North Carolina Newspapers

VOL. XXXIV, No. 106 Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday Afternoons 8 PAGES TODAY V-.. I , J By mail, per year (in advac;*)—92J9 By carrier, per year (in advance) 93.09 SHELBY, N. C. MONDAY, SEPT. 6, 1927. A civil (locket of Superior court . f.juld be unusual without JLernus divorces, but the specinl 'Lion next week will not be un. Lual the calendar shows because !L divorces are already listed. The calendar appears in today's pa P*r * * ♦ The victim of the gruesome Reids flile murder was buried yesterday His daughter, wife of the fire chief there, is charged with slay ine him. The crime is one' of the ™st sensational to occur in the itate in recent years. An article concerning Cleveland ountv s first court appear* in to i.vV Star, written by Selma War especial staff writer for The TWo teams made up of full-blood ed Cherokee Indians are scheduled ,n play the game of Indian base ball here Thursday afternoon. A body of a Rutherfordton boy drowned at Lake Lure has been recovered. ... A brother of Charley..Ross, the long-lost youngster who is none other thari Julius Dellinger, accord ing to Dellinger, recently sold his itock exchange seat for a quarter of a million. ■ * * • Several burglaries and safe cracking attempts have taken place in Shelby recently. ♦ * * All the community news of the county. 1 WEBB ADDS TO fill WHICH KOW Upper Cleveland Farm Within 30 Miles of Five County Seat Towns. Tom Webb, contractor is about to become the largest individual land owner in Cleveland county. From the way in which he is buying: land, it would seem that he is headed nr this direction, not to boast of the distinction of being the largest land owner, however, but because be has faith in this section. After finding that land back in the moun tain counties is priced at fancy fipires, Tom decided to buy down in the foothill section where the possibilities are greatest for en hancement of values. He has just purchased 287 acres from Mr. George L. English of Rochester, N. Y. This acreage joins his Buf falo mountain farm on the upper rim of Cleveland and gpves him a total of about 1,300 acres in a sin gle body. Some of it lies in Lincoln, but most of it is in Cleveland coun ty. Within a radius of 30 miles are five couhty seats. Three state-high ways converge at his farov and in the counties surrounding it* there are fertile farming sections and prosperous industrial centers. Ask ed what he intends to do with so much land, he says he expects to farm it, growing the kinds of crops that are suited. Already he has an orchard with over a thousand trees and is planning to build a dear water mountain stream dam which will be stocked with trout and bass from the government fish hatch eries. D MID USE FIGHT IS SETTIEO And Bitter fight Over Routine Of State Highway In Catawba Settled. The end of the celebrated fight "tween the town of Newton and : 'North Carolina State highway ‘•^mission came to a close at Jueltory Saturday when represen ^t"‘es of both factions agreed or •compromise route to run from Catawba River Bridge West oi tesvill0 into Newton, by way oi ' - town of Catawba. The settle , Was reached at noon and re Kcseritatives from both sides L P instructed to draw up a r*prr of agreement which, it is »n idently expected, will be offi * ' signed and the long and ted s controversy ended. . °n < lyde R. Hoey of Shelby j 5on'y attorney appearing cwton who lives outside of * , ba county and the settle o "as reached on the same g/*** Mr. Hoey and Attor * • Feimster of Newton ith''' ' a settlement to the state It tk<l’V COmm'8S'on a year ago. 't time the road commission not agree. . * compromise in Hickory ,,' ' 'o an end a dispute that Wrr, e?vlr> proKresg between the few Xewton the State <‘y commission for more than with the Supreme Court RECOVER BODIT OF RUTHERFORD BOV FROM LIKE LURE James Wilkie, of Rutherfordton, Loses Life in Mountain Lake. Cousin Along. Rutherfordton,—The body of James Wilkie, 19-year-old Ruther fordton boy, who was drowned late Tuesday night when the canoe in which he was riding on Lake Lure capsized, was recovered Saturday by parties dragging the lake. The body had been in the water 87 hours. Glen W'itkie, of Gaffney, S. C., a cousin of the drowned boy, was out on bond tonight charged with attempted theft of the boat and an outboard motor with which James Wilkie is thought to have lost his life. Glen Wilkie, it was said, denied the charge and claimed the boat was taken by James Wii kie. Glen Wilkie’s story was that the boys took a canoe tied up at the beach, secured a motor from an other boat and started around the lake. Later while trying to change seats the canoe capsized and Glen Wilkie managed to reach a rock ar.d later get ashore. He said the last he saw of his cousin he was strug gling with the boat. Glen said James’ last words as they strug gled in the water were “Don’t ted about this.” Funeral services for the drowned; boy will be held here Sunday after noon at 2 o’clock. His father, Ladd Wilkie, is se riously ill at his home here. There were two attempts at rob-1 beries over the week end, the total haul of the burglars being only j forty cents. From the crude manner: in which the robberies were execnt-j | ed, Chief Richards thinks both were the work of boys. Sometime over the week-end the Eagle Roller mill office was entered from the I rear window where the robber cut a wire screen and broke a pane cf glass. The drawers in the desk | were pilfered but nothing of value, was missed. The safe was appar ently untouched. When Will Kendrick went to de liver some mail in the office of tha ; Shelby Casket company on North j Washington street Sunday morning the burglar was at work. When Mr. i Kendrick unlocked the outside door i the burglar beat a hasty retreat, j On entering Mr. Kendrick heard a1 noise but thought some enmloye of j the shop was there. Entering the office he found papers scattered on : ♦ Kn floor and this aroused his sus-| picion, but the door had autmati, cally locked and hindered his pui-. suit of the fleeing man or boy. Mr.1 Kendrick made a thorough investi gation hut found no one in the building. Neither did he see any one leaving any of the several avenues of escape. Forty cents was all that has been missed and this was from the safe cash drawer into which the burglar had bored holes to gaim an entrance. Largest Shopping Crowds Saturday In Many Months Shelby merchants state that the past Saturday was one of the best shopping days of 1927 here. From early in the morning until late at night the streets and stores. were packed with shoppers. Sever, i al merchants report Saturday’s busij ness as the best since the holiday shopping rush of last fall and, winter. The near approach of the cotton selling season together with the likelihood' of good cotton prices have added to the business morale of the section. twice being called upon hand down opinions. The town of Newton objected to the routing of the road by the highway commission that made highway 10 touch Newton only on one corner, the town contending that the legislature had meant the center of a town when it specified that county seats were to be touched by main highways. After twice being in the Su- ( preme court, the dispute was scheduled to go there again when last week Newton announced its irrtention of fighting it further, a».% the highway commission stat ed that Catawba would lose all highway construction for the year because of the opposition. Judge Schenck was to hold a hearing in Hendersonville Satur day morning on the case, but it was postponed pending the discus sion in Hickory. — Cleveland County’s First Court House — i CLEVELAND’S FIRST COURT 5 | HOUSE WAS HOME OF SQUIRE \ S BILLY WEATHERS NEAR ZION i ? 5 J. B. Smith, Welfare Officer, Makes An Appeal To Parents To Abide By Law, Declaring that he would enfore the compulsory school law, J. B. Smith, superintendent of public welfare, in a statement issued Sat urday, urged all parents of chil dren of school age to observe the regulation in all its provisions. Mr. Smith asserted that inas much as the law was fair and just to all there was no excuse for failure to follow it out. His sign ed statement is given below: “To All Parents of Children of Compulsory School Age. "The law with reference to school attendance seems fair and just to all parties concerned, and I am responsible for the execution of this law in Cleveland county. I hereby make this public appeal tc you in the interest of your chil dren and the State for whose in terest the law was enacted. 1 urge you one and all to enter your children at the beginning of the school term in your district and to keep them in school regularly for the full term. In all cases of absence or tardiness, report the excuse to the teacher at once and thus save trouble. It is my duty tq enforce the law without respect of j person. I pledge you that I will perform this duty to the best of my ability. Signed: J. B. SMITH, Supt. Public Welfare. Younj? Wife Weeps As Husband Gets Sentence On Road An empty home brew bottle, la fast moving car and a crash on South LaFayette street meant six months on the roads to a young defendant before Recorder Mull to day. The sentence came after the defendant protested that he had not been drinking, and when the isenbence was passed the young wife of the prisoner began weeping while a sister watched her small child. The defendant lives nine miles from Charlotte he told the court and had come to Shelby aft er his brother. The broken-hearted wife continued weeping until a lawyer suggested an appeal. The county court today was the usual week-end run of minor crimes and drunken affairs. Three young Shelby boys, arrest ed in Chesnee, were charged with breaking in R. B. Keeter’s store in West Shelby and bound over to Su perior court. The allegation war that they took numerous packages of cigarettes. The youths pleiad not guilty through their attorney, butj the state scored when one of the defendants testified that the cigar ettes found on them were purchased in South Carolina and it was found; that the cig| rettes did not have on them the well-known South Car olina license stamp. Fair Date Near Cars Now Carry Banner Of Event With the big Cleveland County fair only a little more than three weeks ahead county automobiles are now carrying the regular fair banners proclaiming the date of the annual event. Considerable preparatory work is now under way at the fair grounds and the fair secretary with his as sistants are busy arranging details for the big week. The fact that the Johnny Jones exposition shows are coming seems to be the big point of interest with the general public as the fair is discussed. BY SELMA WARL1CK What do you suppose would hap pen in these post-Volsteadian days to steady, law-abiding Cleveland ians and Shelbyites should they discover that liquor and justice were dispensed from the same building-—even a bar room on the first floor of that venerable tem ple of law and order, the court house? Yet, precisely this occur red in the early history of Cleve land county. Originally, what is now Cleve land county was a part of Ruth erford county which at the time comprised what is now the greater part of Cleveland and Lincoln counties. In the late 30’s due to the fact that the country was becom ing more populous and that trans portation facilities were almost totally lacking as well as to the de sire for the right of local govern ment instilled by English forbears, it w'as decided to divide the terri tory then comprising Rutherford county into Rutherford, Lincoln and Cleveland counties. Accord ing, in 1841 Cleveland county was formed and named in honor of Col onel Cleveland of Revolutionary fame who distinguished himself particularly at the battle of Kings Mountain when the hillmen responding nobly and bravely to the- tail iff Hteh hiii8im.ii in the “settlement,” literally swept down ih hords to play havoc with the plans of Cornwallis and his red-coated Britishers. After the formation of the coun ty, there was a considerable furor raised over the location of the county seat, since'there ' was, no village or town of established pre eminence For two years Qr more there was delay and deliberation. In the meantime, the affairs of the newly created county had to, go on. Court had to convene for the administration of justice. me plantation of Squire bihv Weathers, as he was familiarly i known, prominent merchant and j slaveholder, was somewhat central- j ly located and had the advantage ] of being at the point of intersec- j tion of the main arteries of travel; between the adjoining counties and j the earnest and western portion of the state. It was natural that the j commodious home of the genial squire should be temporarily chosen as Cleveland county’s first court house and officially used as such for two years. Bar-Room At Court Squire' Weathers, as well as many of his neighbors manufac- j tured and sold liquor and brandy in those days, exporting great | quantities of it to cities in South j Carolina renowned for their gaiety , and . pleasure ■ loving in the times j “befo’ de war.” This eau do vie, as J the French say, also found a local market. Rumor has it that there was a barroom on the first floor of the house in which the judge convened court. No doubt, it was an easy and convenient system of dis posing of customers who insisted on drinking more than was good for their health and well being. Perhaps the canny and practical minded Scotch of the locality had due influence in this choice. But, as Mr. Monroe Wilson, one of the oldest citizens of the community, hastened to explain when queried on this point—distilling liquor was considered a legitimate business in those day just as raising corn and cotton. It furthermore provided a means of converting their grain and fruits into salable products at a time when transportation facili-1 ties were practically non existent. Confirmed drunkards. though : were rare. Men took time to live and drank little as a matter of course. Not far away from the tempor ary court house and near Z’on’s church was the old ‘muster ground' where the men within the limits of a certain territory met for mili tary drill and practice under the diection of the local captain at (Continued on page eight) BURY VICTIM OF GRUESOME CHIME OF BURIED BODE Mrs. Gatlin. Wife of Rridsville Eire Chief, Cheerful Though {’barged With Murder Heidsvillc, Sept. 4.^-A great throng of people attended the fu neral services here this afternoon at 3 o'clock for R. Smith Petty, whose body was found yesterday buried in the basement of a house in which he formally lived. Rev. Thomas K. Pardue, Primi tive Baptist minister, to whom Mrs Alma Petty Gatlin is alleged t'J have confessed that she killed her father, conducted the services. In terment was made, in Greenvievr cemetery. Disappointment awaited those who expected the minister, who insti gated the investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Smith Petty, to add something to what he had already said about the sen-, Rational case. The minister preach ed a short sermon, building it around judgment. It was a *itting theme and the preacher bore down in his exhortation of the waywaid to "get right with your God.” John Petty, of Union. S. C., aged father of the deceased, attended, as did three brothers and four children of Smith Petty. The brother made it clear that ho will demand a full and vigorous in. vestigation int othe entire case. He said he believed there were morel than one person involved in the | tragedy. It is known that officers, both' city and county, are carrying on a relentless investigation. It wouid not surprise the community if other arrests are made within the next day or two. Mrs. Gatlin Cheerful. Meanwhile, Mrs. Gatlin, who was popular in the community until her arrest Saturday, is in good spirits in the Wentworth jail. She talked with various persons today, but de clined to add anything material to the case. She said however, that she may make a stateemnt later. She SOWfy a«l1MI"TTim she killed her father, and furthermore, denies that she confessed anything to Rev. Mr. Pardue. Mrs. Gatlin, bride of three! months will probably be given a| preliminary hearing this week. There is much speculation here as to what will develop at the hearing. Will the girl stick to her story? If she breaks will she involve others? These are the questions freely dis cussed. It will be recalled that Mr. Par due upset the community yesterday when he disclosed the alleged con fession of Mrs. Gatlin. The confes sion, the minister said, was made last May, following a sermon de livered by him. He said the girl confessed that she killed her 50 year-old father with an axe while he was eating breakfast. The mo tive given by the girl in her al leged confession was that her fath er had mistreated her motherland also had soundly beaten her. Thetc is another motive hinted, but as yet officers have failed to develop it. Other arrests may follow if the authorities are able to develop this latter motive. Mr. And Mrs. Shytle Lose Their Baby Son The many friends of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Shytle sympathise with them in their bereavement over the death of their, baby son, Jack Stevens, six weeks old who passed away at the Shelby hospital Satur day afternoon. The little one had not been strong since birth. Fu neral services wtre conducted Sun day afternoon at 2 o’clock by Revs. Zeno Wall and T. B. Johnson and interment was in Sunset cemetery. WWW^^WVWViV^bFWW^ ;■ Release 2 in Simmons Death Fayetteville Sept. 3.—Held in jail for five months as witnesses in a murder case. Charles Martin and Arthur Dominick, Fort Bragg sol diers, were released from cus tody by Judge W. M. Bond today, three months after the defendant in the case had escaped from jail. Dominick and Martin were vith Roscoe Simmons, anoth er soldier shortly before he was killed here last spring. They were ordered held as witnesses, and Nan Evans, a negro woman, was charged with the crime and arrested She escaped toward the last of May, by operating an ele vator in the jail. The two witnesses .seem to have been overlooked until today. | If You Think This Easy, Try It! T1 ■ This scene from the world's champion rodeo in Chicago shows one of the most difficult hits of roping ever attempted. Leonard Stroud is shown’tossing the larict about four galloping horses while he Btanda on his head. Brother Of Charlie Ross Sells Stock Market Seat For Quarter Of Million Page Julius Dellinger, he that lived at one time at the town of I Denver in Lincoln county and had The Star startle the world with the information that he was the long-lost Charley Ross. In those days the question was asked: Why does Dellinger care so much about proving himself to be Ross? Is there any money to it? No, no, not that. But, listen. When Messrs. Mos her and Douglas, of whom Star readers have heard heretofore drove up in frtmt of the -Ross mansion in Philadelphia long years ago they kidnapped both Charipy Ross and his brother Walter. Later on they turned Walter loose. Charley, by the w’ay, is st'll loose, and Dellinger, who visited | Shelby and put this section on thp j newspnper map for several we^V- ; is still attempting to prove that he’s the loose and long-lost Char ley Ross. But this story has to deal with Walter. If the former Lincoln county man can prove himself to be Charley Ross he will not go back to an empty cupboard. The father of the Ross boys mav have spent all he had trying to find Charley, but Walter—and this is the big news—has at least a quar ter of a million packed away in his jeans. Just glimpse the following if you care for the details and if you’re kind hearted mail it to Charley Ross alias Julius Dellin ger, somewhere in Georgia the state Sherman marched through. The dispatch is under a New York date line of the past week and reads: "waiter l. koss, Drotncr 01 Charley Ross, kidnapped in Phil adelphia July 1, 1874, and never found, yesterday sold his New York Stock Exchange membership for a record high price of $226, 000. When Mosher and Douglas, ped dlers, drove up in Germantown, fifty-three years ago last July, they seized both Walter and Char ley Ross, but after driving to a remote part of Philadelphia, they put W'alter out of the carriage, after observing that he was old enough to watch their movements. Walter then was six, while Char ley, whom a world-wide search never found, was four. Although the kidnappers de manded a $20,000 ransom—nego tiations for which failed—^-the Rosses never were certain of the motive that actuated the kidnan ping. The father, Christian K. Ross, now dead, spent $60,000 in vain search for his stolen boy. Walter Ross, who bought his Exchange seat in 1889, when mem berships were selling at $29,500 to $40,000, or at least $186,000 below yesterday’s quotation, is a floor trader, with headquarters at Post and Flogg’s, No. 49 Broad street. He commutes from his Philadel-1 phia residence, 33d Street and! Moreland avenue, to this city j daily. The buyer of the Ross member ship is Malcolm C. Falk, a broker at No. 20 Broad Street. Mr. Falk, now forty-three, came to this country at the age of fourteen and entered the financial district SITE FOR It 8 SCHOOL SETTLED Boa ad of Education Approved Site W hen Petition for an Elec tion Was Approved. A site near Frank Lee's garage in No. 8 township, has been ap prove^ by the county board of edu cation for the proposed consolidated school in No. 8 township, according to County Superintendent J. Hor ace Grigg. An election will be held next Monday September 12 and in order that there might be no mis understand as to the location of the school in the event the election carries, Mr. Grigg has issued the following statement: “Due to some misunderstanding as to the proposed sfle for the school building in unit N. 18 in the county-wide plan, the county boaid of education deems it wise to state definitely the site. The site for the above menioned school house, was, approved by a petition signed by] a large number of qualified voters, which petition mentioned the site near the cross-roads at Frank Lee’s garage. In approving this pe tition the board also approved the site as asked for in the petition. This statement is made in The Stai in order that there may be nb mis understanding on the part of the voters at the election on Monday. September 12.” Sport fans of Shelby and the surrounding section are offered some unique entertainment Thurs day afternoon through the courtesy of the local post of the American legion. On Thursday afternoon legion of ficials say two Indian ball teams from the Cherokee Indian reserva tion in the western part of the state will perform at the city ball park near Central high school. One ;eam is known as the Wolftown In dians and the others as the Chero kee Indians. Both teams are made up of full-blooded redskins and are the star players of the entire red skin reservation. The game they play it is said, is somewhat similar to the national pastime of baseball, but still play ed as the Indians played it hun dreds of years ago. The play is in savage style with all the speed of foot and cunning of the early American race. Nothing of the tyne has ever been seen here and a big afternoon is anticipated. The favorite sport of the red man played where Indians once played but now in the heart of civ ilization will start at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Proceeds are for the benefit of the legion. as a messenger. After successive promotions he launched out for aimself. His entire fortune, he as-* serts, was made out of commis sions and not speculation. HE DIM i CASES FEATURE COURT NEXT WEEK Special Term of Court Called t<| Clear up a Congested Docket. Civil Cases Only. ’> N,nc divorce cases feature the civil calendar of Cleveland super, ior court, which opens here Monday September 12. Fifty four cases are listed for trial, all of them being of a civil nature. The special session has been called to clear up a congested civil docket, and no criminal ibises will be tried. Court is expected to last two weeks, according to the eaten* dar. I The calendar for the special sea* sion follows: I Monday September 11. J. G. Hord vs. W. E. Richs ct ale. Mrs. Roberts vs. Bryant et ala Bunkley vs. Bunkley. Cleveland Motor Co., vs. Joe Wih liams. I Candike vs. Blackwell. Adolphus Wilson vs. F. Y. Hicks. Adolphus Wilson vs. F. Y. Hicks. R. B. Falls vs Highlander (News Pub. Co.) Z. J. Thompson vs. C. C. Beam. Morrison vs. Morrison. Tuesday Sept. 18th. Arrowood vs. Anderson. In re: C. W. McCraw’s wifi. ' Meginson vs. O. C. McSwaln. Morrison & Son vs. Dudley. Ellis D. Cook vs. Hamrick et ala. F. W. Baber et ala, vs. Nifty. Jiny stores, Inc. Wednesday September 14. D. D. Edwards vs. Cleveland Mill & Power Co. Stewart vs. Boll-we-go Co. National Surety Co., vs. Kraw* check. Campbell’s Department store vs, J. W. Spangler. Thursday September 15. Town of Shelby and S. Gardner et als ys. Thompson. W. A. Pendleton vs. J. D. Led and wife. , » . f Davis vs. Davis. Friday September 1# J. M. Elliott vs. C. F. Gantt. Wirt! v*.‘Cahamiss. Patterson vs. Price and Gladden* Gladden et als vs. Beam et al. Reinhardt vs. Silver. Canipe et ux vs. Coley et ux. Saturday September 17. Rick vs. Rick , i Hord vs. Hord ^ ' Hopper vs. Hopper. ' 1 Cook vs. Cook. Monday September, 19. J. T. McGill et als Vs. Kings Mountain. Ben D. Phifer vs. Kings Moun« tain and Margrace mill. Laura D. Phifer vs. Kings Moun* tain and Margrace mill. J. D. Phifer vs. Kings Mountain and Margrace mill. Thos. B. Ware vs. Kifigs Moun« tain and Mbrgrace mill. Tuesday September 0. Brown vs. Brown. Boone vs. Western Union. Hard vs. Roberts et als. Wednesday September 2L Rex Cigar Co., vs. Weaver et als. Weathers & Son vs. Carpenter. Bank vs, Vandike. Hannah vs. Hannah. Thursday sepiemner McEntire executors vs. Hamrick. McEntire Executors vs. Grayson and Hamrick. Barrett vs. Buffalo Cotton Mills. Hord vs. Mayberry. Friday, September 23. Stockton vs. Harbison. ! Buchanan vs. Western Union. Barrett vs, Hord. Elliott vs. Stamey. Elliott vs. Royster. % ' State Makes Gain In Revenue Receipts North Carolina gained $152,644 for July and August, 1927, over the same months in 1926 and the hop in revenues raised by the State in dicates to the fiscalists that North Carolina will have more money next year than it hoped for. Collections during August were classified as follows: Income, $1,680; inheritance, $42, 580; schedule B, $180,387; sched ule C, $267,819; bus $18,558; in surance, $353,635. ATTENTION W. O. W. TO MEETING THURSDAY There will be a special meeting of Hickory camp No. 518 W. O. W. held next Thursday night Septem ber 8 at 8 o’clock p. m., for tha purpose of making arrangements for a barbecue and picnic to be giv en to the members of our camp and the degree team that won hon ors for us at encampment last month. Every member interested in thei growth of our camp is requested to be present at this meeting. T. O. GRIGG. Clerk S. M. MORRISON Capi J