Throat Cut Leaves Charley Hinnant Paralyzed on Right Side, Police Seeking H. Lee, Feb. 2, 1926

Negro’s Throat Cut During Altercation Sunday Night

Charley Hinnant, young negro, who was Sunday Night carried to the Goldsboro Hospital after receiving a severe gash on the left side of his neck, said to have been inflicted by H. Lee, also colored, during an altercation on Smith Street, was last night reported by the hospital to be in a rather serious condition, although it was not definitely stated that his injury was fatal. Hinnant was said by the hospital to have developed paralysis of the right side as a result of the throat injury. Lee escaped after the affray, and is being sought by local police.

From page 6 of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1926

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Moonshine Liquor Stands Found on Land of Mrs. Manning, Feb. 2, 1926

Officers Raid 6 Liquor Stands. . . Find Two in Griffins Township and Get Other Four Along One Road in Bear Grass Section

Federal agents Snell and Grandy and deputies Luther Peel and John Manning were called out to Griffins Township Monday, where they found two moonshine liquor stands. At the first place they found 15 gallons of beer, and at the second they found four barrels. All of this was destroyed, but no stills could be found. The beer was found on the land of Mrs. J.W. Manning.

They then answered a call to Bear Grass, where they found near what is known as the “Five-Cent Road,” leading from the Jim Coltrain place to the Gurganus place, first a batch of 11 barrels of beer. From this place they crossed to the other side of the road and found an 80-gallon copper still boiling hot, with a few gallons of liquor and 500 gallons of beer. The operators, who had heard the noise made in cutting up the first beer, had fled and were not seen.

From this point the huntsmen were called across the road again a few hundred yards further on, where they found a four-barrel batch of beer, but no still or operators. Then they recrossed the road for the third time and found another 50-gallon still and three barrels of beer.

All four places were very near the road and in “smelling distance” of several homes.

From the front page of The Enterprise, Williamston, Martin County, N.C., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1926

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In County Court Before Judge D.H. Bland, Feb. 2, 1926

County Court in Session All Day Yesterday

County Court, presided over by Judge D.H. Bland, was in session yesterday for the first time in two weeks, and the following cases were disposed of:

--Israel Reid, violating automobile law, 30 days in jail with privilege of hiring out.

--Willie Green and George Gibson, larceny, four months on the roads.

--Dennis Loftin, swearing falsely, 30 days on the roads. Appealed and bond fixed at $200.

--Jake Whitley, having and transporting whiskey, $25 and costs.

--H.L. Lee, reckless driving, $25 and costs. Appealed and gave bond.

From page 6 of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday morning, Feb. 2, 1926

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Liquor Trial Due to Start in Recorder's Court, Feb. 2, 1926

Regular Session of Recorders Court. . . Gawk Liquor Cases Up Again for Trial; Prospect of Session Lasting Two or Three Days

Recorders court got under way here today with many cases on the docket for trial. The famous Gawk liquor cases, where 14 negroes are up for trial charged with wholesaling liquor, is in process of trial, with a jury waiting for the usual culling-out procedure, not so much for their good graces as for their leanings on the questions at issue.

The stage seems to indicate a battle royal. One of the principal witnesses for the State Is not able to be present on account of sickness. The case may go through some days or may suddenly come to a final settlement, as at present there seems to be some indications of compromise offers.

Other Cases

The other cases disposed of at the session were:

--Bertha Williams and Minnie Legget, charged with house burning. Both plead not guilty, and after hearing the evidence the recorder decided that probably cause had not been shown.

--Kader Brown plead guilty to the charge of assault with a deadly weapon. He was charged with the cost and ordered to pay John Mason $20.

--Alexander Hill, who was charged with larceny, was found not guilty.

--John Harrell was found guilty of carrying concealed weapons and was fined $50 and the costs.

From the front page of The Enterprise, Williamston, Martin County, N.C., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1926

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Matilda Jones Became Great-Grandmother at 50, Feb. 2, 1926

Became Great-Grandparent at 50. . . Martin County Colored Woman Probably Country’s Youngest Great-Grandmother

We feel sure that we have been visited by one of the country’s youngest great-grandmothers. Our visitor, Matilda Jones a colored woman, was 62 on her last birthday, but her great-grandchild will soon be 12 years of age, which made her a great-grandparent at 50 years of age.

Matilda, who now lives with her third husband a few miles from Williamston on the Hamilton Road, was born in Goose Nest Township September 30, 1863, a year and a half before the close of the Civil War. Her first daughter was named Bettie. Bettie became the mother of Melinda Bell, who is the mother of Beatrice, who will be 12 years old March 2nd.

This makes Matilda only 50 years, 5 months, and 2 days older than her great-granddaughter.

We are always hearing strange things concerning figures, but if anybody can show any more prolific figures than the above, come on with them. Matilda gives the figures above herself, and from every appearance she would be thought even younger than she says.

From the front page of The Enterprise, Williamston, Martin County, N.C., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1926

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Jamesville, Good Healthy Town, Features Seine Fishing, Feb. 2, 1926

Jamesville One of County’s Best. . . A Good Healthy Town; Noted for Its Large Seine Fisheries; Many Inducements for Industries

Jamesville—a good healthy town—is located on the south bank of the Roanoke River, abut 12 miles southeast of Williamston. It is one of the older towns of the county and is noted for its large seine fisheries, which are run for several months in the spring season, catching large quantities of herring, shad, rock, and in former days, many sturgeon. These fisheries are visited by thousands of people from many counties in this section of the State.

The Roanoke River not only brings the fish in the spring to support the fishing industry, but it brings steamboats from Norfolk, Baltimore and intermediate points, loaded with merchandise, and in turn carrying away lumber, cotton, peanuts, and other crops produced in the fertile soils surrounding the town. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad also passes thru the town, with six daily trains, affording good traveling advantages and freight service.

Jamesville does not enjoy full-time good road service, since no paved road touches it. Although Route No. 90 from Columbia in Tyrrell County to Raleigh passes through the town, it is still unpaved from the Washington County line to Williamston, and there is a well-grounded hope that the Jamesville link in the highway will be paved before the mud of another winter has to be endured in and around this good town.

The local conditions as well as the transportation advantages offer inducements for manufacturing plants. The local citizens would offer free sites to legitimate manufacturers.

The town officers are: Mayor, A. Corey; mayor pro tempore, C.a. Askew; Town clerk, O.G. Carson; chief of police, J.R. Manning. The town commissioners are A. Corey, O.G. Carson, W.B. Gaylord, and James Rooks.

There are two fine schools in Jamesville that are the price of the community.

The white school is an accredited high school. Prof. C.O. Small is principal, C.C.Smith, assistant principal; Prof. M.L. Tatum instructor of vocational agriculture and biology; Miss Ora B. Pace, eighth grad; M.J. Batchellor, seventh grade; Miss Hilda Summerill, sixth grade; Miss Lucy P Carrington, fifth grade; Miss Vera Hairr, fourth and fifth grade; and Miss Essie Jordan, first and second grades. Miss Annie Glasgow is the music teacher.

The school has one of the very best basketball teams in the county. Mr. C.C. Smith is the coach. They have played three games this season and won two of them.

The school building is of brick and is large and beautiful. It is fully equipped with 10 rooms. The school has a nice lot of maps. Especially good and instructive are the products maps by the Misses Summerill and Carrington. The auditorium is the largest and best equipped in the county. The chapel exercises are well attended and very interesting.

The school has a very large playground. The boy’s basketball team won the championship of the county last year and the year before, not having been defeated during the seasons of 1924 and 1925 and only once this year.

The school library has 600 volumes for all grades. There is a well-equipped laboratory for general science, biology, and vocational agriculture.

The parents-teachers association is an active organization and helps out greatly. The dramatic club of the high school gave a good entertainment just before Christmas and expects to give another in March. Miss Vera Hairr is leader of the dramatic club and voice teacher. She is doing a fine work.

The agricultural course with Prof. M.L. Tatum is the outstanding feature of this great school. This is the only school in the county that teaches this course, and only about 100 schools in the State teach the course. This work prepares boys for the business of farming and for a happier and more useful life on the farm.

The “moonlight” or night school for the older farmers is well attended by representative farmers young and old. An unusually eager interest is taken in all the studies of arithmetic, writing, besides the lectures on timely and valuable subjects to farmers. In one of the lessons the teacher, in teaching seed selection, said, “Hold on to something good if you have it; if not, get it!” Among the things covered in this course are good seed selection, fertilization, green field cover crops, dairy products, care of swine and poultry and how they pay more than some of the other products; how to write and get the free folders and bulletins from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. The farmers’ interest in this school is plainly seen.

Jamesville has two fisheries where as many as from 4,000 to 20,000 fish are caught in the great power seines in a single haul. Many barrels of perch, herring, shad, and rock are also caught there each season. Sturgeon are sometimes caught, one of them caught there weighing more than 300 pounds and measuring over 9 feet in length.

The timber is very good for many miles around Jamesville. There is a saw mill and a good gin system located in the town, besides a grist mill, a large wholesale oil and gasoline storage tank station on the river front.

There are four white churches here, having services every Sunday besides the Sunday school and mid-week prayer meetings.

The colored folks have three churches, a shoe shop, and a graded school. M.L. Armistead is principal of the school, which has a very nice wooden building, well lighted and painted. They teach, besides the regular scholastic course, cooking, sewing, garment making and fancy work. There seems to be very good interest in the colored school throughout the community.

From the front page of The Enterprise, Williamston, Martin County, N.C., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1926

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Sunday Funeral for Mrs. L.J. Chapman, Feb. 2, 1926

Mrs. L.J. Chapman of Grifton Dead. . . Was Mother of Mrs. J.L. Williams of This City; Several Local People Attended Funeral Sunday

Saturday morning, at her home in Grifton, Mrs. L.J. Chapman passed away, with all of her family who have so tenderly ministered to her during an illness lasting several years, at her bedside. She was in her 63rd years.

Before marriage to Mr. Chapman, she was a Miss Brooks of Pitt County. The deceased is survived by her husband, five daughters, Mrs. J.L. Williams of this city, Mrs. Gladys Charles, Misses Ruth and Marie Chapman of Grifton, and Mrs. George Tomlinson of Wilson, and two sons, Jack and Lloyd Chapman, also of Grifton.

Mrs. Chapman was a fine Christian woman with a strong personality that endeared her to a host of friends. She was a member of the Christian church and the funeral services were conducted by Rev. C.W. Howard of Kinston and Professor Case of Wilson.

Messrs. W.C. Manning, G.H. and T.F. Harrison, J.D. Woolard and Stanley Semmons attended the services, which were held Sunday at 3 o’clock.

From the front page of The Enterprise, Williamston, Martin County, N.C., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1926

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Couple Commit Suicide, Feb. 1, 1926

Suicide Pact Causes Two Deaths. . . Bodies of Youth and Young Woman Shot Through Heart, Found in Auto

Columbus, Ga., Feb. 1 (AP)—The bodies of O.T. Chalkey, 18, and Miss Anna Lee Welch, 24, were found in the front seat of an automobile near Buena Vista, Ga., today, according to information received here. Both had been shot through the heart, and in Chalkey’s hand was a revolver. The following note was found in the young man’s pocket: “Mother, don’t lay this on anybody but me. Do what you want to with my body and the rest. Please put us side by side, for love was the cause of it all. Good bye, your son, O.T.C.”

Beneath Chalkey’s initials were “A.L.W.,” the initials of Miss Welch.

The young couple had been friends for some time, and had planned to be married, but circumstances prevented. They lived about a half a mile apart, and the bodies were found midway between their homes.

From the front page of The Goldsboro News, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1926

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