North Carolina Newspapers

► 8 PAGES TODAY VOL, XXXV, No. 155 THE * CLEVELAND STAR SHELBY, N. C. MONDAY, DEC!. 31, 1928. < Published Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Afternoona By mail, per year On advance) $3J50 V ■ ■ • ■ ■ Carrier, per year (lii advance) (3.00 LATENEWS The Markets. Cotton Seed, per bu. __ 67'£c Cotton, per lb. ....._-_ 19c! Rain Threatens. Today'* North Carolina Weather Report: Probably rain tonight and Tuesday. Slightly warmer In weat i and central portion* tonight. Cold er Tuesday In extreme west por tion. , ——I VANDERBURGH DIE IN FEUD DEFENSE ATTORNET THINKS Attorneys for Jacob Vanderburg, 17-year-old Gaston boy held In a Gastonia jail charged with slaying and burning hi* father, mother.! "to sisters and brother, are work- j ■ng upon the theory. It is announc < <1 thaf the Vanderburg* died in a • cud, or at the hands of an enerty of the elder Vanderburg. Marvin L. Ritch. one of the at* ' nrneya. declared: "I have several eye-witnesses to the fact that a ■ mail boy dug a second axe out of the ashes by the kitchen stove. It v.as right where Jacob Vanderburg aid he left his axe when he Wrought It into the house Thursday night to keep It from being stolen. \nother axe wav found near the rr other’s bedroom. Declaring the slate eou’d not, prove a motive for tlse killing the •‘.torney said that be could “show that another could have had a mo re.” “I do not yet possess the evt ~nee to show that such a motive i ( have in mind imptlhd the in .vidua] I have in mind to kill and rrn. In my opinion the killings v *re the culmination of a long anding feud ;snd a burning desire redress ©id-time grievances.” Ji-jit what this feud may have ' :n was not disclosed. J. W. Van rrhurg wa . one of ths wealthiest . irmers in Gaston county. C!:istly Details Of Burning Of Five In Gaston Are | investigated. C astonb. Dec. 31.—A ghastly o y of e.'lorts to rave the bodies; / : five members of the Vanderburg " j wily ffHata their J*ti» home. lour. I 'fss from here, burned early Frt < iv mom'ng r-cs relr.ted by county c fibers to coroner's Jury sitting ‘f e-o Saturday. „. ,. ,r, j le cSiraa’ evidence was aimed, : . we. lag a web of circumstantial t . er.^e about Jacob Vanderburg, 11, or.'y ti'rvtMnj member of the * .i' Uy. The youth was arrested i ; y Friday by officers cn susplc t n of having slain, hi* father, t x. her, Uo sisters and a brother (Continued on page eight) —--->*-• r Irs. Beam Is Buried At Prospect Monday tiled Sunday From Influenza And Pnmmonla. Member At - Prospect, Mrs. Lenora Beam, aged GfTyears, ciicd Sunday afternoon about four c'cloc': at her home in the *Waco •ecUcn, death resulting from in iiutnza (Uid pneumonia of about two weeks duration. Funeral services were conducted this afternoon at New Prospect church with Rev. J. W. Suttle Rnd ReyJ I. D. Harrill officiating. The < leased had been a member of I respect since early life and was 3 bind, hoine-'oving woman and l iglily regarded by her Iriends and i p-j'f. hbors. Tier husband, Crowder I>rm, preceded her to tie grave by f .:: years. surviving are twxt sons and oire laughter: Mrs. Oadie Oarroll and £111 ford and Thamer B&un. Also 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Three sistets and six brothers also survive: Mfrs. Elmira Pe.dgeU. Mrs. Jennie feates, of Texas; Mrs. Rena Peeleiy of feei \ nod; Messrs- Caleb, Gaston, Lum r no. Frank, Eyhanus and William 1 toyle. » Judpe Kennedy In Office On Tuesday ' * n " ' New Recorder. Tabes Bcgch To morrow. Ceremony For Re tiring .fudge. The new county recorder. Judge Horace Kennedy, goes into Office t unorrow, January 1, succeeding Judge John P. Midi, who has held f«re county court bench for several years. According to reports the bar as sociation v 111 honor the retiring '“"jurist at the time his successor Is sworn In. Judge Kennedy moved his law office today from the Royster building to the office floor of the Union bank building, on the War ren-.LaFayctte corner. » County Solicitor P. Cleveland Gardner, re-elected. will also be •worn ter 0* hte new term. SCHOOLS HERE TO CLOSE SURE WHEiil MONEY GIVES OUT Auditor To Make Estimate This Week Of Closing Date. Plans Talked. Due to the defeat of the recent schooi tax levy election, the city schools of Shelby will likely close for the year some time between April 16 and May 1, was the con-! census of opinion at the second meeting of the city school board held since the defeat of the school measure. The board at the meeting, held late last week, after discuslnsg the school prob’em would make no re vision In their former statement that the schools would shut down when the money ran out. which they estimated prior o the holi days to be about April 15. Give All Possible. In fairness to the children, how ever, the board declared that it would give every day of school possible for the children upon the fnoney at hand before closing. With his unselfish aim in view the board ordered the school auditor to prepare immediately a financial statement for the past school year, and also one for this year together with an estimate by the auditor on how long the schools could operate upon the money remaining. This statement and the estimate will likely be ready for public? tlon this week. It is hoped by the board, who realize what a curtailed term will mean for members of the senior class, that it will be possible to continue almost tp May 1, which under the eight months plan might make it possible for the seniors to be given diplomas. Board Hands OR. At the meeting the board dis cussed several theories whereby it might be that the full school term could be had this year, but the re sult of the discussion was that as far as the board could see there would be nothing to do after the mdney gives out but to ctose Onr schools down. • ' * * “After that time if any of the eitlsens can arrange or think of a plan whereby the schools can be kept open for {lie full year." de clared one board member, “it is up to them. All we can do is to run the schools the best we can and as long as we csua upon the money we have. Those who cafi devolve some plan of going beyond that may have charge when we carry the term as xar as we can upon funds available ’’ In that connection talk on the streets and among parents of school children has centered around plans whereby tne school m'gbt be kept cjen for the full nine months. One plan talked is the rulscrptkm plan while numerous others have been talked unofficially. The school.. board, however. Jets it be known that the board has no other duty than operating the schools as they are neve an cl that any plan developing must necessarily be tv the citizens who wish to keep the schools open. Mine 10 Leave? Reports during the holidays had it that a number of the high school children would enroll at Kings Mountain alter the holidays, or at least when the term ended here so that they .might get in a full year's | work. No definite move along this line, however, has come to public notice, although several students, it is understood, will enroll In. pre paratory schools elsewhere for the spring term. Teachers’ Back Pay. Contrary to the impression re ceived by some teachers In the city schools will get their back pay. “We want it understood,” says til# city board, "that every teacher will get what is coming to him or her up to the time the school closes.” This problem arose due to the fact that Shelby teachers are paid upon the basis of twelve-month year—In other words instead of getting only nine checks each year their salary Is spread out and they are given twelve checks each year. With the probability of the schools closing some of the teachers were afraid that they would not get salary already earned but deducted from checks received to spread out over the year. , The statement of the school board that the teachers will get what (is coming to them on their back checks, however, clears up that controversy. Mr. Charles H. Walsh, assistant manager of Montgomery Ward and company has returned to Shelby from a holiday visit to his family at Raleigh. Mr. C. P Carson is back at the Litton Motor company after an absence from Shelby of six month*, or more. Girl He’d in Robbery Epidemic , Photo shows nineteen-year-old "Dishing Dora” Bragg in a demure pose outside Covington, Va., jail, where she is held on charges of complicity in a series of spectacular store robberies and holdups. She was arrested with a male companion when her automobile ceased to function during a get-away. vo South's “Snyder-Gray”Case Saudi Town Physician And Mar ried Woman May Hans t On January 5. (Special to The Star.) Franklin, La., Dec. 31.—A small town physician and his married llght-’-love, who chose to take the Snyder-Gray murder case as a model of action when their mixed lives came to a crisis, will hang in | the courtyard of the red-brick par-1 ish Jail here on January 5 unless J Governor Huey P. Long changes his mind. The man is Dr. Thomas E. Dre her of Morgan City—a middle-aged, respectable leader of the "aristo cracy’ ’of that small town. The woman Is Mrs. Ada Bonner Le Boeuf, wife of a power plant super intendent and mother oi six chll-. dren. ^ /' : - If she goes to the scaffold—and i the governor has indicated he will j ndt interfere in the case—she will i be »he first white woman hanged in Louisiana Wot even in the days of Spanish sr.d French dominion has a white woman ever been ex ecuted in the state, although in colonial days one Molly Glass, an octoroon, was hanged in Jackson Square, New Orleans. The proposed double execution has stirred the state. Originally, the hanging was set for Dec. 21, but it was postponed on account of Christmas. Since the reprieve was granwm the state pardons board has re versed a former decision and rec ommended life imprisonment for the pair. Governor Long intimated that tills recommendation would be refused' but deferred action thereon. Copied Snyder-Gray Case. Dr. Dreher was one of the lead ing citizens of Morgan City. Mrs. LeBoeuf was the wife of James Le Boeuf, city power plant superin tendent. They had been intimate for some time, and LeBoeufs sus picions had been aroused—so much so that he is said to have threaten ed the life of the doctor. At that time the Snyder-Gray case was much in the newspapers. These small town lovers read about it and decided to copy it. They ad mitted as much after their arrest. So they arranged a meeting with LeBoeuf for one night on Lake Palourde, just outside the town, “to talk things over.’* With them they took James Beadle, a trapper and also a hired man for Dr. Dreher. When LeBoeuf’s boat reached 'he rendezvous h* was shot to death. Beadle slashed Ms body with l* knife, weighed Ik down with rail road Iron, rowed two hundred feet out .into the lake and tossed It over board. Luck . was against tnem. Lake Palourde was in flood at the time, and they had'rowed in the wrong direction. LeBouef’s body, fell in shallow water, and when the flood receded it was exposed to view. Had they rowed ah equal distance in' another direction the body would have gone do\yn 200 feet and the crime might have escaped detec tion. When ihey wfere. arrested Beadle lost his nerve, pleaded guilty and (Continued on page eight.) Yancey Elliott Ordained Minister Goes This Week To- Seminary At Louisville To Continue His Preparation. At Pleasant Grove church near Beams Mill Sunday. Rev. Yancey Elliott, son of'the late J. Y. Elliott of that section, was ordained as a minister. Mr. Elliott finished a course at Wake Forest college two years ago and has since been as sistant pastor of the Pullen Mem orial church at Raleigh, giving his special attention to state college students. He is a brother of Rev. Sylvester Elliott who will receive his degree as doctor of divinity at Liouisvuie next spring. Rev. G. P. Abernethy presided over the presbytery yesterday while Rev. John W. Suttle preached, the ordination sermon and delivered the charge Rev. D. F. Putnam con ducted the examination and Rev. D. G. Washburn presented the Bible. A large crowd was present at this ordination service. Gilmer’s Employe Has Unique Record Miss Bertha Goode is in line for honorable mention in the annals of Shelby business enterprise. i When Gilmers opened in Shelby nine years ago, Miss Goode was present Ir. the capacity of em ployee. When the store closed Christmas eve she was also pres ent. She saw service with eight managers, during the nine years, and was absent from work other than vacations, exactly one week She served punch at the opening, and Is reported to have shed tears at the closing. She wrapped bun dles, and for three years \fas cash girl. Latterly she became one of the crra:.Ration's most efficient sales woman. p IS LIKELY. Si Anyway Suite Over Building Col lapse Not Up Before Summer* (The damage suits, running into eral hundred thousand dollars, in connection with the dia ls building crash here last ust may not ootne up before rior court until next summer, then the suite may be dispro of at a special term called for t purpose. This is the opinion of members of the Shelby bar. One Week Jan. 7. jfrhe court terra convening here Monday, January 7, will hold ;h for only one week according law and during the week’s grind is not likely that anything but inal cases will be taken up. Pue to the fact that civil court actions must take their place on iflte calendar the damage suits fil m, asking damages for six of the seven deaths in the building col-, §pse, are docketed behind sorne ing like 100 other civil cases which must be disposed of first. for this reason barristers do not ihink it will be possible tor any of Me collapse suits to be taken up at we spring tern of court. special Term iaea. | The idea of a special 'term for the disposal of all the suits filed in Connection with the crash has been lifted about qlitte a bit; One of the major reasons advanced • for desir ing a special term^is'that all the defendants would thereby rate iqual judgments awarded as the liw says Judgments granted at the same term Of court am on par with each other. In other words should one judgment be granted at one term those receiving Judgments at following terms could only have judgment upon that* remaining from the first judgment. As trial of the suits at the same term would give each, comjflaint sham and share alike, should there be such a •judgment, ft. it, geoaml4mptWH sim that all those filing action would be desirious of a special term, while it is pointed out that de fendants named would not likely have any objection* to disposing of all the suits at the same term. So far seven suits have been fil ed—six asking damages, ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 for deaths, while the seventh suit i3 for dam ages for a demolished automobile. SKULL FiCTIED J. C. Propst Seriously Injured By Rock Thrown By His Brother. J. C. Propst, 14-year-old son of. Tom Propst of the Toluca section, is in the hospital here suffering with a serious fracture of the skull caused by a blow from roek said to have been thrown by his older brother, Pred Propst, Saturday night. / * According to reports the older brother did not intentionally in jure his younger brother, but mere ly threw the rock to "scare” his brother and Boyd Peeler, a youth who was with his .brother popping corn at a fire by the side of the road, but the younger boy moved, or the aim was bid, and the stone struck his head. The injured youth was rushed to the hospital here, an operation per formed, and today it was said that he was “getting along all Tight.” Bury J. W. McMurry At Salem Sunday Bolling Springs Man Passed Early Saturday From Pneumonia Attack. Funeral services for Mr. J. W. McMurry were held Sunday after noon at Salem Methodist church, near Sunshine, In Rutherford county. Mr. McMurry. a highly respected citizen of the Boiling Springs sec tion, died about 3 o’clock Saturday morning, death resulting from pneumonia. . The deceased had been a mem ber of the Methodist church for a half century and at Salem for something like 40 years. He was 77 years Of age at the time of his death. Surviving are the widow and the fallowing children: Mrs. J. M. Gladden, boiling Springs; Mrs. C J. Watson. Forest City; Miss Flor ence McMurry, Boiling Springs; J J. McMurry, of Asheville; G. P. McMurry, of CJWfslde. and C. M McMurry, of Te*a« Cannot Tell Yet If Office Here Will Reach Mark Last Day’s Business Today May Deride Ranking Of Local *. Postoffice. Today's postal receipts at the Shelby poetoffice will likely decide whether or not Shelby will have a first class postoffice next year, it is learned from unofficial informa tion. Last year the local postoffice fell only a few thousand dollars short of the required amount of postal receipts to be ranked as a first class office and this year it was generally hoped that the total re ceipts would pass the required $40, 000 dollar mark No Christmas Gain. To do so it Is understood that the month of December must show a substantial gain over December of last year. During the early part of the month, It is learned, there was a gain over December 1927, but during the actual Christmas season, although no definite check-up has beep made, it is understood that the total, receipts varied very little from those of last year. , ' Such being the case the receipts since Christmas day through today will likely decide. At the postoffice it is understood that hopes are still high that the $40,000 mark will be reached as it is customary for thousands of statements and flrst-of-the-year business announcements to go opt on the last day of December thus boosting the postal receipts. School Open* Here Today, ‘Flu* Seems To Have Subsided Ninety Percent Of 3,900 Enrollment Present TocWjpt^Bsht Teach ers SUsk. The Shelby city schools opened today after a two weeks . holiday period, which was brought‘ on ear lier due to an Influenza epidemtfc. However, It Was stated just before noon today by Supt. I. p. Griffin that approximately 90 percent of ■4be- &0Q8 narsllmgiiiroiaM—wUb»i» day, and that apparently the in fluenza epidemic among the school children had waned considerably. With only a small number pi students reported out today due to sickness It was believed that the epidemic among the children* which ran near 1,000 cases just before Christmas, was brought to a halt by the early closing. ! : Teachers Sick. Although more child.xn were to attendance todiy than W&s ex pected it was announced that eight I of the city teachers were out with; influenza or other-illness. A number of new students were reported to have registered today for tbe spring term. '* 1 --* Brother Of Mr*. Joe Smith Pa**e* Away Beal Estate Man And Veteran Mason Of Charlotte Died Thursday. Charlotte Observer. a J. Lowe, 64. of 1613 Elizabeth avenue, died Thursday morning at a local hospital after a short ill ness. Heart trouble was given as tire cause of the death. Funeral services were held at the home • Friday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock with feev. Dr. A. 8. John son, pastor of First Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Lowe was a member officiating. Burial was in the family burying ground at Steele Creek. Mr. Lowe was engaged to real estate business here. He has been a Mason for 36 years. Surviving Mr. Lowe are his widow, Eunice McDowell Lowe; one daughter, Mrs. Ross Cannon, of York, S. C.; two brothers, Sid iipwe, jr., and George Lowe; two sisters Mrs. Joe C- Smith of Shel by, and Mrs. Laura V Lowe, of Jacksonville, Fla., and one brother, Ike Lowe of this place. Mr. Joe B. Palmer Dies At Age 70 Father Of Mrs. Coleman Blanton And Mrs. Coran Wright Is Buried Today. At 2 o'clock Sunday morning, Mr Joe B. Palmer died at the home ol his daughter, Mrs. Coleman Blan ton five; miles northwest of Shelby where he has been making his home fqr the past few years. Mr. Palmer was 70 years of age and one of the county's substantial citizens, with a host of relatives and friends. Mr. Palmer is survived by ids wife and two daughters, Mrs Cole man Blanton and Mrs. Coran Wright. Funeral was conducted at noon today at the Blanton home and Interment was in the Elliott burying ground. Notables Attend Gardner Farewell By Kiwanis Club Judges, Legislators, Congressmen And Slate Officials Attend Home Town’s Tribute To Next Governor, Who Uses Football Phrases To Ask Support Of His People. Fine Trib ute To Mr. Chas. C. Blanton. f i Get Tag Todcy, Or Go Walking, Officials State The state department of revenue at Raleigh Saturday issued a warning that no ex tension of time for securing 1929 automobile licenses would I be granted and that inspec- j tors would be ordered not to permit cars to opiate with 1928 license tags after the first of the year. The de partment had issued 89.198 tags through Saturday and estimated there were 400,000 car owners yet to secure new licenses. Marvin Doggett, Colored, Tried For , Theft. Chain Of Thefts Seen. Auto thieves seem to have very little respect lor the prominence of their victims, for last Friday night the Buick family sedan of Mayor W. N. Dorsey was stolen from its parking place near a local theatre.' Sunday, however, officers at Gaff pay. Sput.h Carolina, found the pytr and also arrfesletT ftforvin, Doggett, colored Shelby fk#,; and returned him with the car to Shelby-. • • Members of the - Doirsey family t^ere in the theatre at the time' the car was taken, and the keys, pre sumably, had been left in the car. Stole Other Can. - At the time it was found the mayor’s car was parked on a street in the colored section of Gaffney. y?blle Ddggett, who has a car steal ing record here, was located at nearby house. According to officers who made the arrest and officers here it is believed that Doggett has stolen numerous cars, perhaps as many as five in recent months. Saturday flight city officers found an abandoned Chrysler 70 coach on Lee street with the license plate gone, and it is their contention that the license plate, a South Car olina tag, w'as found on the Shel by car at Gaffney, bringing on the presumption that Doggett brought the stolen Spartanburg car here, abandoned It when something hap pened to the gears, stole the Dor sey car and placed the Spartanburg tag upon it, and returned to Gaff ney. £ The colored boy is the same one Swho a year or more ago stole tlie Buick of Norman Lee and wreck ed it. with injury to himself, near the city limit in the Hopper park section. For that theft -lie received a road term and has been off only about three months. Clyde Poston, gang camp boss who became well acquainted with Doggett while the latter was on the gang, stated that the negro passed the place where the gang was working several times Friday in a Chrysle- coach, ap parently the one abandoned on Lee street, here. At one other time, some weeks back, Poston stated that Doggett had visited the gang in a Buick. At Gaffney officers have some connection between Doggett and a stolen Whippet and other cars, it is said. The negro was bound over to superior court by Judge John Mull in the county court today on the charge developing from the theft of the Dorsey car. Dr. Br:d«*e* Shows Steady Improvement » Dr. Dwight T. Bridges. Lattimore physician, injured In an auto wreck Sunday week ago, is getting along nicely and shows steady improve ment, it was reported from the Shelby hospital today where he is a patient Dr, Bridges auto turned over with him near Beaver Dam early Sunday morning one week ago. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Mills re turned to Shelby last night from a Christm.vC visit to Jacksonville. ' Ftorldn Shelby, a town long famed tee its banquets and hospitality. Saturday night put on its best reception re galia and entertained for the first citizen of the town and of the state, a lad who three decades back tramped the dusty, unpayed Shel by streets, in- his bare * feet—Gov ernor-elect O. Max Gardner. 7 > To many of the 250 people who gathered at the Ktwanls farewell banquet for the chib’s first presi dent and the state s next leader it was a great gathering, one of the mo6t representative of state rmt ables ever. assembled out of Ra leigh, but to Shelby people it vpgyfc high peak m a career th» town*** followed for two zcortr yeafer * proud home town’s tribute to that town's first governor, a man the town has known and admired from childhood to fame. s. . It was a proud night for Shelby: no more so at the conclusion than * before as citizens of state and na- . tton-wide prominence declared the occasion equal ih every respect >to the man it.honored.; ; y Many Notables There. • Grouped about the dinlng' foeMft i of the hotel, where a typical old Southern meal was served, ware supreme, federal and superior court Judges, representatives, senators, state .officials, leaders of adjoin ing states, and many, others prom inent in tire public limelight of North Carolina officialdom. At the con«i|isH*n of the dellgtot ful program came the. address of IWgtreHlV • -Wwr tr».n -S' North Carolina football if thepthe governor of the state. Speaking from a heart, touched by - the fine tribute to* him. Governor elect Gardner cotiched his farewell to Shelby and his' first informal message to his general assembly in phrases of the gridiron—back again he was playing the gjnJft* fighting for all its wdrthy? but asking for loyalty and teamwork, seeking- by square play A championship ^for North Carolina. ■ ?•-, ■*. “ill be calling the signaK.*’ be said, "but I will be looking for teamwork from every individual. Some must block, some run Inter ference, and others carry the ball, but the major idea is that some . one, and it doesn't matter who. scores for North Carolina. No Other Office. •‘This is the • labt game on my schedule; to life < my rhanksghiBg game. So far as I know now, and I speak shSeerely, I have no plans to ever ask public office again. The moves I make in this game will not be made with my eyes on some other office, but for the best of my state in Use re sponsible office I hold. It is the test / game on my schedule, and in ft I could appreciate nothing more than teamwork from tytty nun play ing.'' Welcome By Hocy. m n> Representative-elect pdas M. Mull, Democratic state chairman. , Mr. Mull in turn introduced Clyde R. Hoey, Gardner’s brother-in-law and political leader, who delivered the address of welcome to the 100 or more members bf the general as sembly and state official*. The Hoey welcome included the customary Hoey eloquence, wit, and hospitable ring. Numerous re marks of a humorous nature were made of the “recent lamented campaign.” In Fayetteville during the campaign the speaker declared that one elderly fellow came up after the address, shook his hand and said: “You made a fin* speech but why to the hell don’t yen cut your hair?” Again to Wiikesboro he told of a lady who cam* up after the speech to look him over and declared: “I certainly am crazy about your bob.” Then the speak er told of the town’s pride In stag ing such an' occasion, in if* Orel citizen, and, it«s dwiye to entertain in the best sQK'possible came. - Grand Old Man” $*!% The reagftim was by », ■ M noughton, state tag comuHadnoer and fondly known « “North C«t*» During the evening Shelby liter - ally “strutted itself" in entertaining the distinguished gathering. -Dr. J. S. Dorton, club president, officially opened the program. Tire invocation was by Dr. Zfcno Wall, First Bap tist pastor, and at that point Dr. Dorton introduced the toastmaster.