Here’s an editorial from the Charlotte News (Sept. 6, 1940):

“Tragic is the case of Mack Hobson of Dunn. And the judge who sentenced him to four months in jail must have had a tussle in making up his mind as to exactly what ought to be done with him.
“The boy has hung up a brilliant record at the University of North Carolina and had every prospect of a brilliant career before him. He was undoubtedly laboring under the influence of powerful emotions when he entered the store and pulled out a gun–to shoot himself, he said, in front of the girl, Alease Tart; she says to shoot her if she hadn’t grabbed the gun. And, by some ironic quirk of fate, it is precisely the brilliant who are most liable to violent emotional upsets.
“On the other hand, and accepting his own account of his purpose (as the judge seems to have done), his act had endangered a large number of people and resulted in the wounding–painful if not dangerous–of two innocent bystanders. And to let him go simply because he is brilliant and because of understanding of the stress under which he operated would be grossly unfair and would set up a perilous precedent. There will be many people, indeed, who will think that the four-month jail term imposed on him was quite inadequate.
“However, it is possible to hope that he will have learned his lesson, which is the main thing. And his punishment is actually far greater than the length of the prison term indicates. He has not perhaps absolutely estopped himself from the realization of his future prospects, but he has certainly loaded himself with a tremendous handicap to begin with. For four months in jail is a hard thing to forget or to be forgotten.”
Anyone have the rest of the story?

As promised, here are the answers.
1. c
2. b
3. c
4. b
5. a
6. a
7.c
8. c
9. b
10. Canton, Statesville or Boone
11. b
12. c
13. c
14. c
15. a
16. a
17. d
18. c
19. c
20. Thomas Dewey
21. b
22. a
23. c
24. c
25. a
26. b
27. d
28. d
29. c
30. b
31. a
32. a
33. a
34. a
35. b
36. b
37. c
38. b
39. a and b
40. c