Wilmington journal., 1876-01-21
WILMINGTON JOURNAL
TERMS OF sUBsCRII,rno.
THE BLOODY SHIRT.

ore sure to bring upon us the wrath of
Radicals, we are not altogether sure
Of nleasing some of onr own folks
The "negro" has become so important
norton of the local body polite. that
betwe n his vote and his patronage he
is a power in the land. Yet we cannot
stand everything, and when we see
our own people be lied and every hing
they do to protect themselves against
the crimes of the negro turned upon
them for party purposes, we must
sneak ont, although we may offend
some of their peculiar and especial
friends.
Our readers will recollect that so ne
weeks ago a gentleman III neighbor-
ino county discovered at night a negro
attemt ting to rob his smoke house.
He fired and she negro fed, upon res
pairing to the spot he found under
the house four negroes crushed tt
death, their companion, who had lifted
the structure with lever having drop
ped it when fred upon, leaving them
to their desperate fate. Upon these
facts the New York Times builds a
case of unparalleled inhumanity and
disloyalty, showing the utter disregard
in which negro life is held by South
ern whites and by the laws of South
ern States. That paper states the
case in this manner:
EXTRAORDINARY SHOOTING.
skiIlful sportsman by rapidly firing
both barrels right and left brings down
dozen or more killed and wounded
birds Not content, however, with
narrating possible achievements OF this
sort, there are imaginative sportsmen
who pretend to have accomplished vast
and incredible execution One of the
fables uniformly told to persoi taking
their first lessons in pigion shooting is
that of the alleged sportsman who fired
at limb on which six dozen birds
we're roosting, and so split it with the
shot that the legs of the entire flock
were caught in the cleft. Incredible
as this feat undoubtedly is, it has ac-
tuaily been surpassed by Mr.. Meekins,
of North Carolina, who recently made
a bag with a singie-barrel rife, which
surpassed the widest fictiOns of men
dacious pigion-shooters.
1t happe led in this wise Mr.. Mer-
kins owned a smoke-house situated
within a short distance of his resi-
dence, wherein we're stored hams and
other smoke house dehcacies. Not
long since he was reused from his
midnight slumbers by sounds of au
African nature, which seemed to come
from the direction of his smoke-house.
Arming himself with his rifle, he went
forth, and by the faint moonlight he
discovered a negro seated on the end
Of fence rail, which he was using as
lever to pry the smoke-house from
its foundations.
Beng a mar of decision of charac-
ter and unexceptionable "spryness -
with his weapons, Mr.. Merkins prompt
ly fired at the dusky pupil of Archim-
edes, and killed him on the spot. The
smoke-house instantly settled back to
its normal condition, and on investi
eating its condition Mr.. Meekins found
that it was resting on four other dead
negroes, who were in the act of crawl
ing under it when his rife ball put an
end to the satisfactory operations of
the lever.
II may be safely asserted that such
execution was never before done by
single bullet. The my hical six dozen
birds that were caught on the split
limb upon which they were resting,
are not to be compared with this bag
of five negroes at one shot. Moreover,
the pigeon shooter is admitted to
have used a doubles barreled fowIing-
piece, whereas q single.,barreled rifle
was the comparatively inefficient wea-
pom with which Mr.. Merkins accom-
plished his wonderful feat.
OF course any apparent attempt to
detrach from the merit of so extraOr
dinary shot will be set down to envy
of Mr.. Meekins' remarkable success.
Still there are those who will venture
to inquire whether it is quite in ac-
cordance with the laws of North Caro-
lima, Dot to speak of those of humanity,
to kill five men for the sake of saving
a certain number Of hams. It is fully
conceded that no man, whether white
or black, is justified in attempting to
rob smoke house; but it is just pos
sible that he does not deserve imme-
diate death. Mr.. Meekins doubtless
went back to his house full of enthu-
siasm over the extraordinary bag
which his single rife-shot had made,
but there are countries in which he
would be held to have exceeded the
limits of propriety in killing five un-
armed men, out of an EXCESSIVE love
for hams. It is. of course improba
that his nei ghbors will take this view
of the case. They will admire Mr..
Meekins' skill and applaud bis prompt
and efficient action. The day, how
aver NAV oOrnp Uhon eUnn the owner
of North Carolina smoke-house will
discover that live man is almost as
valuable as partially smoked hams,
and that to kill more than a reasonable
number-say two or three colored
men-in defense of the sanctity Of
private pork is both unlawful and dan
gerous.
1t is in keeping with just such doc
trine and such teachings that the ne
gro has been led to ravage, to burn, to
rob, to steal and to lie, until he has
become almost pest TO the country.
Yesterday, to-day and during the past
and the coming weeks, and the same
for many Courts to come, the Judge,
the Solicitor ana the juries of our Su-
perior Court, have been, are, and will
be, engaged in the trial of negro Grim
inals, upon indictments covering every
crime known to human laws. Our
work houses. and jails and penitentia-
-rles are filed, and the gallows fre-
quently ends their earthly careers, but
oil to no purpose. Crimes continue,
yea, a,increase. go long have these mis-
guided wretches been made to feel
that they would ind protection rather
than punishment from the Courts, that
it seems now too late to reform them.
Yet, when our people attempt to
protect themselves from midnight
robbers and inceudiaries, and death
r