Dec. 12
100 Years ago – 1924
When P.S. Ford went out for a cruise on the Smith River, he accidentally left a very valuable rifle in the Roundabout Club House, and when he got back it was gone. The only clue to the rifle so far was a note he received: “Dear Mr. Pete: I sho do appreciate the rifle I picked up the otha day and which I has learned belongs to you. I discovered it was a bit dirty, and would sho thank you if you would send me the ram-rod. Signed, Mr. Jackson.”
Headline of article in Henry Bulletin on Dec. 12: “Lady Loses Purse With Large Sum of Money on Street.” Mrs. Tyler Compton of near Ridgeway, while in Martinsville shopping, lost a chamois skin purse which held $247. “Mrs. Compton carried the purse within the front of her waist and after visiting the bank and several stores missed it.” She retraced her steps, to no avail. Later, a Mr. Simmons reported at the O.D. Ford Motor Co. garage that he saw Jim Durham, “who is a reputable farmer living near Price, N.C., pick up the purse and put it in his pocket.” Police Officer McCray went to Durham’s house and through a deputy in that county had him arrested, and he brought Durham back to Martinsville for the Mayor to investigate. Simmons said he was positive that he saw Durham pick up the purse from the sidewalk in front of T.E. Gravely’s & Co. Hardware store, and Durham was equally positive that he was in town with his wife and son and nowhere near the hardware store and did not get the purse. “Simmons is not known to the officers or garage men here,” the article stated. “General regret was expressed by those who knew Mrs. Compton and others at her loss of so large a sum of money.” A court date was settled upon for Mr. Durham. The Dec. 19 Henry Bulletin picks up the story: On the day after the preliminary trial, Mr. Durham came to Martinsville and handed over the amount of money that Mrs. Compton claimed to have lost. He said his friends had raised that money “and asked to be given the privilege of re-imbursing the loser. He insisted, however, that he had not found it, but took that course to avoid further trouble about it.” Just when everyone thought the case was closed, on the next day, two men from Reidsville came to the police station to hand over the purse with the $247. They said they had found it near Gravely’s Hardware while they were in Martinsville on business and had been holding on to it “awaiting some announcement of the loss and the name of the owner.” Mr. Compton identified it as his wife’s purse. The Bulletin concluded, “It is unfortunate if any injustice has been done any of the parties in the publicity given the case, but the Bulletin reporter is assured all parties now are satisfied and happy as a result of the appearance of the men from Reidsville.”
75 years ago – 1949
Southern Railway System was running an advertisement touting its “101 new streamlined coaches, all-room Pullmans, diners and lounge cars. … Nearly all of these cars – ordered more than three years ago – will be in our trains by Christmas. Expensive? The price tag reads $11 ½ million! But we enjoy playing this kind of Santa Claus for the Southland we serve.
1960
Two young men (20 and 18 years old) were convicted for disorderly conduct at Community Recreation Center on Cleveland Avenue. They had been arrested 10 days before and charged with acting in a disorderly manner and using profane and obscene language. One was fined $50 and court costs and the other was taxed court costs, and both were sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended on good behavior. The court said that the recreation center was built for a good purpose and “no hoodlumism is going to be tolerated there.”
50 years ago – 1974
Robert McReynolds, 36, was awarded $1 million in Henry County Circuit Court after 3 hours of deliberation at the end of a 3-day hearing. In 1972 McReynolds, who worked for Bassett Furniture Industries, stepped backward into an unmarked 15-foot deep hole which had been cut in the floor of a furniture plant. The hole was unmarked. He was paralyzed from the chest down.
The Henry County Board of Supervisors voted to award a contract to build the new $3.2 million county administration building to John W. Daniel Inc. of Danville. That firm’s bid was for $2,519,737 for the four-story building. Bids for pre-cast concrete for the main part of the building had been awarded in September for $518,300 to a Roanoke firm and for steel, $267,000.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.