The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-06-18
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
SOME TALK ABOUT THE WORK OF
PROFESSIONAL LIARS.
Mr.. Page Accounts in "A Satisfactory Way
Tor the Misunderstanding the People of
The North Has of SoutheTner>. &c.
Especial Cor STATE CnRoNIcLI

NV YORK, June II, lseG-I used to
I think that the State Of North Carolina and
\ the men and things therein We're more
! lied about than the men and things IL any
I other community on the globe. We used
/ 70 read IN papers published IN these heath
! ern parts how a white man cut the throats
/ of - helpless darkeys for the fun of see
ing the blood run. how rattle snakes used
10 c.ayi INTO the beds of poor white
t,aSii III our Western counties and sWal-
! lou TIE children as they lay asleep and
! tLeI. tgaKc the old folks up with its rattlcs,
as II 70 say: Pretty good supper" The
! snake liar, the frs mar with Beaufort
/ balloon story thrown in, the political Jar
/ all used 10 pounce down on North Caro-
lima. They do it yet sometimes But
/ haye come to the conclusion that 1t Was
not only the professional liar that did this
| kind OF work, but the professional igno-
ramus also at this end of the line. They do
not seem to be able to distinguish in Con
| necticut tor instance between a broad Tar
| Heel Joke (McDairmid'S 5, of the RObeSO-
| nian, for nstancc) AMI II solemn fact. |
! have VI 1ju month read some of the
/ Wilson II rror'S fine moonshhe in a New
| York paper ., a sample of the way in
which We All talk in North Carolina
But | am changing my opinion about
North Carolina's being the most lied about
community in Christendom. New York
itself Is And this is the worse, because
! there is no use in the world in lying about
| New 1Ork-from the liars own point OF
! view. Ii he wants to get a blood d-curdlIng
story from North Carolina he must make
it; but if he wants blood -curdling story
from New York, be can get it almost any
! day without the trouble of making II to
! order. Even the professional liar can get
| anything he wants in New Iork-even
rattle snakes. here are, however, several
hundred or thousand (for all | know per
| sons in this town who make their living
/ by writing yarns 10 papers in the different
| parts OF the earth; there are papers
! here which con>clentlOusiy avoid the trutiI
as men avoid the plague. There are others
which would as lief print the truth as not,
| but which generally pretcr-a falsehood
comes kind o natural, you know to
EN-. Now the point | have to make is
this-that in the four or five papers from
| North Carolina which see regularly, there
seems to be not lies about New York and
things and folks here for they do not mean
to give currency TO false StatementS-but
| false statements as gorgeous as the stories
of dead darkies and rattle-snakes. Is it
| not because these North Carolina papers
either read the professionally sensational
| letters from New York or the profession
ar StliSettiOlldi Httpt1S tuDllollCt llCIO,
/ aud do know the difference between them
and decent and truthful papers a gen
tleman in GoldsbOrO, for instance, has
lately concluded that a general desire to
| Truth was shown by this circumstance.
He sent dispatch of few words about a
fight between two negro WOmen-a thing
OF 10 earthly consequence. When he saw
the paper, he saw a long story of jealousy
in the first circles Of society, and threat
ened duels, Of blood and hair and eyeballs
and brickbats and all the pomp and cir
cumStance OF q race war, He concluded
that the newspaper wished to defame
Southern society The simple truth is,
the vile little sheet makes il its business
to manufacture scandals. 1t has no more
notion of defaming the South than 1t has
every day III the year OBTAINING the rest
of creation. The Goldsboro correspondent
made the mistake III assuming that any
body who keeps company reads the sheet
or believes anything il says; and by giving
it the dignity Of his notice he does one in
jury. He produces the impression here
that he is too senative-that perhaps
Southern society itself is too sensitive
when notice is taken of the absurd lies OF
the slumS.
| have just read the news of another
North Carolina paper that Mr.. Beechel
, said that he never expected to preach il
, his pulpit again-that he was ILL., and sc
on. hat was falsehOCd-of nc grea
Importance, but it illustrates my point
which some paper or correspondent tha
! | lives on falsehoods set ahoat. The trutl
is just the contrary. But the editor o
the North Carolina paper does not seen
/, to make distinctions between authoritie
| for information.
Now there is the same difference be
Nn1
York that there is between men the wOrlt
c over There are some whose statement
0 of we'll known facts makes people doub
e those facts; and there are dozens and doz
i ems of papers printed here which no de
cent and truth-lOYing man here ever read
Y or sees One of the strongest things IL
q my observation is, that to so many people
e a paper is a paper, and one is as likely t.
i be truthful or sensible as another.
r BY failing to make such distinctions
n people and papers away from New Yor
It get about as absurd an idea of this tow
n as the people in Vermont have of the pee
II pie in Wake countrywide are supposed t
, kill darkeys and eat dirt. \ young lad
n from North Carolina who had read goo
e many Of these stories about the dudes i
lie New York came here not long ago an
'e was very nxiOus indeed to walk up Fift
n Avenue. 1t turned out that she had grea
he curiosity to see a thousand or two dude
u at one sight. She thought the avenu
3e was lined with q row of dudes severe
Sc miles long, every one with bangs, and
le one-eyed eye-glass, sucking a cane Whe
or she didn't see Il dude in the whole tow
t which approached the magnifcence of Oh
sd she knew at home this young lady COZ
Te Guided that New York wasn't much
anyhow. ! met an old friend some tim
ago who had read these stories and ha
)h never been 70 New York; and he scanne
~ every sharpeyed fellow be saw in IL
S. street cars. Say he would ask, 'sdon
e. YOU suppose that fellows a contiden,
IL man q He had goF the notion that yo
ee could see thousand or two thieves al
J. know they were thieves any day here.
y. The town fairly blooms with dudes ar
81, is infested with thieves and contains sla
derers Of the South, have no doubt in Il
e world; but during a residence altogeth
eee of several years here, do not rememb
u ever to have seen dude or thief or slt
derer Men have two legs and wom'
dress as finely as they can just as IN Nor
Carolina; and,. if you average up I
thing New York is aYeragingly like K;
We eigh in all respects barring, OF courS
N the matter Of size and the differences tn
ad size and size alono makes. But hall t
II. people you meet, who have never seen NJ
res York, will not believe this. And t
en- greater part of this annoying misund'