Novel is engrossing, chilling
I don’t know how many at you law any of
the nine eplaodea of "Captains And The
Kings" on NBC-TV’s Best SeUers. but every
one ehould road Taylor Caldwell’s 818 page
novel upon which the TV eerles was based.
It Is reaUy frightening.
’Hie premise Is old u the hills: power
corrupto and absolute power corrupts ab
solutely.
’Hie story follows one Joseph Francis
Xavier Armagh who arrives at New York
harbor in the mld-l8B0’s with his mother, six
year old brother and newly bom sister.
Joseph Is 18-yeare old at the time and as
tough as a plneknot.
Joo’e "dada” has preceded the family to
America and Is supposed to be doing well.
However, the real truth Is that In that era the
Irish were a hated breed In the Land of ’The
Free «uid many of them fared not-too-well.
Daniel Armagh la dead and mi shipboard,
seveiiy hemoraglng, his wife dies leaving
young Joseph to promise to always look after
hla brother and sister.
From that day forward Joseph denies
himself severely to make his fortune and
€DITORIt^L<J&OmiOM9
Page 44 Thursday, January 13, 1977
Natural gas supply is
reaching crisis stage
Ain’t It cold?
It surely to and diat means we’ve run to the thermostat more often.
Now we are In a crisis situation as far as natural gas to concemed.^toy, the
Federal Power .Commission will bo approached by Sra. Morgari,
Congressman Jim BroyhlU and other Interested North Carolina factions to seek
additional natural gas suppUos for the state. ^ ^ .
Piedmont Natural Gas announced Wednesday they plan to cut off all of their
industrial users next ’I\iesday If the FPC does not allow the state additional gas.
How this will effect ’Transco at this point to not known, but this to the one wo are
particularly Interested in for Kings Mountain.
]^ck In December the FPC cut allocations for this season by 20 percent. 0^
oven later last month announced another curtailment. Fortunately, the FPC
stayed Its own order on the cut.
Kings Mountain has managed to got along pretty smoothly on Its llml^
natural gas allocations oven with a 20 percent cut, which to lower than the
previous season’s allotment. The city can call on the peak shaving plant for up to
26 percent augmentation of the city gas supply. For this wo are thankful.
However, should the FPC not give consideration to the plea today for ad
ditional natural gas for the state and Piedmont Natural Gas does make good Its
promise next Tuesday, can a further reduction In the ’Transco supply be far
behind? If this does happen, the local commercial and Industrial users, and
possibly the homoowhors. will find themselves In for a rou^ time.
In the meantime the suggestion for gas users to refrain from running ther-
moetata hl^or than usual to ward off the cold to stiU very vaUd. Keep your
thermostats low and wear a sweater while at home. It could help tremendously to
keep the natural gas flowing a bit longer this winter season.
LOOKIMG
BI^CK
FROM THE JAN. U, IMT EDITION
OF THE KIN08 MOUNTAIN HERALD
John L. McQUl, partner In Kings Mountain
Drug Co., haa been appointed chalmuui of
Kings Mountain Housing Authority. He was
appointed to a five-year term.
Dan M. Finger, President of L. A. Hoke
Electric Co., will be Installed as President of
the Kings Mountain Klwanto Club Thursday
night at 6:46 p. m. at the Woman’s dub.
provide for the care of hto family. Thla or
deal marks die young tod from the beginning
and by the time he has made his fortune It la
too late for him to change.
’Die frightening part comes when Joseph
makes It to the Inner circle. ’The circle la
comrvlaed of the richest and most powerful
men In the world. They are the Rockefellers,
the Morans, etc. Ms. CaldweU proposes,
through the cheuractera, that the world la
actually held within the grip of a few men
who sit about their conference tables In New
Yorit and In London and ultimately decide
which directions the world amd the course of
history will take.
’Ihe Inner circle decides when the world
will be at war, who wlU be the aggressor and
which nation will be crushed.
This fictional story shows the dvll War
was not a war against a nation to free en
slaved men, but a war of profit for the Inner
clrele, pure and simple.
Assassination, too. Is a tool the Inner circle
employs to make sure their plans come to
Mrs. Athlene Smith, sales representative
of the Charlotte office of Reynolds and Oo.,
will lead the first of three investment
courses ’Tuesday night at the Woman’s Club.
SOaAL AND PERSONAL
Beverly Diane Strewart, daughter at Mr.
and Mrs. Ralph B. Stewart, will celebrate
her 10th birthday Monday. A party for 10
children wlU be held Saturday afternoon at
the Stewart home on Floyd St.
Mrs. J. B. Herndon, presented the
program, ‘"The Development of Music and
Art, at Wednesday’s DAR meeting at the
home Of Mrs. W. L. Mauney.
Thomas Jeffrey Ballard, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Bud Ballard, celetorated his eighth
birthday Tuesday at a family party at hto
home at 701 Woodslde Drive.
R£I^D€R DIMOGUG
I am a child of God
To the editor,
* I am a child of Ood, an American, a
mother, a Bi^tlat and I am proud to be all of
these. My country was founded on the rights
of freedom to worship Ood. Thanksgiving
Day was set aside to thank Ood for what he
haa done for us during the year. Christmas
Day Is supposed to be Christ’s birthday and
Barter the day he arose from the dead.
If all of thla Is true why to someone trying
to take the freedom of prayer from us?
I read an article In The Virginia Pilot
dated December 84, 1876, which said the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System had
stopped lunchtime prayer In the elementary
school.
Since I am from Kings Mountain and still
have family members there. It really
bothers me about this creeping tide against
prayer. Ood made me free and that freedom
to being taken away If. I cannot pray In
school, on the street or anywhere I choose.
Come on Children of Ood, let’s put Ood, the
Bible and prayer back Into the sehooto before
It Is too late.
MBS. NINA HENDl^
Virginia Beach,
TOM
McltITVRe
past. Lincoln and Oarfleld, early Presidents,
according to this novel, got In the way of
progress.
Joseph’s eon, Rory, whom the old man
declares will "be the first Irish Catholic
President of The United States’’ Is also
brought down on the eve of his Democratic
nomination to seek The Presidency. The
tamer circle wanU Woodrow Wilson to be
elected because they feel ha la such a simple
Thanks to the people
Dear Editor,
I want to thank the people who were
concerned and offered their help for
motorists Monday morning during the snow.
I do not know thetar names but they were
(4>prectoted and we thank them, those of us
stranded at the bridge between Bethwsre
and Four Points Oroceiy Store were taken
care of by some good cltlsens of Oak Grove
and Patterson Grove communities. Also,
they looked out after the children who got off
the bus at the bridge. We all started walking
but they carried us to our destination.
MRS. HOWARD McKEE
Rt. S
man that he can be gilded.
The Inner circle continually harps on the
plan to take the minting of money out of the
hands of Congress and placing It In the hands
of the bankers. It happens eventuaUy.
MS. CaldweU weaves a pretty complete
and fascinating tale In her numerous pages
and the portions dealing with her fictional
tamer circle are based on factual accounts of
the banking Industry, the Industrialists and
the other rich and powerful families In
history. Shs even suggests the pubUc read
some of these factual works and supplies the
reader with titles and authors.
The parts of the novel pertaining to the
buying and selling of Congressmen to do the
bidding of the inner circle and the low regard
In which the circle holds the poor wlU make :
you angry.
"AU the American pe<gde want are slogans ;
and patriotic music,’’ the circle says. "’Tall ;
them the truth and they wiU kUl you."
Ms. CaldweU’s novel completely shatters |
the popular theory we have today that If we ;
elect a rich man he won’t rob us. According ;
to her characters the only thing In life worth '
striving for la power. Power, through riches,
to mold and shape the course of mankind.
Anyone who tries to oppose thla system to ■
called an anarchist and In the hands of j
anarchist, or so-caUed, are found the :
aasaaalnatlon weapons that have cut dosm
historical figures aU over the world.
As Joseph Armagh says, ‘"nie anarchist’s
finger might be on the trigger, but It was the
tamer circle that put the gun In his hand."
"Captains And Ths Kings" la a thoroughly
engrossing novel. Bngrosring and chilling.
There have been many stories about one
group or another plotting to take over the
world, but tai the climax the hero always
prevents this slngde-handedly. We know
from the very beginning that world conquest
at the hands of vllUans such as "Goldftaiger"
and "Dr. Mabuse" Is not to be. But the
conspirators In Ms. Caldwell’s novel are not
of tliM larger than life Uk. ’They prefer to
remain very much hidden and carrying on
bualneas as their grandfathers and fathers
before them.
Possibly the TY aeries on "Captains And
The Kings" will be repeated and you should
see It. However, the TV aeries does not even
scratch the surface of Thylor Caldwell’s
novel as far as the worifings of the powerful
are concerned. By all means read the novel.
It causes the mind to boggle, as they say In
Btaigllah detective stories.
Day Fort Fisher feU
m
€D
9MITH
On January 16, 1866, Fort Fisher fell to
Union forces cdter the heaviest naval
bombeu'dment ever seen on the American
continent.
Situated near the mouth of the C^>e Fear
River, the fort has been called "TTm
Gibralter of America." Its capture sealed off
Wilmington, the tost Important seaport
available to the Confederacy for supply by
blockade runners.
A huge Federal fleet had steamed Into
position off the fort on December 34 but their
attack — like earlier ones — had been
repulsed by ths Southern defenders under
Colonel William Lamb. On January 12 an
even stronger fleet returiMd. After an In
tense three-day bombardment. Union troops
landed, stormed the walls and, after some of
the fiercest hand-to-hand combat of the war,
overwhelmed the garrisoiL
Fort Fisher’s fall, and the subsequent loss
of Wilmington, are regarded by historians as
sealing the doom of ths already badly —
weakened Confederacy.
-oOo-
’Ihe University of NOrth Chroltaia, ths
nation’s oldest state university, opened Its
doors on January 16, 1796, with Governor
Richard Dobbs Spalght and other dlgnltarlsa
present.
The iMw "school of classical studies’’ eras
located on a wooded hill near New Hope
Chapel, hsnos Its eventual name of Chapel
Hill. The school boasted two buUdtaigs, one
professor and no studentsi Within a month,
however, a total of 74 had enrolled.
The Rev. David KSr was given the title of
acting president, "temporary use of the
president’s house,’’ and an annual salary of
gSOO. For this he was required to superintend
The Poet’s
>"’Cornera
IS
aU studies, perform morning and evening
prayer, and "exsunlne each student every
Sunday evening on the prlnctolo* ol Botany, -
Zoology, Mineralogy, Architecture and
Commerce,” as well as teach all other
subjects offered.
Within one year, however, poor, over
worked Dr. Ker was discharged for being too
"radical.”
-oOo-
On January 12, 1866, the first X-ray
photographs In nredlcal history were taken
on the campus at Davidson College.
Only a week earlier, the German phyalelst.
Dr Wilhelm Roentgen, had announced his
"accidental discovery" of what he called
"X’’-rays while experimenting with cathode
tubes.
Dr. Henry Louis Smith, a Davidson
physics and astronomy professor (he was
later president of the college), fired a pistol
bullet Into the tand of a cadaver, then took a
16 minutes eiqMsure to find Its exact
location.
Inter It was discovered that three of hto
studenU, as a nUdnlght prank, had sUpped
Into the lab and taken several exposures at
an even earlier date!
-oOo-
Benjemtai Smith of Brunswlek County,
governor of the state In ino-U was bom ot
January 10,1766.
A hot-tempersd man. Smith fought s
number of duels and was twice wounded.
During the American Revolution he served
as an aide to General George Washington.
Awealthy lilantsr. Smith was owner of ths
tomed Orton Plantation and was considered
one of UNCs greatest early benefactors. He
donated some 80,000 acres of land for sale to
help ssUbUdi the isilveralty.
Ironically Smith died ( In 1886) In
debtors’ prison!
Died January 0, 1863, Congressman
Lmuel Sawyer, author of "Blackbsard,’’
which was ths first play written by s native
North Carolinian with a NoKh Carolina
setting and characters.
The play, which was publtohsd In 1834, was
not about the pirate of that nams but was
tawtead a fOur-act comedy about polities of
the period.
JU8TABOOM
JUst a room with electric outlets,
A radioanda TV set.
A what-not stand with this and that,
A rocking chair where she once sat.
Four walls, a window and a door,
A celling overhead, a cot iq>on the floor.
She didn’t ask for anything noore.
A mantle on the waU, an old clock to set,
Aplcture or two to let her not forget.
There must emne a sunrise end a sunset.
Ths curtains were hanging In beautiful array.
As she expected a visitor that day.
A lonely little mother Just across the way.
A lesson like this Its taken me to learn,
A star In my crown I’ve failed to earn.
If I could forgot as easily as aha forgave
Iwould’ve made the visit while she yet lived.
Yes, alessonllke this forme to team.
Aster In my crown I’ve failed to earn.
EVEBBTTE H. PEARSON
THE SNOW LOVERS BIADE OVER HIM
A snowman suddenly appeared on the lawn
As though he had dropped from the sky.
Well, In fact you know that he rode
In on the snoarftoke fly.
Softly stood very dignified
Wearing a hat with a buttoned coat,
Gtoves on hla large hands
A red scarf tied around hto throat.
Large feet were planted firm
With high boots to hold him straight.
Ho appeared as alive as anyone would
Standing near the garden gate.
’The Bky was gray and bending low
With mowftokea swirling down,
Mr. Snowman had a fair chancs to live
Before melting down Into a mound.
Pretty mowftokes wrapped him twiderly
In a soft blanket ot white,
TO keep him cool, aafs and secure
Throughout the stariass night.
But alas, when the sun came out
To sse ths anowmanln ths mow.
He took one look and east a beam,
"Mr. Snowman You "gotta" go.”
Tb the gray dimuty of hto admirers
Mr. Snowman confronted a toe.
He shrank right down tai hla big boots
Beside the gate In the melting mow.
VIVIAN STBWART BILTCLIFrB