Miss Rubye Lee McCormick, alias George McCormick, departed on the Wilmington bus Friday evening for Whiteville, where she said that she was going to visit her aunt, Mrs. William Todd. Her stay in Lumberton had been short, lasting only since Sunday afternoon, but it was full of thrills from the beginning.
Reaching Lumberton on the Fayetteville bus Sunday afternoon, Miss McCormick, who was dressed in long trousers and went without hat, went to the Lumberton hotel and registered for room and board. She gave her name as George McCormick, residence Columbia, S.C. On account of the crowded condition of the hotel she was placed in a room with a tobacco buyer from Greenville, who is pretty well advanced in years. Still playing the role of a man, she went out Monday morning in search of work. Her efforts to secure anything to do were fruitless that day, and so Tuesday morning, Mr. J. W. Sellers, proprietor of the hotel and the Lumberton Bicycle shop and local news dealer, employed her to deliver papers. She was given a bicycle and sent out over town with the papers and later went with Mr. Sellers, riding on the running board of the car and throwing out papers. And all the while the voice of the new news boy had the tone of a girl. Mr. Sellers put her under strenuous tests in the work—tests under which he did not think any woman could stand up in order to test her out; but she made no complaint. People at the hotel suspected that girl-like voice, however, and also made comments about the kind of shoes she wore when she arrived at the hotel. She later discarded her long trousers for knickers bought at a local store. Until Friday morning Miss McCormick succeeded in her role.At that time Policeman Vance McGill approached her and ask if she were not a girl, and she confessed the truth to him. She was taken back to the hotel and told to wait there until the afternoon train for Hamlet, when she was to be sent to Columbia, S.C. to Mr. L. H. Wilson, a cousin with whom she said that she lived. Her mind changed during the afternoon, though, and she wanted to go to Whiteville.
Miss McCormick told tales that were a bit inconsistent at times about her people. She said that she had been to visit Mrs. Lilly Scott and Miss Geneva Marlow at Fayetteville. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. McCormick of Columbia, were dead, she stated, but she had a sister, Miss Lula Mae McCormick who lived in Columbia. She had a cousin, Mr. Arthur McCormick, living in Conway, S.C., she said. These were all her people. The aunt at Whiteville was not mentioned when interviewed but came into being later in the afternoon. Efforts to locate anyone in Columbia who knew anything about her proved of no avail, as did efforts to find Mr. Arthur McCormick at Conway.
Miss McCormick conducted herself splendidly while in Lumberton, and no complaint whatever has been registered against her conduct. Her personal appearance was neat, and she played the part of a boy well except for her voice. Black hair cut like a man’s and parted on the side and a full face sprinkled with a few freckles looked very boyish. She was 16 years old and weighed 125 pounds. When interviewed at the hotel Friday afternoon, she became a bit nervous and cried not like a boy but as a girl.
Tobacco Man Shocked
The tobacco buyer who occupied the same room with Miss McCormick cannot yet believe that the person who spent five nights in the room with him was a girl. He was fooled completely and was very much shocked when greeted with the news Friday at noon.
Seeking Work
Miss McCormick told a Robesonian reporter that she left Columbia to get work somewhere and she later assumed the role of a man because she had been told a man could have a better chance to get work than a woman. She ha no particular reason for coming to Lumberton except that she wanted something to do and she thought she could find it here.
Mother Comes for Her
Since the above was put into type, the girl’s mother, a Mrs. Hardy of Conway, S.C., came to Lumberton for the girl. She was accompanied by Mr. Arthur McCormick of Conway, who said that he was no relation whatever of the girl. The name George McCormick, adopted by the girl, was the name of his son, he said. Mr. McCormick stated that he thought the girl became angry with her mother and took what money there was in the house, approximately $30, and left home.
From the front page of The Robesonian, Lumberton, N. C., Monday, September 20, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84026483/1926-09-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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