COUNTY INDEX
The Only Newspaper Published in and for Gates County
Gatesville, N. O., Wednesday, February 20, 1946
12 Pages This Week
February Court Day
Now Just a Memory
By Bill Davey
Jatesville.*—It was quiet in
vigtesviile Monday—a quiet
whi^h indicated the silent pass
ing of a day that is rich in the
memory of many of Gates coun
ty’s oldsters: February Court
Day.
No one, not even the older set
tlers themselves, seems to know
the origin of February Court
Day, but everyone agrees that its
■death as a county-wide holiday
is not* far away.
It has gone the way of many
of the old customs and the old
times, but the memories of the
day when the whole county went
to town still linger.
February Court Day dates
from the time when slavery was
a common practice in North Car
olina and when seine-fishing in
the Chowan river with huge
hand-pulled nets was a normal
and lucrative trade. It was on
February Court Day that the
owners of the fishing grounds
on the Chowan came to Gates
vilie to an always-ready labor
market: surplus slaves to be hired
for a pittance from masters who
were glad to turn them over to
the fishery owners, freedmen
whose farms had not brought
them and their families a living,
sinewy roisterers who liked
nothing better than adding a
brawny shoulder to those en
gaged in pulling in by hand the
huge nets full of their silvery
catch „
It was a natural magnet, this
/ third Monday in February, which
drew into the county seat the
#'althy landowners, the slaves,
) iisher folk, the swaggering
-vdies, the professional gam
..jlers, the horse traders and the
pickpockets. To the county folk
it was a gay holiday; to the fish
ermen it was a yearly necessity;
to the gambler and the rowdies
it was paradise.
February Court day seems to
be merely a term which has be
gun for what reason no one
seems to know. There is no evi
dence that there was ever court
in session at the time (though a
number of participants are said
to have ended up in court later
because of their actions on that
day), but the name has stuck
through the years.
After slavery was abolished the
practice of using the one day of
the year for labor-hiring con
See COURT DAY, Page 9
Sunbury School
Post Is Taken
By Mrs. Parker
Sunbury—The addition of Mrs.
Shellen L. Parker, who is teach
ing? the sixth grade in the Sun
•bury school, completes the rost
er of teachers in the schools of
■Gates county, it was announced
Monday by W. Henry Overman,
unty superintendent of schools.
i VIrs. Parker fills the vacancy
li in the Sunbury school by
ihe departure of Mrs. Margaret
G. Tyler several months ago. Two
other vacancies which remained
in the county system were filled
shortly after Christmas, tout the
Sunbury position remained open.
Mrs. Parker has taken the
sixth grade job at least until the
end of the present term, Over
man said, but there is a good
possibility that she may remain
permanently. Mrs. Parker, whose
home is in Sunioury, taught dur
ing the 1944-45 school year in
the Gatesville high school.
SAILORS. The Gates county
sailors pictured here qjet re
cently in Tsingtao, China. The
men are Earl E. Pierce, EM
2/c of Sunbury, son of Mr. and
Mrs. H. G/ Pierce, and Ralph
Hoclos of Corapeake, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Ray Hobbs.
Graham Says Men
Badly Needed
For Road Building
Raleigh.—The expanding read
building program in the state is
demanding large numbers of
men for work in the various
highway Construction Depart
ments, Chairman A. H. Graham
of the State Highway and Public
Works Commission said today.
“Right now”, he said, “there
is an urgent need for immediate
employment of levelmen, rod
men and chainmen to work in
highway locating parties. Since
this work can be regarded as em
ployment of a permanent nature,
this seems to me to be a good
opportunity for veterans to get
into a type of civilian employ
ment with a future”, he ob
served.
“If we had them, we could put
a large number of men to work
tomorrow as members of high
way locating parties”, the Chair
man said.
Although some experience is
necessary to qualify as a level
man or rodman, Graham pointed
out that men who have not had
any previous experience in high
way work can qualify as chain
men. Also, it is entirely possible,
he said, that a chainman can be
promoted “through the ranks” to
rodman, levelman or even higher
through the experience gained
under actual working conditions.
Marvin E. Hobbs
Is Commissioned
Gates. — Ensign Marvin E.
Hobbs, USMS, of Gates, recently
graduated from the U. S. Mari
time Service Officers School,
Fort Trumbull, New London,
Connecticut. He has been ship
ping out with the Merchant Ma
rine since April, 1944, and wears
the Atlantic and Pacific War
Zone Bars. His parents live at
the same address. Ensign Hobbs
received his license as a Third
Assistant Engineer in the U. S.
Merchant Marine as well as be
ing commissioned an. Ensign, in
the U. S. Maritime Service.
Short Stay!
Gatesville.—James Lee Ea
son, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hu
bert Eason of Gatesville, was
rushed to the naval hospital
in Portsmouth last Tuesday—
thirty minutes after he had ar
rived home with his navy dis
charge after 32 months of serv
ice.
In the time Eason was in the
navy he spent nineteen months
in the Pacific and was a Fire
Controlman 3/c. During his
time in service he escaped un
scathed only to wind up in a
navy sick bay on the day of his
discharge. ^
The cause—an acute attack
of appendicitis with which he
was stricken a half-hour after
he had arrived home to start
learning how to become a
civilian.
Virginia Power
Company To Cut
Rates This Area
Raleigh.—Utilities Rate Expert
Edgar Womble has announced
that the new rate schedules of
the Virginia Electric and Power
Company will save Northeastern
North Carolina customers about
$100,000 a year.
The new schedules, lowering
the rates on power supplied,
were approved last week by the
State Utilities Commission. The
lowered rates, Which affect home
users, small shops and power for
street lighting, will become ef
fective April 1.
Twelve thousand residential
and three thousand commercial
use V.E.P.Co. power in North
eastern North Carolina. All cus
tomers who use more than 50
kilowatt hours per month will be
affected by the rate slash.
Electric power in the section
is supplied now entirely by V.E.
P.Co., and through the REA lines
in outlying districts.
At present, Womble said, the
rate charged by the Virginia
company for 100 KWH is $4.25,
which will be reduced to $3.95
under the new schedule. The
commercial rate of $5 for 100
KWH will be lowered to $4.75.
Womble estimated that the
Utilities Commission has affected
savings in power rates for the
State amounting to nearly $800,
000 annually. This has been ac
complished, Womble said, since
January, 1945.
IM PROVED IRON LUNG...
Nurse Minnie Malek, Los An
geles, demonstrates new 60
pound lung on “patient” Bar
bara Johanson. The new lung
will replace the heavy iron
lung type now in use for polio
victims which weighs from 600
to 2,500 pounds. The new lung,
known as the Blanchard me
chanical physio-therapist, is
now being successfully used in
several hospitals.
Accidental Death
Verdict Re1 irned
In Brown A % ootins
LT. RUTH K. STALLINGS,
of Hobbsville, receives the con
gratulations of Colonel S. M.
Browne, Commanding Officer
of Lawson General Hospital,
Atlanta, Georgia, upon being
commissioned a Second Lieu
tenant in the Physio-Therapists
Corps. Lt. Stallings’ commis
sion was awarded after nine
months of study and practice in
administering physio-therapy
treatments to wounded battle
veterans.
Farm Drainage
Problems Will
Be Investigated
Gatesville. — A number of
Gates County farms with serious
problems in drainage will be
visited by H. M. Ellis, agricul
tural engineer from N. C. State
College, Jesse Liles, county soil
conservation representative, and
John W. Artz, county agent, Artz
announced Monday.
Artz said Ellis and Liles are
working together in an effort
to find solutions to the drainage
problems of a number of farmers
in the county and that the three
man group will examine as many
farms as possible on Thursday.
A number of people have al
ready notified his office that they
want their farms examined, Artz
said, but that he would be glad
to hear from any others in the
county who wish to have their
particular problems examined.
Hobbsville Girl
Is Club Officer
Mars Hill College.—Miss An
nie Hope Blanchard of Hobbs
ville, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
A. E. Blanchard, was recently
elected chaplain of the Non
pareil Literary Society of Mars
Hill College, where she is a mem
ber of the sophomore class.
Gatesville Masonic
Lodge Meets Thurs.
Gatesville. — The regular
monthly meeting of the Gates
county Masonic Lodge will be
held Thursday evening, - Febru
ary 21, at 7:30 in the Masonic
Hall, it was announced by L. C
Hand.
li 3 'i’le. — A verdict of
‘‘dei y accident” was given
in t S tal shooting last Wed
nesd m orning of Oliver Lin
wooo rsrown, 63.
Acting Coroner J. P. Cross or
Gatesville submitted his verdict
to clerk of court L. C. Hand
shortly after he had been called
to examine the body, which was
found sby Brown’s son on the
back steps of his house before
noon on Wednesday.
Cross said the gun, a single
shot shotgun, was found partly
under Brown’s body, and evi
dence seemed to indicate that
Brown had stumbled on the back
steps and fallen, discharging the
gun as he fell and fatally wound
ing himself in the back of the
head.
• At the time of the shooting
Brown was alone at his home,
his wife having gone to the home
of a neighbor.
Neighbors reported having
heard the report of a gun from
the direction of Brown’s home
approximately thirty minutes
before the body was discovered.
Cross said in his verdict that
there was absolutely no evi
dence of foul play in the case
and that a series of circum
stances precluded any idea of
suicide.
Brown is survived by his wife,
Mrs. F achus Brown, and a son,
R L. Brown, both of Hobbsville;
a daughter, Mrs S. E. Rountree
of Washington, D. C.; two broth
ers, J. W. Brown of Gatesville
and W. A. Brown of Hobbsville;
and two sisters, Mrs. J. W. Hud
gins and Mrs. E. J. Hobbs, both
of Hobbsville.
Funeral services were conduct
ed Friday afternoon from the
Zion Methodist Church by the
Rev. T. A. Collins, pastor, assist
ed by the Rev. R. E. Ferguson
of Hobbsville Baptist Church.
Burial was in the family ceme
tery.
Active pallbearers were James
Hudgins, James Wright, Ernest
Hudgins, Dr. J. W. Brown, C. C.
Brown, Hardie Brown, Marshall
Hobbs, and Emmett, Brown.
Members of the Men’s Bible
Class of Zion Sunday School
served as honorary pallbearers.
Traffic Violators
Fined In Short
Court Session
Gatesville.—Only four traffic
violation cases appeared before
Judge E. S. A. Ellenor’s record
er’s court last Tuesday, in one
of the shortest sessions in several
months.
Grover Edward Ralph, Cora
peake negro, drew the stiffest
sentence of the session, when he
was convicted of charges of reck
less driving and driving without
a driver’s license. Ralph was
fined $25 and court costs.
Tommy J. Boyce of Tyner was
fined $10 and costs on a charge
of driving an automobile equip
ped with improper brakes.
Fines of $10 and court costs
were meted out to Roosevelt
Britt, negro, of Whaleyville, Va.,
on a charge of driving without a
driver’s license, and to Willie
Stallings, negro, of Hobbsville,
who was charged with improper
brakes.