The weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1869-18??, 1870-09-07
ssTOm Green and Alex. Curtis in the
Lead.,,

Lead.',
"At Hillsboro' Mr.. Turner was taken up
with Gov. Graham and placed in carriage
which the horses had been taken from, and
sizty gentlemen caught hold Of the rope with
two colored Conservatives, Tom Green and
Alex Curtis in the lead, and kwn into the
low ;s9E3l Wa11 they 6ltsje f6S Or were s,s,
sgladness and welcome" -Sentinel.
A few months ago, in the town of Ora
ham, within fifteen miles of Hillsboro',
"siaty mon caught hold Of the rope" and hung
Wyatt Outlaw to the limb Of tree before
the Courthouse door. Sisty is reported as
the number of disguised assassins who COM
mitsed this outrage. 1t is not recorded
whether it was the same sirty who ''caught
hold of the rope" at Hillsboro', but doubtless
many of them were the same, and the bal
ance their accomplices or sympathizers.
There is a coincidence in the number of
gentlemen" and in the instrument used.
It was not the first time in that locality,
within few months, that sixty gentlemen"
and rope had been used for the benefit of
10. Turner and Graham.
The procession was formed outside of the
town. At one end was joe Turner and
Gov. Graham, at the other Tom Green and
Alex. Curtis in the lead" When this pro-
cession entered the town it was greeted with
smiles of gladness and welcome by ladies.
Was the greeting for Joe Turner and Ora
ham behind, or for sixty gentlemen :" and
the rope in the centre, or for "Tom Green
and Alex. Curtis in the lead9" Doubtless
the latter attracted all eyes-the sickening
spectacle of too negroes leading sixty "gen-
| tlemen" and rope, with Joe Turner and
| Graham in the rear. Is it not barely posi-
| BILE that the " smiles of the ladies were not
of gladness and welcome, but of derision
and scorn at the degrading spectacle which
Turner and Graham presented The ladies
| of North Carolina have quick sense of the
ridiculous, as well as of propriety. 81.
Some writer has defined the operation of
angling "as line and hook, with a worm
| at one end and a fool at the other" In this
| procession the number of the extremit;es
was doubled. The two negroes were the
poor writhing worms the victims and bait
used by the worthless at the other end of the
line. .'a .aw ., l.f...
The rope is distinctly named. But of the
sixty-four gentlemen" who composed the
| procession, none were deemed worthy Of
l distinct mention, save Joe Tnrner and Coy.
| Graham at one end, and, at the other, Tom
Green and Alex. Curtis in the lead.n These
were the figure heads of the demonstration,
which was supposed to be greeted with
"smiles of gladness and welcome"
| Did no one think of the bitter tears and
! trembling terror of the wife and little ones
of Wyatt Outlaw, upon that awful night
when sixty disguised gentlemen" caught
hold of the rope? Did none think OF the
poor wife of Senator Shofner, and her
crouching children, during the dismal hours
of that dreadful night when DR.. Moore, q
messenger of mercy, turned back the sixty
| disguised gentlemen who were hunting
| for her husbands blood? Did no one think
of the "pall of death which for months,
in that very locality, had nightly settled
upon the humble dwellings of the poor and
defenceless victims of political hate and
Kuklux outraged This vulgar demonstra-
ton, as it moved along, was to celebrate the
temporary escape Of the actors and instiga-
tors in these ontrages.
And as to the poor colored wretches in tho
Lead: Did they forget the quivering flesh of
several hundred of their race upon whose
bare backs the lash of the sixty gentlemen
had been mercilessly applied within q few
months in their immediate neighborhood
Or did they remember it with fear and
trembling and render forced service to es-
cape the fate of their fellows? In their pre-.
sent alarm the Kuklux leaders must not only
thrust forward the ladies Of their families
but dragon even the poor negroes into theil
service. ..-H. .a.,.r
The Joe Turner burlesque of Thursday
"was headed by two colored Conservative
marshalls, Stephen Worth and A. B. Will
liams,' who rode side by side with the rib
boned white gentry who officiated on the
occasion. This was doubtless dictated by
| Joe Turner himself in imitation of "Iom
Green and Aler Curtis IN the leO,tl." .-.
| While the good people ofthe State are be
ing filed with sorrow and humiliation by
such displays from bloody handed criminals
and their supporters, how many q silent but
anxious prayer ascends to heaven for the
success of the bold and humane efforts of the
Governor and Judiciary to suppress that
"species of wild justice sometimes necessary
to preserve proper subordination in SO.
ciety!" ti