The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-11-27
Y any responsibility for the scurrilous

Il negro lawyer. At any rate, it was not
received within the time limit
specified, and the following morning the
Record" press was demolished and the
building burned
The negroes took the alarm. and indis-
crminate street fighting followed. Nine
negroes were killed during the day. and
many whites and negroes were wounded.
Business houses closed their doors, and
all classes proceeded to arm. \ bad
niger, running amuck. shot Il white
man named Mayo. and was then given
the privilege of running the gauntlet for
his life mp broad street. where the
sand is so deep and yielding it is almost
impossible to walk He was riddled by
Il pint of bullets, like Il pigeon thrown
from plunge trap.
y number of white men were fired at
from Il negro dancc-hall. known as the
Manhattan" frequented by bad charac-
tcrs. They returned the fire. killed one
negro, arrested number of others, and
wrecked the place. The negro that was
killed received fifteen or twenty bullets
while scrambling over fence. As one
of the shooting party said to me:
When we tund him owe Misto Niggah
had look of surprise on his continuance
l ashore yo"'
This house was pittcd with shot-holes.
and planks in the fence were literally cut
in half by Al caliber bullets.
The Kingston Naval Reserves and the
military companies were ordered out
Rapid-hre machine guns were placed to
command the negro quarters of the
city, and the troops, rifle and revolver in
hand, patrolled the streets. From ada
cent towns bands of armed men arrived
Five companies of militia riflemen, naval
reserves and infantry were impressed for
police duty, and the flame of internecint
strife quoted down as suddenly as it had
tiared up. White men carried rcvolvers
in their hands and negroes carried their
hats i'll their hands. African cringed
to Caucasian
The feeling against Governor Russell is
very bitter. The negroes are dubbed gen
orally "Russelrs sayages," from Il term
currently reported to have been applied
to them by the Governor himself, who. it
is said, uses them for political purposes.
while personally despisng them us Il
race.
In North Carolina the negro has equal
educational advantages with the white
man. The negro schools duplicate those
of the whites, and the same is true of
the State institutions-thc agricultural
and mechanical colleges. But the negroes
are VIGOROUSLY improyident, and pay less
than five per cent of the taxes of the
State.
Some thousand public offices are held
by negroes. A large number of magis-
trates and constables have ben elected
i'll Eastern counties. Negroes have been
appointed on school committees and vest
ed with full authority to visit and over
see the public schools of the whites. This
i'll face of the feeling voiced by very
small sehoolboy, who had been question
ing me with the unabashed frankness of
Southern youth, and who remarked to Il
companion in a tone of great astonish-
ment:
Hi, Clayt'n Yere's n gemman says
they's been gemmen come we're thOusan'
miles jes' cause we alls killed few id
niggahsn'
Wilmington went temporarily dry" as
soon as the revolutionary government
took office but not obnoxiously so. |
conferred with IN official on the matter
of medicine for cold
"Why, Bud" said he, synpathetically.
Bless yo haht. yo' shorcly shall have ii.
A leetle liquor? Ycs--of o'se."
\ tall naval reserve, recklessly flourish
ing shining revolver. met me on the
street.
a friend o mine has some right good
Gavin whiskey, an we're gOin to make
him co'chus call" he announced with
a broad smile. And, to punctuate the
joke, he tapped me OH the shoulder with
the muzzle Of the muredous- looking, self
cooking pistol.
Colonel Waddell, the present Mayor of
Wilmington, is mild-mannered gentle
man, who looks fifty years of age and
confesses to siXty-hve. He is extremely
conservative, and is the very last man
one would expect to find mixed up in a
bloody revolution.
In the very impr0babl event of inter
ference on the part of the Federal gov
eminent, or an attempt to unscat the
present revolutionary municipal authori-
ties. the struggle will be long and bitter.
1t would be well for the Federal govern
ment to pick its way carefully to avoid
intensifying sectional feeling.
Months ago" said Colonel Waddell,
Il told friend of mine--a Northern
banker-that this thing must surely come
to pass. The Almighty never intended
that white men should be governed by
the blacks, and we white men here in
Wilmington are determined not TO sub
NIT to negro rule"
The heart of this kindly gentleman is
torn with knowledge of the miseries
which the revolution has necessarily
caused to the poor ignorant blacks. II
must be remembered that Il great mass
of Southern negroes are not only &bsO
lutely illetcrate but are as utterly igno-
rant as Hottentots. 1t is the politician
who rouse the slumbering devil in these
poor creatures and throws them back into
the murderous moods of barbaric Africa.
Then, when their leaders desert them
fear of the white man grasps their souls
and their world totters. They are flung
upon the dregs and the sawdust.
The weather has ben cold and dreary.
Bone-chilling, drizzling rain falls sadly
from a lcaden sky, dripping from the
moss-laden housetops and pattcrlhg
among the soddcn leaves and pine mast.
Yet in the woods and swamps innocent
hundreds of terrified men, women aad
children are wandering about, fearing tie
vengeance of the whites. fearful of