The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-10-25

Hon. Thos. w. Mason.
Mr.. Mason was received with a
great outburst of applause, and the
gifted speaker in a wonderfully clever
and forcible speech of three-quarters
of an hour held the close attention of
she audience He gave the history of
she loss of North Carolina and the
'direful results of fusion, and eloquent
ly warned the men of Nerth Carolina
that, taking the debauch under fusion
as an example, the next thing they |
would witness would be mixed schools
and unholy miscegenation mar
riages. He also put in e powerful and
telling plea for white supremacy. He
scored Butler, Thompson and Aver
for accusing the democratic party of
shouting "nigger in the wood pile" and
said when DIR. Thompson was not dig
ging among the ashes of the lamented
Octavius Coke and Wn. L. Saunders,
he is apologizing for Russell's villain |
| Gus administration. He called put the
name of Russell in scorn. remarking:
Shut you eyes and hold you nose.
| a 1 speak of him where ladies are?'
mo! no." hundreds shouted. He read
RusselYs letter to Brady in which Rus
sell the negro, Jim Young,
and held the governor up to contempt
for afterwards appointing Jim Young
to offices. The speaker then at length
detailed the u~nrighteOuS acts of the
fusionists, and specially mentioned the
negroizing of Wilmington, New Bern
and Greenville. He read the letter of
Postmaster W.. H. Chadbourn and The
Messenger interview with Colonel F.
w. Foster on the gravity of the stu
alton in Wilmington, and showing up
negro domination here. He closed his
speech with a complimentary allusion
to Senator Tillman, who had come over
to help North Carolina in her extrem-
ity, and appealed to North Carolinians
to do their duty at the polls on the
8th of November and all will be we'll
with the OSd North State. His speech
was one of the best we have heard in
the campaign, and it was frequently
interrupted with the most enthusiastic
applause.
SENATOR TILLMAN.
Major E. J.. Hale, editor of The Fay
etteville Observer, then, with brief,
but eloquent remarks, introduced SEN
atOr Tillman as n Of the very fore
most men in this union, and stated
what he had accomplished for white
supremacy in South Carolina. He pre-
1HStllltu IL SeIIdlCI dS lHS SlcdlSSl u
vocate of white supremacy.
Senator Tillman was the recipient of
a. flattering ovation, the cheering being
tremendous. He thanked the audience
for the great heartiness and cOnpli-
mentary way in which it received him,
and for the thousands that had come
out on his unpropitiOus day to hear
him. He said the first speech of his
life was made at Bennettsville. S. c.,
in 1885, and since then he had spoken
through three campaigns and made
speeches in twenty states. In all his
experience, he remarked, he had never
before faced an audience that he felt
more gravely or SO much concerned
about addressing. He declared himself
a democrat of democrats, and said hat
whatever might be said of him, he told
the truth as he understood it. Some
people in South Carolina said he lied,
but twO-thirds of the people of that
state did not believe it, and he was
proud to say he had gained their love
and respect. He stated that in
he had to say he always hit between
the eyes, and that wherever he had
spoken democrats and populists hung
upon his words. Observing the red
shirts in the audience he said it car
ried his memory back twenty-five
years ago when the people Of South
Carolina rose up in their wrath and
overthrow negro domination (applause)
and put it under foot forever. He had
seen in South Carolina 5000 red shirts
in one audience, and the red shirt be-
came the emblem by which a white
man was known. 1t did him good to
see the people of North Carolina had
caught the inspiration. (Applause.)
Senator Tillma said he was here to
speak plainly and what he had to say
would no doubt offend both sides. He
declared that the democratic party in
North Carolina had many sins to an
swer for, and all parties made mis-
takes. The populists, he declared, did
no go off without provocation and
cause. Under the teachings of the
Farmers Alliance the people had
learned unrest and determined to re-
form the democratic party or destroy
it. Hence the outcome was populism.
In South Carolina the Alliance was
much stronger than it was in North
Carolina, but why didn't those popu-
lists there go off from the democratic
party. Instead of doing SO they cap
tured the democratic party. He said
at one time he had a populist nerve as
big as your finger running up and
down his back, but in face of the lam
ger of negro rule he had advised the
people of South Carolina that they
could not afford to divide, but they
held on and reformed the democratic
party. He denounced Grover Cleve-
land as the cause of populiSm, and
unfortunately when the crisis came III
North Carolina that great tribune of
the people, Zebulon B. Vance, Gap
plause) had come to his end. His hand
fell helpless from the rudder, and the
democratic party divided. You are
consequently reaping the fruits of
your own idiocy. The populists, he as
serted, were the radical element in the
democratic party, grown desperate I'M
der abuses, but they should have re-
manned in the party and reformed Ii.
He denounced the folly of their pulling
out from the democratic party, and
fusing with the republicans. He said
it was natural to suppose that the Of
flee holders would want to continue
fusion, but all that the plain people are
wanting is good government and good
order that they reap the fruits of their
b in peace. (~Applause.) The pop
ulists of North Carolina, therefore, had
no principles In common with the re-
! publican party, but while they believe