Beckley Post-Herald from Beckley, West Virginia • Page 4

FOUR BKCKLKY POST-I1KRALD. BECKLFY, W. THURSDAY MORXIXG, OCTOBER 2, 1058 BECKLEY POST- A REPC8UCAN NEWSPAPER FOR 5S YEARS. PtJBUSHED EVERY BUSINESS DAY 8Y NEWSPAPERS CORPORATION Address Prince Secktey. Entered to the post office at Beckley, W.

Vau. aod Hinton. W. as second class mall matter HODEL Editor NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE STORY BROOKS FlKLEY INC. New York, Chicago.

Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia Boston, Cleveland. Los Angeles, San Francisco Second-class max) at oost offices at Becldey. and Hinton, Va. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Hie Associated Press is entitled to the for rcoublication of all the locaj news printed in Uiss newspaper, as well as all AP news dispatches. SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL where we do not have established delivery Payable In Daily and Suiiday.

one year $19.00 Daily and Sunday, six months Daily only, ona year $16-00 Daily only, six months $9.00 Two per cent sales tax must be added to tnail rates for all subscribers within West Virginia. Wben requesting change of address be to five old address as well as new HOME DELIVERED By Carrier Or Distributor Daily and Sunday, per week 45c Dally and Sunday, per half month 98c Daily and Sunday, oer month $1.95 All earners, dealers, distributors, independent contractors, and Beckley Newspapers Corporation Is no: responsible for advance subscription payments jnacte to them or their representatives, People Beginning To See Through School Board Tactics It would appear that many of the people of Raleigh County are beginning to awaken to the circumstances which prevail on our board of education. Yesterday there appeared In the Voice Of The People column a letter dealing with the nepotism of the board president the placing of numbers of his relatives in the employment of the school system to the extent that it represents a ridiculous situation in Trap Hill District. Today another letter appears which is signed by nine people are concerned with the crowding of Marsh Fork District while one there with eight class rooms is allowed to serve only 26 The writers of this second letter take issue rather strongly with some of the statements issued after the Sept. 1 26 meeting there, called by the school board to discuss the problem.

They claim, among other things, that the "invited" group of up to 25 residents was not very representative of the hundreds of parents who must be concerned with children attending Marsh Fork High School, Mount View Junior High, and the Elliott School. Such a meeting as was called and held should have been refused by all of those In the first place, the public's business --which includes all school business -should never be conducted behind closed doors. Any meeting of the type held should be open to all citizens concerned. The schools belong to all the people and are supported by all the taxpayers. They have the right to a voice in the matter at any point.

When it is done in this way, with all so desiring permitted to attend, there is a general obligation for newspaper coverage to be permitted for the benefit of those who are unable to attend despite i interest and desire to be present. The rights of the people are to have knowledge of public business and activities. That is one of the major functions of newspapers. The for news coverage of a meeting limited to a select, invited list is obviously even greater. Our was told he could not attend and must be satisfied with whatever he could learn afterward as to what had transpired and the results.

It is ouf opinion that this was in direct violation of both the letter and the spirit of the law. If any who were in attendance knew of this situation, they should have refused to participate under such "star arrangements. We carried in the Saturday paper on Sept. 27 what we could learn about the meeting. If it in error, only those who conducted the meeting and participated in it are to blame.

Secrecy in dealings which arc of public concern involving public funds and property is the sure way to i i corruption if not dictatorship. For once such a precedent is established and accepted, those who run things can do as they please and tell the public whatever they please about it and nothing more. This would sppear to be the present aim of those running our county's school a a i And if their budding political machine, spreading through both the school system and now the Democratic Party, continues to have success in naming new board members, such corruption and dictatorship will be with us almost certainly. We are most happy that the nine Marsh Fork region residents have found out for themselves what "closed" meetings can mean and accomplish against the public's interest. Top '0 The Morning-Pulling For Three More Of The Same! By Emile J.

Hodel Well, the Milwaukee Braves have racked up the first one in the World Series. And we, at hope that they make it three more. Your editor is the fairly sizable company of folks who feel that the New York Yankees are too rich, too well off, and win to much for the good of baseball. We also think that anytime the Yankees do not win. the owners are not getting their money's worth for they are in.

the position of being able to buy championships and do whether they ultimately win them or not. Add to that the slight affinity we feel for Lew Burdette and you have our reasoning. Of course, the slightncss of our affinity for the ex-Nitro man arises from the fact that he, too. has taken his roll to Florida for his permanent residence as too many Mountaineers arc prone to do. We vvould undoubtedly feel much stronger in our support of him had he remained a West Virginian, true and blue as they say.

Of cour.se. We've no objection normally to a World Series being a good bit closer than four straight victories but with the Yankees on the other side, our preference would be to see them well beaten. Turkey Spur Proposals We received a very nice letter yesterday from an friend who is a long- strong supporter of things civic here. He writes in reference to our Tuesday column as follows: "I have read with much delight the paragraphs on the Turkey Spur part of the Grandview State Park in your column of today. do.not think you were extravagant in your description of that majestic spot.

"As you know, I have been working on the Grandview Park, and paved road to it, for about 25 years and it certainly delights an old man's heart to see a good part of our dreams and hopes for it come to fruition, i "I only have one suggestion with reference to the Turkey Spur cliff and that can easily bo done. 1 feel that a safety railing similar to the one on the now 'Main Overlook' should enclose at least a part of the top. "May I again personally express my appreciation of your editorials and Top 0' The Morning' column," The signature is that of George W. Bright who lives on Hill Park Drive as you might well have guessed. He's right, of course, about the safety railing.

But somehow we have a personal dread of seeing it come. A part of our thrill in looking out from the cliffs at Grandview is when there's nothing whatever between us and aU that vast spread of Nature's beauty. We can enjoy sitting on the edge and swinging our feet over the great emply space below us. But then? are many people who suffer with stone degree of acrophobia and sometimes foci drown to try to merge i the scenery below them. And then, too.

there tire rambunctious children. Ju.st for safety's sake, it will have to come. As to the soectacular beauty of the park, it Ls ultimately going to be the real making of this section. We firmly believe it. Aside ffom tho historical drama plans at Grandview, there Ls another prospect a'bout which we know but cannot tell at the moment.

-If it should ccme through, the road to Grandview Park may have to be made into a four-lane parkway one day. And that's something that most of us have never' though about seriously up to this point. And at some point 5u the future, there should be and probably will be a nice lodge or restaurant on the cliff's edge where one can uirie in comfort and enjoy the view at the same time. Just as you now can at Mont Chateau on Cheat Lake and at Blackwaler Falls. A good supply of water is going to have to be pined to Grandview Park before loo long and there will ultimately be a swimming pool, we would wager.

The mere ex- istcnco of such a beauty spot is sooner or later going to draw such attention and facilities to itself! In our bock, it's just a a of time and. of course, we hope and expect that shall live to sec it! MY ANSWER by Bible Institute Needs Books Word comes from over Bradley way that the thriving (spiritually, at any rate) Appalachian Bible Institute is in need some hundreds of additions to its library, to meet a standard desirable in connection with the Institute's increased enrollment -some 40 per cent over last year. As is often the case with new and struggling institutions of learning, ABI hopes to garner additional books from this general area in which the school is operating. The thought occurs that desirable additions to the ABI library might be stowed away in the homes of second or third generation descendants of early ministers, books serving little purpose except as the objects of sentimental reverence: and that the heirs to such books might welcome the suggestion that they be given a place a a purpose) in the ABI library. The books most desired would be of a theological nature biographies of gospel ministers and missionaries--written records of their experiences and rewards.

Religious reference works, commentaries, and such would be gratefully accepted. Because the books in its library must be selective, ABI reserves the privilege of rejecting books generally of a purely secular nature, for which there is no space. There is much of religious fiction (fiction based on Biblical themes and incidents) that would be acceptable. Anyone with libraries, large or small, a i little more- than sentimental value, QUESTION: I have tried to live right and raise my family to do right, but they arc all against me, will not go to church, and abuse me constantly. Should I stay with them and take their abuse, or serve the Lord in peace elsewhere? I am sixty years old now, and my children are grown.

What should I do? T. T. D. ANSWER: It seems almost a contradic- i tion when you say you raised your fimily i to do right, but that they are all against you. and abuse you.

Could it be that YOU have failed some place along the line? Have you always boon patient and forbearing? Have you always loved your children in spite of their non-Christian attitudes? Or have you nagged them, and tried to force thrtn to accept your I know some parents who mean perfectly well, but in their over-anxiety to havo their children be Christians, they have tried to coerce them, and force them against their will. Genera! MacArthur (Jnce said that by the mere signing of an edict, he could have made the whole nation of Jaoan a Christian nation. He could have made them Christian in name, officially, but no person has any jurisdiction over the free will of another. He could not have made them Christian---actually, for Christianity involves the choice, the yield- irifc of the will of the individual. Just so.

you have not been able to convince your children that they should be Christian. But don't give them up. Don't even think of leaving them! Continue to love, to exercise patience. arKTlo pray for them, and God. in Hi? own time VISITORS FROM THE MAINLAND Yesterday And Today- Tragic freezing Of Five McClungs Retold By SHIRLEY DONNELLY Murray 0.

McClung of Mount Lookout is an interesting conversationalist. Currently he lias fallen en evil days and is in a local hospital for physical repairs. Coming upon him the other day, we talked of the apparently inexhaustible McClungs of the Nicholas, Fayette, and Greenbrier region. He who talks on the subject of McClungs never runs out something talk about, you know. They are like Tennyson's brook.

simply go on forever. While talking to McClung, who discovered America on Thursday. Jan. 2, 1898. he told me he taught school for 23 years.

During World War I he saw service in the Army from July 8, 1918, until Aug. 18, 1919. He was born and grew 119 in the Mount Lookout section of Nicholas County and knows the history of that area like a book. Because of this we fell to discussing the subject of the wife and children of William "Bill Slick" McClung who were all frozen death in a winter night blizzard in the year 1842. From the lips of 5iis forbears, particularly his father, the late John Henry Clung, had Murray McClung heard the details of the -winter tragedy that shocked the 2,600 people of Nicholas County, as vveli as the rest of tihc state, llti years ago.

the big concrete bridge -now crosses that stream on 19 below Meadow Kiver divides Nicholas and Fayette counties between Car- nifex Ferry and Nallen. In the triangle formed by Gauley and Meadow before Meadow River flows into the Gauley at Camiiex Ferry of old time, the McClung families lived. There they lived and multiplied until the earth at this point was filled with McClungs. While "Bill Slick" McClung was in Summersville that fatal night of Hf years ago a deep snow fell and covered the countryside. Then it his house caught on fire and was destroyed.

ALTHOUGH THE TRAGEDY referred -to was touched upon here a few months back, it was something like this. One winter day William "Bill Slick" (McClung icft his home in the Mount. Lookout section a walked into Summersviile, county of the 24-year-old county of Nicholas. He must have crossed the Gauley River at Carnifex Ferry to climb the steep declivity on the north side of that stream and make his way to Sum- fnors.ville by way of Kcsler's Cross Lanes. Or he could have gone on up the Gauley River close to where IN THAT W1NTERY- NIGHT there was naught else tor Mrs.

William McClung to do but take her four children, Jane and George and two others whose names are unknown to me. and attempt to reach the house of the nearest white settler. Murray McClung thinks the place they were headed for was the home of Alex McClung. They never made it. One version of the as told me by Murry McClung.

is that the unfortunate young A i gail McClung. wife of "Bill Slick" McClung, salvaged some quilts or other bed clothing with which to keep her children as comfortable as possible as they dragged their weary way through the deep snow on the dark night. They went along until they wore themselves out and then they huddled together in the snow. There the five of them, the mother and four children, perished -froze to death almost in sight of the house of Alex 'McClung, a Murray McClung remembers the story. Abigail McClung was the daughter of William "Chunky Bill" McClung.

She and "Bill Slick" McClung were married on Sunday, Nov. IS, 1832. when Andrew Jackson was in his first term as president. WHERE WERE THE YOUNG mother and her four children buried? This question was put to Murray 0. McClung, presently a resident of Springdale.

"They were buried on land now owned by Woodrow "Bud" Legg, about a quarter of a mile from the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, to where the cinder block church They were buried at an spot the graves were in for a long time. They were never up," according to my informant. Those tombs were never marked. But for generations their location has been known and pointed out by the natives. When they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of tihe Mount Pleasant Baptist Church they invited me to come over and deliver the historical address.

This was done but at the time the location of the graves of.Mrs. Abigail McClung and her ill fated children was unknown to me. Next time they invite me otfer there. plans call for a pilgrimage to the forlorn and isolated burial spot. This is supposed to be some 200 yards, according to Murray McClung.

frcm the old Walter Legg store at Mount Lookout. It was in that store that Walter Legg was Mount Lookout postmaster for something like 40 years. Those graves are something like a couple of miles frcm the isolated grave of 'Nicholas H. Ramsey, father of the late Sheriff William H. Ramsey of Fayette County.

Nicholas H. Ramsey was frcrn am bush and killed four days after the battle of Camifcx Ferry, the killing occurring on Saturdav, Sept. 14, 1881. Alex CVtcCUmg and William "Bill Slick" McClung were among the first settlers in that area. Alex lived about half-a-mile off the road whereon Rarrusey was murdered, and 'twas his house that was the destination of the five frozen Mc- Clungs.

There was a noted ballad written about them, cne stanza run- r.ing, how it made the farmer and mourn to know, that not more than a hundred yards from his door, five perished in the snow-." That farmer was Alex McClung, a very high tempered man. When a person over there used to get mad and fly off the.handle in a rage, others would say of him "He's got his Alex "Alex" and temper being local synonyms in those early days. Voice Of The People-- 'Closed'Meet On Schools Hilt By Marsh Fork Group It is the desire of these writers to set- the record straight on the much publicized question of "Integration at Edwight" I wish to make it quite clear that Edwight Is just a typical small community jwith both pro and con views on the subject. This ly is not the impression the press has left on the public. After discussing the question with many residents, I find the press has been mis-informed ami some of the writers made statements, which is very apparent, they knew absolutely nothing about.

instance, one writer did not know the location of the Elliott school. Could people, like -this give the public's true picture. of any question? In the Sept. 27, 1958 edition of the Raleigh Register-Beckley Post "Herald we find in part an article which reads, "Edwight Sept. 26 (RNS) A Raleigh County school problem was settled tonight when an assembly of residents voted to integrate a former Negro institution here." I should like to know just 'what legal or moral right this group of residents have to vote on an issue, which if my epejnory serves me right, was written in our constitution and the of the question was up-held by the U.

S. Supreme court. Now the next point to bear in mind is is this group that have been referred to as Ed wight residents?" This delegation, chosen by the school board, was made up of possibly twenty-five residents of Marsh-Fork District. From all reports only two of this group reside in Ed wight. The remainder of this group live in communities extending from Pettus to Glen Daniel.

of'this so called group of Edwight residents -live in near by community that do not employ a single colored employee nor do they have one colored person living in their town? In view of all this tfiey vote on the question of integration of our Edwight Elementary school under the mis-rep- resented report of Edwight residents. It appears to me there is some selfish personal problems behind the scene that does not concern accepting integration or improving our present school system. Shall we say it could more truly foe called solving personal desires of a few. The motion presented Sept. 26 and plan presented by -a delegation to the 'board of education are much the same and basically is this; move twenty-six students-and one teacher to EdwigCit Elementary school.

Move the 7th and 8th grades from M.F.H.S. to what.wiji be known as'Elliott Jr. HL Can there be such' a thing as a Jr. Hi comprising only 7th and 8th grade students? For the tax payers information we have an" eight rocoi brick school being supported by our money and is being used by only twenty-six students. Is this practical? Let us now look for-a practical and sound solution.

M.F.H.S. is crowded, granted, but let us not over-look the fact we have another crowded school -in our district, Mt. View-Jr. Hi. already have school transportation passing this eight-room school.

These are all true facts and this seems to me to be a better solution than any plan presented to date. us call the former Elliott High School Marsh Fork Pist. Jr. relieve the crowded conditions at both M.F.H.S.-.and. Mi View Jr.

Hi and have a full fledged Jr. Hi in our district that will include 7th, 8th and -0th grades from both schools. By removing the and 9th" from M.F.H.S.. to a fully accredited Jr. High we could possibly offer our high school students a better schedule that would better qualify them for college or their chosen field in later life.

This article is intended to correct some former reports that was given to the press and offer to the residents of Marsh Fork Dist. and the board of education an answer to their problem. Frank Williams Charles E. Williams J. A.

JarreJl L. A. Hale Douglas S. Parsons Moorefcead Charles.B. Allison Mr.

and Mrs. William B. Smith (Editor's Note: Assuming that the eight rooms at the Elliott School are enough, we agree fully that a "full fledged junior high school" is likely a desirable plan. As to any error that may have existed in regard to the previous news story about the meeting on Sept. 26, no reporter can be held responsible for errors in his account when.he has been refused admittance to any session to be covered newswise and must accept second hand accounts from possibly prejudiced persons.

See the editorial column this morning for further comment.) Ray Tucker-Capital's Mail Would Keep Formosa, But Drop Chiang WASHINGTON A liberal sampling of thousands of letters flooding the White House, the State Department. Congress, and newspaper here reflects almost unanimous public opposition to American defease of Quemoy and Matsu Islands, if it means actual warfare. A maaori-'ty, however, agree with President Eisenhower that the Island of For, mosa be kept out of Communist control for the duration of the "cold war." They ac" ccpt his statement that this outpost is vital to our Far Pacific defense wall so long as Khrushchev and Mao Tse- tung harbor aggressive ambitions. Oddly, despite this belief, the consensus seems to be that the United States should withdraw from its rigid and adamand support of Chiang Kai-shek, and recognize the Communist regime as mainland China's going government. They see no permanent or satisfactory settlement otherwise.

DISPOSITION OF FORMOSA -These remarkably analytical and Drew Pearson Eldest Senator Green, 91 Today, Has Known 14 Presidents is hereby informed that they can be of vaJisc to the--Appaachian Bible Jn- to WASHINGTON Sen. Theodore Fiancis Green of Rhode Island has seen 91 years of American history roll by during which he has met Presidents. This is almost one- half the Presidents of the United States. His memory is quite clear regarding them as he celebrates his 91st birthday anniversary today. The first was Rutherford B.

Hayes. came to Providence ir. 1S77. Mrs. Hayes, seeing the 10-year-old Theodore Fiancis behind her in the receding lino, said: "Come here, little boy, you see what's going on." Thereafter he stood right beside the President as the latter shook hands with the people of Providence.

James A. Garfield. who followed Hayes, was assassinated. He was the only President since 1877 Green did not meet. Chester Arthur, who replaced Gari'icJd in 1881.

came to Newport when Green was about 15. When they shook hands. Theodore Francis yelled: "Cueh!" "Look nere. young man." said President Arthur. ''I'll show you something.

I always squeeze the other man's hand first. Otherwise mine." Grover Cleveland, the first Democratic President Green met. came to Harvard when the senator was studying at Harvard Law School, and the future senator was invited t-r- sit on thet platform. Later, he rvirt Cleveland several receo- i'rt Washington, where Green's uncle, Sam Green Arnold, was a U. S.

senator. Eight of Green's relatives, incidentally, served in the House or Senate. The senator recalls meeting Benjamin Harrison briefly at a White House reception. TEDDY ROOSEVELT FRIEND Green also met President William McKinley at a White House party to which he had been invited by Secretary of State John Hay, a friend of Green's father at Brown University. Mrs.

McKinley was subject to spasms but insisted on attending White House receptions, and the chief memory young Green took away firm Washington was of Mrs. McKinley dressed in elegant finery, sitting in a wheel chair, then suddenly seized with a spasm. A handkerchief was thrown over her fact and she was taken away. "Theodore Roosevelt was really a good friend." recalls Senator Green, "so mticn so a he asked me to be his New England campaign manager. "I had attended the Baltimore Democratic Convention which was deadlocked so long over Champ Clark of Missouri that Peter Gerry and I were the only Rhode Island delegates remaining.

I threw the Rhode Island votes to Wilson and xvent home to find Teddy's asking me to help with his Bull Moose campaign in New England. "I had to say no. that I was supporting Wilson. "During World War Tecldy was anxious command a division in France. Because I had supported Wilson at Baltimore he thought 7 had influence, and asked me to approach Wilson for him.

I replied that I had never asked a personal favor. not asking a favor for yourself, but for a personal friend of Teddy replied. TOP-vSPINNLNG TAFT "So I saw Wilson. He said he would take the matter up with his military advisers, but he never gave TR a command." Senator Green knew William Howard Taft quite well and once asked him if he didn't get tired "spinning like a top." Do you kmnv what happens wren a top stops spinning?" Taft asked. "It dies." Green Jirst met Woodrow Wilson when the latter was a professor at Princeton and came to soeak at Brown.

Wilson spent the night at the Green residence in Providence, built in colonial days. "Wilson was aloof," recalls the Senator. ''I admired him very much, but I never could get close to him." Warren G. Harding, who died in office. Green knew only slightly.

Coolidge. who followed him. Green met many times, and he remembers a White House reception at which he stood beside a former Coolidge classmate who proceeded to teli the President tlic story of a mutual school prank. Coolidge didn't crack a smile. Embarrassed, Mrs.

Coolidge tried to cover up. "Calvin, wasn't that an amusing anecdote?" she said. "I'm so glad you fold us." Green also recaU? a story fold him by one of the famed Patten sisters who knew she was going to sit beside Covxidge and bet $10 she could make him talk. At the din- ner the following conversation took place. "Mr.

President, I'm so honored to sit beside you." No answer. "They told me you wouldn't talk." No answer. "But I knew you'd talk to me." No answer. "In fact I bet ten dollars on it." "You lost." Herbert Hoover once spent the night at the Green home when soc' retary of commerce. Green describes him as intelligent, out a bit reticent.

He was pleasant, though quiet, in more liian he gave out." Franklin Roosevelt also was entertained at the senator's home in Providence when secretary of the Navy. "He was a real recalls Green. "It was he who got me started taking a checkup. I was at the White House one day when he said he had to go to the hospital. the I asked.

"'Nothing, just a checkup," he explained. 'If you don't get them you're foolish. Come with A hospital said. Give Senator Green the same examination you give They did and I've had one every year since." Senator Green first met Harry- Truman in the Senate and occupied the office next to his for four years. They were close friends.

President Eisenhower he first met when Ike was an army officer. That is the record of the oldest man ever to serve in the Senate. Probably no other man has ever known so many Presidents, and it may fake another half century for anyoTve eise to equal toe record. penetrating communications frequently suggest home made solutions for the disposition of Formosa. They suggest, in the main, two 1 Formosa should become a.

trusteeship under the United Nations, -with the United States administering it until Red China and Rossia renounce the use of force to "liberate" it. 2 Hold a Formosan plebescite under the auspices of the United Nations, permitting the residents to choose their future status under a self determination policy an independent republic. United Nations protectorate, or an integral part of Mao Tse-tung's China. From newspaper dispatches, which have been far more informative than official statements, many writers doubt whether the native Formosans. who outnumber Chiang Kai-shek's followers from the mainland, share Secretary Dulles' enthusiasm for the generalissimo and his attractive, ambulating wife.

NO SUPPORT FOR CHIANG -Several incidents, which are frequently mentioned in these protests, appear to have disillusioned the American people with the Chiang Kai-shek dynasty. It is also true that this disillusionment-in fact, irritation is shared by many, policymakers at the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon. The first is the well grounded suspicion, strengthened by the excellent newspaper coverage of the Far East crisis, that Chiang deliberately seeks to drag the United States into war for his own political purposes. Without such a conflict, he can never return to the mainland. And he must keep alive this hope as an issue.

Few understand why Washington permitted him to commit himself --and us to defense of Quemoy and Matsu by sending his best troops to those offshore dots. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT'S ATTITUDE The second factor is Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt's remark that "We gave Chiang Kai-shek his chance, and he failed us!" Her attitude is all the more impressive because it was her late husband who honored and exalted the generalissimo and fed his grandiose ambitions. Stall a third prejudice derives from the seemingly trivial but actually significant fact that, while war clouds hover over Formosa. Madame Chiang Kai-shek lives luxuriously in this and other countries.

Many letters contrast her he- havior with the bravery and solicitude for their people shown by the British royal family during World Wars I and II. and especially through the tragic days and nights of the Hitler blitz. To summarize, the gist of this popular bombardment of the political and diplomatic ramparts Washington, they say in unmistakable language: "We do not want American boys to fight or die for Quemoy or Matsu. and not even for Formosa-unless it is proved thai, tin's island is necessary for national survival 1" I.