The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-11
WILMINGTON A SCENE OF WAR.
TEN NEGROES KILLED OUTRIGHT
AND TWENTY-FIVE WOUNDED.

dell Leads the Attack on the Rec
ord Office and Is Later Installed
ms Mayor-SurrounIingT Towns Send
Three White Men wounded During
the Day-WiIIiam Mayo Seriously
Hurt-GOvernOr's Guards Dispatch
ed to the Scene.
Wilmington, n. c., Nov. 1O-After day
of boodshed and turbulence, Wilmington
has subsded tonight into comparative
peacefulness
Eight negroes were killed and three
white men wounded during the day, one
of them William Mayo, seriously.
Tonight the city is in the hands of a
new municipal government, and law and
order is being established.
This afternoon the board of aldermen
resigned one by one. AS each alderman
vacated the remainder elected a success
sor, named by the citizens committee un-
til the entire board was changed legally.
They resigned in response to public SEN
timent. The new board is composed of
conservative Democratic citizens.
The Mayor and chief of police then re-
signed, and the new board elected their
successors, according to law.
Ex-Congressman Alfred M. Waddell was
elected Mayor and Edgar G. Parmee chief
of police.
The first act of the new government
was to swear in $50 special policemen.
chosen from the ranks of reputable white
citizens. They are vested with all the au-
thority of the law, and will take charge
of the city. The citizens will remain on
guard, however, throughout the town to
prevent possible attempts at incendiar-
ism. The new government will devote its
attention to restraining recklessness
among the whites, as well as keeping down
lawlessness among the negroes.
Further trouble of general or serious
nature is not expected.
Soon after the meeting Mr.. George Roun-
tree received a telegram from Gov. Rus
sell, saying that he would use all his eff
forts to influence the Mayor and City
Council to, resign if that would restore
peace.
Mr. Rountree sent the following reply:
Mayor and aldermen have resigned. Two
hundred and fifty special policemen sworn
in. Law VIII be maintained and peace re-
stored"
Mr.. Rountree is a prominent attorney
here and member of the Democratic
campaign committee
The trouble in Wilmington to-day COM
menced at $50 this morning, when an
armed body of citizens numbering about
400, and led by ex-Congressman Waddell,
chairman of "a committee of twenty-five,
appointed for the purpose, proceeded TO
the publishing house of the negro news
paper, the Record, to wreck it. The editor
of this paper had published an article de-
famatory of white women, and a mass
meeting of citizens yesterday ordered his
expulsion from the city within twenty
four hours and the removal of his press.
Fifteen leading negroes were called in by
the committee of twenty-five lastNnight,
and directed to notify the chairman by
7;SO this morning whether they would
agree to the removal of the press. They
were informed that if no answer was re-
turned the press would be demolished.
No answer was received by the chairman,
and after waiting an hour, this morning
the citizens proceeded in a body and de-
mohshed the fixtures of the printing office.
The building was also fired and gutted.
The leaders say this action was The
work of irresponsible persons. and as soon
as the fire was discovered the fire depart
ment was called to extinguish it. The
burning of the printing Office created a
great commotion among the negroes of the
town. The rumor spread that the
whites were going to burn and
murder in the negro quarters.
This rumor reached the negro employees
Of cotton compress numbering 300 or 400,
Who quit work and hung about the streets
IN manifest terror. Other parties con-
gregated in the negro section, and it was
IN one of these that the first tragedy was
enacted.
The men were standing on a corner
and were ordered to disperse. They, de-
chned and, it is claimed, fired into the
whites. A fusiade was Immediately
upJH lHttn Dy lHe WultcSg dAih
three negroes killed. Two whites were
wounded slightly. One negro ran down
the street. and. passing a residence, fired
rifle at William Mayo, white, standing
on the veranda, shooting him through
the left lung. This negro was recognized,
pursued and captured while hiding under
a bed. 1t is said he confessed TO the
Shooting. He was riddled with shot by
his captors and killed.
In the meantime, the town was in a
state OF excitement. The whites rushed
10 the scene from every direction. the
local military company was ordered out,
and a battalion of United States naval
reserves proceeded to the vicinity Of the
trouble with a rapid-ire gun.
About O'Clock some negroes in a house
ired upon passing party OF white men.