North Carolina Newspapers

VOLUME XVI NO. 36 WANCHESE MAN DIES WEDNESDAY IN TRUCK MISHAP “Billv R.” Tillett Killed Near Kittv Hawk; Gilbert Til lett In Hospital. Leslie Roscoe Tillett, 48, known to his friends as “Billy,” died in stantly Wednesday night when his 1950 Ford truck driven by Jack Gilbert Tillett, a cousin, age 19, ran off the road near Kitty Hawk Coast Guard Station, and turned over. He was a highly pop ular citizen, and had been in the fishing business all his life, and at the time of his death was en gaged in the oyster business and had returned from a trip selling oysters. He the son of the late Wil bur Mott and Colinda Alice Gallop Tillett, and the husband of Mrs. Leona Basnight Tillett, and the father of two children: Gilbert Roscoe Tillett and Lois Tillett of Wanchese. Four brothers also survive him. Peter, Reggie, Dal las and Sigsbee of Wanchese. Prompt aid was rendered by an ambulance from Twiford’s Funer al Home in Manteo, and Gilbert Tillett was taken to the Elizabeth City hospital for treatment. He was found to have injuries about the head and back. The truck after running off the road, turned over and damaged a house belonging to Miss Claudia Sanderlin of Kitty Hawk. REGISTRANTS’ APPEALS SHOULD FOLLOW THREE RULES, BOARDS SAY Selective Service registrants should observe a few simple rules in presenting their cases to the Draft Board. Robert Ballance, Dare County selective service board chairman, and W. G. Credle, Chairman of the Hyde County Board and Dr. W. T. Ralph, Chair man of the Beaufort County Board, state that registrants and interested persons could help the Draft Board and themselves if they will observe the following three suggestions: (1) Present in writing a state ment of all facts which they be lieve will entitle the registrant to deferment. This should be pre sented at the time the question naire is returned. Any subsequent change in status that might war rant reclassification should be re ported in writing. (2) File within ten days after the Notice of Class ification is mailed, a request for personal appearance before the Board, if desired. Such a request will be granted if filed within ten days, but only one appearance will be granted after each classifica tion. (3) Should appeal be desir ed, give to the local board notice of appeal in writing within ten days after the date of mailing of the Notice of Classification. This applies to the notice mailed after either the original classification or the notice issued after personal appearance before the board. The chairmen point out that ob servance of these simple rules would give everyone assurance that the local board was fully in formed of the facts which might have a bearing upon the regis trant’s classification. They add that persons who wish to discuss a case with the Board should re quest an appearance at the proper time and not attempt to discuss it with individual Board Members outside of the Local Board Office. .It is pointed out that such prac tice would save time and that the interested parties could then be sure that all, of the Board Mem bers had complete knowledge of the facts which they wished to present. Members of the Board are doing their best to determine the proper classification of each registrant and they earnestly request the cooperation of the public. SERVICES FRIDAY FOR . COLUMBIA MERCHANT Wayland A. Yerby, 64, died at the Columbia Hospital at 7:10 o’clock Wednesday after an illness of 14 months. Mr. Yerby was formerly of Kil marneck, Va., but had lived in Co lumbia for the past 25 years. He had been a merchant since coming here and in recent years was own er and manager of Yerby Qual ity Shop and was a member of the Methodist Church. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Belle Walker Yerby, one daugh ter, Mrs. George M. Kelley, Jr., of Norfolk; one grandchild; his par ents, Mr. and Mrs. Y. Y. Yerby of Columbia; one sister, Mrs. R. C. Wilson of Columbia, S. C. and one brother, T. K. Yerby of Co lumbia. Funeral services will be con ducted Friday afternoon at 2 o’- clock at the Columbia Methodist Church. Burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery. THE COASTLAND TIMES PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA WARREN LEE TERRY TO PLAY “OLD TOM” I ff V WARREN LEE TERRY, veteran of many years on stage and in opera has been re-engaged to play the role of “Old Tom” Harris in the cast of Paul Green’s symphon ic drama “The Lost Colony” dur ing the 1951 season. He was cast in this corni-tragic role for the ’ first time during the 1950 season and won much favorable comment from patrons of the show, news , papermen covering the drama and critics. MELVIN DANIELS KITTY HAWK CLUB SPEAKER MONDAY I ' i Melvin Daniels, Register of i Deeds for Dare County, will out , line the duties and functions of i his office in a talk before the Kit , ty Hawk Civic Club at the Kitty ' Ha’"k School Monday night. The program, first in a regular - monthly series designed to ac | quaint the members of the club > with the way in which the county 1 government is set up and operat- • ed, will begin at 7:30 sharp. Linwood Tillett, chairman of the committee in charge of the series of programs, announced ( that Mr. Daniels had agreed to devote fifteen minutes to a con cise, factual report on what he ’ and his staff are supposed to do or not to do, and then answer ques tions from the floor for the bal i ance of the half-hour program period. The meeting will be open to all, and ladies and non-members are ’ especially invited to attend this ' first “County Government” pro ' gram. Rules adopted at the last meeting of the club provide that the session shall begin promptly at 7:30 and adjourn at 9:30, with ! at 7:30 and adjourn at 7:30, with ' an additional half-hour being de voted to the serving of refresh -1 ments and a social period. Other business scheduled to ' come before the meeting will be a presentation of final plans for the proposed Kitty Hawk Youth Cen ter, and a discussion of the plan i adopted by the County Board of i Education for- improvements to ' the school. LAST WEEK’S WEATHER Figures provided by U. S. Govt. ' Meteorologist A. W. Drinkwater High Low Rain j February 22 55 45 February 23 53 39 February 24 56 38 , Febraury 25 63 35 ' February 26 70 35 February 27 74 50 ■ February 28 59 43 I DRAMA DIRECTOR ' “~ “T -—— 3 ’ SAMUEL SELDEN, veteran di . rector of The Lost Colony, will I arrive in Manteo soon to conduct ■ the tryouts by Roanoke Islanders for parts in the forthcoming sea- • son’s production of Paul Green’s ■ symphonic drama. Mr. Selden will : hold the tryouts in the Manteo I high school auditorium on the ev ening of March 16. ISLANDERS TRY FOR PLAY ROLES HERE MARCH 16 Tryouts for roles in Paul Green’s symphonic drama The Lost Colony, will be held in Man teo . High School auditorium on Friday evening, March 16, it has , been announced by General Mana-' ager William M. Hardy. In charge of island casting will be Samuel Selden, director of the show since its premier in Waterside Theatre here in 1937. The coming season will be the drama’s 11th to be pre sented on Roanoke Island. A local committee will assist Director Selden with the casting on March 16. Islanders from all walks of life try out for parts each season. Oldest Cast Member Oldest member of the cast, Capt. John Wescott, will again try out for casting as a colonist in the show. He has played such a role for the past several years. When there is no Lost Colony underway on the island Captain Wescott is a commercial fisher man. Formerly he was a coasts guardsman and at one time was in charge of Cape Hatteras Coast Guard Station. Robert Midgett, supervisor of the ABC Stores in Dare, will again try out for the part of a 16th Century soldier in the cast. His assistant in the local store will try out for a similar role. Role most coveted by the teen age girls of the island is that of milk-maid dancers. Teen-age boys have hopes of becoming colonist boys or soldiers or Indians. housewives on the is land will try out for parts as col onist women. At least one island er, Margalene Midgett Thomas, will probably be a member of the Lost Colony Choir again this year. She is the first native born island er to have such a singing role with the drama’s famous choir. Most of the Lost Colony roles to be filled by islanders are non speaking parts, although some do have a chance to demonstrate their Elizabethan brogue during a performance. Half of the cast, and sometimes more than that, are natives of the island. Other islanders are mem bers of the Lost Colony company. For instance, a local banker is house manager; the clerk of su perior court is treasurer; a land scape architect is assistant to the manager and takes tickets at the gate and the box office manager is a local bookkeeper for a utility firm. The Lost Colony provides many jobs and most of the jobs are given to natives of the island on which first attempts were made to colonize the New World, the story that is told in the interna tionally famous symphonic dra ma. PLAYGROUND BENEFIT RAISED S6O TUESDAY About S6O was raised for the new community playground north of the Community Building on Tuesday night at the risk of life and limb to some of Manteo’s most valuable and most delicate citizens. The Lions Club played the Man teo Rotary in the first game of the double bill. The game some times got a little out of control of the high school boys who refereed it. By one spectator’s count there were 26 players on the floor dur ing one of the melees. Often balls were being tossed at the hoop at opposite ends of the court. If the game had an outstanding player, it was probably A. W. Drinkwater, whose doughty defensive work un der one basket with a broom pre vented some Lion threats from materializing. The Lions outscor ed the Rotary, some claimed—no one offered substantial proof of it. In the afterpiece the Manteo high school team played rings a round the slower-footed Lions. There was a final score, not too embarrassing for the service club men, but what it was, exactly, no one seemed able to say at game’s end. FIRE DEPARTMENT BUSY TUESDAY AFTERNOON Fire Chief Ivey Evans and his men had a lively time Tuesday af ternoon. First the department was summoned to put out a grass fire near the Charley Whidbee home in Manteo; so quickly thereafter that many people thought it was a continuation of the same alarm, the siren shrieked again and the truck dashed off to fight a marsh fire near Mill Landing at Wan chese. As the truck .returned to Manteo it was in time to play tag with the other fire department truck and dash off to put out a woods fire near the airport. None of the fires caused much damage; but the fire department got a lot of exercise, and the community got a lot of protection. AU three alarms were turned in within an hour in mid-afternoon. MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY, MARCH, 2, 1951 HANS HAARDT OF HESSE, OF ENGELHARD IN HYDE Wife HANS HAARDT of Hesse, Ger. many, who is attending Engel hard High School and who recent ly talked to the community’s Rot ary Club. He lives with Mr. and Mrs. Columbus Cutrell, and has become one of the most popular students. He is 19 years old, and says he would love to live in the United States always. Son of a German farmer, he came to America in June, one of two Ger man students who is receiving ed ucation in North Carolina. YOUPON TEA MAY BE IMPORTANT PRODUCT General Foods Corp. Investigating Possibilities of Marketing a Youpon Beverage By BEN DIXON MacNEILL Buxton on Cape Hatteras—Mar. I.—Modern Cherokee Indians, thespians now instead of warriors, whose ancestors used to trek 500 miles from their Great Smoky Mountain homes to quaff youpon tea on Hatteras Island and so purge themselves of winter’s de bility, may presently be able to get the same results at their near est grocery store or soda foun tain. Youpon is about ready to go commercial. After months of test and ex periment, the, laboratories of Gen eral Foods Corporation, which is to eating about what General Mo tors is to riding, have worked out a formula, according to reports in general circulation around here, and the company is now casting I about for a dependable source of supply before putting the new beverage on the market. There is plenty of youpon hereabouts. Medicinal Properties Tests have disclosed that native ' youpon tea has only slightly less caffein than the best tea import ed from the Orient and about the same as the best coffee imported from Brazil and other tropical sources. Moreover, it has certain medicinal qualities that offset any undesirable factor presented by caffein. In short, the modern lab oratory technician has discovered that the Cherokees knew what they were getting for their 500- mile walk. Whether the new beverage will be distributed in packages like tea or coffee, or in bottles like pepsi cola—or maybe both—has not been determined, according to re ports current here. Either way, the corporation appears to believe that it has found something that the public will buy and drink and which can be produced at substan tially lower cost than the dollar a pound now charged for coffee in most stores. Main question now for the in vestigators is whether there is enough raw material to justify exploitation, and representatives of the organization have been as sured, and have seen for them selves, that Hatteras Island could take care of a lot of such new bus iness. The youpon here is of a vig- i or and flavor not found elsewhere,i though the shrub is found all a- 1 long the Atlantic seaboard as far north as the Virginia State line. Formerly Exported Time was when youpon tea ranked along with fish as the ex port from this Island, but during the last half century the art of drying the leaves has been very nearly lost. Bales of the tea used to go out of here on every ship that went to the markets in Eliz abeth City and Norfolk, and ev erybody drank it regularly. Now only the oldest of the old-timers i know how to cure the leaves and brew the tea. Thousands of youpon plants were set out in the Cape Hatteras area by the C.C.C. Company that instituted the erosion control pro ject here, and there are other thousands of buslies available in Buxton Woods. It is a relatively fast grower in good situations and hardy. The natives used to cut it like hay and cure it, calculating two years between cuttings. Mrs. Maude Miller White, postmistress and community leaddr, says that the industry would be warmly welcomed in revivaL MARCH OF DIMES TOTAL PASSES SBOO IN DARE Mrs. Balfour Baum, county March of Dimes chairman, an nounced this week that $829.76 had been turned into the county treasury in the 1951 anti-polio fund-raising drive. Returns from one or two clubs in Manteo are as yet incomplete, but most of the local drives have been completed, Mrs. Baum said. When permission was granted to extend the drive in Dare, state officials asked Mrs. Baum to make every effort to raise at least SI,OOO. The chair man still hopes that amount can be raised and asks anyone who has not yet given to the fund to send his contribution to the coun ty chairman. Last year’s total was just over S6OO. The colored March of Dimes drive in Manteo, under the direc tion of Mrs. Agathia Gray, was more successful than it has ever been before, according to the county chairman. A total of $39. 28 was collected, of which $5.10 was contributed by the Disciple Church, $2.75 by «the Baptist Church, $13.50 by the Roanoke school, and the rest was collected by individual contributors. Mrs. Gray was helped immensely in her work by Mrs. Emily Mann, who has been a partial invalid for four years; she gave of her time gen erously and, Mrs. Gray said, was a great factor in making the cam paign successful. N. C. MANN SENTENCED ON BAD CHECK COUNT N. C. Mann of Manns Harbor and Norfolk was on Tuesday found guilty of issuing a check for $2280 to E. W. Fields, Manteo ■ fish dealer, without sufficient funds in the Norfolk bank in which the check was drawn to cover that amount. Judge W. F. Baum sentenced Mann to serve six months on the roads, suspended upon condition that the amount of the check be paid to Mr. Fields by Mr. Mann at the rate of SSOO per month until the total sum had been repaid; he also assessed Mann with the costs of court. Wallace H. McCown, attorney for Mann, requested appeal to the superior court, which Judge Baum granted with the proviso that Mann supply bond in the amount of $2,500. The case was an unusual onc for the reason that the defense did not put any witnesses on the stand, nor did it attempt to con trovert evidence offered by two prosecution witnesses. Attorney McCown asked for dismissal of the case on the grounds that the state had entirely failed to prove its case against Mr. Mann, and upon the further grounds that there was reasonable doubt whe ther or not the defendant had committed any breach of the law, if indeed any law had been bro ken by him, at a place within the See MANN, Page Four CITRUS TREES AT BUXTON SURVIVE COLD WEATHER Buxton on Cape Hatteras, Mar. 2.—Citrus fruit trees in this area | fared no worse during the uncom- | monly rough winter than they did in Florida and in most instances, not as bad, according to a house to-house check of Bath native seedling and nursery-grafted trees, numbering now about 350 trees. Native seedlings stood the 22- degree temperature somewhat better than their somewhat pam pered grafted cousins brought here from Florida late last spring and set out, one to each house in the village. About ten per cent of the imported stock succumbed to unusually low temperatures while not more than two per cent of the native seedlings showed any ill effects from the weather ing they took. Unfavorable wind rather than low temperatures hit both hard est though in a number of instan ces the sap in the trees froze, splitting the bark and killing the tree. Older trees, some among them as old as fifteen years and as much as 15 feet high, took the weather in stride and are now, af ter a few balmy days, stirring their buds toward bloom. Lemons 100% ( Lost Only plants that suffered 100% loss were lemons that a half doz- I en of the more enterprising villag ers had started. None of them came through the freeze. But the oranges, grapefruit and kumquats generally survived with no worse damage than browned leaves. Re ports from Florida indicate that in that region, even though more elaborate gains were taken to pro tect them, the loss was greater. Everybody in the community has one or more trees but a num ber of householders have, by pur chase and by seed-planting, ex panded their prospects to as many as twenty to thirty trees. FIVE DARE MEN REPORT FOR INDUCTION NEXT WEDNESDAY; FOUR GET PHYSICALS FRIDAY Two Men from Frisco, Three from Manteo Enter Service Next Week. One 18-Year-Old Registers During Month. HATTERAS BUILDER IS 82 YEARS OLD IIS? ELLSWORTH E. BURRUS of Hatteras was pleasantly surpris ed by a group of friends who gave him a birthday party Friday night, February 23. He was 82 years old. Games were played and refresh ments served consisting of a beautiful birthday cake, jello, cream pie and coffee. Those present were Mr. and i Mrs. David Ballance, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gaskill, Mr. F. B. McCar- ■ thy, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Peele and Mr. and Mrs. Murray Styron. Mr. Burrus was born at Hatter as and has lived here nearly all of his life. He has played an im portant part in the growth of this community. Among his many ac complishments are included the first hotel, first pavillion, first au tomobile, first bicytfle and others. He has one son Corlette W. Bur rus of Norfolk. He brought to Hatteras the first bicycle and later the first auto mobile. _ STATE TO LET ROAD TO OREGON INLET Highway Commission Abandons Hatteras Island People For Time Being Rodanthe, N. C. —Hatteras Is land’s new strip of paved road, though not officially completed, has done a good job this winter of easing the task of traveling down the Outer Banks. The 17-mile stretch, which leads from the southern boundary of the Pea Island National Wild life Refuge, joins the 17-mile road between Avon and Hatteras which was built in 1947. It is a wonder ful help to the people, but the go ing is still bad between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe. Work on the new road was be gun last fall, and by the time cold weather arrived, the con tractor had it in shape for use, although it was not yet up to State Highway Commission stan dards, and needs a top surface. This spring the contractor will return—probably in mid-March— and resume the job of chopping up, turning, and packing the black top to insure proper drying. While the work is going on, travel will be rough, but the road will be passable. The Highway Commission has tentatively set March for the op ening of bids for work on a paved road from Whalebone south to Oregon Inlet, which would put an- See STATE, Page Four JOHN MOORE’S HEALTH MAY CAUSE RETIREMENT Johnny Moore of Colington, last surviving witness of the Wright Brothers first flight in an airplane at Kill Devil Hill on December 17, 1903, has been ailing through out the winter and he may never guide another fishing party, ac cording to his wife, Miss Chloe, who has been nursing her ailing husband. Since the fresh water bass season closed last year, Moore has been confined to his bed much of the'time. He spent several weeks in an Elizabeth City hospital. Because of the pub licity he received as the last living witness of the first flight, Moore’s services as a guide were always in demand by visiting anglers coming to cast in the fresh ponds of these islands. The anglers like Johnny Moore, not only because he is loquacious, and an interest ing character, but also because he is a good fishing guide. Single Copy 7« Dare county will provide five men for induction into the service on next Wednesday, March 7, and on this Friday, March 2, will send four others to Raleigh for pre-in duction physical examinations, ac cording to word from the office of Robert Ballance, Dare Selective Service Board Chairman. Inductees The men who will leave Manteo by bus for the induction station next Wednesday to begin their service careers are: Bertie B. Bar nette, 22, Frisco; Murray L. Far row, 23, Frisco; Major Scarbor ough Spencer, 20, Manteo (C); Percy Leon Daniels, 20, Manteo (C); and William B. Blackmond, 20, Manteo (C). Dare countians who will catch the six a.m. bus to Raleigh on Friday morning for pre-induction physicals are: Earl Cunningham Whidbee, 19, Salvo; Leroy Bow ser, 25, Manteo (C); and Theo dore R. Meekins, 21, Manteo (C). On other man, Alfrod Smith Pugh, 21, formerly of Salvo, will report at Raleigh from Reedsville the same day. New Registrant The Board recorded the regis tration of one 18-year-old during February. Cecil Lee King of Duck, student at Kitty Hawk high school and son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas James King, registered for the first time. DRIVE CHAIRMAN URGES SUPPORT OF RED CROSS Wallace McCown, Campaign Director, Names Local Directors for 1951 Drive The 1951 Red Cross campaign opened a drive for 85 million dol lars March 1. These funds are ur gently needed to carry out the program of the Red Cross: assist ing in disaster, obtaining blood for use in Korea, cooperating with Civil in preparation for emergencies on the home front; helping our men and women in uniform keep in touch with fami lies and friends. Each community in our county has volunteer workers helping in this campaign, in an effort to raise the quota for our county, ap proximately $600.00. Meet these workers with a smile and give ac cording to your ability for this cause which has served us in the past and is ready to serve us in case of emergency. Community Chairmen The community chairman Coun ty Director McCown asked to help in this work are: Mrs. Maurice Meekins, Hatteras; Mrs. Edna Gray, Buxton; Mrs. Mabel Meek ins, Avon; Mrs. Charles Gregory, Rodanthe; Mrs. Emily Smith, East Lake; Mrs. Myrtle Tillett, Wanchese; Mrs. Cary Baum, Nags Head; Mrs. Louis Meekins, Col ington; Mrs. Jesse Baum, Kitty Hawk; Mrs. Cary Whitson, Duck; Mrs. Hattie Mann, Mashoes; Mrs. Guy Mann, Manns Harbor; Mrs. Calvin Payne, Stumpy Point; Mrs. Lonnie Gray, Colored, people of Manteo; Mrs. Louise Meekins, Mrs. Frank Ausband, residential Manteo. These chairmen or their fellow workers will contact you for your membership. Give them your wholehearted support. If you are not contacted personally, send your membership direct to the 1951 Fund Chairman, Wallace H. McCown, Manteo. You, your county, your state, and your country will benefit by your joining in this 1951 drive to support the services of the Red Cross. FOOLISH STUNT A person or persons unknown to the authorities burned two cross es west of the intersection of Highway 345 and the Airport ■Road early last Sunday night. Be cause of the alertness of people in the neighborhood, the stunt failed to set the woods afire. The reason for the cross*burning, if anything reasonable could have prompted it, is as unknown as the identity of the pyrotechnic experimenters. The Manteo Fire Department’s truck was called to the scene, but the grass fire along the road had been put out by persons in the i neighborhood when the truck ar-