The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-02-20

brought gray haired little woman
to the beach Wednesday night.
With her were three shaggy dogs
and two-week old puppy she
carried in a small imitation leather
bag.
Stopping at Mrs. Matte Mid
gette's store, she was given shell
ter and food for herself and the
dogs. The next morning she re-
sumed her search.
The woman, who said her name
was Mrs. John Davis, said that her
husband, dead seven years, was re-
lated to people in North Carolina.
She had thought they lived in
Dare County, but she was also sure
that the house was on the edge of
town in farming country. AL
though she lived there for time
she could not remember the name
of the town, but was sure she
would recognize the house if she
saw it.
The weary traveller, who has
walked and hitchhiked from Mi
ami, Fla, in four weeks, said she
and the dogs would have slept on
the beach rather than ask for help,
but Wednesday nights weather
was too cold for that.
In spite of the two coats she
wore, Mrs. Davis was none too
warmly clad and edged gratefully
to stove in the Midgette store to
warm. The dogs dropped to the
floor and were asleep almost in
stantly.
They're tired" she explained.
You know, they must travel 10
miles for every one l walk"
Mrs. Davis story was little
disconnected because, she said,
she couldn't remember so many
things. According to her account,
she was born in Ohio, but she
married Davis, who travelled with
a circus, and she went along. For
awhile they were with Ringing
Brothers, and then with another
circus, the name of which she
couldn't remember. Her husband
had band" she said, and she
did everything around a circus"
They had six children, but APP
parently travelling with little tots
was too difficult and as each one
became two or three years old she
tarmed them out to relatives or
friends. The son she is seeking
was two when she left him with
an uncle. She has not heard from
the child since he was a little fell
low. He would be in his late 2O's
now. She can't remember the un-
cle's first name, though he was her
husbands brother.
Mrs. Davis said she had another
son who would be just about old
enough to go into service. She
does not plan to hunt for him, be-
cause she believes he either is in
the armed service or soon will be.
She told of finding a daughter in
New Orleans, after leaving her
many years with a friend. The
friend had married and had chill
dren OF her own, but had kept the
Davis girl, who had been taught
that her mother was dead. What
became of the other three children
is a bit hazy in Mrs. Davis mind
All these years she has thought
that her husbands brother lived in
Dare county, but none of it that
she passed through, over High
ways 264 and 1853, seemed at all as
she remembered the area.
1T was farming country. I'll
recognize the house." she insisted.
Mrs. Davis, who says she is SO
but who looks considerably older,
though she moves briskIy, said
she had come by way of Greenville
and Washington, N. C. Although
the police in almost every COM
munlty have let her and the dogs
spend a night Gin the jailhouse, !"
she said she had been unable to
secure help from welfare DEPART
ments, because she was a trans
lent.
In Manteo, Wednesday, someone
IN the court house did look I'D real
estate records for her. Property
belonging to a J. J. Davis was
found on Hatteras, but it was pur-
chased after Mrs. Davis and her
husband were married, whereas
the house she seeks was in the
family long before their marriage.
For that reason she did not even
consider going to Hatteras to
check.
The little woman, who laughts
and jokes in spite of her plight,
said she spent Tuesday night in
Manns Harbor, sleeping in a fish
ing boat. The next morning she
crossed on the ferry and was all
day getting from there to Mays
Head. Three girls in car, she
said, gave her a ride part of the
way.
When asked if she had eaten,
she spoke vaguely of a sandwich
before dark" When hot vegeta-
BILE SCUM. sandwiches and mill, ,,ro,,.n