The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-01-19

'-WnlSCllng FRANK GlDDS, QeclQ-
ed that Dick needed cure.
Walks Home From Own Funeral
They agreed to leave him and
go on alone. Dick had Frustrated
himself upon the ground and babe
them goodbye. But Frank would
not leave until he had prepared a
comfortable resting place for
Dick, and erected head and foot
piece where he lay, after the fash
ion of committing one to his fin
al resting place, and sang "God
Be With Until We Meet Again"
in such a manner as to bring Dick
down with convulsive sobbing at
his own funeral. They left him
weeping aloud. But in a very short
while they heard him trudging up
from the rear. Before they arriv-
ed at their homes Dick threatened
to lay hands on the man who men,
toned his reaction to the mock fu-
neral.
During his latter years Dick
Brinn was said to be the most ex-
pert woodsman in the area. That
he knew the Little Dismal was
never doubted. But he earned his
knowledge thereof in a manner
more often unpleasant than other
wise. In fact his name is associat-
ed even today with one of the
worst blizzards< ever known to
have visited this section of the
land because he was lost in the
swamp between the Alligator Riv-
err and his home in 'Poppin. Old
folks, in speaking of that partic-
ularly rough weather as a means
of comparing a modren cold spell,
seldom refer to the year, which
was 1879, but say instead, "This
reminds me of the time Dick
Brinn was lost" But Dick was not
actually lost; he was victimized
by circumstances over which he
had no control and which could
not be foreseen.
1t happened when he was eigh-
teen years old and away from
home for the first time on his
own. He was the youngest broth
err and was usually sforced to re-
main at home where he worked in
the fields for thirty cents a day.
His brother, Ira, and several 9TH
ers had found jobs over at Whip
ping Creek making shingles for
Beard & Roper Lumber Company.
There it was possible to earn as
much as a dollar a day, since that
company paid two dollars per
thousand shingles. That was big
money before the turn of the cen
fury, and young Dick was anxious
to get in on it. He persuaded his
parents to let him go. That was
during August in 1878.
Once the young men were in
the vicinity of Whipping Creek
they split up into pairs. A fellow
by name of Jim Turner from Tyr
rell County and Dick were pair
ed off and sent four miles down
the river. They had a board camp
eight feet square with an open
front, the kitchen being just out
of the front on the ground. But
Dick said that was fun for they
were just boys. They got along
well, and when Christmas drew
near he invited Jim to go to his
home in 'Poppin for the holidays.
Jim accepted and returned tc his
own home in Tyrrell County to
prepare himself for the visit. Dick
remained at the camp where Jim
promised to return with a boat
and pick him up not later than
the twenty-second of December.
On the eighteenth of December,
Dick left his work and went to
the company commissary where
he bought himself some clothes
and a new dress for his mother.
That dress would be the first
thing he had ever been able to buy
for his mother, and he was proud
of it and knew it would cause her
to have a happy Christmas. He
had it wrapped attractively for
the occasion and returned to his
camp to await the arrival of Jim
Turner.
Stranded on Christmas Eve
The twentieth, twenty-second
and twenty-fourth arrived, but
Jim Turner did not. 1t was Christ
mas Eve and the first time Dick
had been away from home at
Christmas time. Everyone had
gone home and left him back
there in the swamp alone. He was
homesick and mad. He would have
done something bad to Jim Tur-
ner if he could have laid hands
on him, unless he had a good ex-
cuse.
On Christmas morning he de-
cided that he would go home alone
on the first pretty day. That day
did not arrive until the third of
January. He left his camp early