Mrs. Jenkins Granted Divorce on Grounds of Separation, Aug. 7, 1926

L. L. Jenkins Is Divorced from Wife. . . Divorce Was Granted on the Ground of Separation

Asheville, Aug. 7 (AP)—L. L. Jenkins, millionaire property owner and former resident of Asheville, has been divorced by his wife, Mrs. Kate L. Jenkins in Buncombe County Superior Court it was learned today.

The divorce was granted to Mrs. Jenkins on July 12 on the grounds of separation for five years. Mrs. Jenkins has been living in Washington, D.C., for several years.

Said to have been the first man to make $1 million in Asheville, Mr. Jenkins had been for long time associated with the city’s business life. He also is well known in western North Carolina political circles. He is a director and large stockholder in the American National Bank.

He was formerly president of the Asheville baseball club. He was Republican candidate for the position of Lieutenant Governor in 1916 and in 1920 he was the nominee for representative in Congress.

Mr. Jenkins was born in Gastonia and was a postmaster there. He is said to have made his first money in cotton before coming to Asheville.

From the front page of The Concord Daily Tribune, Aug. 7, 1926

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Laura Harris Circle Meets at Central Methodist Church, Aug. 7, 1926

Circle Meets Monday Evening

The Laura Harris Circle of Central Methodist Church will meet Monday evening at 8 o’clock in the ladies’ parlor. The hostesses are: Mesdames M. F. Ritchie, T. M. Rowlett and Miss Eva Taylor.

From page 2 of The Concord Daily Tribune, Aug. 7, 1926

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George Wakefield Committed Suicide After He Murdered Bertha Ansell, Aug. 6, 1926

Murderer Died by Own Hand . . . Wakefield’s Body Found in Skiff Where He Shot Himself Weeks Ago

The law’s hunt for George S. Waterfield ended this week when the body of the man who cruelly murdered 17-year-old Bertha Ansell three weeks ago was found in a Cove off Furby’s Island, eight miles from Currituck Courthouse.

The body was badly decomposed, and the top of Waterfield’s head was blown off. His gun and an empty shell lay in the boat. A coroner’s jury decided that Waterfield died by his own hand. He evidently had killed himself the night he escaped after killing Miss Ansell and wounding her companion, William Tatem. For Waterfield soon realized the rashness of his act, the futility of escape, and believing all that was near and dear to him was lost, decided to end it all. The body was discovered Tuesday morning by Joe Litchifield, a fisherman.

Before making his escape from Knotts Island, he left his watch, to be given his 2-year-old son when he reached manhood, and 90 cents, all he had in the world, with his aged mother.

The shooting of Miss Ansell is said to have followed a quarrel between Waterfield and his wife, in which he accused of his wife of accepting attentions from Charles Ansell, father of the girl. The quarrel ran to a fury, with curses and blows being passed, and just at the end of this argument, Miss Ansell and her suitor William Tatem came by. Tatem started an argument with Waterfield, alleging that he had been talking about Miss Ansell, and the outcome was, Waterfield, who was then believed to have just started out gunning for Ansell, raised his gun, and shot the girl dead, and wounded Tatem.

The fears of Charles Ansell, that Waterfield would return and kill him are at an end. But he has lost a daughter and Mrs. Waterfield a husband. Whether the two will try to share their losses together is now a matter of speculation among the neighbors.

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, Aug. 6, 1926

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City Manager Says He Will Sue Those Who Slander Him, Aug.6, 1926

Ferebee Says He Will Bring Suits Against the Culpeppers and Jones. . . City Manager Asserts That He Has Been Grossly Slandered and Thinks Suits Instituted by Him Will Bring Out the Real Facts About Grafting on City Contracts and Purchases

The charges of graft in which prominent Elizabeth City business men and members of the city administration are named will be aired in the courts. City Manager Miles W. Ferebee says that he will himself take the imitative by instituting suits for slander against W. L. Jones, president, and L. B. Culpepper, secretary and treasurer of the W. L. Jones Construction Company, and possibly George Culpepper, dealer in automobiles, road machinery and almost everything else that street paving and road contractors use.

At a meeting of the Board of Aldermen Monday night, the City Manager called for an investigation of every purchase made by his office during his administration. A citizens committee composed of C. E. Thompson, L. R. Foreman and J. B. Flora was appointed upon motion of alderman Jerry Hughes. But the City Manager has no idea that this committee without judicial powers can proceed far enough to suit him.

“I shall not be satisfied,” says Mr. Ferebee, “until the malicious business of hampering the city administration and grafting upon its contracts is broken up and I believe I owe it to myself and to the city to enter suits against every man against whom I have concrete evidence.

“In their despicable business of loading up contracts with commissions for themselves certain men, notably L. B. Culpepper and W. L. Jones, have represented to various concerns doing business with the town that controlled me and certain members of the Board of Aldermen and that in order to do business with the town I had to be paid. To protect themselves these men have represented that I must not be approached personally, but could be handled only through them, and the bidders for city business were cautioned not to discuss with me the amount that they said I was to get.

“Their methods are obvious. Pretending to get money with which to bribe me, they have sought only to get money to put in their own pockets. They have put me and put the city in a false light with numerous contractors and supply houses doing business with the city and have damned my reputation by representing me as a common grafter.

“They have created the impression everywhere that no one can do business in Elizabeth City without paying graft, and the city has been constantly hampered by contractors and others padding their prices to pay secret profits to local individuals who render the city no service at all and whose only claim to a rake-off is there false representation that they have to split their profits with me.

“I have suffered under the ignominy of these false representations for months and I shall go to the courts for redress.”

Thus speaks the City Manager in an exclusive interview given this newspaper this week. Mr. Ferebee insists that he had documentary evidence upon which to proceed and says he believes that numerous contractors who have done business with the city will substantiate his charges when put on their oaths.

This then is the latest development in Elizabeth City’s latest municipal scandal.

Powers of Citizens Committee Are Limited

The public should not expect any great revelations to come from the investigation by the Aldermen’s committee. Contractors and others who have paid money to members of the Board of Aldermen or to parties claiming to influence the Board of Aldermen are not going to incriminate themselves by talking to a committee, if they can help it. The committee hasn’t the powers of a grand jury.

Contractors and others who have been approached with demands for side profits by local individuals are not willing to talk openly because their talking would incur the hostility of every grafter in Elizabeth City and every grafter in every other town in North Carolina.

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, Aug. 6, 1926

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When Mayor Asks Police Chief for Liquor--Both Agree It Was Just a Joke, Aug. 6, 1926

When Ye Mayor Asked the Chief for the Liquor. . . Chief of Police Holmes Corroborates Mayor McCabe’s Version in the Main

Reports that have kept Main Street gossip busy for the past week, to the effect that Mayor Aubrey McCabe had demanded of Chief of Police Holmes five gallons of contraband liquor under threat of dismissing the chief if he didn’t give him the liquor, are not heartily confirmed by the Chief of Police himself.

“I believe I did ask the Chief if he could’ let me have five gallons out of a lot of 55 gallons confiscated by the police some tie ago,” says Mayor McCabe, “but I was only joking and I didn’t expect to get any of the liquor, and I certainly did not threaten the Chief. That yarn must have been invented by some of my enemies.”

Chief of Police Holmes says: “The Mayor did say something to me about getting five gallons of liquor. It was on the morning after we had captured 55 gallons in the Twifford and Bateman case. I was on my way to Melick’s to get some sealing wax to seal the jugs with and passed the Mayor on Main Street in front of McCabe & Grice. I told him that I had 55 gallons of liquor in my office and I was going to put it under seal. He asked me if I couldn’t hold out five gallons for him? I told him there wasn’t a chance. If he made any threats I never heard them.”

Chief of Police Holmes says it is nothing unusual for the best citizens of the town to see him with contraband liquor, give him a sly nudge and a knowing wink and ask him if they can’t get some of it. He says he always takes these requests good naturedly. “I never pass by the side door of the First & Citizens National Bank with a jug of seized liquor that someone in the bank doesn’t yell at me or whisper to me, asking if I won’t turn it over to them,” says the Chief. “it is just a way of joking that folks have.”

The talk about Mayor McCabe seems to have originated with Trial Judge P. G.

Sawyer. It has also been given currency by Dr. A. L. Pendleton, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission. Neither Judge Sawyer nor Dr. Pendleton are friendly toward young McCabe.

The story involving Mayor McCabe has brought a lot of criticism upon the young man’s head, it being the opinion of good citizens generally that the executive head of the city should find some other way of joking with the police department.

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, Aug. 6, 1926

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Dr. John Saliba Swindled Out of $260 by Card Sharps, Aug. 6, 1926

Dr. John Saliba Easy Mark for 3 Card Sharps. . . Parted from $260 in Cash and Doped into Signing Draft for $410

Dr. John Saliba of Elizabeth City has traveled over more than half the civilized world, and is familiar with the language and customs of many countries and thinks he is thoroly cosmopolitan and world wise; but he was no match for a trio of card sharps on an Old Dominion Steamship liner from Norfolk to New York.

Three friendly young fellows took $260 in cash off Dr. Saliba on one of those steamers one night last week and then got his signature on a draft for $410 on his account at the First & Citizens National Bank in Elizabeth City. Luckily Dr. Saliba came to his senses in time to wire the bank to stop payment on the draft.

It was a hot night on the steamer and Dr. Saliba, traveling alone, looked hot an dlonesome sitting on the deck all by himself. He was wishing there were a lot of good fellows along to make the trip lively and interesting. The “good fellows” were right there and they had him spotted.

They picked a conversation with him, got him into an innocent game of bridge, then had a few drinks, changed to poker and the doctor doesn’t know what happened after that. Next morning his discovered that he was short $260, all the money he ha on his person the night before and he had a hazy recollection of having signed something. What he signed was a draft for $410, which the sharpers deposited for collection the very next day. But he stopped payment on the draft and is out only $360 in cash.

He says the next time he goes to New York he’ll steer clear of Old Dominion steamers and take a guardian with him.

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, Aug. 6, 1926

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When Officials Lean on Police to Find and Return Their Illegal Liquor, Aug. 6, 1926

No Graft at Edenton but Official Fun. . . Certain Prominent Citizens Sustain a Heavy Loss When Their Liquor Is Stolen

“We don’t have any graft or attempts at bribery among our city officials; the city wouldn’t stand for that, and none of our officers would stoop that low,” declared a prominent Edenton citizen this week, “but we did have something happen here a few days ago that was about as sensational as your turn-up over in Elizabeth City.”

“It seems,” he continued, “that some of our big officials were preparing to stage a little party, and hired a boat Captain to make the trip to East Lake, and bring back about 55 gallons of liquor, a jug for each man. Some of our policemen and Aldermen figured in on this deal, and so we have just learned why nothing has been done toward putting down the liquor traffic hereabouts.

“Well, the boat captain had a key to his employer’s fish house, and getting back late that night, unbeknown to the owner of the building, he ties up at the wharf and unloads his liquor in the building. But it happened that some sports abut town were having some fun down on the waterfront, and seeing something unusual that late at night going on, made a little investigation for themselves.

“the long and the short of it was that while the Captain was gone up town to collec this check for the 55 gallons at $15 per jug, these fellows down on the waterfront got into the building and got the stuff out of the way. When the Aldermen and policemen went down after their liquor, it was gone, and the alderman who had given his check for the goods ordered the bank to stop payment on his check.

“While the Captain was having a helluva time trying to collect the check on which payment had been stopped, the Aldermen were laying down the law to the policeman. “You’ve got to go after this bird, and you’ve got to catch him,” said the Alderman, “or we’ll get your job.” The policeman was in a fix and lost two days of good time trying to get onto the bird who stole the liquor.

“The Captain of the boat found that he couldn’t collect his check, and he started more trouble. It wasn’t long before he had spilled the beans all over town, and inside of 24 hours, all the drug stores were full of folks talking about the episode. And it wasn’t long either before the man who gave the check went down and settled up with the Captain, and got back the little scrap of paper that the boatman had been showing around town. But the Alderman is $165 out of pocket, and some fellow has enough wet goods to last him all summer. No, our Aldermen won’t take graft, but they are sporty fellows who like to enjoy themselves, even if they have a little hard luck while they are at it.”

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, Aug. 6, 1926

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