by Charly Mann

Friday July 30th 1965 was a beautiful day to be alive in Chapel Hill. At 12:30 that afternoon the skies were clear, and it was 77; mild for mid-summer, and an attractive twenty-one year old coed named Suellen Evans was walking back to her room at Cobb dormitory. She was enrolled in summer school and had attended classes that morning in education and sociology. Like many other coeds she felt safe walking through the Arboretum in the middle of day to get to the nearby cluster of women dorms. Suellen had a beautiful voice and loved to sing. The most popular song among UNC students that week was the Four Tops song “I Can’t Help Myself” which she loved to sing along with.

Suellen Evans

As Suellen was about to complete her journey through the Arboretum a man suddenly grabbed her, and holding a five-inch knife in his hand tried to rape her near the exit on Raleigh Street across from McIver dormitory. Suellen screamed for help and fought off her assailant with all her might. As they struggled the man first stabbed her in the neck, and then in the chest right through her heart. The man then fled as two groups of women ran up to the scene after hearing Suellen’s cries for help. Suellen said to the women “he tried to rape me … I believe I’m going to faint”. Those were her last words.

Police search for clues at crime scene in Arboretum

Suellen Evans was loved by all her knew her. Her longtime friend and roommate at UNC that summer, Caroline Kay Seawell, described her as the most wonderful person she ever knew. More than 800 people attended her funeral in her hometown of Mooresville.

Suellen Evans was the first UNC student to be murdered in cold-blood, and the first reported even attempted rape victim, and it all happened in broad daylight in an area where hundreds of students walked, picnicked, sunbathed, or studied everyday.

The murder was commited in the Arboretum near the exit across from McIver Dormitory

Chapel Hill was shocked at the crime. More than 200 male UNC students walked shoulder to shoulder through every inch of the five acre Coker Arboretum looking for the long blade knife used in the slaying. Chapel Hill citizens colleted money for a reward fund that grew to $1285.

The University Police, The State Bureau of Investigation, and the Chapel Hill Police force combined to try to find the murderer. The Chapel Hill Board of Alderman even voted an extra $500 for the Police Department for use in their investigation. The first suspect was a black janitor who worked at Phillips Hall, and had been positively identified as coming out of the Arboretum around the time of the murder. After four hours of questioning he was released, primarily because he had no cuts or scratches, and the crime scene and lab tests indicated Suellen had forcibly tried to fight off her assailant.

The best lead was a red headed white man with freckles that two witnesses saw emerge from the Arboretum at the time of the slaying with blood on his hands, shirt, and neck, and get into a 1961 or 62 Rambler parked in front of the Chapel of The Cross in the Sundial parking area which adjoins the arboretum. The man was described as being about 50.

This is my mockup of the August 8, 1965 issue of my newspaper detailing the murder of Suellen Evans

Sadly the Suellen Evans case remains unsolved. I started doing a twice weekly Chapel Hill newspaper for my friends and family when I was fouteen in 1964 called The News of Chapel Hill. For several weeks in 1965 I focused much my coveage on the Evans case. I have always been cerain it was the blood splatteed red-headed man who was the murderer. Eerily his description and age at the time match the same person who I suspect killed Rachel Crook in another brutal crirme fouteen years earlier. See my article on the Crook murder case at: http://www.chapelhillmemories.com/cat/3/59

Could it be that the same man who killed Rachel Crook also killled Suellen Evans and both times escaped justice?

by Charly Mann

This is a campus map from 1881. Through almost half of UNC's history there were less than a dozen buildings on campus.

In 1952 John Williams Canada came back to Chapel Hill for a visit. He had graduated from UNC in 1896 and was now in his eighties. When he was student in Chapel Hill Carolina’s enrollment was less than 600, and the town was just a tiny village of 1000. He was saddened to see the growth that had come to his beloved town which now had a population of just over 9000. Of that number almost 6000 were students. In his day he said “Every boy on the campus knew each other, and professors took a personal interest in their students”. He said, “no one in 1896 could have dreamed of Chapel Hill ever being as large at it was now” (1952). When Canada was at UNC he recalled that in winter students had to go out into the surrounding forests to cut wood for the fireplaces in their dorm rooms. In 1893 he said no one could have imagined a building with central heat.

This map and index below lists every building in Chapel Hill from 1875 to 1885, and the names of the family who occupied each house in town.

In 1934 a group of older Chapel Hill residents were asked to describe the Chapel Hill they remembered in their youth some fifty to sixty years earlier. The map above describes the location and occupants of each building in town between 1875 and 1885. Sadly there are many houses whose locations have been recalled that no one could remember who lived there. I hope that readers of Chapel Hill Memories who grew up in town will send us maps of the locations of the houses in their neighborhoods, and who lived in them.

by Charly Mann

The Flower Ladies of Chapel Hill were a common colorful sight along Franklin Street for more than five decades beginning in the late 1920s. They were a group of African American women who grew and sold flowers. Their flowers were arranged in plastic buckets filled with daisies, daffodils, marigolds, asters, sweet williams, lillies, roses, and cockscombs. The flowers were sold in bunches of one type or as a mixed bouquet. When I was small boy in the 1950s I remember buying bunches for my mother at 25 cents. By the early 1970s the price of a bunch was only a $1.00.

The Flower Ladies during the last year they were allowed to sell on Franklin Street, 1971

In the late sixties hippie merchants decided to imitate the flower ladies and sell a variety of items including used phonograph albums, leather goods, and drug paraphernalia along Franklin Street. Besides making the sidewalks narrower, local merchants, who were often paying more than a $1000 a month to rent store space on Franklin Street, were not happy with this new competition.

Initially the town council tried to stop these new sidewalk sellers by banning sales of anything but flowers along Franklin Street. The street sellers circumvented the new ordinance by “selling flowers” which would come along with “free” merchandise such as the clothing, records, or the hash pipes they had previously sold. As a the city had to ban all sidewalk sales on Franklin Street in 1971. Fortunately exemptions were made to allow the flower ladies to sell their wares in the passageway of NCNB Plaza and the alley a few stores east of the Varsity Theater. But Franklin Street was never the same again, and the number of flower ladies steadily declined. Also over the last couple of decades the few flower ladies who remained rarely grew their own flowers. 

by Charly Mann

The annual Chapel Hill Apple Chill Fair was a 35 year community event that featured arts, crafts, music, and food. It was the last of a long line of annual Chapel Hill gatherings in which young and old alike bonded in a festive event. Before Apple Chill there were gatherings like the Watermelon Festival in the 1950s which was held in late spring on the UNC campus in which everyone in town got together to enjoy free slices of watermelon. Chapel Hill’s 4th of July Celebration was also much more like a fair when it was held on the Intermural Field located between Carmichael Auditorium and the Institute of Government in 1950s through the 60s.

Apple Chill took place for one weekend every April on Franklin Street. All of downtown became a glorious pedestrian mall as the streets were barracked from traffic and stalls, carts, musicians, jugglers, dancers, and clowns filled the streets. One could always enjoy a wide variety of decadent and exotic foods, and during the 1970s much of the art and crafts offered were first rate.

The first Apple Chill festival was in 1972. Apple Chill got its name by moving the “C” in “Chapel” over to “Hill” and with a few modifications become “Apple Chill”. The festival was originally called the Apple Chill Art and Music Fair, and was held not on Franklin Street, but on the adjacent McCorkle Place on the UNC campus. There was an array of great artists that year displaying their work, as well as music that included Mike Cross and legendary Chapel Hill band Arrogance. Over the years Apple Chill evolved into a real family event that offered face painting, kite-flying, balloons, and clowns for children. The arts and crafts for sale grew progressively downscale, but more affordable.

This was the most threatening scene you could encounter in the first 25 years of the Apple Chill Festival

By the early 1990s the essence of downtown Chapel Hill was starting to change. There were far fewer stores on Franklin Street that were locally owned or catered to a non-student clientele. In 1993 shortly after Apple Chill ended more than 70 shots were fired from a car on West Franklin Street that wounded two people. The festival began attracting gang members from Durham and bikers from several states. Fights during and after the Fair became common and included brawls of more than fifty people in 2003 that ended when Chapel Hill Police had to draw their guns to stop the melee. Finally after three people were shot downtown shortly after the close of the Apple Chill festival in 2006 Chapel Hill mayor Kevin Foy and the city council voted unanimously to end Apple Chill.

Chapel Hill's Police did not have to worry about bikers and gangs during most of Apple Chill's history

The Halloween Celebration is the only annual event that is still held on Franklin Street, but with the rise crime and gang related violence in the downtown area that event is attracting far fewer than the 80,000 celebrants who attended at its peak.  For downtown Chapel Hill to return to its community roots it must make Franklin Street safe for its residents. There are too many empty stores, homeless panhandlers, and gang members these days. Chapel Hill is still a wonderful place with a beautiful campus and beautiful neighborhoods, but the once charming downtown where people felt safe walking around in the evening is now only a memory.

The Apple Chill Cloggers first appeared at the fair in 1975. They performed Appalachian clogging which combines traditional clogging with square dance and Scottish dancing. They thrilled the crowds with their high kicks, energy, and costumes. 
 

by Charly Mann

Chapel Hill has a long history of producing great bands, but none can match the longevity and outrageousness of Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts. Throughout the sixties they were the most popular fraternity band in the country, and their fame and influence has stayed strong even after the death of Doug Clark in 2002.

Cover of their best album, from 1963, On Campus

Doug Clark started the group in 1955 when he was a student at Chapel Hill's segregated all-black Lincoln High School, which was actually located in Carrboro. The band was originally known as The Tops and then as the Doug Clark Combo in 1956. They performed primarily covers of 1950's rock hits. In early 1957 they added their version of the 1930's blues song Hot Nuts to their set list. The risqué nature of the song, and the rhythm and blues arrangement the band gave it, made it instantly popular among frat boys. From 1957 to 1963 they continued to improve their arrangement of Hot Nuts as well as add new verses to the song. The song became so identified with the group that by 1958 they were called Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts.

Doug Clark Combo 1956

Seeing the appeal of ribald material they soon built a repertoire of naughty songs. They quickly became in demand at fraternities and private parties up and down the East Coast. It was a novelty band because their material was never suited for the mass market, but they were also pioneers in how to be a successful college party band. They did something no other band did: made people laugh and smile throughout their entire show.

This is a picture the band autographed for me at one of their fraternity concerts in 1964

As a young boy of thirteen and fourteen I snuck into at least a half a dozen Hot Nuts shows between 1963 and 64 at various fraternities on Fraternity Court, including Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Pi Lambda Phi. All the members of the group were cordial. John Clark, the saxophonist and Doug's brother, was the most outgoing and charming member of the group. Doug on the other hand was always the quietest and most reserved. While I was not the only Chapel Hill youth crashing these gigs, I think I was the only one who enjoyed the music more than the beer which was always readily available. I recognized at an early age that alcohol interfered with one's ability to concentrate on music, and was used primarily as a quick way to reduce inhibitions between members of the opposite sex. 

The Hot Nuts 1963, left to right William "Chicken" Little, John Clark, Ralph Prince (vocalist), Doug Clark. Tommy Booth (piano), Walter Holmes, and Robert Tillman 

In 1963 the Hot Nuts recorded their best album, On Campus, in a New York recording studio. Even though the song Hot Nuts first appeared on their debut album, Nuts to You, the definitive version of the song, both musically and lyrically, appears in On Campus. The album also contains several of their most popular songs, including Bang, Bang Lulu, Roly Poly, Barnacle Bill, and the The Big Wheel. By the time this album was released it was not unusual for the group to perform for between 4,000 and 8,000 people. They had huge followings in  Atlanta, Dallas, and Baltimore, and also had regular gigs at universities throughout the North, South, and West, including the University of Texas, Yale, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, M.I.T., and the University of Virginia.  Each Spring Break they played to huge crowds at Daytona Beach. In 1963 and 64 they added  three female singers to the band, known collectively as The Three Cherries.

It should be remembered that at the time the Hot Nuts were most popular blacks were denied access to most hotels, movie theaters, and restaurants in much of the South. The band made their living playing for all-white fraternities. Few blacks were even admitted to the universities where they were performing, and some, like the University of Alabama and University of Mississippi, denied access to black students. Nevertheless, the Hot Nuts made a good living off the fraternity crowd. It is ironic that many administrations at southern universities decried and sometimes banned the Hot Nuts for their brand of music, but remained silent on the injustice of segregation at their schools.

Factoid: Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts recorded My Ding-A-Ling in 1961 for their first album Nuts to You. In 1972, Chuck Berry had the biggest hit of his career and his only #1 song with the same song.

Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts Discography

• 1961 Nuts to You (Gross)
• 1963 On Campus (Gross)
• 1963 Homecoming (Gross)
• 1964 Rush Week (Gross)
• 1965 Panty Raid (Gross)
• 1966 Summer Session (Gross)
• 1967 Hell Night (Gross)
• 1968 Freak Out (Gross)
• 1969 With a Hat On (Gross)

by Charly Mann

Thomas Wolfe, one of the greatest writers of all time, entered the University of North Carolina at the age of 15 in September of 1916. When he was a senior he was editor of the Daily Tar Heel. During his college years he was also an editor of the Yackety Yack and a member of the Playmakers. Like many other UNC students, at the time, he often paid for the services of prostitutes in Durham brothels.

Thomas Wolfe 1918 Debater and Orator for UNC Dialectic Society

Thomas Wolfe (center) on the porch of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity 1919

Wolfe loved Chapel Hill more than any place on earth, and shortly before graduating in June of 1920 wrote his girlfriend in Asheville the following: I hate to leave this place. It’s mighty hard. It’s the oldest of the state universities and there’s an atmosphere here that’s fine and good. Other universities have larger student bodies and bigger and finer buildings, but in Spring there are none, I know, so wonderful by half. I saw Carolina graduates when I was home for Christmas who were doing graduate work at Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. It would seem that they would forget the old brown buildings in more splendid surroundings, but it was always the same reply: “There’s no place on earth that can equal Carolina.” That’s why I hate to leave this big fine place. (May 17, 1920)

UNC campus 1919 when Thomas Wolfe was a senior

UNC campus 1916 when Thomas Wolfe was a freshman

Thomas Wolfe’s honors and activities at UNC, listed here from the 1920 Yackety Yack, far exceeded those of everyone else in his graduating class. Note it is said, “He can do more between 8:25 and 8:30 than the rest of us can do all day, and it is no wonder that he is classified as a genius.”

Thomas Wolfe's  UNC senior yearbook photo and accomplishment list. (Note the reference to Gooch's where Wolfe would often eat his meals late in the evening - see previous article.)

Thomas Wolfe's dipolma from UNC, June 1920 

Wolfe is most famous for four lyrically eloquent autobiographical novels. The first, Look Homeward, Angel was published in 1929. The second, Of Time and River was published in 1935. His last two great novels, The Web and the Rock and, You Can't Go Home Again, were published after his death. Wolfe came down with a highly unusual case of pneumonia in September of 1938. He was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore where it was finally determined he had tuberculosis in his brain. The best brain surgeon in the country operated on him, but found the entire right side of Wolfe's brain was covered with tubercles. Nothing could be done, and he died at age 37 on September 15, 1938. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville.