The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1920-12-03

. InO ucA UdrEICdu0Q themselves Delln0
boat upturned on a marsh and aiming
their guns at him defied him to approach
them. He laid his gun aside and made
for them thru the marsh, telling them
they didn't have the CUTS to shoot and
he would clean up the pair of them if
they would stay where they were. The
two men rushed their boat into the wa
ter and got out Of his way. No one
ever called him a coward.
I But at Poplar Branch they say that
Lewark quit drinking several months
ago, Joined church and has been lead
ing quiet, upright life. Men in daily
contact with him say they have not
heard him use an oath in several months
He has a nice home at Poplar Branch.
an attractive wife to whom he has been
married for II years, and three small
children. He has been employed as a
guard by the Pine Island Club for the
past six years and stands in we'll with
his employers. He was at one time in
the q. S. Life Saving Service, has at
other times hunted and fished in Cur
, rituck Sound and is a typical athletic.
, sinewy, fearless product of the coast
country.
Derwood GaIlop
| Derwood Gallop, the young man who
was killed, was "a years old, unmar-
| ried, and lived with his father and mo-
| ther, Mr.. and Mrs. Peter G. Gallon
between Powells Point and Mamie post
Offices in Currituck. He was a sturdy.
steady hard working boy according to
! all reports, c. Fl. Brock. postmaster at
Powells Point says he knew him well
and that he was boy who bore q good
| reputation in the neighborhood. He
! worked on his fathers rented farm in
/ the summer and, like most boys in that
country, hunted and fished at other sea-
sons.
Fuel to an Ancient Flame
/ The most deplorable side of the trag-
! edy, aside from the killing itself, is the
fact that it has added fuel to the flames
| Of resentment against the northern
| sportsmen, in the breasts of the natives
Fonr or five clubs of northern sports
men have acquired practically all of the
| marsh lands In Currituck Sound and
turned them into great game preserves
where they bait the wild ducks and
4 OLuSE 1O"k 1Of WHICH the waters ana
| marshes of Currituck are famous. Their
| hunting on the marshes interferes but
! little with the hunting of the natives,
t the latter doing their shooting from
blinds and batteries IN the water Shoot
| ing duck at a time from the marshes
doesn't appeal to the native; he wants
the open sound where ducks come not
singly but IN RATS and where a keen
| eye and q nimble trigger can bag six
| birds or more q minute as they fly.
The millionaire from Boston who
comes down for q few days or a few
| weeks in the winter couldn't shoot ducks
as the natives do and is content to plod
about the marshes and pick off any old
duck that comes along. The natives
admit that his shooting doesn't interfere
with them in any way. But they believe
that his influence with legislators has
! interfered with them to the extent that
whereas a bag of $50 to 500 ducks a
day was once common, the native is now
permitted to shoot only 25 birds a day
and for. only five days in the week.
A few years ago commercial cunning
brought thousands of dollars to the peo-
pie of Currituck at a season when they
had no other source of revenue. The
markets of Philadelphia, New York and
other cities paid fabulous prices for
Red head and Canvassback ducks and
thousands of ducks and geese were
shipped from Currituck to New York
alone.
Blaming The clubmen
And then legislation began to inter-
fere. Market after market was closed
to them until only the home markets
we're left and the home markets did
not pay fancy prices for fancy birds
And then one day the gunners were in
formed that, by some sort of treaty
with Canada, the Federal Government
had undertaken the conservation of wild
fowl and no more ducks or geese could
be killed for market. Any one person
might kill so many as Is ducks and eight
geese for himself on certain days, but
he must not under penalty of a heavy
fine and Imprisonment kill more or Of
fer any Of his kill for sale.
The natives can not or do not want
to understand what treaty with Can
ada has to do with cutting off their
great sport and source of revenue. They
will only believe that the rich men from
up horth who are satisfied to kill
dozen birds a day and who have invest
ed thousands in club properties for their
sport, are responsible for this legisla
ton. There has never been any love
in the heart of the native for the nor
thrn clubmen or for those employed by
him. Clashes between native hunters
and the guardsmen of the clubs have
been frequent. The club owners have
always insisted that they did not want
violence used to keep the natives off
their property. But while they did not
want violence, they armed their guards
with Winchester rifles carrying sixteen
deadly bullets at a time. Guards have !
been shot at and guards have threaten
ed to shoot native hunters, but [this is
the first time a guard has been accused
of shooting to kill and killing. And that
is the portentous thing about this late
tragedy in CuErituck. Will it increase
the hostility of the natives to degree
dangerous to the clubmen and their pro-