The farmer and mechanic., 1914-09-08

cooiingf considerable part Of said
committee met convened and employ
eu capt James Jack (of Charlotte to
go express To Congress 1then in
Phiiadelphia) with a copy Of All said
resolutions and laws and a letter 10
our three members there
tSlSnedl By J. Nick. ALEXANDER. i"
Nhere the stars are his manuscript
was illegible.
1T Will be observed that he said
that IT was meeting Of the commit
teemen. 1t VIII also be observed that
he omits many details for his memor,.
was not perfect
1hese rough notes were apparently
expanded and written out by some one
possessing vivid imagination and
prdcllced IN the use OF alliteratiYes
and the resulting paper IA copy Of
which was sent 10 General Davie1 was
not the personal composition of Co,
Alexander.
W nat Tor instance. could he more
foreign to the habit of thought of the
colonel than the opening paragraph
OIL the narrative in that document
The first words Of the notes indi-
cate that the Colonel intended TO say
that on May 18th in pursuance OF an
order an election was held or that in
pursuance of an order issued on Nav
- an election was held" Further
along he uses the same date for the
meeting. Evidently he was confused
about his dates The person who
| wrote out the account seems to have
observed the inconsistency: and SO he
| omitted all reference to the date of
| the order, and retained May 19 as the
| date Of the meeting. That erroneous
| date directed the attention of several
of the Witnesses afterwards to MAY
| ZOth as the date of the meeting They
therefore, said Yes. We were there
on the occasion, when Independence
was declared-May goth"
Eut Gen. George Graham says be
SIDES the two persons elected from
| each militia company CASUALLY called
| comnitteemen) a much larger mum
Der of citizens attended at Charlotte
| than at any former meeting perhaps
half the men of the county The
news of the battle of Lexington. the
| 18th of April preceding, had arrived
There appeared among the people
| much excitement" Other writers
speak OF the storm bursting on the
East by a British Army; and some
like General Graham speak of the
crowd.
The news of the battle reached
Edenton May 3; Halifax on May 8
Charleston, S. c., May s. 1t probabl,
got to Charlotte ten Gays later. Whel
the election was called, some day
notice must have been given. an,
some days allowed for those choseI
to get to Charlotte. The county a
that time embraced both Cabarru
and part of Union. Some ten or
dozen days necessarily elapsed bef0r
the meeting.
AT any rate-May goth is an impos
Sible date; for on June 1st. the Dis
trict court (Mecklenburg being in IN
Ct~iT Sn1i l.
, same day the Committee of Rowa
met there, and having no word c
, what was passing in Mecklenbur}
they wrote to the Mecklenburg Con
mittee "beseeching them by the tic
! of their common Protestant religio
to exert themselves for the mainte1
ance Of their chartered rights An
Waightsill Avery and Col. Kenno
D were in attendance at court, both a
, | legged signers Of the Declaration
t May goth. They knew nothing of i
Had there been Declaration of II
r dependence at Charlotte made o
e May goth, such letter could not hav
0 been written; and Kennon and Aver
e would have heard of the Declaration
n Then, again, Captain Jack was ser
express to Philadelphia. He tells l
e that he reached Salisbury durin
e court, and On request he handed til
f., resolves to Colonel Kennon, and the
r were read in open court" He set Of
y soon after the resolves were adopted
and if the date had been May 20tl
t he would by that time have been nee
d Philadelphia. Thus it appears ths
l. | circumstances recorded in writin
n makes May goth an impossible dat
e On a rehearing the Court would cel
e tainly so hold.
), And so it is demonstrated that t1
7. State is celebrating the wrong da,
! and that a paper written in 1900
y treasured by the State as q Deciar;
d ton of independence adopted in 1T
S. A. ASHE
pECEpyISTS IN PANAMA