The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-22
RECENT OCCURRENCES
WilmingtOn's Second Decl2ra-
ton of independence.
HISTORICAL REVIEW.

The sons OF the Cape Fear Again E.-
tabIisb q Glorious R~ecord-The Ex-
ample Ell Iiussrtous Sires Followed.
Radfc2ifsm 8verthroySn and VII
mingtOn Kedcemed-Cooi, Calm and
Deliberate Action of White Men in
Resenting an Insult to Their
Thrilling Narrative of the Burning of
the Negro Newspaper Office The
Bloody 10Th Of November
The city of Wilmington, N c., is one
of the oldest towns in the new world,
and it's people have been ever of the
best. The white inhabitants of today,
to a great extent, were born and bred
there, as were their ancestors before
them. The citizens of other states,
who went there to live, and there is
quite a number of them, entitled to and
desiring recognition, became promptly
identified in every particular with the
people already there. The sturdy New
England stock is fairly well represent
ed, and is as pronouncedly southern
as the native born. 1t has never been
q people willing to accept insults, nor
capable Of resting tamely under OPP
preston. They have always known
how and when to strike. They have
proved it in recent events, and not for
the first time.
Probably NJ more thrilling series of
events, small though the stage, have
ever taken place than were enacted be-
tween November 9th and 18th. No
tragedy &, carefully prepared, and pre-
sented by actors familiar with their
parts, could exceed in dramatic effect
the s~tateliness, the elaboration, the
dignity, the freedom from excitement
which pervaded the entire perform
ance. 1t looks as though the initial
movement had been made in the direc-
ton of changes far beyond the local
results. The widespread attention
drawn to the disturbances there and
the bold attitude of the whites has put
the negro before the bar of public
opinion. There can be but one YER
dict, analysed as have been the condi-
tions by many of the brightest minds
Of the country.
PROLOGUE.
In 1897, the republicans, having Sc
cured control of the Legislature,
W ~ 10 llC
people of Wilmington by the enact
ment of a law which gave the govern
or, a republican, who had been and
was peculiarly obnoxious to Whining
t%onians, for reasons not entirely con-
nected with his politics, the power to
appoint five members of the ten COM
posing the board Of aldermen, the 9TH
err five to be elected by the five wards,
in two of which there was an over
whelming negro majority. AS a result,
the city government was soon in the
possession of the worst elements, not
of the republican party, because there
is no degree of good to be found in
that party in Wilmington, but of the
worst elements in the community. The
lowest grade OF. craftsmanship, with it's
natural concomitants of in~competency
and inefficiency. controlled the man.
agement of a city, where over IS per
cent. of the taxes were paid by the
white men, who were practically de-
MED any voice in the expenditure of
their own money. 1t was taxation
without representation; it was a de-
privation of the right of ~self-govern-
ment; it was sure to bring trouble in
the end. The whites were very pa
tient. They undertook to make the
best of the situation, and quietly
waited for the time when the wrong
could be righted, hoping hat the evils
they were facing might prove to be
III III liz ldCh VI IL SOOu govern
ment than in the influence and effect
of a bad one. And so matters ran on
until the summer Of 1898, when the
approaching political elections began
to attract attention. The incendiary
appeals made to the negro, the bad adj
vice freely rendered him and evil sug-
gestions put into his mind, sometimes
by his black leaders, more frequently
by white ones, who, seeking office by
his votes, were degraded enough to
cater to his worst passions in order to
incite his animosity against the whites,
by which alone could be secured a
solid black vote, all tended to inf1ame
him to an extent which the white man
saw BODIED tro lble.
Daily and nightly robberies, always
of the white man, made private guards
necessary. If the police was not in
league with the robbers, it was abso-
lutely useless. No efforts of any kline
were made to detect or arrest evil
doerS-some, who were captured by
citizens, were deliberately released
without form of law, women were in
suited on the streets and on their piaZ-
zas; children were struck on their way
to school,. 1t became unsafe for white
women to walk on the streets at all,
n finally, as the most of
all the insults offered, a negro paper
published an article defamatory of the
virtue of poor white women. Grimly
and in silence, the white men waited
had the negroes possessed any discern
ment, the silence would have been
OminOuS. Nothing was forgOtten-ev-
cry insult was remembered, but the
war of races, which the negro seemed
DESTROYS of inaugurating was kept off
by the forbearance of the whites. The
white man was engaged in a determin-
ed effort to shake off once and forever
the domination of the negro, n in
the nurSl1it of a nllrnOSp SI1ch as tina
he disdained to stop to brush aside the
little pests that annoyed him. He did
not desire to treat the s~ympton1s-he
would attack the cause. He armed
himself-his civilization was at stake.
The honor of his women, the right to
walk the streets a free man, the safety
Of his children, the protection of his
property, were involved. The were
to be preserved-peaceably if possible,
forcibly if necessary. The white man