New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-08-20
A NORTH CAROLINA RIOT

NEGRO PROCESSION INsULTED-A DIsGRAcE-
FIN. prGUT-A JUST CONSERVATIVE JUDGE.
| IFRoM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRiBushl
FAYETTEVILLE, N. c., Aug. 16.-An Item vi
news rarely escapes from this old town. ana wheh ~
does II is likely encounter such rough usage Wy ~
way as 10 bear little Of truth north OF kaiegh OF so
Wilmington The telegraph Is not yet known anio"s
these sand hills and turpenne orchards, and tne nun
going South, by the slowly moving riyer-boats Oh
the Cape Fear, is sometimes more than "a howo
reaching Wilmington distance OF liz miles 30 IL WIS
that not until Wednesday noon did hear In wilmington
q vague rumor OF a great negro riot In TINS ptce' "
which fences torn down. stable burned ana GU"
siderable shooting done. took the afternoon BOAT was
on the spot in % hours such is the rapidly OF Norh
Carolina traveD and though found the riot much ies
serious than had been reported to be- have been aoe
70 ascertain all the facts and IN addition, to see now
Justice is administered IN North Carolina when the
rights of the negro are to some degree at STAKE
"Wby you see," said the first man Of whom made
inquiries the subject, an active Conservative po
tcian "why you the riot grew out OF nght winch
occurred an previous and resulted from the inter
ference Of a drunken white with the celebration.
He got right smart whaling, and 1t served him right
"Was Il regular celebration by the Grant hepuDn-
cansp asked.
ono, there was but one white man in the procession,
and very few OF better class OF nggers. lot OF
drunken fellows who gathered about the market on
Saturday night proposed procession on the following
Monday. When the men who generally lead In these
things heard OF IT, they desired to postpone IL se'era
days In order that due propagation might be made bue
the fellows who first moved In the matter would near vi
no postponemen but word TO the country nggers
that Grant was town. and that they must come In on
Monday night When the crowds came in from the
country they explained that they did not mean the
President, but Of the same name that lived here'
Among those who came In was company OF uniformed
niggers from over the river Well, they formed their
! procession, many Of the town daIkes joining Win
them, and marched through the streets as quietly
as could be expected, and out upon the hlll'
As part of the celebration, rosn barrels
had been placed in the streets and fired. In one
SQUARE in one back street. chiefly inhabited by
nlggers three Of these barrels had been placed wneh
John Black drunken white MAJ OF no character, came
along kicked the barrels aad put out the IRE 10
retaate for this three four the niggers set upon
him. knocked him down, and beat him very severely
Near by was house OF bad rpute, and young man
who was visiting there and twowomen went to the aid
of Black One of the gt him out of the crowd
and over the fence, but the yong man was struck 80
hard on the head with club that it was thought for
time that he would die. BY tbs time two white men
had come up and of them Knocked down the niger
who had struck jim, whereupn another Niger drew
his pistol and fred. The two White men who had last
arrived then drew their pistoh Tie niggers ram and
two shots were fired after them That ended the affair"
"But what caused the riot ,"l asked.
'Wen" he replied, 'the procession was half-a-nile
away upon the hill. The nigErs went up there, and
strangely reported that they d killed four white men
who had fred into the procession. BY the time the story
reached the head Of the procession IL was to the effect
that the firing had just taken place, and that ngGers
were being murdered in the mar. The whole OF them
nj once turned about thepangs from the fences
| and came to town, Threatening 70 take the LIE
| Of the men who had fred into them, and cry
| ing: Give us his hverp Veil skin him alive &c,
interpreting their threats wt the most profane and
| obscene oaths When they st to town 1t was re-
ported that the man In Mr. rroys yerystabe, and
they surrounded the place. yelling and continuing their
threats. Some Of got the Mayor, who Is Grant Re-
| publican, the Internal Revenu man here, and one or
| two others, and went down here. You can have no
idea Of the erceness OF that b. have been In many
battle but It required moro @urage to go among those
men than TO face a battery Fur time they would not
be queed but broke down tie door OF the stable and
seemed determined 10 set II onre. great number OF
the best niggers in town JOINED with in persuading
| the men TO 20 home and they finally dispersed. That
was all Of it, Sir and it's fortunate IL was no worse
the stable had been fred aud the town aroused, am
afraid we should have had terrible fight here ana
| much bloodshed"
reports which have obtained from other sources.
| have given the particulars q told 10 me at greater
length than would be justified It not probable that
exaggerated reports tending do Injustice to one or the
other party, are likely TO haze already reached the
Northern press.
attended to-day the trial OF negro accused OF hay'
| ing been of those who attcked Black He was an
intelligent inofensye looking man. and his trial was
only interesting pr@ed that at Fayetteville,
at least a coored man ohan even-handed justice
| In local magistrates court, and that there H.
| therefore, no necessity 10 Federal interference
| 10 protect the blacks againt the white people In
| the first place, the pnsone defended by
Conservative lawyer who woked as faithfully for his
acquittal as though his ellen had been white man.
Then respectable white merchant OF the village, also
Conservative upon thu stand and swore that the
prisoner had preserved god reputation for Ia years
and finally, the magistrate another Conservative, In
summing I'D the case said tint while the evidence ala
prove the prisoner 70 have stuck the blow did prove
him to have been present aiding and abettng the as
sault He also said that, IL his opinion. Black got no
punishment than he desrved though the prisoner
had right to assist in ircting It. He, therefore
fined the colored man t1 and ,osts.
am convinced from what have seen not only here
but In every part OF the stae In which have been,
that notwithstanding bitterness between the races
engendered by politics. the bcal authorities when they
are Conservative much more disposed to give the
most Justice the negroes, when trouble arises
between them their white neighbors than the Grant
men are in the counties the control to redress whte
Conservatives wrongs.