VOL. XXXVII, No. 14 I 8 PAGES I TODAY SHELBY, N. C. MONDAY. FEB. 2. 1931 Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday Afternoons. •Vr Mail i»«r rear tic tdfinoti < iirrirr net rear. (In *(lvant*> f&d* LA TE NEW: THE MARKET Cotton, per .b. ........ 9'/i to 10*4ci Cotton Seed, per bu. - 34Hi'! Partly Cloudy. Today's North Carolina Weather Report: Partly cloudy tonight and Tuesday. Not quite so eold In south west tonight. Killing Case Today. (Special to The Star.) Rutherfordton, Feb. 2.—Mrs. J. M. Lynch, Rutherford county woman, and Paul Searcy, 19-year-old farm hand, will, It ts understood be given • habeas corpus hearing in superior court here today, before Judge Hoyle Sink, in connection with the killing Sunday night week ago of J. M. Lynch, the woman’s husband. Lyneli was called to the front of his house, his wife said, and shot to death on his doorstep. Searcy, Who once worked on the Lynch farm, was ar rested the day after the farmer was shot to death, and the man's widow was arrested and Jailed Wednesday. W. C. McRorie and C. O. Ridings have been retained as counsel for the woman and Fred I). Hamrick and S. P. Dunnagan will represent Searev. Negro Gees To Higher Court On Rape Count Charged With Attack On 11-Ycar Old Negro Girl AYotnan's Bond Increased A sordid story, in which apparent discrepancies occasionally bobbed Up, was related in county court here Satrurday when J. Y. Green, mid dle-aged colored man of the Boiling Springs section, was given a preli minary hearing on the charge oi assualt-ing Ruth Jefferies, an 11 yerr-old colored girl. At the conclusion of the tesi mony G een was placed under a bond of $500 for a hearing in super ior court. The bond of the little girl’s mother, Gertrude Jefferies, who was tried Friday for a secret assualt on Green with intent to kill, was also increased from $100 to $500. Thu Jeffries woman entered the house where Green was_sleeping on the morning of January 7 and ham mered him over the head with a lire shovel, seriously injuring him. When she wrs tried Monday evi dence introduced informed the court- that she made the assault on him because she alleged that Green had attacked or attempted to st ick her daughter. This evidence re sulted in the trial Saturday of Green. The little girl, her mother and other witnesses were used, the girl testifying that Green had assaulted iter one night while her mother was away, Torn and bloody underwear was introduced as evidence. The girl's mother said she-first learned of the assault after finding the underwear and questioning the girl about it. Jealousy Motive. Green In testifying £pr himself stated that he was not at the Jef fries home on the night of the al leged assault, January 3. He was 'here on the following Monday night- he said. The Jeffries woman did not as sault him he contended because of the alleged attack, which he ve hemently denied, but because he had been going with her and she was jealous of his attentions to an - other colored woman. The mother and daughter differ ed in their stories as to r hat night die alleged attack took place. These discrepancies together with the good reputation given Green by white people of the Boiling Springs section - esulted in the bond not being made higher than $500. Golfer* To Meet Thursday Evening A meeting of the officials a tit’ members of the Cleveland Springs coif club together with all local peo - pie Interested in golf will be held ai the Hotel Charles Thursday even ing. Chas. R. Eskridge, club secre tary, states that the meeting will be held around 8 o’clock, immediately after the Kiwanis program. “Run It On, We Are Selling-Brick” Get this letter which came in the morning mail addressed to The Star: “Mount Holly, N C-, Jan. 31st. Cleveland Star, Shelby, N. C. Please continue I to run our advertisement ill your paper until further no tice. We are getting excellent I results from this advertise ment and we wish to thank you. (Signed): Kendrick Brick and Tile Co., N. B Kendrick;** Mr. Kendrick Is running a six inch advertisement. If he can sell brick when building is at a low ebb, how much better opportunity Star advertising gets results for a merchant t« sell every day need*. 0. M. Mall Becont s Financial Manager Cleveland Cloth Mill; Succeeds Manager E. T. Switzer Retires From Office In Raleigh > .. -~ Will S-end AH Of His Time In Sheiby. Hereafter. Was Gover nor’s Councilor. Hon. O. M Mull, one of the most influential powers In Democratic j party affairs in North Carolina has I come home from Raleigh and taken up his permanent abode here. Be ginning this morning he became financial manager of the Cleveland Cloth mill, a manufacturing plant in which he and other local associ ates have a large investment. Mr. Mull succeeds Mr. E. T. Switz er who has gone to New York and is for the present wi’h the New York office which sells the output of this mill, manufacturing fancy rayon textiles. Mr. Mull has been executive c.our» * I ccllor for Governor Gardner for ' nearly two years. By reason of this position he was a member of the budget commission and pardon com missioner, all of which put him through strenuous paces and was about to undermine his heaith Couple with his Raleigh duties he frequently motored hack and forth to look after his local interests and during the recent campaign when he resigned his official duties in Ra leigh to handle the affairs of the state Democratic execut;ve commit tee of which he was chairman, he visited practically every county in North Carolina. Mr, Mull: has now come home and • will let up on his strenuous and multitudinous duties on the advice of physicians. This morning he en tered the office at the Cleveland Cloth mil! and assumed charge of the financial affairs of the mill in which he has extensive interests. Mrs. Mull and their daughter Miss Montrose, who have been in Raleigh during the month of Jan uary returned to their Shelby home cn Friday with Mr. Mull and their home has been re-opened on N. La Fayette street. I MrsJ.M.Postcn Dics;Pneamonia Influenza Developed Into Pneu monia. Leave Husband And 4 Children. Bury Tuesday. Mrs. Pauline Poston, wife of J. Monroe Poston died Sunday at one o'clock at her home three miles north of Shelby of pneumonia, fol lowing an attack of influenza. Mrs. Poston who was only 30 years of age and the mother of four small children, developed influenza a week ago today. On Friday pneumonia had developed and the end came rather suddenly and as a great shock to her family and host of friends. Mrs. Poston was the daughter of Mr .and Mrs. Jim Allen of the Eliza beth section and a fine Christian character. At an early age she j joined Elizabeth Baptist church, but transferred her membership to Zion after her marriage. There she was active in church and Sunday school work and president of the Woman's Missionary society, She was a de voted mother and wdfe and popular among all with whom she came in contact, Surviving are her husband and four children, Margaret. Rachel, J. M„ Jr.. and Bobby. Three of the children are sick with influenza lone in a very serious condition. Also surviving are her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Allen, three sisters, Mrs. L. P. Owen of this county, Mattie See Allen who teaches at Morehead City, Nancy Pearl, a student at Boll ing Springs junior college, four brothers, Jesse. James, Billy and Dan. Funeral services will be held Tuesday morning at 11 o’clock and interment will be at Elizabeth church. Revs. H. E. Waldrop and D. G. Washburn will conduct the serv ices. Bowling Cleaning Plant Moving Now The Shelby Dry Cleaning com pany, of which Mr. J. C. Bowling Is the proprietor, is moving this week from its former location' to the Weathers building, adjoining -he Bost Bakery, on West Marion stre"' The change of the firm's location.Is made, Mr. Bowding sajs. in order to get in a central location in the up town business section Mrs. Zeno Wail returned home Saturday after spending a week with her sister, Mrs, J. B. Tweed at Mar shall. Drunkenness On Decline Here Credit it to improving moral conditions or to hard time!), but drunkenness is on the decrease in Cleveland county. | One hundred and seventy-five cases were tried in county re corder's court in January, ae • cording to the record, of Judge Maurice Weathers and Solicitor J. C. Newton, and for the first time in many months liquor cases, in one form or another, failed to outnumber all the oth er cases. The majority of the cases in volved robbery and stealing and assaults. City Aldzrman Reported Dead By Dame Rumor r; - Man Reported To Have Died Sud denly Answers Calls Ot Troubled Friends. In Shelby today there is a prominent citizen—a member of the city board of aldermen— who can tell any and all comers 'that the report of his suddrn death Saturday must have been grossly exaggerated. Thereby hangs a story. Saturday morning one of the tele phones in The Star office Jingled. Over the wire came the anxious query “Is it true that Mr. S«-and-So dropped dead just a few minutes ago." The Star had not heard the report, but immediately set about finding out what there might be to it as the citizen reported dead is one of Shelby’s best known resi dents. Then up came the problem of how to go about it. The Star did not wish to add to the rumor without investigating, and likewise, could not deny It without some verification. Still It was not a pleasant prospect to telephone a man at his office an 1 perhaps stun him and cause his heart to miss several beats, possibly more, by telling him that his sud den death had been reported. Final ly his telephone numoer was called and the man reported dead answer ed in a very lively manner. Then it became necessary to carry on a con versation with him which would not let . him know the real mission cf the call. The Star, having secured the information it sought without permitting the man to know the motive of the call, immediately be gan to head off the rumor of h's sudden death. But other friends and interested people were also anxious. Time and again his telephone rang. As it happened his wife was out of town and a big percentage of the calls were made by wives of his friends who Called and then asked, when he answered, if he had any late news from her. By this method all worried callers managed to keep from him the alarm and fear with which they had called. Later in the day a friend broke the news to the man himself. “Well,” he said, "I’ve been won dering at the peculiar calls I have had all days. People who seldom ever called me suddenly began le.e phoning me and when I would an i s-* er they would begin asking me unusuaL. questions. Now that I know what they were calling about I am as much puzzled as anyone else to know how it started.” Just where or how the false rum or originated no one seems to kn 'W but the rapidity with which ii spread adds to Shelby's reputation as a city where rumors spread eas ily and speedily. ° "other Of Shelby Man Died Saturday Hamer Ba'lentlne Passes In Mary land. Funeral In S. C. On Wednesday. Mr. Harper Ballentine, State’s At torney at Hagerstown. Marylan l, and a brother of Mr. J. R. Ballen tine, of Shelby, died In a hospital there Saturday night after an ill ness of some time with a bleed in fection. The Shelby man had been in Hagerstown with his brother for some time and was there when he died. His parents, who live at An derson, S. C., were also at his bed side. Funeral services wilt be held We i • * nesday at Anderson, his native city Off for Daytona and Record Captain Malcolm Campbell and t bis wife and children as they | noarded the Homeric at South ampton on his way to Daytona I Beach, Fla. There he will at- 1 tempt to break the world’s land speed record of 231 36 miles per hour made by the late Sir Henry Seagrave. New School Bill Only Means To An End; Hope To Get Larger Equalization Fund For Schools State Supported Six Months Schools Will Not Kesull From Move, Legislators Say, -. Raleigh, Feb, 2.—The present gen eral assembly has no Intention of enacting legislation to put. the Mac Lean. bill into effect and really bring about complete state support of the six-months school term, and has not intended to any of the time, Neither does it intend to make any radical changes in the administra tion of the schools as now consti tuted, since none of the counties want, any more central centralized in Raleigh than Is now the case. So there Is not going to be any state-supported six months school term. This is the private opinion of ‘.he majority of the leaders in both houses both among those who op posed and supported the MncLean bill, although for the present most of them decline to be quoted. However, It Is likely that the en actment.of the MacLean bill will r > [suit in an enlarged equalizing fund, probably *10,000.000 or *12.000,000, which will give almost 11 not entire ly as much tax relief to the various counties as they would receive un der full state maintenance of the six-months school term. This will carry the additional advantages that the state will not have to contribute anything toward the support of the -CONTINUED ON PAG® EIGHT.) Mr. Piercy Dies In Elia * Village Suffered A Strok? of Paralysis Sat urday. Buried At Race Path Church. After suffering a stroke of paraly sis at his home in the Ella Mill vil lage Saturday night, Mr. G. M. Pearcy, age 54 and a half years, died Sunday afternoon at 3:45 o’clock. Mr. Pearcy was one of the most highly esteemed citizens of the Elia mill village, noted for his honesty and integrity of character. He moved with his family to Shelby from Rutherford county about six years ago and was a mem ber of the Second Baptist church at the time of his death. The funeral will be conducted this afternoon at 2 o'clock by his pastor, Rev. L. L. Jessup and the body carried to Race Path church near- Caroleen for in terment. Surviving are his wife and three children, Odus, Batress and Ofus together with eight grandchil dren. Mooresboro And Lattimore Have Same Population Mooresboro Increased More In De cade Than Lattimore. Villages Grow Slow. A survey of the Increase or de crease in population In population of Incorporated North Carolina vil lages of less than 500 population shows that Cleveland county's two villages in that classification, Mooresboro and Lattimore, have the same number of inhabitants—270. Mooresboro's increase from 1920 jto 1930 was 18.4 percent while Lat tlmore's Was only tlire percent, ac ' cording to the survey of village j growth in the state. The total population of the 237 incorporated villages In North Car olina Is 62,395. Tills means, says the News Letter, that If all these small towns were consolidated Into one city, the total population would be only slightly larger than Greens boro ot; Durham, and considerably less than Charlotte. Only a little more than six percent of the cor porate dwellers of the state live in these 237 Incorporated small towns. Another very Interesting fact about these 237 villages Is that their total net growth during the decade was only 6,697 Inhabitants, or less than the growth of Shelby alone, and about one-sixth the growth of Charlotte. The average town above ten thousand grew twice as much as all the incorporated villages com bined. The average village increased thir ty-thre Inhabitants during the de cade, or les., than, one family per year! Miss HorcJ’s Articles Delayed By Sickness Miss Kathleen Hord, who has been writing a series of interesting ni - tides for The Star or, "My Trip Abroad" but the last installment due to appear today was interrupt’d be cause of sickness. She underwent a serious operation in the Shelby hos pital last week. News from her beJ side this morning Is very encourc-t • ing. She is much better but it will be two weeks or longer before her last Installment on her trip home will appear. Sun Spots Caused Warmest Janaary In 50 Years; Flowers Are Blooming In Rocky Mountains Now Chicago, Feb. 2.—America’s warm est January in half a century may be blamed in part on the mysterious spots on the sun, Prof. Griffith Taylor, one of the nation’s noted climatologists, says. ,*u. Flowers are blooming in the Rocky Mountain region, Butterflies are flitting from blossom to blos som in the Pacific northwest. The city of St. Paul is wondering what to do with its fund of $100,000 for snow removal, inasmuch as there is no snow to remove. Middle Western | farmers are confronted by a criti cal drought. Winter, with its blizzards, below zero temperatures, gales, sleet and snow merely is a memory of other years. And sun spots, said the pro fessor, are partly responsible for this, the wannest, yes even the hot test January in 50 years. Prof. Taylor is in charge of cli matology research at the University of Chicago, where he lias studied the ever changing blotches on '.he sun for years, and noted their effn «he was very sick, but today was »e ! ported a considerably improved At noon today The Star received iu inessage from H, E. Price, editor of Tlie Rutherford News, stating (hat Judge Hoyle Sink, who is pre siding at the term of court which 'opened there this morning, had or dered ihat a special veilin' of 60 men be secured in Cleveland county uom which a jury would be picked to hear the several cases. The Cleveland citizens will report there Wednesday. Numerous Charge*. There is one general Charge against the eight defendants, that charge being for rereiving deposits after knowing the banks were in solvent. J. L. Taylor and W. B. Wal ker, president and cashier respec tively of the old Rutherford County ' hank and Trust company, face two, | additional charges of publishing f false, statements' as to the condition, of the bank and for embezzlement. J The trial is attracting more tn jterest than any One to come up in the neighboring county In years. Six Rutherford banks in all fail ed, four being branches or connec tions with two parent banks. ■Two Shelby attorneys, Clyde R. Hoey and D. 2. Newton, are appear ing In the case, the former repres enting some of the defendants while the latter Is assisting in the pros ecution Penalty Added Taxes Not Paid ! In County Today -— j Almost Two Thirds Of County Tai ; l.evy Has Been Paid. One Percent Penalty On Now. A penalty of one percent will be added today on a little more than one third of Cleveland county's half million dollar tax levy, almost two-thirds of the total levy bavin* been paid prior to the end of January. When the collection books were closed at the sheriff’s office hern Saturday afternoon $301,till in county taxes had been paid, accord ing to Sheriff*Irvin M. Allen. The total tax levy lor the county U approximately .*484,000, which means that only slightly more than one-third of the county taxes un 1 aid. By state law a penalty of one per cent is added all unpaid taxes on February 1, this penalty going Into effect today. After February, rr beginning March 1. a penalty of two percent will be added to delinquent tax bills, but Sheriff Allen is of the opinion that only a small amount of taxes will be unpaid at the end of this* month Mrs. Earwood Dies In No. 10 Township Suffered A Stroke Of Apoplr&v. l-eaves Husband And Five Children. Mrs. Eliza Earwood, wife of Sim ford Earwood of No. 10 townlaho died this morning at 1 o'clock of apoplexy which struck her foul tours before the end came. Mrs ■ Earwood was 41 years of age and was married seven years ago. >Vo« is survived by her husband and ive children, two girls and three boys. Mrs. Earwood was a member of Friendship Methodist Protestant church at Fallston where the funer al will be held Tuesday morning ai 11 o'clock, services to be in charge of Rev. J. L. Morgan. Groundhog Cannot Eclipse Tills One The groundhog may have stepped forth today with ail announcement that .there is'more winter weather ahead, but he and his prophecy did not arrive early enough to prevent the baseball season starting unusu ally early In Cleveland county. During the Spring-like weather of last week the Poplar Springs baseball team defeated the Beams Mill team 4 to 2 in the first game of the year.