The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-01-10
THE .wELLINGTON" REVOLUTION,


THE "wELLINGTON" REVOLUTION.
A negro school teacher, educated
bright, something ingenious, by the
name Of Chas. w. Chestnut. once taught
school in Fayetteville. Some time ago,
he wrote a lying account for a northern
sheet Che lives up there now) of al
legged occurrences in that old. staunch
North Carolina town, in which the
whites were maligned and his spiteful
nature was gratified. OF course. his
lies were exposed. He has intellectual
cieverness, but like most of his race
he will lie and defame. This writer has
essayed a more ambitious task. He has
written a book of lies and SANDER that
he calls 1.-The Marrow of Tradition" II
is published by that great Boston house
H%oughton, Miff1in G. Co, that seems
willing to publish any thing "smar.'
that smites the south, however teemins
with ~fabrications and bitterness. This
production we have rot seen, but the
reviewer for the Charlotte Presbyterian
Standard has and he says it is an
amazingly clever book." We quote
from what he said:
But this last work IS far more sig
n;ficant than anything he has written.
II is his best and by the same token hi
worst. 1t is the story of the Whining
ton Revolution of the fall of 1898. 1t is
an amazingly clever book. The style
c much less crude. the characters are
well drawn and the climax of the plot
t. thrilling in fits interest. And yet the
story itself is a tissue of falsehood from
END to end. There was material enough
in hat now historic revolution for a
good story on the basis of fact. But
the negro's side could not be adequately
presented except upon a basis of fic-
ton"
This is the second book issued by ne
groes in a ear that seeks to misrepre-
sent, and pervert the real causes that
led to the most remarkable local REV
olution' that ever occurred perhaps.
The negroes by their own bad onduc
brought the conflict on. The causes
reach back for years, growing worse
with time. until the soTrowful and de-
plorable events eliminated In a con-
flict hat had become Inevitable. The
result was that some thirty-five ne
groes We're killed. and it is most re-
rarkable hat the number was not
much greater. If the game were worth
the candle-if for the vindication of
truth and the statement of facts it
were necessary to go over the old story
of protracted outrage and final pun
ishment. 1t would b. an easy task
The remarkably fine paper published
soon after the shooting by Mr.. Tflos. Z.
Meares. Of our city, gives a very terse
lucid, vigorous presentation The
trouble is the liars and nenie never
see the defence or read the true his
tory or care for the precise facts. They
are content to publish and to read the
most absurd. lying reports and like the
old abolitionists, fairly gloat over the
distorted cong.omerate. The Standard
says:
The b%urglaries AMI other crimes that
made up the history nc the city undel
negro rule are epitoniized by a single
murderouS robbery committed by q
white man disguised rs a negro. a ne
gro being very nearly lynched for the
crime The quotation from The negro
DaDer that so much iEoensed the white
people Is carefully suppressed as is al
mention OF the Immediate cause OF the
riot. The story ends with an effectine
scene In which a white woman get
Gown on her knees % a negro doctor
to save her child's life. his child havin,
feen killed by II stra~ bullet in the riot
ing.
Now we happen to know Whining
ton pretty we'll and the people who
figured in the Revolution. And thei;
are a condemnation of any
work Of fiction hat assails them. But
the south it seems, has a new kind of
liar to deal with. the negro litera eur
We have become familiar with the ne
gro preachers who fire the northerr
hearts at so much Isl per fire. But
his is q new breed. Moreover. this is
literature that will live longer thar
most of the fiction of our day. 1t is ?
sort of Twentieth Century Uncle Toms's
Cabin"
Fayetteville is called "P~atesville."
and Wilmington is called WELLINGTON"
an ingenious, deliberate and inyeierate
Far is busy eliminating people who
bore more and longer outraSes thar tn,
people of any community in the Unite
states have ever borne. Indeed a
hraVe acquaintance. having lived fo,
years In three southern ateslTexa
missouri and A~labama-told us thai
when ne came to Wilmington the sum
mel preceding the Revolution anr
witnessed the bad conduct of negroes
d read the accounts in the co,umrs
OF the daiiies and saw thew whites tame