The gold leaf., 1894-11-08
An Outrage On the People.
kITTRELL, \. e., Oct. 30.

kITTRELL, n. C., Oct. 30.
Correspondence NeWs and O6sercer.
Unpleasant as it is, | feel it to be my
duty to protest in the name of eight
hundred outraged people against the
wrong inflicted upon them on Wednes-
day and Thursday of the Fair by the
authorities OF the Raleigh & Castor
Railroad.
The people along the line were inveigled
into liberal patronage OF the Fair, and
the railroad by convenient and salts
factory schedule. Believing that the
train would leave at ) p. m, as adver
tised, many carried children: and nearly
all went without wraps Or thick clothing.
Worn out with the days effort to show
their appreciation OF what was undenia-
bly, the best Fair or like exhibition ever
held in the State, they collected at the
depot at 4:3O p. m, relying in their
simplicity on the promises of the railroad
to take them home as per contract. In
the crowded waiting rooms, where of
course, only a small proportion could
get places to sit, they passed as best eX
hausted men and women could the weary
hours.
Persistent efforts to get definite in
formation OF any kind from the depot
employees were frutless. Perplexed by
the coming and going OF trains, and the
uncertainty of being able to board the
right one when it came, the people had
no alternative, but to leave the waiting
rooms, take their stand along the track,
and d''mbly and helplessly wait till the
convenience or whim of the railroad
magnates allowed them to carry out the
contract to take them home.
The uninclosed railroad shed afforded
no protection against the chill OF a late
October night
And there from 5 till s p. m herded
as pitiable a throng OF cold, weary.
half-famished humanity as it has ever
been my bad fortune to be a helpless
unit Of At 8 or somewhat later they
for entrance into the Over-crOWded train
Now when it is remembered that hun
dreds, herded like scrub cattle (no stock
raiser would subject cattle of any value
to such an ordeaD under the shed, were
Southern ladies many of whom had
children in their care, the extent of the
outrage will be seen, and as the mouth
piece of an outraged people | call on
Southern manhood to see that such high
handed wrong be made impossible. Let
the Legislature empower the Railroad
Commission to deal with such offenses.
Let Justice be meted to railroad mana
gers till they endure a hundredth part of
the aggregate OF suffering endured by
their helpless victims on Thursday night
and railroad grandees like the rest of us
| will be seen carrying out their contracts.
The excuse if one were deigned from
such lOrdly heights, would doubtless be
the unexpected demand made upon their
facilities. While that might palliate one
offense, it certainly could not excuse it's
constant repetition. 1t is not denied
that on the previous night when the
crowd was much less that the case was
nearly as bad. | know that on the Occa-
sion of the Jefferson Davis obsequies
which was, | believe, the last time on
| which the road ran a special train to
Raleigh on a similar schedule, the viola
ton of contract was nearly as fragrant.
Ii the large passenger traffic of the
| fair added to the heavy freight business
OF the season Over-taXes their resources,
F.! it is surely the duty of the railroad au-
| thOrlties to use common foresight, take
| it into account and make their contracts
accordingly.
1t is not my custom to kick at stones
| simply because they lie near the way.
am the last one who would set himself
up as reformer of things. a meddler
in other peoples affairs is my special
aversion. | am simply an humble citizen,
availing himself of his right to protest
against grievOus imposition. Nor
would | gainsay the equal right of the
railroad to do just as it pleases with it's
own. Let them make any schedule they
| p.ease, provided they carry out the
schedule they make. I would not
trammel a road a whit more in the
management of it's affairs than | would
a private individual.
| But when they make what is morally
(and what our next legislators should
see is legally a contract, and then lightly
and persistently ignore that contract so
that harm result, then | would have laid
| upon them in all its heaviness the iron
| hand of the law
It's Just such lOrdly Indifference to the
veal OF the people that has driven them,
through their representatives, to tram
mel the railroads as they have. And !
warn the stockholders that it is only
the beginning. There is a limit to the
patience OF even that most long-sufferine
OF things, Southern public. Unless
men either more competent or more
cOnsderate, Ito use the mildest term
are placed at the head of such corpora
tions that their sins will flock home tC
them with yet surer and more rapC
wing. o. W. BLACKNALL.