Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-04-02
TrnnhIe I'm AlRmanee.

| Trouble I'm Alama-ace.
| There has been considerable excitement
caused by Governor Holden sending some
negro militia to Alamance county to ''rre-
serve the peace" The facts of the case, as
we learn from the Raleigh Sentinel, which
says they were obtained from one of the
members of the Legislature from that
county, derived from responsible parties
who live in the immediate neighborhood
liz which the affair occurred, are as follows:
A colored man-name not remembered
entered the house of Mr.. William Thomp-
son, a respectable citizen living in the
Salem neighborhood in Alamance county.
Mr.. Thompson was in the field when this
occurred.
The negro seized his daughter, about
fourteen years of age, who began immedi-
ately to scream. He said to her, "Dont
give any alarm, for L have Rugged the
daughter of Mir, Zone of the leading
gentlemen of the county, and they had
not resisted him." In the meantime her
little sister took the alarm and ran out into
the ward and blew horn to signal her
father.
MIR. Thompson left his work and hur-
ried to the house to see what was the mat
ter. When he got there he found that the
negro had fled. Taking his gun he follow
ed the negro to his own house, and told
him that he had come with the intention
of killing him, but had changed his mind,
and instead would give him ten days to
leave the county. A few nights afterwards
the friends of Mr.. Thompson's family went
to the negro's house and frailsd him
soundly.
The offence for which this county is to
be invaded by a band of armed negroes,
peaceable citizens threatened with arrest,
and greater or less cutrages committed,
"hath this extent, no more brutal
| negro being chastised for a most fiendish
attack upon a respectable young lady is
made the pretext Of quartering negro
militiamen upon the people at great
expense and to the detriment of the peace
and good order of the county. At time
of great excitement, and, from the very
nature of the offence and punishment, cal
culated to arouse the bitterest feelings of
the whites and blacks against each other.
for the first time in the history of North
Carolina arms are placed in the hands of
an ignorant and preiudiced race, under
the pretence of preserving the peace, but
really to protect a criminal and reek ven
geance upon those who had visited him with
swift but inadequate punishment We un-
hesitatingly pronounce it an outrage
against the people of Alamance, and con-
trary to the best interests of the State.
| We are opposed to Lynch law in any
shape and under every circumstance. We
believe the majesty of the law should
always be indicated. Yet if people are
ever justified in taking the law into their
own hands, or are unwilling to await it's
| delays, it is under the circumstances which
this case presents. And, instead of send
ing ignorant and imbittered black "a moors,
burning with vengeance, to punish those
Justly incensed people, their forbearance
should rather have been commended. We
are satisfied that in no view of the case was
such extreme and dangerous expedients
necessary. The civil officers Of the county
made no demand upon the Governor for
military assistance, and their powers bad
not been set at naught.
| A heinous offence had been committed,
and the criminal had been severely chas-
tised by an outraged community, an occur
renee not unfrequent in the country. But
political capital must be made, and the
disturbance is magnified into rev re-
bellion." The extraordinary powers of the
Governor are vindictively exe1 cised, and
negro troops are fastened to the scene Of
action. The good name of North Carolina
must be sacrificed, and her peaceful Dor
ders must resound with the tramp of
soldiers. The fears of emigrants must be
aroused, and the attention of prospective
settlers called to the warlike condition Of
the State. For what purpose, for what
good end, do oil these things portend I?
Does Holden really aspire to fill the in
iquitous role of Brownlow Is North Caro-
lima on the same high road to anarchy and
blood-shed which has marked the history
of Tennessee Does our Governor take
courage from supposed sympathy of the
new President? Are our people to be
lorded over by negro militiamen Is this
the beginning of the end ? Has Governor
Holden counted the cost
STATE NEWS.