The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1958-05-16

l.
tions in acreage, while at the sam
time they were buying up man.
additional thousands of acres. A
one time the board wiped off Is,
! 600 acres which they said ha,
washed away. At another they re
mitted the taxes on 5000 acres o
land near Long Shoal River. Com
missioner Swain of Manteo hat
i been trying to get in favor will
the company too, and had ever
gone to Raleigh to urge the ap
pointment of some fire warden
which investigation developed tn,
State authorities refused, ant
later brought apologies from Mr.
Swain for having been gullible.
Mr.. Duvall
Sold The County Out
Mr.. Duvall knew the land hac
been valued at little better THAI
So an acre. The company said il
was willing to value it at Sc al
acre, being that property of al
other folks had gone up in the
meantime. At Sc an acre, they
would then not be too far out Of
line. Mr.. Swain wanted it put al
Sc.
But Mr.. Duvall put up alright
to hold out for $40 per acre. The
company had bought lot of addi-
tional land, and what Mr.. Duvall
proposed to do, would cost them
some $8,400 year. In the five
years that has elapsed, the county
would have received better than
$4,000 it didn't get, but which Mr..
Duvall had contended was fair in
1853.
Mr.. Duvall then was pretty well
in control of the situation, in that
other members concluded that he
knew best about this property To-
Gated entirely in his territory. The
company found out it was in a
losing fight. 1t used the usual
methods of big business when it's
licked. They used dollars and
bought their way out.
This was during the early meet
ings of the Board in June 1858.
The company surrendered, the
manager followed Duvall home,
offered him $50 a week, and
put him on the payroll. His
duties were public relations"
explained briefly ''to m a k e
friends for the company" The
first friends Mr.. Duvall made
was the Board of Commissioners,
and when Mr.. Swain put in a mo-
ton to value the Company prop
erty at SIS an acre, (mind you,
even lower than Mr.. SWANS first
proposaD it was Immediately sec
onded and passed unanimously.
This motion, in five years has
saved the company over $4,000;
it has brought Mr.. Duvall more
than $4,000 in his tidy weekly
checks; loss to Dare County, but
a profit to Mr.. Duvall's company
at more than $4,000. In other
words, in order to get something
for himself, he was willing to levy
on the people who trusted him, the
total amount of $4,000 to date.
Records of this transaction will
be found, or were in the minutes
of the Register of Deeds, see meet
ing of June II, 1853 and of prior
meetings, Dare County courthouse.
Further, the tax records will re-
veal, that despite the many thou
sands of acres acquired subse-
quently by the company there has
been no comparative increase in
valuation such as has been put on
other citizens and taxpayers in
general.
That is part of Mr.. Duvall's pub
lie relations job, to keep down the
taxes, and it has profited the COM
pany. But none of his neighbors
have seen that he has done any
kind of work in the company's in
terest. His value as public rela-
lions man" is widely open to ques-
ton, for he incurred additional i'll
will when he Immediately shifted
ms. position toward his neighbors
who had boundary controversies
with the company; he turned about
and went out trying to dig up
evidence to prove them wrong.
Fires got set out more often than
ever before, and the grapevine had
1T that some fires were set out of
spite toward Mr.. Duvall, for get
ting on the gravy train. They
never stopped to think that Mr..
Duvall got there by having a keen
mind, and keeping on the Board of
Commissioners, and in control of
them. One wonders just how long
the company would send him his
check, did he lose the power to
keep their taxes down. Our guess
is that the only value he is to the
company, is his power to keep their
taxes low.
Now on the basis of this cir
cumstance alone, there are many
people who doubt that Mr.. Duvail
is worthy the trust placed in him;
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