May 3

By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion

100 Years ago – 1924

The Henry County Board of Supervisors during their regular meeting in March, which was published in April in the Henry Bulletin, allowances. They include: Willie E. Patterson, 50 cents; Miss Anna Stultz, 50 cents; Clarence Clanton, $2; Thomas Isley, $1; Charlie Starling, 50 cents; W.H. Willis, $2.50; B.M. Minter, $27.50; Easter Supply Co., $10; Martinsville Furniture Co., $4.50.

75 years ago – 1949

Francis DeSales Grayson, 37, John Clabon Taylor, 20, and James Luther Hairston, 20, were sentenced to die by electrocution on Friday, July 22, 1949, in the attacks on Ruby Stroud Floyd, 32.

The Farmers Warehouse was a beehive of activity as workmen finished building display booths and arranged exhibits of merchandise in preparation for the Henry County Exposition, which would open the next day.

1960

Ten-year old Marshall Pinkard showed up all the local anglers on Philpott Lake, including his father Raymond, by landing a 10.5 pound bass, 1.5 pounds bigger than the one his father caught. Marshall’s catch was the biggest one landed to date that year. Both anglers used broken back minnows when they hooked their bass.

Civil unrest loomed large as a fighting incident involving 15-20 people at Walgreen’s in Durham broke out when the store re-opened its lunch counter to whites only. The counter had been closed for weeks. Police had arrested 3 people on assault and battery charges within 10 minutes of the fight breaking out, but not before a black teenager suffered a possible concussion. In Hampton, picketing of three stores resumed after a short respite.

50 years ago – 1974

The Virginia Museum’s Artmobile was parked in front of Penney’s in the Patrick Henry Mall for residents to see primitive art on loan from a New York Museum. The theme of the exhibit was “Melanesian or South Seas.”

25 years ago - 1999

Former Martinsville Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Randolph Smith Jr. was named executive secretary of the Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission.

Mehler Engineered Products of Germany, which was setting up operations in a $1.5 million shell building at the Patriot Centre Industrial Park, announced it would hire more than 100 workers within its first year. Initially, it had said it would need only 50 workers.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.