S.F. Hook Fined a Penny for Beating Robert Sooutherland, Who Made Improper Proposals to 6-Year-Old Girl, April 27, 1926

Wilmington Man Held in Prison. . . Robert Southerland Is Charged with a Most Serious Crime

Wilmington, April 26—Robert Southerland, young white man, was jailed today on a charge of assault on a white girl to the extent of making improper proposals to a six-year-old girl. Her father, S.F. Hook, had been fined a penny in recorder’s court for assaulting Southerland. The young man was unable to raise the required bond and is in jail.

Southerland, according to evidence brought out at the trial of Hook, was identified by the child. Her father immediately attacked him, administering a terrible beating in the youth.

From the front page of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, April 27, 1926

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Goldsboro Paper Claims It Has Most Law-Abiding City in the State, April 27, 1926

Goldsboro Is the Most Law Abiding City in the State

Goldsboro is becoming a better city, as well as a larger one.

The News is in position to vouch for this and points to the fact that Mayor Zeno Hollowell had only one case in his court on Monday morning, as concrete evidence that Goldsboro people are growing better and better as the days pass and that there is not a more law-abiding city of 20,000 souls in the United States.

And this lone offender wasn’t charged with being drunk or disorderly or raising old Ned in general, but faced only a charge of discharging firearms within the city limits.

For this offense he paid $25 and the costs of the case.

From the front page of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, April 27, 1926

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Large Copper Still Captured in Process of Making Whiskey, April 27, 1926

Another Large Still Is Taken by Officers. . . Raiders from Sheriff’s Office Swoop Down on Plant in Fork Township and Play Havoc with 90-Gallons’ Capacity Copper Still and 18 Barrels of Beer, which Were Found Nearby and Ready to be Used—No One Found at the Plant

Another big illicit distilling plant had apparently been furnishing the rum-guzzlers of this section with whiskey for the past several weeks was late yesterday afternoon located by a force of raiders from Sheriff W. Grant’s office and was destroyed along with 18 barrels of beer, which was just about ready to be turned into corn booze.

The plant, a 90-gallon affair, was found in Fork township where a number have recently been located. It was made of copper and well constructed and had apparently been in operation for quite a while. There was no one present at the time the officer arrived, but tracks of cart wheels lead in every direction.

The beer, which was found nearby, was just about ready to be made into a “run.”

A large amount of paraphernalia used in the distillation of whiskey, including numerous jugs and demijohns, were found in the vicinity.

The remains of the plant, chopped into pieces with axes, was brought to Goldsboro and placed in the jail yard and will be sold as junk copper.

From the front page of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, April 27, 1926

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So were they making beer or whiskey? I couldn’t tell, so I asked AI. Here’s what Copilot said:

“Beer” in moonshining meant fermented mash, not Budweiser

When the article says 18 barrels of beer, it doesn’t mean finished beer. It means cracked corn, water, sugar (often), yeast, and sometimes malt or enzymes, fermented into a low alcohol slurry. Moonshiners called this “beer” or “mash beer.”

This is exactly the same stage that legal distillers call wash or distiller’s beer. It’s usually 6–10% alcohol — just like real beer — but it’s not filtered, carbonated, or drinkable.

Whiskey always starts as this sort of beer. To make whiskey:

1. Make a grain mash.

2. Ferment it into “beer

.” 3. Distill that beer into low wines.

4. Distill again (sometimes) into high-proof spirit.

5. Age it (if you’re legal).

Moonshiners skipped step 5. They sold it clear, unaged, and harsh.

If the still made corn liquor, they’d call it “corn whiskey.” If they added caramel coloring or spices, they might call it “rum.”

Thanks, Copilot!

Flim-Flam Artist Sells Fake Railroad Tickets with Promise of Job in Cleveland, Ohio, April 27, 1926

Blacks Fleeced Out of Big Sum by a Brother. . . Listened to the Sirene Song of Colored Man and Were Stung for $700

Wilmington April 26, (AP)—More than 300 negroes who bought continuous passage “railroad tickets” over the “Seaboard AirLine” from Wilmington to Cleveland, Ohio, for $3 from an unidentified negro, expected to find remunerative employment awaiting them upon arrival, were put off a Seaboard passenger train at Navassa yesterday afternoon and returned to the city, man of them on foot. The police were in quest of the negro “Ponzie” last night, but he, unlike the bad penny, was conspicuous by his absence.

Just how much the traveling agent realized from his ticket sale locally could not be definitely determined, but the amount is believed by the police to have been in excess of $700, since many of his victims, selected as bosses and gang leaders, were required to pay a bigger sum for their tickets.

The confidence man is believed to have limited his activities to Brooklyn. He is known to have circulated hand bills in that section prior to his “clean-up” but he worked so swiftly that police were unable to interfere before he had fleeced his victims and had them on the train.

His story was a very simple one and was accepted at face value. In fact, one negro said that he, fearing all tickets would be sold before he could secure one, fought and clawed his way through the crowd surrounding the agent, in order to give him his money.

His offer was to sell them a railroad ticket to Cleveland for $3 and provide them with employment upon their arrival in that city. They were going as ironworkers at wages ranging from 50 cents to $1 an hour with plenty of overtime if they cared to make it. Furthermore, he was quoted as saying the company had 500 vacant houses at present, and that living conditions were very cheap. It was the biggest opportunity offered. The agent agreed to provide the men with their meals while in transit, this money to be paid back to the company out of the first wages drawn after they went to work.”

From page 5 of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, April 27, 1926

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Editor Asks Congress to Allow World War Veterans Who Fought for U.S. to Enter, April 27, 1926

Admit War Veterans The present immigration law is working very well, on the whole, and accomplishing the purposes it was intended for better than laws usually do. Nobody wants to break it down. There are some slight imperfections, however, that need removing.

There happen to be quite a few veterans of the World War who served in the American army and are now barred from the country under this law. Most of them are aliens who either remained abroad when our forces were ordered home, or have gone abroad since, and who now want to come here, but are barred by full quotas in the countries to which they owe allegiance.

A bill favorably reported to the Senate would let down the bars for such entrants. It is hardly conceivable that many Americans would object to such an act of justice and gratitude. Surely if there is any recommendation for admitting an alien to American opportunity and citizenship, it is that which comes from having fought under the American flag for American ideals.

From the editorial page of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, April 27, 1926

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W.P. Pennings Jr. Member Hole-In-One Club, April 27, 1926

Member of Hole-In-One Club

Rocky Mount, April 26—W.P. Pennings Jr., local high school student, Saturday joined the hole-in-one club when he sank his ball with a single drive on the 130-yard 13th hole of the Denvene Country Club.

From page 5 of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, April 27, 1926

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We're Too Civilized, Too In Love with Luxury, Warns Novelist, April 27, 1926

Over-Civilization Chief Menace to Nation, Says Famous Author

Our civilization carries within it the seeds of its own destruction, think Harold Bell Wright, most popular living novelist. In a recent interview Mr. Wright deplored love of luxury and the falling away from the ideals of the nation’s founders.

“The bitter necessities of their lives, their struggles for existence with nature and with savage enemies, developed physical qualities of endurance and strength which brought with them their moral counterparts. There was no place for the weakling; the dishonest and the degenerate were given short shrift. They physically and morally unfit perished in that early struggle. In the man, it was the men of purpose and strength who survived; who became the nation’s founders.

Today all that is changed. Our vast material development has made life soft. Its prizes are quite as much for the wily as for the strong.

“Two main effects have flowed from this materialism Cunning, in some ?? has superseded moral and mental vigor as a requisite for success. And the idea of an exacting but benevolent God has been thrust back out of the everyday consciousness of the race. Material developments, large cities and buildings, marvelous transportation facilities, and ordered complexity of life, give men the illusion of security, of self sufficiency. It is only with the catastrophes of earthquake, flood or fire that they realize it is an illusion. The ideal of the home is less real since men no longer have to fight to preserve it. The conception of the family as a unit has weakened in proportion as it has ceased to be menaced. Concerning the moral health of nations, it seems that nothing fails like success.”

“What is the remedy for this condition?” we asked.

“The claiming of our inheritance,” replied Mr. Wright. “Our fathers and grandfathers were the pioneers and we are the sons of our fathers. Latent in us are the same qualities which necessity evoked in them. This inheritance is the underlying theme of my last book, “a Son of His Father. We must realize this inheritance; dwell upon it in our thoughts and consciously act upon it.”

“Have we lost a national sense of this inheritance,” we asked.

“It would seem not,” Mr. Wright answered, smiling, “if there is any significance in the number of messages of approval I received when the book was published. People in every part of the country sent me greeting cards. They had caught the plea for a reclaiming of our all-but-lost inheritance which is the underlying ideal of the book. And on these greeting cards, reaching me on holidays and between holidays, they had written a word or two of approval and encouragement. This was a deep pleasure to me. The next best thing to having a message is to know that message has struck home.”

From page 5 of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, April 27, 1926

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