Johnston-Wilson County NcArchives News.....Flowers, Joshua Percy Bootlegger News Articles August 2, 1935
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The Daily Times - News August 2, 1935
The Daily Times - News August 2, 1935 (Burlington, NC)
3 Brothers Post Bond For Attack Federal Officer

Raleigh, Aug. 2 -- (U.P.) Bonds totally $30,000 were posted
yesterday by Percy, Jimmie and Dick Flowers, held on
charges of conspiring to assault A. E. Bennett, federal
alcoholic tax unit inspector.
Bond for Percy Flowers was furnished jointly by H. E. Olive
and W. Jesse Stanley. Percy's wife, Mrs. Delma Whitley
Flowers, posted bond for the other two brothers. 
Johnston county property in acr ? name valued by local
officers, at  more than $75,000 was pledged to secure
the bonds. The three brothers submitted to arrest
voluntarily yesterday when told the night before that
federal warrants would be issued for them. They were
accused of beating Bennett while he and Garland Jones,
Wake county constables, were held at the point of a
gun during the last of a series of liquor raids by the 
federal men last Wednesday.
Bennett, severely injured, was confined to a local
hospital today. The alcohol unit inspector had been
wounded earlier in the day by a bullet from his own
pistol in a scuffle with David Pilkington, 21 arrested
on liquor charges. The Flowers brothers are owners
of extensive farm holdings in Johnston and operate
three mercantile stores.
---------------------------------------------
Statesville Record & Landmark Dec 16, 1935
Johnston County Brothers Propose to Pay
Heavy Fines.
Raleigh, Dec 12 -- Pleading for relief from prison sentences
given them last month for assaulting a federal officer, Percy
Flowers, Jimmie Flowers and Dick Flowers, of Johnston
county, have tendered $5,000 in cash as a compromise
in federal court here before Judge I. M. Meekins.
Judge Meekins told the defendants he would "think
it over" and announce his decidion before January 1,
the date the three brothers are to report at the federal
prison in A?? to begin serving three years each.
--------------------------------------------------
The Robesonian Sep 17, 1957 (Lumberton, NC)
Merchant - Farmer In Trouble Again
Tenant Says Percy Flowers Shot, Missed, Fled
In Car
Smithfield, N. C. -- A warrant charging merchant -
farmer Percy Flowers with assault with a deadly
weapon with intent to kill was issue today following
a shooting incident last night. Sheriff B. A. Henry
said he reported today.
Sheriff Henry said he expects to serve the warrant
sometime today. The warrant was sworn out by
James Seawell, a tenant on one of Flowers farms,
who told the sheriff that Flowers had shot at him -
and missed- after threatening to kill him.
Seawell told the sheriff that the shooting occurred
at the store of Jimmy Flowers, brother of Percy,
around 8:30 last night.
He said he was sitting in front of the store with Mr.
and Mrs. Johnny Flowers and another man when
Percy Flowers drove up, drew a gun and threatened
to kill him, the sheriff related.
Seawell said he made a break for the store where
he knew Jimmy Flowers kept a pistol.
After he got the weapon, he related, Percy Flowers
fired through the store windo, but drove away
in his black Cadillac when Seawell shouted that
"It's even Stevens now" and that he was coming 
out.
--------------------------------------------
Statesville Record & Landmark Oct 4, 1957
Officers Seek Percy Flowers
Smithfield - Johnston county officials continued
their hunt for Percy Flowers today after a grand
jury adjourned Thursday leaving a string of
indictments against the wealthy sportsman-farmer.
After two days of jury meetings, superior court
Judge Leo Carr set bond at $1,500 each for
Percy Flowers; his brother Jimmy; his farm 
manager, Marshall Creech; and two associates,
Willie Sullivan and L. D. Allen.
Jimmy Flowers posted bond late Thursday after
spending most of the day in jail. Creech, Sullivan
and Allen, who has not yet been taken into
custody but is believe to be in Baltimore, Md.,
were indicted on liquor conspiracy charges,
Jimmy Flowers was charged with conspiracy
to obstruct justice.
The latest in the list of indictments against
Percy Flowers came Thursday when James
Sewell testified on a shooting dispute at Jimmy
Flowers store. The jury returned an indictment
against Percy Flowers on charges of assault
with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
Percy Flowers has also been indicted on three
counts of illegal possession and purchase of a
pistol, two counts of unlawful possession of 
liquor and possession for sale., two counts of
conspiracy and unlawful possession of 
materials to manufacture liquor and two couns
of conspiracy to violate the liquor laws.
------------------------------------------------------
The Robesonian Nov 8, 1957 (Lumberton, NC)
Elusive Flowers Posts Bond And Fades From
New Orleans
Raleigh (AP)-- Percy Flowers, reportedly troubled by
a heart ailment, may be in Florida after posting
$5,000 bond for his appearance in federal courth
here on Jan. 27.
When he shows up, state authorities will be waiting to
serve warrants covering charges returned by the 
Johnston county grand jury. Most of the state charges,
as well as the federal indictments, concern violations
of liquor laws. The trail of the elusive Flowers, missing
since last Oct 2 when the Johnston grand jury acted
on bills against him, was uncovered briefly yesterday.
Federal authorities confirmed that the Clayton merchant
and farmer appeared before a U. S. commissioner in
New Orleans last Saturday to post bond. There was
no further trace of Flowers, but a report from New
Orleans said he had gone to Florida.
The New Orleans lawyer who represented Flowers
described him as " a very sick man" suffering from a
heart ailment.
Since federal officers at New Orleans had no authority
to hold Flowers on the state charges, he still is being
sought. However, District Superior Court Solicitor
W. Jack Hooks said he was "not particularly" concerned.
If Flowers is not caught sooner, he can be arrested 
when he appears in Raleigh federal court on Jan 27,
Hooks pointed out. Law enforcement officers in other
states are alerted to be on the lookout and they have
authority to serve the warrants, Hooks added.
"We are going to try him in both places, by the state
and the federal government, and as to which tries
him first makes little difference," Hooks explained.
Flowers, 53, was indicted by a federal grand jury
in Raleigh on Oct 7, along with 16 other persons, 
on charges of operating illegal distilling apparatus
and concealing non-tax paid whiskey. The Johnston
grand jury has charged him with liquor law 
violations, and also with assault on a tenant on a 
farm owned by Flowers.
---------------------------------------------------
Statesville Record & Landmark Nov 20, 1957
Flowers Seeks Needs Of Man
Clayton (UP) -- The wife of J. Percy Flowers says the
alleged bootleg baron is seeking money and spiritual
guidance. Mrs. Delma W. Flowers said she has offered
Flowers' 1957 Cadillac for sale to settle a $4,000 oil
bill. And she said she  is considering going to work as
a bookkeeper. 
Flowers recently posted $5,000 bond at New Orleans,
La., for appearance in U.S. Eastern District Court in
February on a charge of conspiring to violate liquor
laws. He is also being sought by Johnston County
authorities on charges of violating liquor laws and 
assault with a deadly weapon. 
Mrs.Flowers said she did not know the whereabouts
of her husband. However she added, that "in case of
death or some other emergency I think I could get
in touch with him." She said he had conferred with a
minister outside North Carolina to seek spiritual
guidance.
----------------------------------------------------
The Gastonia Gazette Feb 5, 1958
Contempt Charge Facing Flowers
Raleigh - A.P.-- A contempt of court charge has been added
to the troubles of Percy Flowers, 54 year old Johnston
county Merchand-farmer.
After a mistrial was declared yesterday in Flowers liquor
conspiracy trial, Federal Judge Don Gilliam ordered
Flowers to appear at a hearing Friday to answer a
contempt charge.
Flowers is accused of threatening William J. Tolbert,
Negro ATU undercover agent, who testified against
him during the trial.
Tolbert told the court Flowers approached him last
Friday during a court recess. He said Flowers cursed
him and threatened to "fix" him if he ever caught him in
this area again.
Judge Gilliam upheld District Attorney Julian Gaskill's
motion that Flowers be ordered to appear to answer
the charge. Then the judge remarked , "if Percy
Flowers is guilty of contempt, I shall punish him
accordingly.
Tolber said no witnesses hear the remarks.
Judge Gilliam ordered a new trial beginning July 7
for Flowers and 13 other defendants on conspiracy
and liquor violation charges after the mistrial was
declared. The jury was reported deadlocked eight
to four for convicting.
Flowers faces trial in Johnston County Superior Court
beginning Monday on charges of assault and liquor tax
violations. The first case involves padlocking of Flowers
store near Clayton.
The store was padlocked under a temporary court order
last July on a petition filed by Solicitor Jack Hooks. The
order was made permanent pending the hearing.

-------------------------------------------------
The Daily Times - News Feb 20, 1958 (Burlington, NC)
Smithfield, N. C. --- The state planned to hold a second
trial today for Percy Flowers on a charge of assault with a
deadly weapon after a mistrial was declared last night.
A special (venire?) of 40 prospective jurors was ordered
to report to Johnston County Superior Court.
Judge W. H. S. Burgwyn ordered the mistrial early last
night after the jury reported it was deadlocked 11 -1 for
conviction. Solicitor Jack Hooks immediately announced
he would re-hear the case. He said, "I'm confident we
can get a conviction if we can get an impartial jury."
Flowers, a 53 year old merchant - farmer, is accused
of shooting at James Seawell, a former tenant on
Flowers farm, last Sept. 16.
It marked the third time in the past several months
that trials involving Flowers have ended in mistrials.
A mistrial was ordered recently at Raleigh when a 
jury was unable to agree at his federal court trial
on charges of conspiracy to violate the federal
liquor laws. Flowers was tried  last summer at
Raleigh on federal income tax evasion charges and
it ended in a mistrial. 
Seawell told the jury yesterday he was sitting with
several persons in front of a country store operated
by Flowers brother, Jimmy, when Percy Flowers 
drove up and told him, "I'm going to kill you."
After Percy Flowers brandished a pistol, Seawell
ran inside the store, he said, to get a pistol he
knew was kept there. he testified that while he
was getting the pistol, a shot was fired through
the store window, missing him.
----------------------------------------------------
The Gastonia Gazette Fri Feb 21, 1958
Percy Flowers Gets 18 Months
Smithfield- Percy Flowers, pictured by his attorneys
as a sick, broken man, today faces state and federal
prison sentences totally 36 months.
Flowers, his eyes filled with tears, was sentenced
Thursday by Superior Court Judge W. H. S. Burgwyn
to a toal of 18 months in prison and fined $150 and
costs on 11 charges.
Judge Burgwyn described the 53-year-old merchant
and farmer as "one of the largest manipulators in 
liquor in North Carolina. At least that is his general
reputation."
Flowers faced an 18-month federal sentence imposed
recently at Raleigh for contempt of court. His attorneys
gave notice of an appeal last Monday and filed a motion
for arrest of judgment in the case. However W. A.
Lucas of Wilson said last night it hasn't been decided
whether the appeal will be perfected.
If Flowers fails to carry through the appeal, he will begin
serving the federal sentences in the Atlanta, Ga. Penitentiary.
The state sentences would be served upon his release
from federal authorities.
Flowers, in a surprise move, tendered pleas of noto
contender (no contest) to two charges of assault
and six charges of liquor law violations. He had entered
a similar plea earlier in the week on three counts of
unlawful possession of firearms.
When Flowers was sentenced, Solicitor Jack Hooks
said "This is Flowers pay day."  He added, "The good
people of this county want him to understand that the
law is bigger than any one man."
flowers was given six months on a charge of as**ult
with a deadly weapon on James Seawell, former
tenant on Flowers farm, last Sept 16. He received
six months each on two liquor charges, and was
finded $150 and costs on the firearms cases.
Flowers was accused of pulling a pistol on Highway
Patrolman L. S. Holst in 1955. He drew a six-month
term on this, but it will run concurrently with the sentence
in the other assault. He was given suspended sentences
on four other liquor charges, one for 18 monts and the 
other three for two years.
------------------------------------------------------
Statesville Record & Landmark July 25, 1958
Same Old Picture --
North Carolina is in for some more publicity in the
current issue of the Saturday Evening Post.
An article by John Kobler describes J. Percy
Flowers, of Wilders township, Johnson county,
as "king of the moonshiners"; and we are led to
believe he got that way from being "an intimate of
politicians, philanthropist and pillar of the White
Oaks Baptist church."
Somewhat incidentally, we discovered that Percy went
to prison in February for contempt of federal court.
But back to Percy, who weathered 10 federal and
18 state and local indictments between 1929 and
1958 without too much difficulty.
"The official onslaughts aimed at Flowers between
1929 and 1958 would have impeded the career of
a less resourceful man." Mr. Kobler says. "But the
only unpleasant consequences resulted from 
assaulting a government revenue agent, all the 
other cases ending in aquittal, a suspended
sentence or a trifling fine."
The article estimates annual profit of at $1,000,000
"a sum not accounted for by such legitimate
enterprises" as growing tobacco, running a 
general store, gas station and cafe and renting
out farm land.
This Saturday Evening Post article follows on the
heels of a series dealing with moonshining in 
general recently given nationwide circulation through
General Features Corporation. It credited North
Carolina with being the foremost illicit whiskey
manufacturing state in the southeast, which,
naturally, leads the nation. 
In view of our high rank in this highly profitable
field, we suggest that hereafter when figures are
being quoted to show North Carolina in the lower
per capita income brackets, the word "legal" be
inserted before income. We do not doubt that
our rank would be raised considerably if the
statisticians could ever get a line on the Percy
Flowers among us Tar Heels.
----------------------------------------------------------
The Daily Times-News Sept 10, 1958
Percy Flowers Faces New Indictment
Raleigh (AP) -- Alleged bootleg liquor baron J. Percy
Flowers of Johnston County, now serving a year's
sentence in federal prison, is facing charges of 
violating the tobacco acreage control law.
A federal grand jury yesterday returned true bills
of indictment against Flowers; his brother, Jimmy, and
11 other Johnston County residents.
One of those indicted is Labon W. Green, former 
manager of the Johnston County Agriculture 
Stabilization and Conservation Office, who is charged
with tampering with the records involving the Flowers
farms and making false entries.
The Flowers brothers were charged with making false
statements and selling tobacco on sales cards issued
for farms other than the farms on which the tobacco
was grown.
Percy Flowers was sentenced to a year in prison by
Federal judge Don Gilliam for threatening a Negro
undercover ATU agent who told about liquor
activities.
Indictments also were returned against Charles H. 
Johnson, Delma Murphrey. W. M. Lassiter, N. W.
Clark, Millard Lynch, Mrs. Eunice Wall, Fulton W.
Lee, David M. Merritt, Griffin Todd and Lacy C.
Castleberry.
Jimmy Flowers is accused of illegally selling a total
of 18,724 pounds of tobacco. Percy is charged
with illegally selling 12,048 pounds. The alleged
violations occurred during 1956 and 1957.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Gastonia Gazette Feb 5, 1959 (Gastonia, NC)
Brother Pays Off For Percy Flowers
Greensboro--- The brother of alleged bootleg whisky
baron J. Percy Flowers has agreed to pay the government
$93,000 in income tax deficiencies and fraud penalties.
The settlement, announced in U. S. Tax Court here
Wednesday was only $5,000 less than the amount the
government claimed James T. Flowers owed for the 
years 1944-50.
J. Percy Flowers was sentenced to the federal
penitentiary in Atlanta last year for a contempt of
court conviction incurred during a trial on federal
liquor law violations.
-----------------------------------------
Statesville Record & Landmark August 25, 1965
Flowers Held "Not Guilty"
Wilmington (UPI) - A federal court jury found 
J. Percy Flowers innocent on 13 counts of
conspiracy to avoid paying liquor taxes today
and came to "no verdict" in the other counts against
the Johnston County merchant-farmer.
Defense attorney Robert Gavin immediately moved
to aquit Flowers on the other counts. Judge Thomas
Mitchie had overruled such a motion before the
case went to the jury, but told Gavin after the jury's
verdict he would entertain such a notion.
The counts on which there were no verdict included
possession of whiskey stills and removal and
concealment of non tax paid liquor.
Flowers had been faced with more than 100 years
in prison as maximum punishment on all the counts
against him.
------------------------------------------------
Statesville Record & Landmark Nov 21, 1973
Flowers is Fined
Wilson, N. C. (A.P.) J. Percy Flowers, 70, a Johnston
county merchant and farmer once called "one of the
largest manipulators in liquor in North Carolina," has
been sentenced to three years probation and fined
$15,000 on federal income tax charges.
Flowers, who owns Percy Flowers' Store and 5,000
acres of Johnston County farmland, pled no contest
Monday to three counts of wilfully and knowingly
filing false and fraudulent federal income tax returns.
A special agent of the Internal Revenue Service 
testified at the trial that Flowers had understated his
gross income in 1965, 1966 and 1967 by $96,314.
U. S. District Judge John D. Larkins accepted the 
no contest plea and found Flowers guilty of all three
counts, one each for the years 1965, 1966 and 1967.
In addition to the probation and fine, Flowers was
ordered to pay all taxes and penalties owed the
government for the years involved.
Flowers, once regarded as the kingpin of illegal
liquor traffic in North Carolina, served 20 months
in prison in the late 1950s for contempt of federal
court and for state liquor law violations and
assault.
In 1958, when Flowers was sentenced to prison,
Superior Court Judge W. H. S. Burgwyn described
him as "one of the largest liquor manipulators in
liquor in North Carolina. At least that is his general
reputaton.

Additional Comments:
Joshua Percy Flowers was the son of Joshua W. Flowers and Florence Mamie 
Tomlinson, grandson of Adam S. Flowers and Abigail Bissett
Percy was born May 23, 1903 in Wilson Co. NC 
and died Nov 1, 1982 in Smithfield, Johnston Co. NC
he was married to Delma Whitley.

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