The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1952-12-26
5 PER CENTERS
PIKERS AGAINST
THIS PROPOSAL
Attempted Deal on Hatteras
Lighthouse Job 1855 Years
Ago Aroused Ire
of Officials
By BEN DIXON MacNEILL

Skuldugery is not something in.
vented and put into practice il
these latter years nor is the Greek
immigrant who completed a prison
sentence last week the first mai
to tenant a Jail for being a "pel
center" and, in comparison, he
seems a trifling sort of fellow
when he is stacked up beside a
predecessor who considered fifty
per cent of the profit to be cleared
on the first lighthouse on Cape
Hatteras a not unreasonable deal
Decentralization on this deal un-
dertaken 1876 years ago came to
light this week at about the time
arrangements were being complet-
ed for translating Cape Hatteras
National Seashore from a project
into a reality and the ruins of the
Old Lighthouse, in the hands Of
the National Park Service, is not
unlikely to be included in their
long-range plans for establishing q
museum nearby. The documenta-
ton will be rendered for inclusion
among the exhibits.
Instead of getting him the job
of building the lighthouse urged
by Alexander Hamilton when he
became the first secretary of the
treasury, the attempted bride land
ed the Philadelphia contractor in
Jail in what must be one of the
most singular judicial procedures
in the records. He went to Jail
despite the fact that there was
no specific Federal law he had
violated, since Congress had not
yet got around to making it un-
lawful to give or take brides. They
remedied the defect shortly.
Hamilton had wanted a light
house on Cape Hatteras a good
deal sooner than he actually got
it, and provision for it was made
in the Appropriations Bill passed
on August 4, 1890 by the First
Congress. But the Federal Gov
eminent, in that day, had no au-
thority to take land without ex-
press permission from the states,
a rather drastic contrast with the
eagerness with which Governor
Scott decided away a good slice
of Hatteras Island last Monday.
Seven years were needed before
North Carolina gave its permits
sion to Hamilton to buy four acres
of ground, and the Widow Gaskins
of Cape Hatteras agreed to sell
that much ground for 500. The
deed is recorded in Currituck
Plans had been drawn up
by General Henry Dearborn, who
was a staff officer with Hamilton
on General Washington's staff dur
ing the Revolution, and approved
by Hamilton and the President.
Lacking land, the project drag
ged along until 1897 when the
deed was finally secured, and
Hamilton had appointed Tenche
Coke as Commissioner to look after
internal revenue and to supervise
navigation generally. The Govern
ment was then in Philadelphia
though Coke himself, when he got
the letter was in the hills of New
Jersey fugitive, like many Phila-
delphians, from scourage of yell
low fever. The letter was from a
man named William Worrall, and,
in part, it read:
Dear Sir: Having had the honor
of waiting on you at different
times on the lighthouse business,
l will be bold to say that when the
work is completed in the most mas
terly manner, the job will clear
at the finishing, the sum of 1000
Pounds Therefore, good sir,
as having always been content with
a reasonable profit; therefore
every reasonable profit in the two
jobs (the proposal also included
See PIKERS, Page Two