, 1898-11-11
A BITTER RACE WAR
TROUBLE AT WILMINGTON CILNI-
MATES IN BURNING OF NE
GRO NEWSPAPER OFFICE.
Hundreds Of Armed Men Parade the
Streets and 1t Is Feared Bloody
Times Will Result-Eight Men Re
ported Killed. -Four of Whom Were
Negroes.

-" - sh'F o.
Events have moved quickly in vii
mington this morning and the white
people have made good their threats tc
take vengeance upon the negro news.
paper which published the editorial de-
rogatory to white women.
AT $50 o'clock. the negroes not hay
ing responded to the demand for the
removal of the press in the Record, the
negro newspaper, eN-Representative
Waddell. the chairman of the white
committee of twenty-five. repaired to
the light infantry armory where he
was to meet the citizens by an appoint
ment.
Eight O'Clock was the last hour of
grace for the negroes to reply. and that
hour passed without an answer being
received. The citizens waited half an
hour for reinforcements. In the mean
time armed men had begun to gather
in the wide street in front of the arm
DRY. They carried rifles. shotguns and
ammunition, and the assemblage in
cluded some of the most solid citizens
of the town.
At $50 o'clock the procession, head
ed by cX-Representative Waddell and
the committee of twenty-five, moved in
the direction of the Record printing
shop. All along the line OF march the
procession was Joined by armed citi-
zens, and when the negro quarter was
reached the negroes could be seen n
few blocks away. running into their
houses.
When the crowd arrived in front of
the Record, a two-story frame build
ing, picket lines were thrown out across
the streets and squads of men SEN to
squares in the neighborhood.
Leader Waddell, with rifle on his
shoulder, went to the door of the build
ing and knocked, but there being no re-
Spouse. the door was soon burst open.
The citizens surged into the place and
commenced the work of destruction.
The furniture was smashed and thrown
into the street. the floors were Quilted
of movables and the building was fired
and destroyed.
Some n turned in a fire alarm, and
when the engines responded the crowd
discharged their weapons and a fusil-
lade of guns and pistols and shouts fill
ed the air. The affair was soon over
and no II vas hurt. The publishing
house was destroyed. but the neighbor-
ing property saved.
The colored editor, Marley. his
brother, and their associates, have fed
and could not be found by the citizens.
After destroying the printing house
the marchers returned to the armory
where they had left a rapid-fire ma
chine gun mounted in a wagon, ready
to be dispatched to the scene if a battle
should occur. The leaders of the crowd
said subsequently that it was not the
intention to burn the Record building,
that it was the work of some rash per
sons or by accident and did not have
the concurrence of the committee.
Today's action of the whites was the
sequel to yesterdays meeting at the
county court house and hat of the COM
mittee o. twenty-five in the afternoon,
as a result of which the negroes were
given until this morning to return an
answer for the demand for the removal
of the press and the cessation of the
publication of the Record.
Last night was an anxious n for the
citizens of the residence section. About
s o'clock a street car came into the
business section and reported that
the negroes had fired into ii
and that the passengers had
returned the fire A a load
ed with armed men was soon speeding
toward the scene of trouble, but the
offenders escaped. The entire eastern
end Of the town was aroused and arm
ed men were in the street cars and on
every corner.
In the negro district thirty or forty
young negroes were assembled. but
they were not armed and not violent,
and the elder men said they did not
contemplate trouble and sincerely hop
ed for peace. All night long the whites
kept guard about the business and resi-
dence sections, but no incident occurred
to disturb the night.
At 1920 o'clock the scene shifted to
another section of the city. Scarcely
had the marchers disbanded at the ar
mory before word was passed along
that 800 or 400 negro laborers at the
great cotton compress had knocked of
work and were assembling. The armed
men hurried to the river front and took
position at the head Of the streets lead
ing to the docks. The negroes gathered
in groups of fifteen or twenty. huddled
together and apparently very much ex
cited. Their wives hurried to them
with reports that the whites were burn