The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-25
By Soaring the COIOred Men So Badly
They viii Not Go Near the Polls
ON Election Day.
RACE WAR In MISSISSIPPI
CASUALTIES SO FAR INCLUDE ELEV-
EN- DEAD NEGROES,
Others Hiding in the Swamps and a
Few in Custody of the sheriff, but
in Danger of Lynching.

Special to the indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, Oct. Ex-senator Pritch-
ard and other Republican leaders in North
Carolina have called on the President to
protect the negro voters there against law
less white Democrats, who have organized
wholesale campaign of intimidation The
Democrats have gone in to redeem" the
State after the Mississippi plan of keeping
the negroes away from the polls and blood
lily educating them to stay away 1t was
as much as a negros life was worth to
try to vote in Mississippi for some years
prior to the new Constitution, which dis
franchises them. The Democrats of North
Carolina are preparing to follow the foot
steps of their brethren in Mississippi They
have made heavy importations of firearms,
which are being distributed lavshy among
their political and semi-social clubs. There
have as yet been no serious outbreaks, but
the negroes have been notified that if they
do not keep away from the polls they will
get into trouble. Intense excitement pre-
walls among the colored people, and they
are organizing to meet force with force.
The Governor of the State is, unfortunate
ly lacking in backbone. He is Repub-
lican, and his sympathies are with the
blacks, but in this emergency he seems to
have weakened. In self-defense he claims
that the most effective part of the state
militia is now in the United States army,
and that it would be absolutely impossible
for him to command sufficient force of
state troops to do any good He sets UP.
the plea, also, that the sympathies of the
militia, such might be mustered together,
would be with the whites as against the
blacks, and that no reliance could be placed
upon them to preserve order If it came to a
direct issue between the blacks and the
whites. and the whites were having the
best of it.
The administration is being urged to take
hand on the ground that this government
owes protection to its own citizens against
oppression, inhumanity and enslavement
quite as much as it does to the inhabitants
of Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Phil
ippine islands. If North Carolina is wrested
from Republican control this year it is ex-
tremely improbable that they will ever re-
cover the lost ground. Without the help OF
the black vote the Republicans of North
Carolina in hopeless minority. 1t is
estimated that the negroes represent about
two-fifths of the vote of the State. Under
able white leadership they have enjoyed
comparative freedom at the polls for sew
eral years in the western and central parts
of the State. In the eastern and southeast
ern part of the State, where the black popu-
lation is heaviest, the Mississippi plan has
prevailed for a long while and the negroes
do very little voting.
The Republican committee is alarmed at
the North Carolina outlook The State
elects nine congressman. At present there
are five Populists. one Democrat and three
Republicans in the House. The Democrats
expect to elect a solid Democratic delega-
ton in November. Should they succeed in
doing this it will be an important Republic
loss and still more important Demo-
cratic gain. 1t will mean an unbroken vote
from North Carolina for free silver. The
State therefore becomes very important
from national standpoint. The gravity of
the situation is fully appreciated by the
administration, but it is the duty of the
executive of a State to exhaust his re-
sources in that direction before the federal
government can interfere.