News & Observer, 28 August 1908.

In 1908, a Harnett County runaway (known variously as Eliza Smith, Lydia Smith and Alice Williams) testified against Josephine Blount, who operated a house of prostitution out of the Orange Hotel on East Nash Street.

The 1908 city directory lists Josie Blount as proprietor of the Orange Hotel (though it was actually owned by Samuel H. Vick at the time.) Blount lived next door at 517 East Nash Street and may have been Vick’s relative.