The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-04-28
WHAT 4 FIRE BROUGHT TO LIGHT
mysterious Disappearance of Sampson
County Man.
History of the Old Wagon Yard i'm
Observation-Disclosures of tlfe Past
Compared With Oratory of tin.
Present-Jolfn Paul Jones. tho
Great Naval Commander.

Great Naval Commander.
For The Messenger
There stood i'm "Old Fayetteville for |
a long time, doubtless % or 70 years |
on upper Hay street. not far from what
is now the lower crossing of the at
lantic Coast Line railroad, a remark
able tuilding-renarkable for the ugli- |
ness of its architecture, for its immense
size, and for the varied uses to which
it was put. | ave heard how many
thousand shingles it took to cover The
high hip-roof of this huge barn-iike
structure, but | am afraid to say, tor
my reputation for immaculate veracity|
is not to be triied with.
1t was called the Wagon Yart
building, or Wagon Yard" for short,
because, connected with it and part oil
b property, was an extensive yard or
enclosed camp at the back, for the con.
venlence of the canvas-topped wagons
hauling produce from the up-country,
and carrying back merchandise. The
centre of the Wagon Yard was pierre
ed by Il covered gateway or corridor.
running from front to rear surmount-
ed by a vast female bust or figure head,
as hideous as the dead MeduSa, as
monstrous as the old admiral's figure
head, thrown aside from some British
man of war, which Daniel Quilp, in
Dickens "Old Curiosity Shop" bought
from a junk dealer because he thought
it looked like Kib Nibbles.
In my earliest recollections the .asr
end of the Wagon Yard was occu-
pied as the post Office, entered by 4
little porch, where the United States
mail was dealt cut successfully by the
late venerable John MacRae, father OF
e~x-Justice J. c. MacRae, dean OF the
University law school, and by the late
Josiah Bryan, father of Mrs. Josephine
Worth, living on Haymount. n
OUNCE readerS Of The Messenger will
wonder why the I~CstOffice was situated
as they now see It, far away from tn"
business center OF the town; but at
that time it was midway between two
business centers. Upper Hay street
was an important wholesale district,
from the foot of Haymount to the
present store OF Mr.. E. l.. Clark, in
Guiding Brick Row." given over now
wholly to negro tenants, soft drink
dealers, fruit and vegetable hucksters.
, There George McNeill, Hall & Johnson,
! Cook and Taylor, Beverly Rose, H. L.
Myrover, T. S. Lutterloh, Stedman &
Horn, and others carried on a large
trade with western North Carolina
and the trans-mOntane country; and
! in that part of thu town was a flourish
ing hotel, The Planters, where now
stands the Dobbin House, the proper
ty Of DR.. H. w. Lilly.
Other tenements in the wagon Yard
were occupied in their turn by grocers,
dry goods dealers, confectioners, sa-
loon keepers, etc. The late jacob Ut"
terbourg, a prominent Jew, successful
ly conducted a general merchandise
business there for years, which was
continued by his widow long after :he
civil war.
y 1t has not been very many yeas
since Fayetteville saw the last of the
old Wagon Yard in n of the uost
I spectacular fires of all its long history
1t was early in the night, the streets
!, we're full of people, and. much alarm
was felt when the fire was located
The immense pile Of boards and TIM
=, Der at first burned slowly; but final
[ ly in some way it caught inside nea!
: the ground, ana in five minutes /
= was a furnace of intolerable heat, and
as the draught increased, it became
veritable volcano sending forth tongue;
of red fame to q great height, W1,i
ashes, cinders and burning shingles
< The cinders fell On farms across tn
e Cape Fear river two miles away, an
: fairly showered on Rowan street IN
distant part of the city.
5 When this dangerous fire, which Il
the beginning, it was feared, woni'
mean a confagratlon of all that per
D of town. had spent itself on the "Wag
), on Yard alone, the whole communl,
: gave a sigh of relief, as at the remova
- of an ugly excresence in the publ
eve. Shortly afterwards workmen Ell
gagged in clearing away the RUNS
came. it was said, upon a heap Q
bones, which were pronounced TO o
g those of a human being. | am free
5, saw that I never heard this story con
/. firmed. and that / have heard it eve
laughed at-but thereby hangs a Ia
anyhow.
It Just before and during the Civil wa
y the Wager Yard was at its wors
h do not mean architecturally, for
d was always at it's worst in that respec
but morally, in character. 1t had falle
o into disrepute, n become the reIue
mostly of people of shady'if not reaiI
criminal character, though there wei
one or two respectable tenants, Wn'
for some reason Or other, could q
e get away. About the latter part OF is'
'e or the early part of 1860 there was d
IS especially evil resort in the teneme'
{ adjoining the covered gateway wnie
le / have mentioned-the rendezvous
: topers, Migrants and the lowest
a gamblers-very much such a house
u entertainment as the Valiant ~
der" in Dickens "Old Curiosity d
ID where Grandfather Trent and hft
n Nell took shelter during a tnund
he storm. where Joe Jowl and Isaac II:
were playing cards, and where 0
l. - - E. ra-,hlsn0 hpnEa -