North Carolina Newspapers

r~-——* SHELBY Was Carolina’s Fastest Grow ing Town 1020-1925 By U. S Census. NORTH CAROLINA’S LEADING NEWSPAPER OUTSIDE OF THE DAILY FIELD Irbeland taf THE STAR Is The Leading Paper of Shelby and The State’s Fertile Farm Section. VOL. XXXIV, No. 86 THE CLEVELAND STAR, SHELBY, N. C. MONDAY, JULY 19, 1926. Published Monday. Wednesday and Friday Afternoons 5y mail: per year (i" *d\*nce)\l2™ J J " W By carrier, per year (in advance) f3.00 New Claimant To Big Hopkins Fortune Bobs Up In Shelby Mrs. Long of Bostic, Great Grand Niece of Man Leaving Three Hunder Million She Says Shelby over the past week enter tained a woman who may inherit a share of the three hundred million dollar fortune left by Mark Hopkins at Sacramento, California. Or, at least, so goes the story of the woman. Although there are already 125 claimants in this state to the big fortune left by the former Carolinian, Mrs. Frances Louise Stallings Long, wife of S. W. Long, of Bostic, Route 1, Rutherford county, lats week engag e'd O. Max Gardner and Chas . A. Burrus, Shelby attorneys, to forward her claims as a great grand niece of the late wealthy Californian. The story of Mark Hopkins and the fortune he left is one of the intrigu ing romances of the state; a story of gold rush days, of pioneer railroad building, and then the age-old story of death and a vast fortune left to no one in particular. The W oman s Story In Randolph county years ago, ac cording to Mrs. Long’s story at it checks with the history of the Hop kins family, there lived three broth ers, Mark, Moses and John Hopkins. In the gold rush days Mark and Moses left for California by wagon, That was the beginning of Mark Hop kins $300,000,000 fortune. The Bostic woman, who claims to be a great grand niece, traces her lineage thusly: John Hopkins, broth er of Mark, had a daughter named Prudence, who married John Teeter and lived in Stanley county. The Teeters had a daughter named Nancy Elizabeth, who married Matthew Stallings and lived in Cabarrus county. The Stallings daughter was Frances Louise Stallings, the claim ant, who married Samuel Walter Long, and now lives near Bostic in Rutherford. Mrs. Long informed her counsel that she had other relatives in Stan ley county and intended to get them to unite with her in her claims to a portion of the estate. These claims will augment those al ready made by 128 others in this state and Virginia, which was the original home of Mark and John Hopkins father. According to a news story bv M. R. Dunnagan, of Durham, the claims of all those in this state may be re cognized. The Durham story giciing complete details of the tangle about the fortune follows: The bulk of the accumulated estate left by the late Mark Hopkins, native of North Carolina, California gold miner, hardware merchant and rail road magnate, very conservatively estimated at $300,000,000, will come to North Carolina and be divided among more than 125 claimants, if the petition to have the original dis tribution set aside and a new one made is maintained, according to Judge J. H. Longden, of Sacra mento, Cal. Judge Longden and his wife, Dr. H. L. Longden, have been in this state for about a month working on the lists of claimants, making Durham their headquarters and going out into the several counties of the state m which the claimants are located. The bulk of the claimants are »n Randolph county, with large numbers in Guildford, Person, Durham and Orange counties, with scattering numbers in other counties of the state, and probably 30 or 40 scatter ed in other states, including Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington and California, it is stated. List of Attorneys North Carolina attorneys, mcium-s Nathan Lunsford, Roxboro, represent ing the Rhew claimants, largely in Person county; Lieut. Gov. J. Elmer Long, representing Chambers claim* nnts, largely in Durham, Person and Orange counties; Palmer and Black welder, Concord, representing the Smith claimants, in Randolph, Gu.l ford and Montgomery counties, and Victor S. Bryant, Durham, assistant to Judge Longden, have been holding conferences recently and will continue until they come to the point of tak ing definite court action, which is ex pected within the next few days. Court action in this state is ex pected to include the filing of a peti tion in U. S. court in Greensboro foi permission for a hearing in which the claimants would attempt to establish I heir right to participation in the Hopkins estate. Judge E. Yates Webb would hear the evidence and certify the names of those who, in the opin ion of the court, established their re lationship. This decree would be filed as an amendment to the petition which Judge Longden filed In the superior court in San Francisco last year tor a hearing to set aside the first dis tribution of the estate. The defendants in the action, of whom there are said (Continued on page seven.) Good Mileage —XKA, CU'VelanutJureau Mis, William Me;, er (above) o( Cincinnati. O., recently wore a ped (meter djrins her roundr of her ' household duties. She attached it to her apron pocket at 6:31 a, m. and at 6 p. m. she found that it regis tered seven miles. All of her walk* ing had been confined to her fiv* room apartment. Judge Webb To Hold Superior Court Here Shelby Jurist By Exchange Will Pre side At Court Term Hero And Also Lincoln Judge Janes L. Webb, Shelby jur ist. will preside at the term of sup erior court which convenes here Mon day, July 26, it has been definitely announced. Judge Webb will also preside at the term of superior court this week in Linoolnton instead of the jurist pre viously announced. Sometime back it was stated here that Judge H. P. Lane would preside at the local court. Later it was thought that Judge John H. Harwood, who succeeds Judge Bryson, resigned, would preside, but it ;s learned that Judge Harwood will not preside at either the Cleveland or Lincoln court. Judge Calvert will preside at Lex ington and Judge Webb here and at Lincoln by the exchange. Large Crowd Attends Funeral Of Eskridge A large crowd attended the funeral of Mr. George Eskridge who was bu ried Sunday at 11 o’clock at Zion Baptist church, six miles north ol Shelby, the funeral service being conducted by Rev. D. Frank Putnam. Mr. Eskridge was an engineer on the F,. J. and E. railroad at the time of his death and served in the world wai overseas in the capacity of engineer, lie had been away from Cleveland, his native county, for 25 years, and had made a wonderful success. Two years ago he was here on a visit to relatives. According to Mr. Grovel Eskridge a brother and Mr. Ab Pos. ton, a brother-in-law, who went to Gary, Indiana for his remains, deceas ed died suddenly from hemorrhage of the brain. .He had not been sick and was seen on Saturday and Sunday morning before his death last Sun day night by friends. O. H. Gantt, secretary and treasurer of the train men’s lodge of which ho was a mem ber at Gary, accompanied the remains to Shelby Friday, the remains being kept at the home of his sister, Mrs. Ab Poston until the funeral at Zion on Sunday. He was the son of the late Marion Eskridge of the Double Shoals community. Stick Of Stovewood Proves To Be Snake Hot weather—a snake story. It conies to The Star by way of “Doc” Suttle, who tells it from the vantage point of a benrh on the court square. Ii is vouched tor. The story is this: That last week Mrs. Lee Whisnant, who lives on R-2, was building a fire in the range to cook dinner. She was using wood, which is largely the fuel of the coun tryside. Mrs. Whisnant stood by the stove and picked up the wood and placed it in the stove—piece by piece. She pick ed up a piece, lying like the rest in the box, and it wiggled. The piece of wood seemed to come to life. She dropped it, as a woman would be ex pected to do under the circumstances and screamed, which seems also to be a perfectly natural reaction. The piece of wood was a large . ize pilot snake. _ _ YOIMIG COUNTY GiL DIES III n CRUSH Lillian Beatty. 15-Ycar-Old DauKlitn «Jf James Beatty, Mecis Death in Lincolntun Wreck. I Lincolnton, July 18.—Miss Lillian Beatty, 15-year-old daughter of James Beatty, of near Cherryvilie, in Cleve land county, was,instantly killed in an I i l automobile wreck on East Main street in this city Saturday night at 11:20, and her companions in a Font tout ing car, Lewis Johnson, telephone em ploye of Gastonia, and Miss Brunie Larmon, of this city, were both in jured and wore carried to the local! hospital for treatment for minor in 1 juries. The accident occurred when the car driven by Johnson attempted to pass the Ford touring occupied bj Rush Foster and Roscoe Smith, negro farmers of the county. Both cars were travelling west along the highway when they side swiped. The death car, following the collision, turned over several times, spilling the driver and his cbmpanious out, and landed 80 yards from the point of collision in a badly smashed condition. The negro men escaped injury. Their car driven by Foster, was reversed in the road and broken up.. The negro men left the scene fol lowing the fatal accident, but return ed this morning, and they, with John son, are being held for a hearing bv the sheriff. Coroner Warlick had the body of Miss Beatty removed to an undertak ing establishment, thence to the homo of the parents at Cherryville, where the funeral will be conducted Monday morning at 11 o’clock from Bethtl church in Cleveland county. Company K Returns From Morehead Camp Lucal Unit of Militia Returns from Annual Encampment at More head City. Fine Record. Company K, Cleveland county nidi*., tia unit, returned Sunday afternoon from Camp Glenn, Morehead City, where they have been ont their annual summer encampment. The return was by way of the Seaboard on a special car. The local company, made up of 65 men and the commissioned officers, made a good showing in the regi mental maneouvres. Second Lieut. H. C. Long was the winner of the regi mental prize for marknianship. All members of the company, from the officers down, returned in a good state of health and in ideal physical condition following their regular train ing period on the coast. Corner Stone Laying And Picnic At Belwood There will be a corner stone laying and Junior Order picnic combined at the new Belwood consolidated school building in the afternoon of July 24th from two p. m. to six p. m. Hon. L. S. Spurling of Lenoir will make an ad dress on the principals of the Junior! order. Short talks by Professor Hodges of Boone, N. C., Prof. C. A. Ledford of Lawndale, and probably others. Hon. J. C. Newton, of the Shelby chamber of commerce will speak on “Education and Consolidation of Ru ral Schools.” Mr. J. H. Brackett will have charge of the corner stone work. The public is invited and especially we want all patrons of the new district present and don’t forget to bring well-filled baskets. At six o'clock a picnic dinner will be served. Free lemonade will be furnished by the Junior order. J. P. Boggs, E. W. Dixon, R. T. Peeler, H. D. Hoyle, Committee. Roberts On Important Virginia Commission Rufus Roberts, son of Mrs. Eliza Roberts of Shelby and editor of the Virginia Star at Culpeper, Va., has been appointed by Governor Byrd of Virginia as a member of the state commission on conservation and de velopment. This is a distinct honor coming to Mr. Roberts who holds a high position in the state of Virginia where he has been editing a news paper for a number of years. His many Sltblby friends rejoice over the high honor that has come to him. The com mission on which he has been appoint ed is composed of six other promin ent men of the Old Dominion. They will have complete authority over the conservation and development work in Virginia. It will take over the for estry work, the geological survey, the water power development, the busi nes of acquiring the Shenanhoah Na tional park area and the expenditure of the $50,000 annual state advertis ing fund. Started World-Wide Union Thirty.five year* aw Marshall A. Hudson started the Haraca-Philathea Jniun with a class of a dozen young men Now the organization encircle* the globe! with more than l.UO'U'OO members This picture of Mr. and Mr*. Hudson was taken recently tn Cincinnati at a convention ol the order. . — J-!!-- .M'W. I. < ——■■■ ■!.'»-1'— Youth In Tryon Mystery Dead-Confesses Slaying Confession of Sonner on Way to Hos pital, is Said. First Thought Lasting Secret. Asheville, July 17.—A posthumous confession by Q. C. Sonner. jr., that he killed pretty Jean Braswell in a fit of jealous madness and then shot himself was revealed late tonight h> Sheriff Robert F. MacFarlane, of Polk county.. “I killed Jean and then shot my self, but for God’s sake don’t tell anyone,” Conner is said to have gasp ed out to Moses Bradley, who discov ered him with two ballet wounds in his breast the night af July 7 just after the shooting occurred at a lone ly spot on inaccessible Green River Cove road. Bradley promised to hold the con fession in confidence until after Son ner died. Early Saturday morning the Sonn-'r boy succumbed to a pneumonia compli cation that had set in after he was ap parently going to recover. Officials believed his death had sealed ihe mys tery of the dual tragedy until Brad ley’s statement tonight. The confes sion, however, did not come entirely as a surprise, Sheriff MacFarlane su’d as charges of murder were to have been filed against Sonner had he -e covered. Was Screaming. It was only a few minutes after he heard the shots and screams that ac companied the shooting, Bradley toil’. Sheriff MacFarlane, that he and his brother found Sonner staggerlp-» down the road mortally wounded. He was screaming out that he and Jean were shot. The girl, the boy told Bradley, was dead. On the way to the ear in which Bradley and his brother took Son ner to the Tryon hospital the boy gasp ed out the story of the killing. Throughout his three-weeks court ship of Miss Braswell. Sonner told the Bradlevs, he had been intensely jeal ous of*her. She refused to give up her friends as he demanded and only the day before the shooting she had acted particularly cool toward Sonner A lovers’ quarrel, over a date she ha;i given anothei Saluda youth the day of the shooting precipitated the trag edy. Tryon, July 17.—Q. €. Sonner, Jr., companion of Miss Jean Braswell. Tryon society girl, on the night of Julv 7, when she was shot to death, died here today of pneumonia, which developed while he was being treated for gunshot wounds inflicted at the same time Miss Braswell was fatally injured. Young Sonner succumbed at 3 o’clpck this mornng from an attack of pneumonia. The boy had been improving stead ily and it was hoped by physicians he would recover from the two bullet wounds he received above and'below the heart. Then, three days ago, the pneumonia complication developed and within twenty-four hours the doc tors feared all hope for his recovery was gone. He was unconscious all day yesterday. Before lapsing into the coma the youth indicated no desire to make any statement concerning the week-old tragedy, physicians said. No Statement Thus the dead boy’s original state ment that his pretty young compan ion and himself were shot by another boy named “Jimmie” who escaped, stands as the only solution to the tragedy on record. The theory of Sheriff McFarlane that Sonner shot (Continued on page seven.) Boys Pinned Under Wreck For Hours A report of an automobile wreck that came near proving fatal comes In from Kings Mountain. Late Saturday night a Ford tour ing car, occupied by three Kings Mountain young men, turned turtle at a culvert near the mountain cut on the York road about three miles south ot Kings Mountain and the three occu pants in addition to being painfully injured were pinned under the wreck age of the car in the water fselwMa The boys in the car were John Mc Daniels, Ab Parish and a Laughridge youth, it is said. McDaniels suffered a broken arm and broken ribs, while Parish had sev eral fractured ribs and a punctureo arm, and Laughridge received several painful injuries. Parish and Laughridge were pin ned under the wreckage in the stream of water from 12 at night until 4:30 Monday morning, it is said. The broken spokes of the steering wheel pinned Parish’s arm to the bed of the stream and he was unable to move and suffering excruciating pain. McDaniel freed himself with a broken arm, but was unable to extricate his companions, having lo seek aid else where. Had the wrecked car stopped tttc flow of water through the stream it is thought likely that the boys under the car would have drowned. The youths after being extricated were removed to Kings Mountain where they were treated by physi cians. The car it is said overturned after missing the culvert. Ben Abernethy Has Winning Art Work Most folks in Shelby know B. E. Abernethy. He is a local boy, son of Mr. Tom Abernethy, of West Marion street, and a brother of Paul G. Abernethy, who reposes his angular frame daily here at the Star office. Ben, about twenty-three, now lives in Bastnoia — but, with his brother, learned the ways of work and optimism, at the feet so to speak, of Mr. Hoey, in this establishment. Ben works in a foundry in the Gas ton town. But that is not the story~ only a part of it—a background ts give color to an achievement. The fact is this—thac this boy is an artist, with all the burning ambition and rest less spirit of the members of that cult. And while he works in a foundry by day, by night he works with h!v pen in his room, drawing and painting pictures—doing his level best to put over the big task of crawling out of his present job to the heights he dreams about. This story has to tell of a big jump toward success. In this week’s “Judge' one of the standard humorous weeklies of the country, Abernethy has a ptCv ture—which drew a prise. The work reveals the high-qualities of the ar tist’s mind, humor, wit and under standing. The notice of Ben’s success, comes to Shelby through Mrs. Mary E. Yar brough, county treasurer, who knows young Abernethy and who has helped him with sympathy, advice And friendship. Mrs. Yarbrough was immensely gratified to see the picture in “Judge" as justifying her belief in her youtfi ful protegee. She says she believes “Ben” has it in him to climb high in this big field of imaginative work. Crop Acreage And Yields In Cleveland Last Yeat Fully Developed Boll Of Cotton Shown Here To Dave Turner, colored tenant farmer on Max Gardner's Mor peracre farm, goes another honor of the crop year. In the latter part of June Dave brought in the section's first cotton bloom, and last week he exhibited the first ~ fully developed boll. The boll exhibited came from n bloom later than the one he brought in on June 2£t, Dave says. The boll was fully develop ed and no depredation of the re ported "leaf hopper’’ or boll weevil could be detected. How ever, the cotton in the boll was still damp and it would not likely have completely opened for some time. As Is natural Dave is proud of his er.-ly cotton and the cotton raising tactics he brought with him from Ridgeway, S. C. PUN OFSTI6ING BEM HEBE Shelby Riding Club Sponsor* Move To Pul On Big Home Show In Shelby Daring Summer A big horse show, planned to at tract hundreds, may be staged in Shelby during the late summer. Such is the report that comes from » recent meeting of the Shelby Rid ing club. An event of the typo, other han the annual fair horse show, has been talked for some time, but with out any organisation definitely be hind the move. Now that the organ ized horsemen and horsewomen of the town are behind the movement suc cess appears likely. At a picnic meeting of the local riders held one evening during the oast week at the Sam Lattiroore olantation the subject was brought up md such was the favorable comment >f those present that a committee was ippointed to go further into the de tails and to report during this week o the club. A favorable report by the .■ommittee, it is understood, would as sure the staging of the show under the direction of the club. The committee appointed was com posed of Messrs. Wh. Lineberger and George Blanton and Dr. J. S. Dorton, ill horse lovers and interested in horse shows. Many Shelby people attended the •ecent show held in Statesville and vere highly impressed with the event. While there the thought came to many that Shelby should put on mother horse show in addition to the ■aces and show each fall at the fair ground. Since their return many of them have discussed the matter with the above result. According to the preliminary plans "iding horses would be brought in from several states and the ideal loca tion of the race track at the fair ground with Clevelan Springs nearby would add much in the conveniences if visitors expected. Florida Party Comes For Summer Months Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Wickens and daughter and two grand children and a friend Mrs. Stanley Norman, of Clearwater, Florida arrived Sunday and will occupy the Tom Lattimore residence on N. Morgan street. Mr. Wickens arrived last week with Mr. E. A. Marshall, while the other mem bers of the party came on Sunday. Mr. Wickens is charmed with Shelby, having learned to like it when he came to Shelby the early part of June with the Clearwater delegation brought here by Alfred, P. Marshall of the Cleveland Springs Estates. He is sure the other members of his family will be pleased with the cli mate, the people and the beauty of the town. Mr. Wickens is one of the leading citizen of Clearwater, a booster who goes on all of the trips made in the interest of his home town and has already made many friends here. Many Week End Folks At Cleveland'Springs Cleveland Springs hotel, Shelby's resort hotel, has been enjoying a fine patronage of recent weeks, numerous parties from towns and cities over the Carolinas and Virginias stopping over for a week, «r for week-ends. Under the managership of J. D. Lineberger the hotel is becoming more popular than ever and numer ous Shelby parties added to the Sun day guest lists. This County Showing Marked Pro gress in all Lines of Agriculture Considering the Drought. . Interesting facts are revealed in Cleveland county ngnculture in a pamphlet entitled “North Carolina Agriculture” by the soil improvement committee of the National Fertilizer association. In 1925 Cleveland county had 64,431 acres planted in cotton and every acre was fertilized. The aver age number of pounds of fertilizer used to the acre is given at 488 ana the yield of cotton per acre as 204 • pounds.. The county produced last year about 38,000 bales which wu» short about 4,000. In corn it is reported by a survey that the county had 36,123 acres planted and that the yield was li bushels per acre, yielding; a total of 433,476 bushels.. Our farmers have been somewhat criticized for failure to plant corn but when they plant more than half as much corn as they do cotton, there is no ground for erlt icism. The acreage seems to have been ample but the drought cut the yield. In wheat the county was deficint. There were only 3,767 acres in wheat, yielding an average of 11 bushels per acre or 41,437 bushels for the entire county. This year with more favorable weather conditions the wheat yield will probably double that of last year. Rye is of course a small crop in Cleveland and last year there wer» only 1,316 acres in the entire county. Only 26 acres were planted in pean nuts, 102 acres in hay, 87 acres in soy beans, 139 in Indian corn, 287 in sweet potatoes and 896 in white potatoes. These figures are supposed to be ac curate but there seems to be some mistake about the number of acres in sweet potatoes when the information is given that three times as many acres were planted to Irish or white potatoes as were planted to sweet po tatoes. Cleveland is regarded as a sweet potato county and the progress made in this line has resulted in the building of potato storage houses capable of housing and curing 25,000 bushels. North Carolina holds high rank for value of agricultural wealth produc ed. Though one of the small states of the Union, it usually ranks fifth to seventh in the value of its agricultut al products. This good showing is to be attributed to several things, chief of which are: (a) Crops of high money value, such as tobaccp, cotton and truck, (b) Intelligent use of com mercial fertilizers, (c) Soils that are responsive to good treatment. (d) Climate with enough moisture and warmth to favor maximum plant de velopment. (e) Good farming systems, including intelligent handling of the soil and the use of crop rotations and good seed, (f) Excellent home mar kets because agriculture is diluted with manufacturing enterprises, and because of excellent nearby markets afforded by the large population cen ters of the country. A complete census of agriculture nt the country was tak-m in 1926, five years after the previous one, instead of ten years as in the past. In this census it is shown that in 1925 there were 283,491 farms in North Carolina, as compared to 269,763 in 1920—a gain of 13,728. Though the number of tenants In. creased from 117,459 in 1920 to 128, 254 in 1926, the number of farm own ers grew from 151,376 to 164,813. The percentage of tenants in 1920 was 43.5, while in 1925 it had increas ed to 45.2. North Carolina in 1925 wa« farm ing on fewer acres than in 1920. The iecrease was from 20.021,736 acres to 18,597,795 acres. In this respect North Carolina is not different from other southeastern cotton states. One reason is apparent for the de crease in the farmed acreage. It has been mentioned that the number of farms and farmers has increased. This clearly indicates that farming has be come more intensified. The size of the average farm is shown by the cen sus to be 74.2 acres in 1920, while in 1925 it was 65.6 acres. Ycuing Minister Is Visiting In County Rev. Sylvester Elliott native of the Beams Mill section of Cleveland county and one of the prominent young ministers Cleveland > county is producing, is spending awhile here visiting friends. He filled the pulpit at the First Baptist church last Wed nesday night at prayer meeting and again Sunday night, preaching a most excellent sermon in the absence vt Dr. Zeno Wall who is engaged in a revival meeting this week at Latti more. Mr. Elliott has many friends in the county and is being heard in pulpits at several places. Mr. J. C. Newton will have charge of the pray er meeting services at the First Bap tist church YTednesday evening of this week.