The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-08-28
DEATH OF JUDGE B0YKIN--HIS LAST
SPEECH.

| ward T. Boykin will be heard with great
regret in all parts of North Carolina,
for during his term on the Superior court
bench he held court in nearly every
comfy i'm the State. He was learned
and capable judge, holding the scales Of
Justice evenly and presiding with grace.
During the ten years that he wore the
ermine il was never charged that he had
| delayed or denied justice, had been
| partial in his rulings. or had failed to
| ltigants. X
| Judge Boykin was Il born lawyer. He
| loved the law, studied it diligently and
| had judicial temperament. Upon the
death of Judge McKoy in 1896, if our
| memory is not ut fault he was appoint
ed to the Superior court bench by Gov
| ernor Scales. He was twice re-nomi-
| mated, received Il very large vote for
| nomination as Supreme court justice, re-
signed from the Superior court bench
| about two years ago and located in
| Raleigh. From his first week in Raleigh
he enjoyed large and growing practice
Before going on the bench, Judge Boy
| kin was the first lawyer and most sue
cessful Democratic leader in his see
ton. Three times he was chosen to
| represent his county in the State Sen
ate was chairman of the judiciary
committee. and was president pro tenn
of the Senate. He was wise politician,
and under his aStute leadership the
Democratic party in Sampson county
was invincibe He was man of few
words. he weighed well what he said.
and his counsel was sought by party
leaders far and near.
While he was on the bench Judge
Boykin took no part in politics, and the
first political speech he had made for
years was made at Mangum'S, Durham
county, on the Bird of August. 1t was
an admirable speech in every respect,
| and made a profound impression. That
though dead, he may yet speak," we
append extracts from his last speech:
'The pending contest is for the SUI
premacy of virtue, intelligence and the
fundamental rights of citizenship 1t
has been demonstrated during the past
few months that the negro, influenced
| by his Unborn opposition to the white
man, by the vanity which power aug
| ments and which office gratifes. and
which the defeat of the Anglo-SaXon
will intensity. will vote as a unit in the
ensuing election. 1t is not the DemOc-
| racy that has drawn the color line 1t
| is the office seekers and office-holders
| In 1896 so unified was the negro vote
| that the entire number of negro electors
| might have voted by proxy in the hands
| of one of their race. This could not be
| attributed to any injustice perpetrated
| against them by the whites. The whites
| pay almost seven-eighthS of the taxes
| They educated the negro as they edu-
| Gated their own children: they built and
| supported asylums for their insane and
| their deaf. dumb and blind they secured
| them justice in the courts; they selected
them as Jurors; they assured them per-
| sonal liberty They have been deceived
| by the enemies of law and order, the
| white Republican office hunters, and
| their passions and prejudices have been
excited against their best friends. And
| still, not one of them has been permit
| ted. in all these years, to become a can
| didate on Il State Republican ticket for
| Il State office, because the white Repub-
| licans of the West could not be pla-
Gated. They are rewarded by local Off
| ces in Eastern counties and cities and
| towns, and the interests that most init
| mately concern the intelligence and mo-
rality and property of the taxpayers are
committed to their reckless and unscfu-
| pulous bands. They are constituted JUS
| tees of the peace, school committeeman,
county commissioners. pOstoffice keep
ers, constableS. colonies and majors and
| captains. They are excited and over
come by this feast of power, and racial
| troubles are precipitated, and helpless
| females are at the mercy of their uncon-
! trollable lust.
1.-The salvation of the government
| may be determined by the result of this
| contest. 1t can be assured by the union
of the white voters. There can be no
reason why the Populists should not
unite with the Democrats in Il contest
| involving the honor, the property, the
| supremacy Of the white man. They can
not consistently cooperate with the Re
| publicans. Their policy in regard to
money, to monoplies, to the tariff, to
| the judiciary, is totally different. They
have been and are now honOred citizens;
they are property holders; they are
! white men.
1.-The Populist party WAS NOT OR
| CANNED TO ELECT NEGROES
| TO OFFICE IN NORTH CAROLINA.
| And yet fusion of the Populist and
Republican parties will inevitably re-
suit in this since the negro will not hest
| tate to demand his rights And Popu-
| lists will not be the last to suffer from
| the results of this unholy rule.
"POpulism was n protest against
! CleyeIandism. This nightmare no longer
| exists.
| "All white men who love and honor
| their State and revere law and good gov
ernment and oppose ignorance and the
blight of negro domination should vote
| as brothers."
Wayne county nominated a strong