The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-29
sAFs rRoM rHE LYKCaERs

~ ~
tempted Ostrage % Miss Cole ~ Rsek.
inEhsm-Hs Says He Can Prove m Alibi
The agony over the attempted assault
on Miss Lizzie Cole at Rockingham. at
6 o'clock last Saturday morning, is over
for the present. One of the negroes ar
rested on suspicion was brought to VIII
mington yesterday on the 12:6 o'clock p.
m. train and was safely lodged in jail
here for safe keeping until the matter
is investigated He was brought by
Deputy Sheriff J.. P. Cameron.
The prisoner he brought with him is
John Reid, the banjo picker. who was ar
rested at Maxton ON Saturday on sus-
picion Of being the assailant OF Miss
Cole. Sundays Messenger stated that
Reid arrived at Maxton on the $50 o'clock
a. m. train On Saturday. and
was arrested while picking a
banjo about the streets of Maxton.
and that he was picked up by the special
train which passed Maxton that after
noon. taking the bioodhounds from this
city to Rockingham to trail the criminal.
Sheriff j. NJ. Smith. of Rockingham.
fearing to allow Reid to be taken to
Rockingham while such a high state OF
excitement existed. feeling sure that he
would be lynched, took him of the train
at Hamlet. He then carried him to
Bennettsviiie. s. c., and put him in jail
till Monday. On Monday Reid was taken
from BennettsviIle to Rockingham. under
escort by the Maxton Guards. under
command Of Captain Jones. In the
meantime a negro by the name of Began,
had been arrested at Monroe, and was
90 IL. 10 Jaro11 = l0 Fo-lar
evening both negroes were taken before
Miss Cole by Sheriff Smith and Mayor
Everett, under guard by the Maxton
Guards. Several hundred men followed
and were only waiting to see which one
Of them the young lady would point out
as her assailant, as they intended to
lynch him, military or no military. The
crowd made threats what it would do,
but waited outside the young lady's
home while she looked at the prisoners to
see if she could identify the right one.
She said positively hat Began was not
the man, but that she believed that Reid
was the right one. She was, however,
not positive.
Before bringing the prisoners out of
the presence Of the young lady, Mayor
Everett came out and addressed a few
words to the crowd. He told them thai
the young lady had failed to identify
either one of them, but that it was be-
iieved that one of them might be guilty.
That it was by no means certain that he
was the man and he asked the crowd to
await further investigation, as both of
the suspected men would be held safely
till every measure had been exhausted to
nrnvQ that thew warQ not tho RIGHT n
The prisoners were then taken back and
put in Jail.
DIDN'T FEAR THE MILITARY.
TIL town still remained in a greatly
excited condition, and hundreds Of men
from the town and surrounding country
filled the streets around the jail, making
threats Of what they would do if they
were certain of the guilty party. The
military remained IN duty at the Jail all
night, and Captain Jones had to use some
plain talk at times. He warned the
crowd that his company was there to
protect the prisoners, and that they in
tended to do it at all hazards; that they
had brought along no blank cartridges,
and that if they were compelled to shoot,
they would not shoot over, anybody's
head. The crowd jeered talk like this
and were in a bad humor over the idea
that the military had been called out to
overaw them. Deputy Sheriff Cameron
had been identified the wretch would
would lave been lynched in spite of the
military.
When the two men were taken before
Miss Cole Monday evening. she was ex-
cited at the sight of the military and
the great crowd that had followed. 1t
was therefore decided to take the
prisoners before her again yesterday
morning. At z o'clock yesterday morn |
ing the prisoners were again taken from
the Jail and carried before the young
lady. When they were brought out of
Jail the military formed a line across
the street and kept the crowd from fol-
lowing. The men were taken before Miss
Cole and she said positively that Began
was not the man. and he was discharged. |
AS to Reid, she said he favored her as
s~ailant, but she was not certain thai he |
was the man.
Reed asserted his innocence and said
he could prove ar alibi, as he could es-
tablish the fact that at s o'clock Satur-
day morning, the time the crime was at.
tempted, he was at Hamlet, six miles
These was a big crowd in town. as a
circus howed there yesterday. % the
authorities deemed it unsafe to take
Reid back up town. They therefore put
him on board the Seaboard Air Line train /
which passed Rockingham at TAO o'clock
a. m, on Its way to Wilmington. He was
In charge Of Deputy Sheriff Cameron. |
and the Maxton Guards accompanied
the prisoner as far as Maxton. where the
was discharged.
1t is said that it will be mighty hard
for Reid to prove an alibi. He was in
Rockingham up to IL o'clock the night
Miss Cole. He had been in Rockingham
five or six days picking a banjo for a
medicine vender. While there he board
ed at a house which Miss Cole and her
sisters had tn a q 6 oar1v ovorv ~arnfn0 |