The Greensboro patriot [February 17, 1921]

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PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY.
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ESTABLISHED 1821. GREENSBORO, N. C. THURSDA^ FEBRUARY 17. 1921. V VOL. 100. NO. 14
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TRIAL OF YARHER CASE
BEGAN TUESDAY MORNING
MBS. "VARNER AND FAMILY SER-VANT
TESTIFY AS TO INNO-CENCE
OF PLAINTIFF.-
The trial ot the civil action of
Mrs. Florence C. Varner against her
husband,, H. B. Varner, prominent
newspaper man of Lexington, was
begun Tuesday morning 1a ''United
States Federal court. Judge James
E. Boyd, veteran Jurist ot the West-ern
North Carolina district, is pre-siding
over the hearing of the case.
Mrs. Varner is asking the court
to allow her a "reasonable subsist-ence"
from the estate ot her bus-band,
and she lays especial claim to
a business building located in Lex-'
ngton and belonging to her hus-band,
which is valued at 350,000.
The action was instituted last fall,
and' followed shortly after a pro-ceeding
begun in Davidson county
Superior court by Mr. Varner,
wherein" he sought an absolute di-vorce
from his wife, and a second
proceeding by Mr. Varner against
Baxter McCrary, a mulatto, in which
he sought damages in the sum of
$100,000 for the alleged alienation
ot" his wife's affectioB*.
The jury to hear this case was
selected after 20 members had been
challenged and the final approval
upon the twelve men was passed
within an hour after the session of
court was opened. Those composing
the jury are J. A. Combs, Elmer E.
Byrd, W. M. Moffitt, J. M. Joyce,
M. C. Reeves, L. H. Starmer, W. H.
Parker, J. J. Roberson, D. M. Sum-ner,
J. A. Langley, F. Ji Thomas
and T. E. Hodgin. During the trial
of the case the jury will be kept
locked together, the decision having
been reached by mutual consent of
the attorneys in the case.
Mrs. Florence Varner took the
stand in her own behalf following
the reading of the pleadings in the
case. She began her testimony at
3.45 Tuesday afternoon and contin-ued
for a short while at the open-ing
of court yesterday morning.
Mrs. Varner emphatically denied
having had clandestine meetings
with the negro, Baxter McCrary,
■with whom improper relations were
alleged by Mr. Varner to have been
engaged in by his wife. She declar-ed
that McCrary had been a constant
friend of her husband, that the ne-gro
had contributed articles for Mr.
Varner's newspaper, that he had
contributed to Varner's political
campaign, that he had visited Var-ner
in his home, and that she had
always objected to such familiarity
with McCrary on the part of her hus-band.
In reply to the query of her
attorney as to whether she had eve:
had immoral relations witu Mc-
Crary, Mrs. Varner replied, "Cer-tainly
not."
Mrs. Varner testified that she was
married to Mr. Varner December 20.
1900, and she declared that up to
the time ct August 9, 1920. the re-lations
between them had been those
o'" an affectionate husband and wife.
She stated that she loved him dear-ly,
had always been a devoted and
considerate wife, and had helped
him in the conduct of his business.
The witness testified to the ap-pearance
of Fred 0- Sink at hsr
home on the night or August 9,
about 10 o'clock, when she was pre-paring
to retire for the night. W
Sink informed her. she stated, that
•■you are in all kinds of trouble
and that Mr. Sink then inquired II
Baxter MoCrary was in the house.
Mrs. Varner testified that she pre- |
sumed the visitor was inquiring as
to whether the negro was visrting
Anna Miller, a servant that 1 red m
the home, and that she Inquired of
the servant, who informed her _ to
the contrary. That Mr. Sink and a
policeman then searched the house
out that McCrary was not found i.n
the dwelling. i,,.Lt
At the conclusion of the direct
examination thecouneelto.: the de-fense
sprang * eurprlse by declining
to cross examine Mrs. Varner.
Anna Miller, a negress servant in
the Varner home during the past
twenty years, followed Mrs. Varner
I0 the witness stand yesterday morn-ing,
she testified that McCrary w si
' , friend of hers, that he frequently ,
nme to see her at the Varr.er ho**,
where she lived, and that they con-versed
for considerable periods Ot
time on frequent occasions. She de-clared
that she had seen no imprbB-er
relations between the plaint.*.
Mrs. Varner, and ^Baxter McCrary.
She corroborated the testimony of
Mrs. Varner as to he friendly rela-tions
that had existed between Mr.
Varner and MoCrary, and state* that
Mrs. Varner had protested against
entertaining the negro in their
home. That McCrary had often
sent game to Mr. Varner and that
Mrs. Varner bad declined to eat it.
A deposition of the negro Mc-
Crary was offered following the
cross examination 6f Anna Miller.
It was stated that McCrary was ser-iously
ill in a hospital In Cincin-nati,
Ohio, ,and was unable to at-tend
the trial. The testimony in the
deposition stated that MoCrary was
61 years old; that he had always
lived in North Carolina; that be was
friendly to Mr. and Mrs. Varner as a
colored man to white people; that
Mr. Y,arner had once asked him to
make an address in his theater;
that Varner had sent him postal
cards and also his picture, which
was exhibited with the deposition;
that Varner had allowed him to
hunt with his gun, that he had, at
Varner's request, written articles
for the Varner newspaper, the Lex-ington
Dispatch; that he went to
the Varner home to see their ser-vant,
Anna Miller.
In reply to the question in the
deposition as to whether he had
ever had illicit relations with Mrs.
Varner, the answer read: "Before
God; no, never."
. The array of legal talent com-prises
some of the ablest lawye 3 of
the state. T. T..Cansler. of Char-lotte;
E. E. Raper, John C. Bower,
Wade H. Phillips, J. R- McCrary.
Z. I. Walser, D. A. Walser and J. F.
Spruill, of Lexington, appear for the
defense, while counsel for the plain-tiff
are King, Sapp & King, of this;
T. C. Guthrie, of Charlotte; B. B.
Vincent, of Thomasvllle, and Hubert
E. Olive, of Lexington.
Every step ot the case is being
most bitterly contested and It is ex-pected
that the trial of the case will
consume the entire week.
During every session since the
trial was begun seats in the Fed-eral
court room have been at a
premium, while many people have
stood in the rear aisles and block-ed
the doorways.
WITH A PATRIOT TESTIMONIAL
OF 1849 HE MADE GOOD.
An interesting letter of recom-mendation,
written in 1849 by the
publishers of The Greensboro Pa-triot,
has c"ome to light following
the death'o'f Samuel ' R. Shelton,
who was born in Greensboro in
1827.
Armed with ifhe testimonial of
good character and efficient work-manship,
Mr. Shelton left Greens-boro
in IMS and journeyed west-ward.
At the age of 83 years he
died last fall in Tennessee, after a
long and useful life that was lived
as a high toned, Christian gentle-man.
He filled many positions of
trust and honor in his adopted state
and be enjoyed the love and esteem
of'a wide acquaintance.
The testimonial given to Mr.
Shelton upon the eve of his west-ward
journey by the editors of The
Patriot, is quoted in full as follows:
Greer.sborough, N. C,
September 25, 1849.
We desire to commend the bearer
of thi^ Mr. Samuel R. Shelton, to
the kind attention of strangers,
wherever his lot may be cast.
We have known him from his boy-hood;
for nearly three years past
he has lived with us; and we are
pleased to testify to his uniform
good moral character and Indus-trious
habits. His conduct has ever
been not only good, but exemplary
and praise-worthy.
He has acquired in our office a
competent knowledge of the art of
printing—performing with ease and
skill all the work usual in a news-paper
printing office. He is a brisk
workman at either case or press.
LYNDON SWAIM,
,M. S. SHERWOOD.
Publishers Greensboro Patriot.
COUHTI COMMISSIONERS
WBttCOUHTYCOURT
DEFER ELECTION OF DEMON-STRATION
AGENT; BILLS REL-ATIVE
TO COUNTY HOME.
HANDSOME CLOCK FORMALLY
PRESENTED TO COURT.
PLAN TO ENLARGE AND DE-VELOP
TOBACCO MARKET.
GROCERS IN SESSION OPPOSE
INCREASE OF INTEREST RATE
Meeting in this city yesterday the
members of the Wholesale Grocers-
Association ot the third xone of
North Carolina, went on record aa
being opposed to an increase of le-gal
Interest rates to 8 per cent, as
has been proposed' in a bill present-ed
to the state legislature. The
delegates denounced the proposd
increase of telephone rates through-out
the state, approved the efforts of
the North Carolina Traffic Associa-tion,
and" agreed as a body to re-fuse
to sign any contract for deliv-ery
of goods in the future where the
buyer was not given equal privi-lege
with the seller.
The wholesale men were enter-tained
at a luncheon at the O. Henry
hotel yesterday, the .jobbers of
Greensboro acting in the capacity
of hosts.
At a meeting held yesterday by
the agricultural committee of, the
Chamber ot Commerce, plans were
considered relative to the financing
of a proposal to construct more to-bacco
warehouses and storage plants
in a serious endeavor to develop the
Greensboro market to the propor-tion
that it naturally deserved. A
committee was appointed composed
of H. L. Coble, chairman; J. E. La-tham,
R- D. Douglas. John W. Simp-son,
R. G. Vaughn, A. B. Joyner, E.
P. Wharton, W. W. Morrison and J.
p. Sanders, which was directed to
make a thorough Investigation of
the entire tobacco market situation
in Greensboro and report to the cen-tral
body next week. The com"
tee was directed to consider means
of financing the proposition.
The sentiment of the' meeting was
unanimous in expressions of vital
interest among the business men o
the city in the developing of an ac-tive
tobacco market for Greensboro.
Guilford county has no live market
at present, and Greensboro, it is
pointed out, is ideally situated tor
the building of a first class market.
At the regular meeting held this
week, by the county commissioners
members of the board, following an
informal discussion, expressed them-selves
a* being opposed to the crea-tion
ot* county court. The matter
baa ■*>» agitated during tbe past
"W but a majority of
of the committee ap-
. the association of attor-th*
county to consider the
had already reported
.Je to its creation. The
commissioners regarded the propo-sition
as an expensive remedy that
would offer but alight relief.
The board was advised' that S. 'R.
Bivens, recently elected as county
farm* demonstration agent, had de-clined
acceptance of the office to
fill tbe vacancy caused by the resig-nation
of J. C. Beavers. Mr. Bivens
was unable to secure a free release
fromlfcis contract as secretary of the
High Point Chamber of Commerce.
E.--#. Millsaps, district farm dem-onstration
agent, was present at the
meeting, and he urged the appoint-ment
ot Mr. Ferguson to fill the po-sition,
tt war stated that Mr. Fer-guson
would not accept the office at
the ^former *Jary of 12,400 per
year, but that he would accept the
place at $3,000. The commissioners
deterred definite action in the mat-ter.
It was stated that the present
season for farmer* has so far ad-vanced
that an inexperienced man
could render but little help and
further that a capable man could
probably be secured later for the
salary formerly paid.
Bills prepared by County Attor-ney'J^
hn N. Wilson, to be presented
to the legislature, were approved by
the board. One bill authorized the
sale of the county home farm, either
in whole or in part; also the sale of
the old county jail and the hitch-ing
lot. The funds so derived to
be used for erecting a county home,
improving the old site, or to be ap-plied
to any needs of the county.
A second bill authorizes the board
to apply the annual dog tax. amount-in*
*> between 13,000 and $3,600
per year to the county school fund,
the same to be used for maintain-ing
libraries in the county.
A third bill would enable the
county to provide tor the tubercular
patients and to draw on the general
fund for the construction of a sana-tarium
to treat the White Plague
victims within the county.
DRAFT OF PROPOSED COUNTY \.
COURT NOT APPROVED.
TRIED TO GET BOOTLEG
LIQUOR ON MAYFLOWER.
B R MrFARLAND DSHD MON-
' ' DAY; FUNERAL V'EDXESDAY.
D R. McFarland, a prominent cit-izen
of Guilford county, died at his
home in Friendship township Mon-day
afternoon at 1 o'clock, heart
failure being the immediate cause of
his death. Mr. McFarland was 75
years ot age.
He is survived by his widow and
the following *n*+r*"£*
Ham McFarland. of Gu.ltord Col-
" S S. McFarland. of Blrming-nYm:
Ala.;A.B.sndC.WvMcFar-land.
of Greensboro; Mrs. Nelser. of
Cleveland, Ohio, and Mrs. L. R.
Wrenn, ot Greensboro.
Funeral services were conducted
at Friendship church *•*•*»»*
mornlng at 11 o'clock by Rev_ T. J^
Rogers, interment was made in
the church burying ground.
N. H. TuMle Dea<*"
Norman H. Tuttle, aged 22 years
died at his home on Spring Garden
6,reet. Monday morning at W
o'clock of epilepsy. A short funeral
service, was conducted at the home
Monday night by Rev. L. L^Carpen
tex,and the. body taker, to Rural
Hall Tuesday morning for burial. „
Miss Mattie May BS«*k Becomes the
Bride of J. G. Lewis.
Miss Mattie May Black and James
G. Lewis were quietly married Mon-day
night at 9.30 o'clock at the
home of Rev. K. V. Bowen, 225
East Lea street, Mr. Bowen officiat-ing.
Only a few close friends wit-nessed
the ceremony.
Mrs. Lewis is originally ^from
Franklinville, but has taught school
in Randolph county for several
years. Mr. Lewis is engaged in the
automobile painting business of this
city. They will make their home in
Westerwood. '
i. A. Rounti-ee Returns From
Chicago.
J. A. Rountree, director general
of the United Statea Good Roads
and Bankhead National Highway
Association, returned Monday trom
Chicago, where he went to attend
the good roads show. Mr. Ro»ntree
talked to a number of good road' en-thusiasts
ot the country and feels
confident that a good many ot those
, attending the Chicago meeting will
i attend /the conventions in Greens-j
boro April 18-20.
Washington, Feb. 15.—Investiga-tion
of an alleged plot to blow up
the presidential yacht Mayflower
continued tonight but the investiga-tors—
secret service agents and
Washington police—were under-stood
to have practically reached
the conclusion that the supposed
bomb was no more deadly than the
average run of "bootleg" whiskey.
An enlisted man of the navy war
still held in custody at the navy
yard, but the belief seemed to be
prevalent at police headquarters
that some charge involving an at-tempt
to get liquor aboard the May-flower
would be preferred agams,
bim rather than charges that he had
conspired to blow up the presiden-tial
yacht.
The man under arrest, whose
name was withheld, was said to have
told a boatswain's mate on the
Mayflower that it would mean
money tor him it he happened to be
on duty at a certain hour and per-mit
a "friend'* td take a package
aboard the era*. The »«*f""*V
mate reported the matter to Capt-
Holmes, commanding the yacht, ana
fhe man was arrested. MlMHtr£
the secret service agents to find the
••bomb" has hampered them in their
investigation.
Shortly after the opening of Su-perior
court on Tuesday morning
Judge R. C. Strudwick, representing
the members of the Guilford coun-ty
bar. formally presented to the
court and the county the hand-some
clock which was recently in-stalled
as a gift from the attorneys.
The time piece is now operating
twenty-four hours daily and aside
trom recording time accurately, it is
a novel and attractive ornament to
the main court room. The master
clock, which operates the dials to
the clock in the court room, is lo-cated
In the office ot the clerk ot the
Superior court.
In his presentation Judge Strud-wick
spoke as follows:
'May it please Your Honor: i,
Shortly after April 1, 1924), when
the present handsome and commodi-ous
court house was formally de-clared
completed and dedicated to
the use of the people of this county,
a meeting of the Guilford County
Bar Association was hejd, and a res-olution
was unanimously passed
that the association should pur-chase,
install and present to the
county of Guilford a clock for the
principal court room, which should
be In keeping with the other hand-some
appointments and finish of this
chamber.
Pursuant to this resolution, the
undersigned were appointed a com-mittee
with power to act and were
instructed to carry said resolution
into effect. _
This committee acting under this
resolution has caused thls: clock to
be purchased and installs! and it
now appears upon the panel Imme-diately
above the bench.
The committee desires to ac-knowledge
in this pablic way the ef-ficient
assistance rendered them
without charge in the performance
of their_djttjes_by R. C. Bernau. Ar-noid~
Schdffman,Tewelers, and Barry
Barton, architect, of this city.
In behalf of the Guilford Counly
Bar Association, the said committee
now presents this clock to the coun-ty
of Guilford, for use of the Super:
ior court and as a testimonial of its
desire to contribute in some degree
to the successful effort of the peo-ple
ot Guilford county to provide a
court house worthy of the best tra-ditions
ot the county and of the de-votion
of its people to the orderly
and dignified administration of Jus-tice.
In behalf of the said commit-tee,
I move Your Honor, that the
said clock be accepted and that a
proper entry of thee* proceedings
be made upon the records of this
court.
R. C. Strudwick, chairman; R. R
King, O. L. Sapp. Russell Robinson,
committee.
Judge T. B. Finley responded as
follows:
The court through me as its pre-siding
officer, accepts the handsome
clock presented b" the Bar Associa-tion
of Guilford county in the same
spirit in which the gift was made
and directs that these proceedings
be entered upon the records of this
court."
At a meeting held Tuesday after-noon
by the committee of flfe mem-' I
bers, recently appointed by tbe i
Guilford Bar Association to Inves-tigate
and report on the advisabil-ity
of requesting the legislature to - J
create a county court for Qulltonl ■
couny, consideration was given to a
bill tentatively drawn up by the/-L
drafting committee and the major- »/i
ity ot tbe members tailed to ap-prove
the proposition. The ■com-mittee
is composed- ot Charlea A.
Mines, O. C. Cox and John N. Wil-son,
of Greensboro, and Carter Del-ton
and Thomas J. Gold, of High
Point. John N. Wilson is chairman
of the committee. -■
When the county court agitation
first began several months ago tt
met with considerable favor. In-vestigation,
however, has Indicated
that its success in other ccunitlea is
questionable. Citizens of High Point
have offered objection to the propo-sal
to eliminate their Municipal
court for the trial of criminal
cases. It is considered probable) y ,;|
that the matter will be dropped un-* r
less a more suitable bill is present-ed
to the committee entrusted with
consideration of the matter. .
S. R. BIVENS DECLINES
COUNTY AGENT OFFICE.
S. R. Bivens, secretary ot the
High Point Chamber of Commerce,
addressed a letter" to the connty
board of commissioners Monday de-clining
the position offered him
about two weeks ago to succeed J.*
C. Beavers, resigned, as farm dem-onstration
agent. Mr. Bivens feels
that he is under obligation to re-main
with the Chamber of Com-merce
work in High Point.
Mr. Bivens was a former farm
demonstration agent ot Guilford
county, an* expressed regret that he
could not serve th» -tottnty. in the*
important office. When the position
was offered him, he told the com-missioners
before accepting he
would have to consult the wishes ot
the High Point people. They want-him
to remain in High Point and he
will remain.
GUILFORD FARMER IS
HELD UP BY NEGRO.
High Point, Feb. 15.—G. B. Ben- |
nett, a farmer living on the Thorn- j
asville road ,a few miles from this |
city, attempted to make an arrest on ,
his own hook^when he came here
to-day armed* with a revolver, ,
searching for J. F. Long, a negro- I
who Bennett says, attempted to rob ]
him last night. |
Bennett's story to the police was j
that the negro Jumped* into his
wagon last night and demanded
money, threatening to kill the far- •
mer it he tailed to do as told. Ben-nett
said he remonstrated with the
negro, who filed when he heard foot-steps
approaching.
. Armed with a revolver. Bennett
came back to High Point to-day
Kicked to Death by Mule.
W ison. Feb. 14.—Sur.d.y afte-noon.
Pete Webb, who resides in
Gardner's township, was kicked to
death by a mule. He was found on
, hands and knees with his neck
I- broken.' _,;. '.,' '..: .. ". v""- '*■
A flywheel in Rochester burst
loose, flew thirty rods over three
houses, and smashed into a Miss
Swell's dining room, but Miss Ewel.
was in the kitchen and escaped ln-
Inry. -What a lesson to the women
folks?—Kew York Call. . -.
and looked for the negro. His ef- j
forts were rewarded on the 6treet I
and he held him at bay until the
police arrived. Bennett had a
pointer dog with him and negro
residents who witnessed the "hold-up"
of the prisoner by the farmer
telephoned the police station that
a man with a blood hound was
holding up a negro.
Long is being held to await a pre-liminary
hearing.
LIQUOR CAR OVERTURNS
KILLING ONE MAN.
Lincolntonr'Feb. 15—In a desper-ate
effort to outrun, and escape Sher-iff
J. L. Abernethy and deputies, ot
Lincoln county, in hot pursuit, T.
A. Yarborough. ot Columbia, S. C.
was almost instantly killed when an
automobile in which he and a com-panion
named Alley, also of Colunrs-bia,
were speeding turned a somer-sault
near here early tonight.
Alley is in Jail here charged with
transporting liquor while Sheriff
Abernethy has in his possession 50
gallons ot liquor found in the auto-mobile
and what remains of the
machine Itself.
Yarborough and Alley had passed
through Lincolnton. A farmer com-ing
into town behind them reported
to the sheriff that they had liquor
in the machine, as he had seen and
gmelled it oozing from the car ahead
Of him. Sheriff Abernethy and depu-fea
Ftarted in pursuit, in the direc-tion
of Charlotte. The officers by a
I circuitous route got ahead of the
1 Columbia men and parked their
cars across the road. When the
travelers approached they turned in-to
a field, speeded up and passed
around the officers. Back in the road
they struck a speed of 60 miles an
hour, according to the sheriff, who
followed, but. they had proceeded
but a short distance when, In view
of the pursuing officers, the car
ahead turned a complete somersault
The officers approached and found
Yarboroujb dyiug. Alley wae extri-cated'
and taken to Jail. The bodr
of Yarborough will he taken to Cr
lumbla. Alley claims, according to
the offieerr. that be was picked ■»
•artier In the day by Yarborough.
and that he did not know the liquor
was in the car.
Both Were Insane.
Ashevllle, Feb. 15.-«om!ng here
•o h.ring an ex-soldier, John Turpin,
of Bryson City, for treatment tor
insanity, B. B. Hyatt, assistant pay-master
of Waynesvllle, was to-day
declared insane by local physicians.
after! he had been" taken by the po-lice
on charges of trespassing at
Meriwether hospital, where he had
taken his patient.
:.-\ ' ■ i ■ ■ : ■ , &^&«ett ■ISu^Ci «< Ut^jLiMn