April 19
100 Years ago – 1924
C.P. Kearfott and Son have bought the entire stock and equipment of Beckner’s Confectionary, located in the Hotel Henry Building, and would take charge on May 1.
75 years ago – 1949
A pyramid scheme had hit Martinsville, and the following day, a Wednesday, would supposedly be a big payoff for some. The scheme was called “Pyramid Club,” and it had originated in California, while Virginia Attorney General Lindsey Almond ruled it as being illegal. In Martinsville, the first eight names to win are donated to the Colored Hospital fund. Several local mathematicians who had analyzed the explanatory chart that all members get said there enough people in Martinsville to keep it going for six cycles. It works this way: First night, go to Pyramid party and pay the host or hostess $1. Second night: You, as sponsor, take two people to the home of the person in the Apex box (at bottom of page). Your invitees join the club on this night. Third night: You take it easy, while your invitees proceed as above. Fourth night: You throw a Pyramid party, and four sponsors and their invitees come to it. Have eight copies of this chart ready. Your name, as hostess, appears as the eighth name listed. Place the name of one of your invitees in the Apex box of the Pyramid Club on four of the charts. Place the other invitee’s name on the Apex box of the four other charts. Having collected $1 from each new member, call the person at the top of your list and tell her you have $8 for her. That’s all you have to do, until the 12th night, when supposedly, you rake in $2,048.
1960
Lucie Freeman of Albert Harris High School enjoyed receiving the prize for her essay submitted to the Governor’s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped at the awards banquet of the Richmond Sertoma Club in Richmond.
Robert Copeland of Fieldale High School was awarded a $3,000 scholarship to Randolph-Macon. He competed for the awards among a field of 11 candidates.
Pope John XXIII expressed sorrow in his Easter message for those suffering from denial of their civil rights as unrest continued to grow across the country.
50 years ago – 1974
“The Justice Department said it blocked consolidation of two black precincts in Martinsville because the ‘discriminatory effects of the plan would reduce Negro participation at the polls,” Dennis Hartig reported in the Martinsville Bulletin. The plan would have combined the Albert Harris and West End precincts.
The State Highway Department reported having spent $8,231.33 to pick up litter along Henry County roads in the previous year.
25 years ago - 1999
Big news in industry: Courtauld’s Performance Films, of which Ken Vickers was the president and chief executive officer, was sold to Solutia. Courtaulds at the time employed about 500. Applied Felts Ltd. announced that it would invest $3 million to expand its local pipe sleeve operations and would add 25 workers. Drake Extrusion announced that it would invest $3.8 million to expand its filament plant in Henry County.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.