The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-07-14
A SPLENDID DAY
FOR DEMOCRACY
IN WAKE COUNTY
Thousands Hear Aycock and
Pou Discuss the
Amendment.
AT THE FUQUAY SPRINGS
The White People of the County
Thoroughly Aroused and
Enthused.
AT THE FUQUAY SPRINGS
WARNING TO RADICALS AND NEGRO
Mr.. Pou Tells Them What They May Expect II
There is Any Violence Offered Regis
trars. The Speeches Heard
by People of Three
Counties.
Counties.

Counties.
One of the greatest political gather
lngs that has been held in the State dur
ing this campaign was at Fuquay Springs
yesterday
The scene was one seldom paralleled
in this section. The fields were deserted.
Men left the pillow in the furrow and the
hse lay idle amid the rown-topped corn
and blooming cotton. Nearly the entire
population of the surrounding country
was there massed in dense crowd for
acres and acres around.
They were there to listen to discus
sion of the Constitutional Amendment by
the next Governor of North Carolina
and they had come from three counties
Wake, Harnett and Johnston-men and
women, on foot and in vehicles of all
kinds. Early in the morning they be-
gan to arrive and before noon, when
Mr.. Aycock reached the place the crowd
had cwelled into the thousands.
The speaking was from a stand near
the springs. Mr.. Aycock was introduced
by Mr.. Josephus Daniels, editor of the
shouts of approval, that the speaker of
the day would be the next chief executive
of the State and that Wake county would
contribute 1000 to his majority.
AS the speaker stepped forward the
eagerness of the crowd was appalling.
1t roared like seas in storm. When
quiet had been restored, Mr.. Aycock
told them that he was glad of this OPP
portunity to address the people of three
counties at the same time. But" he
added II bring you no new message. AS
the Republicans say, it's that same old
cry of niger, niger
Then, amid the laughter of his audi
ence,, he told them that the Democrats
were. as tired of the Niger Question
as the Populists, Republicans or any
body else-"and probably a little more
So"
1T has been like an infant crying
in the night; like an infant crying for
light, with no language but cry. When
we have stopped that cry we can take up
other questions, but not till then"
There was no laughter now, no ap-
plause, as the speaker reviewed the his
tory of Republican misrule in the State,
following the day when the men of the
South saw their sun of hope go down
at Appomattox.
"In that day of your calamity the Re-
publican party came into power in this
State. What did they do?"
Men and women leaned forward to catch
the words, their eyes fixed upon those
of the speaker.
Their very first act" he went on,
so quietly and yet SO earnestly, was to
disfranchise 10000 white men. And who
were these white men? There are some
of them in this crowd right now. They
were the men that led the charge at.
Gettysburg, men that followed Lee and
Jackson, and formed that last thin gray
line at Appomattox. That's who they
were,s, and yet Republicans talk about
Democrats trying to disfrancse white
people,
The upturned faces in front of the
speaker were now wild and savage with
enthusiasm. But the whole story had
not been told. 1t went pitilessly on:
What else did the Republicans do
They ran the public debt up $42, 900 900.
Did they bring peace? There was death
everywhere, and murder and pilage.
Peace and safety were nowhere. Do you
wonder that in such a time when men
were dying by the deadly moose and by
the short, sharp click of the pistol they
organized for self-protection?
AS if in answer to the question, great
shout. arose from the people massed
around the speakers stand They wildly
tossed their arms above their heads and
faces were drawn and furrowed by their
very earnestness and intensity of feeling.
Now he spoke to them more hopefully,
courageously, and it seemed as if cloud
had been lifted:
"As soon ais the Democratic party
came into power peace settled o"er the
land Murders and rapes and burglaries
stopped. Why? The laws were the
same. We hadn't dotted an or crossed
t, but every negro knew thai these
things must cease"
The most dramatic part of the speech
was when Mr. Aycock came to tell of
the Wilmington riot. The recital made
the faces of women whiten with fear
while the cheeks of men burned red with
anger and Indignation.
'In that city the negroes were in COM
plete control and crime stalked abroad
upon the streets. In open day white wo-
men were insulted by negro men and the
villainous centre-bit grounu upon the
wakeful ear in the moonless night. Men
went armed. Even ministers of the gos
pei walked the streets at night with
Winchester on their shoulders, while the
women slept. The good people of that
city even bought and openly owned a
rapid fire cannon"
AT the word SILVER passed over the
crowd as if they had just awoke 10 d
realization of the awful situation. The
speakers words were now coming sharI-
ly and rapidly, like hailstones in storm.
Men and women were crowding closer
and closer in their eagerness. their fn-
gers clutching, as if to grasp him and