The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-06-22
CHRONOLOGY OF
DeFEBIO CASE

AOHS III OaFS OOuuCy courts ana
because Mr.. DeFebio has been an
intermittent resident of the Dare
County Jail since December last
year, enough fanciful things have
been said and believed about the
case, about DeFebio and his wife
and the three children, to make a
i summary of the events of the case
as they have been recorded in the
Coastland Times worthwhile. May
be they'll clear the air little.
| January, 1850: the DeFebios
moved from their home in Wash
ington, D. c., to the former Paul
CAMEL Hill Coast Guard Station
near Duck.
December 5, 1850: DeFebio SEN
fenced to thirty days in the Dare
County Jail for contempt of court
upon his refusal to answer So
licitor Martin Kellogg's questions,
and to 80 days for violation of the
school laws; he was brought into
court upon the complaint signed by
l. P. Davis, supt. of welfare,
charging him with failure to send
two Sabotage children to the pub
lie schools. Judge w. F. Baum
further ruled that DeFebio should
be brought before a panel of ex-
aminers to determine his mental
competence $50 far as the Times
can discover, no more was ever
heard of this ruling). Mrs. De-
Febio, a taxi driver in Washing
ton, D. c., left her children in the
courtroom at the end of the trial
and returned to Washington; the
children were placed in custody of
the welfare department in a
boarding home in Manteo and en-
tered in the Manteo schools. De-
Febio accepted jail sentence rath-
er than pay the S. fine assessed
by the court.
January 16, 1851: Judge Baum
committed the sentence and De-
Febio was released from jail. He
returned to the family home at
the Coast Guard Station with his
children.
April 10: DeFebio jailed for
failure to send children to school;
also charged with vagrancy and
contributing to the delinquency of
minor children.
April %; DeFebio found near
death in Jail cell after sIashing
throat and wrists with knife some
time during night of April 1928.
Taken to Albemarle General Hos
pital, Elizabeth City.
April %: Theo T. DeFebio be-
gins picketing Dare courthouse;
sleeping in the courthouse CORR
dor; steps up the frequency of her
hotly-worded letters to Dare Of
ficials involved in the case; during
this period the three children were
placed in a home at Wanchese and
entered in Wanchese school.
May A: DeFebio released from
hospital, removed to Perquimans
Jail, Hartford, for more secure
keeping. Begins hunger strike.
May II: DeFebio, weakened by
eight days fasting, returned to
hospital. Trial in recorders court
in Manteo postponed.
May 10: Juvenile Court Judge
C. S. Meekins orders DeFebio chill
dren made wards of the state. Ex-
ecution of order held up. the chill
dren remaining at Wanchese.
May %: Able to stand trial, De-
Febio found by Judge Baum to be
guilty of violating compulsory
school attendance law and also
guilty of vagrancy; sentenced to
80 days on the roads on each
count, he went to Jail rather than
pay fine and accept suspended
sentence (sentence to roads not
Immediately enforced).
May "a: Mrs. DeFebio notified
officials of husbands desire to ap-
peal juvenile court decision and
both recorders judgments to SUI
perior court.
May 80: Found guilty on the
school charge by jury, DeFebio
sentenced to 80 days in Jail by
H. L. Stevens. Again refused to
pay fine in lieu of Jail sentence.
Vagrancy case nol-possed by State.
Superior court judge refused to act
upon appeal from juvenile court
when it was shown that the appeal
had not been filed in writing with
in five days, as law requires.
June IA: Mrs. DeFebio took
children from home in Wanchese,
brought them to courtyard outside
fathers cell. Children forcibly
taken from her and transferred
out of county to care of the state.
Mrs. DeFebio abandons picketing
of courthouse, goes to Kitty Hawk
beach area.
June Is: DeFehio found in jail
cell with throat cut and wrist
slashed by safety razor blade; TAX
en- to Albemarle General Hospital.
Mrs. DeFebio divides time between
Kitty Hawk and Elizabeth City
for next week.