North Carolina Newspapers

SHELBY’S BUILDING PROGRAM IN 1925 TOT ALLED THREE MILLION DOLLARS 1926 WH RELIABLE HOME PAPER Of Shelby And The State’s Fertile Farming Section, Modern Job Department, AT? Covers Cleveland Completely, SHELBY, N. C. FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1626. Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday Aft emoons. By mail, per year (in advance) $2.50 Bv carr.er. nor vear Iin mlvnnerO S'! nit MAKE A CITIZEN OF EVERY VISITOR. SHKl.HVS POPULATION 1925 Census __8,854 Where Industry Joi.is With Climate In A Call For You, . Man Found Has Record That Checks Closely With Charlie Ross Missing For 50 Years Newspapermen Interview “Lost Soup’ And Get Unusual Storv Ol Wandering. Has Charlie Ross, the little four year-old hero of the tragedy of the at last been found ? Maybe so; there is a chance. Down Ln a little hamlet in a p.'r.c g.ove a short auto ride from Shelby lives a gray-haired man who’.believe?, and believes sincerely, that he is Charlie Ross. Realising from early childhood that h" had been stolen, and that the man and woman who claimed him were not hi - parents,, this man has spent more thar. 40 years trying to find out who he is, and where he came from—has tried to rend the veil that was drawn peross his early memory. And the end of that Ion gtrail is the lirm belief that he is the lost lad from Philadelphia. The story, the chain of facts t e man had forged connecting himself up vith Charlie Ross, holds water. 1‘ is convincing. But this may be sai l: whether he is Charlie Ross or not. .luiius Dellinger, that being the !• -t oi e’s name, tells one of the most re markable narratives ever heard, of a restless and ceaseless wandering over the earth, scourged in his early youth hv a brute of a man posing as his father, and later endeavoring cease lessly to solve the riddle of his birth. A representative of The Star vis ited Dellinger at his home Wednesday ivght. He found a man of some fifiy D-’ht years—robust, powerful of frame, but gray haired, and sumumi HL by a wife and family of ten chil dren One touch of the narrative he r- - v<a!ed tells something of the ebarao '"r of this remarkable iridivi lual. Wr.en the World war broke out al though past fifty he enlisted. Am1 he got into the service by dying his ham a coal black. And he marched with the colors by the side of his two sons. Such is the vigor of the man with which this strange narrative has to dial. He sat for two hours in his home ai.d told the story of his life. It is a stranger story than fiction. He told cf a life with a man and a woman— nosing as his parents, the man a brtte, and the woman living in daily itrior of him. Under such conditions ne roamed o'er the South. When he grew to be a young man he would every now arid then beat up his supposed father, who continually refused to tell him who he was. This eternal query, Who am 11 rang in his ears ceasely night and day for years, and led him finally to insert an advertisement in a neus oer asking the question—Who Am I? The answer to that letter from the late Colonel Sharpe, in Statesville, is a fink in the chain of circumstance which he ha. forged, leading him to 1 elieve he is Charlie Ross. A rough outline of the man’s story, as he has pieced his history together is this: The curtain rises on him a* the young (four or five ‘ year old) child of a man named McHale. He does not believe that McHale was his abductor, but he dees believe that those who stole him turned him over to McHale and the woman wno P' sed as MeHale’s wife. The fact is pretty well established that two men Mosher and Douglas stole Charlie Ross. Dellinger believes chat these men turned him over t > McHale, and the woman whom Del I "rer called mother, who was a alar;, Jane Cathcart. i raveling with McHale and the ( alhcart woman, the lad turns up in Gaffney, S. C., at about the same time that news and pictures of the kidnap II hg of Charlie Ross were thrilling die country. According to the story told by J, 1 • Cntfney, of Shelby, who lived in Gatf iicy at that early time, the child st« sely resembled the published pie Ho'es of Charlie Ross that certain People in Gaffney were starting an investigation when the child was sud denly spirited away. Uellinger told The Star representa i ve that he has a hazy recollection ol b brig taken away from a place by a n* Pro. As a matter of fact, according V1 *he details of the case lie has od bvted, he was taken from Gaffnes by a negro, and removed io Belton, Gu. I here he was joined by McHale i nd H e Cathcart woman sonu few days iiuer. 'he story (foes that when the no-, ‘fo who had taken the child away * "'ii Gaffney returned, the citizens Vl |e on the point of lynching him. I v the young child took the nani“ < f 'IcHale, his first name being Coley, end he went under this name until *°n>e two years ago when a circum-j ^imre occurred which changed the t:dc of his life. hiving in Florida, and wo, led ceaselessly hy the unei. to edl Star Scores Beat Ors Charlie Roes So iar :;s any other nowsi h(r in Uu- world wa* concern! d I'hi- Star in .its last msuc scoped a -scoop” on the prooable i'rjr or i hariie Ross .that pro.id to Ik- a patim-wide slot v, Published first in The Star ti:v Story was next mhlished in the Gastonia Gazef. first daily to use i.. Since that time Shei li.v i as been the query centei of numerous newspapers and ore-, associations checking up on one the best human interest stone3 of the year. Hie story was p rotted to the bottom ami started by A. la James of The Star staff, who daring his newspaper career in Philadelphia many times Wrote of te apparently never-ending mystery of the; Philadelphia ;boy's disappearance and was well acquainted with the history i t the case, the story is today being followed up closely by JiUinei-ous reporters and now s paper photographers. Wednesday night Clarence Scruggs, Asheville Times re porter; Bob Bunnell ', new spa rer photographer. and Renn Drum, of the Star staff, visited the man who belie!'es himself i" be Ross and obtained fix.-jo him hi< complete story, Meroggs 1 the son of Rev, ,1. R. Scroggs, former Sht !hy Methodist pas tor and presiding elder of tins district, .Tito in the part-, although not definitely certain that Del linger is the missing Ross, are positive that his story cheeks closely with the Ross incident. They were further convinced that Dellinger was kidnapped and that his life has been an un usual one whether or not he is R • Vi*r •. fie inserted an advertifenvertl in 1 a Xorthern paper, asking the question •■v1,- m am I? and outlining briefly the h'. tciy of his life. Colonel Sharpe, of Statesville, X rth Carolina, answered him and as a result of the correspondence Me-1 1-Tale went to Statesville. There he j learned that ’way back in the seven ties, a child named Julius Dellingei | h.-o been kidnapped from the States-j vill.e section; And the circumstances | soirounding the case were such that; he then believed that he and this lost : child were one and the same. So he took the name of Julius Del- j linger. And has been known as Julius j Dellinger ever since. But he subse-; fluently learned that a youth of that1 name had been buried in Birmingham1 AUburna. years ago at, the age of lit. j So that he abandoned this trail, as j the one that would lead him to the re velation, as to who he was. But he re toi.led the name. Throughout his career it had been i continually1 suggested to him that he might he the lost lad, Charlie Ross But he did not seriously entertain this conception until, in tracing his historv hack bit by bit, he had the postmaster in Gaffney. S. C„ post a notice in the postoffice of that city asking if there uus anyone thereabouts who knew of the residence there of the McHales in the early seventies. That notice put him in communion (1 a with J. F. Gaffney, now a resi dent of Shelby, hut who at that time lived m the South Carolina city. It was Mr. Gaffney who recalled the inculeht of the resemblance between the hoy who suddenly appeared there stranger, and that of Charlie Ross. Dellinger now says there is a pho tograph owned by Mr. Gaffney's sis ter. taken about the time he was in Gaffney, and he is anxious to get hold f it as it would reveal the identity between the hoy he was at that time ii.'d Charlie Ross. According to. Dellinger s statement,I Mary Jane Cal heart, whom he called mother, died of a broken heart, driven, to despiration by Mcllales cruelty,; ;10 years ago. Later McHale. died. He has lived in many parts of the South, moving about restlessly. Most ,,]• his life was spent in. Florida, where he was a nepuiy mu-iui m Jacksonville and a detective. He mar led in Florida. He now lives in Denver, a little vil lage not far from Charlotte, where he j> it carpenter and brick mason. The man may not be Charlie Ross; but there is a gambling- chance he is. But in any event he is a lost soul, and he is sincerely and earnestly seeking t. ,'statdisfi his identic I Stamp Tax Comes Off Of Deeds On Monday, March 29 On amt after Monday March j ‘’Pth, the revenue stamp will not | have to be affixed to needs >f I conveyance, according to Post master J, H, Quinn, who has re ceived notice front the U. S. Treasury Department and so no 'died register of deeds K. L. Weather at the Court House, i Congress has repeated this war ; measure which was inaugurated to raise war revenue. The news w ll be learned with pleasure in Shelby where real estate has be come so active. The revenue tax is taken off of a number of oth er documents, but it concerns custom ports and does not di rectly affect local people. The revenue .stamp, on documents ha been gradually disappearing. It went off of notes about a year ago. Now it comes off ol deeds of conveyance made on and aft er Monday. Deeds dated prior to that time must bear the stamps. Ninth Grad? Place* .More Students on Coveted List Than Any Other Section of High School. The honor roll for the Shelby High school for the past month shows that 41 boys and girls attained te covet ed distinction of the honor listing. Of vhe 44 only nine were bays. The*roll ivy grades follows: Orade 8-1—Margaret Vanstory, Mndie Gillespie. Mae Ellen McBraver. Robert Gidney, Alex Gee, Mary Frances Carpenter, Dorothy King. Grade 9-1—Milan Bridges, Lee Roy Ledford. Billy McKnight, William Webb. Boneta Browning, Selma Bran ton, Kate Bridges, Lucie Bridge Freelove Crawford, Mar.ha Fsk ■l' ge. Eva Hamrick, Minnie King, Sara Richbourg, Lallage Shull, Eth iern Webb. Grade 9-2—Sara Best, Mddred Har ris. Verda Wright. Grade 10-1—Margaret Blanton. Jr c.:e Bridges, Alice James, Hi ion I f ughridge, Maude Rollins, Madge Sperling, Zelta Sipe. Grade 11-1——Jennie Mae Calla han. Ruth Gladden, Kate Grieg, Lela Hoyle, Dorothy McKnight. Charlotte Tedder. Bloomfield Kendall. Grade 11-2—Gene Cleidenin, Ro berta Royster, Myrtle Crawford. Grade 11-3—Attie Mac Eskridge, Steve Woodson. School At Lattimore Closes Next Week Ku-h Padgett to Deliver Sermon and Clyde Hoey Literary Address At School Closing. Lattimore High school will close m\< week, the commencement exer c'ses to be held March 28th to April 2nd. Invitations ahve been issued which show that a pageant will be ren dered in which 600 pupils will take part. Rev. Rush Padgett will de li 'or the annual sermon and Clyde R. iioey the literary address. Pro gram is as follows: Sunday, March 28th. 2:20 P. M, Pennon—Rev. Rush Padgett, Shelby, X. C. Wednesday Evening, March 511st, 8 o'olcck—Class Day Exercises. Thursday Morning, April st, 10:30 o’clock—Readers contest. Thursday P. M. 2:00 o’clock—Dc domation Cointest. Thursday Evening, 8:00 o’clock—>I Pageant by 600 pupils. !• riday Morning, April 2nd, 11:00 o’tlock, Literary address—Hon. C. R. Hoey, Shelby, N. C. Dinner on the ground. Firday P. M. 2:00 o’clock—Graduating Exercises Fridday Evening 8:00 o’clock, Four A"i Play—Out of Court. Marshalls Edgaronian: Wilbur Wilson Chief; F.liijah Brooks, Willie Falls, Asst., Purnette Hunt. Newton: Paul Wilson, Austin, Aus tin Jones, Lillian Cabaniss, Asst. Chief; Madge Wright. Class Roll—— Lillah Maye Crawley, Mildred Belle Cabaniss, Olin C. Crcen, Thelma Lee Horne, Stella Francis Jones, John L. Kennedy Zeuher Ree Lovelace, Lala Estelle Martin, James Spurgeon Rayburn Marion Thomas Champion, Glenn G. Grigg. Janies Nesbit Harris, Julia L. Jones. Mattie Lou Johnson, Mary Elizabeth Lovelace, Maxine Melton, Alien Columbus Melton. Imogeno Wilson, Clara Blooma Wright. At Central Methodist Church. Special decision day services will be held at Central Methodist church at 10 a. m. by the pastor for the primary, junior and intermediate departments of the Sunday school. A r 11 a. m., Rev. F. D. Short, DD., of Ne v York city will puucli. ; Dr. Short Dr ivers Long Vddriss Ap pealing for Less Prejudice and More Religion. ‘j’Udigion in Kasim .s' wa tin- b ject nf an inspiring addte - by !>r. Pram is B. Short of New \ oi k In f< a the Khvanis club on Thu.-day night w hero he was heard by l"1* Kiwun i'its and their guests, including a number of ladies and 'i.>n-mend>ei merchants. Dr, Short made an uopeal for the elimination of prejudice in business, religion and. polities, an I made many straight from the shoul der remarks, taking a juo at hitio bound partisans. It was an address full of humor a.; well a. wholesome business doctrine. Dr. Short declared that lie gave up the min' try when his voice got so weak that lie could not hold out to preach two hours, hut he seemed to have regained his vocal powers arid endurance and although having spoken 80 times since firs, of January, held ou. for an hour and a nonrter. His audience, however, gave him the host of attention and declar ed that his address was one of the most wholesome ever heard here. Dr. Short is being sent over the country by the J. C. Penney company: organ! - 7.i tion to do what good he van in elirn :n?ting prejudice in business and instilling religious principles in mer chandising and manufacturing. Dr. .short declared that when rc • iigipn is practised in business, l ie pi iblenis of the nation will be solved. Men who work want a ympatlndi. relationship with men and capital that furnish employment. It isn’t boy much you get.- but what yen do With i* when you get it and he announced tie new 'business principle that is b* • ire; inaugurated today for a divis .-n of profits with the men who help make wealth. Dr. Short declared that John D. i.ockefeller is the only rich man of tn *: generation who has inherited a fortune which did not m ike a fool >f h'-n because Rockefeller distributes bis profits with his employes and gives them shorter hours if employ ment . Men can't make millions with out the help of others and Dr. Shi rt declared that the men who help make such fortunes should share in the profits because they furnish the phy sical energy and spiritual power. lie put great stress on service for others, pointing to the Salvation army which did more for the soldiers oversea,; than any denomination, having in mind always what it could do for oth ers and not what it would get out of them. He expressed no confidence m a mu mvho amasses a fortune and lots the laborers go empty handed. H’s formula on how to be successful v a -: be industrious, sagacious. work, be thrifty and economise. While takirg a dig at Democrats, he held up Bry an and Wilson as two of the fi\e greatest men America had ever pro duced and closed with an appeal for fair dealing and a more human rela tionship between employer and c-av rploye. Well Known Man Of Fallston Id Dead Mr. Phillip Wrigin, one of the lust men that ever lived in Cleveland county, according to the many friend.; who knew hint, died there Sunday at the age of 72 years. following a stroke of paralysis which confined him to bed for two months. He joined Friendship church in early life a id was a most consecrated Christian. His wife died about a month ago and his sister-in-law Miss Rebec a Wright is seriously ill at his home He is survived by three chilo’rin namely Mrs. Yiney Leonhard, of Lin coln county; Miss Lizzie Wright and Mr. Avery Wright of Fallston. He leaves two brothers, Messrs Noah and Andy Wright, who live in the Hub ton community. Nolan To Stage Big Auction Sale Among the big real estate trad'd g events of the current glad season, is an auction slated to be held April 'ini by the J. B. Nolan company. This is the second auction sale the Nolan company will have put on this year, the first, as has been recorded, having been an unqualified success. The forthcoming event' will be put on by the Carolina Land company, for five Nolans, selling a big tract of land ir. South Shelby. It is the MeEntuc property that is going on the block, a tract some 40 acres in extent. Mr. Nolan stales that there is a road frontage on this property of some 2,000 feet. This frontage wid be sub-divided into building, out the rear of the tract will be devoted to larger acreage, fitted for small farms. Flay at Beams Mill. A play entitled "Deacon Dubbe*' will be presented Friday night April 2. String band music will be furnish■ td. Admi. ion !■ cents. Rev. L. R. Pruett Here Sunday t.< v. Lee R. Pruett, native of Clev-j eland county who was pastor of the ! N.nth Avenue Baptist church in i Charlotte for .*12 years, will fill the pulpit at the First Baptist church, Shelby bn Sunday in the absence of the fiakter, Rev. Zeno Wall who is : e inductir:pr a ten-day revival meeting 1 at Brown Memorial meeting:, tVinstm. j Salem. Rev. Mr. Pruett is held in 1 highest esteem in Cleveland. The people are proud of him for the re markable record he has made in the ministry. He recently rvngned hi.-: charge in Charlotte to take a much needed rest. Today he is regarded as one of the outstanding Baptist min isters of the state and will no doubt be heard here by a large congrega tion of people from the town and county. Grand Jury Clears Up Visit Made To Home Of Tony Porcelli Niult \ i^i(or> V\ ho Warned Tony We:e Not Robed and Acted Only As Citizens. | The matter < f the visit by nignfc to the !.• me i>f Tony iWcelli, ice ; cream vender, wherein it was .said j Tony woe advised to leave town, hnv icon denied up by the Superior court gri nd jury headed by Mr. R. I,. Mauney. . Foliowing the general report of the visit Judge James L. Webb presiding , over Superior court here, ordered an inycsU- at ion of the matter by the ! grand jury. Their report was turned lie Thursday afternoon after a care-' fnl investigation of the entire niat [ ler. ■ i he main fact ' in brief derived f1 -nii the report are: The \ isitors to Toney's home were not klansmea. or did not represent them: elves as such. Tin > w ere not robed or masked. Tony is ;l law-abiding citizen and permits his daughter to read English Rihie although she is Catholic. The daughter was not found to lie ill-treated. Tony frightened at the" visit by night, told the grand jury he could not remember that he was or dered to leave town. The visitors were individual citi zens according to grand jury findings and represented no organizations w batsoe ver. l ocal officer- tendered Tony all protection possible. That the individual who told Tony to join a Christian church (old him that privately on another occasion j from the visit, and that as a state ment by an individual citizen does net constitute a violation of the criminal law. Citizenship and grand jury con demns the unscrupulous act. Every man in the county shall have the privilege to worship God ac cording to the dictates of hi sown con science with none to molest or make him afraid. Complete Report The report by the grand jury fol lows in full as in veil under *he sign a*ure of R. L. Mauney foreman: “We the Grand Jury of Cleveland County, respectfully report that, pur suant to the "dir vt'oin eoTrniiied m Your Honor’s charge, we have made a oiligent and thorough investigation of the alleged visit (f cert tin persons to the home of Tony Porcclli on the n*ght of March 11th, 192->, and that! we have examined, under oath, many witnesses and have sought, and inves tigated all possible sources 01 informa 11 111. VYfc ilad lit, I 111;, i oii-,1 j Jtrt’. an of the Catholic faith, camp to the United States about la’.) and tha'. he renioved to Sht-lby ulfoul four yours afro arid that silt ■ that time he has resided in Shelby with his family which consists of ,;is wif• ard four children, the oldest b."n,t a dau ghter Marie I’oreelii, ,u'ol fifteen ye. i.-. We further find that Poreelli is Dow and has been engage! far sev eral years in the bus>ne- of peddling ie • i ream and other wanes fn i i a wag on ur.d that hi: ha teen a law -abid irg, industrious and pcuC,l'._d citizen. We further find that Marie Poreelli who has completed the 'tilth yade in the public schools of Shelby ami who is qualified for admission to the six th grade but has been prevented dur ing the past year from attending school owing to the necessity of her aiding her mother in earing for the younger children of the family, pur chased an English new testament about a year ago and that she reals the same frequently, without any ob je. tion on the part of her family. We further find that many months ago an unfounded rumor was circu lated to the effeei that Tony Poreelli had stricken his daughter, Mario Poreelli, with a wash tub and that cer tain neighbors acting upon their own initiative and upon that alone* made an investigation for the purpose of laying the matter before the County Welfare Agent, hut that upon this in vestigation the rumor proved base less and nothing was done in con nection therewith. We further find from the testi mony of Toney Poreelli that at or about 11 o’clock P. M. on the night of March 11th, 1926, certain persons to us unknown, dressed in the usual civilian fashion, came to the home of lorry Forcetu in a roru touring car anl, having stopped in front thereof or the street, called for Porcelji sev eral times and that Tony Poreelii, upon the third call, went to the door <>f his house and that one of occu pants of the car got out and went to the edge of Poreelii porch which is situated some twelve or fourteen feet from the street and that an other occupant of the car got out and stood in the street in front of Por ceiii's house. Poreelii was unable to state whether there Were other in this party. The man who went to Porcelli’s porch/ told Prtrcelli that “we, citizens of the town, have, heard and understood that you have burp ed a Bible and have mistreated your children and have made your daugh ter wash on Sunday.” Poreelii tlure H.omums.d on - Ul. CUT GIVES CON SENTENCE OF H I><hm Draws Eight Months in Gang ( amp Hi Id-1 p. Barn Burner (.ets Two Years. I radically all of the criminal doc |kpt "f lh‘* spring term of Superior j'°urt was completed Thursday after ! noon, leaving1 one case to be tried be j for(‘ taking up the civil calendar Fri ] day. Wednesday and a portion of Thurs day was taken up in hearing the evi dence in the charges against L. Cody and Crawford Deane of prison I breach, highway robbery and assault. ! ll"' charges, it will be rememberer I were connected with the freeing of Dillard Dean, Crawford's brother, from the No. 0 convict camp last full. | Both state and defense presented ,-trong cases. Attorney Jack Dillard, j veteran barrister of Murphy, and ; Horace Kennedy represent,ng the dc j fcndants. A verdict of guilty was re | turned by the jury and Judge Webb ! sentenced Cody to 12 months and ! Dean to eight months on the countv i roads. The charge against Grover Ray, | colored, charging him with burning the barn and cotton of Mr. A. M. I aimer, attracted much interest in trial. Evidence disclosed that Ray became angry at Mr. Palmer and a colored man over division of some cotton, lhat night the barn with a leg amount of cotton was burned, i lia-v "as found guilty and given a two year sentence. He is a native of Blacksburg, S. C. Sentences Friday. i Before taking up the civil calendar , Friday morning Judge James L. Wel.'i ; passed sentence on convicted defen 1 duntr of the preceding day. Archie McNeill, who ’nought the wife of a Lexington man here some time back wag given three months on the roads. The woman who was eon vo-ted in recorder’s court, was after a conference with her husband, it is understood, permitted to return to i former hofne with her husband, ; Hn sincerity of the reunited family being responsible for the legal aid to i the act. j In the auto larceny case against | Henry Padgett and Will Gamble, Pad ; Was sentenced to not less than 1 18 months nor more than two years in i state prison. It appearing from i evidence submitted in court by compe tent physicians and others that young Gamble was suffering from tubercular k la tie vs and bladder, an order wivs avrangerl by the court whereby.'he will be sent to the state prison and ihans ferved from that place to the state sanatorium for a year’s treatment tor the tubercular trouble there. In the store-breaking case of up per Cleveland, Tom Justice was given 12 months and Clem Davis six months, while it is likely that Pressley Self "ill be transferred to the hospital de portment of the state prison or to the state sanatorium. Ed. Dixon Announces For County Sheriff Mr. Ed Dixon, of Belwood, and a citizen well known over the county, in this issue announces his candidacy for the office of high sheriff of Cleve 1'ud county subject to the will of the Democratic voters in the primary. Mr. Dixon, son of the well-known t apt. Ed Dixon, Confederate veteran, has been a deputy sheriff of the coun ty for 10 years and court officer in Shelby for the same period. In his service as an officer he has followed the strict line of duty and bears the re cord of being a good officer. He is a prominent farmer and business man in his section and is a high official cf the Junior order and has been con nected with many progressive moves in the Belwood section. He says that he decided to be a can didate nearly two years ago through the request and urging of friends. Of lteent months friends have, continu ously, he says, advanced the idea that he be a candidate for the office and I this week he consented to tiieir advice r.nd publicly announces that if elected he “will serve without fear or favor.” Auction Sale Near Resort Development 'l he Shelby Real Estate Company *s potting on an auction sale extra ordinary April first, a big traet of property on the Cleveland Springs read to be sold by the Cyclone Auc tion company, a Forest City company well known in Shelby. The property to be knocked down n tn highway 20, the big paved thoroughfare, fronting 1225 feet on the boulevard. It is known as the Jim Allen property. Colonel Foster, of the Cyclone forces, will wield the gavel. This will be the second auction sab> this season for the Shelby Real E.'tatt* company, and advanced com ment indicates it will catch the tu« tfc’isJjdMu of the bu- lug public.