Milford chronicle., 1961-10-27
Age Is No Borrier
10 These Reporters
ey Associated Press

Mass, has claimed the distinction,
but both certainly must be near
the top Of the list.
Drinkwater is SO and probably
the Oldest string correspondent
on the rolls of the Associated
Press.
Mrs. Jennie Phillips Hayden is
81 and correspondent In South
Middleboro for the New Bedford
Standard-Times.
Both are correspondents in out
lying districts, similar to the hum
dreds-of all ages-who report
news OF their areas to their local
newspapers.
Drinkwater, salty character
with a shock of gray hair, has
been relaying news to the R)
from the treacherous shores Of
North CarOlina's Outer Banks for
so years. He still calls regularly
with the inevitable reports OF lost
fishermen and drowned swimmers.
When Hurricane Esther brushed
the coast in September, Drinkwa-
ter was right on the job with de-
/. tails from his area.
Mrs. Hayden, who was gradu-
ated from Boston University in
1898, has worn out two typewrit-
ers and is now into her third since
she began chronicling the pass
ing scene in South Middleboro in
1921 or 1922-she isn't quite sure
of the starting date.
Weddings, anniversaries, church
and Grant activities are the gist
of her daily correspondence, but
Jennie knows how to turn out a
feature story and practically ev-
erything in the village has been
the object Of her attention.
When Jennie reached 81 in Feb
ruary, the feature story was close
at hard She told how "the aver
age Old-ager" felt on reaching
four score and seven: stiff limbs,
rounded shoulders, cane that
falls down in unexpected places
and gets lost The "silver lining
at 81, she wrote is youthful spir-
it-cultivated or natural. Pleas
ures are those of the mind.
Importance of keeping up with the
Joneses, has collapsed to insig-
nificance," she told her readers.
"A multitude of wants have
shrunk to actual needs. Tensions
have eased and resignation to cir
cumstances has resulted. Regret
for lack of accomplishment or
thwarted ambition, has faded to
reflection"
Jennie says OF her experiences
In news writing:
my typewriter is one of my best
friends. & portable, which can
travel with me from room to room
is now indispensable. 1t can read
my thoughts, for more than once
l have started to write with an
empty mind, but contact with the
Keyboard has aroused train OF
though and of she goes, clickety-
click"
1t has been a different world Of
news for Drinkwater on the Outer
Banks. A retired telegrapher, he
boasts he probably has seen more
shipwrecks than any man alive.
And he has vivid recollectiOns of
two eccentric bicycle mechanics
from Dayton, Ohio, who believed
they were going to make a horse
less motor carriage fly like a
bird"
He referred to the Wright bro
theirs who made their first flights
on the Outer Banks.
During his long career along the
coast north CT Cape Hatteras,
Drinkwater manned the Morse key
for the U. s. Signal Service, the
Weather Bureau, the U. S. Life
saving Service, the Coast Guard
and Western Union.
For years it was his job to
sight ships in trouble and signal
Norfolk for tugs to grab the dis
tressed vessels before they went
on the shoals.
On December 3, 1903, one of the
most sensational stories of the
Outer Banks broke right in his
LAP. One OF the Navy's two sub
marines, the U. S. 8. Roccasin,
snapped her tow. line and washed
aground at Carolla, N. C.
Drinkwater flashed the news to
the Portsmouth Navy Yard then
rushed to the wreck scene, set up
his instrument on an orange crate
and cut into the main line to
Norfolk. For two weeks he stay
ed at Carolla sending out daily
progress reports on salvage oper-
atiOns
1t was during the salvage of the
Moccasin that the Wrights made
their successful flights on Decem-
Der II, 1903 at XIII Devil Hill, a
few miles south of Drinkwater's
station.
Drinkwater says that due to the
break in the line at Carolla, he
relayed the news to Norfolk Wes-
tern Union that the first powered
flight had been successful.
SOrville Wright was quoted in
the book Miracle at Kitty Hawk"
~ saying that it was ]. J. Dosher,
Id. charge of the Kitty Hawk sta
ton, who sent out the original
message.
Probably the best known marine
Disaster Drmkwater has covered
Vas the wreck of the Belgian
steam Antigo0p near False Cape
u December. 1906. The struggle
a. the Iifesaving unit from Little
Iol4nd to rescue the crew by
bfeeches buoy made newspaper
headlines for days.