BUG? in tputs?

[Don Glover]

I am using xenix 386 with the 2.3 development system and have been compiling
nethack.  And have run into what I believe to be a BUG.  I hope some one out
there can give me a work around.
 
in the code are the following lines:
#ifdef TERMINFO
#ifdef __STDC__
	tputs("$<50>", 1, (int (*)())xputc);
#else
	tputs("$<50>", 1, xputc);
#endif
	tputs("50", 1, xputc);
#endif
 
myfirst problem is that with either TERMINFO defined or not defined, I
end up with garbage on the screen 50's or <50>'s second if I change
the xputc to a xputs as was suggested to me, I get a memory fault.  
Can someone shed some light on the subject of tputs?  This code apparently
works fine on a number of other systems.