Newspapers / The Coastland Times (Manteo, … / Sept. 15, 1939, edition 1 / Page 1
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TilE DARE COUNTY TIMES ' 1 be (■ Weekly Journa^Ti of the North Carolina Coastland—Devoted to the Interests of the Lost Colony Country, Embracing^ the Cape Hatteras National Seashore V; NO. 11 15, IN rest >od.. MANTEO, N. C., SEPTEMBER 15, 1939 Single Copy 5c NER PCJR LOCAL ACTORS ^TPOKm CHECKS MAILED; COURSE PLANNED Jone "-ev. a drenj ’m. j ‘ nd J )rical Grf Looks Forward to More Im- 7 of Native Talent in Next Year’s st ColonWould-be Actors Have Chance Start T: V»*aining This Winter; Fred How- d to Be^y '?in Dance Rehearsals on Return om Chae^a.pel Hill and New York ar— for the ttdiii'ird annual Na- inner by Roanoke Island Assoif^ nation, scheduled MANTEO’S OLDEST MAN 83 ON SEPTEMBER 17TH a b ref al Assujjj^ - day nighk d in the dining room ort P«?aldeigh Hotel, were ^tj.'ifcindoned after Mon- .(] checks for the native the Company of The will be mailed to them r delivered as had been , .,m and plan. idford Fearing, president and ative director of the Associa- and Martin Kellogg, Jr., pub- relations officer, who had the quet in hand, declared that it lid be held later in the fall, at me when the Association will ich an intensive training pro- m for native talent, looking to- d a more important use of na- talent in next year’s produc- of The Lost Colony, red Howard, who for three rs has directed the Indian ces in The Lost Colony, wdll, af- three months’ study in Chapel and New York, return to Roan- Island to begin training and earsal of native talent for next r’s production, and when this is dy, the natives will be brought ether for the banquet and for re formal announcement of the n. hese plans were formulated ten- ivelv durinQ- the we'^k of Paul :n’s stay here at the time the 7 was broadcast over the Co da Broadcasing System when Fearing took up with the au- " and Director Sam Selden the ter of a more general use of il actors in the production and, course, a re^duced use of such vices from elsewhere, from the beginning this has been ! plan of the Association, but s season, because of confusion in n, the matter appeared to have m lost sight of and there were re than ever people from the tside in minor parts. The Asso- tion will next year keep the CAPT. THOS. P. MIDGETT, who is the oldest man in Manteo, will be 83 September 17tJ^. He was the heaviest loser in the Manteo fire when the M. L. Daniels store and the building and apartments hous ing the beauty shop and Swain Con fectionery were burned. Practically all his holdings had been accumu lated by hard work and good busi ness judgment since he became 60 years of age. TWO N. C. PAPERS SEND NEWSMEN TO COVER FIRE STORY MANTEO WATERFRONT FIRE AT ITS HEIGHT MANTEO WATERFRONT FIRE LEAVES 21 BUILDINGS IN ASHES IN THREE HOURS Citizens Miraculously Escape Injury Although Air Filled With Hurtling Metal Fragments; Judge Baum Fights Blaze Single-Handed Until Punk Tillett Sends Alarm; Norfolk and Elizabeth City Crews Aid Manteo Fire Department BUILDINGS DESTROYED IN MANTEO DISASTER THIS remarkable air view of Manteo’s waterfront fire was taken as Dave Driskill piloted his plane over the smoke-filled town. The court house, largest building showing in the right of the picture, caught fire three times but the flames were put out by the Elizabeth City fire department. The Standard tanks, un harmed, can be seen through the smoke haze in the center of the picture. More pictures of the fire on pages 5, 6 and 8. Cut lent through courtesy of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. PROPERTY LOSERS START IN BUSINESS ALL OVERj AGAIN; MAKE SPEEDY READJUSTMENT Barbers Give Shave Before Shop Ashes Cool; Post Office, WPA, Dr. Weeks in Community Building; Lawrence Swains Occupy A. E. Brown Home; Jolliff Sits on Court House Lawn Selling Papers Wednesday Meeting Results in Repairing and Building Restrictions By ELAINE JOHNSON Disaster Broadcast From Radio Stations; N. Y. Pa pers Request Photos For the pictures of Monday’s holocaust The Dare County Times is indebted to the friendly co-opera • xi,‘''ltion of two great newspapers, mtual use of native talent in the , . . t- „ .i u,,, Norfolk Virgiman-Pilot and the Raleigh News and Observer, for the use of cuts used by both in With amazing rapidity the people of Manteo are adjusting them selves to a new waterfront skyline and new ways of doing business. , First to reorganize their lives were Marvin Rogers and A. H. Davenport who moved their two barber chairs and wall mirror into a Hotel Fort Raleigh bedroom."’ho also had his about two o’clock Monday after- Jones’ building, is moving New building and repairing or dinances went into effect late Wed nesday afternoon immediately upon the adjournment of the Manteo town board meeting. In a specified zone, no repairs i can be made to wooden ro.ofs. Any | roofs needing repairing must be | ■'■feplaced by metal or some other i fireproof material. Wooden side | j..'.mmed and a sharp explosion walls can be repaired to the extent i broke the windows of the room, of 25 per cent. If a larger portion I Although store owners all along than this requires repairing, re-1 Water StreeJ were dragging pos- placement must be made with j sessions out of their buildings metal or some other material vVhich j Monday morning, nothing was ta- is fireproof. ken from the NYA sewing room, these rules Theodore Meekins building ■ con ing a bowling alley and a number of upstairs offices. M. L. Daniels general merchan dise store. O. J. Jones wholesale company. Jim Woodhouse’s cafe. W. F. Baum brick building which contained the Manteo branch of the Legum Furniture Company and an upstairs boarding house. W. M. Jolliff’s Texaco station and warehouse. E. F. Wise’s ice plant. Tom Midgett’s building contain ing a beauty parlor, barber shop, confectionery and second floor apartments. Ras Westcott’s pool room Claude Wise’s grocery store. John Hayman’s Central Cafe. Dr. J. C. Weeks’ office and WPA weaving ro.om in the same build ing. Orlando Burrus’ residence. Charles Evans grocery and Unit ed States post office in the same building. Creef Chevrolet Company. Fish houses, docks, warehouses. Gasoline, oil and kerosene drums owned bv the Standard and Texas Fire that raged for exactly 180 minutes Monday morning, begin ning in the M. L. Daniels gasoline storage warehouse on the water front at 5:40 and ending definitely when a growing tongue of flame was yanked by hand from the roof of the Charles R. Evans residence at 8:40, destroyed three quarters of the bunisess area of Manteo. It was Manteo’s morning to bum and nobody’s day to die, and three days after the holocaust the won der grows that none among the hundreds who were for three hours exposed to dangers that could be paralleled only in a village under aerial bombardment, got so much as a bruise or a scratch when the air was choked at times with hurt ling fragments of metal sent up by recurring explosions of gasoline drums. It was Manteo’s morning to burn, a morning that everybody for years has believed inevitable, con sidering the fire hazard presented in crowded, antiquated wooden buildings along the water front, a hazard intensified by the presence of three gasoline storage plants within the crowded area. It had to happen some time and Monday morning it happened and within three hours it was over. Twenty- Oil companies. ■efront of its planning, and to it end the winter will provide op- rtuniy for anvbody who wants to ve a part in the show’s growth to lin themselves to that end., No vering of the standard of the oduction will be allowed, but ther native participation, through -operation, brought to and above B level of professional and semi- ofessional acting that has already ide the show internationally own. Fishing and all Out Doors -By- Aycock Brown Authority on Fishing News Hunting arid fishing resorts along e Central coast and Outer Banks 'e likely to see more Canadians iming this autumn than ever be- 'fe. Some will come to vacation "ay from their country which is : War while others will choose the )ast because they want to be here there is good fishing and ood hunting. Already letters are ^ginning to reach coastal restarts 'om prospective autumn and wdn- ^r vacationists up in Canada. The officials of the Department f Conservation' and development 'ho have had charge of the State iTde Surf Casting Tournament ave learned much this year about onducting such a tourney. Re- :ased from Raleigh this week was fie official announcement (given entativelj' in this column two | •'eeks ago) that the tournament j ■ ould extend through October 1.1 Trst ri was planned to close the j ourney in July, later it was post- j loned until Labor Day and now it las been postponed until October 10. It was a wise plan on the part 'f officials to extend the date for he closing of the tournament, r.his, not due to the fact that there Please turn to Page 4) their issues of Tuesday morning. From Norfolk to the Island came Granville Tilghman, widely known feature writer for the Virginian- Pilot and a native Tar Heel, ac companied by Charles Borjes, staff photographer for that paper. Mr. Tilghman wrote the paper’s two column story, and Mr. Borjes did the photographs which accompan ied it. From Raleigh for the News and Observer came youthful Hal Lam bert, pilot for Serv-Air, Inc., which operates the capital’s airport, to take back pictures and story from its local correspondent. Young Lambert left Raleigh at 12:10 p. m., landed here at 2:10 and was off again three minutes later with pic tures and story which were waiting for him at the local airport. Aerial views of the progress of the fire shown in this issue w'ere made between 7:58 o’clock and 8:05 from the airplane piloted by Dave Driskill. Three remarkable shots were made, one going to the News and Observer, the second to the Virginian-Pilot and the third to the New York Times and Times ■Wide World pictures which re quested them by telephone late in the afternoon and were sent out immediately from negatives loaned Mr. Borjes. News of the disaster was broad cast from radio stations in Char lotte, Raleigh and Norfolk. Urgent calls from the Associated Press were received by its local corres pondent A. W. Drinkwater, and during the day Mr. Drinkwater di- patched more than 2,000 words to that news service. noon. While the ashes of the old barber shop were still hot, Carson Creef decided that now that the fire was over it was time to think of appearances and was the first customer in the new quarters. Shavers Save Equipment The barbers saved all except their heating equiy.ient and a cab inet for supplies. This last was lost because they could find no screw driver to remove it from the wall. Their mirror is propped up on two benches, and patrons swing around to view themselves from the old barber chairs just as they did be fore the business part of County Street was levelled. Post Office The mail, all saved, was taken to the Wigwam Monday afternoon, and removed Tuesday morning to the Community Building because the Wigwam had been rented by G. T. Westcott, Jr., for an office. Mr. Westcott stated that he was “broke and undecided,” but would and fortunately the fire was halted before it reached the shop. C. W. Overman, County Agent ■offices in Mr. to the jury room of the court house for the time being. Lose Home and Business The Lawrence Swains were forced to find both a new home and new place of business. They have The zone in which apply extends from Broad Street to the Creek,' and from Highway Street to the Creek | with Water Street as a western boundary. i New business buildings erected ; must be of sheet metal with steel framing, brick, concrete or other non-combustible material approved by the State Underwriters. Roofs and floors must also be of non- oombustible material. This ordin taken up residence in Mrs. A. E. ance applies to all business build- Brown’s house and Mrs. Swain ex pects to reopen her beauty parlor in an upstairs room of the house Saturday of this week. She saved much of her equipment, including a new $600 permanent waving ma chine, but had to go out of town for supplies she lost. Mr. Swain plans to start another confectionery but has made no im mediate arrangements. The Swains saved much of their furniture from their upstairs apartment, but Tues day, when they were moving into the Brown house, did not know where some of the furniture was Because it .had been so scattered about. Jolliff, Street Seller When the out-of-town newspa ings regardless of the section of town in which they are built. Woodson Fearing, board chair man, suggested that heavy restric tions be put on the Standard and Texas Oil companies when they re- (Please turn to Page 8) try to make a living from now on pers came in by bus Tuesday mom- sitting down instead of standing ing, W. M. Jolliff, minus the filling behind a pool table. station from which he usually sells Part of the space used this sum- them, squatted on the court houe mer by the Community Dining lawn. He used one bundle of papers Room was Boarded off and shelves for an office chair until he sold out built Tuesday. Townspeople called the rest of the bundles. Between for and got at least part of their selling papers, he was cheerfully mail about one o’clock Tuesday af ternoon, the first distribution since Sunday evening. Other rooms in the Community Building used by are the being temporarily WPA and Dr. J. C. making out a new list of customers. His old list was destroyed in the fire. Mixed Vegetables Merchandise was cleared Mon day morning from the L. D. Tark- EXTRA COPIES Extra copies of the Dare County Times were prir/ed this week, and will be sold from the Times office beginning Friday forenoon and until thq supply is exhausted. Weeks. The WPA rug looms have j^gton grocery and placed tempor- been set up .and work was already Wigwam. When the resumed Tuesday under the super- fire steviped'just short of the groc- vision of Miss Lida Wilkinson, ery, will.::,ig townspeople moved the Nearly all the materials were saved back into it' although the from fire Monday, except for some building was dam.?.ged by sriioke rags used in making rugs. Tho.se water. Hurriedly moved, th-e lost caught fire after being loaded groceries were well mixed and into a truck. ^ 'business was not resumed untii Sewing machines, tables and rpgggfjgy when only a semblance of other furniture were moved Tues-' order had been accomplished, day from the NYA girls’ sewing i lyi, l. Daniels room into a back room of Dick j Goods salvaged from M. L. Dan- Evans’ building to make room for jg}g> general merchandise store was O. J. Jones. Mr. Jones owns the t^^en to his residence. 'He plans building in which the sewing room from there as soon as the was formerly located, and, having g^ock is in order, and .hopes, with lost his store, will use the building gg^gral other merchants, to get an for the time being. ,FHA loan to enable him to resume NYA Records Lost business. 1 Mrs. Helen Duvall Daniels, Coun-1 rpjjg Legum Furniture Company’s ity NYA Supervisor, Lost many -of business will continue uninterrupt- her records stored in a closet in Manager Frank Facchini is the Theodore Meekins building. ' fioing business tempora’-ily from She saved her typewriter, desk and home in Mrs. Sophie Evans a stove but gave up trying to save. , , ... .. the records when the closet door i (Please turn to page eight) 11 WARNING! Due to the menace to the private water supplies in Manteo caused by the fire, all persons in Manteo, and espe cially those living in the im mediate fire zone, are urged to boil for at least twenty minutes all water used for drinking purposes, until fur ther advised. This warning includes cistern water, as water was carried some little distance by the wind, leaving polluted water on roofs. This pollution will be carried in the next rains washing the roofs. The ground in the fire area is saturated with polluted- water, which was used for fire-fighting purposes, pump ed from near the many sew age outfalls in the bay.- ♦ ^ >1: * ALL persons in Manteo, whether living in the fire zone or not, and w.ho have not had typhoid vaccine within the last three years, are urged to immediately contact their pri vate physician, or the Manteo office oKthe Distri-cf Health Department in the Commun ity Building, for typhoid vac cine. :tc * For your own safety, it is necessary that the above in structions be followed. . . . . Your cooperation will be ap preciated. .... LOTTIE McCarter, , Public Health Nurse. CHARLES MORGAN, Sanitary Officer. one buildings, 21 out of 23 in the area of worst hazard were ashes. Whether the fire started from a shorted electric wire, or from spon taneous combustion generated in oil-soaked waste by the intense heat of the preceding day and night, will continue among the I mysteries. All that any can say I with certainty is that when Judge !W. F. Baum reached the Daniels • W.harf a few minutes past 6:30 ! there was fire in the warehouse. It had been observed already by Leon land Warren O’Neal as they set out for a day’s fishing, but Judge Baum was the first to reach it. Sometime during the first half Following a natural impulse, of September, I have visited New | judge Baum tried, ineffectively, to York regularly for the past five put out the fire himself, and for a years, and sometimes in between, few- minutes he worked at it. See- It is now a fixed habit, and this | Jng that it was too much for him, week finds me here. ! Judge Baum hurried to give the j When I firs# came to New York'alarm. Only one other man was land got filled up with its dazzling |on the streets at the time, and ! signs, its awesome high buildings, i Punk Tillett ran to the alarm box jand its breath taking speed of and started the siren screaming, [travel, yet slowness of getting |Manteo waked sleepily, wondering around to places, and after having [where the fire was. been stepped on and traffic jam-j Before the siren was well going, med, and jostled about for a few the town was rocked from its sleep i days, I was ready to depart, with by the first of a series of explo- the inward thought that I didn’t sions that lasted for more than an care if I never came back. |hour. Hardly had Judge Baum But business brought me back | reached his own premises 50 yards the next year, and'after my stay! from the start of the fire when an three days, I departed with the | exploding gasoline drum sent thought that I might come back | flames hurtling after him and by sometime. A third trip had me|6 o’clock Judge Baum was home thinking I would like to see more dess, and the fire was reaching for of the old town, and now I am find-1 the Texaco plant hnd the Wise ice ing new and interesting things all plant. the time. | Awake and aroused now, the After being married and finding town hastily took stock of the myself travelling to my wife’s situation. It was the town’s morn- home some 400 miles to Western ing to burn. That much was obvi- North Carolina occasionally, I ous. Doom was written large learned that it is about the same across the whole water front, distance to New York via. Cape | where the town began in wood two Charles, so the big city doesn’t ^ generations ago. Urgent messages seem so far away from Manteo.. iwere sent to Elizabeth City and to I have often thought I might i Norfo'k for help from their fire set down some of my impressions departments, bqt at best it would of the city. But it is so hard to take an hour and a half to get ' marshal them in my thoughts. I them here. And in the mean time, the town seemed doomed. Evacuation was the only rode last year on subways f.ar be (Please turn to Page Two) hone of saving anything, and evacuation was begun. From the stores mer chandise was piled indiscriminate ly in the treets, and from resi dences hrtusehold goods were piled beside them. Into this scene came a half score CCC trucks manned by Vir- ginia Dare camp, and with them , i. 1 • -4 the crews from Nags Head and affected his throat, making it i MANTEO gOACH RESIGNS BECAUSE OF ILL HEALTH John Carr, boys’ athletic coach and history teacher in the Manteo high school resigned this week and personnel of the ;returned to Pennsylvania. ine , I climate and altitude here, he said, difficult for him to talk and practi cally impossible to coach football. R. H. Atkinson, county superinten-1 c ■ 1 n .1 1_ o6rVlCC. tions, and trucks and men from Camp Wright of the National Park dent of schools, has no one chosen las yet to replace Carr, he said Wed nesday, but is making immediat- : plans to do so. Supt. Harry White, Jim Vannote and Lieutenant Eldridge directed the work of the CCC boys where direction was needed. A. C. Strat- nnn fpi t DW^; Driskill worked at ODD bDDLUWb the head of the Park Service forces. Members of the Virginia Dare Mldgett fell into lead with Lodge No. 3, 1. O. O- F. will meet ,j.j^g Coast Guardsmen, and th-^* at the court house Tuesdaj, Sep- ^j.g department, uniform°'l tember 19 at 8 p. m. R. E. White ! secretary, has announced that, the [meeting is important. mostly in pajamas, fought what the (Please turn to page eight) ive a.
The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.)
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Sept. 15, 1939, edition 1
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