A lot of people could tell—tell stories and tell jokes—a lot of truth in some of them and a lot of … fiction … in some of them; there’s a lot of things told around this section of country

And I lived there at one time

And the story I picked up … from conversation with older people that older people had told them—it seemed like … the names is right—Tyler—Wallace Tyler was in Baltimore harbor … in about eighteen and four—possibly before that—with a schooner    (2)

And there come what they call a Baltimore waterfront fire

And they moved his vessel … down the wharf    (3)

And all the strongboxes they dealt in gold and silver then—traded in gold and silver

And they put all their strongboxes in his boat to keep the fire from getting them it was sweeping the waterfront

And of course they didn’t have much fire department in those days

And, when they got his boat loaded, wind was in the northwest and blowing hard

And he just put sail on to her and took off with all of those safes

And when daylight come, he was down the Chesapeake out of sight     (4)

And the first place he came after he come out of Chesapeake Bay the first inlet was … what was known as … Cooper’s inlet; he went in that inlet … with his schooner

And went up Tate’s Point creek    (5)

And he got afraid that the revenuers would get ahold of him

And he dumped all those safes overboard, in what was known as Gum Cove    (6)

And, course he stayed there … for quite a while till he found out the revenuers were not gonna get him

And he fished up those safes so this is the story I’ve heard    (7)

And I’ve … heard it from good authority … that he got gold and silver from that [ + ]

And he bought … property down there [ + ]    (8)

And he owned six thousand acres—tracts of timber down there [ + ]

And this creek and along Tate’s Point    (9)

And he had a hundred slaves at one time

And he farmed and he built three vessels … in that creek that sailed to the West Indies [+]    (10)

And, carried nails down to them [+]    (11)

And, run a general—general trading with the West Indies

And, Martinique, Bermuda [ + ]    (12)

And, those different islands down there

And when the war came on with the … he died in eigh … teen … and forty eight    (13)

But he had a grown son that took over—his name was … Hyram— Hyram Tyler

And he had a hundred slaves they had a hundred slaves there    (14)

And of course he’d sail these … boats to the West Indies from there and he had the captains that lived along the shore there—they had their homes

And he built those boats in that creek, from that—from that timber     (15)

And when the war come on between the states, he got his three boats in Oregon Inlet or Hatteras Inlet

And got ’em up this creek—wanted to save ’em [ + ]    (16)

But, this old Burnside come up there [ + ]

And, cleaned things up, for the Yankees—he took one of these was loaded with nails    (17)

And tried to run her up—run her up Whiskey Creek … to save her—run her up there and take the masts out of her and cover her over with bushes

And, maybe save her    (18)

But they caught him on the way over

And burnt him up—came with fire and burnt him up    (19)

And that was the end of her

[ ... ]    (20)

But, Tate’s Point has always been—I lived there from the time I was four years old till I was thirteen

And, it’s always been a mystery to me how much of this is fiction and how much is the truth—there’s a whole lot of truth in it    (21)

But, they say that when the Yankees come there they—to capture the place—they put his gold—he had two boxes two brass boxes, that he kept his money in—they put ’em down in the bottom of a well

But, it was supposed to have been put down in the bottom of the wells—of a well

And, he was very wealthy till—till he died; of course he lost all of his slaves—they freed the slaves and they took off    (23)

And his sons he had three sons—I can t remember their names— they’re all dead now

But they went to Kinston and started different—wholesale and retail places in Kinston—they had sufficient money    (24)

And they sold this property to a—a—Mildred Miles from Asbury Park New Jersey

And my dad went there as keeper of that property, to look out for the … place and she’d visit there maybe twice a year    (25)

And, they had—they had the first power boats in this section not maybe the first

But, among the first    (26)

And, we had a boat there, built in nineteen and six, it would … log … eleveri-and-three-quarters miles an hour easy—in other words, pappa always … logged her at eleven-and-three-quarters

But she’d do fifteen—she’d do fifteen when he put the throttle on her (27)

And that was a gasoline engine that run her

And that was awfully high speed in them days—boat run … twelve miles an hour … back in nineteen and six was so fast it took two people to see her    (28)

Course it’s different now—any little outboard’ll run that speed

But we had the fastest boat there was in this section of country for years    (29)