
O. S. HAUK
Kingsport
Representative Sullivan County
September 25, 1928
To Whom it may Concern:
I have been reliably informed that
certain slanderous stories have been
circulated in refernce to Dr. J. H.
Hutchins of some things that should
have occurred while he was a resi
dent of Kingsport, Tennessee. I
know all of the parties connected
with it very well. While Dr. Hutch
ins is of a different political faith of
burs and never voted for me so far
as I . know at any time during the
five '. consecutive terms that I have
been elected from this County, I
never questioned his honesty or char
acter and that is a great deal more
than I can say with the other parties
connected ' with this affair. Dr.
Hutchins was one of our very best
citizens and was regarded as such by
aU of the best citisens of Kingsport.
I know that it has been reported
that McDevitt and some of his lieu
tenants have been accused of stoop
ing to very questionable tactics, but
I did not believe that he was capable
of entering into such low-down, li
belous, slanderous things as I under
stand that he is causing to be circu
lated in Madison county against me,
for the purpose of fooling the people
and unjustly prejudicing them a
gainst me to get himself elected to
the Legislature.
The proposition has been brought
to me, as coming from McDevitt
sources or headquarters that if I
would put up money to the McDevitt
campaign fund that they would sup
press these libelous stories, or if I
would come off the ticket, they would
have nothing further to say. I am
in this fight to win and I have stood
all the black-mail that I propose to
stand for, and I do not propose to be
black-mailed out of this fight by Mc
Devitt and his henchmen.
I appeal to the intelligence and the
sense of justice of the good people of
Madison County.
I was reared in and have lived in
Madison County all my life except
the six years I practiced my profes
sion in Kingsport and about one year
in Yancey County, and have been
back in Madison County for five
years, and in all my career, if any
person knows anything against my
character and good name, except the
FALSE and FRAUDULENT libel
that is being circulated, let such per
son speak out.
J. H. HUTCHINS.
Subscribed and sworn ' to before
me this 26th day of Sept, 1928.
J A. W. WHITEHURST, '
Notary Public .
' UP-TO-DATE BUG
? U . ,.(The Times of India)
I envy you, little firefly. ., -You
worry not a. bit;
-For when yon see a traffic cop
Yon know your tail-light's lit.