The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-01-12
An OUTRAGEOUS PALSEHOOD
ri. ". Hampton Talks for a San Fraa-
cisco Paper.
HE fELLs IS LIES ABOUT WINSTON.


Makes a Republican Haraague-
He Says Two-thirds of Winsteu
was Bzrnt Up byNegro Inc.ndiarief
for Purposes OF Political Revenge.
Mayor .Kerner received a few days
ago a marked copy of the San Francis
co, California, Daily Reporter, con
tanning a so-caned interview with one
J. w. Hampton, purporting to be
from Winston, S. @. The name of tho
State, IS. c." is evidently an error
for IN. Co. as the context will show.
The article is tissue of lies from
beginning to end. Nobody knows
who J. W. Hampton is in the first
place. There have been persons of
that name here, but no 81. VS."
Mr.. 81. w. Hampton" starts out by
saying he is "a Democrat born and
bred" That is bound to be a lie, as
the perusal Of the entire article will
prove, and it is wonder it did not
choke him so as to prevent further
utterance. No Democrat born and
bred" could so disregard the truth.
mitigated lies:
1, The fire consumed two-thirds of
the city.
2, That it's cause was negro incendi-
rism for political revenge.
3, That 81. w. Hampton" is Dem
ocrat.
4, That Winston contains only four
tobacco factories. There are nearer
fifty.
5, That only LOCO hands are en-
ployed. -Four Thousand would be an
underestimate.
6, The managers resorted to artifce
to keep the negro from voting,
7, All Populist voters were whipped
into the Democratic line.
s, White men controlled lines in
front of booths and took thirty min
utes each to mark their votes.
Negroes wercnot allowed to record
their votes. They were, except in
case of illegal registration.
10, Voters were bluffed and white en-
ployers affirmed that their hands OF
25-years service. had not lived in town
long enough to vote, etc, etc.
IL, TIE Democratic majority Of 200
would, under a proper system, have
been twice exceeded by the RepubIi-
can vote The Democratic majority
was from 800 to 600
II, The colored peoples Indignation
meetings resulted in the destruction
of the city by fire.
Is, The conffagration was started in
half dozen places DIT once. The fires,
all but the three of the first day, Nov.
IA. 1892, were at intervals of whole
weeks, and those on the frst day were
hours apart.
IL 1t was started in each case on
property owned by local Democratic
leaders. Totally false.
10, The negroes are all thrown out
Of employment. They are working on
as usual, peacefully and contentedly.
The article is as follows:
81 w. Hampton of Winston, S. c.,
is at the Palace. He says that the fire
which consumed tWo-thirds of his city
a week ago was the work of negro in
cendiaries in revenge for their inabil-
ity to register their votes on election
day.
L am a Democrat bred and born
said Mr.. Hampton this morning, but
/ believe in according to every citizen
the right to vote issespectiye of his
color or politics
Winston is the county seat of For
sYth county and has population Of
about 10000. 1t is the chief tobacco
manufacturing center of South Caro-
lima and contains four large tobacco
factories, in which about a Thousand
negroes are employed. The county, !
apart from Winston, has small Re-
publican plurality, and the only hope
Of the Democratic politicians was to
secure a majority in our town sufi-
cient to Offset the outside vote. With
the large negro vote Winston would
probably be Republican, so the mana
gers resorted to artiflce.
All the POpulist voters were whip
ped into the Democratic line, and
when it became evident that major
1ty was still lacking, negroes were not
allowed to record their votes. The
white men controlled the lines in
front of all the booths during the
earlier hours of the day, every white
marking his ballot. Toward the mid
die of the afternoon the supply Of
white voters ran short and the ne
groes, who had been waiting around
all day, began to get into line"
"When the voter stepped into the
booth he was bluffed and challenged.
In some cases white men would allege
that negroes who had been in their
service quarter Of century had not
AS consequence the polls were closed,
while 600 negro votes, all of them Re
publican, were still unrecorded.
THE natural indignation of the
cOlored men was not decreased when
1t became evident that the county
had given great Democratic MAORI
ty of 200. Their votes, if cast, would
have changed this into Republican
majority twice as great.
s.They held number of indigna-
tion mass-meetings, where they work
ed themselves into condition of
excited wrath, The ultimate destruc-
tion was the fire which destroyed the
town. Two Of the largest tobacco
factories, street OF the principal
stores and many private dwellings
were destroyed. The confagration
was started simultaneously in half
dozen different parts of the city,
in each case on property own
ed by one of the local Demo
cratic leaders. The fire has thrown
most of the negroes out of employ
ment, but they do not seem to think
that their revenge was too dearly
bought. Or course, the incendiarism
cannot be proved. i fancy our mis-
taken politicians viii make no effort
to gag Republican votes at the next
election"
The Correct View.