The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-15
RIOT REFUGEES.
NEGROES WHO FLED TO THE
WOODS SUFFERING

tne %OOds-SrOme OF the Refugees Are
Sill Hiding Out-One More Victim of
The Ri0t-The Race Conflict is Over.
Protection Will be Given to White
and Black
Ine stu; alton in Wilmington yester-
day and last night was one of abso-
, lutte quiet :. There was no further dis
turbance reported from any quarter.
Ihe boa I'd of aldermen yesterday au-
thorized . the mayor and chief OF police
to swes 1t in a provisional force of 100
police for duty thirty days, and under
this uthority a good police force is
being organized. About thirty of the
new men went on duty last night.
Th' civil authorities are still being
assis tied in patrolling the city by the
mill tary embracing about 100 men.
Col onel Walker Taylor, of the Second
reg iment, North Carolina State Guard,
is in command and his headquarters
ar at the armory Of the Wilmington
l. light Infantry. The companies in ser
V ice are the Wilmington Light In
I antry, Captain T. c. James; Will
. mington Division Naval Reserves,
Division Naval Reserves, Lieutenant
w. ID. Pollock; the Maxton Guards,
Captain G.. Il. Patterson, and Samp
son Light Infantry, Captain II. w.
Hines. The armOries Of the Whining
ton Light Infantry and Wilmington
Division Naval Reserves are used as
headquarters. Some of the visiting
military sleep in the annex Of the First
Baptist crurch, and some of the Kin
Ston reserves ere quartered at the res
idence of Commander Geo. l.. Morton,
on North Fourth street, in Brooklyn.
Business in the city went on as usual
yesterday and q stranger III the city
would not be aware from appearances
that the city had witnessed the riot,
bOodshed, turbulence and excitement
of Thursday and Thursday night.
There are, of course, unpleasant re-
minderS of the terrible experiences of
that eVentful day. About noon yes
terday Sam Macfarlane, colored, died
at the city hospital from four terri
BILE wounds He was the man who
was shot on Harnett street near the
crossing of the Seaboard Air Line and
who was thought to be dead. He was
employed by Messrs. Belden & HOWE
and was on his way home to dinner
when he was shot. He was among a lot
of hands who it was thought were
the riot and who persisted in going on
when warned to go back. He resided
at 1014 North Second street, and leaves
a widow.
Doctors in their visits about the city
continue to find and treat wounded ne
grOes. The seriously wounded are sent
to the city hospital for treatment.
Yesterday John Brown, cOlOred, was
admitted to the hospital. He has three
bullet wounds in his left leg and one
in his right leg.
PANIC STRICKEN NEGROES.
The most distressful circumstance
in connection with the riot, so far as
the negroes are concerned, resulted
from the panic among these people.
Women and children and men fled to
the woods by the thousands on Thurs
day and Friday. The roads were lined
with them some carrying their bed
ding on their heads and whatever eff
fects could be carried. 1t was pitiable
to see the children hurrying in fright
after their parents. People who come
into the city from the country reports
that these terror-stricken negroes slept
in the woods Thursday and Friday
nights. They huddled around without
any protection overhead and many had
nothing but the ground to sleep upon.
Many fled without taking a quilt or
blanket, SO that most of them had no
covering, although the weather is yet
MID. It's sufficiently cool, however,
to cause suffering, and this added to
the fact that trey had little or moth
ing to eat made their condition pitia-
BILE. In their hunger and distress, the
people in the country assisted them
as much as they could. They tried to
induce the refugees to come back to
the city, but they would not hear to
it. The most alarming reports went
out to them about the slaughter of ne
grOeS in the city, and in fact, the tel
.segraph carried out the most Wildly eX-
aggerated messages. Some of the ne
groes are coming back to the city and
report their experience as awful. They
say that if they had known the whites
would have protected them with their
guns they woulG have not taken to the
woods. The fact is all negro men, wO-
men and children who came into the
centre of the city We're given prOtec-
tiOn. The whites armed to protect
their homes and maintain order and
not to shoot unoffending negroes. A
great many negroes are still in the
country and crowds are biViOuCed
along the railroads, SO we are inform
ed by railroad men
Assistant Chief of Police NJ. F. H.
Gouverneur took a squad of police into
the woods yesterday and found large
numbers of negroes who We're afraid to
return to their homes. He assured
them that long they behaved
NheH1SoINeS anu ODeSe eO the laws tuey
would De protected. He told them to
go to their homes and they did Sc.
THE INQUEST.
The jury summoned by Coroner
Jacobs to inquire into the death of the
negroes who We're killed in the riot
last Thursday met yesterday morning
at 10 o'clock at the court house. The
jury was as follows: Colonel John Will
der Atkinson, foreman, w. NJ. Cum
ming, E. 2. Bailey. J. B. Higgins, Eli
jah Lane. colored, and j. w. Var
Borough, colored.
DR.. w. D. Mcmillan. superintendent
of health, testified that the deceased /
came to their death from gunshot
wounds.
DR.. Bernice c. Moore. Policeman !
nd