The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-05-16

Ifhe peace who issues o warrant or q
Judge who issues a bench warrant Is In
Inowise incapacitated to try the case.
Here in fact I only made immaterial
corrections in b summons; thai sum
tmons was never used and the record
Ishows hat Governor Russell issued an
lentirely different paper Cprobabiy OF
fuller information) n our court never
had cognixance Of the Investigation
which was begin by hat summons or
notice to show cause. The case which
Icame before inc court was AN EN-
ITIRELY DIFFERENT MATTER. IL
WAS begun not before Gov. Russell. but
before the Superior Court. II was not
Ian action involving the correctness of
IGovernor Russeils decision (which
ionly the Legislature had power to en-
IQuire into) but was a quo warranto by
1.-THE new commissioners TO which the
1.-TWO wilson's answered. denying the
Iconstitutionahty OF h act. l.. e. the
lpower OF the General Assembly TO pass
1.-THE act. The court in an opinion writ
item. not by me as charged by Wilson
land the railroaGs, but by Judge Doug
Has and concurred in by four judges.
lheld that the Legislature possessed
that power, and the Supreme Court OF
the United States approved b judy
Iment or the Supreme Court OF North
ICarolinG.
| Learning afterwards that the Wilson's
would probably contest any action TO
turn them out Ii one should be brought
and that my mmaterial correction OF
1.-THE summons (Which was never used)
and which had been made. by me in
1.-THE Supreme Court openly. in
lpresence Of Mr. Burton, who was their
counsel, a bsen criticised by J. w
Wilson, rather than be subjected to
misrepresentation by Wilson and the
Southern Railroad, who I knew would
lgather up anything that could be used
to misrepresent me, l wrote Governor
Russell to destroy that unused paper
which / had corrected. Had he used
1.-THE paper as process of course he could
mot do so. My o~vercaution to prevent
Iuncalled INSTRUMENTATION has brought
me the worse Misrepresentation
to which / have now been subjected by
the same railroad crowd.
The ninth and last piece in the batch
lis the above referred to notice to
show cause or which Gov
ernor Russell intended to issue TO the
Wilson's, but instead of which he is
sued another n differently expressed.
The public wiz hardly believe that
the above is the whole of the Clark
Russell correspondence" about which
there has been so much noise. But so
1t is. according to the above certif-
Gates of F. H. Busbee and w. H. Day.
1 have been thus lengthy because the
|only resource of the other side has
been to confuse the public by vocifer-
lous charges, and my aim has been TO
make the matter as plain and explicit
las possible. When the letters are un-
lderstood fully and the attendant cir
lcumstances the public will oe amused
at the efforts of the corporation law
Iyers 10 humbug them.
The whole effort On the part OF the
political management of the railroad
corporations has been to create an i'm
that there was political affin-
Iity or intrigue between Governor Russell
and myself. The above correspondence
shows plainly hat there was nothing
lof the kind.
To understand the reason OF the cor
I~respondence n its purport an intellig-
lent public has only to recall the conSi-
ltions as they existed at that time, now
NEARLY five years ago. Governor Russell
into office with n load Of unpopu-
llarity which had been laboriously accu-
mulated by him. He came in by the
Votes of 1901 600 negroes and a few thou
sand white allies. The great mass of
1.-THE white men Of the state bitterly re-
lsented this reversal Of the proper order
lof things which demands Anglo-Saxon
supremacy. Governor Russell seemed
to think that then was his chance to re-
deem himself by an impartial execution
lof the duties of his office . The South
fern Railroad thought, as d matter of
i%course, being a republican admins
ttration, that they were to be in control
Its officials gave him a grand reception.
Russell surprised them next day by de-
lclaring independence. He found the
lSouthern Railroad efTecting a ninety
mine year lease of the states best prop
lerty, six years before the expiration of
1.-THE previous lease. He used his power
las Governor to veto it n called in the
Legislature to his aid. He found hat
1.-THE statute which forbade the issuing
Iof free passes under a penalty of s., 900
lin each case was openly and notorious
lly violated, and hat influence bought
Iby these "pasteboard favorS" was the
Imost powerful eapoE in the hands
of the corporations; ne found that rail-
road fares and freights in this state
were (and they still are) sixty per cent.
higher han the average III the Union
land that the taxes paid by the railroads
were over half a million oiiar less, in
proportion to mileage, than in Tennes-
lsee and were the lowest in the Union.
lie found that two Of the Railroad
Commission (Which had been created to
reduce rates and fares to 2 air basis,
and to see that railroads paid fair taxa