McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, May 30, 1940, Image 6
McCOKMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C., THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1940
North Carolina's Men of Mystery/
The Croafans, May Be Descendants of
Sir Walter Raleigh's 'Lost Colony’
“The Name
Is Familiar—
BY
FELIX B. STREYCKMANS
and ELMO SCOTT WATSON
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
I N ROBESON county,
North Carolina, live near-
. ly 10,000 Americans who
are truly “men of mystery.”
Their racial origins are lost
in the scant history of the
very first phase of the white
men’s conquest of America.
Proud of their race and its
traditions, they have lived
largely to themselves for the
last 200 years, consistently
holding themselves aloof
from the endless debate
which historians and ethnolo
gists have held over the sub
ject of who were the fore
bears of these people.
According to the North Caro
lina law and to reports to the fed
eral government they are In
dians. A large part Indian they
most certainly are, judging by
their appearance, their habits
and their manner of life. But
the fact that since pre-Revolu-
tionary days many of them have
had curly hair—sometimes red or
blonde—and the fact that their
dialect, as first recorded by the
early colonists, contained many
Anglo-Saxon words, is also proof
that they are not of Indian blood
alone.
Are they descendants of Sir
Walter Raleigh’s “Lost Colony,”
including the romantic Virginia
Dare, “the first English child
bom in what is now the United
States?” Some historians are
convinced they are, even though
positive proof of that fact may
never be established.
Raleigh’s Ill-Fated Colony.
It was in 1587 that Sir Walter
Raleigh sent out his third expe
dition to colonize Virginia. Head
ed by John White, who was to be
governor of “The Citie of Ra
leigh in Virginia,” the colony in
cluded 17 women and children,
among them White’s daughter,
Elyoner (Eleanor), who had mar
ried Ananias Dare.
Because of trouble with his
crew, White was not able to take
the colonists to a location on
Chesapeake bay as instructed.
Instead he stopped at Roanoke
island in search of 15 men left
behind the previous year by Sir
Richard Grenville, leader of an
other Raleigh expedition. After
they landed, White decided to re
main on Roanoke island for a
time at least and set about build
ing a town.
There, according to a letter
written by Governor White to
Raleigh, on “the 18th (August,
1587) Elyoner, daughter to the
governor and wife to Ananias
Dare, one of the assistants, was
delivered of a daughter in Roa
noke, and the same was christ-
An old Croatan Indian farmer
whose prosperity is indicated by
the weight of his solid gold watch
chain.
ened there the Sunday following
and because this child was the
first Christian born in Virginia,
she was named “Virginia.” Soon
afterwards White decided to re
turn to England. He started on
August 27, leaving 120 settlers
at Roanoke. When he arrived in
England he found that country
busy'with preparations to resist
the Spanish Armada. His fleet of
vessels was seized by the govern
ment and when he assembled an
other it was driven back by
pirates near Madeira.
So it was not until 1590 that he
was able to obtain passage to
America. This was on a priva
teer fleet of three vessels sent out
to prey upon Spanish commerce.
After a series of adventures with
the enemy, they finally reached
Roanoke island at night and were
cheered by the sight of smoke ris
ing and a fire glowing through
the trees. When they reached
the shore at the north end of the
island ther blew trumpets and
sang familiar English songs.
Carved on a Tree.
But instead of the joyous wel
come which they expected to re
ceive, they wero greeted with
SARAH DIAL
Croatan Indian coed who is an
accomplished violinist.
silence. They found only the
footprints of the Indians who had
fled at their approach but on a
tree was carved the letters C R O.
Pushing on to the site of the
“Citie of Raleigh” they discov
ered that the houses had been
taken down and the place en
closed with a high palisade. On
one of the posts at the right side
of the entrance was carved the
word “Croatan.”
Before leaving, White had in
structed the colonists, if they de
cided to move, to carve their
destination on a tree, adding a
cross if they were in distress.
The absence of a cross from the
tree and the post on which they
found the carved words gave
White hope that his people were
still living. Croatan island was
the site of a village of Indians
whose chief, Manteo, had been to
England with the first Raleigh
expedition and who was friendly
to the English.
But when White urged the cap
tain of the privateering fleet to
send a party to Croatan his re
quest was refused. Their supplies
were low and the captain was
anxious to resume his operations
against the Spanish. Later Sir
Walter Raleigh sent no less than
five expeditions to search for his
“Lost Colony.” But the seas were
swarming with Spanish priva
teers and there is no record that
any of the ships reached Croatan.
For more than a century the
vicinity of the ill-fated colony was
unexplored and its fate accepted
as an unsolved mystery. Then in
1709 John Dawson, an English ex
plorer, visited the Hatteras In
dians who had gray or blue eyes
and were familiar with the art .of
reading, in that they knew that
the English “could make paper
speak.” These Indians were less
than 100 in number and it was be
lieved that they were descend
ants of survivors of the Roanoke
colony who had been assimilated
into the Indian tribe living on
Croatan island.
Old Names Persist.
The name Virginia Dare was
unknown among them but Ham
ilton McMillan and other histo
rians of the tribe believed that
the Indian surname “Dorr” orig
inally was “Dare,” the change be
ing the result of the tribe’s gut
tural pronunciation. On the ros
ter of the “Lost Colony” were the
names of Henry Berry, John
Sampson and a score of others
which are to be found among the
Indians of Robeson county and
have been since before the Revo
lution. An Indian named Henry
Berry enlisted in a company of
North Carolina colonial troops to
fight against the British and
Henry Berry Lowrie was the
leader of the famous Indian out
law gang which terrorized that
part of North Carolina for 10
years after the Civil war.
Although, in colonial days these
Indians were proud of the name
“Croatans” and boasted of their
white as well as Indian ancestors,
today these people do not like the
name, some preferring to be
known as “Cherokee Indians of
Robeson County” while others
call themselves “Siouans.”
The tribe’s aversion to the
name Croatan is the result of re
ports made to the department
of interior in Washington the ef
fect that the blood of a number
of runaway negro slaves also was
to be found in some families of
the race. And although the de
partment’s study included many
excerpts from the histories of Mc
Millan and Stephen B. Weeks, an
other historian who believed he
had found conclusive evidence
that the “Lost Colony’s” descend
ants were here, it also quoted oth
ers who took the position that the
white blood of the race came
from roving seamen, including
pirates who once were bottled up
in the nearby Cape Fear river by
ships of the English and early
colonial navies. The Indians were
incensed and for a quarter of a
century have endeavored to
shake off the name “Croatan”
with only partial success.
The best known name in Croa
tan history is that of Henry Berry
Lowrie, the famed outlaw previ
ously mentioned. The state put
a price of $10,000 on his head,
dead or alive, and anyone wh»
killed or captured a member of
his gang was given half as much.
A number were killed in gun
fights but in the entire history of
the gang’s operations only one
member was ever captured and
held long enough to be executed
by the statq. What finally be
came of Lowrie is almost as
much a mystery as the anteced
ents of the tribe.
Driven to Outlawry.
As hated as the Lowrie gang
was in the days when its rob
beries and murders were com
mon occurrence, those who in re
cent years have studied its his
tory are inclined to place much
of the blame on the whites.
Among these historians is R. C.
Lawrence, an attorney who has
devoted the last several years of
his life to writing and to research.
In the first place, the Indians who
volunteered or were conscripted
for service in the Civil war fre
quently were placed with gangs
of negro slaves and assigned to
work rather than to fight. Many
immediately deserted. The final
straw was the summary execu-
HENRY BERRY LOWRIE
Famous Croatan Indian outlaw
(From an old daguerreotype)
tion of Lowrie’s father and broth
er by members of the home
guard, who were investigating
instances of petty thievery. On
that day Henry Berry swore re
venge and regardless of where
the blame lay, there is no doubt
that he got it.
Most persistent in the war
against the Lowrie gang was
Frank W. Wishart, formerly a
captain pf the Confederate army,
who was commissioned by the
state to run the outlaws down.
Along with many others, he was
killed by the gang, but Lawrence
writes that he is due more credit
than any other individual for the
eventual sudcess of the campaign.
How and why the gang dis
solved is uncertain. One story is
that the chief accidentally killed
himself while cleaning his rifle.
Another is that he called the gang
together, formally dissolved it,
and left this vicinity forever.
Once a group of men from Lum-
berton, the seat of this county,
thought they recognized as Henry
Berry Lowrie an old man, obvi
ously part Indian, they found
working around a hotel in Okla
homa. The next day they sought
to investigate, but the Indian had
disappeared and no one was to
be found who knew where he had
come from.
But the Lowrie name and Low
rie leadership is still to be found
here and members of the family
are proud of Henry Berry Low
rie, whom they consider another
Robin Hood. One of his great
nephews, Principal Kermit Low
rie of the Indian school, has as
his most prized possession old
Henry Berry’s favorite rifle. Oth
er descendants of the members
of the gang are among the larg
est landowners of this primarily
agricultural region. Their sons
go to college and many have
made names for themselves in
various professions.
The once strained relations be
tween the Indians and the whites
of this section are now harmoni
ous. The real turning point came,
say the Indians, when more than
half a century ago the state of
North Carolina recognized them
as a race apart and provided
separate schools. Today there
are three kinds of schools in this
county—the Indians, whites and
negroes each having institutions
of their own. A theater in a near
by town has a separate entrance
for members of each race. And
in Pembroke the state has operat
ed an Indian school since 1887.
“It’s still too early to talk much
about it,” said one of the younger
leaders of the community, “but I
wouldn’t be surprised if some day
we wouldn’t readopt the name of
Croatan. I know something about
the history of my people and to
my way of thinking, it’s a name
of which we should be proud.”
if
Von Bunsen
Bunsen Burner
*"pHAT small gas burner the den-
tist has that makes things so hot
so fast, is called a Bunsen burner.
It consists of a straight tube with
small holes at the bottom where air
enters and mixes with the gas. The
jxygen in the air causes the gas to
ourn with a hotter flame.
Your gas stove works the same
way—there are air vents in the pipes
that lead to the
Durners so that
mu are burning
a mixture of gas
and air, other-
vise you wouldn’t
»et much heat
!rom the gas
alpne. It really
ioesn’t make
nuch difference
vhere the holes
are placed along
Jie pipe—as long
as they are this
side of the meter.
But what we started out to say
vas, this burner is named after
Robert Wilhelm von Bunsen, a Ger-
nan chemist who was born in 1811
and died in 1899. He was a profes
sor of chemistry at Kassel in Bres-
au, and later at the famous uni
versity at Heidelberg.
P. S. Von Bunsen didn’t invent
die burner—either a man by the
aame of Peter Desdga or the famous
Michael Faraday did. At least, it is
mown that both of them used the
same type of burner before Vou
Bunsen.
* • •
Sanforizing
C'OR the fact that your Adam’s
^ apple isn’t in danger of being
squeezed out of shape by a tight
Dollar after your shirt has been laun-
iered a few times, you can thank a
36-year-old native of Troy, N. Y.—
Sanford L. Cluett. He was the in
ventor of a pre-shrinking process
which is used to treat one-fifth of
all the available fabrics in this coun
try before they
are made up into
wearing apparel
and which has
added a new
word to our ev
eryday speech—
sanforizing.
After the World
war, American
men, accustomed
to khaki shirts,
o . ™ LL wanted to contin-
Sanford Cluett ^
ue wearing soft
Dollars. But they shrank after
washing and no purchaser knew how
much shrinkage to expect. Shirt
manufacturers had shrinking ma-
Dhines but they didn’t do the job
Dompletely and they had to allow
ihree-quarters of an inch for shrink
age in each collar. The problem
was to produce a uniformly shrunk
fabric that would not change its size
when given the average laundry
wash.
In 1919 Cluett, a veteran of the
Spanish-American war, an engineer
and an inventor with a number of
patents to his credit, joined the re
search department of the company
af which his name is now a part.
After a long series of experiments
ae finally produced in 1928 the proc
ess now known as sanforizing and
all those devoted to wearing shirts
with soft collars breathed easier.
V
ooth figuratively and literally!
* * •
Nobel Prize
T HERE’S more than a little irony
in the fact that the most famous
jf all prizes for the person or or
ganization who best serves the in-
;erests of world peace each year
paid out of a fund that had its
arigin in the sale of a product which
adds to the horrors of war. Yet
such is the case of the Nobel prize.
^Ufred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish
chemist and in
ventor, born in
1833, was educat
ed in Russia and
sent to America
to study engineer
ing. But within a
year he returned
to Europe to aid
his father in de
veloping military
and naval mines
and torpedoes. In
1862 he helped the
elder Nobel in
perfecting the
manufacture of
nitroglycerine, called “Nobel’s blast-
mg oil,” and further research by the
:wo led to the invention and com
mercial production of dynamite,
originally known
.nites.”
Alfred Nobel
as “Nobel’s ig-
When Nobel died in Italy in 1896
ne left a large fund, from the inter
est of which annual prizes were to
oe awarded achievements in various
lelds, including physics, science,
Dhemistry, medicine and literature.
But the most humanitarian, the No-
oel peace prize, is paid from the
profits of a “merchant of death.”
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Ancestor of Modern Football
Every year in January for the last
600 years they have played at Haxey
in England an ancient ball game
which was the ancestor of modern
football.
Lovely Crocheted Bedspread
Pattern 6665.
TF YOU’VE never crocheted,
here’s the medallion to start on.
Easy—memorized in no time—it
makes lovely accessories. Pat
tern 6665 contains instructions for
medallions; photograph and illus
trations of them; illustration of
stitches; materials needed. Send
order to;
Sewing Circle Needlecraft Dept.
82 Eighth Ave. New York
Enclose 15 cents in coins for Pat
tern No
Name
Address
Idleness a Tomb
Idleness is the sepulcher of the
living man.
CORK
»tt«
.mi
....
THE LEADER
FOR 34
YEARS!
MADE
KELLOGGS
SWITCH
TO SOMETHING
YOU’LL LIKE I
Copr. 1040 by Keltocc Company
BATTLE CREEK
Mirth Like Lightning
Mirth is like a flash of lightning
that breaks through a gloom of
plouds and glitters for a moment.
Cheerfulness keeps up a kind oi
daylight in the mind and fills it
with a steady and perpetual seren
ity.—Addison.
HOMER BERRY, veteran test pilot, says:
wm
In recent laboratory tests,
CAMELS burned 25% slow-
er than the average of the
15 other of the largest-sell
ing brands tested — slower
than aoy of them. That
means, on the average, a
smoking plus equal to
S
EXTRA SMOKES
TER PACK/
SPEED-FLYING IS
MY BUSINESS,
BUT I SMOKE THE
SLOWER-BURNING
CIGARETTE, CAMELS-
FOR EXTRA MILDNESS,
EXTRA COOLNESS,
AND EXTRA
SMOKING!
F ROM 50 to 500 miles per hour—
Homer Berry has flown them all.
This veteran test pilot started flying
back in 1913 . . - started smoking
Camels the same year. “No other
cigarette ever gave me anything
like the pleasure of a Camel,” he
says. “What’s more—in 26 years.
Camel’s slower burning has always
given me a lot of extra smoking.”
Try the slower-burning cigarette
made from costlier tobaccos • . •
Camel. Get more pleasure per puff
and more puffs per pack {see left),
FOR EXTRA MILDNESS,
EXTRA COOLNESS, EXTRA FLAVOR-
CAMELS
SLOW-BURNING COSTLIER TOBACCOS
Justice in Rebellion
Men seldom, or rather never,
for a length of time and delib
erately, rebel against anything
that does not deserve rebelling
against.—Carlyle.
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