Wilmington journal., 1874-07-17
READ! EVERYBODY.
RANGECo CoNDVC'r FOR JUDGE
YEA! EVEN FOR CANgE'S


srRANGECo oNDUCr FOR JUDO
-YEA! EVEN FOR CANEE'.
i JUDGEi
Surely Judge Russell forgot hirlscl
when he became Il candidate for re
election. When man becomes
candidate he thereby proffers his ,e
cord to the inspection Of those whom
he asks to vote for him. Especially i.
this true when a man seeks to be (
Judge. We are surprised, therefore
at Judge Russell's course, for it is on'
thing to be 4 candidate when bayonets
an bullets and 4 military commander
certificates are all powerful, and quite
another thing to be candidate wher
the ballot box alone settles the ques
ton, and mems mouths are no longer
closed.
| Did Mr.. Russell fatter himself that
no one would dare expose his record
If so, he is not the first man that has
found himself to be less awe inspiring
than he had supposed himself to be.
The portion of Judge Russell's re
cord that we have selected for expo
sure this morning carries us back
some four years or more, to the time
when Holden was Governor, and
claimed authority to suspend at will
ali the laws of the State, just as they
were suspended when Sherman's army
occupied the State in 1866 to the
exciting times that preceded the
Holden-kirk war, when Holden by the
stroke Of his pen could declare every
county in North Carolina to be il a
state of insurrection, and when with the
help of the Supreme Court, he sus-
pended the writ of IIabC0s CO17,us at
will, and declared substantial martial
law wherever it pleased him go
to do.
A Judge of Canby's make and of the
trne Reconstruction pattern, was tn en-
no small parsonage either in Mr.. Rus
sells opinion or in point of fact. Alb
bot was then United States Senator
and Latin and Estes and Flavial
Foster and Abiel Fisher and Chicken
Stephens and Parson Sinclair we're
statesmen. OF course the true white
people of North Carolina had a small
showing.
Then it was that Mr.. Russell pro-
cured the arrest of citizen of Onslow
county and had him carried to Raleigh
before Federal Commissioner on the
ground that he was holding the Office
of Sheriff in violation of the 14th
amendment to the Federal constitu-
ton /! And dear readers what do you
suppose was the provocation? WY
nothing Ia the aOOrld Saue the fact that
the Sheriff persisted an forcing Judge
Russell to pay tarcs on has plantation
In O,aslOaC county, then sCrcra! months
past due :
But Mr.. Murrill tells his own story
SO much better than we can, that we
print his own statement over his own
signature with the single remark that
we do so by authority. 1t is needless
for us to say that what ever Sheriff
Murrill states, may be implicitly re-
he'd on as being true.
He writes as follows:
CATHARINE LAKE, n. G.
June %, 1874.
Yours of the 10Th inst, was received
to-day, but was too busy to answer by
to-days mail. The circumstances
which led to the prosecution instituted
by Judge Russell against me are these:
In the Fall Of 1869, [ collected some
money for Judge Russell under an ex
cution returnahie to Spring term 1870
of our Court, which caused me to i'll
dulge his taxes for the year 1869 until
Court, which came in March 1870,
thinking when he called for it that he
would allow me to deduct the amount
of his taxes, which was very near the
amount III my hands. But when Court
came his counsel, Mr.. Hubbard, said
that Judge Russell had written to him
to get the money and send it to him.
I at first refused to pay it to him un-
less he would take receipt for the
aDao1int of Russell's taxes, which he
said he was not Instructed TO do, and
that he would ainorce me if / didn't
pay it over. Wuil, | paid it, and wrote
to Russell what Hubbard had done,
through his instructions, and that if l
didn't get his taxes ly certain day, [
should sell his property. When the
day came I went to his plantation and
found him there, very indignant at
finding his property advertised for his
taxes, but he paid me and we parted
seemingly friendly.
The next year he let his taxes lie
until, I think, March, when L wrote
him again that l had advertised a sale
of property for taxes on certain day,
aud his was included among others. lie
wrote me a very abrupt letter, in which
he reminded me that l was holding
my office in violation Of the 14th
Amendment to the constitution OF the
United States, and was thereby sub
ject to a criminal prosecution III the
federal courts, and stating that ordi-
narily that would be none Of his bIIsi-
pess, but if I continued to annoy him
about his taxes he would make 1T his
business, &c. 1 wrote him that [ had
only treated him as [ had others whose
taxes were passed due six months, and
as for his threat Of aprosocution in the
federal courts he could try that when
ever he got ready, but if his IS
were not paid by the day ha>. writ
ten him Before, that I should be sure
to sell his property. On the day men
toned went to his plantation, and
he had sent me check payable at
Newbern. In June following there
came a Deputy United States Marshal
to my house with a warrant of arrest
to carry me before q United States
Commissioner at Raleigh. q can't
think of his name now, but he was
Yankee from New England), for hold
ing office in violation of the constitu-
ton, &c. AS it happened, the deputy
was young man who was raised IL
the county. and in five miles of me,
and took my word that I would n eet
him at Kinston in time to be in Ra-
leigh at the time specified in the war
rant. I met him at Kinston and he
took me to Raleigh. When we got
Vo.>loo (No,,,po1cslnnpr Was