Hoovercart

In Wayne County, N. C., a depressed farmer cut off the rear end of his disused' automobile, fastened shafts to the axle, backed in a mule, went riding. Other farmers, unable to buy 23c gasoline with 7c cotton or $5 tires with n^ tobacco, did the same. Soon the roads of eastern North Carolina were overrun with similar vehicles pulled by mules, horses, oxen, goats or a pair of husky boys. North Carolinians, many of whom had been Hoovercrats in 1928, transposed two letters of the term, called their conveyances Hoovercarts.*

In Goldsboro, one Gene Roberts, newshawk, promoted a Hoovercart Rodeo as a publicity stunt. Goldsboro entertained its biggest crowd since William Jennings Bryan spoke there 34 years ago. Some 400 Hoovercarts paraded through the town. Streets were jammed. Goldsboro's police and four State highway patrolmen could not untangle the traffic jam. Filling stations did their best day's business in many a month--selling hay. Angry politicians had newsreel photographers barred, pleaded with Newshawk Roberts to publicize the carts as Depression Chariots. It was too late. Signs on the carts proclaimed: HOOVER GOT MY MULE, THE SPIRIT OF HOOVER. One drawn by two oxen announced: WE'LL GET THERE REGARDLESS OF HOOVER AND THIS AIN'T NO BULL. Goldsboro businessmen offered prizes to winners of chariot races, mulecart races, goatcart races; races of carts with pneumatic tires, carts with straw-stuffed tires, carts with no tires at all. A milling company that offered three pounds of grits to each entrant gave away more than 1,000 lb. A cinema theatre issued 300 passes to Horse Feathers.

The fame of Goldsboro's Hoovercart Rodeo spread. Rodeos and parades were held in Oxford (469 entries), in Roxboro, Kinston and Wendell. More & more Hoovercarts appeared on North Carolina roads, spread northward into Virginia. Last week the first one appeared on the streets of Danville (pop. 22,247). Virgilina, Va. organized a Hoovercart parade,

Stung

In Falaise, France, Camille Labourgois drank a glass of wine without noticing a wasp in the glass, was stung in the throat, choked to death.

Promise

In Chicago, Mrs. Bessie Smolen sued for divorce because her husband had left home two years ago, saying he was going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. For two years she had watched newspapers in vain for news of the event.

Display

Near Florence, Ala., when four men broke at night into L. E. Wilcoxson's store and reached into his show case, one was bitten by the two giant rattlesnakes L. E. Wilcoxson had on display.

Noses

In Lahore, India, the Widow Khurshaid fell in love with a Moslem boy who quarreled with her, cut off her nose. In court Widow Khurshaid said she had cut off her own nose. Afterward she gave the boy about 4,000 rupees, offered to marry him. When he refused her, she got him drunk, tied him to his cot, cut off his nose. In court, she pleaded guilty, was sentenced to four years' hard labor.

Bones

In Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, the 282-year-old bones of D'Aulnay Charnisay who ruled Acadia "as if he were King"' after he had driven Charles de La Tour from the country, were found by excavators and reburied last week under the steps of the Port Royal Church as his will requested.

*In 1928, Herbert Hoover carried North Carolina by a 61,914 majority.

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