The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-02-23

the readers of The Messenger my
strange story. n of the "romances of
history"
Robson county, one of the largest
in this state, lies along the boundary
line of South Carolina, containing
within its borders vast swamps and
cypress ponds. In the gloomiest and
most impenetraole section Of its ter
ritory. in a low, swampy district about
five miles square lives a emnan (for
it is but a remnant now Of one Of the
strangest peoples that ever challenged
the investigation of the ethnologist-
Robson Croatans."
About 81 o. SO years ago, driven by
some deep-seated cause of enmity to
the whites, these people seemed to
obey the call of the wild" and to
throw off all the restraints of Law and
order. A band, led by their chief
Henry Berry Lowery, one of the ablest
End most influential Of the Croatans,
Eerrorized Robson county. robbing,
burning, and Staying, their crimes be-
ing generally characterized by I'M
paralleled audacity, as they boldly IN
Vaded the county seat and other towns.
The history of that scourge of a COM
munity. lasting through years, has al
ready been given to h world. But
some good came opt Of w these hor-
rors, for they drew the attention Of
Thoughtful men to that remarkable
race. and directed thefr efforts to the
solution Of its origin and history.
Professor S B. Weeks, one of the
| most finished scholars in the country;
Professor Reed Smith, a painstak-
ing, erud!te writer III the Columbia
! State, and Professor Hamilton McMil-
Ian, of Red Springs, n. c., possessed
of a great fund of information, and
endowed with varied scholarly attain
ments, hare all written voluminously
on the subject Of the Robson county
Croatans, and they all incline strong
" to the theory thai the are indenti-
cal with the Roanoke Island Croatans.
, They are reinforced in their views By
[ Veryhigh authority, the historian Ban
crOft-no1 AS to the Robson county
C~roa1ass, of whom ne had never heard.
but as to the English colony Of Gov
: ernor White on Roanoke Island amal-
, gamatIfg with q friendly tribe of In
dams. Bancroft says:
More than another year elapsed be-
fore White could return to search for
his los1 colony and his daughter, and
hen the Island of Roanoke was a de-
, sert. An inscription on the bark Of a
tree pDinted to Croatan; but the sea-
son Of the year and the danger from
storms were pleaded as an excuse for
an Immediate return. Had the emf
grants already persisted, or had they
escaped with their live to Croatan,
and, through the friendship Of Manteo,
DecO1IS dIllllIdI Will IN Oldl l.
conjecture has been hazarded that the
deserted colony, neglected by their
cOuRJrymen, were Hospitality adOpted
into the tribe of Hatteras Indians, and
became amalgamated with the sons of
the forest. This was the tradition of
the nativeS at a later day. and it was
thought'to be confirmed by the physi-
cal character of the tribe, in which the
English and the Indian races seem to
have been blended. Raleigh long cher
ished the hope of discovering some
vesJiges Of their existence; and, though
he had abandoned the hope of coloniZ-
Jig Virginia. he yet sent at his own
charge, it is said, and at five several
times, to search for his liegemen. But
it was all in vain, imagination received
no help in it's attempts to race the
fate of the colony of Roanoke"
In one of the North Carolina Day
Exercises periodically prepared and
published by the scholarly Professor
Common, is a s-etch, Virginia Dare
in which occurs the following para
graphs:
B the Indians Eleanor Dare, the
to them is said to have been called, in
their ffgurative and descriptive way,
The White Doe and ner baby, the lit
tie Virginia, the first white infant they
had ever seen. The White Fawn';
and there is a pretty tradition
| Cndl d1lOf lie uSdtn noT spirit DIS.
suTned that form-an elfn fawn-
which. clad in immortal beauty, would
at times be seen haunting like a tender
memory the place of her birth, or gaZ-
ing Wistfulfy over the sea, as with pa
thetic %yearning for the far-away moth
er land"
y y = y
1.-The c~ofonists had evidently gone
to Croatan. as we now have the name,
~ w rin ~
chief: but none of them was ever seen
of white men again. They died and
made no Sign though It is probable
that their descendants may still be
found among the Croatan, or, more
probably, Hatteras, Indians of Robe
son county,"
William S~trachey, in his History of
Travalle," says:
A Ritano the weroance of cyan
oca preserved sever of the English
alive-fower ,naen, two boys, and one
' young maybe. who escaped the massa-
ere, and fed up-the river Chanoke."
The "virginia Dare sketch contin-
. ues: Both John Smith and Stranchey
: make mention OF scattered parties of
| these colonistS several times, and the
Virginia Company writes of some OF
them as yet alive, within fifty miles of
| our fort, az is testified by two of u
colony sent out to search them.
who found crosses and
| assured Testimonies of Christians new
ly cut in the barks of trees"
Professor S. B. Weeks, in his sum-
ming UP Of a carefully consideref ar
ticle, 1.-The Croatans: Whence and
Where" declares ii most probable.
| he does not say certain, that the Rob-
| eson county Croatans are the Hatteras
| Indians, amalgamateL with the lost
| Virginia colony; Professor Reed Smith
| boldly follows his read; Professor
| Hamilton Mcmillan takes the same
| view: Colonel Fred A. Olds, of RAJ
leigh. the valued historical writer.
| uses his pen to the same effect.
Now let us weigh briefly and i'm
| partially the reasons for the faith that
| is in these writers. The very last trace
| Of this Roanoke English colony finds