November 8, 2013 Coats Museum News
The county citizens knew that the Chairman of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners was very ill; hence, they were not too surprised to hear that he had died at his home where he had been born 56 years earlier. His first wife, “Maggie” Sorrell Ennis, and his second wife, Ellie Williford, survived him. His children by Maggie Ennis were Edison Ennis, Oliver Ennis, Bronnie Ennis, Kirkland Ennis, Mrs. Lee Gregory, and Mrs. Christine Creech. Mrs. Roena Ennis and Mrs. Florence Stewart were his sisters. More than 1,000 friends and admirers paid tribute to J.B. Ennis at Hodges Chapel Church (Dunn Dispatch February 27, 1947).
How much do you think students paid for their lunches in 1947? According to the news, the students saw an increase from 15-20 cents to 20-25 cents. That same edition of the Dunn Dispatch March 6, 1947 reported that W.E. Nichols was selected to serve on the Harnett Hospital Board when a vacancy became available after Tyler took deceased J.B. Ennis’s chairmanship. Nichols took Tyler’s vice chair’s seat. Something very interesting in that edition was the fact that the Harnett County Board of Commissioners banned carnivals in Harnett County by no longer issuing licenses.
One has to wonder why the commissioners would discontinue carnivals from operating. Were there problems that did not fit into what the locals would think to be children friendly or was there a safety issue?
I do know that several years ago Wayne Parrish shared an incident that had occurred about 50 years earlier that could have been carnival connected. He recalled that his Aunt Tidie and Ora Parrish had a big cow pasture in the woods where Dr. Moore and Doctor Robinson’s houses were when he wrote his story. He said the cows had free range of the woods and would come up when they were called to be led across the road to the feed barns. The barns were standing where the Scotch Broom Lane apartments were when he recalled the story. They would flag traffic to stop while the cows walked across the road. They would be shut up there until the next morning and then put back across the road to eat in the pasture. All these cows were gentle and easily led around to the barns and back.
One morning, however, all of them balked at the road and could not be herded or pushed across the road according to Wayne. He said that his daddy, granddaddy, and he all tried to get them to go across, but none of the cows would go. They were bawling and lowing something awful and were trying to get back to the barns. Nothing could quiet them so they put them back into their barns.
He said that his granddaddy said something bad must be over there in the pasture that the cows could sense. They got their shotguns and walked all over the woods and pasture most of the day. In a sandy place they found big, odd-looking tracks of some large animal that his granddaddy said might be a bear or panther type cat.
A travel sideshow circus had recently been in a neighboring town, and he thought that some big animal might have escaped and the circus people might have left it behind without telling anyone about it.
His daddy and granddaddy built a big wooden box trap in an effort to catch it. It was made from heavy boards and 2x4 studs similar to a rabbit box but many, many times bigger. That wooden box trap was very strong and the door could not be lifted up from the inside in the event any animal tried to pull or paw at the door. His granddaddy Jessie H. Parrish believed in building anything extra strong. If a single nail was strong enough to hold something in place then he would put two or three in it.
Percy, his daddy, baited that box with a big chunk of beef from the grocery store and they erased all tracks around there with tree branches. The next morning, armed with shotguns, they went to check on the trap. There in the sand were many big, odd-looking tracks around the box, but the bait meat was still on the trigger stick. The men erased all the tracks and left.
The next morning was a little different. When they got to the trap, the box was completely destroyed and all the boards were chewed up and scattered all over the place. Tracks were visible in the sand. The bait and the trigger were gone. They held their guns a little closer as they headed home across the pasture.
They decided not to build another trap. Instead, they put shotguns on the tractor and car whenever they were away from the house anywhere near the pasture. After several days the cows calmed down and they would let them drive them to the pasture again. They never did find out what “The Demon” had been.
Who knows but possibly “The Demon” moved on to other woods and scared enough people that the carnival issue reached the commissioners. I do know that Benjamin Eli Byrd had died on a Sunday at the age of 69.His widow was Rose Catherine Byrd. Hubert, Newton, Jesse and Victor Byrd were his sons while Betty Byrd, Agnes Byrd, Mavis Byrd, Mrs., Otha Jones, Mrs. Elmon Parker, and Mrs. John Holmes were his daughters (Dunn Dispatch March 6, 1947).
Another outstanding citizen died in March of 1947. John G. McLamb, 71, of Coats Route One, had died on Friday. Funeral was at Hodges Chapel Church. Surviving him were his wife, Ida Moore McLamb, and James Carlie McLamb. He had another son and 4 daughters living in other towns. Who were they? He had been ill for sometime (Harnett County News March 20, 1947).
Surely there must have been talk about a place for teachers to stay while they were teaching at Coats. In a special session of the HCBOE, the session approved the site for the $35,000.00 teacherage. Dr. C.G. Fuquay newly elected to that county board selected the site on the Stewart property for a 150 by 300 foot plat at the cost of $1,350 (Dunn Dispatch March 17, 1947).How many of you know that site today?
Representative Allison Overby of the State Legislature introduced a bill to prohibit dance halls and pool halls in Harnett County; however, Guy Stewart was wondering who could have drilled a hole into his cash drawer and taken $25.00 at his Coats Motor Company. A missing window was likely the means of entrance into the building. Down at the other end of Main Street, an ad for the Coats Theatre had told the public that general admission to the theatre for adults was 30 cents and children under 12 was 15 cents. Oris F. Autry and Dewey Yarley noted that they gave 10% of their profit each month to the local churches (Harnett County News March 27, 1947). Do you think that maybe they were increasing the admission price? I do know that Mr. Yarley served on the Coats town commission and his daughter was a popular student at Coats.
When we were researching for an aviation event to be held at the museum for us to gather information on our heritage book, I had read in the paper that Mr. Yarley’s son was a pilot and later a doctor. I called Dr. Yarley in Durham where he was practicing medicine and left a message to return my call so that we might include his information. Weeks passed and no call. Then one night a call came from apologetic and gracious Dr. Yarley explaining that they been out of town and he was just receiving my call. He even shared that one of his patients had been Edison Johnson, formerly of Coats. He also sent many pictures of himself and pictures of the opening of the Coats Theater.
Read next week to learn who new donors are to the help meet the $50,000 to pay off the museum mortgage.
Please be mindful that this article appeared in the Daily Record on November 8, 2013.
The county citizens knew that the Chairman of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners was very ill; hence, they were not too surprised to hear that he had died at his home where he had been born 56 years earlier. His first wife, “Maggie” Sorrell Ennis, and his second wife, Ellie Williford, survived him. His children by Maggie Ennis were Edison Ennis, Oliver Ennis, Bronnie Ennis, Kirkland Ennis, Mrs. Lee Gregory, and Mrs. Christine Creech. Mrs. Roena Ennis and Mrs. Florence Stewart were his sisters. More than 1,000 friends and admirers paid tribute to J.B. Ennis at Hodges Chapel Church (Dunn Dispatch February 27, 1947).
How much do you think students paid for their lunches in 1947? According to the news, the students saw an increase from 15-20 cents to 20-25 cents. That same edition of the Dunn Dispatch March 6, 1947 reported that W.E. Nichols was selected to serve on the Harnett Hospital Board when a vacancy became available after Tyler took deceased J.B. Ennis’s chairmanship. Nichols took Tyler’s vice chair’s seat. Something very interesting in that edition was the fact that the Harnett County Board of Commissioners banned carnivals in Harnett County by no longer issuing licenses.
One has to wonder why the commissioners would discontinue carnivals from operating. Were there problems that did not fit into what the locals would think to be children friendly or was there a safety issue?
I do know that several years ago Wayne Parrish shared an incident that had occurred about 50 years earlier that could have been carnival connected. He recalled that his Aunt Tidie and Ora Parrish had a big cow pasture in the woods where Dr. Moore and Doctor Robinson’s houses were when he wrote his story. He said the cows had free range of the woods and would come up when they were called to be led across the road to the feed barns. The barns were standing where the Scotch Broom Lane apartments were when he recalled the story. They would flag traffic to stop while the cows walked across the road. They would be shut up there until the next morning and then put back across the road to eat in the pasture. All these cows were gentle and easily led around to the barns and back.
One morning, however, all of them balked at the road and could not be herded or pushed across the road according to Wayne. He said that his daddy, granddaddy, and he all tried to get them to go across, but none of the cows would go. They were bawling and lowing something awful and were trying to get back to the barns. Nothing could quiet them so they put them back into their barns.
He said that his granddaddy said something bad must be over there in the pasture that the cows could sense. They got their shotguns and walked all over the woods and pasture most of the day. In a sandy place they found big, odd-looking tracks of some large animal that his granddaddy said might be a bear or panther type cat.
A travel sideshow circus had recently been in a neighboring town, and he thought that some big animal might have escaped and the circus people might have left it behind without telling anyone about it.
His daddy and granddaddy built a big wooden box trap in an effort to catch it. It was made from heavy boards and 2x4 studs similar to a rabbit box but many, many times bigger. That wooden box trap was very strong and the door could not be lifted up from the inside in the event any animal tried to pull or paw at the door. His granddaddy Jessie H. Parrish believed in building anything extra strong. If a single nail was strong enough to hold something in place then he would put two or three in it.
Percy, his daddy, baited that box with a big chunk of beef from the grocery store and they erased all tracks around there with tree branches. The next morning, armed with shotguns, they went to check on the trap. There in the sand were many big, odd-looking tracks around the box, but the bait meat was still on the trigger stick. The men erased all the tracks and left.
The next morning was a little different. When they got to the trap, the box was completely destroyed and all the boards were chewed up and scattered all over the place. Tracks were visible in the sand. The bait and the trigger were gone. They held their guns a little closer as they headed home across the pasture.
They decided not to build another trap. Instead, they put shotguns on the tractor and car whenever they were away from the house anywhere near the pasture. After several days the cows calmed down and they would let them drive them to the pasture again. They never did find out what “The Demon” had been.
Who knows but possibly “The Demon” moved on to other woods and scared enough people that the carnival issue reached the commissioners. I do know that Benjamin Eli Byrd had died on a Sunday at the age of 69.His widow was Rose Catherine Byrd. Hubert, Newton, Jesse and Victor Byrd were his sons while Betty Byrd, Agnes Byrd, Mavis Byrd, Mrs., Otha Jones, Mrs. Elmon Parker, and Mrs. John Holmes were his daughters (Dunn Dispatch March 6, 1947).
Another outstanding citizen died in March of 1947. John G. McLamb, 71, of Coats Route One, had died on Friday. Funeral was at Hodges Chapel Church. Surviving him were his wife, Ida Moore McLamb, and James Carlie McLamb. He had another son and 4 daughters living in other towns. Who were they? He had been ill for sometime (Harnett County News March 20, 1947).
Surely there must have been talk about a place for teachers to stay while they were teaching at Coats. In a special session of the HCBOE, the session approved the site for the $35,000.00 teacherage. Dr. C.G. Fuquay newly elected to that county board selected the site on the Stewart property for a 150 by 300 foot plat at the cost of $1,350 (Dunn Dispatch March 17, 1947).How many of you know that site today?
Representative Allison Overby of the State Legislature introduced a bill to prohibit dance halls and pool halls in Harnett County; however, Guy Stewart was wondering who could have drilled a hole into his cash drawer and taken $25.00 at his Coats Motor Company. A missing window was likely the means of entrance into the building. Down at the other end of Main Street, an ad for the Coats Theatre had told the public that general admission to the theatre for adults was 30 cents and children under 12 was 15 cents. Oris F. Autry and Dewey Yarley noted that they gave 10% of their profit each month to the local churches (Harnett County News March 27, 1947). Do you think that maybe they were increasing the admission price? I do know that Mr. Yarley served on the Coats town commission and his daughter was a popular student at Coats.
When we were researching for an aviation event to be held at the museum for us to gather information on our heritage book, I had read in the paper that Mr. Yarley’s son was a pilot and later a doctor. I called Dr. Yarley in Durham where he was practicing medicine and left a message to return my call so that we might include his information. Weeks passed and no call. Then one night a call came from apologetic and gracious Dr. Yarley explaining that they been out of town and he was just receiving my call. He even shared that one of his patients had been Edison Johnson, formerly of Coats. He also sent many pictures of himself and pictures of the opening of the Coats Theater.
Read next week to learn who new donors are to the help meet the $50,000 to pay off the museum mortgage.
Please be mindful that this article appeared in the Daily Record on November 8, 2013.