Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-06-28

SENATOR POOLS PROGRAMME.

question. DO you remember being pre- |
sent at meeting or consultation III the |
Executive office, in the city of Raleigh, be- !
tween Gov. Holden, John Pool and other |
members of the Republican party, on or |
about the 9Th of June, 1870: If so, state |
what occurred, and particularly what was
said and done by Mr.. Pool?
AnS,oer. Some time during the last
Summer term of the Supreme Court, and
1 think during tho first week, Pool was
here in Raleigh. AS heard from him and
know from seeing him in the room and
hearing him argue causes, he was at that
time i'll attendance upon the Court. Some
time during that week l think, and il not,
then certainly early in the next week, 1 was
asked to go to Gov. Holden's office to con-
suit in regard tie the outrages in Alamance,
CasWell and other portions of the State. 1t
was stated to me by the person who in
vited me, that Mr.. Pool and several other
leading Republicans would be present. l
cannot say positively at what time Of the
day the meeting began, but my impression
is, about o'clock. 1t was very protracted.
During the continuance of the meeting,
several persons were not there at the be-
ginning came III, and several who were
there at the beginning went out. My re-
collection is nor perfect as regards all the
persons who were present, but the follow
ing at least, were some of them, to wit
the Governor, John Pool, Jas. III. Harris,
(colOrcd,) lsaas j. Toung, Gen. Willie ID.
Jones. l do not recollect distinctly about
Col. Clarke, but think he was, but my inn
| preston is not very decided. My impress
| sion as regards the presence of Mr.. Treas
urer jenkins is the same as that have con-
corning Clarke, only more decided. L am
not certain as to U. S. Marshal Carrow, or
| Auditor Adams. l think the latter was
present, and think the same as TO Hood,
! (cOlOred,) Assistant Superintendent OfPub-
lie Instruction and w. T. Henderson.
| When came in, it was stated to me that
the object Of the meeting was to take into
! consideration what advice should be given
| Gov. Holden as to the course he should
| pursue to suppress the outragcs in Ala
nance, Caswell and several other counties
| In the State. There was long discus
sion of the State and the necessity of de-
stroying what We called the Ku-KluX Or
| ganization. 1t twas conceded by all pres
| ent that the ordinary civil tribunals had
failed to accomplish that object, and that
unless some other force was brought to
bear Republicans, white and colored, could
not live in certain parts of North Carolina.
| There was, also, consider be discussion as
to the remedy. In these discussions a
great many of those present took no part
| some were silent. l, myself, took an ac-
tive part. 1t was very generally agreed
that the military power would have to be
used in some shape or other, and that this
| military power should be that of North
Carolina, because the military force of the
United States sent to these parts had ac-
complished no good.
Gov. Holden, during the most of the
conference, except those portions of it
which referred to the bad condition of
things in the two counties, was listener
| oTOh nT1fn to ino
gestiOns. L sat near him during the entire
conference and at every suggestion made
by any person, he appealed to me, either
by look, gesture or woOrd, for my opinion
i'll regard to it.
1t was suggested TO make q military oc-
cupation of the two counties, and to arrest,
detain, and try such persons as were sIls-
pected of completely III the outragcs said TO
have taken place there, by State military
power. This suggestion was made by Mr..
John Pool i'll the first instance. | an
Swcrcd the Governor, who seemed to appeal
to me for my opinion i'll regard to it, that
the military occupation and arrest were
hight, and, | thought necessary, but the
trial by military court was too dangerous
an experiment for him to undertake; that
he ought to send i'll conjunction with the
military Il judicial officer to try, i'll accord
ance with our forms Of law, such persons
as the military should arrest. 1t was said
by Mr.. Pool that this would not accom-
plish the object, and he, i'll this connection,
called TO the Governors attention what
Gov. Clayton, Of Arkansas, had done under
similar circumstances, which, in substance,
was, according to his statement, as follows
that Gov. Clayton having the same evils to
contend with had embodied his militia,
taken military possession of disatiectcd
counties and tried and executed large
numbers Of men bycOurts and, in that way,
had broken up the Ku-KIux in Arkansas.
Upon that some discussion took place be-
tween Gov. Holden and John Pool and
myself as to what its effect would be upon
Gov. Holden himself. l insisted that all
the consequences Of q failure would have
to be borne by the Governor, and Mr..
Pool insisted that Gov. Clayton had made
Il success of it, and there was no reason
why such Il success should not be the result
here. then called attention to the diff
ference i'll the condition of the country
that what Clayton had done was shortly
after the military occupation Of his State
that what was borne then would not be
borne now. | was referring in that con-
versation mainly to trial by military court.
Mr.. Pool and then had a conversation
III regard to the same matter in the south
west corner of the Governors office i'll the
capitol, the result of which was that he
agreed to the proposition originally made
by me that it would be better to send a
; judicial officer with the troops and not, I'M
til that process had failed, to try the more
violent remedy of military courts. L agreed
with him that if the plan L had suggested
should fail to discover and break up these
organizations that then the Governor
should take the more violent course.
The matter then of the difficulties of the
writ of hGbcdS corpus taking the arrested
men out Of the hands of the military oili-
GERS was discussed, [ think nobody being
a party to this conversation except the Gov
ernOr, Mr.. Pool and myself. The propo.
sition, made by myself, was that the Coy
ernor should refuse to obey the writ OF
hGbe0s corpus in those counties placed in
a state of instruction. Mr.. Pool thought
that bad policy, and that it would not
work, and thought better plan would he
to answer the writ of hddedS corpus, pre-
duce the bodies, and if discharged to arrest
upon some new charge; that that was the
plan President Grant suggested.
In regard to the organization of troops.
the first difficulty presented and discussed
was the fact which was very generally
agreed upon, that if the military was called
out it would have to be white or coloIed,
in separate organizations, under our laws
or detailed militia, as provided for in the
| act of 1868. 1t was stated, think, by the
Governor, that he had tried the white de-
tailed militia and found it utterly inefIi-
Gent; that the class OF men WHO would
submit to detail could not be relied on
that as regarded the white militia we al
agreed, at least those of us who took part
| in this discussion, that the Governor wOuId