The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-06-08

eager. flushed faces to defend the flag their
fathers had once fought.
And God reserved in this hour for the
South. land of ashes and tombs and tears,
the pain and the glory of the first Offering
of life on the altar of the new nation. Our
first ana only officer who fell dead on the
deck OF a warship. with the flag above him,
was Worth Bagley of North Carolina. the
son of e Confederate soldier. The gallant
youngster who stood on the bridge of the
Merrimac, and between two towering noun
tains of flaming cannon. in the darkness of
night, blew up his ship and set a new stand
ard of Anglo-Saxon daring. was the son OF
q Confederate soldier of North Carolina.
The town of Hambright furnished a whole
company Of eighty-six men. a Captain, three
Lieutenants and q Major, who saw service
In the war.
When the regiment of which the Ham
bright company was a member was mus
tered out at Independence, CASTOR was in
vited to deliver the address Of welcome
home to the soldiers. and a crowd of 5000
people was present, one-half of whom were
negroes.
While CASTOR was speaking in the square,
a negro trooper passing along the street re-
fused TO give an inch of the sidewalk to a
young lady and her escort. who met him.
He ran into the girl, ~jostlins her roughly.
down instantly and nearly beat him to
death. His injury was not fatal, but the
widest passions of the negro regiment were
reused. Mcleod was among them that day
seeking to increase his popularity and in
luence in the coming election, and he at
once denounced CASTOR as the cause Of the
assault and urged the leaders in secret to
retaliate by putting a bullet through his
heart. b
The white regiment had been mustered
out. and their guns in most cases had been
retained by the men. The negro troops were
to be mustered out the next day.
Late in the afternoon CASTOR had re-
ceived that a plot was on foot
to kill him that night, when a negro mob
would batter down his door on the pretenSe
of searching for the man who had assaulted
the trooper. The Colonel of the regiment
Just disbanded heard it. and that night his
men bivouacked in the yard Of the hotel
and slept On their guns.
A little after II o'clock q mob Of 500
negroes attempted to force their way into
the hotel. They met a regiment Of bayo-
nets, broke and fled in wild confusion.
The event was the last straw that broke
the camel's back. In the morning paper a
blazing notice In display capitals covered
the first page, calling a mass meeting OF
white citizens at noon In Independence Hall.
AT IL o'clock the. quaint old hall, built
in Revolutionary days to seat go people.
was packed with a crowd of 500 stern
visaged men, standing 30 thick 1t was i'm
possible to pass through them.
CASTOR, whose ancestors had been leaders
in the great Revolution. was called to the
chair. The speechmaking was brief, fiery
and to the point.
Within one hour they unanimously adopt
ed this resolution:
Resolved. That we issue a second Dec
laration Of Independence from the infamy
of corrupt and degraded government. The
day of negro domination over the Anglo
Saxon race shall close. now, once and for
ever. The government of North Carolina
was established by a race OF pioneer white
freemen for white men. and il shall remain
in the hands of freemen.
w demand the overthrow of the crimi-
nal and semibarbarian regime under which
We now live, and to this end serve notice
on the present Mayor of this city, its Chief
OF Police and the six negro Aldermen and
their low white associates that their res
ignations are expected by 9 o'clock to-mor-
row morning. We demand tina the negro
anarchist who edits a paper in this city
shall close his office, remove its fixtures
and leave this county within twenty-four
hours"
A committee of twenty-five. with CASTOR
as It's chairman, was appointed to enforce
these resolutions.
BY 4 o'clock an army Of 1000 white men
was organized, and placed under the COM
mand of the Reverend Duncan Mcdonald.
pastor OF the First Presbyterian Church Of
the city, VINO had been a brave young Of
J hcer IN the confederate Army. Every min
lister IN the county was enrolled In this
guard and carried a musket on picket duty
or in a reserve camp tina night.
AT s o'clock, CASTOR thirty
: nVe OF the more prominent negroes of the
county 70 meet the committee Of twenty