The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-01-04

Incendiary.
The Messenger yesterday morning
that a crowd OF masked
men, two miles north of Mt Olive, on
Monday night held UP train No. 40,
northbound, on the Atlantic Coast Line
and took from an officer a prisoner who
was being taken to G~oldsboro.
Captain H. 0. Macarthur was con-
ductor Of the train. and n who was a
passenger and eyewitness Of the af-
fair gave a Messenger reporter a thrill
ling account Of it. At Mt. Olive on
Monday, Dick Simmons. a negro OF
very bad reputation. was given a hear
ing before Trial Justice Hatch on the
charge of stealing a nog from Mrs.
Vernon and was bound over to court.
A deputy sheriff boarded h train at
Mt. Olive shortly after 9 O'Clock that
night to take the prisoner to Goldsboro
for the purpose Of committing him to
Jail. At the same time a party OF
twenty-three masked men got on the
train and to all appearances it was a
Christmas masquerading party. They
wore black cloth over their faces, and
it could not be distinguished whether
they We're white or black except from
the Caucasian skin revealed where the
cloth failed to cover the backs of their
necks.
When the train got two and a a
miles beyond Mt. Olive a man who had
on a mask and vas On the platform OF
the baggage car. suddenly pulled the
bell cord. The signal caused the engi-
neer to shut off steam, h airbrakes
whistled and the train came to a stand
still in a dark place in the woods. The
masked men at the same time rushed
into the coach for negroes, where the
deputy sheriff had the prisoner, and
they unceremoniously took him away
from the officer. They hustled the ne
gro from the train, shouted to the con-
ductor to go ahead and the train pulled
out, leaving them in possession Of the
negro. At the point where the train
stopped a lot of men on horseback were
in waiting and with the negro bound in
ropes the party escorted him to a lonely
spot in the wood and thrashed him
numerically, telling him to depart and
never be seen in that community again.
The negro was frightened out Of his
wits n when turned loose he burnt
the wind" Parties who visited the
spot found it trampled by the horses
for some distance aroun and as moth
ing had been heard of h negro yes
terday morning it was supposed that
the crowd had lynched the prisoner.
One of the masked crowd said, how
ever, that they did not kill him but that
their purpose was to whip him, make
him leave, so as to rid the community
of him, and save the county the cost of
keeping him in Jail and giving him a
trial. After whipping the negro, the
masked men went back to Mt. Olive
and gave a sever thrashing to the ne
gro'S brother, Isaac Simmons, and also
whipped his mother. They ordered
them and the whole family, consisting
OF others, to leave the state in twenty
four hours.
Dick Simmons is an inveteraJe thief
n a very dangerous character in the
community and it is not only known
that he has broken into and committed
various robberies, but 1t is believed al
most to a, certainty that he is respon-
sible for the numerous incendiary
fires with which Mt. Olive has been
afflicted for several years. The whole
family was regarded as a va nest Of
81 and it was determined to rid the
community of them brewer. All Of
them were told to cav and if they
ever returned they would be killed.
Evidently the gang a about run
their run OUT at Mt Olive.
THE NEWS FROM GOLDSBORO.
The Messengers Goldsboro CORE
spondent writes yesterday as follows:
"RumorS of a hold-up and a lynch
ing were rife this morning. Parties ar
irving last night from points south on
the Atlantic Coast Line told how a
large number Of men boarded the
"Shoof1y" at MI. Olive las night and
when a short distance this side, pulled
the bel cord and stopped the train,
taking from the deputy sheriff a negro
by the name of Dick Simmons, who
was being brought to this city on COM
mftment papers he having stolen a hog
from the widow Vernon. near Mt.
Olive. They roped him and hurried
away into h woods and swung him to
a tree. Information in hand at noon is
that the negro was taken from the
train and carried into the woods and
severely beaten and turned loose. It
is said the angry crowd gave him a
thousand laShes and told him to leave
the community, as they We're deter
mined to rid the neignborhood Of such
a character A negro in from Dudley
says Dick Simmons passed that point
this morning bareheaded. and to par
ties who knew him he said he was Sc
verely whipped.
Isaac Simmons. a brother of Dick,
reached the city at 1890 today and
told how some twenty people called at
MS home last night Dol 1 o'clock,
broke the door in with an axe and
gave him a terrible beating and gave
him "A hours to leave the state. He
bore evidence of having come in con-
tact with something harder than a
cotton bat. He said ne thought he
would remain here a while-he hardly
knew what to do. but that he did know
he would be killed If he remained at
Mt. Olive. Isaac's story OF having beer
whipped is verified by parties in today
from Mt. Olive. and I learn that the
better class OF negroes in that section
say they are glad the thing was done,
Hall & Pearsall Incorporated