The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-11-27
THE COMMITTEE
or TWENTY-FIVE,
Especial Correspondence of Golfers Weekly

! Unless the more ancient process of ne
gro Acknowledgement at the ballot-box
are considered to s. be effective, it is
quite possible that the successful capsiz-
ing of Wilmington's municipal govern
ment by The Committee Of Twenty
five" will be cmulated i'll other commune
ties where negro rule is oppressive, and
followed by similar revolutions through
out the BLACK Belt of the South. At
the present time representatives of many
Southern cities are here, finding out how
: the thing was done.
! Since the close of the Civil Conflict
the South has vainly sought for Solu-
ton Of the Race Problem. The necessl-
ty for white supremacy is the Gospel
, of the Southerner, who is also hampered
/ by an ineradicable feeling of paternallsnl,
inherited from slavery days.
It was reserved for Wilmington. \. C.,
to take the most startling and suggestive
step looking to the absolute termination
, of negro rule and disfranchisement of the
, race.
Wilmington is pretty little city, tuck
! ed away among the understanding pines
down in the southeast corner OF the
State, not far from the coast. Its popu-
lation of $4,000 souls is made of 5000
whites and 1900 negroes. 1t is typl-
| cal Southern city. with all the pictures
one Southern Observation-Disclosures
vehicles, coon dogs" grotcsquely ragged
darkies. ox-carts. fried bananas. red
bandanas. hot biscuits, honking geese,
and wandering shoats.
The recent revolution, which resulted
in reformation of the city government.
was 0ccasioncd by municipal misrule and
the dictatorship usurped by Governor
Russell. Radical differences formed the
basis of the revolt. Trouble was brew
inc for months. Before election. the
city was in the power of the FusiOnistS.
was practically without charter or eff
fective government, and was dominated
by negroes and negro sympathizers.
Many police officers and deputies were
cOOred men.
If the unanimous testimony of reputa-
bic citizens, "householders and warm
men is to be depended upon, reforma-
ton in the municipal regime was neces-
sary. White women found it unsafe
to walk through the streets in daytime
without an escort. They were insulted
and elbowed into the gutter by negro
women and men. Children going to
school were abused. Residences were
broken into and their contents destroyed
ont of pure deviltry. Houscholders who
complained to the Chief of Police tnow in
parts unknown received no satisfaction.
Besides the tongue of the negrcss lis
hung in the middle"
Before election there was an exodus
of white women and children from the
city. The tension was drawn close to
the swapping point. Trouble was anti
cipated by both races. Local dealers
We're forbidden 10 sell arms to the me-
groes. who were poorly equipped with
weapons. Application was made to the
Winchester Arms Company by Fusion
lists for two hundred repeating rifles, it
is said, and referred by the company to
its North Carolina agent. who sent the
letter to Wilmington, where it was
published. Governor Russell and Sena-
tor Butler having announced their in
tention to speak in Wilmington, a com
mittee of citizens waited upon those gem
tlemen in the interest of law and order
! and advised them to stay away" One
of the committee was n former law
partner of the Governor. The speeches
were postponed.
On the day following election the
prominent Democratic citizens banded to-
gether and determined to act The Flu
SIDIIlSb OlllCItlS III pONtIs III -.
Wright, Mayor: j. Il. Melton Chief of
Police: X. III. Bunting. Magistrate. and
the entire Board Of Aldermen. "resign-
ed" and the new revolutionary govern
ment, consisting of A. NJ. Waddell.
Mayor: T. G. Parmalee Chief of Police.
and a Town Council made up of promi-
nent business men. assumed control
The streets filled with citizens peace
fully disposed. but whose pistol-pockets
bulged out Ominously.
The revolutionary government immed-
ately swore in two hundred and fifty
special policemen. AS for the members
of the old police force. they simply for
got to report for duty
! Immediately the reyOlutionists in pow
! or proceeded to make it warm for negro
rule leaders and sympathizcrs. Obiec-
tiOna Fusionists (all Fusonists are OBJ
jectionable in Wilmington. by the way
were given to understand that they had
become decidedly persona non grata in
Wilmington. Whoreupon passenger re-
ceipts of the railroad company began to
look up.
Then the immediate cause of violence
| and bIoodshed materialized.
| There was (but is no more) in the city
of Wilmington an rAfro-American"
newspaper called the Record" publish
ed by mullato named a. H. Manley
The Record had II large circulation
among the negroes throughout the State.
Maney had some time before election
published an atr0ciouS article dcfaming
/ white women. SANDER sufficiently vile
| to impel Pennsylvania Dutchman to
! take up his butcher knife and go on the
/ warpath. Proposals were made to lynch
Manley when the article appeared, but
cooler heads persuaded the hot young
bloods to wait. The older men had
| planned to combine revolution with
profit
/ When the revolutionary government
took charge Editor Manley was expelled
from the city, and committee of repre-
sentative negroes was given twenty -four
hours TO remove therefrom the Record
printing plant. This the negroes agreed
in writing TO do. ut the same time re-
probating Manlcy and utterly discaim-