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THE PRISON NEWS
PUBLISHED MONTHLY. BY THE STA TE PRISON DEPARTMENT
VOL. V
THE STATE S PRISON, RALEIGH. N. JUNE 1, 1931
No.
«
KEEP-LAWS BANNER
PRESENTED PRISON
MEMBER OF PRISON BOARD <\CTS
In Honor of ('apt. S. A. Ashe
of Raleigh. N. C.
In connection with the regular Prison
chapel exercises on Sunday, May 17. a
Keeplaws banner was presented to the
State’s Prison by t h e American War
Mothers of North Carolina through Mrs.
Mary Bennett Little of Wadesboro, N. C.
The presentation was made in honor of
( apt. S. A. Ashe, and the following state¬
ment from Mrs. Little, who was unable to
[be present, was read by Mrs. John E. Ray:
“For nearly six years I have been
National Chairman of Prisons. American
War Mothers, a committee appointed orig¬
inally to care for ex-soldier men in prison.
There are many thousands of such men —
more than 800 in Leavenworth now.
“I have visited all Federal, as we call
hem, and many state and other reforma¬
tory institutions, and have been appointed
Ja member of the Women’s Committee of the
National American Prison Association, and
a director of our State Farm Colony for
omen, so well started off by a North Car-
lina Woman, Miss Altona F. Gales, whose
ather. Major Gales, was one of four young
iorth Carolinians who shared an imprison-
lent together in Fort Delaware, 1884-65.
“I have held many prison tests for prizes,
aving one at present — Calendar.
"I ask this splendid group, mothers of
oldier sons, to turn their thoughts, their
hearts, to our sons and daughters in Prison,
“Taken ones.” So many have to be held,
fto be under restraint, but most are different
We must not forget them, and must keep
"Home and Hope” alive in their hearts.
“As some slight help and incentive, 1
ask you to accept this Keeplaws Banner, to
be presented to our State’s Prison in the
name of the American War Mothers of
North Carolina, and to be presented in hon-
)i- of Captain Samuel A’Court Ashe, 90
rears young, splendid citizen, soldier,
uthor, prisoner of war, and Christian
gentleman.”
Through members of his family, Capt.
Ashe, who could not attend the exercises,
acknowledged the honor with this state¬
ment :
"Regretting my inability to be present on
this occasion I ask leave to give an expres¬
sion of my high appreciation of the honor
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Box 771 JA I AWS
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ARTHUR S. COPELAND
KINSTON BUSINESS MAN
RE-APPOINTED ON BOARD
Governor Gardner has again demonstra¬
ted his purpose and desire to serve the best
interests of the State Prison Department by
the re-appointment of Arthur S. Copeland
as a member of the Prison Board for a full
term following his selection last summer to
fill the vacancy on the Board caused by the
death of the late Walter D. La Roque.
Mr. Copeland was born in Wilson. North
Carolina, on August 19, 1869 and was edu¬
cated in the schools of that place and at old
Trinity College. The year following the
establishment of the tobacco market at
Kinston he foresaw the possibilities in that
line and moved to Kinston 36 years ago and
became associated with Robert L. Crisp
and A. S. Wooten in the tobacco warehouse
business. He continued this connection for
five years and 30 years ago he founded the
merchantile business now operated under
the name of Copeland Brothers, his brother,
the late Robert E. Copeland, joining him as
a partner in the business 23 years ago. Since
his brother’s death three years ago, Mr.
Copeland has continued to conduct the busi¬
ness. During all of the 36 years in which he
has engaged in this line of business, he has
State System of Public Education
Authorized in 1824
By Col. Fred A. Olds
The writer has. with special care, made
an abstract of prominent Laws of North
Carolina, beginning with the year 1790, and
in this story selects some of the most curi¬
ous among them, as in this “age,” so to
speak, there is a special liking for things
which are “odd.”
In that very year 1790 bigamy was
made punishable by “death,” with no hope
for a commutation of sentence. There were
eight superior court districts and these were
divided into two "ridings.” In those days
the judges rode their districts, on horse¬
back or in "gigs”; a gig being a two-seated
vehicle, with very large wheels. The "East¬
ern Riding” was composed of the districts
of Edenton, Halifax, New Bern, and Wil¬
mington; the "Western Riding” of the
Courts of Fayetteville, Hillsboro, Morgan
(Morganton) and Salisbury. Each term of
court lasted 13 days, exclusive of Sundays.
The salary was 800 pounds a year ($1600)
and if they missed a day the fine was 7
pounds, to be deducted from the salary.
In this year 1790 the State Treasury was
full and from this “Wealth of the Treasury”
(49,000 pounds), the treasurer was "led to
propose a state poll tax of only 2 shillings,
a state land tax of eight pence on every
100 acres and two shillings on every 100
pounds value of town property.” The Leg¬
islature agreed and fixed these rates.
In 1791 the location for the "Permanent
Capital" of North Carolina was ordered to
be chosen; the site to be "fixed and unalter¬
able” (and this was done in the spring of
1792.)
A state tax of two shillings was levied
in 1792 on every “Carriage wheel of pleas¬
ure” (riding-carriage, which made the cost
eight shillings for all the four wheels.)
The same year the legislature was assured
that the Cape Fear river could be made
navigable from Fayetteville to the point
where the Deep and Haw rivers met and
formed that stream; that point being in
eighteen miles of Chapel Hill 'where the
State University now is) in 25 miles of
Raleigh, in nine miles of Pittsboro and in
35 of Hillsboro. So the Cape Fear Navi¬
gation Company was chartered.
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