NUMBER 21
TRENTON, N. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1969
VOLUME XVD
William Drake Given 30 Yean for
Murder of His Wife; Takes Appeal
Lenoir County jury last Sat
urday afternoon took two hours
and 39 minutes to decide that
William C. Drake of Kinston
route 1 was guilty of second de
gree murder in the brutal slay
ing of his wife early on the
morning of November 1, 1968,
at their trailer home just north
of Kinston.
The trial of Drake had tak
en the entire week of court,
having begun the selection of
the jury on Tuesday morning af
ter the Labor Day Holiday.
Judge Joseph Parifer of Wind
sor jgave Drake the maximum
prison term of 30 years and a
short while after sentence was
imposed! Drake gave notice of
appeal.
Testimony offered during the
five-day trial indicated that the
26-year-old Patricia Huggins
Drake had suffered a beating
over the head with a twice brok
en oak hoe handle that had
left her skull “soft and pulpy”
and had also suffered three .38
caliber pistol wounds in the
chest area.
Testimony was uncontradict
ed that the bullets came from a
gun belonging to Drake.
Judge Parker refused to per
mit the four year-old son of the
couple to testify in court after
talking with the child in a clos
ed session away from the jury
hut after the trial Judge Park
er was quoted as saying the
child had said, “Daddy was
chasing Mama with a baseball
bat.”
Drake did not take the wit
ness stand, and no evidence was
offered to discount the web of
circumstantial evidence present
ed against him.
The prosecution headed by
Solicitor Walter Britt pushed
hard for a first degree convic
tion, without mercy, and defense
counsel based their plea for an
acquittal on the premise that
the state’s case was weak and
did not “unerringly point” to
the conclusion of their client’s
guilt.
The jury had five verdicts it
could have rendered: 1. Guilty
of first degree murder. 2. Guil
ty of first degree murder with
a recommendation for mercy. 3.
Guilty of second degree murder
4. Guilty of manslaughter and 5.
Not Guilty.
Drake had been free under
$25,000 bond signed by an uncle
and aunt from Madison and af
ter notice of his appeal was filed
he wa|s permitted to remain
free under the same bond until
appellate courts have spoken in
the case.
Child Badly Hurt
At 2 Sunday afternoon seven
year old Becky Pippin, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Pippin
of Kinston route 2 swerved her
bicycle into the path of a car
driven by Bobby Merritt of the
same neighborhood just off
Highway 258 in the Crestview
Community. The little girl suf
fered serious head injuries but
is expected to recover barring
unexpected complications. The
accident was classed as unavoid
able insofar as Merritt was con
cerned.
Airman Huffman is
Helping in Relief
Of Gulf coast Area
Airman First Class William G.
Huffman Jr., of Route 1, Mays
viile, is among the thousands of
personnel from Keesler AFB,
Miss., who have joined the mas
sive effort to help nearby com
munities recover from the dev
astation of Hurricane Camille.
Airman Huffman and others
from the Air Training Command
base located at Biloxi are aid
ing Civil Defense teams and city
crews in the distribution of food
clearing debris, and directing
traffic.
The airman, a graduate of
White Oak High School, attend
ed East Carolina University. I
Camp Lejeune Marines Charged With
Kidnapping and Raping New Bern
Girl in Belgrade - Maysville Area
Drunken Driving is
Major Part of Law
Problem Last Week
•Jones County officers reported
six arrests in the past week and
five of the six were on charges
of dTunken driving.
Donald Ray Coombs of Kins
ton, Albert Amos Mitchell of
Trenton route 2, Adolph Hill of
Kinston route 3, Sgt. Lloyd W.
Drew of Hope, Arkansas and
Ernest Odell Thomas of New
Bern route 3 were the quintet
accused of drunken driving.
The other arrest was that of
Carlton Lee Wood of Jackson
ville, who was picked1 up on a
capias for failure to appear in
court on a traffic charge.
Three Civil Actions
Filed in Jones Court
Jones County Clerk of Court
Fred Rogers Pollock reports the
filling of three civil suits in his
office during the past week, a
divorce, a suit for debt and a
suit for personal injuries.
Roy Lee Kellum filed' suit
against Hardy Collins for $2500
damages, alleging he suffered
injuries as result of being shot
by Collins.
Congress Financial Company is
seeking to collect $6,744.77 from
George Mateja as the balance
due on equipment sold' to him.
Edith Earle Dove Clark asks
a divorce from Andrew James
Clark on separation grounds.
Wednesday night 20 year-old
Sharon Canady of New Bern,
who is employed by the Carolina
Telephone Company of Jackson
ville, was kidnapped and raped
in the Belgrade-Maysville area.
Cpl. John R. Dozier and Pvt.
James Melvin High of Camp Le
jeune have been charged with,
the acts.
Miss Canady had left Jack
sonville to visit a friend in
Maysville and was nearly to
Maysville when her car was
forced of fthe road by two men,
who forced her out of her car,
took her northwardly on US IT
to the vicinity of the Jones-Cra
ven county line where they took
turns raping her.
After this Miss Canady was
forced into the trunk of their
car and finally abandoned about
five miles from New Bern
where she went to a farm home,
called authorities and was taken
to Craven County Hospital for
treatment of injuries and shock.
LAND TRANSFERS
Jones County Register of Deeds
Bill Parker reports recording
the following land transfers in
his office during the past week:
From L. A. Smith to Max E.
Jenkins one lot in Maysville.
From E. E. Bell to Clara M.
Kennedy and Eloise Lee one lot
in White Oak Township.
From Etta B. Warren to New
Bern Oil and Fertilizer Compa
ny 1.4 acres in Trenton Town
ship.
From Dinah Burton to George
Burton and Annie Burton .73
acres in White Oak Township.
Politics: The Greatest American Game; Played by More People for The Highest Stakes
By Jack Rider
Those who scan the sports
pages frequently are exposed to
some idle sports writer’s latest
guess about the most popular
American Sport. If he’s a golf
ing editor he can drum out
reams of copy to support the
premise that beating that little
white hall around a pasture is
far and away the nation’s No.
1 sport.
If he’s the kind of fellow who
loves the smell of salt water,
the smoke of a campfire and the
whistle of a flyrod laying a top
water lure in the mouth of a
hungry mountain trout he can,
and will, offer gilt-edged evi
dence that more people spend
more hours and more money
tempting the finny denizens of
the watering holes than on all
other sports.
And so it goes, and it de
pends upon which kind of sports
writer is doing the poll taking
which game comes up as King
of Sports.
But when calmer reflection is
prevailing any casual glance at
the track record has to conclude
that the greatest of all Ameri
can sports — indoor or out — is
politics.
From the precinct to the rai
fied air of 1000 Pennsylvania
Avenue, where the ultimate po
litical dreams come true poli
tics is played by more people
and for higher stakes than all
other games in the sports vocab
ulary.
And in politics, as in all oth
ers games, there are amateurs
and professionals, and election
time is the time of the true “na
tional open” when the “Simon
Pures” and the “Old Pros” play
f, this game, as they say in mar
bles: For Keeps.
For drama, double-dealing,
complete ecstasy, or total col
no game him so much to
wmmmts the Game of Politics.
"jfebuXAbAu&tii.
It was not a poet who said
that all is fair in love, war, and
politics. It is most likely that
it was a loser at the game of
public affairs.
Carolina’s Great Athlete and
Coach Jim Tatum made famous
the phrase: “Winning’s not ev
erything. It’s the only thing!”
And although Big Jim was talk
ing about a gentle little bruising
exercise called football it is ten
times over true in the gut-fight
ing political arena.
Politics is a game played with
few rules, and the few rules it
is said to have are more hon
ored in the breech than in ob
servance.
There are noble phrases such
as “stand hitched,” but the Poli
tical Hall of Fame has enshrin
ed many a political buck passer
who has switched horses and1 ev
en in midstream, which is not
considered good form in most
endeavors.
What separates the Tories
from the Whigs is that in-be
tween time effort to “Pick The
Winner.”
The most noble principles
have little real value when they
wind up as the total property of
the loser and the most vicious
principles can be enforced for
a season if they belong to the
victor.
“There is no substitute for be
ing on the winning side!”
With a lump in one’s throat
and vision demned by unshed
tears one can tiy to jokingly
see humor in “Wait ’til next
year!” but this is a hollow
sound and is seldom used now
by any except the freshest
rookies, in this great national
sport.
One lesson the young in heart
have to learn, and often the hard
way is that it is neither good
form, nor good politics to go
too far in any campaign. Being
ugly in victory to the losers or
ibitter in defeat to the winners
overlooks the fact that in poli
tics more than in any other game
fields an entirely new team and
those one tried hardest to beat
an election ago frequently be
come the strongest member of
the home team this year.
So, the most basic requisite
of the professional politician is
a sense of humor. A real, and
not a fancied sense of humor.
The ability to really laugh at
one’s own absurdities and the
.ability to throw off a little
spark of wit even when the
heart is split asunder and one
would feel far better bawling
than ballyhooing.
And politics has far more to
offer in the field of comedy
than all other sports. The
Brooklyn Dodges became fam
ous for winding up with three
men trying to occupy one base
at the same time, and rookies
who stole first base, and out
fielders who threw behind the
runners.
In every sport there are times
of high good humor, but in poli
tics that are worth their salt
there is a laugh in every line.
And one of the funniest gags
in politics always has been the
I ward1 heeler. Precinct pusher
vote hauler. These characters
would make Charlie Chaplin
seem like a Russian undertaker.
These types are not funny in
themselves. It is their act that
is so hilarious. They ire as in
tently serious as any money
grubber can be, and naturally
so, for that is their talent: Tak
ing large amounts of money off
the amateurs who collect around
the polling places each election
time.
My first introduction to this
parasite on the bottom of the i
body politic was at a very tend- i
er< age and the man was “su
perintendent of the winding
room” in one of Kinston’s old, i
now gone and.1 nearly forgotten
cotton mills.
He was an ex-cotton picker who
had risen to industrial emin
ence by presiding over a huge
high-ceiling room where women
tended to the whirring bobbins
on which thread was being spun.
Women had just gotten the
right to vote and like Negroes
of today who have suddenly got
ten their names on the voting
registration books they were not
supposed to have a mind of
their own, and it was a matter
of dogma that every mother’s
daughter among them would
march to the polls on any giv
en election day and vote just
exactly like their superintendent
told them to vote.
For this recommendation the
winding room superintendent
back in those uninflated days
would pick up as much as $50
from a candidate who had to
have that winding room vote.
Generally in a field of 10
candidates this entrepreneur
would collect from eight and in
good seasons he was known to
pick all 10. And having collect
ed he’d them attempt to tell his
female underlings to vote for
the candidates he personally
preferred, which were generally
those who had given him the
biggest honorarium for his ser
vices.
And on election day what did
those ignorant females do? They
Voted against everybody their
boss had recommended! Not out
of any high principle but just
because they didn’t want that
Lord of the Winding Room tell
ing them what to do!
And the scenario has not been
changed greatly. There are just
different players reading the
same lines, and with the same
success.
Currently, the most successful
of these local election entre
preneurs is a young Negro bouse
, ilS
wife, who has found this work
more rewarding than her form
er employment in a shirt fac
tory.
Of course, she works a great
deal harder now than she did
in the shirt factory, -because the
hours are endless and the prob
lems more fierce but the pay is
much higher.
In last year’s election it is con
servatively estimated that her
take was in the order of $10,000,
by the time all of the candidates’
for all of the many offices had
gotten around to crossing her
palm with some of Lyndon’s sil
verless printing press money.
Her fee is standard: All she
can get. She has tapped some
anxious poor souls out for more
than $2500 for a single outing,
but her going-in-rock-bottom
minimum is about 500 for even
such minor minors as county
commissioners and city aider
men.
She has a working knowledge
of the salary scale for all job
aspirants and, whereas the filing
fee for public offices is a reas
onable one iper cent of the an
nual salary, this hardworking
young woman has been known
to collect a whole year’s salary
from candidates who felt that
her services were utterly indis
pensable to their cause.
All of this, of course, is not
purely a local phenomenon:
wherever the polls are opened in
these United States there are pa
triots who are ready, willing and
even anxious to take the money
of other patriots who have vol
unteered their services to the
constituency.
And when she rolls out “her
vote” it’s about like those fresh
ly emancipated female souls in
the old winding room of the
Kinston Cotton Mill; they vote
like I hope you vote everytime
you go to Hie polls: Just like
you damned well please.