H. ii.»
Maateo, i'.'. C.
July 11. VIST ~
TIMES
The Weekly Journal of the North Carolina Coastland—Devoted to the Interests of More Than 30,000 People of the Four Southern Albemarle Counties
VOL. IV; NO. 182
, MANTEO, N. C.. DECEMBER 23. 1938
Single Copy 5c
AND THE CELEBRATION
WENT ON DESPITE THE
BIG BAD WEATHER MAN
II Was a Great Show That MacNeill Put oit
Saturday, Althougfh There Were Times
When He Felt Like Calling it All Off and
Jumping Into the Sound
If the so-called Weather Man 'WHY JOHN MOORE
could have assumed a corporeal nraoxT^rp O'M TTA'MTk
form last Saturday morning, and if | TT X
Ben Dixon MacNeill could have LAST SATURDAY
laid hands on him, said Weather
Man undoubtedly would have re
ceived a swift kick on his sitting
down place from said MacNeill,
whose carefully worked out plans
for a thrilling air show at Kill
Devil Hills that day were spoiled by
adverse weather.
But despite the contrariness of
the weather, MacNeill, who was
major domo of the celebration of
the 36th anniversary jf the birth
of aviation, put on an interesting
'and entertaining program, sans the
air spectacle.
The 182 Coast Guard and Navy
John Moore, 63-year-old Colling-
ton fisherman, who helped launch
the air plane in which Orville
Wright made history at Kill Devil
Hills on December 17, 1903, was too
busy to attend the ceremonies on
Kill Devil Hills Saturday morning
in commemorat; jn of the 35th an
niversary of the Wright flight.
HON. JOSEPHUS
DANIELS INVITED
TO SPEAK HERE
Ambassador to Mexico Asked
to Dedicate Manteo Coin-
unity Building
The Hon. Josephus Daniels, Am
bassador to Mexico, has been in
vited to make the dedicatory ad
dress at the ’ formal opening of
M.mteo’s new Community Build
ing in early January, It was an
nounced yesterday.
The building will be completed
next week and will be ready for
dedication around the first of the
year. Ambassador Daniels will be
spending the Christmas holidays at
his home in Raleigh, and if he can
possibly arrange to get off for a
couple of days he has indicated
that he will be available for the
dedicatory exercises around the
first of the year. He is due to
reach Raleigh today, and the local
committee expects to have a defi
nite answer from him by the end
of this week
The Community Building is now
ready for occupancy except for
completion of the installation of
the heating plant, and that is
MITCHELL-HEDGES NEW HOME IN CORNWALL
John Moore lives on Collington _ _
Island, approximately a mile from rapidly being rushed to completion
the Wright” Aviation Memorial at ^ according to Capt. Jack Nelson,
Kill Devil Hills, and it wouldB’ti County WPA Engineer,
have taken him more than 15 min-1 “i believe 1 can safely stale that
^ u j 1 j 1 utes to walk over there Saturday,!the building will be ready to turn
planes that were scheduled to come John’s point of view there; over to the County several days
down and put ®n an impressive air I important things to do before New Year’s,” Capt. Nelson
show oyer the Wright Avimion. Collington that morning, so he
Memorial were all lined up at Imr-, [jotlier to take the ceremonies
folk, ready to make the triji to Kill
“I had a party coming down to
go hunting Saturday, and I could-
not disappoint them,” John ex
plained. “I figured if I didn’t show
Devil Hills, but a fog that made
the ceiling what flying people call
"zero-zero” made it impracticable
and inadvisable for them lo take to
the air. So that was that. But the
said yesterday
The 820,000 building will provide
a kitchen, space for the public lib-
a kitchen, space for the ublic libra
ry, and offices for the board of
Health, the men and women’s di
visions of the WI’A. the Board of
rest of the show went
much as planned.
.\11 the notables of the world of
aviation that were invited to attend
showed up or sent representatives
with the sole exception of'Assistant
Secret.,^ of the Navy Charles Edi
off pretty' “P t''® monument nobody wouldi Welfare and possib.y the NYA and
be disappointed, but I knew for
certain that if I went over there my
hunting party would be disappoint
ed. So I went hunting.’’
j\nd, incidentally, John Moore
jKfi.- ui v.it ..... ........... —. w.nnts to correct the imiiression
«.detained'that he was just a dirt .v-faced Hi-i “ ...
aslii..gconf^f';..al business:; year-old_ oi.> , w..o J
Present werc:;^'ajor General H. H.; passing m the vicinity of Kill Devil a 1V\ X
on Docem’oer 17, 1903, and,FOR DARE COUNTY
the Home Demonstration Agent
The building committee is com
posed of the following men: Mel
vin R. Daniels, Chauncey S. Meek-
ins, I. P. Davis, D. Bradford Fear
ing and Robert H. Atkin.son
Arnold, chief of the
: pass
Army Air! Hills
M.
Corps; Major General Prank
Andrews, commander general of
the GHQ air force; Capt. P. M. L.
.Bellinger, commandant of the Nor-
paused to watch Orville Wright
make man’s first .successful flight
in a power-driven airplane.
“In the first place,” this forgot'
IS APPROVED
Ifolk Naval base; Capt. T. L. Chal- ten man of aviation explained, “I
kcr, chief of the Coast Guard air was eighteen years old, and not
lervice; V. K. Stephenson, passen- sixteen. I’m fifty-three now, and
ler agent for the Pennsylvania it. was 35 years ago when Orville
entral Airlines, representing com- Wright' flqw that airplane off Kill
Work” Begun Yesterday on
$26,720.56 Schools and
Playgrounds Project
P. A. MITCHELL-HEDGES' home in Cornwall, England, from a picture
recently sent the Dare County Times. In December he says the
flowers were blooming, and the place has 1300 rose bushes. The
lawn slopes down to a granite wall, where the sea roils up. And
stone steps lead to the beach. Nothing but beds of flowers and the
gardens cover more than three acres. The flat piece of ground is a
bowling green. The small building is a garage.
INFANT ROASTED TO DEATH
IN ITS BED WHEN WIDOW’S
JARVISBURG HOME BURNS
Seven-Months-OId Baby Girl Was in Grand
mother’s Home While Its Mother, Mrs.
Matilda Sears Was En Route to Elizabeth
City On Christmas Shopping Trip; Home a
Complete Loss
so HE WENT A-HUNTING
XMAS PROGRAM
AT FORT RALEIGH
TO BE GAY EVENT
Tree, Santa Claus and Carol-
Singing; Stockings Co
Out Christmas Eve
Barring unforeseen circumstan
ces, Dare County’s big 'Christmas
celebration will be held at Port
Raleigh Sunday evening at 7:30
o'clock more or less as originally
planned.
Several changes have been made
in the program in the last few
days, but the program will be sub
stantially the same as previously
announced.
There will be a large decorated
Christmas tree on the stage of the
Fort Raleigh amphitheatre, and tlie
program will center around the
tree. Santa Claus will be on hand,
too, but he will not distribute any
stockings, because the celebration
committee decided this week that
the stockings will be delivered to
the kiddies’ .homes on Christmas
Eve night in.-tcad of being handed
out at the tree on Sunday night.
There will probably be an invoca
tion, but the religious exercises
originally planned have ,Hecn _cnn;
nc'.yd. i ' r - 1 t
■The principal '/e.attu'e of tb.*,
evening will be the singing of
Christmas carols by a large mixed
chorus. This chorus, tvhich has
been practicing for the past Cwfi
Tragedy stalked into the home of
Mrs. Pearl Jones of Jarvisburg
Wednesday morning in the form
of a fire which burned the house to
the ground and cremated Mrs.
Jones’ infant granddaughter.
The child that burned to death in
the fire was Elizabeth Jean Sears,
seven-months-old daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Herman Sears of Jarvis
burg and Manteo.
Mrs. Jones, a woman in need and
on WPA, lost her entire belongings.
Mrs. Matilda Sears, the mother of
the infant, had been gone only a
few minutes, driving .o Elizabeth
City with a friend. They had
planned to get Christmas trinkets '
for the little baby girl, and the '
other four children of the family—
Ralph, aged 3, and Lois Marie, 2,
and the older boy, Thurman.
The unmarried daughter of Mrs.
Jones, and sister of Mrs. Sears—
Miner\’a, age IG was in charge of
the home, wiiile her mother was
away at the sewing room during
the day. She had found a chance
to go aw— for a ride, and had cone
down to the home .if a neighbor to
get some one to stay with the chil
dren.
Mrs. Jones, a widow, had gone
to her work in the WPA sewing
room at Jarvisburg, leaving her
two small children and the baby in
the house. The stove bp-r.me-over-
i:
(heated ah.-l ket
of their u'lts,' ran piOl mell froii?
the house, leaving the baby to jier-
ish in the flames.
'Neither of the ^.hildren were
ALTHOUGH Jie is one of., the three surviving witnesses to the first
successful airplane .flight made by Orville Wright, and though he lives
less than a mile from Kill’Devil Hills, wherp the Wright Aviation Me-
A 820,720.56 project ?or the im-'morial is located, John Moore (above), Collington fisherman, didn’t
P^ovement of Dare County schools bother to attend the ceremonies at the Hills last Saturday in commem
crcial flying; Mayors John Guir- Devil Hill, so that would have'and playgrounds ''’os approved oration of the 35thlanjiiversary of the birth of aviation.
;in of Norfolk, George Isely of made-me eighteen years old. 11 Tuesday by Sme WPA Admims- hunting engagement and kept it,
aleigh and Jerome Flora of Eliza- ■was kind of little for my age, trator George W. Coan, and work „
|th City; Capt. John T.' Daniels though, and Orville and Wilbur, was begun on three units of the
Adam Etheridge, surviving Wright always called me ‘little
i-witnesses to the first success-' Johnny’ Moore.”
j flight made by man in a power- by chance, either, that
yen eirplane, and Alpheus John Moore happened to be at Kill
Bkwater, the telegirapher whose Dgvil Hills that historic morning.
Itapped out the message that «j living at Nags Head then,
Jthe world about the success somehow or other I heard tell
I Wrights in conquering the ai^^n^ n couple of fellows from up
he ceremonies on Kill Deim north somewhere were going to try
Ills were brief and simple. After to fly a contraption called an air-
.1 invocation by Truxton Midgett plane that Saturday morning, so I
foi Caffeys Inlet Coast Guard Sta- left Nags Head about six o’clock
tion, a flve-foot wrreath was pre- that morning and walked to Kill
sented by Bradford Fearing, execu- Devil Hills to see what kind of a
tivc secretary of the Roanoke Is- fool rig the thing was.
land Historical Association, on be- Mm never forget that as long
half of Dare County and the State j uve, 'There was seven of us
of North Carolina. 'IKis wireath hand that morning—the two
was handed by Captains Daniels Wrights,. John T. Daniels, W. S.
and Etheridge to Billie Cox and Dough jind Adam Etheridge, all of
Jack Wilson, two Dare County the Kill Devil Hills Coast Guard
youngsters, who placed it on the station crew, a fellow named W.
monument. 'Then all of the visit- Brinkley from-Manteo, and me.
called
project yesterday.
The three units operating at
present are at Wanchese, Stumpy
Point and Buxton, but the project
may evenually embrace all the
schools in the County, as it is a
County-wide project and the Coun
ty Board of Education can set up
a unit wherever it deems one to be
needed.
'The project calls for repairing
roofs, steps, ceilings, etc., painting
school buildings, and making
swings, teeter boards, skating rinks
and other playground equipment.
This is a 12-months project and
it may give employment to as many
as 100 men in full operation. Only
40 men are at work on the three
units now operating.
erect a boulder on the spot from
which the Wright plane took off on
, that first historic flight, John
i Moore was asked to help in locat
John had a
Read about him elsewhere in this
newspaper. He is' shown''above with his youngest child. Photo by
Ben Dixon MacNeill. ' ’
MITCHELL-HEDGES SAYS
KING SHOULD VISIT DARE;
CONGRATULATES PAGEANT
weeks, has been trained by Miss, enough to carry the baby out
Helen Evans, Miss Holland West- house,* and were probably too
cott, Mrs. Pearl Scharff and!beside.
Charles Overman. , , ’ kittle AubreyrDowdy, who lives *
If the weather is not suitable for “P Graham Wood-
an outdoor program in the amphi- nding his new
theatre, the program will take road, and dis
place in the Port Raleigh museum. “•'.Bfe. He went prompt- *
mvo * neighbors house for aid.
’n.e 5W Chnstmas stMkin^ t®|Tilbert Jones, son of Mrs. Jones
be distributed to boys and gjrit mL,ho lives nearby came to the kene
evepr section of Dare County were tut it was too late,
made this week m the Wanchese Neighbors attracted by the Are
“^erwards that baby ,
i’* ^ mva" !""**’* s*veu itad any of
local NYA girls m taelr wot^ki^p,.^^ ^rivals known it was in
and on Christmas Eve night they the house. But when the.baby’s
will be takw to the homes of the (bother, summoned from her ho^
• Aort ii«t«.nee .w.y,_ arrived on'
.J'"
ing dignitaries were called upon Orville Wright crawled in the air-
for one-minute talks, at the plane, laying right flat down on the! j the sand hill Times, written
" had drifted, away from where it home in Cornwall, Engh^d, F
Explorer Who Uved at Hatteras Until 1936,
Now in Cornwall, England, Says He Often
Wishes He was Back There; Pleased With
Success of "The Lost Colony”
m.nd with greed.
been turned in to the committee.
The Manteo Rotary Club is to han
dle the distribution of the stock
ings. Each stocking will contain
candy, fruit, nuts and other good
ies which boys and girls enjoy.
Upwards of 8200 has'been raised
for the Christmas Fund through
donations from individuals and'or
ganizations, and'
and dance.
the scene and screamed out ,'that
her baby was in-the house, it was
too late. 'The infant was burned to
an. ash.
It was the cruellest sort of irony
that a man who reached the.scene
of the tragedy early smashed in. a
^ window, entered the flaming houw
jand dragged a few artides of fur-
passion and
In-a letter to The Da^c County slaughter, then the best we can
from 'rls,. recent, ^OP® f®>-.,is world ba^nkruptcy^
HYDE CHAMBER PLANS
QUARTERLY.MEETINC
scheduled told us to shove her off. All hands ^nd MitdicU-Hedges, Britisl writer,
XTrt QLmvpH Iin So pitched m and ga\e her a people knew exactly where it explorer and lecturer, f(|vors the
Noiffolk and never sh^^^ started he ^^d stood in 1903. I idea of inviting King cWc to
W. O. Saunders, motor and off she went. Brinkley jg forgot- Roanoke Island in 1939 .Uring liis
momeS’ ^ ten man.of the birth of aviation.!visit to America. U:
n. I«n.h..n held In ,h. m«»«m p„iM .p. n.nl «••• • (v"), “„d ’hi ™ .“f oS™ u' SrpSoT““".Sferiflih
at Fort Raleigh was termed one of mile “way. And there ® 'ot. ^]gg helped launch who’s Who wliicli lists hiJ aOMi-ess
r’lr Brinkley and Dough 4e^^^ ouse
and Wilbur Wnght are dead, and Trerose, ~ '
g I Mr. Mitchell-Hedges tenders his
best wishes to his friends in Man
teo and Hatteras, and sends - the
editor an invita'tion to bring his
family over for a visit.
REPORT MADE ON AVON
CHANNEL DEEPENING
To Be Held at Engelhard January
9; Several Countlra ti* Be'
Represented ' .;.V
was a
the most enjoyable
held in Dare County. L. H. Wind- and when that airplane started up
' hoiz of Norfolk, presided,- and in- t.hey lifted their tails in the air,
I formality was the keynote of Jhe kicked up their heels and ran every
[ occasion. The menu included wild which away, ' ‘
Iduck and wild goose, but the hunt- “The very first thing Orville
lers given the task of getting the Wright had to say when he crawled
|fowl for the luncheon ^niu'st have of that airplane was "I’ve got
l^en aiming badly, fori there were all the money I want now.’ ”
only a dozen or so wildfowl, which Johnny Moore went up to watch
vere served to the celebrities, and tijg Wrig.ht brothers’ experiments
everyone else had .to eat chicken as often as he could after that day,
land ham. However, the food was doing little chores for them when-
Ldelicious'iy prepared and served hot ever he could. His admiration of
oy CCC boys. So the luncheon the pioneer aviators is reflected in
only John Moore, John T. Daniels England
and Adam Etheridge survive. But
when anything is said or done
about that first flight and the liv
ing witnesses to it, John Moore’s
name is seldom heard.
Daniels, and Etheridge have been
'oanqueted and publicized and given - ,
IV’ord was received here this
week that the War Department's
report on the pending proposition
for the improvement of the channel
to a stone wall, and'jist'vjrhich the from Pamlico Sound to Avon has
ocean-tides rise aniiTall. ibe.en made and is partially favor-
■He congratulate..'D. B|-pFearirig the.^sired improvement,
^ . -and .his co-worker, in thl'success fTh® taport recommends that a
Captain Lo^j g ^ ...j survey be authorized sufficient in
ve been. thctoaaJnnt is so!scope to prepare estimates of cost
milestonab in Ithe
years, while John Moore fished
nets and eel pots, a forgotten mam,
Referring to Hatteras, he Mys
ly glad thclpagetint is so scope lo prepare esii.naws
It shouhfbe. fit is^an d^ging a channel 6 feet deep
landmark Id mhrks one
“I don’t care nothing
whole lot of writeups in
aes.!
, —,— (jiviic. ..T.uvu.a .» ........— "-(wnoie IOC or wriieupe in the pa-i . -/ It. - .A-'i
ent over with a, bang, although the name he.be-Jtowed upon one of|„ers and such as that,” John said I was so glad to writ* the .article
borne of the guests expressed a lit- his children, now a nine-year-old
He disappointment because they boy, who is named 'Orville Lind-
|iad iMked forward to, drinking berg*- Moore,
ome good native scuppernongi jj^ 1928, when it was decided to
vine, which never put in its np-
hcarance because somebody left ^^ght Jlemori'al on Sat-
lown with the key to the pjght concluded the celebra-
|Ioset in his pocket, 'tion, and MacNeill, who had been,
It is' -what
felt.'VVA/.
lack at H«t-
this week. “But there’s one thing' Field arid Strom
I’d sure like, and I feel like I; 1 always told you am
ought to .have it. I'd like to' havey^^***‘Iy;.T w;ish I -wm. . ^
a'job with'the National'Park Ser-'jt«r^tho3e wonderfiiKstrttcHes.of
vice on the Kill Devil Hills reser-!'Ss*>d, the slow old rolle^, ihe.marr
vation. It look's like there would 1®®^®“® fishing and 1-wKqg the
be something over there that a fel- peace--fBr remwed fran --.he hell-
ish boiling .pot Europ
low like me could do, and I’d be a
get a job
Referring to the wmrii stuation,
he says. “-What the \i-lld i^'rash-
ing into,'! do not kiipp.-iNcither
Saturday afternoon at five tempted to jump into the Sound! happy man if I could
’clock, Alf Drinkwater entertained around 11 o’clock that morning, de- *’nere.” , ,
|t his home .and more than made cided that, after all, it hadn’t been With that John Moore took leave _
ip for the absence of wine at the a bad celebration. -And everyone of the vvriter and trudged ove^to.do I think-anybody elseldois. But
nehebn. ' -I else who attended thought like-'a neighbor’s house to finish meed- one thing certain, when santy pre-.^
A colorful searchlight display ^ ■wise. intf some nets,
The second quarterly meeting of
the Hyde County Chamber of Com
merce, scheduled to be held at* En
gelhard on Janunry 9, 1939, is quite
likely to be a big affair,; judging
from the plans announced this week
by P. G. '^'■llop, president, of},thp
wide-awaxe Hyde County otganlza^
tion. ■ . , V .fi'j
. >. / 1, ^ » -f ■» •
This meeting, which is to be'held
in the Engelhard High School,'’gjmri
nasiuni at 6:30 p. m. oh th'e''desig
nated date, will be in'the ,form'of
a dinner p.rogram, with'prominent'
citizens of several'Northeastern
North Carolina counties ■ ..taking
part. ' ' r.
Hon, R. Bruce Etheridge, direc
tor of the North Carolina Depart-;
ment of Conservatien'and Develcpf
nient, lias been invited.to mafca the
main .address of the occasipm-j^I^d-
Icv Bagley, chairman ;b£.,the,-,Sta%
Rural 'Elw.trification-'Authbrityj-Mid
, CO -.tides
a benefit movie) nituTc and clothing oi^ide and
‘ never knew of the presence of the
infant in the house.
Mrs. Sears lives in a small house
she has reoantiy built across the.
road from her mother’s ,horiie. It
lyas not known that the baby was
in her mother’s house, as the chil
dren live with Mrs. Sears.
.Some believe the little children,;
aged three and favo alone in the, ’
room got the idea to play with the ■
fire. Others say it is likely .“the
chimney had caught fire ..in th'e
ceiling and had been buriiing a
long time before it blazed, out.’ , .'-7-
Herman Sears, father '* of. the
babv. is a fisherman onerating out
of Manteo; His wife.' jfbrmerly
Mi.ss Matilda Jones; been liv
ing’ near her 'mother’s'heme be-
tween Gran'dy and Jarvi.sburg.Mrs.
Jooe? is the ■widow of the late Bill
Jones, who died about fo’ur; years .'
ago.
vision of a suitable • basin of the
same depth,at the shore.end.of the
channel.
- The reasons for not recommend
ing further investigation of a
channel 8 feet deep, as desired by
local interests at. Avon, are that (Chester Morris, new Solicitor ofitHe
the'.benefits to^be expected from an; First. Judicial; District; liii»«-'T>een
eight-foot depth would be' ihsuffi- j invited from CurriluckVli-.'Cbuiily:
cient'to justify the cost and that a'John Darden of Plymouth'^iiaSib^
channel and basin 0 feet deep w-ill, invited to represent,Washington
be reasonably sufficient for thej County, and C. Earl. Cohooa'bl'.Cbi
needs of navigation. , ' jlurahia to-represent ,TyTrel!j?;';?Jp.’
Sheriff p., "Victor; Moelnns^^'Jhaa
Gallop, Swan .Quarter, pr^ident; -
Robert E. Tunnell, Swan Quarter,
'secretary-treasurer; and M. I A.
Matthews, Engelhard, vice presi
dent. , - •/
ABC STORE.^XLOSB V >'
*• The'Dare Couhtv.ABC stdres ^ll
observe Monday, December 26, as a
jloliday, it waa.ahnouhc^^this'week''
Til* Pnv C
' i '\
rvl
. 7*
, Th-j Rey.-R. R. Gront..paator,of heen-invit^ and has'^n'-siki^'to
the Manteo Methodist Church, ex- take along a delegtHoii- froin;’lla(nT
tends a hearty .Merry CTristmas teo and Daiie .Cbunty^V’C'^i^^V
^ and Happy'New'Year'To every per-''y pfflg^ -
vails in this insane world; ,i,.world son in Manteo.
iWe', of thig.pewspapwry'wSfe^aiKi&^zfS
a^‘ fbr;a'WrrBC«m..;.vHc'ittya-.Kel '
'.I.