The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-15

The S~tatesville Landmark of he
9th we'll and truly expresses our senti-
ments in the following:
"The two worst enemies that North
Carolina has in this great crisis Of the
white citizens Of the state are Jcter
Pritchard, United States senator from
North Carolina, and Dan Russell, gov
ernor of North Carolina"
We find the above in a contempor-
airy. 1t was written and printed before
the election. Yes, Pritchard and Rus
sell are bad enough in all conscience,
and so are Thompson, Holton, Aver
and all the other leaders Of the fusion
devil>ry. But we desire to go on rec
ord here and now as saying that we
have had little patience with the policy
Of the campaign which has sought to
place all the infamy on Pritchard and
Russell ct al. and their ignorant negro
dupes, while the very chief Of them
all-the most infamous of them all
Marion Butler, is allowed to go prac-
tically without blame. The others are
bad enough, God knows, and the
wrongs they have done the state
should and will haunt them to their
SA"E1 'NL We DCIIcNt III SINlHS even
the devil his dues and II placing the
responsibility where It belongs.
Every man Of intelligence in the
state knows that Butler is responsible
for the conditions which now exist and
which have existed in the state for
= four years. The others have given as
sistance to the best Of their ability it
is true; but surprising all Of them IN
ability and capacity to engineer and
promote the cnds which gave the fu-
siOnists success, he worked out the
plot to it's successful conclusion and
to him is due the infamy of it's sue
cess.
1t was Marion Butler who, by per-
sistently and assiduously instilling
prejudice and hate into a portion Of the
people whose confidence he had sue
cceded in winning, divided the white
people in 1892. It was he who, step by
step, led his forces into a coalition
with the republicans and negroes in
1894 and 1896 and thus elected pTitch-
ard to the senate and Russell governor.
1t was Butler who, realizing that the
conditions which he had brought about
in North CarOlina; realizing that the
honest WGiLe people of the state Of
all parties would not long tolerate the
infamous dynasty Nhicn he had set up
but would come together and over
throw it; and knowing hat if it was
overthrow he would be crushed IL
its ruins-it was Butler who sought by
OVertures last spring to unite with the
democrats on condition that he be al
lowed to dominate them as he had
dominated and traded upon his hand
full of followers.
When his proposition was scorned
Butler, filled with venom and hate,
went UP and down the state in this
campaign and made the meanest
speeches by far hat any white man
has made in North Carolina. Possess
cd of all the arts of the demagOgue,
filled with Unsuitable ambition, greed,
malice, hatred and revenge, he used
every means within his power to SO
incite and inttame his followers that
they would nee again vote with tbs
negroes and the republicans to keen
in power the infamous gang which now
controls the state, and to humble the
democrats and if possible bring them
to his (Butler'S) feet.
To him good government in North
Carolina is nothing; to him the aboli-
ton of trusts, free silver and the 9th
err things of which he prates so glibly
are nothing. He uses them only as a
part and parcel of his scheme. Pro
claiming that he is for white suprem-
acy, he would see every county in the
state dominated by negroes rather
than surrender one of his own selfish
schemes. AS q brazen hypOcrite, as ar
Utterer of falsehoOds and ISLANDERS
against men the Iatchets of whose
shoes he is unworthy to loose, he has
had no equal in all the history OF
North Carolina, and if future history
be correctly written future generations
will be taught that of all the sOns OF
North Carolina who nave attained
prominence, Butler alone reached th@
very acme of infamy.
These are the facts about this mar
who. t he disgrace of North Carol
ma, holds d seat in the United Sta'e:
senate. ara no intelligent mar in he
state can successfully derry them.