i-- J I-
: My.
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County Court
1 County Cpurt 1 Mast Head Box
Next term ox vounty court wiu I
convene Monday, June 2nd. . A ' ,-. 1 '
m
r neavy. docket facet Judge Phillips
-and Solicitor Mercer. !
ft-1 . - . .
Vol, 19.No.
I Heads Duplin School Improvement . Committee
MRS. ASHE MILLER who was
elected president of the Duplin
County School Improvement Com
mittee in its final meeting of the
present school year here last Tues
Editorial!
Saturday Is The Day
By J. R. Grady ' v
Saturday is the day the most important day .
in the machinery of our governmental system.- Thf
whole structure of our party system and 'Mix, forrnf f
.rofiov0rnmentfej
cinct meetingstihat are Jneld ;xn .every1 prefeinct in
meetings -wlil be held in Duplin County. . It is -the;
privilege, and duty, of all registered' Democrats to ;
attend their precinct meetings and voice themselves
on precinct officials and cast their ballots: ; Too
ofteri we criticise and say that elections at,the pre- :;
tints are under the control of a certain few when ;
that few has no other choice. They attend the
meetings and must carry out the law and elect of
ficers. They may be innocent in their actions where
so-called special privilege accusations are concern-V
ed. At the same time, however the precinct meet-
ing is the place where experiene'ed politicians who
want to get hold of elections machinery for personal
gain do their work. They know the average voter":
doesn't know the importance of .the' meeting or
doesn't bother to attend so they maneuver their
Schemes and secure control.
' Your elections two years from now will be
Controlled by. the groups who attend the precinct
meetings Saturday. If you are not satisfied with
things now going on in your local, election places,
, Saturday 'is the time to do something about it r
I County Chairman. Faison W. f McGowen has
issued the following memorandum ,' concerning the
; precinct meetings and county convention:
. To All Chairman and Members of Democratic
', Precinct Committees; '
f You are hereby notified of the dates for holding ;
Precinct, County Convention and State Convention
meetings as fixed by the State Democratic Execu
tive Committee. , i , c
. ; .' 1: Saturday, May 10, at 2:00 o'clock, p.m., is
the time for holding Precinct Meetings for the pur-.;
pose of perfecting the precinct organization and for
electing delegates to the County Convention.
:- 2. Saturday, May 17, 1952, at 41:00 o'clock, ;
km., is the time for holding the County Convention
for the purpose of organizing according to the Plan ,
of Organization of the.Deinocratci Party and for1
electing delegates' to the State 'Convention.
: , 3. Thursday, May 22, 1952, at 12:00 o'clock,
noon, is the date for holding the State Convention :
in the City Auditorium in Raleigh.
The Precinct Meetings Shall Transact The
f ,1. Elect a Precinct Committee of five active
Democrats, at least two of whom shall be women.
The Committee so elected shall immediately elect a
Chairman and a Vice-Cnairman. The Chairman or
fhe Vice-Chiarman shall be a woman. -; This is re
quired by Section 14 of the Plan of Organization. -
The precinqt Meetings shall be presided over by.
the Chairman of the precinct committee, but in his
absence, the Vihairman of the Committee shall '
rrr: r i m thsj. absence of both the Chairman
I f ' C -irman, any member of. the com-
---rsflAl-rr'
r,
day night. Earl Edgerton princi
pal of the Wallace school, was nam'
ed secretary. Mrs. Miller is. the
only school committeewoman in
the county. ?
"3t3ti.2Ccun-
KENANSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, ' MAY 8, 1952.
' J iwU
ii
East Carolina folh Festival Is
Planned for Duplin
Echoes oil The Duplin Story
were beard in JDuplln last weeK
when the B. F. Grady P.T.A. held
its final meeting of the school year.
Following election and installation
of new officers Editor J. R. Grady
of the Duplin Times introduced
Bascom Lamar Lunsford of Tur
key Creek who discussed with the
group ways and means of estab
lishing an Eastern Carolina Folk
Festival in Kenansvllle. The Grady
group decided to initiate the move
and named Principal Hugh Wells
to take the matter up with county
school officials and representatives
of each P.T.A. in the county.
At the meeting in Kenansvllle
Tuesday night of the Duplin School
Committee tne P.TJU of tbe coun
ty, or. those represented heard Mr.
Wells present the proposition and
listened to encouragement from
Chancellor Bob House of the Uni
versity of North Carolina, and vot
ed to sponsor the project. Hugh
Wells of Grady was named chair
man of the broJect. n .
lar festivals in Asheville, at Chapel
Hill and the' State Fair , annually
will personally select the talent, dl-
tauve pians camor tue program to
be .given -three nights in Kenan
Memorial Auditorium some time in
the early part of September. , Mr,
Longford says ne expects it to be
come an annual institution for Du
plin and Eastern Carolina and pre
dicts crowds will attend by the
thousands. The festivals have pro
ven very popular1 and have been a
huge success with' him elsewhere.
Duplin will be nls third major fes
tival development project In the
State. -wiv.'!: .'
' Watch the Times for more de
tails and plans as they develop.
There will be a meeting of the
Citizen Committee For Good Gov
ernment Friday "night, May 9 at
8 o clock in the Rose Hilt school
auditorium.
The Rev. A. D. Wood will be the
speaker. -
All interested citizens are urged
to be present.
Compliments To
Ralph Mille
Ralph Miller, County Ranger,
and his force have been doing a
fine job for all of us in their vigi
lant checking of fires in- our coun
ty. We can all help by remember
ing to extinguish cigarettes before
we drop them. Be sure they are
out, don't guess. : If you have ever
lived .through the horror of a rag
ing . forest fire, you will realize
the importance of using extra pre
cautions on all days , and above
class III. ' ii .v.-. .'; v,.-tv-1 ", V: ? :. vt
These men who safeguard our
property and our lives are to be
praised for doing their work,) and
once to) a while, someone remem
bers to give credit where it is
due. " The following letter from
Dallas Herring of the Atlantic Cof
fin and Casket Company speaks
for himself:
Atlantic Coffin and. Casket Co.
, . Rose Hill, N. C.
- April 28. 1932
Mr. Ralph Miller
County Ranger,
Beulaville, N. C. " ' ,
Dear Ralph:
I want to thank you and your en
tire force for the very splendid
work you people did for us recent
ly in checking tne nre near our
timber in Magnolia Township, it
is lust another Instance of the ex
cellent work you have been doing
for a long time ana we want you
to know that we deeply appreciate
it , .:. . .. ,. : iv,
We businessmen have some pret
ty heavy taxes to pay and sometimes
it seems to us that we get very
little in return. However, your
department probably has saved us
many times our total, aa valorem
tax bill. When you mok at u mat
way, our taxes are a Very good in
vestment. V; --:-- .
tnat" iJndesf ' frer"J29f' '
1M Sheriff Is
MasMi Bulletin I
By J. R. Grady
As we go to press word flashes in that Sheriff Ralph
Jones' of Duplin County committed suicide. Coroner
Gurman Powell has been called. We have no verifying
details but reports say he shot himself with a shot gun
at the fish pond of his brother Toby Jones some time
this morning. It was said a note was found. Senator
Rivers Johnson of Warsaw sent a hurried message to
the Times by Vance Gavin to hold out and not print the
story about the sheriff in this issue. The story must
go on. Duplin political corruption must be cleaned
up. All facts should out so that everyone may know.
Clean thinking Duplinites who prefer honest govern
ment in all branches are demanding a clean house. The
infcident of the death of Ralph Jones should not be al
lowed to slow down one bit the investigation but should
spur it on until people in Duplin can lift their heads and
face God 'and the world with a smile. The S.B.I. are
already in j(he county investigating from new angles
Coroner Gurman Powell becomes acting fcffijAiiKTt Odew wprge, chinquap.fi;
? 4 Richard Lee Beaton, Wallace, f.
Education
Pink Hill Suffers $60,000 Fire; Turner
Warehouse, Williamson Home Destroyed
Pink Hill suffered the -worst
fire since the 1920s Wednesday af
ternoon when fire started in the
self-service laundry located one
block north of main street. The
laundry, two story home of Flav
lous Williamson, an uncompleted
home of Jesse Williamson and stor
age warehouse for T. A. Turner
and Company were totally destroy
ed. Two fire trucks from Kinston
and one from Goldsboro responded
to calls and held the fire in this
area. Farm and Home Equipment
Company barely missed being de
stroyed. Reports say the fire started
about 5:15. Neighbors rushed to
Rotations Hear
An inspiring talk on education by
Dallas Herring of Rose Hill and
reporting the district meeting re
cent happenings consumed the ma
jor portion of the Warsaw Rotary
clubs meeting last Thursday. Bill
Sheffield, president presided.
Mr. Herring gave a short talk
of the history of the casket busi
ness including the effects of, his
factory- in Rose Hill before launch
ing into the talk on education.
. Mr. Herring who is chairman of
the Duplin county board of Edu
cation, stressed the value that ac
cure to any community from a per
sonal, social, business and politi
Letters from Our Many Readers
Mr. J. R. Grady, Editor , ? ;;.
The Dunlin Times ' ; . i
Kenansvllle, N. C. - '
Dear Mr. Grady: i
.-, .'; i. ..-..v ii i... . ' ' .' : 's '.A'
It seems from an article in the
News and Observer, of May 1, that
you may have rendered a service
to the people of Duplin County In
bringing to light some of the vio
lations t of tobacco acreage allot
ments. . It Is especially interesting
to note that some PMA officials
have evidently used that office to
promote their own personal inter
ests. ' '
I have a small farm in Duplin,
and realize that I am in the "absen
tee landlord" classification. Never-the-less
I have maintained a home
and helped to support my mother
and aunt in Duplin County for
more than 10 years. They died In
1950 and '01 respectively. During
County
Md The
the scene and succeeded in sav
ing practically all the furniture in
the Williamson home. It was re
ported that Flavious William
son lost considerable radios, sup
plies and electrical equipment.
Many Hems in the Turner ware
house were brought out but a con
siderable amount of Soda, fertiliz
er and farm machinery was des
troyed. All stock and equipment in
the Farm and Home Equipment
Company were moved out. Re
ports placed the total loss at be
tween 50 and 60 thousand dollars.
The Turner Company and William
son reported partial Insurance cov
erage. '
Dallas Herrin i
cal stand point. He accented that
potential industrial establishments
are now looking for desirable plac
es to locate where the people can
readily learn.
Mr. Herring was Introduced by
Paul Potter who is program chair
man and who arranged for his ap
pearance before the group.
Bill Sheffield, President, report
ed that six members from Warsaw
attended the " Lumberton armory
meeting of the 279th district of Ro
tary International. They were Rev.
Jerry Newbold, Lee Brown, Bill
Craven, Dr. J. M. Kornegay and
W. E. Fussel. ; . . . 4 '
this time I have each year spent
more money in Duplin County, than
I have taken out of it I have
found it extremely difficult to get
much consideration no matter how
serious my plea. ' :
I have now had a failure in
health myself, and am going to be
forced to depend largely on this
farm for my own living.. !
I have written the County PMA
Office several times asking when
tbe County committee would meet
without having my letters acknow
ledged, and I have recently writ
ten askina for other information
without receiving a reply. . : . ,
I do not know your subscription
rates, but please use the enclosed
check tq (tart me on your subscrip
tion list
: 6incerely yours,
J -A. B. Alderman.
Elisabeth City, N. C.
anevllla will ' give a graduation
piano recital Thursday, &fay, 15, at
8 pm;, in the Kenansvllle 'Hi'-n
r"(hool Vut!:torinm. I ""s pan' i
' v is a i fl of 1 ' . V. J. Ji l
. 'on f ai-5aw. i;.e public is
i t r. i (."'..-t. T" e
i 1 JLv.I.. . n
fW. PRICE TEN CENTS
Malfeasance In Mice
Others Are implicated
Charges to Solicitor
Press Time
Time Is pressing-. Readers are
anxious for the news so we are
going: to press at once, leaving out
some important stories. They will
appear next week along with de
tails on Sheriff Jones' death.
Duplin Boys
Are Inducted
The following Duplin County
boys were inducted into the army
on May 5: James Owen Powers,
Jr., Wallace; Gurman Lee Lanier,
Beulaville, Route 1; William Dan
iels Carr, Wallace, Route 1; Nath
aniel Murray, Beulaville, Route 1:
Munford Wilklns,. Beulaville. The
following were transfers originally
from Duplin and inducted from
other? places: Joseph Stallings,
Waljace: Robert Craddockv. Faison;
GoQd Life
Dr. Robert B. House, Chancel
lor of the University of North
Carolina, gave the main address
at a meeting of the . Committee
for Education and Improvement in
Duplin County held in the Ken
ansvllle High School cafeteria on
Tuesday night. The committee is
composed of the Duplin County
Board of Education, The Superin
tendent, all principals, P.T.A. presi
dents, local school board mem
bers and the County Commission
ers. Dr. Allen Hurlburt, head
of the Dept. of Education of the
University, and who has worked
closely with the committee under
the Kellogg Foundation, also gave
a short address thanking the mem
bers for their cooperation.
Mitchell Allen, chairman oi the
committee, presided at the meet
ing. E. D. Edgerton, principal of
the Wallace school, and the new
secretary of the committee, in
troduced Chancellor House Be
fore tne address, a dinner was
served by the KenansvilMrLunch
room Committee Under the direc
tion of Mrs. L. Southerland.
Dr. House gave a delightful and
inspiring talk on education and
life. It might well have .been en
titled .Education and the Good
Life. In his Introduction, he men
tioned the history of Duplin Coun
ty, its contribution to education in
North Carolina and the great men
it has given to the State and Nation
in every profession.
The informality of his talk was
enlivened by several harmonica
solos ... an instrument of which
Dr. House is a master.
He used the selections to illus
trate the points of his speech. He
esaid that education can help you
make a living and is equally im
portant in making a life. The be
ginning of education and life is
to find your instrument and learn
to play it. What educates you is
not what you are exposed to but
what takes . . . it's like measles.
It is important to fall in love with
something, to have enthusiasm,
and to follow through. We do not
need new ideas as much as we need
to learn to use those we have. He
emphasized that in our community,
in every community there may be
a red-headed boy who may not fit
the conventional pattern but in
whom genius may be latent, await
ing our understanding and encour
agement for its development We
must believe in children, love them
and encourage them. The power of
love is the greatness in our life.
. ' "You cant start In this life from
where you ain't youVe cot to
start from where you is." Intelli
gence must have a religious and
moral and spiritual basis.- We must
hear church bells along with school
bells to have a good life. We must
preserve reading In the borne, be
gin work in . the environment
Children must learn to love read
ing, must, lie encouraged to form
habits ef reading every day. . ,
Education begins before the
"J"e end nevr rotate, 'we
.td en I i.'i. iite Cect I)
Accusec
The following statement by Charlie Nichol
son, former deputy sheriff
keeper for Treasurer Ralph Jones was made before the
Duplin County Board of Commissioners in session here
Monday, May 5th. Nicholsons statement was taken
down verbatum by Mrs. Lauren Sharpe. After hear
ing Mr. Nicholson the County Board ordered a
transcript of the statement be made and turned
over to District Solicitor Walter Britt. The state
ment in detail is as follows:
A HEARING BEFORE DUPLIN
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF
C. H. NICHOLSON,' MAY 5, 1952
(C. H. Nicholson duly sworn by
R. V. Wells, Clerk Superior Court)
Chairman Wells: When did you
make your first statement?
C. Nicholson: My first state
ment was made on August 4th.
Chairman Wells: What do you
want to do, make a new state
ment?
C. Nicholson: I want to retract
the statement I made on August
lairman Wells: f' notlcV you
never did come back and s lgdihis
statement. ,-''V-.
C. Nicholson: I did not because
the statement. wTnot. true. I
made the statement under pres
sure. : ri
Chairman Wells; I noUced that
you said to the Sheriff, when you
had finished, Sheriff wasn't that!
about right? Had you gone over
it witn Mr. J ones r
C. Nicholson: Yes.
Chairman Wells: It was not
true?
C. Nicholson: No.
Chairman Wells: Tell us about It
in your own words.
C. Nicholson: Gentlemen, I have
asked permission to come before
you at this time to retract the
previous statement I made to you
back in August of last year. I made
that false statement under pres
sure and knowing at that time that
it was untrue. I was not sworn
and I refused to sign the statement
because it was. not the . truth. I
am now ready to make a true, com
plete statement of the shortage
that occurred in the Sheriff's of
fice, while I worked there. Now
I am sworn and will make a com
plete statement. The only way 1
know is to start at the beginning
and go all the way through. 1
made these notes, and I am going
to use them to keep it straight.
I began working for the Sheriff
in January 1947. That was about
a month after he came in office. I
had never met the Sheriff but had
heard he was looking for an office
deputy or clerk. I was working
at Goldsboro for Wayne Agricul
ture Ass'n. 'at that time and de
cided I would like to have an of
fice job. My father and I went to
see Sheriff Jones one night. I
told the Sheriff I had heard about
an opening in his office and was
interested in working there if I
was properly qualified. I told
him I did not have any schooling
or experience in bookkeeping but
would try hard and if he felt I
could do the work I would like tolfollowm8 month after the Petty
try. He assured me that he had
been working in the office some 30
days and knew the general rou
tine of the business and he did not
believe I would have any trouble in
doing the work. I found the work
was not too complicated, there was
quite a bit of posting and copying
figures and making deposits. . The
Sheriff was some help in tbe be
ginning, and at times I would ask
the County Auditor to help with a
problem. Everything went along
fine until (he Spring at 1940, then
on taking a bank reconciliation it
was found that a $950.00 deposit
did not get to the bank. I have for
gotten but the records will show
the exact amount of that deposit.
The Auditor checked and found
it was In the Tax fund and we
agreed that for some reason ft fail
ed to get in the bank In time to
get on the statement, it usually be
ing sometime In the middle of the
month before we take our trial
balance or reconciliation. A soon
as the Auditor completed his trial
balance showing the deposit to be
outstanding, I Immediately sought
to find the deposit Mr. Jones on
occasions would make dno.;lts and
receive tax df-osiis, s- te
would place t jo c ; . t U t!ie
of Duplin County and book
tax receipt book and leave them in
a drawer or table or sometimes he
would lock it in the safe. I thought
this was probably the case this
time and asked if he had made a
$900.00 or $950.00 deposit, that
I had found one to be outstand
ing, at the end of last month. He
said he knew about the deposit and
would put it back in the bank be
fore the end of the month so tbe
record would be cleared up. The
day before the end of the month
I asked him- it he had made the
deposit, aifcf he said he would on
that day but he did not. It was
carried) as an outstanding deposit
again. He had a check for $300.00
at that time in the safe for Petty
Cash and I had orders not to cash
that check unless I had to have it
and then to give him notice that
I had cashed it. He said not to let
the same deposit be outstanding
month after month but to deposit
a deposit for that amount from
money received later.
Chairman Wells: You did take
money from the Tax Fund to cover
up for this.
C. Nicholson: Yes.
Chairman Wells: Did the Sher
iff instruct you to do this?
C. Nicholson: Yes. He told me
dozens of times that he could re
place the money any time. I re
minded him that the Auditor would
become suspicious of this but he
said he was running the Treasur
er's Office and that Faison Mc
Gowen did not have anything to do
with the way he did or made de
posits, just so the money got into
the bank. It was impossible to keep
the Petty Cash box straight. The
money just would not stay in the
box. It would just disappear if
there was cash. Often when we
were getting ready to pay the Jury
I would remind him that his check
was still In the Petty Cash box
ranging anywhere from $300.00 to
$600.00 and he usually kept a check
in the box for $340.00 at all times
and if he was going off he would
write another check and clip them
together. Usually when he re
ceived his salary check, he would
tear up those additional checks
and still leave a check for $340.00
in the cash box. Very often I
would remind him that the money
was out of Petty Cash and that we
did not have any money to pay
the Jury and other bills and he
would tell me to cash some checks
from tax deposits and he said GiN
bert Alphin does this every month
and the deposit could be made the
Cash had been reimbursed by the
Auditor. He told the other depu
ties that this County had been run
by two or three persons long
enough.. Several times he told
this and that he was going to do
away with it. He told us that Fai
son McGowen and Preston Wells
ran the whole works and that we
did not have any Board of Com
missioners. He said the Commis
sioners were against the Sheriffs
Office, all except two and that they
Just sat there and listened to Fal- '
son and Preston and agreed.
. Chairman Wells: Do you know
what date those statements were
made?
C. Nicholson: He made them SO
times or more while I was there
and to outsiders too. He told us
that the : next election would be
fixed so that a majority of the
Commissioners on the Board would
be on his side and would get some .
Commissioners that would get rid
of Faison McGowen and Gilbert
Alphin. - He told mc to watch Mr,.
McGowen when he was in the of-' -flee
for any reason and when he
came In to check; the numbers of :
the bonds in the safe or to
coi'Tr"s, for me to get them ct '
f f and to watch him all t. V
i .dm Ts ( . tt I)