April 11
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
The Hot Stuff Minstrels of Chatham performed in the High School Auditorium, with songs, jokes and acrobatic clog dances.
Mr. E.O. Seymour won the Ford car given away by the Acme Motor Company, through a contest which ran through September through April and closed at the Hamilton Theatre on Tuesday night, April 1. However, winners of two more prized still were being sought: the ticket-holder for the sunshade (#18912) and windshield wiper (18913).
75 years ago – 1949
The Martinsville Seven were indicted on April 11, 1949. All except 24 of the 55 jurors summoned for the case were excused at 11 a.m. but were advised to be back in the courtroom on April 21, presumably to try the attack cases. The grand jury was “made up of C.W. Holt, foreman; S.E. Booker, F.V. Woodson, Levi Hairston, colored; N.R. Burroughs and Peter Anglin and George Foster, colored,” the Martinsville Bulletin reported.
About 25 farmers attended a demonstration in terrace construction at the farm of Calvin Jones near Axton, braving heavy rain. It was held by a county soil conservationist who built the terraces with a disc plow which was pulled by a tractor.
1960
Building Permits surged for the first three months of 1960, more than doubling the 1959 figure.
The District Garden Club meeting took place in Blacksburg. They enjoyed committee reports and nominated a new slate of officers. Greenwood Garden Club of Martinsville won a yellow ribbon for their yearbook, the Martinsville Council of the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs won a blue ribbon for their flower show scrapbook and Greenwood Garden Club won a blue ribbon for their District scrapbook page. They enjoyed luncheon followed by demonstrations of flower arrangements in the traditional manner and arrangements with the new look.
50 years ago – 1974
The home of Lawson Flood of Horsepasture was moved across Route 58 west of Martinsville because of construction of the Rt. 220-58 bypass. One of the ramps was to be built over the original location of his house. The house was moved by Hill rothers of Salem.
Gary Pritchett of Drewry Mason High School won a long jump competition against an River with a 20-2 1/2-inch jump, and Ed Reynolds came in second at 19 feet, 9 inches.
25 years ago - 1999
The Bulletin’s front-page centerpiece story was “Ten days of tragedy took toll on law enforcement.” During the start of April 1999, there had been six deaths of criminal, accidental and/or suspicious nature. The strain on law enforcement led to at least two heart attacks – Investigabor D.J. Runge and Magistrate Richard Cox. Frank Cassell was the sheriff at the time. “I’m concerned now,” he told the Bulletin. “I just hope to God nothing happens over this weekend.” The tragedies: April 1, a man brandished a firearm at tellers in a failed robbery of Crestar; April 3, Thomas Blake Jr. of High Street died in a wreck on Va. 57 in Koehler; April 4, the badly decomposed body of Richard Charles Holt Sr. was found in his Sandy Level trailer, and days later, two women were charged; April 5, firefighters putting out a vehicle fire off Hidden Valley Drive in Figsboro discovered the badly burned body of Frank Sult, 55; April 6, Susan Hylton of Axton was shot and killed during a robbery of Taylor’s Little Grocery on U.S. 58, and two other women were shot, and separately, Sharecka Green of Martinsville died in a wreck on Carver Road; April 7, 5-year-old Teshawn Hairston of Martinsville died from injuries sustained in the Carver Road wreck; April 8, Runge had a heart attack on his way to work; and April 9, Cox had a heart attack while preparing warrants on the Taylor’s Little Grocery case.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.