Gunfire Answers Dynamite Blast in Textile Strike, 1951

“Gunfire Barks In Answer To a Dynamite Blast,” from the Statesville Landmark, May 3, 1951

Wake Forest, April 28—Gunfire barked out in answer to a dynamite blast in Wake Forest, North Carolina, last night, as violence continued to punctuate the 28-day-old southern textile strike.

Three persons were slightly injured by the exchange of rifle, shot gun and pistol fire. And the outbreak was the most serious of several recent disturbances.

Men on the picket line at the Royal Cotton Mill said the dynamite was thrown from a window of the mill. Some other said the explosive was thrown from outside the fence toward the factory building. But all accounts agreed that it was the dynamite explosion that set off the gunfire.

Workers at about 50 mills in seven southern states are taking part in the strike. Their demand is for a 13-cent increase in the present hourly wage of $1.14.

North Carolina Democratic Senator Willis Smith is one of the owners of the Royal Mill, where today’s violence took place. In Washington, Smith declined comment on the incident.