The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-06-07

man than for the Seraphim that quirc
the stars? What does he mean by all
his crazy rant about "scaffolds and
Calvary in West Virginia. about his
100000 fighting negroes who, some
day. will get at the threats of the
white men who have done so many
awful things? Have the negroes in
Brooklyn been imposed upon, and are
the 100000 fighters about to de-
vastate that prosperous village by way
of vengeance? Or. if the grievance
be against the South, why does not
this foaming warrior 90 down there
and lead his 100000 terrors into the
vortex of the battle?
The other leader" w. O. Murphy,
is even more incendiary than Fortune
and goes the editor-leader ore bett II
in the following:
THE negro has always been a
peaceful man and has only fought
when the issue was forced upon him.
The trouble is that the negro was
born in poverty and has not been able
to secure the arms to resist the in
vasion of his home and his rights. but
the negro should study. so as to learn
how to manufacture dynamite, so that
when he is attacked he can resist his
oppressors. as the Russians and Ger
mans have done"
These utterances should be a warn
ing to the white people of North
Carolina. Such harangues to ignor-
ant and eXcitable crowds will bear
fruit And that fruit can be but a
reenactment of the Wilmington riot.
The army of invasion suggested will
not be raised. dynamite may not be
used. but the negro will become more
and more insolent as a citizen and
dangerous as u member of society,
and the ultimate result will be blood
shed on both sides unless something
is done to check his growing inso-
lence, born of the idea that he is the
equal in every respect of the white
man.
That Fortune and Murphy are not
alone in their views as to propriety
of resorting to force is shown by the
following interviews with New York
negro preachers printed in the Sun
of Tuesday:
Mr.. Brooks spoke of the zeal of Mr..
Fortune in behalf of his race and said
that while there would be no fighting
at present. yet such speeches as Mr.
Fortune were attracting the atten-
ton of the world to the negro queS-
ton and were inspiring the negro to
more insistent demands for his rights.
DR.. p. Butler Tompkins, pastor of
the Presbyterian church. said that
while Mr.. Fortunes speech was radi-
cal in tenor yet it contained many
truths; and that while the negro
could not hope to secure anything
by forcible methods. his salvation lay
in creating a healthy public senti-
ment in his behalf
DR.. w. II. Moore, pastor of St. James
NJ. f. Church, Newark. said that the
South seemed so utterly blind to the
rights of the negro and was so per-
sistent in its outrages upon the life
and liberty of the colored people that
, it seemed as if some great awakening
| would be necessary before that sec
ton would realize that the negro is
a man and that of one blood God had
created al people to dwell upon the
face of the earth.
The Rev. r. j. Strothers, pastor of
the Bethel A. NJ. f. Church, Jersey
City. thought that the negroes should
leave the South. The negro had made
the South. and if he should leave the
people there would have to employ
dissatisfied foreign labor and strikes
and bloodshed would result.