Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-10-16
GREENVILLE POLICE CHIEF,
LARGEST IN THE NATION,
RETIRES FROM SERVICE
Chief Noe, Weighing $50
Pounds, Has ThriIIing *
periences While Police
Head for Nineteen Years

GREENYILLE. S. c., Oct. ID
Following nineteen years of service
James D. Noe, famed as the largest
chief of police in the world, has be-
come a private citizen.
From jailer to private on the po-
lice department and on to the rank
of chief and back again to that OIL
sergeant. this native of upper Green
Vile county has served THE Textile
Center of the South" Nineteen
wears wears ago a young man tneh
fhirtv-two years of age left his cot
ton picking basket in the f1eld hedi
O'NeaIs to become county Jallef VI
GreenviIle. Today he left the CITY
hall as a private citizen, not TO take
up the cotton lap and basket but as
he expressed it Cooking for any work
that is honorable"
Probably no public Official II.
South Carolina has been as Wen
known because of his unique appear
ance as was Sergeant Noe. Towering
fay, above the ordinary men and
women encountered in life he Welgh-
ed 335 pounds and at times tipped
the scales as high as $40. His appear
ance, to say nothing of his person
atty, made him a figure easily rec
ognized and seldom if ever forgotten
by those who came to GreenVllle.
Men and women from CLASSY
Mountain to 'Possum Kingdom who
have, stopped in GreenVille from days
of the horse and buggy to that OF
the automobile have known him,
Tradition has it on one occasion
woman asked him to watch her horse
and hold the baby for a minute or
so while she stepped into a store.
And tradition does not say that Ser
geant Noe refused her.
The hair of the retiring officer
has grown gray and much of the
elasticity of step possessed when ne
invaded GreenYille nineteen years
ago has gone The smile which it
| is said most large persons possess,
and certainly true in his case, still
hovers on his face Nineteen yearA
of city life, battling with friend and
foe, have not eradicated that smile.
Has Unusual Career
| Thrilling and spectacular incidents
have been as numerous in Sergeant
| Noes life almost as the sands on the
! beach. His closest escape from death
was when his throat was cut by a
| negro, the instrument lacking but
a fraction of an inch of severing the
jugular vein.
That wound, the scar of which he
still bears and will carry with him
until death, was received in plead
/ ing for another. Begging for an
other and forgetting self, he was an
easy victim for one who sought to
f, do him harm.
! Sergeant Noe and a number OF
companions attempted to arrest
negro woman on a charge of selling
whisky. The woman, said to have
| been frantic from drink and possibly
| from some form of dope bit one
i of the officers who struck. her. Ser
geant Noe interposed in the wom-
ans behalf.
Don't hit her any more" he said.
There are three of us here and she
| can be carried down without being
/ beaten up"
SO saying he stopped down over
the woman when her husband, ran
! up and made a wicked cut across the
| throat. Seven years of imprison-
meht imposed on Herd did not heal
| the wound or eradicate the scar
which the knife had made
! Stopped Wild Horse
| Another incident when his thought
was for others rather than of him
self was recalled Tuesday by Older
residents of Greenville. A runaway
| horse, plunging wildly down Main
street, headed towards a woman and
small girl. They appeared certain
OF being knocked down as they were
IN the path of the approaching horse
| and wagon. Spectators shuddered as
| they helplessly watched.
But they shuddered too soon. Ser
| geant Noe, with a speed surprising
Tor one of his size, grasped the horse
and dragged it down. The woman
| and girl, but few feet away, were
frightened, but unframed.
Sergeant Noe chung to the horse
/ until the wagon was Embossed and
the frightened animal was led awav
with no damage beng done to anv-
one.
Prevented Escapes
! Inc retiring officer first came into
prominence when he. single handed.
stopped an attempted Jail delivery
and held four prisoners. Fastening
| these inside the place he pursued
| another. Although one made his es-
cape and has, it is said, never been
! apprehended
Sergeant Noe has gotten his last
shoesnlne, In all proba bility, at the
/ pace provided for the officers in the
| ponce station. He humorously asked
OF the boys" his recent comrades
now much time was allowed a man
10 go to work. He doesn't know lust
what line he will engage in but saws