National Republican., 1883-11-19

milton and used them as nero tools and cats
paws, while at the same time, in white dis
I lets, their appeals were made to every
prejudice orruce to save the whites from an
alleged purpose on our part to elevate tho
blacks above them.
The Same speaker, who would be found to-
day In u black district protesting affection and
regard for the negro and purpose on tho
part of himself aud party to do more for them
than tho read usters had dona or promised,
would be found tomorrow In a white district
proclaming in impassioned appeals that tho
whites In tho negro sections were being
trampcled under tho fcot Of tho black; that no
came from their down-troddon homes with a
cry of despair from them as n message to their
brethren, and that "by the gods this was
white mans country and tho white men should
rule or the rivers should run blood" The
above Is no idle statement, but quotation
from hourhon speeches heard by tens of thou.
sands Of Nirginians under circumstances OF
excitement, accompanied by floods of falso-
hood pretending to sustain the appeal, and
circulated too late to be contradicted before
election day.
PRELUDE TO The DANvILLE TRAGEDY.
Cotemporaneous with these gppcals, sensa-
tional circulars from Danvillc, Cumberland,
and elsewhere, filled with false statements Of
wrongs and outrages committed by blacks
cartoons depicting negroes, furnishing white
children; pictures of negro mon with q
white child on one knoo and black child on
the other; infamous porjuries, as to tho ut
terances of our public speakers, and lies, great
and small calculated to inaamo race prejudice,
were spread broadcast through the white
districts of the state backed by corruption
money without stint, while they were stu.
diously suppressed in the black districts and
their absence supplied by doubled funds of
money to buy or bully" the blacks.
AS the excitement thus begotton became
moro intensc-as the buying of blacks became
more and more apparently impracticable-the
violent policy became the more necessary to
intimidato blacks and inlamo whites. Arms
began to pour into the southsde regions, the
supply Of small arms in our larger cities was
exhausted, and tho demand extended as far
Us Baltimore, until one democratic head
quarters within twenty miles of Richmond
had forty stand of muskets and tho Danville
region was walking arsenal. Tho cry that
white mon should rule or de- the AN
nouncemcht that q war Of races was upon us,
swolled in volume and fcrocity. Threats OF
the lives Of our leaders became more common
than any other argument
THE DANvILLE MASSACRE.
Murder in cold blood began in Madison
county. Days before IL was repeated in Dan-
villo rumors of the shipment of arms filled
the air, and during the fair week at Rich
mond-long before any outbreak occurred
the knowing ones were heard to whisper and
mystariously predict what might be expected
at the proper time.
In due time it came. With what premedi-
tation and design it came, let any impartial
man who read the bourbon press and heard
the preparations made for it judge for him.
self Who provoked 1t Who perpetrated
it! Let tho bourbon journals themsclve
,I,,t
petratcd let the thousands of false circIar,
turning it to political account, spread broad
cast by the bOurbons almost before 10 occurred,
Ind the effect they produced, speak us no ar
gument can.
Tho nassacro in Danville is dignifed by
bourbonism with the name Of riot. The facts,
ai gathered from all sourcos, are that upoa
Saturday evening preceding the election, iuss
after the Danvil!e negroes had received their
weekly pay aud were buying their Sunday
supplies in a crowded market place, u white
man appeared, had an alteration with n
negro, aud whipped him. Tho fight was
ended, and no other negroes came to the
rescue of the punished man. But tho pro-
gramme was not interrupted by this circum-
stance. An armed gathering of the "best
people of the best and bravest" was con
veniontly near, and in,a moment rnurderou;
thrOng poured out of the building where they
were assembled, opening deadly fire upon
the unarmed delenselcss and lying negroes
UNARMED NEGROES SHOT IN THE BACK
WHILE RUNNING AWAY.
How many were killed no one knows, and
no one will probably learn tho truth, for the
condition of things still in Danville is such
that the truth cannot be learned. That they
were shot in tho backs like dogs while run
ming away thatn pistol shot was fired by q
black man; that no white man was injured
save by his own friends; that for days the
poor victims were found dead in alleys, in
warehouses, and under houses, like poisoned
rats that had crawled away TO die; that the
negroes fed to the woods, to tho state o
North Carolina, to the four winds of heaven
these are few of the facts of this bloody
wholesale murder which was telegmphed fal
and near by bOurbons as an insolent uprising
of tho blacks against the whites.
Simultaneously with these occurrences thu
crack Of the bourbon weapon engaged in po
litical murder rcsounded and the bourbon
knife sunk deep in the counties Of Charlie
City, Halifax, Hanover, Floyd, Augusta, Lee
and elsewhere, mngling with Sabbath da.
sympathies, from the bourbon capital, an,
tho race cry was shouted with q brutal feroC
ity intense enough to make Virginia til
rival of any southern state in her record Q
bloodshcd and lawlessness.
These, fellow citi2ons, were the means re
sorted to. The effects were all that the bull
dozers could have hoped for.
GATHERING THE FRUITS OF THE MURDER
Murders, deliberately planned and execute
with remorseless malignity, were presented
the remote and ignorant whites of the vale
aud southwest aS the unavoidable self de
tense of these wolves against their lam
assailants, Without the means of informin
themselves of tho baseness of these falsehood
thousands of our party, deluded and deceived
yielded to an impulse of generosity so FOUL
folOnies were permitted, the murderers then
selves paraded the streets, armed to the teetl
under the pretense of preserving order, unit
in the city of Danville, where Cameron n
ceved in 1881 votes numbering 7S9, an
Wise in 1882 received Sal votes, and whei
1870 read juster votes We're enrolled, but .
votes were cast for the coalition candidat
whose life was threatened, aud whose coffin
is said had been actually made and paid for !
the party of honor and intelligence.
In the counties of Halifax and Charlott
adjacent to Pittsylvania the policy of pu
chase, rs well rs rioting prevailed, and whi
tho methods were little less violent, the
were none tho less corrupt, Thus it was 'th
Halifax, with colored voting population
3,Sli against 3,054 whites, after giving John
Wise 5lS majority in 1882, gave tho bourbon
$50 majority in 1888. And Charlotte, with
blacl, voting population of 2,055, and u viii
population Of 1885, after giving John s, WI
zoe majority in 1852, gave bourbon majori
of 800 III 1888, That these inajoritios we
honest no sane man will imagine. How tn,
were brought about will in duo timo be ma
aDDarent