davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08
PARAGRAPHICS

Motorists who have accidents and fail to
report them are certainly taking serious
chance of being cited into court and the
warning issued by Patrolman Thomas last
week should be sufficient caution. The law
specifically states that all traffic accidents
in which individuals receive personal in
jury or where the property damage
amounts to $1,000 or more, must be repor-
ted within twenty-four hours after they
take place. This is another reason why mo-
florists should always be careful and not
take chances on the highway.
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08

curb and an earlier time limit on
local legislation, excepting mat
tiers of emergency; and for mem
bers to prepare and introduce
bills of statewide Importance
early IN the session.
5. This is a matter of more diff
flcult solution. A similar situa-
ton is receiving attention in the
National Congress. Able and con-
sclentious legislators are divided
on the wisdom of a joint COM
mlttee to consider revenue and
expenditures. However, all OBJ
servers of our General Assembly
must conclude that there are now
obstacles to harmony and effici-
ency. On one side of a door, a
slzable group of the membership
considers and holds hearings on
taxation. On the other side of the
door, another sizeable group con-
slders and holds hearings on ap-
preparations. Each group lacks
the facts and a knowledge of the
reasons actuating the other group.
Another stable. group of the
membership has not heard any of
the arguments and evidence and
sometimes votes blindly Il have
so voted).
Leading sincere members of
the Finance Commute may try to
scuttle the appropriations bill -
and vice versa. "A hectic weekend
IN 1889, with hurrying and sour
rying to the Governors Office -
and ] o l. " r. Conference
Committee maybe saved the day.
Could this not have. been work
ed out earlier?
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08

We are gratified over the fact that the
sheep growers of Ashe county are formu-
lating an organization to promote the rails
ing of sheep and to protect the growers
against loss caused by dogs. This county is
ideally adapted to lamb and wool produc-
ton, but during the past fifty years the
sheep population has declined approx
mately fifty percent. These animals pro-
vide two-way profit and do not require
extra care and attention.
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08

An exceptionally fine spirit of sports
manship has been displayed this season by
the Ashe county high school basketball
players and spectators This is commend
able and shows that one of the fundamen-
tai purposes of school sports activity is be-
ing put across effectively by the coaches
and school faculty.
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08

When I ran that time I did not
come out at the little end of the
horn. I came out at the mouth
of Horse Creek.
Three cross-eyed witnesses, a
cross-eyed judge and a cross-eyed
lawyer staggered onto the truth
by the lawyer asking the wrong
man a question, the wrong wit
ness answering and the judge
repremanding the wrong man.
"The thermometer dropped for
ty degrees in Atlanta, Ga" That
was the place all this Gone
with-the Wind" stuff started,
anyway.
Everything has ''gone with the
wind" now. They have calicos
and gingharns now branded "gone
with the wind. Some of them are
so loud that you have to wear. a
muffler with the dress.
Speaking of Atlanta and one
place and another, once there was
a man who went through a hotel
lobby just after the civil war,
whistling, Marching through
Georgia.. His death was recorded
in the papers as suicide.
Some people are so dumb that
they think they played baseball
in Biblical days because Rachel
went to the well with a pitcher
Just as we'll believe the prodical
son made one homerun.
For the want of something
worse, some of the old mountain
GERS let their children cut their
teeth on a Smith and Wesson pis-
toll. Perhaps it was their first
lesson in triggernometry.
Trench mouth is not only a di-
sease, but a description. Some
thing of course for the medical
and dental professions to dig up
y 80
Ladies Love Brutes', is cap
ton saw somewhere. I don't
know whether it is a movie title
the title of a novel of far
fetched definition of a woman!
r
If the government keeps on
sending lime in here in the con-
servation program, times are liza
bic to get slack again.
\
Political parties are arrayed
against each other like warning
nations. But it is only matter
of gas defense!
German scientists have dis
covered an artificial means of in
ducing sleep. They merely sub
stituted the hobby-horse for the
nightmare!
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08
To Hold Phillips
Funeral Today

Funeral service will be held
this afternoon for Mrs. Nettie
Benge Phillips, of Milan, at the
home at 2 o'clock, and burial will
follow in the Laurel Knob GENE
terry. Rev. Gene Phillips will be
in charge of the service.
The deceased who is the daugh-
ter of VIM. Benge, and the late
Nora Grubb Benge, of Id1ewild,
was Is years old at the time of
her death which occurred Mon
day, as result of tuberculosis.
She is survived by her father,
her husband, William Phillips,
and two sisters, Mrs. VERNE Gro
gan and Blanche Benge.
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION

Spartas unfortunate catastrophe of last
Thursday night should be convincing proof
that an adequate water supply and fire de-
yartment are needed not only in the Allie
ghany county seat town, but also here in
West Jefferson and Ashe.
Starting out innocently and in an unob-
served way flames quickly spread and de-
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08
0(l0

The decision of the state Democratic exc
cutive committee to hold the state conven-
ton earlier than has been the case in the
past is certainly good one. It will give
North Carolina an opportunity to have a
definite part in the formation of national
platform and in the selection of presiden-
tial candidate
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08
N lIts
AND
Kernels
By
TROY /.
JONES

When l ran that time did not
come out at the little end of the
horn. I came out at the mouth
of Horse Creek.
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-08

5 and 4. Perhaps each member
could save himself some worry
by carefully comforting with his
county officials and constituents
before the beginning of the ses-
sion and by having all local bills
ready for introduction. It might
be desirable to place a further
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
Mans Inhumanity

A fisherman from Louisiana Of
fers this suggestion for coping
with the menace of magnetic
mines: Let England import 500
of Louisiana's biggest alligator
gar fish, circle them with steel
bands and release them in mined
areas to swim about, exploding
the mines - and, incidentally,
themselves.
During the last war, someone
suggested trained seals to detect
and signal the presence of sub
marines. Canaries were kept In
the trenches to warn of poison
gas. The French today are using
pigs to root up and explode bombs
in No Mans Land.
It all seems little ironicl Men
invent such frightful weapons that
poor dumb animals have to be
called in to prevent mankind from
blowing itself off the face of the
earth.-This Week Magazine.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
FORODDS & FORENDS:

The British government kicked
the women and children out Of Gil
braltar, that firm" imperialist rock
at the western gate of the Mediter-
ranean.
The liner President Roosevelt got
off for Ireland, to pick up stranded
American refugees from England.
The state department warned the
belligerent powers to let it alone.
The sister liner President Harding,
sold to Belgium, had recently been
bombed to the bottom by German
flyers.
Elegant bald-pate Franz Won Rim
telen, chief saboteur in America in
the / German war, was responsible
for the famous Black Tom explosion
in 1916. He didn't like the Nazis,
went over to the English, and
worked with them against Hitler.
Now, under storm and stress, Eng
land fears him, and so they jailed
him. He was the "lion of the Lon
don literary Set" cabled an OBJ
server.
Germany transferred its bank bal
ances in the U. S. (perhaps SIC, 000,-
O00) to the credit of Swedish banks
so said Stockholm financial circles.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
THE WAR:
Belgian Surrender

Probably one of the most epochal
days in history occurred when King
Leopold of Belgium ordered his
troops to lay down arms and sur
render. How long would France and
Britain continue to wage war, was
the question Immediately raised. The
whole wars outcome was thus
thrown into the balance.
The mechanical, motorized, and
air-geared German army continued
its channel sweep in a wheeling
semi-circle, which began at Cam
brai and Bapaume, and took in
Abbeville, at the channel mouth of
the Somme river, and then coastal
Boulogne and Calais. Calais is ex-
actly across from English Dover,
and only 20 miles distant. Boulogne
was Napoleon's headquarters when
he tried to invade England in 1905.
German flyers came more and
more to dominate the channel, max
ing the work of English troop trans
ports exceedingly difficult. For re-
Inducements from England, or re-
treaters to England, were bombed
mercilessly from the air, as at least
half million allied troops appeared
caught in a horrible steel trap of
Nazi manufacturer. At the other end
of the channel drive, the Germans
were in Antwerp, leaving the allies
only the channel ports of Dunkirk
(French) and Ostend (Belgian).
Paris, pro tenn, had been left meg
lected"-for the Germans were said
to be considering separate peace
with France, a peace some French
men were reported as not unwilling
to accept.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
Where Statues Wore Hats!
Mystery Of Easter Island
Science Finds Creators of Intricate Script
We're Long-Emed artists.

covered with complicated script.
This started a series of the most
extraordinary theories, including
suggestions that Easter island had
been occupied by Red Indians,
Egyptians, and the lost tribes of
Israel. But nobody managed to
put forward a reasonable explana-
ton of how this diversity of races
got there, or went away when
their work was done!
Long-Eared Artists.
Then science took a hand. First
of all, local legends were investi-
gated, and the islanders told of a
migration in the past from a dis
tant island in the west. Proof
came from one of the Gambler
islands, over a thousand miles
away, in the form of another
legend. 1t told of a defeated chief
setting sail to find a new home
for his people. Local legend also
told of two distinct races inhabit-
ing Easter island, the 'long ears"
and the "short ears" And here
again, science found the proof; for
skulls found on Easter island show
that migrants came, not only from
the Pacific islands, but also from
the AuStralasian islands.
The "long ears" were the art
lists. It was their tribal custom
to stretch the lobes of their ears,
and they wore hats for ceremonial
purposes. They were the Gre
ators of the intricate script which
cannot be read, but, defeated by
the "short ears" they have faded
away and left no one to tell their
story.
So far science can speak with
authority, but science cannot say
why the islanders who migrated
to Easter island should have pro-
crossed so far beyond those of
their race who inhabit other
islands.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
Briton's Hoarding Vas
Quite Easily Explained

Rationing of gasoline had gone
into effect in England.
"Thank goodness 1 had the fore
sight to get in a store of petrol
before rationing began" said the
young man. Give enough to last
me a year"
The motorist who overheard
him was indignant and went
straight to the authorities. Inves-
LEGATIONS were made.
The young man smiled when the
official demanded an explanation.
"But I only have a couple of
pints."
GA couple of pints! You said
you had enough for year."
$50 I have. It's for my ciga-
rette lighter. I don't run a car"
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06

|ON EASTER DAY, 1922, the
~ Dutch Admiral Roggeveen
landed on a small Pacific island,
which he named after the day.
He must have thought that he was
landing in a nightmare, for the
shores were ringed with gigantic
stone statues, wearing tall red
hats, and standing on high plat
forms with their backs to the sea.
And the whole island was literally
covered with statues! They still
stand there today.
Later visitors made further odd
discoveries. It seemed that the
inhabitants had suffered devour-
ing national passion for sculpture.
Hardly boulder or an outcrop of
rock had not been turned into an
enormous bust, a fantastic head
with enormously long ears. At
the same time, they discovered
wooden tablets and other objects
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
v COLUMN:
In England

While Sir Anthony Eden's anti
parachute "sharpies" had increased
to half a million game-keepers, un-
employed, flaming youths, and
Colonel Blimps, Scotland Yard
cracked down on the so-called Eng
lish Fifth Column. Sir Oswald Mos
ley, World war flyer at Is and SON.
in-law of the late foreign minister,
Lord Curzon, had headed the Brit
ish fascists' organization, and op-
posed the II German war. Five
Yard detectives took him in. The
Yard also grabbed off Archibald
Ramsay, Elton Conservative and
aristocratic member of parliament,
and John Beckett, a former M. P.
who loves roughhouse.
Parliament passed tough
Treachery Bill, but the Irish Repub-
ican army merely smiled. This dam
gerous secret society has been ac-
lively anti-British, and definitely
fifth-columnar. The I. R. A. made
England feel that Ireland might be
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
u. S. DEFENSE:
Billions

The critics went to work on Roose-
velt's plan for $4,000 airplanes, and
an extra appropriation of billion
dollars. How much would $4,000 air.
planes really cost? And how many
men would it take to staff them,
and operate them? The experts be-
gan to figure.
They discovered that at the price
England and France pay for air.
craft, $4,000 planes would cost at
least six billions. The American avi-
alton professionals backed up this
astonishing sum. Then our air chief
put it at seven billions. But this
was not all. 1t takes thirty men
per plane, to keep it properly condi-
toned and piloted. Hence, it would
take 1900, 900 men to run our so, 000-
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
N A M F. S
in the ne,Us

Rev. DR.. william Lindsay Young,
president of Park college, Missouri,
was chosen moderator of the general
assembly of the Presbyterian church
in the United States. This election
took place at the 152nd Presbyterian
general assembly, held at Roches-
ter, N. Y. There were six candi-
dates. simultaneously, Aaron Cop
land was elected president of the
American Composers Alliance in
New York city.
Said Mayor LaGuardia Of New
York: "The only way to escape in
ternational complications is to get
off the earth, and we are not ready
for that" And the mayor said other
things not calculated to help him
with New York's Italian and nation
alist voters. Then he joined the
Committee for the Defense Of
America Through Aid to the Allies.
A Negro with the unusual name of
Alfonso Jansen got (maybe) an even
more unusual sentence, in New
York. He slapped the face of Susie
Hall, and the Judge asked her for a
suitable penalty. Susie said: Send
Jansen back to Africa for 1000
years. The judge replied that he'd
think it over.
Alfred Duff Cooper, recently an
English propagandist in the United
States, and now the official English
propaganda minister, said that Eng
lish and French defeats had done
more for the cause of the allies than
eight months Of propaganda. Duff
Cooper has been special student
of that tricky French diplomat, nj.
de Talleyrand. And Sir Samuel
Hoare, air minister in the Cham
berlain cabinet till Churchill fred
him to please British Labor, was
named for a propaganda mission to
Spain, in an effort to detach Dicta-
tor Franco from Dictator Mussolini.
Mao Tse-Tung, Al, famous head
Of the mysterious Chinese commu-
mist party and arch-baiter of the
Japanese invaders, was reported
dead of tuberculosis, after a spec
tacular career.
Josephus Daniels, u. S. ambassa-
dor to Mexico City, said that Next
CO would not be pro-German today,
as it was back in 1917. He added
that all 81 Pan-American "repub-
lies" would stick together, if any
one of them was attacked by Eu-
rope. Americo-Mexican relations,
related Mr.. Daniels, were never bet
ter.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
PUTTERINCS:
On Potomac

The senate appropriated nearly
two billions for the war department,
by TAO. Also, it appropriated near
ly billion and half for the navy
department, by rs to 0. Secretary
of the Treasury Morgenthau talked
with a hundred representatives of
the country's aviation plants, but it
didn't seem to amount to much. The
navy department then clapped on a
48-hour week in its naval yards, and
hired $1,000 additional civilian work.
erS.
Chairman Dies, of the Dies COM
mittee, shuddered over the fifth COL
umn at work in the United States.
Dies primarily assailed Russia and
the communists, whom apparently
he still dislikes more than Germany.
Roosevelt is inclined to prefer Rus
STA, but for once he said something
nice about Dies & Co. Roosevelt
had asked congress to approve the
transfer of the immigration-natural-
ization service, from the labor de-
partment to the department of JUS
tice, in order to deal with fifth
columnar extremists.
Roosevelt said that a coalition Re-
publico-Demo-cabinet was simply
"cock-eyed." But he had talked to
Landon and Knox, last-time Repub-
lican candidates, and Landon asked
him to give up third-termite aspira-
tions-which, carpers said, led to a
Roosevelt-Republican deadlock and
the "cock-eyed" verdict. Weather
prophets predicted an unusually
dirty presidential campaign for 1910,
and some people accused Roosevelt
Of exploiting the European war to
promote third-termitis.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
AND IN FRANCE:
More Trouble

French Premier Reynaud INDUCED
in caustic criticism of his own army,
an unusual thing in wartime, and
one important French general-an
army head-was captured (alleged-
ly) in a tank, as he took a first
hand look at the front lines. This
general had been captured, too, in
the German war. His staff, it was
believed, had been taken along with
him. But Reynaud, no soldier him.
self, made fight talks and stressed
his solidarity with the English.
Meanwhile, it turned out that the
allied plane production had sunk to
1000 per month, to the German
3,000-a shrinkage of Is per cent at
a bad time. German airplanes
claimed to have bombed and sunk
six more British transports in the
channel, though three hospital ships,
filed with British wounded, succeed
ed in getting through the merciless
Nazi barrage.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
RESIGNATION:
approved

James H. r. Cromwell married
Doris Duke, the heiress. Roosevelt
made him minister to the Canadi-
ans. Your correspondent rode up to
Canada with him, recently. in the
Montreal plane. Ultra-ally, he got
a warm reception over the border.
The U. S. state department proved
less warm. Cromwell resigned, to
run for the New Jersey senatorship.
Roosevelt wished Cromwell well Gin
the larger field Of activity"
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
,A19|aqa,
|NHRRfiGa9,,69!gg!lA!o|!]||
| IN x1sE%4 SE.x5!H
BRITISH SINKINGS


Washington, d. G..
American naval observers, who
have been trying to pierce the maze
of German claims and British de-
mails regarding battleship sinkings,
come to one conclusion: The Ger
mans have not sunk nearly as many
ships as they say they have, but
the British navy is not in too good
shape, either.
What actually happened is that a
good many British warships have
been damaged and have had to go
to drydock. This take S them out of
battle for weeks or even months.
Temporarily, it is just as effective
as sinking them.
AS of today, five British battle
ships are in drydock, and one is
sunk. This much is definite. There
may be others sunk, as claimed by
the Germans, but if so, U. S. naval
observers have not been able to con-
firm it.
Since Britain has only Is battle
ships, the wounding of six is seri-
Gus blow, and gives considerable
support to the contention of Secre-
tary of the Navy Edison that the
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
Gems of Thought

TAKE warning by the mis-
= fortunes of others, that 9TH
ers may not take example from
you.-Saadi.
Life is a series OF surprises, and
tU0uId not be North taking or keep
ing II il ipere nOt.-Emerson.
The winds and waves are al
ways on the side of the ablest
navigatOrs.-Gibbon.
Better by far that you should
forget and smile than that you
should remember and be sad
Christina Rossetti.
We Win by tenderness; re con-
quer by Observation-Disclosures ".
Robertson.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
PROVE ANYTHING:
By Statistics

By Statistics
Paris: Germans lost 1000 planes in
ftUo weeks!
London: Germans lost 500 planes in
too weeks!
Berlin: Allies lost 2,l00 planes in
t,po weeks!
At Rotterdam, in hapless Holland,
the allies said 100000 civilians per-
ished, but the Germans said 300.
The allies said only 10000 of Ber-
Inns 100000 automobiles were still
running.
Paris said the Germans had lost
500, 900 men in their Dutch-Belgic-
French offensive, but Berlin said the
German loss, then, was about IL, 900.
London said eight British Hurri-
cane planes completely routed IS
German Junkers planes. Of the IS
Germans, 81 were reported as shot
down, or "riddled"l And again, six
Hurricanes ''took on" 20 Messer-
schmitts. In return, the modest"
Germans merely claimed they
hadn't seen an enemy plane in a
week!
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06

plane aerial armada.
These, plus the force
of 100000 regulars
now talked about,
would make for an
army of over 2,000,-
600 men, mostly air
force. And there
came the rub-for
an army of 1850, 900
(ninimum) would
mean nothing less
than universal, cost
ly CONSUMPTION. But,
asked the critics,
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
One Step

The sublime and ridiculous are
often so nearly related that it is
difficult to class them separately.
One step below the sublime makes
the ridiculous, and one step above
the ridiculous makes the sublime
again.-Thomas Paine.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06
RELICION:
The Lutherans

Americas third biggest Protestant
denomination is that of Martin Luz
Their, with well over 100000 adj
herents. But more than so per cent
of the worlds Lutherans are now
under Nazi rule, it was divulged.
This includes Germany proper and
Germany improper" Germany
improper" takes in the Lutherans
Of Norway, Denmark, Slovakia and
Poland. Holland is Calvinist, Belgi-
UNI is Catholic,
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06

didn't Roosevelt know that mere
billion dollars would buy and equip
comparatively few airplanes?
Meanwhile, Americas three best
practical military critics, Lindbergh,
Rickenbacker (our No. l ace), and
General Smedley Butler of the ma
rines, expressed the belief that the
United States was quite safe, and en-
deavored to allay current hysteria,
most evident in the U. S. on the
eastern seaboard.
The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-06-06

q base 1Or German
invasion of the Bril-
fannie midriff, even
though Ireland's Pre-
mier De Valera Wig
orously opposes the
"bomber-bhoys." Al
so, it was expected
that the new English
dictatorship would
launch out against
the English commu-
nists. British Labor
appeared especially
epthI1Sia Sfic ovar