Bill Cochrane was born at his home near Franklin, Macon County, in what is now the Nantahala National Forest. His ancestors have lived in Buncombe and Macon counties since 1800. He left the mountains to pursue an agricultural education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he excelled as a member of campus government, athletics, and baseball. He clearly has a brain for accounting, as he is the treasurer of the school’s YMCA and Ag club, serves on the publication’s board of directors, and was elected business manager of the school’s publication, The Handbook. He graduated from high school in 1949 and began teaching agriculture at White Plains High School in September, where he became a student favorite. It appears in the 1949 North Carolina Agromek Yearbook, courtesy of NCSU Libraries Digital Collections.
From Los Angeles to Memphis, from Ontario to Spokane, newspapers covered the gruesome murder of William Cochran and the two-year investigation. Photographs of the explosion site were published in the Mount Airy News weekly. Rumors circulated in communities where people knew the young couple and people demanded arrest and conviction. In 1954, as Imogen’s wedding plans to her second husband became known, another bomb was planted, this time the obvious target. The quick reaction of the agents alarmed the alleged killer, who preferred suicide to justice.
Bill and Imogen Cochrane lived in Franklin’s apartment on the corner of McCargo and Franklin streets in Mount Airy. The couple, who wed in August, plan to live together in White Plains, where they plan to buy a house. After Bill’s murder, Imogen never slept in the apartment again. (Photo courtesy of Kate Lowhouse-Smith.)
White Plains School, 1957 Bill Cochrane was teaching here when he was bombed and mortally wounded.
The blast wave tore through the cold morning air, shards of glass raining down from shattered windows on Mount Airy residents who fled to reconnoiter. The scene of destruction must have been shocking.
Mist hangs over the slaughterhouse, clinging to the trees, adding to the surreal effect. Mangled metal, billowing scraps of paper, and the wreckage of a Ford pickup littered Franklin Street and the neatly manicured lawn. The acrid smell of burning fuel filled the air as people tried to make sense of the wreckage.
The body of a neighbor, William Cochran, lay 20 feet from the truck. While others called for emergency services, someone took a blanket and covered the young man out of respect.
It must have been a shock when Bill yanked the fabric off his face. “Don’t cover me. I haven’t died yet.”
It was 8:05 am on Monday, December 31, 1951. Bill went to White Plains High School where he worked as an agriculture teacher, worked with Future Farmers of America, and returned to the family farm with American veterans. full.
At 23, he is not much older than many of his students. Athletic and affable, he was popular with students and staff at the schools where he taught after graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1949. The Franklin native is deeply rooted in the far western counties of Macon and Buncombe, where his ancestors have lived since at least 1800.
There he met Imogen Moses, an Appalachian State alumnus and assistant to the Sarri family demonstration officer. Imogen grew up near Pittsboro in Chatham County near Raleigh. The couple married on August 25, 1951. They are looking for a home in White Plains, where they often attend services at the Friends Club.
The bomb was under the driver’s seat. He threw Bill off the cab roof and amputated both of his legs. Recognizing the severity of Bill’s injuries, the police asked him if he knew who did it.
“I have no enemies in the world,” he replied dazedly before being taken to Martin Memorial Hospital on Cherry Street.
His students flocked to the hospital to donate blood, but despite the efforts of the medical staff, they were overwhelmed with trauma and shock. Thirteen hours later, William Homer Cochrane, Jr. died. More than 3,000 mourners attended the funeral.
As the investigation progressed, rumors spread. Mount Airy Police Chief Monte W. Boone met with State Bureau of Investigation Director James Powell. Mount Airy Police Captain W. H. Sumner teamed up with former Mount Airy Police Chief, SBI Special Agent Willis Jessup.
City officials are offering a $2,100 reward for information leading to an arrest. The state added $400, and Franklin, Bill’s hometown, where his own father was police chief, added $1,300.
Gov. W. Kerr Scott denounced the indiscriminate nature of the killing, which could have killed anyone. “The fire of righteous anger continues to burn high in Mount Airy… every citizen must cooperate fully with the Mount Airy Police.”
RBI Special Agents Sumner, John Edwards, and Guy Scott in Elgin tracked down Imogen’s ex-boyfriend here in App State and Chatham County, where she grew up.
They sent the bombs they could find to the FBI crime lab in Washington, D.C., where it was determined that either dynamite or nitroglycerin had been used. So they tracked the sale of explosives.
The dry season has complicated this process, with many local wells running dry and sales of explosives skyrocketing. Ed Drown, an employee at the WE Merritt hardware store on Main Street, recalls selling two sticks and five detonators to a stranger the week before Christmas.
Imogen returned east to Edenton to be closer to her family and avoid painful memories. There she met city council member George Byram. Two weeks before the wedding, a bomb was found in her car. Not that powerful or sophisticated, when that bomb went off, it didn’t kill anyone, it just sent Edenton Police Chief George Dale to the hospital with burns.
SBI agents John Edwards and Guy Scott traveled to Edenton to talk to the man they suspected from the start, but could not find enough evidence to make an arrest.
Imogen’s childhood friend George Henry Smith asked her out on several dates. She never accepts it. After interrogation, he drove to the family farm where he and his parents lived, ran into the woods, and killed himself before they could charge him.
Some believe that the spirit of young Cochran haunts the flats and houses along Franklin Street where he lived and died. His story is told during a tour of the museum every Friday and Saturday evening. Life’s suffering ended with time, and he continued to think: “Who could do this? I have no enemies in this world.”
Keith Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer at the Mount Airy Museum of Local History and works for the museum with 22 years of journalism experience. She and her family moved from Pennsylvania to Mount Airy in 2005, where she also participates in museum and history tours.
On a very cold November day in 1944, Henry Wagoner and his company were crossing the German countryside near Aachen. “It rained and snowed every day,” he wrote in his memoirs.
Shrapnel hit him in the head and he fell unconscious to the ground. He woke up a few hours later. As the battle continued, two German soldiers approached him with rifles in their hands. “Do not move.”
The next few days are a hodgepodge of memories: the soldiers helped him walk when he was sober and when he was unconscious; he was carried to an ambulance, then to a train; hospital in Selldorf; his hair was cut short; shrapnel removed; Allied planes bombed the city.
“November 26th, dear Myrtle, just a few words to let you know I’m fine. Hope you are fine. I am in captivity. I will finish with all my love. Henry”.
He wrote again at Christmas. “I hope you had a great Christmas. Keep praying and keep your head up high.”
Myrtle Hill Wagoner was living in Mount Airy with her relatives when Henry was posted. In November, she received a telegram from the War Office saying that Henry was missing, but they didn’t know if he was alive or dead.
She didn’t know for sure until January 31, 1945, and Henry’s postcard didn’t arrive until February.
“God has always been with us,” she said in the family memoir. “I never gave up without seeing him again.”
The youngest of Everett and Siller (Beasley) Hill’s 12 children, she grew up on a farm about 7 miles from Mount Airy. When they are not at Pine Ridge School, the children help raise the corn, tobacco, vegetables, pigs, cattle, and chickens on which the family depends.
“Well, here comes the Great Depression and dry weather,” she said. “We didn’t produce anything on the farm, not even to pay the bills.” Over time, her mother advised her to find work in a factory in the city. She went to Renfro’s Mill on Willow Street every week for six weeks looking for work, and they eventually agreed.
At a baseball game with friends in 1936, she “met a handsome young boy” and they began dating on weekends and Wednesday nights. Three months later, when “Henry asked me if I would marry him,” she wasn’t sure she wanted to get married, so she didn’t give him an answer that evening. He had to wait until next week.
But on Saturday, March 27, 1937, he took the morning shift and borrowed his father’s car. Dressed in his best clothes, he picked up Myrtle and two friends and drove to Hillsville, Virginia, where they got their driver’s license and got married at the parson’s house. Myrtle recalls how they “stood on the sheepskin” and had a ceremony with the ring. Henry gave the pastor $5, all his money.
In 1937, when Myrtle responded to the pastor’s invitation, the Wagnerians took part in the revival. A few weeks later they began attending Calvary Baptist Church and she was baptized in the river at Laurel Bluff. When she remembers the loss of her two children, it becomes clear that this event and her faith are important to her. “We don’t know why God is so displeased with our lives that we can’t have a family.”
The hard-working couple lived modestly, paying $6 to rent a tiny house with no electricity or running water. In 1939, they saved enough to buy two acres of land on Caudle Road for $300. By September of the following year, they had built a $1,000 house with the help of Federal Building and Loan. At first there was no electricity on this road, so they used wood and coal for heating and oil lamps for reading. She does laundry on the washboard and in the bath and irons with a hot iron.
Most of Henry’s memoirs are about his time in the Legion. As the Allies advanced, the Nazis moved prisoners further from the front lines. He talked about chopping wood in the woods around the camp, about being sent into the fields to plant and tend potatoes, about how he slept on a bed of straw, but about all this he carried a picture of myrtle in his wallet.
In May 1945, prisoners of war were escorted for three days, eating boiled potatoes on the way and spending the night in sheds. They were taken to the bridge, where they encountered American troops, and the Germans surrendered.
Despite Henry’s poor health for many years after the war, he and Myrtle lived a good life together. They own a grocery store that his father opened years ago on Bluemont Road and are active in their church.
We know this level of detail about Wagner’s love story because their families interviewed the couple and created two memoirs, complete with photos of their 62 years together. The family recently shared scanned memoirs and photographs with the museum and donated a shadow box containing memorabilia from Henry’s World War II service.
These records are important in giving us a solid and comprehensive picture of the lives of people of all social classes in the region. Yes, the lives and experiences of political and business leaders matter, but that’s only part of the story of any community.
Their stories are about ordinary people, not about celebrities or the rich. These are the people who keep our society alive, and they seem to be filled with love and admiration. The museum is delighted to have this important story, the love story of their hometown, as part of our collection.
Keith Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer at the Mount Airy Museum of Local History and works for the museum with 22 years of journalism experience. She and her family moved from Pennsylvania to Mount Airy in 2005, where she also participates in museum and history tours.
One of the first spring flowers to bloom is the hyacinth. Previously, only Carolina jasmine blooms. We love the soft colors of pink, blue, lavender, light red, yellow and white hyacinths. Their fragrance is a sweet perfume and a welcome scent as we approach the last month of winter.
Bermuda grass and chickweed are perennial weeds that grow in opposite directions in winter garden areas. Chickweed has a shallow root system and thrives in shallow soil. It is easy to uproot. The root system of Bermuda grass penetrates deep into the soil and can be over a foot long. Winter is the perfect time to uproot and discard, or better yet, toss the roots in the trash. The best way to get rid of weeds is to uproot them and throw them out of the garden. Do not use chemicals or herbicides in vegetable gardens or flower beds.
Apples are a great cake ingredient at any time of the year, but especially in winter. The fresh grated apples in this pie make it juicy and delicious. For this recipe you will need 2 packs of light margarine, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 2 large beaten eggs, 2 cups grated raw sour apples (such as McIntosh, Granny Smith, or Winesap), pecans, 1 a glass of chopped golden raisins, a teaspoon of vanilla and two teaspoons of lemon juice. Mix light margarine, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Add beaten eggs. Peel the apples from the skin and core. Cut them into thin slices and turn on the blender in chop mode. Add two teaspoons of lemon juice to a grated apple. Add to cake mix. Combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, apple pie seasoning and vanilla and mix well. Add to cake mix. Add chopped floured pecans. Butter and flour the straw mold, then cut a piece of waxed paper to fit the bottom of the straw mold. Grease waxed paper and sprinkle with flour. Make sure the sides of the pot and pipe are greased and floured. Pour the cake mix into the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until the cake pops off the sides and springs back to the touch. Let cool for half an hour before removing from the mold. This cake is fresh and even better after a day or two. Place the cake in the cake lid.
The scent of Carolina jasmine wafted from the edge of the garden. It also attracts the first bees of the year at the end of winter when they flap their wings and enjoy the yellow flowers and nectar. Dark green leaves accentuate the flowers. Jasmine flowers several times a year, and during the season it can be cut and formed into a hedge. They can be purchased at nurseries and garden centers.
Post time: Feb-27-2023