Fred Johnson in Jail for Killing Willie Williams, Nov. 20, 1924

Killer Captured. . . Negro Who Cut Another One to Death Is in Jail

Fred Johnson, the negro man who killed another negro, Willie Williams, by cutting his jugular vein with a razor last Friday night, was captured by the police Monday morning on the Mangum farm in Durham county. He was tried before Mayor Roberson Tuesday, bound over to court, and taken to the jail in Hillsboro.

The killing took place on West Franklin street in front of one of the negro restaurants. When the police arrived Johnson had disappeared. Eye-witnesses told them what had happened.

When Johnson was captured Monday and brought to Chapel Hill, a great crowd of negroes gathered around the jail. The victim of the tragedy was well liked by the negroes of the town, while they feared and disliked Johnson.

From the front page of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Nov. 20, 1924

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R.P. Harris Reports on Marketing of Farm Products, Nov. 20, 1924

Gives Report on Marketing Plan. . . R.P. Harris Submits Statement with Figures to County Commissioners. . . Poultry Chief Product

A report on the marketing of farm products in October was made by R.P. Harris, agricultural teacher in the High school, to the county commissioner at their meeting in Hillsboro last week.

The amount of money taken in during the month, for the products collected by the cooperative truck on the six routes in Orange county, was $2,402.

Gas and oil for the truck cost $21.60. The fees collected from the farmers whose products were sold—small commissions of a cent a dozen on eggs and a proportionate sum for other things—came to $67.72.

The quantities collected and marketed during the month were: fruit, 46 bushels; eggs, 969 dozen; cured meats, 142 pounds; butter, 276 pounds; vegetables, 420 pounds; and poultry, 4,762 pounds.

The vegetables are listed in three divisions because of the different units of weight and measure employed in marketing them.

From the front page of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Nov. 20, 1924

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University Faculty Members Go 'Possum Hunting, Nov. 20, 1924

Faculty Group Hunts Possums. . . Journalism Department Beats School of Commerce in Keeping Its Feet. . . Miss Elliott in Brook

The school of commerce and the department of journalism joined in a ‘possum hunt in the woods east of town Saturday night. Claudius T. Murchison, acting dean of the school of commerce, was the host, but the real boss of the party was Duncan Snipes, the veteran negro hunter who brought along four hounds, a bag for the captives, and a profound knowledge of ‘possum-kind.

Besides Duncan and his dogs, there were six in the party: Mr. and Mrs. Murchison, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Johnson, T. Compton Packenham of the school of commerce faculty, and Miss Guelda Elliott, secretary for the school of commerce.

Fortunately Gerald Johnson had kept enough of his World War khaki uniforms to supply one to his wife; and the other two women were also handsomely fitted out with breeches.

It was noted, before the hunt had been in progress long, that the head of the department of journalism kept his footing much better in the rough woods than did the dean of the school of commerce. Mr. Murchison, although an experienced hunter, tripped again and again over boulders and fallen trees, sometimes going completely down, while Mr. Johnson strode confidently ahead without any such mishaps. This is attributed by his friends to the fact that he has had long experience with night work, and with threading his way through the desks and other obstacles that cluttered up the notoriously overcrowded offices which the Greensboro News occupied until recently.

The hunters started out in the pitch dark soon after 9 o’clock, an hour or more before the moon rose. They trod through the woods, and crossed and recrossed a brook without finding any sign of a ‘possum. But soon after the moon came up the hounds raised a terrific howl, circled around and around a tree, and jumped frantically toward the sky.

The ‘possum was descried on the topmost branch. Duncan ascended the tree, cut off the limb, and the ‘possum fell. The negro had given strict orders that two of the dogs be held tight. But human hands were not equal to the task, and all four pounced upon the prey. The ‘possum was rescued from them before they could dispatch him, and was stuffed into Duncan’s bag.

After midnight, as the weary party was marching homeward, another ‘possum was treed and met the same fate. Both the captives were taken home by the negro as her perquisites.

One of the incidents of the evening’s entertainment was a false step by Miss Guelda Elliott, followed by a plunge into the brook. Luckily the stream was shallow. Another experience that fell to her was being rolled down the hill because she was too conscientious in trying to hold in check one of the enthusiastic hounds.

From the front page of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Nov. 20, 1924

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What Happened to State's Tar and Pitch Industries? Nov. 20, 1924

Tar and Pitch Exhausted

Natural Resources, the bi-weekly publication of the North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey, tells how the tar, pitch, and turpentine industry of North Carolina faded away.

Shipments of naval stores from Wilmington amounted to 537,000 barrels in 1852. In 1920 they had fallen to 3,000 barrels. Forests of pine were slaughtered, and no replanting was done.

“So bountifully was the Coastal Plain provided with pine forests,” says Natural Resources, that for a century and a half the killing of pine trees went ahead in merry fashion, while the supplies of tar, pitch, turpentine, and rosin steadily increased. It looked as though Nature had provided in these forests a store of material so great as to defy the puny gathering of man to materially decrease.

“The long-leaf pine forests put up a brave fight, but the odds were too great. In addition to a method of turpentining which killed in three years, they were ravaged by fires. In addition to fires, lumbering operations frequently made clean sweeps of great areas. In addition to axe and fire, livestock was given free range in the denuded territory, with the result that seedlings that had escaped everything else furnished the tidbit for the voracious appetite of the razorback hog.

“As a result, the naval stores industry is gone, and of approximately 8,300,000 acres of pinelands in the Coastal Plane less than 3 million are in merchantable timber and more than 3,300,000 acres are not producing timber of any kind.

“As a further result of neglect and abuse so thorough as even to destroy the seed trees, at least half of the non-producing 3,300,000 acres are incapable of natural reproduction.

“It is this final result of methods exhibiting almost a genius for waste that is responsible for the waste lands, untimbered and untilled and a tax burden of increasing severity, that gave so much the appearance of a graveyard to vast areas of barrens in the eastern part of the State.”

From page 4 of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Nov. 20, 1924

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Houdini Appearing at University Nov. 21, 1924

Houdini Tomorrow Night

Houdini, the great magician, will appear in Memorial Hall tomorrow (Friday) night at 8:30. Following an exhibition of his own magic and a talk on the fakes of spiritualist mediums, he will answer questions from the audience. The admission charge is $1, and tickets may be obtained from the Y.M.C.A.

From the front page of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Nov. 20, 1924

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Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Alderman Visiting Her Sister, Nov. 20, 1924

Aldermans on Visit Here

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Alderman of Greensboro and their daughter Frances came to Chapel Hill Sunday for a few hours’ stay. They were accompanied by Mademoiselle Suzanne Stick, Mrs. Alderman’s sister, who came over from France a few weeks ago, and by Miss Marguerite Alderman. Frances Alderman is 3 ½ years old. When she was in Chapel Hill last spring it was chronicled that she spoke English and French alternately, with equal facility, but it appears that she has about given up French now. Her unwillingness to speak the language Sunday may have been due, however, to her not liking the queer sounds made by a Chapel Hillian who sought to address her in what he thought was French.

From the front page of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Thursday, Nov. 20, 1924

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G.M. Braune, University Dean, Doing Better, Nov. 20, 1924

G.M. Braune Back, Better

Gustave M. Braune, dean of the University’s school of engineering, got back from Alabama last week. He looks well and is 20 pounds heavier than when he went away. After being under the care of a specialist in Birmingham, he spent several days with his sister in Tuscaloosa.

From page 2 of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Thursday, Nov. 20, 1924

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