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WEEKLY
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V A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE UPBUILDING OF HERTFORD AND PERQUIMANS COUNTY
"Volume VII. Number 18.
Hertford, Perquimans County, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 1940.
$1.25 Per Year.
)
1 17. 0. SAUNDERS, NATIVE PERQUIMANS,
DIES IN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT
Editor, Author, Legisla
tor Drowns In Dismal
S,wamp Canal as Car
Leaves Road
STORY OF LIFE
Newsmen View Saund
ers' Death as Distinct
Loss to All Counties
Of the Albemarle
W. O. Saunders, 56, former .Eliza
beth City newspaper editor, who
gained national fame for his individ
;, naiism in deed and writing, was
drowned in the Dismal Swamp Canal
. last Thursday , afternoon when his
, 'af plunged from the George Wash
ington Highway nine miles south of
Deep Creek.
Funeral eerives were held Satur
" day morning at the graveside m
Hollywood Cemetery, Elizabeth City,
as thousands of friends and admirers
xjpaid final tribute to the man who
jpiade his weekly newspaper, The In?
dependent, a household word in
Eastern Carolina.
Such was the influence of his in
dividualistic nature that even daily
newspaper reports of his death and
A funeral were inspired writings of
editors and newsmen who had known
and respected him through more
than 35 years of an outstanding
newspaper career. i'l'tjfr'
Born In Perquimans
W. 0. (Will) Saunders, author, edi-
tor, journalist and legislator, was
born in humble surrounding jn. Per
,); quimans County on May 24, 184.
( "When his family moved to-Hertford,
f , v W. O. was still a child. At 17 ha got
hja first newspaper job, profession
' k ewa destinoi tolstkk with, van the
TfVr'Heel, a weeWx newapaftif ;,ln
VT Later, and after' Ms aenaatip'nal re
Bortinar of the Wilcoi murder trial
in Elizabeth City for Norfolk daily
. papers which got Tiim his first
?V "break" on the "big time sheets,"
Saunders established his Independ
ent.
During the thirty years of The In
dependent's life, Saunders, its editor,
was a storm center in this community
and time and again was involved in
libel suits. Usually he walked away
' from the court rooms exonerated,
? but he stayed in hot water. His hu
' morous and frank presentations of
the news gained for The Independent
.; much more than ta local circulation;
his papers went to the far corners
.) of the United States and were in de-
' mand at all newsstands.
-.; One-Man Pa jama Parade
In 1929, Mr. Saunders gained na
tion-wide publicity as he strolled
P,down Main Street in Elizabeth City
; .? a1a1 ! mViifA nnlaiwaH An1 'nAlvAn'm
slippers, advocating the ensemble as
sensible attire for men in the sum
mertime. Pictures snapped by news
cameramen there and in New York,
appeared in papers all over the
- country.
In Elizabeth City, he was arrested
for his one-man pajama parade, but
was immediately freed by the mayor,
who ordained that, people could dress
f as they pleased there so long as
L they stayed, in the bounds of de-
' r- cency. The fad spread and other
parade's broke out; dne here in Hert
ford.. : . 1 '
, Associate Editor Collier's
Mr. Saunders once worked on the
Ji New York American, and for a time
I-, was also associate editor of Collier's
. Magazine. He was a member of the
State House - of Representatives in
Itollr-. and, drew ntk '.there for his
,' flhique pMSentation ; f0i without
v- several articles for . national., .hiagm
- sines, '. including . his . "Autobiography
t ,; of a -Crank," which appeared in .the
American Magazine back in the
" . 19208. Also among bis contributions
-t.-rwas "I Feel '". like A Mail Again,?
which appeared in . the December,
987,. issue . o Nation's Business,
1 . ; written some time after the collapse
., -, f The Independent when ' Saunders
said he felt like a new man with a
freedom from the : multitudinous
cares of business ownership " and
management that have plagued me
for nearly 80 years."
He went to Wftshington then-and
.became a freelance writer, still con-
' tributing to national magazines.' : In
1938 W established a news and fea
ture service in Washington. ,
It failed after .time, and at his
a death he - had a position ' with the
WPA and" waft secretary .pf the Great
er Albemarle Association.'
. What Other Writers Said ,
: Said he Virginian Pilot Friday i
"W, 0. was born in Jiumble , sur-
Coach Johnson Makes
Athletic Awards At
Student Assembly
Letters for participation in athle
tics for Perquimans County High
School boys were given this week by
Coach Jimmy Johnson. The presen
tations were made at student assem
bly. Football letters were awarded to
Zack Harris, Clarke Stokes, Bill Cox,
John Wood, Richard Spivey, Douglas
Elliott, Emmett Landing, 0. B. Wins-
low, Guy Webb, D. J. White, Matt
Spivey, Percy Byrum and Manager
HarreM Johnson.
Basketball awards were made to
George Fields, Zack Harris, Clarke
Stokes, Joe Nowell, Francis Nixon
and Billy Blanchard.
Jack and Alton Munns were award
ed letters for boxing.
The following Uoys, Worth Dail,
Jimmy Felton, Dan Berry and Pres
ton CopeJand were eligible for boxing
awards but will not receive them un
til next year.
Local Politics
Now Wallowing In
Low-Pressure Area
Campaign Managers,
However, Holding
Public's Feet to the
Fife as Primary Elec
tion Looms
Interest in local polidts has hit
the seasonal low pressur area be-
?rtfee the final ffliaf dttfeiand
Tfcwtof the"aiut-(eiV
Waif a dozen campaign managers
(official and unofficial), . however.
are keeping the more prominent is
sues foremost in the public's mind,
Any gathering of more than three
people (of which two are campaign
managers) is a large enough audience
to bring on the extolling of virtues
and comparative merits.
If more than the three outstanding
gubernatorial contestants for th.e
Democratic nomination; namely, Hor
ton, Broughton and MaxweM, have
appointed field representatives in the
Precinct of Perquimans this paper
has not been notified.
Each of the three appears to have
one official manager; Charles John
son, T. B. Sumner and J. E. Wins
low, respectively, and two or three
unofficial (though equally enthusias
tic) supporters.
Most any store on Church Street,
and the Idler's Bench on the court
house green are the storm centers
where fine merest mention of
one candidate is the signal for a
heated defense on the part of
another.
Until the township rallies take a
definite place in the menu of politi
cal courses, the quintet of candidates
for Qerquimans Place in the House
are more or less in the background.
The time-worn query "Who do you
think will be in the run-off?" is
simply grounds for a question in
reply "What do you think?"
As to Perquimans County's nine
candidates for the five places on the
County Board of Commissioners, all
is quiet on the Western and South
ern and Eastern and Northern
Fronts. While two members of the
incumbent board will not be' contest'
ed, the remaining seven, with fights
on fcehands, h
no issues to tempt : tototiMB.l tW or
sS : .Tnoaff.'cjaset w n' ponct;-f,roKw
nettaewnally; tmA.
earnest aria1 looking fbrWard io
one of the warmest primaries in his'
tory ;t seven candidates for' gov
ernor, five for 'representative;! and
nine for the-county comniission7;
Two Rabies Inspectors
Handling Yaccinatiohs
i:l Ths is dog vaccination season in
Perquinians"C6unty;:I&;if .
, G, ' C. 'Buck has been officially
appointed ; as Babies Inspector ,to
vaccinate oil dogs in Hertford and
On the south side of the- Perquimans
Notices will be no&ted at different'
places as to when andv wre ;' llr::
buck 'Win do lor ine purpose ox vac
cinating"dogs;V:: -:.: . , r . '
Anyone on either side, of , the river
wishlflg the d services of the .other
Babies InspectorA. AV; Noble, may
secure lis services ; by ; making i :iar
rangements 'with. :? him .or j: bringing
;dogs to him. Mr. Noble is'atWins-
low's 'Store in Hertford on Satur
New President Of
County Council HOC
Named Saturday
Mrs. L J. Winslow Is
Elected to Replace
Mrs. J. M. Fleetwood,
Resigned
Mrs. L. J. Winslow of Belvidere,
was elected president of the County
Council of Home Demonstration
Clubs at a meeting held in the Agri
culture Building last Saturday after
noon. She succeeds Mrs. J. M. Fleet
Wood, who resigned last month be
cause of illness in her family.
All twelve demonstration clubs
were represented at the meeting, ac
cording to Miss Frances Maness,
demonstration agent; Ballahack, Bel
videre, Bethel, Chapanoke, Durants
Neck, Helen Gaither, Home and Gar
den, Whiteston, Winfall and Burgess
being present one hundred percent.
Mrs. J. B. Basnight presided in the
absence of Mrs. Fleetwood.
A report from the Health Leader
of each club was heard and the
Council decided to sponsor a moving
picture show in the near future.
Plans were also laid for a tour to
Old Williamsburg during the sum
mer, and it was decided that if
enough members were interested in
the trip, they would visit the Caverns
of Virginia in the fall.
The Home and Garden Club gave
a program. Mrs. Norman Elliott
gave a talk on "Hobbies", and Mrs
Wilson Reed talked on "The Golden
Touch." Mrs. William Tucker sang,
Miss Alice R. Tudor, director of
the Virginia Electric and Power
Company's Home Service Depart
ment, discussed Kitchen Arrange
ment with Council members.
Vi!l Op:n Bids On
lb
Work Saturday
The County Board of Education
will open bids at two o'clock tomor
row (Saturday) on construction of
the Hertford Grammar School alter
ations and auditorium addition.
Bids will be received ;until two
o'clock on that day on three distinct
jobs; (a) The General Construction
and Electrical work, (b) The installa
tion of the Heating System, (c) The
installation of the Plumbing System.
According to Superintendent F. T.
Johnson, secretary of the board,
construction work will probably start
at the Hertford Grammar School the
following week, as soon as the school
closes for the season.
IWdllllldl OUI
TAKE 'EM TO PRISON AFTER DARK
First-Termers should be committed
to the State's Prison only after dark,
To all outward appearances, Dock
Phelps, Joe Eoughton, Oscar Bogue
and Shelby Casper, sentenced to serve
not less than nine years among them,
were average young men last Thurs
day . afternoon like the kind you
see everywhere until the forbidding
walls and towers of the Central Pris
on, in Raleigh came into view.
Then all kidding 'Conversation
among the four youths expired like
a, last drawn breath.
,V; From the scene of their crime and
the 'place of their trial in Perquimans
Then all pretense at bracado, if it
was', acting, was gone, and at that
moment they conjured up nothing
but pity in the two men whose duty
it was to deliver them to the warden.
At that moment they were nothing
more than four scared youngsters
getting for the first time the real
significance of "two to three years
at hard labor." ; ,r
The first sight of the prison did it.
Phelps, Roughton, Bogue and Cad-,
per, all between u.nty and thirty1
years of age, were ' convicted of
breaking and entering. Judge John
J' Burney pronounced.; the sentence
)h Perquimans County Superior Court
early in April ten days after the
crime took place.
- Thetrip to. Rejefglt was a lark;
they ate 25 hot dogs and four big
apple-jacks at Bethel; washed down
with four big bottles of soda pop; all
of it bought .by Sheriff J. Emmett
Winslow, of Hertford J -who' -humanly
sawyno need to curb their epiritS. He
Pavilion Hearing
Completion; Soon
Ready For Some Use
Sewer Line Still Where
It Was; ' Pavilion Is
Much Larger Than
Appears From Distance
As soon as the paint dries in the
pavilion o,ut at the end of the board
walk the new recreation pier will be
ready or use. That is, it will be
ready to walk on and sit down on
and look at the, river. The sewer line
is just where it was at first under
the bathhouses ant! shore end of the
pier.
River scenery enthusiasts have re
marked that the harshness of the
barn-like structure at the shore-end
will probably be softened by weather
after a spell, and then will fit better
into the picture of the river.
Fixtures have not been installed in
the bathhouses and locker rooms and
shower rooms, but the shell of the
whole layout is completed. The
handrails are up, the stairways are
down to the river at two different
levels, attractively-arranged piles at
the deep end jut up above the board
walk floor inviting boats to tie up.
The open air pavilion at the far
end is equipped with benches all
around the four sides. It is much
larger than it appears to be from a
distance.
Electrical fixtures have not been
installed, and steps leading to the
pier from Grubb Street have not
been built. It is understood that the
river end of Grubb Street where it
slopes down to the river shore will
be filled in level with the boardwalk.
The shallow levels of the river
bottom, two feet and (ess, are part
sand base and suitable for bathing
if oneican ignore the presence of the
sewer line. The river-bottom, where
the wftterja deeper, is verj muddy.
Attend Funeral Serviced
Held In Elizabeth City
A number of people from Pender
Road section attended the funeral
services for Raymond Henderson,
held in Elizabeth City, Wednesday.
Those attending were Mr. and Mrs.
Reuben StaMings, Mrs. R. A. Perry,
J. B. Perry, Mr. and Mrs. W. M.
Harrell, Willie Manning Harrell, J.
E. Eaves, Mrs. C. M. Umphlett.
Louis Eaves and Miss Adelaide
Eaves.
Burial was made at Wilson and
was attended by Mr. and Mrs. Stall
ings, Mrs. Umphlett and Miss Eaves
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
Mr. and Mrs. William Overton an
nounce the birth of a son, Luther
James, on Friday, April 19th.
enough. He has delivered First-
Termers at the State's Prison be
fore.
So the .boys kidded each other un
mercifully for individual roles in the
robbery of the New Hope Mercantile
and Milling Company and for blun
ders made later. They had a mar
velous trip in general . . . regardless
of the handcuffs.
It was difficult for the writer,
who accompanied the four and the
Sheriff, to see the First-Termers as
criminals, as enemies of society, as
young men who have to be put away
from contact with law-abiding folk.
They chattered endlessly all the way
to Raleigh. and the. Sheriff and the
demity joined horffettfaur now. and
WHiihen that rit;wK.;: group of six
heading 1 for,?, 8Mc4batt" game m
iChanel Hill'lir-IDtoliart. U,'- 2.
theyaMdi ihe prisfa
Cfafter darV thMown would pro
bably never have' come; they would
never have seen the prison in the
distance as one approaches it along
a street which leads directly through
the outside gates.
"Well, there it is," said Roughton.
It was . the last word, spoken among
them until the warden asked some
brief questions. You could see then
that all the lighter talk had been
merely a cover-up for much deeper
emotions.
"Follow me,", a prison employee
commanded after the handcuffs were
snapped off, and after Warden Wil
son had read the committment pa
pers, given Sheriff Winslow a re
ceipt for , "four men", and asked
"which one is Dock Phelps?"
Phelps, the oldest, had long been
tagged as the ring-Header of the
group and had drawn a heavier sen
tence than the others; and in that
simple manner Phelps; Roughton,
Bogue and Casper ceased to 'be
American eftisens. for the next two
VACATION FOR TWELVE HUNDRED WHITE
SCHOOL CHILDREN BEGINS NEXT FRIDAY
County Farmers Order
57,000 Pounds Austrian
Winter Peas, Last Week
Orders went in last week for 57,000
pounds of Austrian Winter Peas, ac
cording to L. W. Anderson, county
agent. That's 570 bags to cover in
dividual orders for 225 Perquimans
County farmers.
The peas will arrive here in May
or June to be planted next Septem
ber by farmers carrying out the soil-building-
program in order to get
their conservation payments.
Perquimans County farmers, Mr.
Anderson added, have used 2,100
tons of lime in meeting the require
ments of the program. Lime was
furnished by the Triple-A and
amounted to between 40 and 45 car
loads. Low Income Farm
Grower To Get Free
Bed Mattresses
Part of Plan to Do Away
With Nation's Cotton
Surplus; Idea Started
In Texas
Perquimans County is now included
in a project to reduce the cotton sur
plus and provide free mattresses for
farm families in the low income
group.
The project, according to L. W.
Anderson, county agent, started in
five counties in North Carolina as an
experiment. Launched originally in
Texas by a home demonstration
agent several months ag4, the project-,
is. now expanding 'throughout
most of the United States and
through most of the counties of
North Carolina.
Here is the way it works:
When orders amounting to 120
mattresses are placed by farm fami
lies whose gross income totals less
than $400 a year, fifty perc.nt of
which is gained from direct agricul
tural pursuits, the Surplus Commodi
ties corporation win recognize an or
der from Perquimans County for
1,200 yards of ticking and 12 bales
of cotton.
Miss Frances Maness, demonstra
tion agent, and Miss Ruth Davenport,
county welfare officer, according to
Mr. Anderson, who is working on the
project with the Triple A and the
Extension Service, will handle the
applications for free , mattresses.
They are not ready to receive appli
cations yet, but probably will be
within the next few weeks, Mr. An
derson said.
Accepted applicants will make
their own mattresses; the sponsors
wfll provide quarters, material and
supervision and instruction. An ex
pert in the mattress-making art will
give instructions to the leaders in
several nearby counties, who, in
turn will instruct those to be in
charge of the project.
Five or six NYA employees will be
connected with the wdrk; partly in
instruction and partly in clerical
work connected with the project.
The County will probably be asked
to help with rent and lights and
storage and other incidental expen
ses the project will incur, but the
mattresses will reach the low income
farm class at certainly no more than
a dollar each, Mr. Anderson said, at
no cost whatsoever, if possible.
,4v Fifty.pounds of. surplus cotton will
&hfa$ makOftlress.
Cfeetentfed Aiid Fifty
Voters Registered '
Mrs. B. G. Koonce, registrar for
Hertford Township, had registered
150 eligible voters at noon Tuesday.
One hundred and thirty of these had
called at the courthouse and declared
their party affiliations on Saturday.
The other twenty had registered on
Monday.
Mrs. Koonce is in the courthouse
on Saturdays only, but says she will
be glad to register anyone at any
time and she can be reached at her
home.
She, says she is expecting to make
a canvass of tlie part" of Hertford
Township outside thexcity limits.
Hertford Township has been known
to cast 800 or 900 votes; at the
present rate, it is lfkely that consid
erably less than this number will
register between now and the pri
mary. .' v. ' r
Mrs. W: E. White's was.: the first
Graduation Week Exer
cises Get Under Way
With Baccalaureate
Sermon Sunday Night
69 GRADUATES
Broughton Will Deliver
Graduation Address;
Negro Schools Closed
Yesterday; Class Day
Exercises Thursday
Twelve hundred Perquimans Coun
ty schools children more or less, in
cluding little Vera Bright, who did
better than ninety-five on every sub
ject, and Joe Dope, who made the
lowest averages ever recorded, will
troop homeward Way 10th to the
usual four months vacsLon that leads
back to the usual next term.
The baccalaureate sermon, to be
preached by the Reverend K. F.
Munns, pastor of the Hertford Meth
odist Church, will be delivered in the
high school auditorium on the com
ing Sunday evening at 6 o'clock.
School does not close then; the
season is not officially ended until
Mr. J. M. Broughton, Raleigh attor
ney, delivers the graduation address
on the following Friday nihgt, May
10th, also at 8 o'clock, according to
Superintendent F. T. Johnson, head
of all the county's schools.
Note that it's "J. M. Broughton,
Raleigh attorney," not "J. M.
Broughton, candidate for governor."
It is the same Mr. Broughton, but
this isn't a campaign speech.
This is the night of the graduation
exercises, when Mr. T. S. White,
chairman of the board of education,
hands out diplomas and the speaker
of the evening shakes hands with all
the graduates. Last year it was
Professor J. L. Memory of Wake
Forest. v.. .
Class Day exercises are on Thurs
day night, May 9th. Diplomas have
been ordered for 69 graduates. It
isn't the largest graduating class in
the school's history, it has graduated
more than seventy, but it is one of
the largest, according to Mr. John
son. The number includes 42 girls
and 27 boys.
The colored schools, the Hertford
High School and the Winfall Train
ing School, ended the current season
last night (Thursday).
Eleanor Roosevelt
To Talk (Over Radio)
At P. T. A. Dinner
Dinner at Woman's Club
House May 20 to In
augurate Week of
Project Visiting
The WPA dinner in Hertford, one
of several thousand such dinner to
be held throughout the United States
on the evening of May 20th, will be
served in the Woman's Club House
on Academy Street at 7:30 o'clock.
A radio receiving set will be in
stalled in the Club House for the
occasion and tuned to a national
chain hook-iyi for a speech by Mrs.
Roosevelt, wife of the President, and
other national figures who will speak
at nine o'clock.
Mrs. B. G. Koonce is in charge of
the program committee, and a short
talk, it is understood, will be given
by Mayor Vivian N. Darden. . Every
invited; to attend the dinner.
Mrsljf jH. Small is m charge1 "of the: '
ticket committee and has already
placed the tickets on sale. ..'';.
Among those who are" especially
invited to attend, are WPA workers,
their families and friends, those who
have sponsored WPA projects, and
particularly, the community's mer
chants who feel that the program is
benefitting the county.
May 20th and the dinner at the
Woman's Club House marks the be
ginning of WPA Homecoming Week
which closes on the 25th of May.
During this week, it is understood,
the WPA wants every one to visit the
projects and to see just what is go
ing' on.
HELEN MAE WHITE CHOSEN
MAJORETTE OF H. S. BAND
Miss Helen Mae White, daughter
of Mr: and; t $ira. B. A. White of
Hertford,' was selected majorette of
the' Paremimana, High. School band on
Monday, t y f V'
Helen Mae . Is a member of the
Junior class, election was made by
it
; (Continued on Page Five)
Si days.OW? I knew the
let-down wouW oome Jfloon
years. "
members tot "the faculty j
3;
!