The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1958-04-25
TRAIL
Continued from Page One)

L
outh which he drove to Fairfield.
He spent the night at Mr.. Sad
ler's Motel, and on Sunday morn
ing, got up early, and told the
Sadlers he was going to ride up
the road piece, and would be
back shortly for breakfast. This
happened early, and when he didn't
show up by eight o'clock, the Sad
lers thought he had gone off to
look at some timber, since he did
not pay his bill when he left.
1t developed subsequently that
he had put his handbag in his car
before leaving the motel.
1t also developed that the ,Cadil-
lac automobile he left in Martins
vile was in hook to a short loan
finance company for $1,700 and he
was behind in his payments for
three months.
1t also developed that when he
left Martinsville, Va. he did not
tell his wife where he was going.
After being missing for several
days, his wife came down from
her home in Sydnorsville in Frank
lin County, to see the Sheriff in
Martinsville, Henry County, where
the Cadillac had been left, and
told the yarn about having a
dream that her husband had acct
dentally driven into "a canal and
was dead.
Eyebrows Are Raised
Some eyebrows were raised
afterward about this story, when it
was learned that the Sheriff had
been alerted to look for Mr.. Mar
tin as a fugitive who was under
Indictment in Baltimore with five
other men in connection with the
operation of the 100000 gallon
whiskey factory.
In all, five warrants to appear
before a U. S. Commissioner had
been reported as coming out of
the ATU office of the Baltimore
district court.
At the time he left home, his
wife apparently knew nothing of
the indictments, she saying he had
not told her. When he had been
missing for three days, somebody
began to ask questions about the
! Cadillac, and the money owing on
it.
Then the Deputy U. S. Marshall
showed up, and they began look
ing for the body.
Question: had the man at some
time in the past indicated to his
wife that he might end it all that
way?
The son, C. H. Martin Jr. went
to Fairfield and enlisted the aid
of sharp-eyed young Jim Watson,
and they looked up and down the
road, discovering tracks that went
overheard, almost up to the Inland
Waterway bridge.
Prodding down into the bottom
of the old steamboat canal, their
pole struck the car.
Jesse Taylor came over from
Belhaven and hoisted up the 1850
Plymouth after it had been under
water a week. In it was the badly
decomposed body of Mr.. Martin,
and also his handbag.
The State Highway Patrol in
Raleigh had been alerted to be on
the lookout for Mr.. Martin. and
the 1850 Plymouth, and to investi-
gate any angles about the case of
this man who turned out to be a
fugitive from justice.
Coroner Pratt Williamson of
Hyde County sent the remains to
Duke University in an effort to
determine if violence had been
used to end the life of Mr.. Martin.
The findings were negative, Mr..
Williamson says.
Ostensibly, in Baltimore he was
in the trucking, contracting and
real estate development business
as blind for other operations.
Apparently, he had reached short
end of his financial rope, when he
had been obliged to borrow from
a small loan bank $1,700 on his
1854 Cadillac, after having been a
big time operator and accustomed
to doing things in big way for
so long.
Mr.. Martin is survived by his
wife, Mrs. Myrtle F. Martin, a
son, C. H. Martin Jr.; three
brothers, Henry NJ, of Henry, Va,
Bob NJ, of Route 8, Bassett, Va,
Alonza of Ferrum, Va; five sis
ters, Miss Fannie Martin, and Mrs.
Ray Martin of Bassett, Mrs. Grow
er Carter of Henry, Va, Mrs. Sue
Paul of Roanoke, and Mrs. Pearl
Wright of Manassas, Va.
And so unwinds the tale of the
last days of Charles Hurst Martin,
and so revealing, that peace Off
GERS in the vicinity may have
stumbled over the biggest case
of the century in Hyde County.
For if a quarter of million dol
lars is involved, there are likely
to be a lot of things proved or dis