Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1952-10-08
Loris Merchant Shot Saturday

Five men were apprehended
Saturday morning by the Lorls
police for shooting a Loris mer-
chant Friday evening during an
attempted robbery.
Sam Watts, 20; Clio Watts, 20;
Grover Watts, %; and Mitchell
Bell, %; signed statements that
they were involved in the shooting
of Oden Floyd, a local grocer and
appliance dealer, and in the at
tempted armed robbery of his
store Friday evening at approx
mately six o'clock.
The four men also admitted that
all five of them were involved in
the armed robbery Of Golf Broth
ers Store at Goretown on the night
of September 18th, according to
their signed statements.
The fifth man involved, Marvin
Bell, 81, signed no statement on
the grounds that he had been too
drunk during the last week to re-
member what he had done, ne
said.
Odell Floyd, who was injured
while defending himself against
the two men who attempted to rob
his store, suffered a blow on the
back of his head and minor
gunshot wound in the muscles OF
his intestinal wall. Carried to
Loris Community Hospital, he was
treated for the wound and was
sent home Saturday night.
Two men entered his store Fri
day just as he was closing up,
Floyd stated. He did not recognize
the men, but they were Sam
and Grover Watts, according to
their own statements. Floyd had
already locked the back door and
put his money in the safe. The two
men purchased a ham from him
and gave him $4,000 bill in pay
ment. While Floyd was opening
his safe to change the bill, Grover
Watts, according to their signed
statements, pulled out % callbre
target pistol loaded with short
bullets and demanded Floyd's
money.
After Floyd had placed all the
money in the safe on the meat
block nearby, one of the two men
told him to lie face down on the
floor. When Floyd did so, Grover
hit him on the back of the head
with the pistol butt, then threat
ened to kill Floyd when he saw
the blow had not knocked him
unconscious, according to Floyd.
Floyd jumped up and grabbed
Growers gun arm when he heard
the pistol being cooked. In the
ensuing fight between the bandits
and Floyd, Floyd received the
wound in his stomach. Floyd
claims there were two shots, the
first of which struck him; Grover
! Watts said the gun fired only
once and that accidentally during
the fight. After the shot or shots
the two Watts men ran out the
back door and made their get
away in Marvin Bells car, parked
behind the building where the
other three had been waiting.
The five men made their way
to the Bell home in Zoan section
where they spent the night. The
local police arrested them there
Saturday morning at about $40.
The main clue leading to the
identity of the gobherS was given
by local citizen who prefers to
remain unidentified. He happened
to recognize Marvin Bell when the
five men stopped at local liquor
store for whiskey. Marvin at the
time was wearing a flat-topped
cowboy hat which later was found
on the scene of the crime. Follow
ing this lead Tull Floyd, who had
been called in by Odell Floyd's
family to investigate, led the Loris
police to the culprits on Saturday
morning.
After the five men were brought
to the Loris town hall James A
Golf of Goretown, who operates
Golf Brothers Store, was able to
identify three of them-Sam and
Grover Watts and Mitchell Bell
as the three men who had held
up his store on September 18th a
few minutes before midnight.
Golf stated that they entered
his store, bought some beer, and
talked with him pleasantly until
another customer left the store.
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