The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-28


ask had been joepardZed by the fact
that it had voluntarily put it's cause
in peril before the State court the
next move was a criminal prosecu-
ton for contempt against the citizens
of Durham who had dared to ask re-
lief at the hands OF the court.
These are the men who are ordered
to show cause why they should NOT
be attached for contempt Look upon
them, gentlemen of the jury
Mayor J. f. Freeland, Captain Of the
"Orange Guards" in the Confederate
Army; came to Durham in 1871 and
has been five times mayor of the city;
aldermen as follows: T. Il. Fuller.
first cousin of w. w. Fuller, president
of the Golden Belt Manufacturing
Company, the second largest cotton
mill in Durham, having a capital stock
of half million dollars; w. j. HOl-
lOWay, cashier of the First National
Bank: q. T.. RaWIs, merchant, presi-
dent of the Morehead Banking Com
pany; IL. G.. Cole, formerly manager of
r. f. Morris g. Sons Tobacco Co, now
head of sales department of the Con-
tinental Tobacco Company for North
Carolina and Virginia; j. ID. Pridgen.
of the firm of Pridgen & Jones, mer-
chants; =. X. Perry, wholesale meT-
chant; w. III. Proctor, wholesale mer-
chant; w. j. Christian, for ten years
Clerk OF the Superior Court of Durham
county ana former mayor of the city
of Durham; Mr.. John Sprunt Hin.
surety on the prosecution bon of the
city, a native of Duplin county, grad
uate of the University of North Caro-
lima. married the only daughter of
George w. Watts multi miliiOnaire
practiced law in New York for ten
years and was Democratic nominee for
Congress in one of the New York dis
tricts in 1900 and ran 5000 votes
ahead of Mr.. Brown in the district
and was only defeated by very small
majority
These are the class of men whom
the Southern road would hold in con-
tempt because they saw fit to apply to
the source which the Constitution has
provided for them to get redress for
injuries received Where is the con-
tempt in their action? Certainly they
did not resort TO unlawful means.
They did not go by night. they did
not seize on what way not their own
by force of arms. they did not attempt
to assert the nine points of possession
by surprise. Matters have come to a
pass indeed in North Carolina if citi-
zens may not assert their peaceful
right to litigate matters i'm the court
without having themselves laid sub
ject to criminal indictment at the
hands of a Federal Judge because for
sooth, some other Federal Judge had
fore-decided the point upon which
they base their claim.
Whether the town of Durham is
right or is not RIGHT as far as its con-
tentions to Pettgrew Street is concern
ed is q matter of law so technical that
ii would be dry indeed was there not
tWined in the meshes of its bubbles
the human interest of the rights of
man.
If anybody was in contempt in this
matter, leaving out the nighttime in
dictment which will lie i'm the chart
of justice against the road itself it
was Judge PEBBLES. 1t is against him
that the Southern Road should prop
erly bring its war. He it was who
granted the relief sought by the citi-
zens, who came as men to their own
court, peacably to ask a right to liti-
gate their wrongs as they saw them.
IT was Judge PEBBLES who stopped the
laying of the track commenced at mid
night; and it was Judge PEBBLES, VINO
despite the decree. of the Federal Court
which wrongly or rightly, he did not
think applied in the case before him.
refused the motion Of the bar deficd
the mandates ofsthe Federal Court,
Why did not the Southern road at
tach the man who was responsible for
its discontinue instead of the Suitors
in a court OF law who had dared to ask
relief?
The citizens of Durham in this in
stance at the least come into court
cleaner hands than their old enemy.
the Southern road. 1t is not they who
have been in contempt. They acted in
the open, i'm the courts, as orderly men
should do; the other acted in the night
by surprise at al odds and at ali ha2-
yards. even that { ( destroying in their
desperate DESIGN the lock OF q track
of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Of
Tense that is punishable by the crimi-
nal law of the State. With the South
ern it was haste, indecent and un-
ashamed: it was tho right fancied be-
fore this to have been assured to ali
men-tO appeal to the Courts with the
of being kept from harm
at the arms length dignity Of the law
Where will JUDGE Pritchard find the
greater contempt to lie-in the putting
of question in dispute before a court
for decision or in the night time raid
upon q right"
Darkness at any rate is not a cloak !
that is worn by those who are sure Of
their virtue, and unafraid Of their in
tegrity!