Thursday, August 28, 1947
Theatre Fire
Durbin – On Sunday night, August 24, the Derby Hat moving picture theatre at Bartow was completely destroyed by fire.
Varmint Killing Contest
Talbert Carpenter, of Dunmore, won first prize in the recent Varmint Killing Contest sponsored by the Pocahontas County Rod and Gun Club. The second prize went to C. V. Alderman, of Minnehaha Springs, and third to F. D. Sharp, of Marlinton. Snakes and crows made up most of the victims.
FIELD NOTES
How would you like to be out in the garden on a dewey morning checking up on the growth and development of the vegetables which the deer have left you; and hear a rustling in the leaves and look in expectation of seeing maybe a groundhog or at best a deer or wild turkey, and then look up into the black and brown and frowning face of a mighty bear?
A great big bear, standing several feet in his bare back feet with able armed paws resting on the top rail of a high fence, his head as big as a nail keg, and his black face so close as to easily make out the brown trimming over his eyes and around his muzzle and mouth, his staring, near-sighted eyes gazing puzzled and frowning expression, as he casts about with able nose to test the air with his keen sense of smell.
Well, that is just about what did happen to John Huckaby, late of the United States Marines, and now back as householder on Cranberry, where he is an officer in the Federal Prison Camp. He waved his arms at and spoke to the bear, saying you had better get going. The bear took him at his word and went away from that place in a regular rout. His trace through the weeds and underbrush is still readily discernable. Mr. Huckaby made an ordered retreat to his house; he had seen enough of his garden for one morning, and it was time to go to work anyway.
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We all were talking peace and safety from bears for a few short weeks by reason of the bountiful crop of blackberries. However, last week a big old bad bear did break out on Little Laurel Creek to piece out his diet of berries and weeds and mutton from several head of sheep. So, last Saturday, Fred Galford stayed away from the County Fair to organize against the old sheep killer. Some months back a big old bear just about cleaned Fred out of bear dogs. However, he is growing himself another pack, and with the addition of dogs from Zack Johnson and other neighbors, Fred went right after the bear. The dogs soon had him up and fighting. When Fred came up, the bear had just laid hold of a fine little dog and was fixing to bite the life out of him. Fred’s bullet laid him low. This was one powerful big raw-boned bear; the kind which weigh six hundred pounds when fat. The pelt was still in good condition. This is supposed to have been the same bear which killed sheep on Big and Little Laurel Creeks, Days Mountain and Spruce Flat earlier in the season.
I have lost exact count, but this is along about the 70th bear Mr. Galford has killed.
WEDDINGS
Sharpenberg – Williams
Baskets of gladioli and candelabras, with a screen of rhododendron and huckleberry foliage in the background, decorated the Marlinton Presbyterian Church for the marriage on Tuesday afternoon, August 26, 1947, of Miss Grace Virginia Williams to Mr. Warren D. Sharpenberg. The couple’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Williams of Marlinton, and Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Sharpenberg, of Morgantown. Rev. Roger P. Melton officiated and Mrs. Frank Johnson played the conventional music and accompanied the soloist, Miss Edith May…
Harrison – Tenney
A very lovely wedding of the present season was that of Miss Meta Eva Tenney, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Albert I. Tenney, of Arbovale, to Joe Glenn Harrison, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Harrison, of Renick. The double ring ceremony was read by Rev. Tenney, father of the bride, at the Methodist parsonage at Arbovale, before an altar of ferns and candles and in a setting of rhododendron and gladioli…
DEATHS
James M. Cassell, aged 84 years, died at his home at Carl, in Nicholas county, on August 18, 1947. Among his surviving children are three sons, Amos, Homer and Luther, all of Greenbank; his brother is Thomas Cassell and his sister, Mrs. Ella Kesler, both of Cass.
Miss Ruth Barnes, of Oak Hill, died August 26, 1947. She had been an invalid for a number of years. Her body was brought to Marlinton for interment in the family plot in Mountain View Cemetery. The deceased was a daughter of Mrs. Cora Barnes and the late W. H. Barnes, of Clover Lick. Her sisters were Mrs. Beryl Bumgardner and Mrs. G. Steele Callison.
Mrs. Jacob Cooper died at her home in Washington Sunday, August 24, 1947. Her passing came as no surprise as she had been very ill for some time. She was the widow of the late Jacob Cooper. The family lived at Cass for many years. One of her sons is A. E. Cooper, Attorney at Law in Marlinton.