Thursday, June 1, 1950
One of the trips last week was up to the town of Durbin. The occasion was the big and fine Commencement exercises of the big and fine Durbin Graded School. A special feature was the address of our Congressman Harley Staggers. He is always worth listening to. Then, too, it is ever well for us citizens to pay some attention to our public men. This does not mean to bedevil the life out of them by becoming an insufferable nuisance as a continual hanger on for bestowal of favors. It does mean to be a loyal upholder of his hands when he is right; a sympathetic, constructive critic should he deviate from a proper course; a dependable line of communication from the grass roots to the captain’s office. Mutual understanding and mutual respect engender mutual confidence.
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The prosperous industrial community of Durbin is composed of Durbin, Frank and Bartow. The big factor is the Tannery. The big force of laborers at high wages is now drawn largely from surrounding farms. For miles, particularly down to Green Bank, evidence of his prosperity is had in nice homes and well-kept old ones.
HUNTERSVILLE NEWS
Mr. and Mrs. Everette Brannon hope to have their summer cottage completed soon, which is being built by Neil Alderman.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Balzer, of Hillsboro, and Mrs. Nancy Brannon, of South Charleston, were dinner guests of Mrs. Ottie Hefner, of Hillsboro, last week.
There was a goodly number of people turned out in spite of the rain at Beaver Creek cemetery Sunday afternoon for decoration services.
Alfred McComb is building a garage and expects to buy a new car.
FATAL WRECK
Allen Leon Armstrong, aged 25 years, of Baltimore, Md., was instantly killed in an automobile accident at the Kee place two miles below Marlinton Saturday morning, May 27, 1950.
For some reason unknown, the car left the road and struck a gatepost. Mrs. Armstrong, a bride of three months, is in the Pocahontas Memorial Hospital with a broken leg and other injuries.
The deceased was a native of Harmon, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Armstrong. He served four years in the Navy during the late war. His body was buried in Harmon cemetery Tuesday afternoon.
FIELD NOTES
An intrepid farm woman, Mrs. Frank Carter, last Friday, killed the fourth bear to be bagged in the Sweet Springs section within the past month. It was a big one which weighed 410 pounds.
The bear was jumped by Dr. B. L. Traynham’s dogs in the Snake Run section of Alleghany County and was chased across Peters Mountain into Potts Valley. Hearing the chase as it neared her home, Mrs. Carter got down the family rifle and shot the bear as it was passing in the vicinity of the house.
On April 25th, two sheep killers were bagged, one near Paint Bank and the other on Peters Mountain above Sweet Springs. On May 2, a third bear was killed near Paint Bank. – Monroe Watchman.
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A timber crew, employed by the J. E. Brock Lumber Co., was engaged in felling trees high up on top of Black Mountain in Wise County, Va. Noon came, and they assembled in an open space to partake of their lunches. One of the crew decided he did not like cold victuals and started a fire to broil some meat.
Suddenly, the quiet of the woods was broken by a scream, like a woman in distress, which went ringing along the crest of the mountain and sent tingles racing up and down the spines of the hardened woodmen.
Instantly, the old timers of the crew knew that they had just heard the attacking cry of a panther, once the most dreaded of all wild beasts in this region, but believed to be extinct for many years.
The men looked at one another terrified. Came another scream. This time nearer at hand; and from the top of a large tree, from which the animal might make a spring for its prey. Some of the hands gathered up their lunch kits and began edging off in the opposite direction.
It was then that Jesse E. Brock, manager of the firm, had an idea. He hauled a power saw up to the base of the tree, cranked up the motor and set the saw biting into the tough wood. These saws make a loud and rasping noise, and no sooner had the machine got into operation that the panther went crashing off from tree to tree, down the mountain side. – Monroe Watchman
WEDDINGS
Miss Sarah Jane Arbogast became the bride of Lee Hively Saturday afternoon, May 27, 1950, at 2 p.m. the Rev. H. Graham Keys officiating.
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Mrs. Virginia Tate, of Marion, Virginia, announces the engagement of her daughter, Mary Helen to Eldon Emerson Campbell, of Greenville, Tennessee. Mr. Campbell is the son of Mrs. Russell Campbell, of Dunmore and the late Mr. Campbell.
DEATHS
Thomas Summers McNeel, aged 77 years, died Tuesday, May 23, 1950.
On Thursday afternoon, the funeral service was held from the Marlinton Presbyterian Church by his pastor, Rev. Roger P. Melton. Interment in the family plot in Mt. View Cemetery.
He was the son of the late Isaac McNeel and Miriam Hancy Beard McNeel…
Mr. McNeel was educated in the local schools and attended Washington and Lee University and graduated in law from the University of Virginia in 1897…
He was descended from pioneer stock, a direct descendant of John McNeel, Revolutionary soldier and pioneer of Pocahontas County.
