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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Dec 26, 1931
Page
1
Decatur marked Christmas Day with calm crowds and few incidents. Churches drew large attendances while residents stayed home or visited friends. Hospitals and police records showed no serious accidents or arrests, and the city glowed with Christmas decorations.
Lawrence M. Russell died at his home in Chattanooga after a brief illness. Funeral services were held at Central Presbyterian Church and the body sent to Decatur. Interment at city cemetery with pallbearers named. He had been secretary treasurer of United States Pipe Works and is survived by his widow, his parents, and a brother in Luskin, Texas.
William Peacock of Raleigh North Carolina was taken ill with appendicitis and halted a train trip here Thursday night. He was admitted to Benevolent hospital for treatment but the pain subsided and an operation was not expected to be needed.
Business leaders noted volumes stronger than expected and well ahead of the 1930 Christmas period. Shoppers showed activity mainly in the final days before Christmas, with a later start to the season but a solid peak in the closing days.
Special musical numbers will be featured Sunday at the 9th Street Methodist church during both morning and evening services. In the morning Miss Grace Hamilton will render a vocal solo and in the evening the Matthews Sisters quartet will perform. The quartet includes Misses Kittie Pearl Mae and Evie Matthews.
In Peshawar on December 26 eight men described as red shirts were killed and 50 wounded when soldiers fired on a riotous crowd of about 500 outside Kohat cantonment after police charged the crowd.
Paris December talks bring France and Britain near tentative agreement on reparations. Governments signed to the Young plan discuss the Hague conference set for January 18. France awaits word from others before an official announcement.
A New Year s service is scheduled for Friday evening at St Paul s Lutheran Church at 7 30. The service will begin with holy communion at 7 00 preceding the main service.
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper will be administered at First Methodist Church after the 11 o'clock service Sunday. Congregation members were urged to be present.
An evening program at seven o'clock at the Moray church invites the public. It features hymns including Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Silent Night, Bible study Not as the World Giveth John 14 27, and multiple talks such as The Light of the Christian Star by Daisy Bell Wiggins and The Wise Woman Follows the Star by Mrs J W Long, with prayers, readings, a poem, and a Christmas street light theme setting.
The Christmas Day vesper service at Westminster Presbyterian church drew a large crowd. A music filled program complemented the service and a Christmas benevolence offering was collected, with offering boxes to be returned the following Sunday, as Rev. EB N Hart urged in his remarks.
Mr. Lipscomb a South Limestone county planter placed a Daily want ad seeking news of a missing mule. He later canceled the ad after a farmer about 20 miles south returned the mule, saying he had learned of the animal's disappearance through The Daily.
Police across North Alabama pursue a Buick owned by Hiram B. Roberts, a Louisville and Nashville shop foreman, after it was reported stolen Thursday night.
Associated Press weekly weather outlook for central and east gulf states. Cloudy and warmer start with scattered showers, then rain in the latter part, followed by somewhat colder conditions toward week’s end. Weather terms include rain and temperature changes across the affected region.
Southern Cotton Becomes Substitute Material As Weather Disrupts Holiday Preparations. Regions report sparse snow as calendar deadlines approach, with industry noting cotton substitutes used in manufacturing and seasonal planning.
Across Minnesota to Alaska the weather behaved like spring in parts while winter hints appeared in others. Decatur enjoyed a calm Christmas with sunshine after ten days of rain in the Tennessee Valley.
Springfield Mass Dec 26 Four persons died in a fire that swept the five story New Court hotel. Only 30 of 48 occupants had been accounted for and officials feared more deaths. Searches slowed by collapsing floors and walls. Damage may reach 100000. The dead include Samuel Knight janitor his wife and two weeks old baby and an unidentified roomer.
The cotton market remained closed today and the Decatur market quotation held at 5.60 cents per pound for middling. This marks a third straight holiday closure with the next opening set for Monday.
Morning court opened with few cases as two arrests were docketed for hearing, indicating the Christmas Day was among the quietest on record in Decatur. The blotter notes two arrests over Christmas and a short session with limited time for the docket.
Ralph McRight, a famed Southern football back and Rose Bowl participant, visited Decatur to scout Washington State and Tulane for a potential clash with Southern California, discounting Georgia and signaling tough tests for USC.
Beginning Sunday and through the second Sunday in January, three minute speeches on Stewardship Tithing will be given at each Sunday morning and evening service at 9th Street Methodist church. A G Jones speaks Sunday morning L R Yarbrough Sunday evening. The Rev C G M Tyndal preaches Sunday morning Believing Without Seeing and evening The Endurance of Love. Mid week prayer service Wednesday evening led by J W McCluskey. No meeting of the woman's missionary society.
Virginia Penfield, missing daughter of successful Columbus chain-store owner Clare Penfield, is shown in a Providence hotel with her father shortly after this picture was taken. The reunion follows a period of concern as authorities traced her whereabouts.
A family scene along the lake centers on Gloria and her grandmother Mrs. Martha Ergang with Monarch the dog as they try to rescue seven year old Orville Oman who fell through the ice while testing a Christmas sleigh.
The commission published a 1931 review of the Muscle Shoals project detailing government operation, fertilizer production, and concentrated fertilizer research. It urges leasing the fertilizer and power plants to private operation under lease contracts to benefit agriculture and Tennessee Valley development.
About 90 members of the Suncy school at Austinville Baptist Church received Christmas gifts during a pageant and tree lighting event.
Pope Pius XI issues Lux Veritatis on Christmas, marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Council of Ephesus. He urges Catholics and addresses Protestants, urging Marian mediation and reiterating that Jesus Christ is God.
In Athens Alabama Christmas whiskey rumors lead to preliminary trials this week as Lloyd Marsh George Burns Tom Black Henry McNeal Leroy Dawson Elgie Smith and Richard Wallace are bound over to await grand jury action on charges of making whiskey. Bonds set at 750 each reflect a subdued mood amid the holiday season.
Montgomery Ala Dec 26 The board of revenue members cars though used daily for county work are not entitled to free license tags. The attorney general in an opinion to Probate Judge A M McConnell Limestone County ruled against free tags for revenue members. The Limestone County board had requested free tags claiming county business use. The opinion states such use does not grant exemption from fees.
A Christmas holiday death list tallies at least 34 lives lost across the South from December incidents. Automobiles caused 27 fatalities, fireworks four, drownings one, a railroad mishap one, and a hunting accident one. Nine people died in North Carolina when a train struck a car at a grade crossing. Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi report additional deaths including burns from fireworks and a homemade powder gun blast.
Washington Dec 26 senate judiciary committee created today to hold hearings on repeal and prohibition bills. Chairman Norris named five senators led by a Wisconsin Republican to begin hearings after Christmas. Members include Boran Idaho Herbert Rhode Island Ashurst Arizona and Walsh Montana Democrats. Committee will consider Bingham resolutions toward the eighteenth amendment.
A sacred concert will be held at the First Christian Church in Hartselle Alabama on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. The performance features a choir of eighteen youths from the First Christian Church in Cullman and the cantata The Song and by Fred Holton.
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