Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-03-19
NORTH CAROLINA.
NEWS GATHERINGS FROM THE OLD
NORTH STATE.
Tn. Case OF the Alleged Prosecuted
Preacher-Thc Governor and
Conference.
,so,c,al ,elegram to the Dispa,ch.I


p.,v,ou N. c.. March 1s.-Governor
rnmlo yesterday received letter written
~ Jobn Rearson, j. Rothweiler. Il. +.
cleveland. and Il. u. Hill. committee
enno,nted bv the Cincinnati Methodist
Church organization, numbering hun
dred ministers, in regard to Rev. L. Nj.
Homer. who has become so notorious by
b1s complaints of assault upon him IN
Randolph county and by his dismissal by
a negro congregation near mere. Inc iet.
fer is remarkable in tone, and states that
Joiner and his wife were set upon pecem-
her Adj by masked men. who inflicted many
,vounds upon them; that they have been
refused redress by the officers OF the law
and have been shamefully traduced and
pursued by newspapers, and are reused
The opportupity of preaching the Gospel
elsewhere in North Carolina and OF thus
earning support. The committee then IN
tbe name OF the nation and OF their Church
enters q protest against these outrages;
whether they be perpetrated by masked
assassins or cowardly Intimidation ol
cringing negroes or iaise anu hlis0nioi-
making newspapers.
THE GOVERNORS REPLY.
To this letter the Governor to-day re-
piled:
As you seem to be very simple and
credulous people, striving with more zeal
than Indictment TO right what you assume
TO be great wrong. / answer you with the
same simplicity and frankness: L know
the kind. hearted but excitable colored
people when their sympathies have been
strongly aroused. If Joiner was treated as
Won claim. then justice requires that the
people who assaulted him should be rlgor-
ous1y punished and the courts IN North
Carolina stand ready TO give JOINER their
assistance whenever he demands IL. Inc
county in which the outrage Is said TO have
been committed is q Republican popula-
ton, being composed of Quaker element,
and there is no question that the
perpetrators of the offence would have
been punished if JOINER had been
able to show that any one had
injured him: but unfortunately he did not
do so. Even i'll Cincinnati you Will see the
unreasonableness of attempting TO punish
a man for a crime before he can be ldenti-
fed. Your whole communication Is based
upon the Indian practice OF taxing revenge
when one of his tribe has been injured
upon the first one he meets, whether the
guilty one or not. In regard to the negroes
in the church-meeting at Oberlln who
requested Joiner TO depart from their
midst. if YOU think the congregation IS
composed of cringing negroes who had
been intimidated by towards. you are
evincing degree OF credullty without
parallel even among our negro popplatlon.
Oberlin is colored town in the Republican
county of Wake It's inhabitants are az
respectable and independent as you Will
find In any colored community on
earth. Judging from your letter, there is
no man among you who would resist op:
preston like this respectable church of
colored men, whom You have the audacIty
TO denounce as cringing negroes. The
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, IN
North Carolina is one of the largest and
most influential denominations in the
State. and would never submit quietly to
the Courts refusing justice to any one en-
titled to its protection; but 1t is unreason-
able for you to require any more protectlon
for Joiner than the citizens of this State
could get under like circumstances. ,
The Governor therefore recommended
the committee to read the Ninth Command
ment and lay it to heart, and after SO DO
ing communicate their reflection to their
brethren who instigated them to write
their remarkable letter to him.