First, that he was drafted into the National Army and appeared before the Local Board of Pamlico County and was examined by the said Board and was found physically fit for service in said army. And under the rulings as prescribed by the Provost Marshall General applied for exemption from said service on the grounds that he was a married man and that he was the father of one child. That he was married on the 30th day of December, 1914 to Mary C. Holton and that the child of this petitioner and of the said Mary C. Dunn is now twenty-one months of age. That his said wife and child are both dependent on him for their support and that they have no private or individual income whatever and that if deprived of the support supplied by the actual labor of this petitioner the said wife and child of this petitioner will be without means of support. All of which was done in due and proper form.

Your petitioner further showeth to your Excellency that in the event of his being accepted into the service of the army at this time a great hardship will be worked on those dependent on him for their support.

That this petitioner is a farmer and owner of a small tract of land which he has cultivated almost wholly by himself and his sole income is the result of his own individual labor on his farm.

Your petitioner further showeth that he has filed with the District Board for the Eastern District of North Carolina a claim for exemption in due form on the grounds that he should be exempt because of the fact that he is engaged in farming and has under cultivation about forty acres of land, on which the crops have not yet been harvested. This claim for exemption was also denied.

Further; that this petitioner is the son of an aged widow who is not physically or financially able to support the wife and child of this petitioner. That the parents of Mary C. the wife of this petitioner are both of great age and infirm and unable physically or financially to support the wife and child of this petitioner in the event he is called into the service of the army.

Wherefore your petitioner prays that you will call these facts to the attention of the Local Board of Pamlico County with the request that they will re-open his case and that they grant his claim for exemption.

This petitioner having already been called on to report for duty on the 20th day of September, 1917, and that date has been now changed, prays that in the event his claim for exemption is not granted, that the Local Board of Pamlico County be requested to postpone his call to service in the army to such a time as will enable him to harvest and market his crops which are now standing in the fields.