The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-09-20
A Tissue of INSTRUMENTATION

1t was the privilege and duty of The
Messenger, IN its issue of Sunday, the
4th instant, to notice the mild, and we
might say, apologize manner in which
Mr.. r. F. Keith, through his paper,
commented on the lying and slanderOus
article of the negro paper with refer
| ence to the white women Of the state,
| and again in our issue of the eth, We
printed a card from him, making an
explanation and denying certain
charges. In The Messengers COM
| ment on his card, among other things
the following language was used:
The fight is on, Mr.. Keith, to re-
move this blight from the fair name
Of the Old North State. The democrat
ic party is making a fight for white
government. The republican party
stands for negro rule. The populist
| party aids and cO-Operates with it. On
which side, Nj. Keith, do you draw
your lance and couch your blade for
this magnificent fight for civilization
VS.. barbarism?' There is no middle
ground upon which white men may
stand"
The Messenger also pOintedIy asked
Mr.. Keith, if he was sincere, to print
the article from the negro paper and
the ministerial unions endorsement of
the paper. He has done neither. He
has not stated whether he is on the
side of white supremacy, nor has print
ed the articles; but, instead, in the is
sue of his sheet, under date of yester-
day, he avoids the subject by slander
ing The Messenger and it's prOprietOrs
in a signed card.
We will say at the outset, that if we
| We're to listen to the advice of friends,
no notice would be taken of his false
statements-as every statement he
| makes with reference to this paper or
those connected with it is false and he
knew it at the time when written.
AS TO the first statement he makes in
styling The Messenger the Atlantic
Coast Line organ, Mr.. Keith knows as
we'll as we do, that the Atlantic Coast
Line has not a dollar in this paper, nor
| never had, and that it has never tried
to control it nor has ever dictated to
it's management how it should be con
Quoted.
( Again, his declaration that lone Of
the stockholders, Mr.. J. H. Chadbourn,
Jr., is a strong Mckinley man, and
everybody knows he is the mOnied man
of the corporation" is another false
| statement, as MI. CndODOurn mas not
a dollar invested in The Messenger.
Sometime since, when The Messenger
was made a corporation, Mr.. Chad
bourn and Mr.. jacob were named in
the application for a charter as stock
holders, each for one share, the law
| requiring three of more incOrpOratOrS.
| Subsequently, the shares were trans
| ferred, and the stock of the paper is
now, and has been, with the exception
mentioned, the property Of Jackson &
Bell.
The statement that of the pro-
prietOrS and One of it's local writers
We're ever Palmer and Buckner men, is
| false, as well as his other statement,
that the other proprietor does not seem
to have much to say as to what goes
in or out of The Messenger. On the
| contrary, that one of the prOprietOrs
has, for the entire summer, with few
| exceptions, been in entire charge
| nightly of the paper.
The whole of Mr.. Keith's statements
| are untrue. but in making them, he
| does not yet answer the questions put
! to him nor has he had the fairness to
lay before his readers the damnable ar
ticle from the negro paper.