Salisbury Had a Big
Fourth. . . Fine Parade, Big Dinner, Aeroplane, Speech by Overman and Rowan’s
Hero
W. Thomas Bost, Rowan’s entertaining writer, came over to
represent the Greensboro News and furnished it with the following, almost
verbatim, statement of our big event of Friday.
Salisbury took this grand day of prize fighting and the
incident of patriotism and made them serve the Rowan soldiers who have returned
from wandering on a foreign strand as Mr. Scott once called it.
And Salisbury turned up an individual hero whom Rowan offers
as the equal of Sergeant York. Private William B. Lyerly, who dragged in with
another companion, 100 Germans, came down from his home in upper Rowan with
John J. Pershing’s decorations on him and credentials signed by Black Jack. The
historical imagination had been previously turned on Soldier York, otherwise
the startling achievement of Soldier Lyerly would have Gotham yallers clamoring
for his picture.
Without this the Rowan celebration might have been one of
the thousand this day being executed the country over. Rowan had its most
distinguished man in public life. Senator Lee S. Overman, four bands giving the
music and one aeroplane doing high atmospheric stunts. It had 5,000 fried
chickens on the tables, a fair ground full of soft drink bottles, had the
prettiest woman population, to its inches, anywhere this side of the other
side.
Senator Overman’s speech was the oratorical feature and the
junior member from North Carolina gave his homefolks his best. He did not let
himself out on the great issues, but he showed himself much more sensible by
talking the language of Zion to his people. Never did one get it behind him in
better style.
Mayor W.B. Strachan who dotes on the fact that he has never
talked; presided today and did as good a job introducing as Salisbury ever
heard.
Mayor Frank McNinch of Charlotte, who had promised to come,
had to break the engagement over a desk telephone while the Charlotte
magistrate lay in bed. Senator Overman, surrounded by people who have been
voting for him since the early sixties was there dressed as dapper as ever he
caparisoned himself in the senate. Everybody stood in the big fair building and
wondered how long the Senator’s clean collar would stand up.
The sun on the outside was jumping. In Rowan old Sol always
jumps on hot days. The big building at the fair grounds was flung open and the
air welcomed, but Senator Overman was up against a temperature of 98 and 1,000
people surrounding him.
Senator Overman declared that the fires of patriotism burn
today on the natal day of the republic as ever before. Mayor Strachan a minute
before had given a reason. The boys of ’67 fought for ideals which the soldiers
of the world had established over the world.
And Rowan men anticipated the turn of things Revolutionary,
he intimated. Long before the declaration of independence, Rowan citizens had
met, resolved in almost exactly the language of the Philadelphia convention
which moved directly toward independence. Senator Overman raised no controversy
as to dates. He claimed for North Carolina a general assembly.
For that reason he thought it reasonable to call America the
greatest country in the world, North Carolina greatest of the states, Rowan
greatest of the counties. And he set the audience on edge by telling them that
there was a soldier in the audience whose exploit matched Sergeant York’s.
Senator Overman had a sprinkling of Confederate soldiers
before him. The soldiery of the boys whose return inspired the celebration
today was the equal of the men who represented the south in 1861, he said.
“When our men were called to France, the Germans were near Paris.” The German
and French soldiers always had an objective, and when they had reached it, they
quit. Not so with our boys. When the Germans ran the Americans ran after them
just as you followed the Yankees with the rebel yell after you had made them
run. The old fellows liked to have their memories jogged.
“An Tennessee has her York” he exclaimed, “but we have here
a Rowan county boy who with eight other boys captured 242 Germans,” the senator
said, while the crowd, soaked in perspiration, forgot its good clothes and
began to drum up its rousements.
But while they equaled the soldiery of the Confederacy,
Senator Overman told the fighters they must travel to make the citizenship of
today as fine as that of their fathers. You have come back to the greatest
country in the world, he continued, “have come back with victory and the
applause of all mankind. But your fathers returned not with victory, they came
back to a country as desolate as devastated as Belgium. Our fields were wasted,
there was blood on every doorstep.
“First, in welcoming you back to peace, I would advise you
to get homes. Whether you farm or whatever you do, get your home. It will prove
the greatest cure for this widespread unrest that we have. The agitation
against our government does not come from home-loving and home owning
Americans. That is why in Congress we have thought so much of legislation
looking to the encouragement of men making their homes.”
He declared there is no room in this country for men who
assail American institutions, then seek protection of American courts and
institutions when brought to account. Deportation of aliens who have refused to
become citizens and swear allegiance to America is going on hereafter as never
before, he declared.
“Who will stand up or lift his hand to indicate his
opposition to the league of nations,” he asked, defending the President’s
course in France, and nobody desired to debate it. He declared the league
simply the extension of that larger intelligence which settles rights by court
and disinterested persons rather than by personal violence.
He defended the draft made the “conscript” several degrees
higher than the “convict.” The senator did not appear to be alluding to Champ
Clark. The contention of Mr. Overman was that the draft honored every man and
that no man selected by it was in any sense a conscript.
Here one of the Red Cross workers slipped up behind Senator
Overman and began to minister to him with the fan. The senator’s face was
indicative of great physical draft on him, but he gave no other sign of
distress. And he finished as strong as he began.
Mayor Strachan introduced the women relatives of the Leazer
boys, both of whom died in the service at the front. One was gassed and the
other died of influenza and pneumonia.
Major Max Barker said that the one thing which won the war
was the spirit of the boys who went over there. He told the best war stories
that Salisburians had ever heard.
Private Roy Fisher, who lost an arm in the Argonne forest,
did not pretend to love his German enemies. He was sorry that he had not killed
more than he did, and he saw several fall as the result of his men’s
marksmanship and his own.
William B. Lyerly, of Company D, 120th Infantry, a
nice looking youngster, then presented his record as furnished by the war
department, which is as follows:
The nine boys got displaced or misplaced in some way. They
stumbled into a nest of Germans. Some of the Boch surrendered. One of the boys
could speak German and a captive told him where the other Germans were.
“Another soldier and myself went down and captured 100 of them,” Lyerly said.
That was all the speech he would make.
The band gave a tap and in a jiffy there were 300 fellows
marching to the table. Here 65 canteen workers organized by Mrs. Earnest
Alexander for the colossal job, had pulled up the greatest exhibition of
chicken cookery ever seen in this state.
How the ministry is ever to win back its laurels nobody
knows for these fighters pounced upon these chickens and soon the pile which
had bourne the appearance of a county wide raid on the chicken population
evaporated. The civilians stood back while the soldiers were served, then
everybody was invited up. And all Rowan failed to make way with the dinner.
These canteen workers maintaining their service station
prepared that dinner and sent besides to Azalea more than 100 layer cakes.
Yesterday 1,596 soldiers were served at the station and every day the
organization has gone at top speed. To do on such grand scale what was done
today looked unbelievable in the light of the limited number. But the
exhibition shows for itself.
The canteen workers had chicken, pickles, bred, ham, cake,
cold drinks, ice cream and cigarettes. Fifteen thousand people did their best
to dissolve it.
While the crowd was waiting on the features, the government
airplane was flitting between Salisbury and Statesville. In the morning as the
parade organized, the machine flew for half an hour over Salisbury, doing all
sorts of amazing stunts. One minute it would be down sweeping the dust off the
Grubb building, the next it would scoot halfway to heaven, then as a girl winds
herself in a swing, roll over and over.
The machine dived, rocketed, sideswiped and kicked up. It
landed at the fairgrounds and let the parade out there. It rested half an hour,
then rose at 11:45. As the pilot left the earth he told the ground to be off
the field at a certain time an hour later. The army buzzard flapped her wings,
then sailed to Statesville. Iredell’s capital watched the exhibition and in a
few minutes the machine was back in Salisbury, the aviators doing their best to
remove the chicken at the dinner.
It was the best flying Salisbury has seen. The celebration
was the biggest Rowan ever engineered.
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