Interesting News From Across the State, 1935

“General State News” from The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., February 8, 1935. A yegg is a burglar or safecracker. The last item is about an 11-year-old boy facing trial for manslaughter after he tripped a classmate. Her skinned knee became septic and she died.

Asphyxiation

 Undiscovered for nearly a week by relatives and friends who had knocked without answer at the door of his locked home, the body of William M. Boylan, 48, member of a prominent Raleigh family, was found Monday at noon on the floor of a gas-filled bathroom in the residence. All indications were that Mr. Boylan, who lived alone in the ancestral home in Raleigh, had tripped over a tube leading to the gas heater, loosening it, and then was asphyxiated by the escaping gas, Coroner L.M. Waring said after an investigation.

Robbed Again

Expert safecrackers, using methods similar to those employed by robbers who carried off loot worth over $4,000 from the same store last December, drilled into a new safe at the Hudson-Belk Company’s department store during the week-end at Raleigh and made a $2,000 haul, it was discovered Monday morning. Raleigh police said Monday night they had no clues as to the identity of the yeggs, but believe that the same robbers were responsible for both jobs. The store is within 250 feet of the police station.

Off to a Good Start

“We start 1935 with indications of a successful year in child welfare work,” was the observation made Tuesday by John J. Phoenix, superintendent of the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina. He added that January’s activities were outstanding because of the large increase in the number of applications for children.

Beloved Rector Dies

Stricken by the virulent type of influenza-pneumonia that took such a ghastly toll during the days of the World War, the Rev. Theodore Patrick Jr., beloved rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, died Monday night at Rex Hospital after a desperate 48-hour battle to overcome the fatal grip of the dreaded disease.

Brave Woman

Leaving her sick bed, Mrs. Will Braswell of Fremont grabbed an iron fire poker and racing bare-footed to the hall, knocked senseless the 150-pound Negro burglar who was struggling with her husband late Saturday night. When Mr. Braswell returned home Saturday night, he heard someone moving abut, but thought it was his wife. As he entered the hall a big Negro, later identified as Will Lane, seized him, and the two men fought back and forth in the hall. Mrs. Braswell, who was ill with influenza, terrified by the noise, got up, ran to the scene and gave the timely blow.

Poisoned Liquor?

A filling station operator is in jail in Edgecombe County without the privilege of bail, and the Wake Forest Medical School has been called upon to assist officers in the investigation of the mysterious death of Eddie Witherspoon, 21, plush mill worker at Rocky Mount, Sunday morning. Witherspoon died after a drinking party in which he participated with several other young men from that City. An autopsy was performed on his body in an effort to determine whether the liquor he drank was poisoned. Dr. Roy Norton, city health officer, who performed the autopsy, said he believed Witherspoon’s death was due to acute alcohol because he was an inexperienced drinker and because of the recovery of other youths who drank with him.

Dies in Raleigh

Alexander Smith Carson, 68, who was for 12 years cashier of the State Revenue Department, died at Raleigh Monday night at his home, following an illness of over a year.

Many New Nurses

Two hundred and seven of 325 applicants who took the State Board examination for nurses several weeks ago passed according to Miss Lula West, R.N., secretary of the North Carolina State Board of Nurses. Twenty nurses from other states and one from Canada were admitted to practice in North Carolina reciprocity.

Trip for Some Girl

The outstanding girl in senior classes of North Carolina high schools is to be selected during February and awarded a free trip to Washington, D.C., in April by the North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution. Local contestants are to be chosen from each town in this State, where a D.A.R. chapter is located. Each chapter will submit her qualifications and achievements before February 20 to Mrs. T.C. Turnage of Farmville, chairman of the State D.A.R. committee on student organization.

Manslaughter Charge

A manslaughter indictment against Edison Britt, 11-year-old son of Curley Britt who lives near Boardman, was returned last week by the Robeson County grand jury. The boy, a second-grade student in the Orrum School in Robeson County, is charged with tripping on the pavement Ella Bass, daughter of Von Bass of Orrum vicinity, causing her to fall and sustain a bruise to her knee which resulted in septicaemia, from which she died in a Lumberton hospital December 15. The injury was caused about a week before she was carried to Lumberton in a dying condition.