JUDGE SENTENCES MAN TO HANG FOR RAPE OF 11-YEAR-OLD
November 1899

Willard Bowsman has been sentenced to hang Jan. 26 for the rape of an 11-year-old girl at Leaksville about three months ago. 

Bowsman was found guilty in court at Wentworth and Judge Thomas J. Shaw pronounced sentence. 

No appeal was taken. C.O. McMichael of Madison represented the defendant. Solicitor M.L. Mott prosecuted. 

In another murder case, Asa Flynn was found guilty of murder in the second degree in the shooting death of his brother at Madison earlier this year. He was given 17 years. Sheriff R.W. Hutcherson took him by train to the state penitentiary in Raleigh. ... Police Chief Apple went to Winston recently to arrest General Humphrey, a boy, and return him to Reidsville for trial on a charge of stealing a bicycle. ... Two Greensboro boys, both about 16, were arrested in Reidsville and held for Greensboro Police Chief Scott to pick them up. The boys admit breaking into Carolina Shoe Co. in Greensboro but said they took only four or five pairs and not as many as alleged by the store. 

Two workmen have died in an accident at the new cotton mill at Avalon. While Will Hopper and Riley Pierson were removing timbers from the mill, both were struck by an upright piece of timber. Hopper was killed instantly and Pierson, who is married, died of his injuries later. ... Miss Lucy Hall, a student at the State Normal and Industrial College in Greensboro, has returned to Reidsville to spend some time at her home. ... Miss Bessie Boyd, who is attending school in Greensboro, also has returned to her Reidsville home to visit relatives. 

For the Thanksgiving table: Chickens, 12-25 cents each; cranberries, 10 cents quart; coconuts, 5 to 8 cents each; celery, 5 cents stalk.