The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-10-22
THE MYSTERY OF "l07".

Is there any peculiar virtue in the
number 107? There must be. 1t is
the one imaginary fact upon which ev-
cry evangel of negro domination in the
State has finally been able to settle
down. They all say "the Democratic
legislature of 1877 appointed 107 negro
magistrates" At first they said 40, and
some of them said other numbers, but
finally the superior charms and peculiar
destinations of ''107" prevailed and the
fusion spouter has droolcd it on every
voter who went to hear him without the
precaution of an umbrella.
But were there 1912" Read the fol-
lowing letter:
Raleigh, n. c., Oct. 10, '9S.
Mr. George Norwood
Dear Sir: / have found the circular
we were speaking of today, concerning
the 1O7 magistrates. Page 1872 House
Journal 1877 will give the names. [
have not a copy of the journal in the
office. so can't vouch for it, but that is
what is claimed in the circular.
Truly,
GUY V. BARNES.
Although Barnes, candidate for Coun-
ty Treasurer. had never seen the names
in the House Journal and could not
''vouch for it, that was what the CIR
cular says" and on that authority he
had been retailing the story on every
stump in the county. He could have
verified or disproved the assertion in five
minutes by consulting the House Jour
nal in the Public Library, but the cir
cular and the mystic charm of "l01"
fixed him.
Does "page 100 House Journal 1877
give the names? 1t gives names, page
after page of them follows, but there is
nowhere on any page word, letter,
hint or insinuation going to show that
'107," one, a dozen, or any number of
them were negroes, black like Isaac
Smith. the fusion candidate for the leg
islature, or gingerbread like Joe Braan,
Governor Russell's assistant private
secretary. And yet every fusion Pie
seeker has been telling the voters that
"the record shows that the DemG,1' =
appointed 107 negro magistrates in
1877" But when pinned, like Guy
Barnes, they ''seen it, in a secret cir
cular. And .tnus fusion veracity loses
another chunk of itself.
: The Journal shows what we have con-
tended from the first, that if negroes
were appointed, the Republican members
of the Assembly took advantage of one
of the ordinary courtesies of legislative
bodies and slipped the names of negroes
into the lists of magistrates they were
permitted by Democratic courtesy TO
recommend for appointment and did not
designate which were whites and which
were negroes. But were there "1O1"
negroes? Barnes says he cannot vouch
for it, and the record is silent. Would
it not be in keeping with the solemn
witchery of '107" for the 18th, 29th and
47th magistrates to have been Croatan
Indians, the 63d an albino and the 91st
an untamed Tuscarora, girt with pam
ther teeth and rattlesnake fangs?
But let no man use with unseemly
ievity this richly ornamented shibboleth
of the fusionist and patriot, warm from
the imagination OF the most versatile
and perspicuous liar that ever stuck
hoof under the mahogany of the pie
counter. Henceforth "107" will take its
place along with ''eye of newt and toe of
frog" ladders fork and blind worms
sting" Halair's handbook and Rev.
Baylus Cade in the real spells that bind
orl oI;nn