The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-25
RIOT AND
Washington Starr

The Charleston Is. CO News and
Courier in its issue of Saturday last
takes so clear a view Of the race trou-
bles in South and North Carolina that
its utterances are worth attention and
study. With full appreciation Of the
intensity Of the local feeling on this
subject it is easy to understand the
difficulty with which papers published
in the south bring themselves to see
these affairs in their true relations.
And therefore it is reassuring to find
The News and Courier taking so broad
a ground in its m as the fol-
lowing extracts from it's leading edi-
tOrial of the date mentioned serve to
indicate:
I'm North Carolina there was some
excuse for a show of force-the eX-
cuse Of revolution against an intOlera-
bic condition of affairs in the admins
tration Of the government of the peo-
pie; in South Carolina there was alb
solutely no excuse for the lawlessness
and ~bloodshed of the last few days
at Phoenix. which has brought shame
and disgrace upon the whole state and
exposed the weakness n ~hOllowness
of our boasted civilization. We have
waited for the facts before making
any upOn the situation, and
the facts utterly condemn us as a peO-
pie. They show not only that we are
pOWerleSS to protect the weak and ig-
nOrant who are at our mercy, but that
we cannot control our own evil ten
denotes. They show. moreover, that the
lawfully constituted authorities of the
state are Indifferent or imbecile, or
both, in the discharge of their duty,
n that the spirit of the mob is
stronger than the spirit of law and or
der and justice.
THE conditions in the two Carolinas
- NIL -
DINA it was revolution, in South Car
DINA it was riot.
1T would have been as easy to kill
the negroes by the law as it was to
slaughter them without the form of
law; and the shame of it is hat we
nave proved only hat the savage in
stinct is stronger within us than the
of justice. We have condemned
ourselves by our own violence.
What shall we do about it? The
state administration has demonstrated
utter incapacity or brutal Indifference
to a condition Of things which will
excite the condemnation of the world.
We a only protest that the majority
Of the white people of the state are
opposed to the supremacy of the mob;
but who will believe US? And yet we
do protest. 1t is all that we can do
Color and Country was the slogan
of the mob at Phoenix, and it is a
slogan to which all honest white mer
in the negro states of the south will
respond; but we must keep our hands
and hearts unstained by blood if we
would have the approval of our con,
. sciences or merit the confidence of the
country"
1t is to be noted that The News and
Courier diScriminateS between the sit.
uatiOnS in h two states, to the dis
paragement of its own. There was
some sympathy, north as we'll as south
with the desire of the white people OF
! North Carolina to rid themselves OF
! negro domination, and the nation was
apparently willing to condone the
adoption Of measures to this end
while radical and abstractly in viola.
ton of certain state and national laws
were yet productive of no open anC
violent breaches of the peace. But thu
: burning of buildings and the wantor
killing of u~nOffending men and the VIC.
lent ~overturning of established gov.
: eminent are in themselves positive
crimes which deserve only condemna
ton and punishment. The News anC
Courier evidently appreciates tina
there is a danger line beyond which
the whites of the south must not g
if they would preserve the respect o
the country and maintain their owl
standards of civilization. Its cOndem
nation of the rioting at Phoeni,
throws a new light on the case am
ought to turn the thoughts Of the PEG
pie of the south into new and bette
channels.