Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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SSI t FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1940 THE NEWBERRY SUN PAGE FIVE Into The Sunset By JACKSON GREGORY FIRST INSTALLMENT Slot Machines Flourish At Clemson The Haverils, a widely scattered cbm across hundreds of southwestern wilderness miles, were reputed a folk it was just as well not to antagonize. There were the Texas Haverils, big lean men with blue-black beards and challenging eyes. There were the Panhandle Haverils still farther west- waid. Then, still farther west were the New Mexico Haverils, the Sun down Haverils as they came to be known. Of the Sundown Haverils there was one called Barry who in many ways could have been looked on as the em bodiment of the outstanding qualities of the whole family. His father, Ben Haveril, was still a young man, lusty and rugged and violent, generous and 'kindly enough with his small flock at most times, little short of a devil when in drink. His mother, Lucinda, was one of the Oakwoods of Virginia who still clung tenaciously to their own family tra ditions and pride. It was she who had given her youngest his name, which wasn’t Barry at all, but Baron. She said proudly that there had been a Baron Qaikwood long ago, which meant no thing to little Barry himself. In his latter ’teens Barry left home. He didn’t know why he went away. He didh’t think about it. It was the forests pulling him. During the six or eight weeks be fore he had any thought of turning back homeward he made many long exploratory trips toward both north and west through the mountains. Only twice in that time did he see human beings. One day, toward sundown, he sat on a rock in front of his cabin look • ing down into the long sinuous valley below, a sight he seldom tired brood ing over. He had named 1 it for him self Sun Creek Valley. He heard rifle Shots muffled with distance in an intervening neck of the woods. He had never heard so many shots so close together and wondered how many men there we e and what they could be shooting at. He got bis answer almost instantly. There were several men shooting at a single rider who had fled on ahead into the lower end of Barry’s Sun Creek Valley. He saw the flash of reddish-yellow fire when the fugitive, fleeing no long er, fired at his pursuers when Barry could not see. If it had not been so far he would have drawn to go down and find out about things. Also it was swiftly growing dark; it would be a moonless night and whatever was happening down there would be over in a few minutes or would have to await sunup. But before sunup he was on his way to investigate. The i!awn was brightening and he had traveled half the distance when a voice called to him from a brush thicket: “Drop yore gun! Drop it quick or 111 kill yuh!” The speaker was not ten steps sway. Barry let his rifle slide out of has hands and felt a queer prickling Chill along his Wood as he jerked his head about to stare. At first he could see nothing but gray buck brust and gray rocks. Then he saw the muzzle of a rifle barrel on a flat-topped boul der. “Step over this way,” said the voice. “Step, kid, or I’ll shoot yuh daid.” Barry obeyed. That was how be first met up with Jesse Conroy. This Conroy, on the day Barry first saw him, was about twenty-three years old and coiled as he was behind the rock, with his bright black eyes glittering and an ug ly twist to his white-lipped mouth, he made Barry think of a rattlesnake, he seemed just that full of the menace of sudden death. He was of a flash- ingly handsome young devil and none the less devilish for an almost girlish ly fine-featured face. There was enough light for Barry to make out that he was pretty badly hint. Conroy was suspicious of him at first, afraid that he might be one of the crowd that had killed his horse under him and shot him down last night. Once that he learned other wise, bis manner changed. “I’m hurt right bad ” he said, “but I’ll make it yet. Especially if I can have help. Those fellers that rode me down, they’ll be coinin' back after a while. But they won’t hurry; I knocked over anyhow two and mebbe three, an’ I’d of got ’em all if one o’ their bullets hadn’t of glanced off’n a rock and drilled me.” “Why’d they want to drill you?” asked Barry. “They’re bandits, that’s what, ’ said Conroy. “Killers. Now yuh got to help me clean out afore they come sneakin’ back.” “I'll go get me my rifle,” said Barry. “Shore,” nodded Conroy. Then come give me some help. I c’n 'hardly walk, but if I had both laigs Shot off I’d somdhow make it.” After they had done what they could do for Conroy’s two wounds, one through his left arm, one through his left shoulder, he crawled into Barry’s bunk and lay quiet. When Conroy got out of bed to move restlessly about he began to ask questions. He wanted to know how it was that Barry lived here all alone, Where he came from—and why. Why 'had he come? Well, he didn’t rightly know. He’d just left one place and gone another. Conroy watched him narrowly, plainly believing that he was being eold a meager part of the truth. Then he asked, still eyeing Barry with bright suspicion as though watching for a sign of another lie, what his name was. “Barry. Me, I’m Barry Haveril.” Conroy started laughing. “Say, that’s funny,” he said, I’m a Haveril, too, one o’ the Texas Haverils; but my name’s Jesse Conroy. Ever heard that name, Barry?” “No,” said Barry- “I never. But if you’re a Haveril how’s your name Conroy ? ” “Shucks,” said Jesse. “It’s my ol’ lady that’s the Haveril, an’ She mar ried a man name of Conroy.” Barry pondered. “I’d reckon that makes you anyhow a half Haveril, he aaid. Thereafter they called each other Cousin Jesse and Cousin Barry, until Jesse took to calling Barry just plain Sundown. “I’d like to hear about the bandits that chased you up here, Cousin Jes se,” said Barry one day. “I ain't finished with them hombres, Sundown. Jesse said angrily. “Shore I’ll tell you about ’em.” He told his tale forcefully and clearly, and Barry Haveril believed every word of it. There were six of them, sand, Jesse. They were Bud Walters, a cowboy; Bill and Tom Bed- loe, ranchers near Tylersville; Sam Johnson, teamster and deputy sheriff and all around crook; Jeff Cody, the gambler; and Dan Hardy. Most folks didn’t suspect them for what they were, they were that crafty. But Jesse Conroy knew! Hadn't he seen them whn they held up the Cold Springs stage; they’d killed the driver and the guard and got away with the strong box. Then they had seen Jesse Conroy, who just happened to be cut ting into the stage road from a side trail, and they knew it was all up with them unless they rubbed him out. “I’ll get ’em some day, Cousin Bar ry,” Jesse went on. “Yuh see if I don’t. But for a while I better go slow.” Presently a thin smile touched his lips as he said idly: “What do yuh think of this here six-gun o’ mine, Sundown ?” “I never saw one like that,” breath ed Barry almost reverently, “Try a shot with it” offered Jesse. “I’ll show yuh.” Barry tingled; he held the weapon lovingly; he lowered it and raised it just as Conroy had been doing. “I’ll show yuh,” said Conray again. Barry sat humbly listening as Jesse, leaning against the cabin wall, ex plained and demonstrated . Instantly he realizad that his cousin was as deadly with the Colt as he himself was with his rifle Jesse said, “Here’s some ea’tridges,” and poured them into Barry’s eager palm. And then he said laughing: “Yuh can have it, Sundown. I’m giv- in’ it to yuh.” Barry just stood there, shells in one hand,gun in the other, and gawked at him. He knew that he 'had heard cor rectly; it must be that they meant something else. Jesse laughed again his handsome dark eyes flashing. “Shore,” he said, “I’m givin’ yuh my gun, Cousin Barry, It’s yore’n right this minute.” Barry looked at him with shining eyes. But that look was only a fleet ing one since in a flash his eyes re turned to the red-butted revolver and lingered there like a lover’s gaze. Thee his feet began shuffling in the dead pine needles. He couldn’t think of anything to say. As the dlays passed young Conroy grew steady on his legs again and his wounds healed and the healthy tan came back into his face. Barry could see the restlessness surge up hig .jut and hgiher in him every day. One morning in a still dim bluish dawn Jesse Conroy slung his buckskin bag to his belt, shouldered his '•ar- bine and left. “So long, Cousin Barry,” he said. “So long, Cousin Jesse,” said Bar ry. Barry watched him out ofsiglit, only vaguely wondering where he was go- in. Then he returned to his cabin and sat on the step and looked at his treasure. He began thinking of his folk es pecially of his sister .little Lucy. He wondered too about Zachary Blount; had the teacher—lawyer no win long- fcaillt dcoat and high hat—carried her off? He rolled his pack, closed his door, shouldered his rifle, and with the comfortable feel of a heavy long bar rel bumping at his hip, turned back toward his father’s place. He came within sight of the clearing and the rock-and-log cabin toward the end of the second day; the sun was below the Wants 1/500 Coffins The South Carolina Public Service (Santee - Cooper) authority has called for bids on 1,500 grave removal cases, which will be used in transferring the remains of persons buried in the San- tee-Cooper reservoir area. Bids will be opened at noon Tues day in the office at Moncks Comer of the land acquisition department, of Which E. Taliaferro Heyward, of Charleston, is the director. The cases are to be made of pine lumber. The Samtee-Cooper authority is giv ing relatives of the deceased the op tion of leaving the bodies where they are with a suitable memorial being put up outside the basin area or of having the bodies moved. The au thority is offering to move them a reasonable distance without cost to the relatives. The coffins are to be of three sizes, tops of the pines so that already it was twilight all about the house, and 'he heard the call and saw the flicker ing wing-dip of a first night hawk. Otherwise all was very still. He ex perienced a queer, disturbing feeling, a swift consciousness of desertion.. The track down to the lower meadow and the narrow crooked path to the spring house were weed-grown. Then he found his mother’s letter. Over the fireplace., a wan square in the dimness, was a sheet of paper on a nail. Barry took it down and read it sitting on the stoop. The first words we. e “To Robert or Baron, whichever comes home first.” Robert was Barry’s brother, the old est of the three sons. The rest of a hastily written letter answered all Barry’s questions for him. * First of all, Lucy had married Zachary Blount and the two were living in Tylersville; Zachary was practicing law and was associated with a great man. Judge Parker Blue. Through Zachary, Judge Blue had sent an offer to Barry’s fa ther eo go into the cattle business with him; on shares it was. So all the family were moving down into the cow country, onto one of the Judge’s several spreads. There was a postscript: “Whichever of you boys reads this first, let him leave it here for the other” Well, his mother and father and his brother Lute were on a cattle ranch now. And Robert was somewhere or other. In the morning he decided to go out of his way a bit in making his return journey. That was because it dawned on Barry that he alone of his family mi '?bt guess what Robert was up to. “Anyhow, I’ll go past Tex Humph rey’s place, Barry decided. Barry happened to know that Re heat was crazy about one of ,tihe Hum phrey girls. So now, turning his back on the old log home, he headed toward the Hum phreys’ horse ranch. He meant just to drop in and say “Howdy,” and ask casually, “Seen any o’ my folks lately, Tex?” But there was to be no such a casual talk that day. At the foot of Black Mountain in a peaceful and quiet little whispering glen shut in by quivreing aspens, he came suddenly, all without warning, upon the stark horror of a thing which only a short time before, surely not more that a day before, had been Ro bert Haveril. (TO BE CONTINUED) I Stove Time Is Here Again! See to your heating equip ment before winter sets in. Stoves of various types may be seen here in a wide price range. Also stove pipe, stove mats, dampers, and fire place hardware of all sorts. Eskridge Hdwe. Co. PHONE 61-J First Traffic Circle In Saluda County The first traffic circle in South Car olina will be opened soon in Saluda county at the intersection of S. C. routes 43 and 391, between Lexington and Saluda and Batesburg and Pros perity, it has been announced by C. R. McMillan, central district engineer. The traffic circle is located 1 in a ru ral area which is expected to carry heavy traffic at relatively high speeds. Two main highways, one connecting Columbia and Atlanta, the other link ing the lower part of the state with Newberry, Clinton and Laurens, cross here. “The circle is designed to cut down the high open country speeds to a reasonable rate which will guide traf fic safely through the intersection without stopping it or delaying it unnecessarily,” Mr. McMillan said. The parent or forerunner of the modern traffic circle is the town square, found in many of our older cities and villages. Originally traffic was free to move in any direction through the square as it was mainly a place of business. As volumes in creased, the custom of keeping to the right naturally developed the one way movement around the square. Highway engineers confronted by the conflict of movements at many intersections, seized upon the town square idea as a moans of relieving congestion and accidents. For little more than a decade the modem traf fic circle has been developing, slow ly at first. Now interest in the circle as a method of providing uninterrupt ed flow of traffic is becoming more widespread. A traffic circle is simply a one-way road into which all traffic at an inter section is drawn and from which traffic leaves in selected paths of the inbersectioninig road ways. All cars are headed in the same direction. En trances and exits are clearly marked so that little confusion should result. A driver approaching the circle is confronted with a one-way road the left of which is the exit for. that prong of the intersection. After entering the intersection;, the driver has three possible courses: continuation of the same route, right or left turns into the intersecting highways. For a right turn he keeps his ve hicle strictly to the right until the next exit, which he takes. In this case there is no chance of conflict with other vehicles. For a continuation of the same route, the driver crosses at his first opportunity to the lane nearest the inside of the circle, and keeps close to the inside until nearing the second exit, when he crosses from the inside to the outer lane leaving the circle to the right of the island at the op ening. For a left to the intersecting route, the driver enters, crosses to the in ner lane of the circle, and keeps close to the inside until nearing the third exit. As he aproaches the exit he gradually drives into the outer lane. For the p’Otection of the traveling public at night the circle is to be il luminated by sodium vapor lights. HITLER IN HUN-DER-LAND From a Canadian paper. Der Fuehrer and Von Ribbentrop Were walking hand in hand They wept like everything to think Of Churdhill’s stubborn stand: “If he would only break his neck,” They said, “It would be grand.” “If many planes dropped many bombs And strafed for half a year Do you suppose,” the Fuehrer said “That this would make him fear?” “I doubt it,” said Von Ribbentrop And shed a hitter tear. THINKS WE HAVE ONLY SMALL CHANGE The U. S. mints report they are having trouble keeping up with demand for small coins. The Phila delphia mint alone is now producing 4,200,000 pennies every 24 hours and is still behind. Mint officials say the reasons are the new national defense tax and bet ter business. Representative Tabor says the trouble is that “nobody has anything to spend of a higher denom ination than a nickel or a penny,” The Tiger, Clemson College. About the only distasteful thing that students observed upon return ing to Clemson this year is the abun dance of gamoling machines in the down town business establishments. Ranging in appeal from small counter penny-operated cigarette ma chines to elaborate adaptations of the older and less attractive slot ma chines, these novel gambling devices have attracted a great deal of student “play” from the suckers, and con demnation from the Senior Council and other student leadership organiz- atioms. This newspaper is vigorously op posed to gambling machines of any type—whether they pay off in coins or whether the “take” is collected across the counter. Clemson students cannot afford this robbery and steps should be taken by the proper law enforcement authorities to see that the business area of these contemp tible devices which are designed for UNCLE SAM HAS MUCH REAL ESTATE ON HAND It was the theory of HOLC and a lot of other hew government bureaus that they would add to the “security” of the average citizen. But just look at the HOLC, for example. It has disclosed that in its Omaha area alone, it has lost $5,178,000 on homes on which it has had to foreclose. The government also (has had to foreclose on 32,000 farms, The power to help farm and home owners was established. Its use 'has made the government the biggest .home and farm owner In the world. the profit of only one group — the group of rackteers who distribute them. Recently Earl Mazo, editor of The Tiger last year, wrote a by-line story in the Greenville Piedmont in which he called attention to the machines at Clemson, and that afternoon the handle-operated ones were removed only to be replaced by the pin-ball type Which are now paying off across the counter. Regardless of whether these machines pay off across the counter or in the drawer, they are •till gambling devices so far as this newspaper is concerned. If there is any differences in the viciousness of the types, the pin-hall type is even more against the “player.” This newspaper does not know how the vice-mongers who distribute these machines steer clear of the law, but Clemson does not have room for their wares. It may be that there are places where these devices will be tolerated but they will not be tolerat ed at Clemson.—J.J.L., M.F.C.,N.C.E. TEACHES FIRST GRADE 47 YEARS; DECIDES TO RETIRE Clarksburg, W. Va.—A.’ter 47 years as a first grade teacher, Mrs. Clara Conrad decided to retire. She never taught in any other grade. “When the children firs* start to school,” she said, “they are so eager and honest that you can really work with them and see the results from day to day.” In the struggle between those seek ing power there is no middle course. —Tacitus. BOUT BARK ...don’t cough! Get pleasant relief from a cough due to a cold with Smith Brother; Cough Drops—Black or Menthol—54. Smith Bros. Cough Drops are the only drops containing VITAMIN A Vitamin A (Carotene) raises the resistance of mucous membranes of nose and throat to cold infections, when lack of resist ance is due to Vitamin A deficiency. 1940 TAX NOTICE State and County Tax Books for the year 1940 will open October 1, 1940. One per cent discount will be al lowed on all taxes paid by October 30,1940, except the four (4) mills State Tax. Ralph B. Black COUNTY TREASURER BY ALL MEANS PREVENT FIRES But at the same time be prepared for those fires over which you have no control. Be sure that your home and your furniture are amply covered by Fire Insurance. . This is the season of fires—the season when you are most liable to suffer heavy financial loss unless you are insured. Those who have never carried Fire Insurance will be surprised at its low cost. A few dollars invested in fire insurance will yield a big return in case of fire. Newberry Insurance & Realty Co. E. B. PURCELL, President Phone 197 Exchange Bldg. NEWS FACTS (ft/ GEORGE A R^ENT EXCAVATION NEAR NAPLES., REVEALS RUTS MADE BY THE CHARIOTS WHEELS CENTURIES AGO.... THE RUTS IN THE COBBLESTONES ARE MORE THAN . 9 INCHES DEEP.