THE JONES COUNTY
NUMBER 51
TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1909
VOLUME XVI
Two - County Investigation Leads to
Indictment of 11 for Roping Three
Teen-aged Kinston Girls Sunday Niaht
Cooperation between the Le
noir and Jones County Sheriff
Departments has led to the in
dictment o111 young men on 13
charges of rape.
The group is charged with
picking up three teen-aged Kins
ton girls at a Tower Hill Road
juke joint with the promise to
take them home, but instead they
allegedly took the trio to the
Caswell section of Jones Coun
ty whore the oldest of the three
girls was r^pea by all 11 of the
men and the two younger girls;
were raped once.
The indicted 11 who are being i
held under Jones County war
rants since the acts of rape were i
all believed to "have been com-:
mitted in Jones County are Cor-1
Us Phillips, Wfflihm Henry Can
non. James Phillips, Mack!
Thompson, John Ervin Jones,;
Sam Phillips, Clover Cobb, Ber
nard Baker, Cleveland Cannon,
Leonard Grant and Ceerge;
Thompson.
, The girls were Jean Moore,
19, who swore she was Taped
by each of the 11, and Wanda
Faye Wiggins, 15, and Sandra
Faye Bright, 14, who said they
were molested Only ofire, and by
one off 'the same 11 who gang
raped Miss Moore.
TWO MAXINES ARRESTED
Jones County Sheriff Brown
Yates repeats booking two Camp
Lejeune Marines at the county
jail during the past week: Doug
las O’Hara, who is charged with
drunken driving, and Haul
Chapman, who is charged with
public drunkenness.
JIM PHILLIPS IN VIETNAM
Specialist Four Jim A. Phil
lips, Jr., whose parents live on
Route 1, Kinston, was assigned
February 28 to the 1st Infantry
Division near Di An, Vietnam, as
a supply specialist
Much Lesser Charge
Last year Bobbie Joe Garner
of Kinston route 5 was indicted
on the capital charge of raping
a deaf mute teen-aged girl from
the same area. Last week in Le
noir County Superior Court he
was put on trial for assault with
intent to commit rape and the
iury found him guilty of an ev
en lesser charge, a misdemean
or, assault on a female, and he
was given a 2-year jail term
suspended on payment of court
costs and five-year probation.
Kinston Student Arrested Tuesday as
Officers Close Cliffs af Neuse Park
Although a lot of trouble
threatened and a lot of accusa
tions filled the air no one was
hurt and only one arrest was
made Tuesday afternoon as of- j
ficers dosed Cliffs of the Neuse
State Park three hoars early to
get rid of an estimated 500
Negroes who were creating gen- .
eral criminal nuisances of them
selves.
The lone arrest was that of
William F. Grice 3r. of Kington,
who was released under 1300
bond after being charged with
obstructing traffic and obstruct-;
ing officers in the performance
of their duty. j
i
Park rangers .tad to afll fori
help fraam the Wayne County!
Sheriff Department and the!
Highway Patrol after ithe 500,'
described mostly as ’high}
school and college students hadj
gotten out of hand with beer ;
and adiidky drinking and fights
among tthemsdlves as weH as in
sulting and aggravating over
tures some eff the group made
to white visitors to the park,
who were foolish enough to stay
around under the circumstance.
Possession or use of any alco
holic beverages in state parks
is strictly forbidden by law.
Park officials said they had
some previous problems with
Negro rowdyism but nothing to
compare with Tuesday’s exhibi
tion.
Five Divorces on
Tuesday in Lenoir
District1 Court
On Tuesday in ILenoir Comity
District Court five divorces were
granted’ on grounds of onejmar
separation.
The divorced were Dr. iftihn
Parrott foam Bet tie Parrott, Ro
ger Lee Carter .Jr. from Wvian
Carter, Horace Powell from Dor-!
othy Powell, Ann Powell from’
Claude Powell .3r. and Nancy;
Jones from William Jones.
Jones Board Asks Half Any Increase
In State Liquor Tax, Gives One Month
Severance Pay to Dan Killingsworth
Armed Robbery
Last Friday afternoon at 5:30
two young colored men stuck
up the Kinston Western Union
office on East Gordon Street
and got away with about $1000
in cash after one stuck a pistol
in the face of Irvin Rogerson
and ordered him to fill a pap
er bag with money. They forc
ed him to go to the rear of the
office, while they fled from the
front. He went out a back door
and ran to get a policeman, but
by the time they returned the
men, naturally, had disappear
ed. It wasn't known whether they
were riding or walking when
they left the office. At about
the same time Friday a sneak
thief got $249 from the cash
register of Pollock - Johnson
Hardware Store on South Queen
Street.
Hospitalizes Wife
Saturday Joseph Patrick of
801 Thompson Street was charg
ed by Kinston police with as
sault with a deadly weapon with
intent to kill after he had frac
tured his wife Henrietta's skull
with an iron grate from a coal
heater, following an argument
in their home. She remained in
a coma until Monday but now
she is given a good chance of a
complete recovery.
GRAY ON VIETNAM DUTY
Fire Control Technician Third
Class Jasper F. Gray, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Gray of
Deep Run, and husband of the
former Sandra K. Moody of 704
N. McLewean 'St., arrived off
the coast of Vietnam aboard the
small amphibious transportship
USS Cook.
Tuesday the Jones County
Board of Commissioners held a
quiet session, but passed on a
number of important matters.
First the board asked that a
bill be introduced in the general
assembly giving the Jones Coun
ty Watershed Improvement Com
mission the authority to pay any
assessments on Jones Countians
whose lands may be assessed
for work done in the Moseley
Creek - Tracy Swamp Watershed
when and if the 25-cent county
wide levy for watershed im
provements is made.
Tax Supervisor and Collector
Julian Waller was authorized to
hold the tax lien sales on the
First Monday of October.
Commissioner W. D. Eubanks
asked the county election board
to give some consideration to re
shaping the voting precincts in
Trenton and Pollocksville Town
ships and the Piney Grove vot
ing precinct.
The board also unanimously
passed a resolution asking that
at least half of any increased tax
on legal whisky be left with the
county in which it is collected.
And the board voted to pay
Former Deputy Sheriff Dan Kill
ingsworth through April 12th.
He was fired on March 12th by
Sheriff Brown Yates.
The board took no action on
the matter of appealing Judge
Walter Cohoon’s ruling in refus
ing to dismiss Sheriff Yates from
office.
Saturday Suicide
Twenty year-old Jerry John
son, son of Mrs. Lillian Ellen
Johnson of 404 Old Asphalt
Road killed himself instantly at
about 6:30 Saturday afternoon
in a bedroom of their home by
placing a 410 gauge to his chest
and pulling the trigger with a
string that had been tied to
the trigger and one of his toes^
No reason was known by his
family and he left no comment
behind for his decision to kill
himself.
KINSTON NEGROES MIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO PUT AT LEAST ONE CANDIDATE ON BOARD
Less Than 25 Per Cent of Eligible '
Voters Cost Ballots on Tuesday as {
Four Candidates Top Vote-Getting
By Jack Rider
Tuesday apparently Kinston
Democrats had not gotten over
the Easter Holidays because
only 2481 out of 10,186 eligible
to vote in the city’s biennial ald
ermanic election bothered to do
so.
Political Newcomers Herbert
Dawson and Eugene James led
the voting by considerable mar
gins, but failed to secure the
numerical majority necessary
tor nomination in, a primary. •
This makes almost inevitable
a second primary on April 22nd
between Dawson and James and
the nest two highest candidates:
incumbent Jim Ward and Re
tired Wholesale Grocer Jesse
Oglesby. •
Dawson collected 1116 votes,
-Tatnow 1074. Ward got 922
Oglesby came in fourth with
894 votes.
The also-rans included Gaik
mi Bailey with 390 votes, Jhpmy
Brooks with 275 and Ronald
Henry who dragged in last with
220 votes. 4
have to lace “lonesome Repub
lican” Cabell Ramsey in the gen
eral election which will be held;
in May.
Inacumbent Maeyor Simon Sit-:
terson Jr. was unopposed by ei
ther party as he sought his sec
ond ful four-year term in ithat
post.. ..
Negroes Loose Opportunity
, Kinston’s 3420 Registered Ne
gro Democrats suffered apathy
almost to the same degree as
White Democrats hr Kinston’s
biennial city ejection Tuesday
and this almost certainly cost
them an opportunity to place at
least one and possibly two Ne
groes on the city council.
' In Kinston there were 10,186
Democrats eligible to vote and.
3,420 of those were Negro. This
left 7,766 White Democrats in
the city.
Of coarse, it is an absolute
impossibility to say exactly how
many of each race did, or did
not vote, but it is
safe to say that the majority of
the 1116 who. voted for Negro
Undertaker Candidate Herbert
•./■A,,
Dawson were Nqgro, although it
is certain that Dawson, a well
! known anil respected young
man, did receive some white
votes among the 1116 he col
lected ini Heading the ticket.
Dawson was closely follow
ed by Negro Clergyman Eugene
James who ran second with 1074
votes.
All in aQ it is safe to say
' that considerably less than ©ne
! third of the Negroes eligible to
, vote did so ©n Tuesday. This
robbed both Dawson and James
eff a numerical majority, nec
essitating a second .primary, if
the white nmnersup decide to
call for one, and this is almost
an absolute certainty.
In the second primary, com
mon sense and the more than
two-to-one edge the 'White Demo
crats have over the Negro Demo
crats make the chances of Daw
son and James mighty slim.
But on Tuesday of this week if
another 200 Negro votes had
gone to the polls both Negro
candidates would have been
nominated and! with only one
Republican candidate to be con
cerned about in the general el
ection, one of the two would
most certainly have been elect
ed to the city council, unless a
successful write-in campaign
could have .been mounted, and
the pathetic attitude of Kinston i
voters, both White ahd Colored,
make such a possibility extreme- i
ly. remote.
Kinston lias only had one Ne
.gro alderman, Mrs. Alice Hanni
ibal, who served one two - year
•term and drew strong white
■-support in1 her bid for a second
term, but who lost when a split
developed in the city’s Negro
woters.
Tuesday’s election did prove
however, that :on a given day
the Negro politicians can move
their people in far greater per
centages than the white politic
ians, since nearly 33 per cent of
the registered Negroes in the
City did vote on Tuesday while
less than 12 per cent of the
white voters did so.
The population of Lenoir
County was estimated by the
State Board of Health for 1967
was 62,033, which included 38,
675 white and 23,358 colored
citizens; or 62.3 per cent white
and 37.7 per cent colored.
The annual report of the board
of health does not break down
the city populations by race, but
it is generally believed that the
white - colored ratio in Kins,
ton is higher than in the coun
ty, with at least a 6040 ratio.
On that basis the ratio of
registered voters is still ex
tremely low for Negroes, de
spite the fact that there are no
;ests for Negro registration now
ind in the past several years
here has been an almost con
itant effort to persuade more i
\
Negroes to register.
Kinston’s population is some
thing in the order of 30,000,
meaning that about one third
of them are registered to vote,
and since at least half, and pos^
sibly more than half of that 30,
000 are under voting age, the
overall registration for the city
is something near 70 per cent of
those who have reached voting
age.
If Kinston’s population is 40
per cent Negro and if half of
that 12,000 are of voting age
only about half of this group is
registered, while if the city has
approximately 18,000 whites
with about 9,000 of voting age
the ratio of whites registered
is far higher with something
approaching 85 per cent of eli
gible whites registered against
half, or less than half of eligi
ble Negroes registered.
So the Negro candidate com
es to bat in a strictly racial
contest completely outgunned!
by better than a 2-to-l ratio of
registration and when two-thirds
3f the eligible Negroes fail to
rote as on Tuesday of this week
the Negro candidate’s chance
Jxuder a primary and general
election system is marginal, so
•bis makes Tuesday’s missed op
portunity even more bitter to
wallow.