North Carolina Newspapers

THE HYDE COUNTY HERALD ^NEWS of the richest AGRICULTURAI. county in the foremost historical and recreational area of north CAROLINA No. 3 SWAN QUARTER, N. C., SEPTEMBER 14, 1939 Single Cojjy 5c ihaven, THOUGHT DOWN ID OUT BEFORE, ALWAYS ITS DEVELOPMENT ISUMES MANTEO WATERFRONT FIRE AT ITS HEIGHT ifJ^esting Town on the Pungo River Has Knocked Down Many Times; Always lU^^rs Up and Goes Again With Greater r^^dway by Sheer Grit and Ability of Pio- r^ering Citizenry B h: S' CHARLES BOND the beautiful town of .Population on the Pungo 1 ^ comparatively new town NO CHANCE OF CCC MEN BEING INDUCTED IN WAR had a remarkable growth ' 4. and J. E. Wilkinson Director Fechner Says CCC En- rollees on Same Basis as Others of Same Age -th ^ ir* 1898 at what > .fo known as Belport. For a befc oetore the Wilkinson ^*'5 left the Branning Manu- le Edenton and went ftjij ®®ltlenient with the idea of j || ® a town, the settlement It known as Jack’s Neck. iev^ Principally with the idea '^P'ng a town that John A. erected a mill at the 111/ ®®ttlement. It was true It interested in the Nor- In answer to the many questions concerning the chances of CCC en- rollees being among the first to be called in event the United States becomes involved in the European war, Mrs. Elizabeth G. Lawrence, Hyde County welfare superintend-' ent, cites an article by CCC Direct or Robert Fechner which appeared September 2, 1939, in Happy Days. The article pointed out that “there are no official plans afoot to inject military training into the MANTEO WATERFRONT FIRE LEAVES 21 BUILDINGS IN ASHES IN THREE HOURS THIS remarkable air view of Manteo’s waterfront fire we.s taken by Ben Dixon MacNeill as Dave Driskill piloted his plane Monday morning over the smoke-fi'.led town. The Raleigh News and Observer very kindly lent the cut to the Hyde County Herald and to the Dare County Times. The courthouse, largest building showing in the right of the picture, was saved by the Elizabeth City fire department. Railway which own- *’''1111 maintained a ^ Wr\ f’ w.ho had sold event the United States IS drawn into the war now SIX FACE ASSAULT CHARGES AS RESULT OF CAFE MELEE '-o the railroad company, prospects of a fine town ®Pd it was to create the town I ® started a mill there. The 'cd at his courage and the future he saw for a year after May, 1898, Jstj ,^ae Wilkinson Brothers lijl r their mill in the settlement ^ at that time 78 people 'ts indefinite bounds, the f incorporated and boasted Iac„, was ,an interim when^the also called Matta'pungo, >{ J) a coined word in honor iiij j nallock’s daughter Mattie, 'ffitj, a for the Pungo river. The lai)). kalked at such a long f ® post office and so the Seij) °poe continued to be called even for a long while after ^ei}.had become known as Finally the post office fermenting in Europe, can CCC en- rollees be inducted into the nation’s fighting forces, except as individ ual citizens on the same footing as would apply to those outside the CCC The CCC is not a part of the armed forces of the country. While I am sure that if they are needed to defend the na tion or uphold its rights, CCC men would be among the first to re spond to a call for such duty, en- rollees cannot, under existing law, be inducted into these FAIR ASSOCIATION PLANS FOR HYDE FAIR Meeting at Swan Quarter M’ednes- day; Committees fco Begin Work at Once changed also to Bel 'en. .''•'11 r-r re a Serious Blow •‘5 (, rime the Wilkinson Broth- Wected their mill, which form- Ji’^rieus for the town, there ''®ady the Norfolk Southern Icf a hotel and several oys- lioo^“^"®es. The .ma.jority of the tfjj" population added during the year after the mill was start- The Hyde County Fair Associa tion was to have set the commit tees working at a meeting in the agricultural building at Swan Quar ter Wednesday night in preparation for the secona annual Hyde County armed' fair fo be held at Fairfield the last forces. They would enlist or be drafted into national defense ser vice just as any others of their age not in the CCC.” Ketchup Smeared Over Ceil ing in Bottle-Throwing Brawl at Engelhard A general melee at Engelhard Saturday night, resulting in as sault charges against six white men, including two proprietors of the Engelhard cafe, was aired in recorder’s court in Swan Quarter Monday. The gist of the testimony was that Ben and Gerald Midyette or- of October or the first of Novem- dered Claude Spencer to leave their I cafe after the latter had been dis- A classification of exhibits and j orderly. Spencer, it was alleged. also the prizes had already been''''^s slow in leaving and Gerald worked up by County Agent A. J. Midyette pushed him out the door Harrell and was expected to be ac- wjtb a broom. John Norfleet cepted by the association Wednes- Gibbs then was alleged to have ta- d'>y night I*'®" fbe broom from Midyette and In charge of agricultural ex-j struck .him with it. Ketchup and m ATTA P A VMF'IVTS hib'ts for the various' school dis- PoP bottles were thrown vvith three AAU UjiV 1 iTlEjiA XC5 , . , , T (Window panes being broken and COUNTY CITIZENS RECEIVE $958.50 colored, being workers who ^^jjgg_ Hyde County received a total of $958.50 of combined county, state and federal funds in August for distribution to 149 recipients under the North Carolina public assist ance program. Miss Nelle Johnston field representative for the State Board of Charities and Public Wel fare, has been advised by Nathan H. Yelton, director of public assist- school dis _ tricts are Fred Langford, Engel- |Window panes being hard, A. J. Harrell, Swan Quarter, jthe ketchup being smeared on the Preston Swindell, Fairfield, and ceiling from the front to the back Frank Fortescue, Sladesville. cafe where the tiouble oc- H. C. Jones of Fairfield is presi- curred, about 11:30 Saturday dent of the fair association; J. M.juight. Worrell of Swan Quarter, vice | Lee Thomas Swindell received a president; and Mrs. Robert Edward j cut under his eye and a couple Tunnell of Swan Quarter, secretary, of knots on hfs head when he was hit wdth a pop bottle by Ben Mid- 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 SUCCESSOR TO GALLOP NOT NAMED BY C. OF C. Those Considered and Proffered Presidency Decline to Accept For Lack of Time No definite decision was reached in regard to a successor to P. G. Gallop as president by the hoard of directors of the Hyde County Chamber of Commerce in the scheduled meeting at Fairfield Mon day night nor at the conference la ter in Swan Quarter. Mr. Gallop was prevailed upon by several members to reconsider his resignation and to continue to serve but he stood stedfast and flatly refused to reconsider on the grounds that he did not have suf ficient time to devote to the or ganization and thought it would be better for the organization to have at its head someone with more time to devote to the interests of the or ganization. Consideration was given one or two other men of the county, in cluding P. D. Midyette of Engel hard, but they likewise declined to accept for the reason that they did not .have the time to devote that Sometime during the first half of September, I have visited New ■ would be required without sacrific- York regularly for the past five|ing their other duties. years, and sometimes in betw'een.' It is now a fixed habit, and this I NO ONE WILL PREDICT week finds me here. | WAR’S EFFECT ON COTTON When I first came to New York] and got filled up with its dazzling I “W.hat effect do you think the sig;ns, its awesome .high buildings, | European wmr will have on the and its breath taking speed of price the farmers in Hyde County travel, yet slowness of getting I may expect for their cotton this around to places, and after having I year ?” was the question the in- been stepped on and traffic jam-1 quiring reporter put to several per COLLEGE STUDENTS TO LEAVE IN A FEW DAYS all sections to Hat ^ mill. The commissary *ion Wilkinson ran in connec- his mill and the general 0Da|I|"®’'iise store that he soon the he OhIv'T 'yere for a long time tef. "rinesses other than the_ho; '' oyster houses that ha3 been (Pi, ease turn to Page 31 To 100 needy aged in the county! Among students from went a total of $713 giving them Quarter who will leave in an average grant for the month of $713, while 47 dependent children received average grants of $451 to make a total expenditure for that purpose of $212. Yelton’s communication to Miss Johnston showed there were two yette who testified “Lee Thomas Swindell, John Norfleet Gibbs and Claude Spencer were all three on top of my brother (Gerald) and I .hit Swindell with a bottle trying to get them off.” Midyette said he hit Swindell on the head and that the cut under the eye resulted when he fell on a stool. Beman Midyette admitted that he was guilty of being drunk but that he did not get into the fracas until Swindell was hit and then med, and jostled about for a few sons in the county this week, but days, I was ready to depart, with ■ the answers were all vague be- the inward thought that I didn’t | cause no one dared climb out on IN THE blic eye ^ br **f sketch each week con- tning some official or ''ominent citizen of Hyde v-ounty. Week: W. J. LUPTON and Tax Supervisor. Ofigj' ^'Piost seven years since his •^33 a appointment January 3, "ounty accountant and tax Ves Hyde County, Walter closj . ri>ipton has been keeping a "P the fiscal affairs of the c '•'hpt his official duties ■ ^ been Sw.an a few days for college are the following: Meredith Tunnell and Mary Louise Swindell to W. C. U. N. C. at Greensboro; Helen Credle to Chowan at Murfreesboro; Virginia Spencer and Katrina Baum to E. C. T. C. at Greenville; J. D. Mann widows'of‘Conf^erate veterans in to the University of North Caro- the county drawing old age assist- Ima at Chapel HilL and House, separate the ance payments under the legisla- Lupton, Jr. to Presbyterian Junior I try tive act transferring them if eligi- College at Maxton. ble to the public assistance rolls. | . Allen Midyette Seth Blount Har- The widows received a total pay- ns and Horace Guthrie, State Col- ment of $3350, or an average of ege, Raleigh. Y5 Marguerite Overton will state-wide average payments to .nter Nurse’s training at Fowle needy old people was $9.58, to de- Memorial hospital in Washington, pendent children $6.91, and to pen- | sioners $25.31. A total of 55,283 ^ persons over the state received j _ ~ $463,118.82 in August while for the! Encouraging is the news coming fiscal year through August state out of Raleigh that there is hope totals were: old age assistance, for the early completion FAIRFIELD ROAD isfo .“.performed capably and (act is attested tai of the r63Tl40"r6" air“todTppndent ’chil- Fairfield road, connecting Hyde and dren, $249,194.54 Confederate wid- Tyrrell county seats. We know ows on the public assistance rolls, the value of this road, and we have S33 22126 never doubted it would be built. Total payments in adjoining We need ,faith and^ courage counties were as follows: by the -ai „ .six times since his origi- ^®°'P(Pient has his one year six ti^^ Appointment expired and kvg bhe county commissioners him the nod for reap- ktio^°f®®(Ally 'Dick, and he doesn’t taing '■■•'At became his nick \ef,, ® become the courthouse I'epji And is often called upon to siplj; A typewriter or to fix the health department and little* '"ber gadgets that some- sorts. bas ^ At Sladesville Mr. Lupton Co(i^?®nt all of his life in Hyde . kt havmg lived at Swan Quar- Be siiV^’^AAter part of that time. Of koMr ^ '■be University tbe b Carolina but did not take bod iw ^'^Amihation. He was mar- Katet 7, 1936 to Miss Mar- jj' ,">sher. apiV® A Methodist, a Democrat Odd 5* ri) the Masonic and Sfapri ,'Y lodges, being a past the Odd Fellows. Old Chil- Age dren Dare ..$1,238 $278 Currituck 782 369 Tyrrell ... 585 298 Pension ers $50 100 but most of all, labor and persist ence, and the mountains will be moved. D. L. Berry and P. D. Midyette spent Tuesday in Manteo. parties. Judgment of the court was that Claude Spencer and Lee Thomas Swindell be given 30 days on the roads, suspended upon payment of $10 fine each and costs, and remain of good behavior for 12 months. John Norfleet Gibbs was found not guilty. Beaman Midyette was assessed $5 and costs on his own admission of guilt of .having been drinking, with prayer for judgment con tinued on condition that defendant remain of good behavior for 12 months. Ben and Gerald Midyette, were fined $10 and costs each for using excessive force in trying to keep order, and to remain of good be havior for 12 months. Other eases disposed of were: John Spencer, colored, and Lu ther Sawyer, white, assault with a deadly weapon and also as to Sawyer, selling liquor. Spencer was found not guilty, with Sawyer being given a six months road sen tence, suspended upon payment of $50 fine and court costs and re maining c care if I never came back. But business brought me back the next year, and after my stay- three days, I departed with the thought that I might come back sometime. A third trip had me thinking I would like to see more of the old town, and now I am find ing new and interesting things all the time. After being married and finding myself travelling to my wife’s home some 400 miles to Western North Carolina occasionally, I learned that it is about the same distance to New York via Cape Charles, so the big city doesn’t seem so far away from Manteo. I have often thought I might set down some of my impressions of the city. But it is so hard to marshal them in my thoughts. I rode last year on subways far be low the ground, to read a sign placarded by one company: “We carried 107 million passengers in the limb. A. J. Harrell, county agent: “It’s hard to tell. I listened to Secretary Wallace’s broadcast the other night and according to him, there is a big surplus of cotton now which the By BEN DIXON MacNEILL Fire that raged for exactly 180 minutes Monday morning, begin ning in the M. L. Daniels gasoline storage warehouse on the water front at 6:40 and ending definitely when a growing tongue of flanie 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 w-ere 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- 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 mysteries. All that any can say with certainty is that when Judge W. F. Baum reached the Daniels wharf a few minutes past 5:30 there was fire in the warehouse. It d been observed already by Leon and- Warren O’Neal as they set out for a day’s fishing, but Judge Baum was the first to reach it. Following a natural impulse. government either has bought or | Judge Baum tried, ineffectively to made loans on, and that being true, ^ put out the fire himself, and for a the chances are thfe war will either few minutes he worked at it. See- cause prices paid farmers this year; ing that it was too much for him to go down again or perhaps will Judge Baum hurried to give the - give alarm. Only one other man was on the streets at the time, and Punk Tillett ran to the alarm box prices and started the siren screaming. Manteo waked sleepily, wondering have little effect.” O. L. Williams, attorney: “Pre cedent doesn’t seem to be holding and no one can tell what will do.” ^ R. B. Burrus, cotton buyer:'where the fire was. “You can’t tell what the prices j Before the siren was well going, will be but I’ll guarantee that when | the town was rocked from its sleep cotton does start selling it by the first of a series of explo- will bring as high or higher price sions that lasted fj>r morg than an in Hyde County than anywhere hour. Hardly had Judge Baum else.” I reached his own premises 50 yards L. Y. Yaekel, Belhaven whole- from the start of the fire when an saler: “It’s hard to tell what will exploding gasoline drum sent happen. It’s just like with our flames hurtling after him and by 1933, and 324 million passengers in business. Right now we can only 6 o’clock Judge Baum was ,home- 1937.” Think of all those tons of nickels. In .a day I have wandered through the fishing stalls of Fulton Market, lunched in the stock ex change on Wall Street, watched the apparent bedlam there among the traders, visited at a Fifth Avenue Apartment Hotel, where people pay $4,000 a year for a single apart ment, and ascended 1,200 feet to the top of The Empire State build ing. I have leaned backward to ob serve the tall buildings, witnessed the amazing millions of lights in the cliff like houses along Riverside drive at night; marvelled at the George Washington Bridge flung ■scross the river in a single span get sugar because we have been a : less, and the fire was reaching for regular customer, and then we have the Texaco plant and the Wist ice to wait for price quotations from plant. the factory.” | Awake and aroused now, the -— — .town hastily took stock of the SWAN QUARTER PTA 'situation. It was the town’s morn- TO MEET MONDAY iing to burn. That much was obvi- |ous. Doom was written large All parents and patrons of the across the whole water front. Swan Quarter school are urged by where the town began in wood two' Principal P. B. Britton to attend the first meeting of the Parent- Teacher association at the school auditorium Monday night, Septem ber 18. at 8 o’clock. generations ago. Urgent messages were sent to Elizabeth City and to Norfolk for help from their fire departments, but at best it would take an hour and a half to get ■ them here. And in the mean time, _ I the town seemed doomed. Evacuation was the only hope , ■; ^ ^ I of saving anything, and evacuation Clifton McKinney’s store at En- -was begun. Prom the stores mer- McKINNEY’S STORE WAS BROKEN INTO SUNDAY f good behavior for 12 months. Notice of appeal was given in open court through coun- Cardinal Hayes'; nearly a mile long and costing over ^ ^ 60 million dollars. gelhard was broken into^ Sunday gj^andise was piled indiscriminate A year ago. War was the talk night, entry apparently being made i ly jjj treets, and from resi- ,everywhere. The papers were full (through a small rear window. Mr-ldences household goods were piled of it. Hitler was in the headlines, '■"== "-a® small and he kacja., t„j-_ _ He was about to take Czecho slovakia. Well, he did it. Now it is war again, this time real war. A year ago, a vast crowd had gathered to do final honors to a man had slain sel, John Wilkerson of Washington, mother; Dixie Davis gang- McKinney’s loss was small and he' beside them. Into this scene came was unable to find any clues re- a half score CCC trucks manned by vealing the identity of the burglar jbe entire personnel of the Vir- or burglars. ODD FELLOWS TO HAVE SPOON NIGHT and appeal bond set at $250. Morgan Moore, Jr., colored, was given a 60 day sentence suspended upon payment of $42.50 doctor’s bill and one half court costs when •he submitted to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Willie Gray Hardy, colored, gave notice of appeal from judgment WALTER JONES LUPTON, featured in this week’s “In the Public ^e pay $5 a month for the Eye” column, is the man on the right in the above picture. He is shown I support of a bastard child until the with W. I. Cochran and S. 0. Jones in front of the Hyde County Court Lhild is of school age. Appeal bond •was fixed at $250. ster lawyer had been found in hiding in Philadelphia; the beau-' tiful Mrs. Ghiang Kai Shek was shown feeding homeless and help less Chinese babes, orphaned by the Japs. Attention now turns to “at- trocities” in other countries. Peo ple don’t want to talk business be cause the war is uppermost in one’s mind. War talk everywhere a year ago. House. The Odd Fellows will hold a “spoon night” in Swan Quarter Tuesday, it has been announced by P. B. Britton, noble grand. All members are urged to be present for the festive occasion. (Please turn to Page 4) ginla Dare camp, and with them the crews from Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills Coast Guard sta tions, and trucks and men from Camp Wright of the National Park Service. Supt. Harry White, Jim Vannote and Lieutenant Eldridge directed the work of the CCC boys where mostly in pajamas, fought what the ton and Dave Driskill worked at the head of the Park Service forces. Paul Midgett fell into lead with the Coast Guardsmen, and the local fire department, uniformed NAMED DIRECTOR Mrs. Louella Swindell, postmist ress at Swan Quarter, was elected a director of the first congressional pajamas, fought ,„hat the district postmaters association at a meeting in Edenton last week. Please turn to Page 4)