The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-25

| groes to follow Booker Washington's
example.
THE LATE REVOLT IN THE CITY
BY THE SEA"
North Carolina Christian Advocate.)
For several months the eyes OF the
| people OF North Carolina and Of other
states have been ~anxiously turned to-
ward Wilmington, our City By The
Sea" Rumors OF a strange situation
there came viii narrowing persist
ence. Details of negro domination &C
ccmpanied by NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. by
city officials, inefectiveness of city po-
lice, insults offered to white women
and children, stagnation of the city's
bushes life, and general unrest and
disquietude were published far and
wide. 1t was no wonder that popular
interest, linked with deep seated SYM
| pathy for the people of Wilmington,
| prevailed from the mountain 10 the
sea. One could not but admire the
| ~fOrbearance Of the white citizens of
Wilmington during ante-election days.
A solution of the problem was consid-
I! cred inevitable. Some looked for ii
in a peaceful way. Others saw IL in
red-handed revolution. II came in the
latter way. Would that it had come
in Tue former. But We will not criti-
| else. We will thank God that it is no
worse, and thank Him that the vexing
problem has been solved, and that
peace and protection for white and
black in Wilmington are guaranteed.
We will leave it to other papers TO
detail the events of last Wednesday,,
Thursday and friday. Death reaped
its harvest. The city government un-
| derwent a change. Colonel A. NJ. Wad-
| dell. one of North Cardinals bravest.
truest sons was elected mayor. There
was an exodus of negro r~ingleaders
and some white men. State troops
held violence in check until special po-
| licemen were sworn in. Hundreds of
negroes who had fed from the city
! have returned. and business is begin
ming to flow in its accustomed chan
| mel. The mayor in a public proclama-
ton insures peace to all law-abiding
| people in Wilmington, and the reign
Of terror is over.
We do not consider the trouble a
| purely political one. The negroes did
| not suffer because hey belonged to a
| pdl patty. lhCy uIo III NNNh
| suffer because they were enfranchised
negroes. 1t was an uprising against
a condition which was considered in
| tolerable, and which cannot exist in
an Anglo Saxon government.
THE BLOODSHED AT WHINING
TON.
biblical R~ecorder.)
The bloodshed at Wilmington is de
| plored of every citizen, not less by
those who led the uprising of the peO-
pie of Wilmington than by other law
abiding people throughout North
! Carolina. We will not approve viO-
lence, but we stand to maintain that
the hearts of the men who led the
municipal revolution at Wilmington
were right, and their cause was righ-
teous. A vicious government had
been UNANIMOUSLY inflicted upon them;
and they were moved in their action
by the spirit which led our fathers
to battle out freedom on these shores.
Deplorable the result, but more de-
| plOrable the necessity, for which the
men of Wilmington were not respOn-
sible. Their honor was at stake; their
homes were all but at the mercy of the
| lawless.
This was no part of the election
The ~unspeakable SANDER of the negro
editor and the revengeful n tyran-
Gus means which the governor of
North Carolina, of the general assem-
bly, mad resorted to to deprive the peO-
pie of Wilmington of the sovereign
right of self-government and to hui
initiate them with weak and incOmpe-
tent officers Of the law, were the causes
of the revolt. Let the negroes lay the
bodies of their dead to the charge of
their representative Manly and to the
| politicians who Inundated the people
Of Wilmington by violence as vicious,
for all that it wore the garments of
law, as was ever visited upOn a people.
! This paper will, perhaps, reach more
| people in the north than others of our
state. Our northern brethren may lot
understand. They will hold up hands
of horror at the spectacle of a religious
| paper cOndOning the action at Will
mingtOn. We are confident. however,
that there is amOngst them not one
courageous man who would have pa
tiently endured the insults, the terror
and the violence which the people of
Wilmington have. Revolutions are
never lawful. but often right: and his
| one was as righteous as that which
| made it necessary was outrageous.