The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-01-26

PLAYED DN some OF the ignorant HSner-
men in the vicinity of Nays Head and
Kitty Hawk at the time that the Huron
was lost, and Lieut.. Walton's recent eX-
pose of several of the worst cases, par
ticularly that of Evan O'Neill, who, aft
er discovering the wreck, waited for it
to go to pieces, in hope of plumber, in
stead of warning the life-station crew,
have brought to recollection some of
the old traditions of the place, in which
the fishermen on the coast figure in an
unpleasant light. 1t has long been
said that when wreck came ashore, no
matter whether lives were lost or not,
these men regarded it as public bene-
faction; and that some of the supposed
ly religious ones went about saving that
God was always good to His children,
for another wreck had come ashore. 1t
is not so well known, however, that the
very name of Nag's Head came from
the rascality of these men, and one of
their peculiar methods of bringing YES
sells ashore on their coast. Since the
recent terrible disaster the story has
become common property again, and
many old residents in the neighborhood
remember the old man and the white
horse that are the heroes in the tragic
story
The coast of North Carolina a century
ago, as well as nearly all the southern
coast of the country, and, indeed, much
of the coast of the Northern States, was
wholly without lighthouses or other aids
to the mariner. Even the old-fashioned,
heavy, creaking anterns, swung between
two posts, like gallows on some high
hill, hadnOt then come into use, and after
the sun went down the shore was dark
as the grave. There were then, as there
are now, many men along the shore,
living in the rudest manner imaginable,
subsisting on what they could catch and
shoot, shut off almost entirely from
communication with the outer world.
Fishing was their main dependence, and
in years when they were unsuccessful
life went hard with them, and getting
through the winters, which, on the i'm
mediate seaboard, are almost as long
and cold as in the North, was tough
work. Most of these men lived, as
their successors live now, within a
stones throw of the beach, and some of
them had a few acres of sandy soil
under cultivation, and kept bony
horse. When, as sometimes happened,
several years of bad luck at fishing came
in succession, getting through the Win
ter was matter of life and death with
many of them.
Among the fishermen who farmed
little piece of land back of his cabin
was Thomas Rider. Rider was rather
better off than his neighbors, older than
most of them, and lived alone in his
cherries cabin. He was reputed to be
rich, and he had the reputation of fast
ening his clutches on everything that
came within his reach and givingnothing
up in return. He was mean man, as
his neighbors thought, and he was gen
orally stunned, even by the ignorant
and careless fishermen. The conduct
that is imputed to him in the latter
years of his life shows that he was more
villain than miser. Rider owned an
old gray horse, with which he plowed
his land in the spring and did other
odd jobs about his little farm. After a
succession of seasons of bad luck the
fishermen became desperate and re-
solved to take some measures to coax
an unsuspecting vessel ashore. The
building of bontires on the tops of high
hills, to deceive mariners who were out
of their reckoning, was not unknown
to them. Indeed, it was one of the first
letters in their alphabet. But the trick
was old and not likely to deceive any
wide-awake skipper. Hunger sharp
ened the brains of the sleepy fishermen
and they devised a new piece of villainy.
If light could be taken along the shore,
on dark nights, at about the speed of Il
sailing vessel, they thought other YES
sells within sight would believe it to be
the masthead light of some distant
coasting schooner and reckon them
selves miles from shore, when, in fact,
they were almost on the beach. But
the light must have the up-and-down
motion of ship riding on the waves.
This difficulty was soon overcome. Old
Thomas Rider had a horse, and small
bride of gold, or promise of unnatural
privileges for sacking the first wreck,
would soon make him q party to any
bargain desired. Rider was induced to
take his old gray nag, whose motion
was slow and steady at the best, and
ride him up and down the beach every
night, with a lantern hung about his
neck. To give the light the greater APP
pearance of a ships lantern, one of the
horses fore feet was fastened with u
short rope to one of his hind ones, so
that whenever he stepped the sudden
stoppage of one of his feet brought his
head and and neck down, and gave the
lantern the exact bobbingh motion of
ship on the waves. For whole
winter, it is said, this North Car
Dina vampire walked his horse up and
down the beach, in the hope of enticing
some vessel ashore, to be plundered.
And the rapacity of the men was not
satisfied by merely sacking the vessel.
That "dead men tell no tales" was one
of their favorite sayings, and who could
tell whether the bruise on some ship
wrecked sailors temple was the effect
of a blow from club or of being thrown
violently against some floating spar?
4. Il, IL.