Dalton McLeod's Children, Fuquay Springs, N.C., 1935

The children of Dalton McLeod, Fuquay Springs, N.C., taken Sept. 17, 1935. This photo is part of the Library of Congress’ online collection of historical photos. Go to http://www.loc.gov/pictures/ to search the collection.

Even Though Courts Say Student Is White, Wake County Parents Remove Other Students Over Rumor, 1916

“Alleged Mixed Blood Raises Row in School,” from the French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, N.C., September 21, 1916.

Wake County Having Trouble in One School Over Race Question—Appeal Availeth Not

County Superintendent D.F. Giles of Wake County strove to open Mount Vernon school one day last week but when he closed his beautiful appeal to the manhood of the place, parents led away their children and precipitated the old trouble.

The school failed last year when J.R. Medlin’s children, about the likeliest looking to be found, it is said, came for registration. Mr. Medlin’s children were pronounced pure-blooded by the Superior court, by the Supreme court and by all the law that could be scraped up. They were therefore within their perfect rights. But the neighborhood swears by all the horns of the altar that they have an infinitesimal tinge of black blood in them and the community will not support the school.

Last year when Superintendent Giles placed his teachers out there the school broke into hostile camp and a subscription session was taught near that place, which is three miles from Raleigh. It was thought the prejudice was overcome and it was announced that 40 or 50 would stick this year. They did show up, and Mr. Giles is up against immemorial trouble.

The community has not persecuted the Medlins. It has simply refused to attend the school since the Medlin mixed blood controversy arose. When it came up the board of education ruled against the Medlins. They appealed to the Superior court and there the jury deciding the issues of fact pronounced the children of pure blood. The appeal went up and Chief Justice Clark, writing the opinion, relied on the jury. Justice Walker dissented. Yesterday Professor Giles tried to appeal to the community by telling it that its citizenship, good and true, had decided the children all white. The patrons demurred to his flattery. They said the jury had been picked for a peculiar purpose.

Mr. Giles had commissioned Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Hoke to teach the school. These good people are relatives of the soldiers and jurists who bear that name, it is said. The teachers began as though they had never heard of trouble. They weren’t troubling trouble until trouble troubled them. Which was uncommonly early.

Civil War Law Doesn’t Allow Tar Heel Troops to Vote in This Election, 1916

“Tar Heel Troops Can’t Vote on Border,” from the Hickory Daily Record, Sept. 26, 1916

Raleigh, Sept. 25—Chief Justice Walter Clark of the Supreme Court, in a statement answered numerous inquiries, expressed the view that there is no law under which the North Carolina guardsmen now being transported from this state to the Mexican border can vote in the November election.

A state statute under which the Civil War North Carolina troops voted out of the state was limited as to being in force simply to the time peace was decided between the Confederacy and the United States. The chief justice says numbers of other states of the Union have special statutes permitting troops to vote wherever on duty, and some even allowing traveling men to vote by mail from other states.

He advised that the legislature should provide for future voting of North Carolina troops, but this will not cure impending disenfranchisement of about 3,200 guardsmen now leaving the state for the Mexican border in the event they are not returned to the state before election day.

Miss Effie Bond of Angier, N.C., Is Business Woman of Note, 1905

From the Raleigh Enterprise, September 1905

The business woman in the South is not unknown, but they are somewhat scarce. The career of Miss Effie Bond of Angier is worthy of note.

Two years ago her father gave her a deed for a store-house, stock of goods, and nine dwelling houses, all located in Angier. Miss Bond was then but 18 years old, being 20 now. At that time the stock was worth about $900. A recent inventory shows that it is worth $3,970.46. The stock consists of dry goods, notions, shoes, furniture, heavy and fancy groceries, etc.

Miss Bond has conducted the business unaided all the time. She collects the rents for nine houses and runs a dairy business that nets about $35 per month in addition to everything else. Recently she took her brother into the store to assist with the books, etc., as it has grown until she cannot do all the work.

Miss Bond knows how to buy and what to buy. She recently arranged to buy 1,000 bushels of North Carolina corn to be delivered October 1^st.

She is bright, energetic, pretty, independent, and was raised in Panther Branch Township, Wake county.

S.H. Farabee Praises Fallen Aviation Ace Kiffin Rockwell, 1916

Editorial by S.H. Farabee, the Hickory Daily Record, September 26, 1916

In giving his life for the cause of France, Kiffin Rockwell, who joined the French army from North Carolina, has not died in vain. He has paid back to the French people a part of the debt we owe to LaFayette and other heroes who strove for American independence. Rockwell is not the only American youth who has responded to the call of France. Bleuthernral and Thurman, southern football stars, are today rendering great aid to the republic across the Atlantic.

Rockwell’s fame will not die. As great as will be the grief of his mother in Winston-Salem, she has the consoling thought that her son died fighting for the right. What better end could have come to this bold youth?

Americans of all shades love or admire France. To her the most sympathy is extended in her great trial, for her most prayers are offered. If Rockwell has caused the flame of patriotism to burn brighter among the French, if his death has rekindled in the American people the warmth they here always felt for their friends across the sea, then he is a martyr. He is not dead; he cannot die.

Greensboro Editorial Praises Kiffin Rockwell's Service in Foreign Legion, 1916

“For Lafayette,” and editorial from the Greensboro Daily News. If you’d like to read all of Laurence Binyon’s poem, go to http://www.bartleby.com/266/41.html. Chapman, the man without a first name in this story, is Victor Chapman of New York, who also enlisted in the French Foreign Legion to fight with the French before the United States entered World War I. When Corporal Chapman was killed, Sgt. Kiffen Rockwell wrote Chapman’s parents. I found this and another story about Kiffen Rockwell after my post about him on Sept. 22, 2016. To see photos of Rockwell and his grave in France, go to that day's post. 

“I see them, men transfigured

   Again a dream, dilate

Fabulous with the Titan-throb

   Of battling Europe’s fate.”

   Laurence Binyon’s “Men of Verdun” is the best elegy that could be imagined for Kiffin Rockwell and for Chapman. Yesterday only ordinary American boys, with little to distinguish them from the mass of their fellows; today they are legendary heroes of two nations. One stride through the opal gates has carried Rockwell into the company of Koscusko and Lafayette. He is a man transfigured from an ordinary North Carolina boy into a martyr of liberty in the eyes of the French, and into the coin in which we have paid Lafayette in the eyes of his own countrymen.

There will be those who will assert that after all he was merely an adventurous youngster whom love of excitement carried into war. That is as it may be, but it is well to remember that so late as 140 years ago there was the spirit that was expected of every well-born youth; and their own country regarded the Frenchmen and the Pole whose memories America honors as actuated by much the same motives. The fact remains that when he decided to fight it was France that Rockwell chose to fight for; and France cannot forget.

In years to come when old men who fought in the war of 1916 grope back in their memories for the outstanding incidents of the collision to which Verdun has given its name, they may forget how many thousands of guns were employed, they may forget the fury of the assaults, they may forget how many of their own countrymen lie buried on the field; but they will remember that among the dead were two young foreigners, come of their own free will out of democratic America to fight for democratic France. Living, Rockwell and Chapman were only two adventurous youths; dead they are links that bind more closely the two greatest republics in the world. Living, they accomplished only microscopic things in the elemental struggle about them; dead, they have accomplished what all the kaiser’s men and all the kaiser’s guns in 25 months have not been able to do. They have made France to bow her head.

Ah, well they are gone—dead, and yet not mourned, indeed, not missed. For in their going they have left a thing infinitely greater than themselves—a tradition of heroic proportions that shall only increase as the years go buy.

“For history’s hushed before them,

   And legend flames afresh,

Verdun, the name of thunder,

   Is written on their flesh.”

Kiffin Rockwell of Asheville, Flying Ace with French Foreign Legion, Died Sept. 25, 1916

“Young Rockwell Fell Where He Won Glory,” from the Hickory Daily Record, Sept. 25, 1916. I found this and another story about Kiffin Rockwell after my post about him on Sept. 22, 2016. To see photos of Rockwell and his grave in France, go to that day's post. 

Paris, Sept. 25—The aerial fight in which Sergeant Kiffin Rockwell of Asheville and Atlanta was mortally wounded yesterday morning by a German airman, took place over the town of Thann. The body of the American aviator fell in reconquered territory in Alsace near the spot where Rockwell shot down his first adversary five months ago.

Rockwell was serving as a volunteer in the Franco-American flying corps on the Verdun front. A few hours previous to the engagement he had been promoted to the rank of second lieutenant but died without knowing of the new honor. He already had received the military medal for shooting down a German two-seater near Hartsman-Weilerlopf in May. He had another before Verdun and had participated in a thrilling combat in which nearly all the Franco-American flotilla was engaged with a strong German force. He was wounded during the fight by a fragment of shell while engaged alone with three adversaries.

Sergeant Rockwell was one of the first American volunteers to join the French Foreign Legion. He was grievously wounded in a bayonet attack at Arras in May, 1915, before being transferred to the flying corps. He was regarded in French aviation circles as an “ace,” a name given to the most skillful, daring pilots.

Personal News From Town and Country in the Watauga Democrat, Sept. 21, 1916

“Town and Country,” news from Boone and Wataga County, from the Watauga Democrat, Sept. 21, 1916

--Quite considerable frost yesterday morning.

--Some much-needed work is being done on our streets just now.

--Mr. W.T. Blair is spending a few days with his daughter, Mrs. Will McGuire at Brookside.

--Mr. Lewis of Ashe County spent Sunday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Dr. Salmons in Boone.

--Mr. Stanbury is in Greensboro this week attending a meeting of the Educational Board of the two conferneces of the M.E. Church South.

--Three of my town lots just sold—a number of beautiful ones yet to select from. Don’t forget that Boone is the coming town. See ad elsewhere.—A.D. Blair.

--Mr. Don Long, son of Mr. and Mrs. G.R. Long of Lockhart, Florida, is visiting at the home of his uncle, Mr. G.A. Hodges, near the village.

--Mrs. David R. Shearer, accompanied by Mrs. M.P. Critcher and children, left Sunday for Butler, Tenn., where they will visit Mrs. Shearer’s parents for a few days.

--Mr. T.B. Moore of the Watauga Printing Company has moved his outfit to his home at the Blair Hotel. Office in last room on the first floor going east. Call on him for neat job work.

--Rev. M.L. Carpenter, pastor of this charge, left Monday morning for Statesville, where he went to attend the Lutheran Conference, which convenes in that town today.

--We are asked to announce that there will be a box supper at Buckwheat school house on the evening of Oct. 6^th. There will also be given a well-prepared play by the children of the school. Proceeds to be used for school purposes.

--Mrs. Wilfong of Newnon, mother of our former countryman, Mr. W.W. Willfong, now of Henderson, returned to her home last week after a rather extended visit to friends in the Vilas section.

--The Appalachian Training School is anxious to know the number and location of all the old-fashioned looms in Watauga county and it will be greatly appreciated if anyone who owns or knows of one will notify I.G. Greer at Boone at an early date.

--Mrs. Nellie Price of Raleigh, who is Domestic Science Inspector for the State, sent out by the Board of Internal Improvements, spent several days last week in town looking over that department of the Appalachian Training School.

--The anniversary of the Literary Societies of the Appalachian Training School will be held in the auditorium of the school on next Monday evening at 7:30. The program promises to be an interesting one and the public generally is invited to attend.

--The train on the railroad leading to Shulls Mills crossed the county line on Monday of last week, and for the first time ever the scream of the railroad locomotive was heard in Watauga from her own trackage. The construction work is being vigorously pressed, and the “iron horse” is expected to reach Foscoe within the next few days. Then on down to Shulls Mills in the very near future, when the company will begin at once the installing of its massive machinery for the manufacture into lumbr of its fine timber holdings on Boone Fork.

--The first session of the Sunday School Normal Institute will be held in Boone on Thursday evening, sept. 21, at 7 o’clock. There will then be services Friday and Saturday following, to meet from 9:30 a.m., and 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. All invited.

--Don’t forget the Masonic picnic to be held in Boone on Saturday of next week. It is also very important to bring a well-filled hamper to help out with the “spread.” The program is not yet out, but you are assured of a pleasant day if you attend.

--Hats off to the good county of Wilkes! $250,000 for road building has been voted by those public-spirited people, despite the fact that only 60 days ago the county was almost ruined by high water. When, oh, when, will Watauga bestir herself along this important line?

--As a result of the 10 days meeting conducted at Willowdale, 16 were received into that church by baptism yesterday, a number of them being heads of families. Rev. Mr. Adams, who held the revival, says in some respects, it was the most wonderful meeting he has ever been in.

--Dr. R.H. Hardin of Pineville came up last Thursday and remained until Monday, leaving in the morning for Shulls Mills, where he went on duty as physician for the Whiting Lumber Company, a position well worthwhile. Mrs. Hardin and their little son will arrive in the near future, and they will locate there. Glad to have the talented young physician among us again.

--Mrs. Alice M. Councill of Hickory, who is known and loved by all the older set in Wetauga, is spending a while at the home of her nephew, Mr. Jas. D. Councill. Last Thursday she, in company with her son, Judge Councill, and daughter, Mrs. Emma Taylor, and her son, David, and grandsons, Dr. W.C. Boyden of China Grove and Mrs. Donald Boyden, who is in the automobile business at Knoxville, Tenn., met at the old home in Boone and spent the day there, having the yards cleaned, the furniture in the building rearranged, etc. The day was a happy one for them, and it was indeed a pleasure to our people to see so many members of the splendid family in our midst at the same time.

--Mrs. Roby Green of Seattle, Wash., after spending a few days with her father-in-law, Mr. Richard Greene, left yesterday morning for her far western home. She spent some time on her way here among the haunts of her childhood home in Pennsylvania and will be there a few days on her return. She is a supporter of President Wilson, and says she must get through her visits en route in time to reach her destination by Nov. 6, that she may cast her vote for him. She is an interesting talker along political lines, and predicts a sweeping victory for Wilson in November. She leaves delighted with Watauga and her people, and they in turn were delighted to have her with them for even so short a time.

Farmers Form Vance County Tobacco Growers’ Association, 1905

From The Gold Leaf of Henderson, September 14, 1905

The farmers of Vance county held a meeting in the court house here Saturday for the purpose of organizing the Vance County Tobacco Growers’ Association. It was a large and enthusiastic gathering, representative of the intelligence, character and backbone of the agricultural interests of the county. The court house was full, very few seats being unoccupied.

Z.T. Garrett was elected chairman and A.C. Hoyle secretary. Addresses were made by S.C. Adams of Red Oak, Va., president of the Interstate Tobacco Growers’ Association of Virginia and North Carolina, J.H. Sharp of Intelligence, Rockingham county, who is doing effective work throughout the State in the cause of organization, and C. Gordon of Union Level, Va., The speeches were of a high order, full of vigor and earnestness and were enthusiastically received.

After the speaking an organization was affected with the following named officers:
President—George W. Wright
Vice-president—I.M. Green
Secretary—A.C. Hoyle
Treasurer—W.B. Daniel
Executive Committee—J.F. Coghill, Z.T. Garrett, H.T. Shanks

Z.T. Garrett was elected delegate to the Interstate meeting to be held at Danville, Va., next Friday week.

Newspaper Calls for Home Demonstration Agent To Teach Scientific Canning, 1916

“Scientific Canning,” from the French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, N.C., September 21, 1916.

The time for untrained hands and minds is past, and today the only work that is really profitable and acceptable is that of those who have the proper training and have learned to do their work in a scientific manner.

The government and the individual State gives away lots of valuable information and a town or county is negligent in failing to give its people every advantage if it does not bring these helps to the people. The farm demonstrator and the scientific fruit and vegetable canner and preserver are great helps which should be brought in reach of those who need this association.

In a county in a neighboring state a very delightful occasion was made of the fruit and vegetable canning demonstration. This part of the farm and home work was particularly of interest to the women. So the women in the county seat invited all the tomato club girls to town that day and entertained in their homes those who lived too far to return. An expert from the agricultural college was invited to talk to them on the real science of canning and keeping fruit and vegetables. Then the county demonstrator showed them exactly how to can tomatoes and beans, etc., and preserve their natural flavor and food value. Also how to make jelly, just what chemical process the fruit juices must go through, making it all so clear that there need be no failure in jelly making.

One of the old house keepers said she had made jelly all her life but these new methods had taught her a great deal and she felt there was no occasion to fail now.

There were also arrangements made for selling the canned tomatoes and other produce the country people would put up. One woman’s club in town promised to buy so many dozen cans of tomatoes from these girls in their county. The girls were very much encouraged and went away not only inspired to do more and better work, but with a real knowledge of the work they were trying to do. So much for the help that can be given by the State if enough people are only enterprising enough to go after it and bring it in reach of those whom it will most benefit. Food stuff and all that is grown and prepared on the farm is needful to everybody and it is essential that these products be brought to the greatest perfection and anything that aids in their growth and preservation is a help to mankind.

Asheville Volunteer in Franco-American Flying Corps Killed on Verdun Front, 1916

“Asheville Man Killed in Battle in France,” from the French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, N.C., September 28, 1916. As I typed in this story, I wondered about the young man who had volunteered in France, and I fonnd this picture on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiffin_Rockwell). At the outbreak of war, Kiffen and his brother Paul enlisted in the French Foreign Legion.

Kiffin Yates Rockwell

Kiffin Rockwell of Asheville, one of the most expert birdmen serving with the French aviation corps, was killed Saturday during an engagement with enemy airships. Announcement of his death was contained in a brief cablegram sent to his mother, Mrs. Loula Ayres Rockwell at Winston-Salem, and transmitted by her to Miss Agnes Rockwell, a sister of the dead airman, who is at present at the Rockwell home on Hillside Street, Asheville.

An Associated Press dispatch from Paris dated Sunday says the aerial fight in which Rockwell was mortally wounded by a German airman took place over the town of Thann. The body of the America aviator fell in the re-conquered territory in Alsace, near the spot where Rockwell shot down his first adversary five months ago. Rockwell was serving as a volunteer in the Franco-American flying corps on the Verdun front. A few hours previous to the engagement he had been promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, but died without knowing of the new honor. He already had received the military medal for shooting down a German two-seater near Hartmans-Wellerkopf in May. He had beaten down another before Verdun and had participated in a thrilling combat in which nearly all the Franco-American flotilla was engaged with a strong German fore. He was wounded during the fight by a fragment of shell while engaged alone with three adversaries.

This image is from http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2015/11/remembering-veteran-kiffen-rockwell-of.html. You will find more information on Kiffin Rockwell at that location.

'Talk of the Town' in Henderson, N.C., 1905

“Talk of the Town” from The Gold Leaf of Henderson, September 14, 1905

Mr. R.A. Crockett, former chief of police, has gone to Franklin, Pa., to take a position in that city.

Mrs. Clifford Massenburg of Hampton, Va., is visiting her sister, Mrs. I.P. Stainback, in Henderson.

Mrs. J.E. Wearn of Charlotte is visiting her parents, Captain and Mrs. J.T. Elmore, in Henderson.

Misses Mary and Belle Bullock of Williamsboro were here yesterday going to Charlotte where they have secured positions.

Mr. Gus Roth, wife and children left yesterday for New York, Mr. Roth to buy new goods and Mrs. Roth to visit relatives.

Miss Ethel Dorsey has returned from a pleasant visit of two weeks among relatives and froends at Houston and South Boston, Va.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch expresses the opinion that when oysters arrive it is time for straw hats to take their winter vacation.

Miss Irene Betts has returned from a two months’ stay in the Western part of the State spent at Asheville and elsewhere in the mountain region.

Mr. Clifford Bullock left yesterday for New Haven, Conn., after spending a month with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Bullock of Williamsboro.

Mrs. R.P. Watson and children of Wilson, who stopped in Henderson to spend a few days with relatives on their return trip from the Western part of the State, left for their home Friday.

Mr. A.S. Johnston of Raleigh has taken a position as drug and prescription clerk at Dorsey’s drug store, succeeding Mr. Webb who returned to Roxboro to engage in business for himself.

Misses Jennie and Junie Dunn have returned from a two weeks’ trip to West Virginia and Ohio. Their brother, Capt. Joe Dunn, of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, gave them the trip and they enjoyed it greatly.

A good seven-room house and lot situated on the corner of Chestnut and Horner streets is offered for sale cheap on easy terms. Size of the lot 100 x 200 feet. For further particulars apply to E.L. Haskins or J.L. Currin.

Mrs. Sue Williams of Oxford came over last Thursday to attend the meeting of the Woman’s Missionary Circle of the Presbyterian church and spent the night with Mrs. Rosa Bryan. Mrs. Williams is president of the Circle in Oxford.

The granolithic sidewalk in front of the court house is a big improvement, one in which every citizen and tax payer of the county has a proprietary interest and pride. The County Commissioners are to be commended for having this work done.

Returning from New York, where she had been to buy a new stock of millinery goods for the firm she is with, Miss Lottie Stainback stopped over in Henderson last week to spend a few days with the family of her uncle, Mr. L.D. Stainback, before going to Albemarle.

Capt. J.S. Poythress has bought a new outfit for sawing wood and is better equipped for the business than ever before. He will also have a machine for splitting wood in operation and will thus be in position to furnish his customers with wood ready for the stove when it reaches their house.

Miss Marie Manning went to Durham yesterday to take a course at the Conservatory of Music, which under the direction of Prof. Gilmour Ward Bryant and a strong faculty has won a high place among the foremost institutions of the kind in the south. Mrs. Manning went with her and will return today.

The handsome 14 light oil lamp chandelier heretofore used in the Presbyterian church is offered for sale. In perfect condition with new burners and practically as good as new. Cost originally $100 but a sacrifice bargain may be had in it by some church or public hall. Apply to J.R. Rankin at Samuel Watkins’ store or at this office.

Mr. J.H. Daniel has gone North this week to buy new goods and post himself on the condition of the hardware market. No man watches the market more closely or keeps himself better informed as to prices, and this is one of the secrets of Daniel & Co’s success in the hardware business and the low prices at which they are enabled to sell goods.

The Insurance Department of Citizens Bank in changing its advertisement this week calls your attention to one of the many ways—lamp explosions—dwelling houses are destroyed by fire. This agency represents a strong line of fire-tried, conflagration-proof companies, and can protect you against any such loss. See Mr. James W. Horner, manager, and talk the matter over with him.

Mrs. John S.E. Young and “little Jack” arrived last Thursday to visit her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Stephens, and will be here a month or two. Lieut. Young, who is stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., near St. Louis, is well, and his friends hope he may be able to come out and give them the pleasure of a cordial handshake and sight of his soldierly physiognomy while Mrs. Young is here.

Some of the ladies are finding amusement and exercise in the bowling alley. In order to meet the wishes of those who desire to play, Mr. Strickland decided to set apart certain afternoons—Mondays and Fridays, from 4 to 9 o’clock—for the special benefit of ladies and their escorts. No others are allowed the use of the alleys when the ladies are bowling and undesirable spectators are prohibited.

Mrs. Edwin Stephens went to Raleigh Friday and when she returned on the sho-fly train that evening, Liza, the polite and attentive maid at the waiting rooms, wanted to send her on to Oxford. Mrs. Stephens says she goes away on the train so seldom that she is not recognized when she comes back, but Liza excused herself by saying she was “so dressed up and looked so ‘purty’ she didn’t know her.”

Mr. B.W. Spencer, who has been telegraph operator at the Southern Railway station here for several years, left yesterday morning accompanied by his wife and child for Winder, Ga., which place they will make their home, he having been appointed operator of the Seaboard Air Line Railway at that place. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer leave many friends in Henderson and there is regret at their going away.

Put your business cares aside for one day and make the advent of the Great Van Amburg Show a holiday. The only big show coming this year, coming on its own special trains and will pitch tents in Henderson on Saturday, Sept. 23^rd. Don’t fail to see the grand free street parade in the forenoon.

The Graded Schools opened Monday with an increased attendance. At the central school there were 45 more than last session while the number at both the cotton mills was also larger, as was the case with the colored school. Altogether there are 150 or 175 more children in school within Henderson township this session than there were last term, and the enrollment on the opening day is never as great as it is later on. This is a gratifying indication. It shows that the community is growing and increasing the population and that people are taking more interest in sending their children to school.

Mrs. Edward N. Fuller and son, Alwyn Eccles Fuller of Burkley, Va., who have been visiting friends in Henderson are now on a visit to Mrs. John MacMillan, have been joined by Mr. Fuller, who is enjoying at Mrs. MacMillan’s his first vacation in six years. Mr. Fuller met Miss Cora Eccles, one of the most popular and becoming young ladies of Vance county, at Mrs. MacMillan’s about seven years ago, and after a short but persistent wooing, induced Miss Eccles to change her name. Mr. Fuller is in charge of the extensive foreign and domestic shipping and shipping insurance interests of the Fosburgh Lumber Company, a prominent lumber manufacturing concern in the North Carolina pine industry.

Capt. J.T. Elmore, road master of the First Division of the Seaboard Air Line Railway, has been appointed General Road Master of the entire system. He will have jurisdiction of 2,700 miles of trackage and will report direct to the General Superintendent. This is a new office and the promotion is a deserved one. Capt. Elmore is a capable and experienced railroad man—one of the best in his line of business—and stands high in the estimation of his superior officers. The promotion came to him unsought, merit alone counting in his favor.

Capt. J.W. Dempsey, road master of this division, with headquarters in Petersburg, will succeed Capt. Elmore. His headquarters will be in Henderson. Another good man the recognition of whose worth signalized by his promotion is gratifying to his friends.

Anna Clarkson, Pitcher, Leads Team to Victory Against Boys, 1921

A Girl Baseball Pitcher,” from the High Point Review, June 23, 1921

Much is being said in the newspapers about the achievement the other day of the pitcher on a New York city high school girls’ baseball team. The girls played a team of boys of the school, and the pitcher, Anna Clarkson by name, did not yield a single hit and lead her team to a great and glorious victory.

Some people may claim that the boys were poor batters, or that they were unusually gallant. The suggestion has been made that the girl is unusually pretty, and that the boys kept their eyes on her instead of trying to keep it on the ball.

But we refuse to believe anything of the kind. We are going to believe that Anna is a phenomenal young baseball pitcher, and we are also going to hope that she will make a big league team in time if she wants to do so.

Rufus Suite Shoots and Kills the Wrong Man, 1910

From the Caucasian and Raleigh Enterprise, September 8, 1910

Durham, N.C., Sept. 6—Deputy W.P. McDade of Hillsboro, who came here to-day for Walker Calvin Hendrix, charged with burglary, brought the story of a homicide in which Ed Garrett died as the result of being shot by Rufus Suite.

The murder is made all the more deplorable by reason of the fact that Suite shot the wrong man. It occurred yesterday afternoon near a spring, eight miles from Hillsboro. An old feud between Suite and another Garrett, a cousin of the victim, resulted in the resumption of trouble. Yesterday when Suite singled out his supposed victim, he fired squirrel shot into his body, causing death 20 hours later. He has surrendered.

Marriage Licenses Issued, From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, 1919

“Marriage Licenses,” from the front page of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Sept. 4, 1919

Aug. 30—Sydney Prevard and Josephine Grady, colored.
Aug. 30—David Ellerbe and Ella May Robinson, colored.
Sept. 1—Lewis Brown and Nellie Ormsby, white.
Sept. 1—Joseph McKay and Charlotte D. Leak, colored.
Sept. 2—Wilson Little and Judy Terry, colored.
Sept. 2—William Little Covington and Effie Lee Baldwin, white.

New Tobacco Barn in Fuquay Springs, 1935

New tobacco barn put to good use in Fuquay Springs, N.C., September, 1935. This photo is part of the national Library of Congress' collection of historic photos, which can be viewed online.

In 1905 You Could Check Your Baby While You Shopped

From the Raleigh Times, September 1905

It’s bad enough to get one’s baggage mixed up in a checking room, but there can be worse mix-ups. In a big department store in a Northern city a batch of dear babies were checked and tended while bargain hunting matrons hied and shied and vied. Two of the little ones overturned things by climbing out of their perambulators, and when the mamas handed in checks there was a mad crying of “not my baby!”

This recalls an incident many years ago in Lincoln county. There were two fine babies who could only be known after baptism by a red and a blue ribbon. At bath time they got mixed, and to this day t’other does not know himself from which, nor did the parents through a lifetime.

Kilgore and Laughinghouse Try to Convince Farmers of Benefits of Cotton Warehouses, 1922

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Richmond County, September 7, 1922

Dr. B.W. Kilgore addressed about 125 farmers and business men in the courthouse on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 2^nd, on Cooperative Cotton Marketing. Dr. Kilgore briefly reviewed the principles of the Association and related the successes attending its operations in Europe, California and in four cotton states last year, stating that Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi realize (over outside sales) a nice profit last year for cotton sold through the cooperative associations in these states. Eight cotton states have organized and have federated to sell 3 million bales of cotton this season. These eight states produce 80 per cent of the cotton in the world, said Dr. Kilgore.

At places where the association has warehouses the association began to receive cotton Sept. 1^st. Thus far warehouses have been offered the association in this county at Ellerbe, Rockingham, Hoffman and Mt. Gilead. These warehouses will be ready to receive cotton as soon as approval of the association can be made.

The audience was informed that financing the association was the smallest job in it. The local banks of the State so far as consulted agreeing to cooperate. The Wachovia Bank & Trust Co. of Winston-Salem agreeing to furnish $100,000, this being the largest sum thus far pledges by any one bank.

Dr. Kilgore states that the hardest job in the association was to get the farmers to go into it. He remarked that he now feels somewhat as the parents of the 12^th child in the family: “I wouldn’t take anything for the individuals of the family, but wouldn’t go through it all again for any consideration.”

At the close of the address by Dr. Kilgore, the writer introduced Mr. W.M. Laughinghouse, Field Agent for the Association in this territory. Mr. Laughinghouse stated that he was here to help organize the community associations among the members and to sign up additional members by their assistance, and in every way possible assist the membership in the smoothest possible local functioning of the association. He told the audience that cotton would be received in this county just as soon as local arrangements can be consummated for the handling, and that all members will be promptly notified of such readiness to accept cotton.

The writer insisted that the profits at the sales end of cotton production will make no man rich unless he makes a profit also at the producing end. As a means of accomplishing the latter, he urged soil building through diversification with hairy vetch and velvet beans as the best legumes for this section.

                                --W.H. Barton

News Across North Carolina, Sept. 8, 1910

“State News” from the Caucasian and Raleigh Enterprise, September 8, 1910

Heavy rains last week worked havoc at Asheville. The electric light plant was put out of business, the streets were flooded and in some places completely gutted, and for two days train service was completely held up.

--Chief of Police Russell of Raeford has been acquitted in the Superior Court at Fayetteville of killing a negro whom he had arrested for a minor crime and who attempted to escape. The State asked for a second degree verdict.

--Car Inspector W.T. Hogue was killed in the Southern Railway yards at Spencer last week, his body being frightfully mangled. He was standing between two cars when an engine backed them together, catching him between the bumpers.

--Robert Carney, white, janitor of the Southern building at Wilmington, fell down the elevator shaft and sustained injuries that may result in his death. His little child was a witness to the accident and summoned help.

--The tobacco market has shown up well, prices being higher than they were for a similar period last year, and equaling the high prices of two years ago. Growers were expressing great satisfaction. Most of the leaf now coming in is of inferior quality. The crop is late.

--A baby, living but two hours after birth, the child of William Burgess of Durham, has been the cause of considerable comment to-day. The child has a single eye with small eyes combined in it and place for nose far above it. Such anomaly has not been seen by doctors.

--During a terrific electric storm which passed over the southern section of Rowan County Saturday afternoon, Ferrie Gibson, colored, aged 19 years, was instantly killed by lightning. While the storm was severe no other fatalities are reported, though it is said much damage was done to growing crops.

--It was Capt. J.G. Hollingsworth of Fayetteville who was injured in the auto accident at Richmond Friday morning, instead of C.J. Hollingsworth, as stated in the special from Richmond. Captain Hollingsworth is a popular military officer, and it will be gratifying to his friends to learn that he will recover.

--Capt. James Ireland of the little schooner Amelia, laden with a general cargo, came into port at Beaufort from Norfolk, having sailed the vessel home without any crew. When he removed the hatches it was found the vessel had leaked, causing $500 damage to the uninsured goods.

--A petition is being circulated and freely signed asking Judge Boyd of the Federal court to set aside the verdict in the case of Mr. Craft and N. Glenn Williams, both having been convicted at a recent term of court at Greensboro on the charge of conspiracy to defraud the government in the post office at Williams, Yadkin County.

--Mrs. Thomas P. Wilcox, wife of the ex-Sheriff of Pasquotank County, and mother of Jim Wilcox, who is now serving 30 years in the State penitentiary for the murder of Nelle Cropsey, died at Elizabeth City last Friday afternoon. Mrs. Wilcox had been ill for some months and has been a great sufferer. The principal cause of death, it is said, was a mother’s grief over the plight of a wayward son.

--After much criticism on the part of the state press, Willie Medlin, the crazed would-be suicide, has been admitted to the State Hospital for the Insane. The authorities there at first refused to receive her, alleging there was no room, in spite of the fact that a half of the million dollars has been expended on these institutions during the past few years. The unfortunate woman has been confined for weeks in the common jail at Raleigh.

--Editor John M. Julian of the Salisbury Post is very ill with pellagra. Mr. Julian is one of the ablest newspaper men in the State, and his serious condition is a matter of great regret to his many friends.

Raleigh Detective Tom Crabtree Killed in Line of Duty, 1922

From the editorial page of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Richmond County, September 7, 1922

One night last week Detective Tom Crabtree of the Raleigh police force was shot down by a young white drunk, Charles Kluttz, who after shooting once, jumped from his car and shot him again, then drove a heavy Cadillac car over the body of the fallen officer. Crabtree died in the hospital Saturday, and such was the crowd that desired to attend his funeral that it had to be held in the huge city auditorium Sunday, 3,000 people attending. 

At the grave four white robed K.K.K. men placed a floral design on the grave, the three capital letters emblazoned in red flowers on a background of white roses. Scarcely had the officer died before a subscription was circulated over Raleigh with the idea of raising $5,000 as a trust fund for his needy wife and children.

The detective was in the discharge of his duty, and was shot down by a drunken bully without a chance of protecting himself. His death, however, will serve to awaken the Raleigh citizens to the necessity of a more strict law enforcement—and it is but an object lesson to the people of ALL the State to be vigilant in this respect, and wage an energetic campaign to stamp out the liquor traffic. 

Rockingham and Richmond county are doing this very thing now and our people must stick behind the officers and let the blind tiger and whiskey manufacturing element thoroughly understand that this kind of business must stop!

Why Is Selling Whiskey Okay for Church Member But Not Okay for Plain Sinner? 1905

From The Gold Leaf, Thursday, Sept. 7, 1905.

We admit that there are many things we do not understand. One is that we cannot see why whiskey selling is any more respectable when a church member engages in it that it was when a plain sinner was selling it.

                --Raleigh Enterprise

Newspaper Criticizes Booker T. Washington for Dining With White Family in New York, September 1905

From The Gold Leaf, Thursday, Sept. 7, 1905.

Booker Washington explains his dining with John Wanamaker at the hotel in Saratoga. He says he did not escort any members of the Wanamaker family to the table, but that he did “dine with Mr. Wanamaker and his family at the hotel at his request for the purpose of talking on a matter of business.” At that time he says he was a guest at a colored hotel in Saratoga. Washington says that on three other occasions in the last 15 years he has lived “at the hotel where Mr. Wanamaker was.” Washington says: “When in the south I conform like all colored people, to the customs of the South, but when in the North I have found it necessary during the past 20 years to come into contact with white people in the furtherance of my work in ways I do not in the South.”

In other words, Washington does not attempt to force social equality with the white people of the South because he knows it will not be allowed, but as soon as he gets across Mason’s and Dixon’s line, he drops his own people as associates and practices that social equality against which he preaches when at home.

Does Washington expect the negroes of the South to follow his advice or his example? If the negroes who look to him for instruction and guidance find him practicing social equality at the North will they not wish to follow his example, and if they can not go North to put it into effect, they will wish to try it in the south. If Washington really wants to aid his race, he must forego association socially with white people at the North as well as at the South.

Why Dr. Peacock Shot Police Chief Taylor, 1921

Did the previous post leave you wondering about the details of this story? Here are some previous articles from North Carolina newspapers on the shooting of the police chief by the doctor.

From the High Point Review, June 9, 1921

Fight for Life Now On at Lexington….Mental Condition of Dr. J.W. Peacock Described at Trial

Several Witnesses Testifying in Behalf of Thomasville Doctor Who Killed Chief Taylor Says He Was in Strange Mental State on Morning of Tragedy

Lexington, June 6. Witnesses testifying here this afternoon in behalf of Dr. J.W. Peacock of Thomasville, now on trial charged with the murder of Chief of Police J.E. Taylor of Thomasville, April 16, declared that the defendant on the morning prior to the tragedy was in a strange mental state; that he was apparently suffering from burns on the top of his head, neck and hands sustained while trying to get his two automobiles out of his barn which was destroyed by fire at the early hour of the morning of April 16. Witnesses for both sides asserted that Peacock, following the tragedy, said that he killed Chief Taylor because he set fire to his barn.

The state offered the testimony of 10 witnesses, beginning at 3 o’clock, and concluding at 4:40 o’clock. Those testifying were either at or near the scene of the homicide. The state put before the jury of Rowan citizens a clean-cut case showing that Chief Taylor met death at the hands of the defendant, Dr. J.W. Peacock. The defense as soon as the state rested called its witnesses and when court adjourned at 5:30 p.m. had examined a half dozen. It will continue upon the convening of court tomorrow morning at 9:30 o’clock. Exceptionally good progress was made today, the first day of the trial.

Varner First Witness

Andrew Varner, a world war veteran who was talking to Chief Taylor when the first shot was fired, was the first witness for the state. Varner said that he and Taylor were standing on Salem street on the opposite side of the street from Peacock’s office, when the first shot was fired. He told of hearing the report of a gun, and turning, saw blood flowing from the chif’s face. He didn’t know who fired the shot. Taylor, said Varner, threw his hand up to his chest, and slightly turning, hollered: “Oh!” he then went into Pearce’s grocery store on Salem street. Varner declared that he decamped and didn’t see the remaining parts of the tragedy.

Dr. Peacock’s Testimony

The murderer of Chief Taylor, of Thomasville, gives his testimony as follows:

“I first realized that I had been shooting and had killed Taylor after I went to the telephone and attempted to call my wife,” said Dr. Peacock. “The last thing I remember before the shooting was seeing John Lambeth and Mr. Huff.”

The defendant did not know what happened, he said, when he was in his office on the morning of the homicide.

Dr. Peacock testified that he contracted tuberculosis when he was 21 years of age, but that his condition had improved. Last fall he was stricken with influenza and since then his health had not been good, he said.

The defendant testified that he had no malice whatever toward Chief Taylor.

“The first question that came up,” said the defendant was in regard to increasing his salary. “I made a motion as a member of the council that the chief’s salary be increased. Taylor was suspended by the mayor and at the next meeting I seconded a motion that he be reinstated. That was some time in March.”

“What did you subsequently do with regard to the chief?” asked John J. Parker, of the defense.

“Later I made a motion at another meeting that the chief be asked for his resignation. That was after we had investigated Mr. Taylor’s record. There was nothing personal in it and I was absolutely sincere in making the motion,” replied the witness.

“The next morning,” said Dr. Peacock, “Chief Taylor met me and asked me why I had it in for him.”

Dr. Peacock said he had done what he had done as his duty as an official of the town.

The defendant stated that several persons had been to him and said the chief was evidently threatening him. Dr. Peacock also stated that on Thursday before the killing F.C. Bivens informed him that Chief Taylor had said “If I didn’t stop working against him I was going west and damn quick.”

Dr. Peacock testified that John Moore asked what the doctor had done to Taylor, requesting that if anything had been done to stop it as the chief threatened to break up the physician’s home.

The witness also swore on the stand that R.E. Zimmerman informed him of one of Taylor’s alleged threats.

“I feared him worse than I did a rattlesnake,” said the prisoner when questioned by his attorney.

“Knowing the man as I did I was afraid. I knew he was brave enough to do anything he said he would do.”

-=-

Brutal Murder of Brave Officer…Dr. Peacock Is Still in Jail to Await Hearing on His Sanity,” from the High Point Review, June 16, 1921

The Hearing Will Take Place Before Judge Finley at Lexington on June 28

Lexington, June 15—Dr. J.W. Peacock, who was found “not guilty” of murder Saturday night by a jury of Rowan county citizens on the grounds that he was insane at the time he killed Chief of Police J.E. Taylor of Thomasville, remains in his cell at the county jail to await the hearing on his mental condition at the present time, which will be held here before Judge T.B. Finley on June 28.

The judge will then make a final ruling as to whether the physician shall be committed to the criminal insane department of the state penitentiary

Few big cases here have come to a less dramatic close. There was no demonstration of any kind on the part of anyone when the jury announced its verdict, except that when Dr. Peacock resumed his seat after standing up to hear his fate his wife placed her arms around his neck and he held her in his embrace for perhaps a minute. In the meantime, Judge Finley turned to the jury and merely said: “Gentlemen of the jury, you are excused.”

When the jury came in and stated that they have arrived at their verdict, they arose and in response to the predestined question: “What say you?” they answered in unison, “Not guilty.” After the argument as to the time of hearing about half an hour, court was adjourned and members of the jury came over and shook hands with Dr. Peacock.

When Dr. Peacock entered the court room at 9 o’clock Saturday night to hear the reading of the evidence of Dr. Isaac Taylor of Morganton, which enabled the journey to soon agree, he supported Mrs. Peacock who leaned heavily on his arm and appeared almost completely exhausted after a most trying week. Other members of his family appeared, most too tired to display emotion.

It was upon the testimony of the three alienists that Dr. Peacock is now a paranoiac, coupled with that of a number of other physicians who have known him for hears that they believed him insane at the time of the act, that the jury returned a verdict holding him not guilty of murder. The judge had charged the jury that they found the defendant to have been insane at the time of the killing they should return the verdict as not guilty.

Many here are included to draw a sort of parallel between the trial here and that of Harry K. Thaw, who was found not guilty on the plea that he was a paranoiac. Of course, most of the elements entering into this case are different from the famous New York case.

It is general conceded here by those to whom the verdict is not pleasing that the jury did their duty as they saw it and that if they accepted the large mass of testimony as to Dr. Peacock’s insanity no other verdict could have been returned.

Some discussion hinges around the reports that Henry Shaver, who was accidentally shot through the stomach by a bullet passing through Taylor, and Mrs. J.E. Taylor, widow of the slain chief, had taken steps to bring suits against Dr. Peacock for large sums of damages. In view of the fact that the jury apparently held him to be insane at the time and incapable of committing a crime, an interesting case has been brought up as to whether he could commit a tort upon which damages might be recovered. The result of the insanity inquisition before Judge T.B. Finley on June 28 may throw more light up on this question.

-=-

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, June 16, 1921

Dr. J.W. Peacock was acquitted in Superior Court at Lexington last week of the murder of the Thomasville Chief of Police, J.E. Taylor. The experts, Doctors J.K. Hall, Isaac Taylor and Albert Anderson (the same three who testified in the Foster Parsons trial here at Rockingham last year) testified that Dr. Peacock was crazy at the time of the killing, and it was on this testimony that the imported Rowan county jury acquitted the man. A hearing will not be held on June 28^th to determine whether Peacock is insane at the present time; this coming hearing will decide whether he will be committed to the insane department or turned loose.

Mrs. Ethel Taylor, widow of the slain man, has brought suit against the estate of Dr. Peacock for $40,000 for damages. H.S. Shaver, who was wounded by Peacock at the tie Taylor was killed, has also brought suit. He is suing for $25,000. It is to be hoped that both will recover the full amounts. To the lay mind it would seem that the acquittal of Peacock for this brutal murder is an outrage on justice.

-=-

From the Elizabeth City Independent, June 17, 1921.

Mrs. Ethel B. Taylor, widow of Chief of Police J.E. Taylor, who was shot and killed in Thomasville by Dr. J.W. Peacock, has instituted suit against the physician for $40,000 as damages.

-=-

From the High Point Review, June 23, 1921

Lexington—At 10 o’clock p.m. the jury trying Dr. J.W. Peacock charged with the murder of Chief of Police Taylor at Thomasville, brought in a verdict of not guilty. The jury accepted the evidence of alienists that Dr. Peacock was insane at the time Taylor was killed.

Ties Sheets Together To Escape Criminal Insane Department of State Prison, 1922

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Richmond County, September 7, 1922

Raleigh, Aug. 30—Dr. J.W. Peacock, prominent physician of Thomasville, escaped from the criminal insane department of the State Prison today by sliding down a rope made of bed clothing, from his cell on the third floor of the prison. Peacock was tried for the murder of Police Chief J.E. Taylor of Thomasville and acquitted on the ground of insanity and was committed to the insane department of the prison following the trial.

Peacock left a note addressed to the keeper of the department of criminal insane saying, “I hate to leave on my vacation without telling you good-bye.”

Supt. Pou immediately offered a reward of $400 for Peacock.

Col. Edward Savage Latimer Dies, 1901

From Fisherman and Farmer, Elizabeth City, Thursday, Sept. 5, 1901

Col. Edward Savage Latimer, a well-known and highly esteemed citizen of Wilmington, died last evening at 6 o’clock at his home, 208 North Third street, after a lingering illness of several months.

Only this week Col. Latimer returned from a sanitarium in Baltimore, where he was under treatment of some of the most skilled physicians in the country, but all in vain. He gradually grew worse after his arrival at home and his death came not wholly unexpected, but as a shock to his family and numerous friends here and elsewhere.

                                --Wilmington Star

Governor and School Superintendent Speak at Caswell County Fair, School Dedication, 1940

Caswell County school superintendent and Governor Hoey speak at the Caswell County Fair in Yanceyville. Governor Hoey also attended the dedication of the new building at Anderson School in September, 1940. The photos were taken by Marion Post Wolcott in October, 1940. Wolcott was taking publicity pictures for the U.S. Farm Security Administration. The photos are part of the collection in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

'Local Matters' in Wake County, 1910

“Local Matters” from The Caucasian and Raleigh Enterprise, Sept. 8, 1910

Monday being Labor Day, the Cen-Labor Union gave a most enjoyable barbecue at the Fair Grounds, which was largely attended.

--Mr. H.C. Reece, who was shot by Jim Staley about two years ago, was in the city Monday and visited the jail, where he recognized the prisoner.

--Governor Kitchin has offered a reward for the capture of Alma Rains, who shot and killed his wife near Apex last Saturday morning. Rains has not been seen since the shooting, though it is not believed that he has gone far.

--At the home of Mrs. Taylor on Martin Street, Mr. Thomas Braxton Creel and Miss Bessie Tutney, both of this city, were united in marriage Sunday night at 9 o’clock in the presence of a few intimate friends, Mrs. William H. Sawyer performing the ceremony.

--Anthony Rogers, colored, was brought to Raleigh from near Parker’s Store by Deputy Sheriff Harward. The deputy received a phone message that the colored man was disturbing the neighbors, he being crazy. He was lodged in the Wake County jail.

--Mr. Norfleet Stronach was arrested Saturday afternoon on a warrant charging him with having sold whiskey to Will Bryant, a colored man from the country. He gave bond in the sum of $100 for his appearance. When arrested, Mr. Stronach denied the charge.

--Frank Chappelle and William B. Chappelle of New Light Township were before United States Commissioner Nichols Tuesday charged with operating an illicit distillery. After hearing the evidence they were required to give bonds in the sum of $200 each for their appearance at the next term of court.

--The funeral of Mrs. R.M. Furman, who passed away in Washington Friday, was held in the Church of the Good Shepherd Saturday morning at 10 o’clock, conducted by the pastor, Rev. I. McK. Pittenger, D.D. The Pall bearers were Messrs. R.H. Battle, C.C. McDonald, R.C. Strong, F.T. Ward, Albert L. Cox, and Prof. Hugh Morson.

--Mr. M.S. Holt, a Chatham County farmer, sold 223 pounds of watermelon from a single vine.

--Edward S. Hodge, aged 64 years, and a well-known resident of St. Matthews Township, died Sunday night at his home after a brief illness. He was buried at the old family burying-ground on the old homestead Tuesday. He was a brave Confederate soldier and a member of the largest land-holding and former slave-owning families in the country. He was a generous, warm-hearted man and friend.

North Carolinian Reports on Strange Things He Saw in Philadelphia, 1905

From The Gold Leaf, Thursday, Sept. 7, 1905. I wondered about Girard College after reading the story below, so I looked it up. It is still in existence, but unlike most colleges, it also educates needy children through 12^th grade. The wall surrounding the college still exists. If you are also curious, see http://www.girardcollege.com/page.cfm?p=359.

Things Seen and Heard…On a Trip by One Who Travels With His Eyes and Ears Open

After some weeks at home it gives quite a novelty to life to go into other States and communities and notice how they do things. It is wonderful too to see the spirit of braggadocio that exists everywhere. O matter where one goes he can find “the best in the world,” “the largest in the world” and things galore that are “unparalleled.”

I was walking along on Chestnut street in Philadelphia on Tuesday when a patriotic Pennsylvanian said to me, “There is the largest store in the world.” I saw that it indeed was a very great building and that people passed in and out of its doors, and along the aisles and up the elevators, story after story, and down into its basements in such crowds and with such fervor, that to conclude that shopping must be done there or nowhere, was almost inevitable. Still I could not exactly repress a little doubt about its being the very largest in the world. I had not gone five squares from that place before I was shown another building, “the tallest in the world,” the famous Washing monument being just a little taller. The greatest of everything was there. Wm. Penn’s old home, just as he left it; Liberty Bell, crack and all; and the building where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The house, made of poles for Gen. Grant to live in near Richmond during a winter campaign in the Civil War, has been taken down and restored exactly, in that famous city of liberty lovers to be viewed by all who come as worthy of their most patriotic adoration! It is almost treasonable not to go to Willow Grove and see for yourself Valley Forge, and hear again recounted stories of the bravery of the Revolutionary Fathers.

Girard College and the Girard estates can be seen everywhere, for as rich as he was it is richer now because he could not take it with him into the grave. Stephen Girard was called a philanthropist because he gave his money to buy him a reputation and yet he gave the college with the condition that “no ecclesiastic, missionary or minister of any sect whatever is permitted to hold or exercise any station or duty in the college, or to be admitted as a visitor within the premises.” There it stands with his high walls looking as forbidding as a penitentiary.

A short walk from the tallest building, I came to “the finest theatre in the world,” and so on until I was about to decide that I was in the superlative city; but I took a sleeper that night and slept across the State and awoke in Pittsburg. I had scarcely arrived before I was informed that a circle around that place with a radius of 25 miles would enclose “the richest place in the world” of any size. Just a few squares away I was suddenly called upon to stop and behold “the largest store in the world!” I was bound to call a halt by saying to my informant, who wanted me to go in and see the wonders, that I had been to New York and Philadelphia and to the big store in Henderson. I suppose they all told the truth, but truth is very much like some good old tunes I used to know. They are still played but they are played nowadays with variations. Imagine my feelings after I had been tired of turning up my nose at the bragging Yankees and had let it down again to its normal position after getting in Vance county, before I could get home I saw in big letters “the best on earth,” and said by a Southern man.

Lest what I shall not relate may seem to be personal, if it should come under the observation of whom it concerns, I will say that, as I passed through Kamschatka a very masculine looking woman came into the car. Her eyes, in color and gleam were very much like highly polished knife-blades. Her jaws hanging down beside her ears warned one of danger. Her mouth shut together like a steel trap except that it seemed to be tilted up at the corners at an angle of about 45 degrees. She seemed to be physically as cool as a cucumber, but I dare say her disposition stood at 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit. I saw no sorrow in her face or manner, though I am sure from the signs of mourning on her that that her husband, poor man, had gone to a better country, though I know nothing of his life here, nor would I change the expression if I knew he had been a bad man. The word “better,” you know, represents no absolute quality but is a relative or comparative word. The lady in question, as soon as she came in, seated herself occupying an entire seat. A man and his wife and two children came in at the same time and the four sat opposite our heroine in one seat. With a great effort at commiseration, she finally suggested that one of her little ones might sit with her. It was a very hot, sultry day and nearly every window in the car was open, as the heat was almost unendurable. A gentleman came in at the next station and took a seat in front of her and began to raise his window; but she soon squelched him, much to the amusement of the passengers. Finally she moved her seat and got in front of me and wanted my window down, but I explained to her that I was suffering from asthma and that fresh air was an absolute essential to my happiness, and she must excuse me; so stabbing me with her knife-like eyes she yielded the point, but first inquired with an insinuating tone if I had ever travelled much? I replied that my opportunities in that particular had been somewhat limited. I fear there was some sarcasm in the reply. In a few minutes we rolled into the great station at ---- let us say Cairo. 

There coffee and sandwiches were brought in for sale. I took a sandwich and coffee. She took a sandwich and coffee. As soon as the odor of her sandwich penetrated her olfactory nerve her nose turned up like the nether end of a wasp preparing for battle and she said to me, “Mister, may I throw this out of your window?” I said, “Certainly, Madam, as far as I am concerned; but I think it would be a violation of the law to.” By that time she seemed to have warmed to 96.9 degrees and threw the whole thing through my window diagonally, half her sandwich landing in my coffee. To be thus deprived, when there was no chance of getting another, somewhat spoiled my very affable disposition, and I could not help telling her of my travels in several states of American, and some little in Canada; but I had never hoped to see as much as I had seen that day—that my experience with her was a new one and that I was glad of it. She left the train in Borneo, which helps America that much. The last I saw of her she was striding along with an air of “I can take care of myself, sir,” and I hope she will confine her efforts to that direction.

One thing I have learned: No matter where one is, it is the best place. I am reminded too that “Truth is stranger than fiction.” I am beginning to believe that in the multiplication of novels and novelettes, it is becoming more and more a stranger.

Nash Jarrell Bitten by Rabid Dog, 1922

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, September 7, 1922

Nash Jarrell, 23-year-old son of Mr. W.C. Jarrell of Roberdel No. 2, was bitten by a dog Tuesday. The dog was killed and its head sent to Raleigh for examination. The report received was that the animal had rabies. Dr. McIntosh is treating the young man at home, and no bad effects are anticipated.

Elizabeth City Editorial Encourages Parents to Send Children to School, Help with Homework, 1905

Editorial from the Elizabeth City Tar Heel, September, 1905. School attendance was not compulsory. It also was not free. Some children went for a couple of months of the year; others not at all.

Send Your Children to School…And Having Done This Assist Them With Their Lessons…Don’t Leave the Teacher to Do It All

Parents, this is for you. We do not know whether you are accustomed to reading the editorials of this newspaper or not. If you have not made it a practice to read our editorials we want you to read this one.

The month of September is a school month, the month that children in this city blessed with nine months school terms, get their books together and go to school. Are your children among the number who will enter one of the several good schools in Elizabeth City this fall? If they are not, whose fault is it?

This newspaper wants to impress upon those few of its readers who may not too seriously consider the matter of education the necessity of keeping their children in school and at their studies just as many months in the year as they can.

The time is when the world demands educated workers in every branch of industry. Without education a man is handicapped worse than he who has no legs or no arms. You who in an advanced age, hair white, shoulders stooped, working at hard labor for a dollar a day may appreciate this fact. Send your children to school.

When you have had them enrolled in some good school, see to it that they study. Don’t trust to their teachers to see that they learn their lessons. Lessons must be learned out of school hours. A teacher has no control over the pupil out of school. See that your children prepare the lessons nights. Help them, take an interest in them and try each night to impress upon them how much the little things they learn each day will count in after years when they must get out from under the parental roof and work for their own bread each day. Send your children to school.

By all means send your children to some school. Don’t count the cost. Remember that you are responsible for these little ones’ existence and responsible for their future welfare. If the cost of schooling looks large, look to other expenses and see if some of them might not be reasonably cut. Send your children to school.

Football Season, Liberty Magazine Cover, 1941

Liberty, a general interest weekly magazine, was second in popularity only to the Saturday Evening Post magazine. Liberty was first published in 1924 and folded in 1950. 

http://www.libertyproject.com/culture/eileen-ford-covers-liberty-magazine/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Wall%20Post&utm_term=Pop%20Culture&utm_content=Model%20Woman%3A%20A%20look%20back%20at%20Liberty%20cover%20girl%2C%20the%20late%2C%20great%20Eileen%20Ford&utm_campaign=Culture

Model Eileen Ford and a Cornell Big Red football player. After World War II Eileen Ford formed the Ford Modeling Agency. Click on the link to read about the Fords and their ground-breaking agency. 

Susie Pruett Baptized at Age 105 and Entire Church Worships Sunday at Her Home, 1922

From the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Richmond County, September 7, 1922

One of the most unique baptisms that every took place in America was that of a Cleveland county woman, Mrs. Susie Pruett, aged 105 years, who at the advanced age professed religion for the first time and although crippled and unable to walk as a result of a fall sustained four months ago, was baptized a few days ago by her friend, Rev. J.F. Weathers, who is pastor of the Pisgah and other Baptist churches.

Around a thousand people were present at the unique event, which took place in Cascar.

The baptizing itself was a most remarkable scene and required unusual preparations. The aged convert, having professed religion, stated that she wanted to be baptized by immersion. Her son, Mr. Joe Pruett, with whom she lives, and other relatives and friends protested that it might mean her death, as she was confined to her bed with a broken leg, badly swollen, following her fall of a few months ago.

Mrs. Pruitt said she wanted to be baptized, even if it meant her death and she should be taken from the pool a corpse. Rev. Weathers was in quandary at her request, but determined to carry out her wishes.

Workmen constructed a square wooden vat. This was placed on a truck and carried to Peeler’s mill pond, where the vat was filled with water. When the vat was brought to the front steps of the Pruett home, hot water was procured in pots and used to warm up the baptismal fount.

Then six strong men picked up Mrs. Pruitt in a sheet and slowly lowered her into the pool. When her head was almost submerged, Mr. Weathers performed the ceremony of baptism and the aged lady came out of the water smiling and rejoicing at her experience, and none the worse for her ordeal.

“Aunt” Susie Pruett was born in August, 1817. She is four years older than Mr. Enoch Parkey, the county’s oldest man. She was married at 18, lived with her husband, David Pruett, over 43 years, and he has been dead something over 43 years. Figure her age up for yourself.

She lived 105 years without joining any church, but after her conversion and baptism last week, she was on Sunday afternoon admitted to membership in Pisgah church, which adjourned to her home and admitted her into full fellowship there.