The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-09-03


Raleigh Post
Under the caption of ~Anarchy and
It's ProvOcation we find the follow
ING in the Washington Post. Itneeds
neither addition, establishment nor
comment. The tale of horror which
calls for the Post S comment is found
ed on fact both in statement of a
particular crime and for the earnest
APPEAL.
The letter of a Southern Woman
ana the observations and inquiry OF
the Post thereon disclose Il condition
all too palpable. The criminal in
the ease recited was promptly de-
nounced, and his prompt execution
as firmly approved by reputable col
| Ored men Of the same community,
and we insist these reflected III their
expressions the sincere sentiments OF
a large element of the cOlored people
OF that and other communities in
this State. Such occurrence will
meet with just such prompt reprisal
on part OF the white people; the only
trouble to beaverted is that all good
citizens OF both races must insist
that the punishment be confined to
the guilty and not permit what too
many evidences Indicate is a growing
| disposition, Il brutal condemnation
OF or assault upon every member to
which the guilty wretch or wretches
belong For God sake let the sober
minded men OF the State and the
country insist on discriminating be-
tween those who behave and those
who commit crime To the latter let
very. very swift Justice be done by II
punishment that fits the crime.
But here is the article from our
Washington contemporary which
needs TO be read by all men, black as
we'll as white. North as we'll as
South:
"A Southern woman writes and the
New York Herald prints, one of the
saddest and most narrowing stories
it has ever been our misfortune to
read. 1t is the story of the outrage
and foul murder of an innocent and
beautiful little girl. Just twelve years
old. This frightful tragedy occurred
| in Il North Carolina town, although
the Herald withhOlds the names and
places at the suggestion of the writer.
The object OF the letter is not ven
geance. The Southern Woman mere
| ly makes plea for more lenient iudg-
ment of those who take vengeance
into their own hands.
We quote Il brief extract from the
narrative:
"'Will YOU listen to Il true story?
1t is horrible, so horrible that not
even the gifted Harriet Beecher Stowe
could have described its heartrend-
ing misery. 1t happened yesterday
The defiled, mutilated body of the
little white girl is still unburied.
Come with me and ] will show you
the very spot where the horror took
place, not two hundred yards from
the court house. Il stones throw OF
the child's home.
"'See enter this stable a beautiful
blue-eyed, faXen-haired maid of /.
years, the only daughter of a widowed
mother-her Joy, her pride, her dar-
ling. The child had been sent by her
mother to get some eggs that she
! knows are in a nest there. A black
man sees her go in, and follows her.
| she doubtless feels no alarm. He is
the hostler; she has known him all
her life, sees him every day around
the barn.
"'When he reappears he locks the
door. His hands and clothes are
bloody, and he steals stealthilv
away.
soon the mother, wondering that
her daughter does not return, goes
to the stable to look for her, finds
the door locked. Possessed with the
awful uneasiness that seizes every
white mother of the South when her
girls are long out OF her sight, she
calls to little boy passing by: helps
him to climb to the window. He
calls the child's name, but there is
no reply. Peering about, he sees a
bag in corner There is blood run,
ming from it. Soon a crowd from
the village is there. The lock is
broken, they enter the stable, the
bag is opened, the murdered child is
before them.
THAT she was choked into insen
Sibiltv to prevent an Outcry is evl
dent, for her pretty blue eyes have
started from their sockets. To be
sure that she will never be able tC
tell who has so defled her the fienC
has cut her throat from ear to ear
'The Herald is furnished with al
needful references for the ascertain
ment of the facts. Presumably, the
Herald made sure of them before il
published Il story SO indescribably
hideous.
''It is hardly necessary to say tha'
the fiend was captured. The cas-
was not one in which mistake coulC
possibly be made. They identified
him beyond doubt-by the key of tn,
stable, by the blood of his victim
and, finally, by his own confession
They hanged him within six hour:
of the crime. No man in the com
munity or its neighborhood felt tha'
he could breathe freely while that un
utterable demon lived. And th'
writer of the letter adds-for this il
the real object of her appeal:
"'Once more, l beg. try to be sOrr.
for the white women of the South
All are in danger; fromthe four-year
old babe to the grandmother o
siXty-five.
AYE, and pity the white men, too
that are frenzied by such crimes