I know what your book says about him, but that doesn’t mean that it is true. Listen here, Mark, I know that you think everything in books is true, but that just idn’t so. This guy writes about local history, but he weren’t here to live it. He’s from New Jersey. What does he know about us? Nothing. Not a dang thing. Take for instance what he says about Buffalo City, or what he don’t say. They had a train stop that went to Atlanta and Charleston. He don’t even mention that, but he sure goes to a lot of trouble to talk about all the stores they had and the electrical lights and all that modern stuff. Daddy told me all about Buffalo City. Your Grandma lived there. While your Grandpa was courting her, he would drive up there and try to sound all up-to-date by naming all the new stuff they had and bragging about how he knew how to work the new washing machines.
But that’s another story, and you idn’t at all interested in stuff like that.
See, Matherson did a lot for us back when we didn’t have nothing. So the way this Scott Myrick talks about him is a disgrace and it just idn’t true. It just idn’t true. Besides, Scott didn’t grow up around here and he just don’t know.
Well Mark, if you want a book to tell you and not your own Pop, then let me get a book of this old shelf here that explains it all clear. Daddy wrote this book some years ago. He kind of did it in honor of Matherson just before he died about 20 years ago. Daddy wanted to set the record straight after they almost sent him to prison for bootlegging. (I say almost because a certain Lawrence Needham had a heart attack on the witness stand.) I wish you could’ve met Matherson, Mark. He was a great ma–
Dag blast it Deuteronomy, get out of my lap. Can’t you see I’m trying to read this book?
What?
Alright, get yourself comfortable on the armrest you blasted old cat.
Now, now, that’s enough of that, settle down. You crazy, good-fer-nothing – I suppose you knew I was going to talk about your father again. You’re just like him, yes you are. You’re as old as the hills and crazier than anything.
Where was I — Oh yeah. Like I said, Matherson was a great man. He sure helped a lot of people back during World War II. Anyways, Daddy fancied himself an author, so he sat down and wrote The Definitive History of the People of the Outer Banks. The women bought it for the recipes and the men bought it to see what Daddy said about them. But he didn’t write it for everybody living around here. He wrote to people who don’t understand the way we do things and call things. Somewhere in the beginning, he’s got somethi– Here it is. Look at this Mark.
Pronunciation Guide to Outer Banks Place Names
Chicamicomico chick-uh-muh-CAHM-ee-co
Rodanthe row-DAN-thee (th as in thisle)
Bodie Island BAH-dee EYE-land
Dasamankapeck daas-uh-muhn-KAY-pik
Corolla ca-RAH-la
Manteo MAN-tee-oh (not man-TAY-oh)
Anyway, you want to know about Matherson, flip over here and read what really happened.
From chapter 4 of The Definitive History of the People of the Outer Banks
A Brief Note Regarding Jeremiah Levi Matherson
Jeremiah moved down to the Outer Banks in September of 1937 shortly before the Prince of Serbia was assassinated. Jeremiah owned and operated a general store since then around where milepost 16 is today. The store opened in 1938 and despite all odds, his store did well.
When he arrived, he was a man of 48. He was a tall heavy-built man with a short military cut and graying hair. Some have made the comparison to Clint Eastwood, but Jeremiah was thicker in build. He talked with a slow Virginian accent, but had clear elocution. He was a respected man in the entire community, even until the day he died on March 6, 1988 at the age of 96.
To best describe the man, however, one has to know the history of Matherson, NC. It’s a small dot that appears on many of the older maps of the area. There is nothing of great historical significance to this small town, except in the life of its founder, Jeremiah Levi Matherson.
An Incident Involved in Causing the Founding of Matherson, NC
It must be understood that local history is saturated with pirates, bootleggers, blockade runners and other would-be Robin Hoods; each to his own time and station. Their crimes did not change the fact that they were, by and large, a good and wholesome people. No one missed church on Sunday.
So, when a small dot appears on an old map called Matherson on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, do not judge the man in light of recent events. After what has been said about the town’s mayor (and founder and fireman and postman), he might be considered a crazy man at best, and a menace at worst.
The town itself was not very big, it comprised of two acres of sand, a two story store/house and a rusty old Model T the children called the Firetruck. The two acres of sand had a few tress dotted here and there, but was unsuitable for any agriculture or grazing of animals. The Model T was a 1907 and had the reputation for carrying around the Wright Brothers when they returned to performtheir experiments a few years after making their historic first flight at Kitty Hawk. When it came to rest in front of the General Store, it’s reputation declined to that of a mailbox.
The General Store was the only structure around for miles. He was advised not to build it at all by Elmer Beecham and his boys, but when he decided to put it up, they helped with the construction. It was a two story building without a cellar. Jeremiah lived upstairs and the store was located downstairs opening up into a large front porch. On the porch, many of the town’s leading men could be found playing checkers and clabberjasz with the occasional game of pinochle. Among the most frequent visitors were Judge Tillett, Officer Jeffrey Etheridge, his brother Bobby and Mark Pritchett, the card player. The other mainstay of the front porch was Numbers, Jeremiah’s grizzled old six-toed gray tom cat that guarded the front door of the store. Whenever anyone visited Jeremiah, you had to pay your respects to Numbers. Otherwise, he wouldn’t let you in.
The store was always full of good food like pig, chicken and the occasional ground beef. The most popular section of the store, however, was the cooler full of Coca-Colas to the right of the door just as a person would leave the store. If you bought enough merchandise, Matherson would give you one or two for free. Even during World War II, the store stayed full.
Shortly after the ration system started in the US, a new sheriff came to town. He wanted to be called Sheriff Needham, so that was what he was called. He had noticed that an occasional customer or two seemed to be leaving with more than the allotted cheese rations. He also noticed that people purchased some items that he wasn’t sure were legal to buy or not. Sheriff Needham had been known in Atlanta for being a very tough policeman that always got the job done. His curiousity about Matherson’s store was enough for him to come out of retirement. At least come out of retirement this one last time. After becoming sheriff, he started to investigate Matherson.
Officer Zachary Taylor was in charge of the investigation. He would use the most modern surveillance techniques on every stakeout of Matherson. He became an expert at camouflage and even discovered a way to stay hidden behind trees thinner than he was. Zachary would always talk about how he read that the FBI used this tactic or this special device to catch suspected criminals. Since the department was low on resources, he convinced the local government offices to drink plenty of Ovaltine, so that they could get their equipment by ordering from programs on the radio. (He sounded just like the announcer when he would query, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?") Zachary had planned to swoop down and arrest the prime suspect in the Matherson case when Jeremiah was least suspecting.
One day, in the course of the investigation, Jeremiah noticed Officer Zachary trying to spy from the thornbush in front of the porch.
"Judge, is that legal in this state?" asked Jeremiah.
"Well, it can be if they figure that you’ve done something. But Zach’s been doing this for a couple of weeks and hasn’t found anything. If you took them downtown, you’d win." Judge Tillett paused to ponder his next move. Then looking at Jeffrey Etheridge he said, "But just remember Jeremiah, there ain’t no law against being stupid."
By this time, in full view of all the leading men of Dare County, he had sneaked to the side of the porch and waited hoping to overhear Matherson incriminating himself. Everyone kept on playing checkers for about 30 minutes until Jeremiah came out of the store with two Coca-Colas. He walked over to the edge of the porch, leaned over and handed an unsuspecting Officer Zachary one of them.
"After a hard day of policing, you deserve a coke-cola. Besides, if I was a snake, I’d a-bit you sometime ago. "
Thus ended the criminal investigation by Officer Zachary Taylor.
Now Jeffrey Etheridge had laughed because he knew that he was much smarter. He had been playing checkers on the porch for some time in order to gain their
confidence. He figured that he was now one of ‘them’. He had always thought that he would get more information using his way. Now that Zach was gone, he hoped that they would finally start talking about Matherson’s supplier or about the expected shipment. But, since they had made fun of a fellow officer, he decided that he needed to defend his compatriot.
"Now you don’t run a crooked checker game do you Matherson?" he blurted out. "It’s a felony offense to gamble." Jeffrey knew that he had said the wrong thing, especially with Judge Tillett sitting directly across from him. At this point, though, he had to make good with his threat as best he could.
Drawing himself up to his full height, he swaggered around the porch (thumbs in belt loops) saying, "Now cheating is a felony offense. I wasn’t going to say nothing, but I have lost five straight times and that just don’t happen. I suspect that there is foul play involved and I have my suspects."
He continued carefully eyeing everyone in an attempt to stare them down. After a few more minutes of testy silence, he said, "Now I would not suspect Your Honor," he said looking at Judge Tillett, "you beat me fair and square. But there is an EX-CONVICT among us. Maybe he would know something about some gambling goin’s-on. In fact, I would almost say that–"
Jeremiah interrupted saying, "Now Jeffrey, that was out of line. I’m going to have to ask you to kindly leave."
Officer Jeffrey Etheridge quit swaggering and jerked his head at Jeremiah, "Now listen here you numbers running, backstabbing convict, if I had wanted your
worthless opinion, I’d have asked for it. Now I am an ON-DUTY officer and I can sit wherever I want as long as I’m on a case. You got all kinds of things runnin’ in and out of this store and it don’t make no sense. I aim to find out who you’re theivin’ in order stock this place. People around here think you killed your wife, your lucky I don’t dig up the place to look for her body."
The now former Sheriff Jeffrey Etheridge is well known as being a gracious speaker and a kindly man to anyone. So many of you may wonder how such terrible
things can come out of his mouth.
The transformation of a man of ignoble character begins at this point.
Jeremiah was visibly upset, but he calmly strode toward Jeff until he was a moment away from his face. "Now Jeff, I was in prison and everybody knows that. If you want to know where I buy my stuff, all you had to do was ask. " His voice began to rise, "But I did not run any numbers in my past and I do not run numbers now. I have not ever betrayed my friends and most of the time I’ve ever treated people that don’t like me pretty well." Materson began to be visibly upset as he continued, "Now you listen to me and you listen good – I have done things in my life I am not proud of, but I do not cheat anyone, I do not gamble, I do not talk about people behind their back, and whatever people may think around here, I CERTAINLY DID NOT KILL MY WIFE! " Jeffrey’s eyes got very large as Jeremiah continued, "If you weren’t an officer, I’d strike you down right now. What do you know about me, what do YOU know about anything? I robbed a bank. I did my time and paid my price." Jeremiah drew a deep breath before adding, "NOW GET OFF MY PORCH!"
Officer Jeffrey was about to comment when Jeremiah turned and grabbed him by the ear. "All right. You want to act like a child, I’ll treat you like a child." And before anyone could react, Jeremiah had thrown him off the porch by his ear. Jeffrey had muttered something, but he gave no defense and quietly escaped into the background.
* * * * *
About two weeks later, while Jeremiah was putting a sign down in front of the Firetruck, Sheriff Needham arrived with a search warrant.
Sheriff Needham was a thin man with an annoying nasal voice. Most people would give him what he wanted just because they didn’t want to hear him speak. He looked to be about thirty for most of his life because his stayed a healthy dark brown. The only way people could ever tell that he was getting older, was that his glasses got thicker. He was generally not regarded as pleasant until you got to know him very well.
Two weeks after Jeffrey’s Transformation, Sheriff Needham arrived to search the store and the upstairs apartment for illegal whiskey. Jeremiah never looked up while Needham peered over his thin horned rimmed glasses.
"Stop right there, Lawrence Needham."
"My name is Sheriff Needham and I am here to serve out a search warrant for illegal whiskey. We have sufficient cause to search the premises. Would you like me to search with you, or detain you while I look?"
After a pause, Jeremiah continued sinking the sign. "Lawrence," he said, "you are out of your jurisdiction. This here is the glorious town of Matherson, North Carolina. As mayor, I have already refused the service of local police and county sheriffs in lieu of our own local police force. In order to serve the warrant, you must contact the Chief of Police in Matherson, NC."
"Now Jeremiah," he said, "don’t be foolish. I am the sheriff and I am in charge around here. Now step aside so I can serve this warrant and knock off this foolishness."
Jeremiah grabbed the sheriff by the ankle to stop him, but Sheriff Needham was so startled he fell. "Excuse me, but you are disturbing the peace in this town and I am going to have to kindly ask you to leave. I suggest you do so before you are arrested."
"Why’d you do a fool thing like that!" shouted Needham spitting out sand, "I told you I have jurisdiction and now all you’ve done is make me mad!" Sheriff Needham stood up, "I was going to be nice, but now I am going to have to put you under–"
A gun shot went off. The only sheriff of Matherson, NC marched deliberately towards Sheriff Needham. "Sheriff Needham, you are out of your jurisdiction. Now kindly leave. I am sheriff in this town and you are a hair’s-breath away from being arrested."
"Jeffrey," said Needham, "what in the sam-hill are you doing? Get out of my way…"
"I am doing my job. I will not ask you again." Sheriff Jeffrey Etheridge stood firm, eyes unmoving, "and leave the search warrant with Jeremiah before you go."
Sheriff Needham never did live down that moment and tried to prosecute Jeremiah Matherson for the rest of his life. But that is how the town of Matherson, North Carolina was formed and that is the character of the man named Jeremiah Levi Matherson.
Throughout the rest of World War II, everyone eventually ended up in Matherson’s store because it was the only dependable one. He was sometimes short on butter and milk, but there was plenty of everything else. Even Mrs. Needham began to go there, but without her husband’s knowledge, of course. I do not know if he ever violated the ration system or how he came to be the only store that had plenty of food. What is known to every resident of the Outer Banks during that time is that without his little store, we all would’ve starved during the war. Instead, Jeremiah saved us all. If this is truly the "crazy old man" that the press says he is, then the good Lord help al us crazy old men trying to do something for the people of this world.
See now Mark, Matherson wasn’t a crazy old man like this Scott fellow would like you to think. He helped a lot of people and put up with a lot. You just can’t judge a man by his past, Mark. If someone did that to all of us, we’d all be crazy. Now you take this book and read it if you want to know the history. I know that this idn’t your regular textbook, but I know that it’s true. And I don’t care one bit what your teacher Mr. Needham says.