P.E. Secrist, 69, Died at Daughter's Home, Sept. 4, 1926

P.E. Secrist Dies at Home of Daughter Here

P. E. Secrist, aged 69, died here at 12:45 this afternoon at the home of his daughter, Mrs. C. V Krider, on South Union street. He had been ill for the past week with uremic poison and his condition had been so critical for several days that his death was not unexpected.

Where the body will be interred has not been determined. His son, Orr J. Secrist of Avella, Pa., has been notified and funeral plans will await word from him.

Mr. Secrist had been here with his daughter about 18 months, and before coming here had lived in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

In addition to Mrs. Krider the deceased is survived by two sons, Orr J. of Avella and Ward Secrist of Follinglee, W. Va., and one daughter, Mrs. H. C. Zogg of Charleston, W. Va.

From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Sept. 4, 1926

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Mrs. James W. Pharr, 84, Has Died, Sept. 4, 1926

Mother of W. Neal Pharr Dies at Home. . . Prominent Curch woman of Charlotte Died There Thursday Night

After an illness of about three week, Mrs. James W. Pharr, aged 84, prominent church woman of Charlotte, died at her home, 6 Travis Avenue, Thursday at 11:50 p.m. She was the mother of W. Neal Pharr of Concord.

The funeral services will be held at 4 o’clock this afternoon at the home and will be in charge of Rev. Dr. A. A. McGeachy, pastor of te Second Presbyterian Church.

The pall bearers will be: W. E. Price, W. R. Wearn, John F. Jamison, Dr. Oren Moore, John W. Shepherd, Dr. C. M. Strong, James T. Porter, and W. M. Matthews. Interment will be in Elmwood Cemetery.

Mrs. Pharr is survived by her husband, James W. Pharr of Charlotte, formerly connected with the Charlotte Clothing Company, five sons and one daughter. The sons are Rev. James T. Pharr, pastor of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church of Wilmington, William Neal Pharr of Concord, John Boyd Pharr and Fred Pharr of Charlotte, and Joe Pharr, a student at Baltimore Dental College. The daughter is Miss Isabell Pharr of Charlotte.

Two sisters, Mrs. Margaret Baches of Philadelphia, Pa., and Miss Rose B. Thompson of Philadelphia, and one brother, Samuel Thompson of Williamsport, Pa., also survive her.

Mrs. Pharr for several years was a Bible class teacher at Second Presbyterian Church here. For several years prior to her death, she was an active member of the bible class of J. H. Spencer and had taken great interest in the activities of church societies.

From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Sept. 4, 1926

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Deputy Jim Palmer Given Choice Between Roads or Stiff Fine, Sept. 3, 1926

Palmer Fined $500 and Cost. . . Given Choice of Four Months or Fine—Motion Made to Set Verdict Aside, But No Ruling Wednesday

Jim Palmer must pay a fine of $300 and the costs for violating the prohibition law, unless Judge Harding should grant the motion of defense counsel to set aside the verdict of guilty. Palmer was convicted in connection with the disappearance from the liquor car of J. M. York of one gallon of liquor. Palmer helped to make the capture. The liquor disappeared before the car could be taken to the jail, according to testimony.

Judge Harding gave the defendant his choice of a four months’ road sentence or payment of a fine, and Palmer took the latter. It was only consideration for the man’w wife and children, Judge Harding said, which caused him to allow him an alternative—otherwise palmer would have gone to the roads.

The motion for a new trial, made by defense attorneys on a basis of alleged newly discovered evidence, was made Monday, but late Wednesday Judge Harding had not ruled upon it.

Harry Brown, who runs a filling station near the State line, testified that on the day York was bailed out of jail he gave him a ride to the State line, and that York said that the last time he came that way it cost him a gallon of liquor to get out of a mudhole. The defense sought to show that this was the gallon of whiskey which disappeared.

Brown’s testimony was flatly contradicted by York, who was brought from Georgia to testify, and three other witnesses gave testimony tending to prove that York’s statements were correct.

From the front page of the Franklin Press, Friday, Sept. 3, 1926

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Judge, Jury Say Courthouse, Jail "Cause for Shame," Sept. 3, 1926

Jail “Cause for Shame” Reports Grand Jury; New Building Urged. . . Recommends Courthouse and Jail be Combined in New Building—Courthouse Is “Dirty” Says Judge

“Our jail might have been satisfactory in the dark ages,” but now it is “a cause for shame to every citizen of Macon county,” declared the Macon county grand jury in its report to the August term of Macon Superior Court.

The grand jury recommended the erecton of a few buildings with courthouse and jail combined.

Until that is done, two changes at the jail should be made at once, the report declared: a new porch should be erected along the front, and not less than three windows, opening into the prison cells, should be cut.

The men’s toilet on the first floor of the courthouse is in “a disgraceful unsanitary condition,” said the report, which recommended that the county commissioners employ a full-time janitor to keep the courthouse clean.

The county home was reported in good condition, the only recommendation being that the road to the home be improved and that a telephone be installed. The convict camp is also in good condition, the grand jury found.

In discussing the report, Judge W. F. Harding, presiding, called attention to the fact that a similar report had been made by the grand jury when he held court here 10 years ago, and again 5 years ago. Someone stated that the same undesirable conditions had been pointed out by the grand jury practically every year and the judge turned to the solicitor with the suggestion that it was time the county commissioners did something about it.

Judge Harding characterized the court house as “dirty” and the jail as “inadequate.” The county records, he pointed out were piled up in two back rooms. He thought, he said, that the county commissioners ought to be willing to pay enough to keep the courthouse clean and sanitary.

The text of the grand jury’s report, signed by Ray N. Moses, foreman, follows:

“We find the county hme to be in good condition, the inmates, on being questioned, say they ae well cared for. We recommend that the road to the county home be put in better condition and that a telephone be installed in the home.

“We find the convict camp to be kept in a sanitary condition, the convicts are given plenty of plain food, and in our opinion, the convicts are treated in a humane way.

“The rooms in which the Clerk of Court and the Register of Deeds work are too small for the proper transaction of business; but this defect cannot, it appears, be remedied until a new courthouse can be erected.

“The men’s toilet in the lower part of the courthouse is in a disgracefully unsanitary condition. Evil odors insult the noses of those who pass through the hall. It is recommended that the county commissioners employ a man as full-time janitor of the court house with special instructions to keep the court house in a sanitary condition, and to prosecute every person who does anything that causes the toilets to be unclean or untidy. It is recommended that the commissioners take all necessary steps to put the toilets in proper condition and to keep them so.

“A separate toilet for colored persons is recommended.

“The present management of the jail seems to be reasonably good. But the jail building itself is a cause for shame to every citizen of Macon county. The floors of the cells in which prisoners are kept cannot be washed because water will leak through into the rooms below. The wall shows a serious crack at one side of the trap door. There is neither sufficient light or fresh air.

“Right thinking people will realize that innocent people are often confined in jail. Our jail might have been satisfactory in the dark ages. Christian American citizens cannot allow the torture of darkness and foul air as part of the treatment of any human being.

“As soon as it is found practical, a building for both jail and courthouse should be erected.

“But at least two changes in the jail should be made now. A new porch should be constructed at the front of the building; and not less than three new windows should be made in the rooms occupied by the prisoners.”

From the front page of the Franklin Press, Friday, Sept. 3, 1926

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Charles Foster, Solomon Casey to Face Liquor Charges, Sept. 3, 1926

Negroes Bound Over to Court—Liquor Charge

Charles A. Foster and Solomon Casey, Waynesville negroes, were arrested here Monday by Chief of Police Coffey on a charge of transporting liquor. The arrest was made on Main street; the negroes had a pint can, half full, Mr. Coffey said.

The preliminary hearing was held before Mayor R.D. Sink and the negroes were bound to Superior court. Bond was fixed at $200 each, and $300 for the car which they were driving.

From the front page of the Franklin Press, Friday, Sept. 3, 1926

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Mary Joe Conley Burned When She Overturned Pan of Hot Chocolate at Her Grandparents' Home, Sept. 3, 1926

Child of Franklin Man Severely Burned

The many friends of little Mary Joe Conley, the attractive child of Mr. and Mrs. John Conley of Winston-Salem, will regret to learn that she was severely burned Saturday afternoon at Magnolia Terrace, the county home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Will A. Hall.

The little child turned over a pan of hot chocolate, scalding her entire breast, stomach and left arm. It is not known just how serious are the injuries.

Mr. Conley is a native of Franklin. He has been connected with he Lentz Transfer Company at Winston-Salem for the past several years.

From the front page of the Franklin Press, Friday, Sept. 3, 1926

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What to Do with Challenging Inmates at Convict Camps, Sept. 2, 1926

What to Do with Them

Greensboro Daily News

The troubles of the superintendent of a convict camp which has come to be the same for a county prison where able-bodied men under sentence are confined as distinguished from a jail, where men under suspicion are confined, impress Dr. R. M. Buie, county health officer. At the Guilford central camp he finds nine negroes afflicted with laziness and pretending it is sickness that disinclines them to hard labor as duly imposed by the court for their sins.

“What are you going to do with them?” the health officer asked a reporter. Of course it was understood between them that the reporter was not going to do anything with them; in classical language, he don’t belong to do anything. The query was rhetorical.

Superintendent is as kind as scan be, tries to make it as easy on the men as possible, but they do not appreciate his efforts. The men swear, they gamble, theyh play cards on Sunday—or at least, the last whippings out there were for infractions of rules against these inquiries.

The doctor “wasn’t willing to go on record as favoring flogging,” but he sees the problem of handling convicts become “more trying each year,” and what is a kind superintendent, who tries to make it easy on the men but is not appreciated, going to do with them?

Doctor Buie would have to stop to read a considerable library in order to find the answer to his question that would satisfy his scientific mind. What to do with convicts is the subject of a rapidly growing literature, much of it the record of official experience. But offhand, almost anybody who knows no more about the subject than we do, or than Dr. Buie does—which may be much more—would answer, first off, “stop their rations.”

If so inclined, the jailor might in addition quote Scripture to them: “If any would not work, neither should he eat.”

From the editorial page of the Polk County News, Tryon, N.C., Sept. 2, 1926

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