The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-25
INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE
ANARCHY IN DURHAM.


There have of late been two cases
of anarchy in Durham that bear some
resemblance-the one individual and
the other corporate.
In the first instance a man in Dur
ham who really owned a house went
in person and removed a woman and
her children because they had not
paid the rent. She had young baby
and sympathy was aroused in her be-
half, after she was elected, suit was
brought against the anarchistic land
lord, and he had to pay her five hun
dred dollars because he took the law
into his own hands. There was no
contention that the house did not be-
long to the landlord who elected the
woman. That was admitted. There
was no claim that she had a right to
remain in the house without paying
the rent But there is law in this
land and no owner can take the law
into his hands and eject tenant for
non-payment. The law protects him
in his rights, and if he had gone be-
fore magistrate that officer would
have elected the non-paying tenant in
n regular and orderly manner. But
when, without applying to the laws he
elected the woman he had come to be
a violator of the law, though he was
doing nothing but taking possession
of property that everybody admits be-
longs to him and about which there is
no contest. That was a case of indi-
vidual anarchy.
On Sunday night certain employees
of the Southern Railway evidently
acting under orders from ''HIGHER
up went to Durham and by moon
light proceeded to grab and use Pet
tigrew street, which had been in the
undisputed possession of the city of
Durham for nearly forty years, and to
the ownership or control of which
neither the Southern Railway nor the
North Carolina Railway had ever
made any claim. If the street be-
longed to the Southern Railway as
clearly as the house belonged to the
landlord in the case cited above, it
would still be a law-breaker for going
in the night time and ejecting the city
of Durham. and would be liable for
damages. But the city of Durham
has been in the undisputed possession
of Pettigrew street for more than a
third of a century, and if the South
ern Railway desired to put forward a
claim to ownership, the courts are
open to it, and if it is not ready to
turn anarchist, it should have gone
into the courts and asked to be put in
possession of its property. That is
the regular and orderly method of
obtaining property, and it is the only
method that is approved by thought
full and property-loving men. Instead
of pursuing that course, the Southern
Railway gives orders to its employees
to become criminals, violate the laws
of the State, and commit midnight
deeds that may land them in the peni-
tertiary Was such lawlessness ever
before known in North Carolina? The
"HIGHER UP officials did not in per-
son, mind you, go to Durham and do
the deeds that The Code declares are
criminal and punishable by imprison-
ment They send employees who prob
ably did not know that in obeying or
ders they were counting imprisonment
and stripes.
1t was bad enough for the Southern
Railway magnates to illegally seize
street at midnight that is now in liti-
CATION but in carrying out that lawless
plan it's employees were guilty of
breaking a lock of the Seaboard Air
Line Railway, an offense that is de-
clared by Section 1898 of The Code to
be a felony, punishable by a "fine not
exceeding one thousand dollars nor
less han two hundred dollars, and be
imprisoned in the penitentiary or
county Jail not less than four months,
nor more than ten years, and shall
be committed to Jail till he shall find
surety for his good behavior, for a
space of time nor less than three nor
more than seven years." 1t is evil
dent from this that Solicitor Brooks
and the grand jury of Durham coun-
ty will be kept busy at the next term