The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-04

| gIed a banner labeled white suprem-
acy' in the u : Of the negro men and
women who gathered in curious and
anxious throngs at their cabin doors
This Is intimidation. Of course" COM
| mented Claude kitchin. the orator OF
he ay. as he witnessed the remark
| able spectacle. but We are determined
that the white men shall rule. We
cannot cutnumber the negroes, and
so we, must either outcheat, outcount,
or outshoot them"
Having duly impressed the negroes
with the fact that the white men OF
the country were determined to rule
at all cost, and that the polls were
no place for the negro on election day,
the red-shirters gathered In the public
square 10 listen 10 a campaign speech.
Both individually and collectively
they were of good appearance, with
intelligent faces and splendid examples
| OF hearty. healthy manhood. They lis
tened with the closest attention TO the
speech of Mr.. Kitchin. who is a brother
| Of Congressman Kitchin OF this state.
| Mr.. kitchin is from Halifax county,
where the negroes outnumber the
whites by 1900. and where they NIL
seventy-four local Offices and twelve
| postmasterships. In Halifax county
however. the whites have determined
10 prevent further negro rule. and the
methods adopted, as related by Mr..
kitchin 10 his interested audience,
provoked the most approving yells.
For instance. the negro conStaoieS
have been warned that IL they ever
attempt to arrest a white man they
will be shot down. while two negro
magistrates. who swore out a false
warrant against a Methodist deacon Tor
rape. were notified If they ever placed
the name of a white man upon their
docket again they would be lynched.
THE docket has not been opened
| since" exclaimed Mr.. kitchin, where
upon the crowd yelled with delight,
and the cannon. loaded to the muZZle.
was fired as an echo of the applause.
AUDIENCE WANTED "HOT-STUFF."
Although Mr.. kitchin TOOK pains to-
show that the e~Xtravagances and scan
dals Of the fusion administration were
sufficient TO warrant a return TO demo-
cratic government. it was quite evident
that his audience was far more inter-
ected in his. unrestrained declarations
that the negro was to be no longer
a factor in the state. His ~utterances,
which might strike a northern auditor
as exceedingly fiery and violent. were
really mild compared to some OF the
things which have been said upon the
stump in this state. EX-Congressman
Waddell, for instance, recently said
that the white men would dam the
Cape Fear river with carcasses OF the
republicans before they would allow
the negro to again dominate the state.
Mr.. Kitchin did not go quite as far as
this, and was not, in fact. sufficiently
demonstrative to please his audience,
which several times clamored for hot
stuff" Yet Mr.. Kitchin swore, by the
eternal, that the white men owned
the state, and were going to have 1t.
'~peaceably If we can forcibly IL we
must" To secure this white suprem-
acy, he appealed to his red-shirted
audience to pledge their lives, their for
tunes, and their sacred honor.
You cannot disguise the fact" said
he, that the time has come for us TO
assert ourselves at all hazards. for we
are either to be political masters or po-
litical slaves. We have given notice
in Halifax county that no dirty, con
ItllDIlDlt VIII man ohdli llNp III ch
county who goes around with the mig
gers and stirs them up against our
women and children. They cannot live
among us and they shall not" White
niggers," said a man in the crowd, and
everybody laughed. There are not
soldiers enough in the whole United
States TO keep us from having our
rights" exclaimed the speaker. In
our county, when a negro constable
comes to a white man with a warrant
in his hands he leaves with a bullet
in his brains. You want to follow in
our wake and we will stand by you
in anything you do. The niger is not
an issue in politics now he is a con-
dition and he will not be a cOndi-
ito very long. We don't need the
niger vote. All that we need for vic
tory is election day This remark led
Il a vehement demonstration that last
ed several minutes.
The sun was fast sinking To the
level Of the low lying cotton fields
when the North Carolina orator closed
his impassioned speech and the red
shirt rally came to an end. Back over
the sandy roads the scarlet horsemen
galloped to their distant homes in lit
tie squads. their shirts flashing be-
tween the pines like signals Of danger.
Up in "niggertown" the negroes whis-
pered together in the gathering dusk,
and over in the woods around a bullet
torn cabin there was the silence Of the
grave. H.. l.. w.