Jasper Ayers, a young white man from Beaufort county, forced the old theory of give and receive last Sunday when he met up with a young boy on a road in the Smithwick’s creek section.
The 10-year-old son of Mr. Chas. M. Peel was walking a road in that section when he was overtaken by Ayers who was riding a bicycle. Ayers dismounted and invited the boy to take a drink, which the youngster refused to do. Upon refusal to drink made by the boy, Ayers caught him and forced it down his throat. Then Ayers demanded a cigarette from the Peel boy, who told him he had no cigarettes. He was then told by Ayers if he did not give him a cigarette he would kill him, making known that he had a pistol in his pocket.
The little boy, resorting to the best method of escaping death, told his assailant that he would given him some money to buy him cigarettes with if he would not kill him. The suggestion must have been accepted by Ayers, for when the boy produced his pocket book, containing a small amount of change, Ayers seized it and road away.
Several neighbors soon heard of the affair and set out to find Ayers. They overtook him, placed him under arrest, and turned him over to deputy sheriff Luther Peel, who placed him in jail here.
Ayers claims he was just playing and also that he is not strong minded. As to these claims, we do not know whether there is any truth in it or not. Pouring liquor down the throats of small boys by force and then robbing them of their money is not to be tolerated.
From the front page of The Enterprise, Williamston, N.C., Dec. 16, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073995/1924-12-16/ed-1/seq-1/#words=December+16%2C+1924
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