USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina since 1860, Volume III > Part 23
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The campaign of 1898 was really begun on November 30, 1897, when the democratic executive committee met in Raleigh and issued an address to the people. It contained three ex- ceedingly significant sentences. "We have fallen upon evil
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days in North Carolina. * * Too large a number of its voters are ignorant for the masses to control. * *
* The democratic party promises the people on its return to power to correct all these abuses." In December it drew up the rules for the primaries, and the provision for exclusion of all negroes from participation foreshadowed the character of the coming campaign. Early in the year it was evident that the negro in politics was to be the paramount issue. The em- phasis which the democratic press laid upon cases of crime committed by negroes was increased, condemnation of negro office-holders was redoubled, both in amount and intensity, and every effort was made to connect fusion in the minds of the people with negro control and even domination.
Of course of negro domination except in certain of the east- ern counties and towns having a black majority, there was of course in one sense none at all. There never was a time in . North Carolina and never will be when a white population, outnumbering the negroes two to one, could be dominated by them. It nevertheless remained a fact that while the negroes in a solid body voted the republican ticket and formed a clear majority of that party they would in a sense control it, making it irresponsible, easily swayed by the necessity of holding the negro vote, and hence unfit to rule. It was also true that re- publican control in the state meant negro control in the east with all that is therein implied-sometimes violence, injustice, dishonesty; always inefficiency, incompetence, and partisan- ship, accompanied by a deadly blight upon all progress. Herein lay the justification of the chosen issue.
The campaign was formally opened in May when both populists and democrats held their conventions, the republi- cans, as usual waiting until much later.
The populists met first, assembling on May 17th. The con- vention contained three rather clearly defined elements. A considerable number, seeing the trend of opinion and feeling in the state, and themselves weary of conditions and anxious to save something from the wreck of the party, desired fusion with the democrats. They constituted a majority of the dele- gates and were really headed by Marion Butler. A second element wanted the party to make no overtures whatever but
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to wait and force the other parties to take the initiative and then make the best terms possible. The third wanted the con- tinuation of the existing agreement with the republicans. It was probable that a majority of the executive committee were in sympathy with this element which was headed by Harry Skinner. A resolution endorsing this view was presented and caused a bitter fight. Skinner was its chief champion and Butler its chief opponent, the latter winning when the resolu- tion was decisively defeated.
The platform adopted endorsed the election law of 1895 and sharply condemned the republicans for the changes made in 1897, endorsed the county government law, again pledged the party to continued support and improvement of the public schools, endorsed the principle of a non-partisan judiciary, demanded an investigation of the lease of the North Carolina Railroad, the reduction of railway rates, and the prohibition of free passes, advocated the initiative and referendum, con- demned the practice of removing cases to federal courts, and urged reform in taxation and the reduction of salaries.
A series of resolutions was then passed inviting "the patriotic cooperation of any party or faction of a party" to secure the election of nine free-silver and anti-monopoly con- gressmen, six non-partisan judges and twelve fearless and impartial solicitors, and an anti-monopoly legislature pledged to opposition to gold notes and mortgages, to government by injunction, to the North Carolina Railroad lease, and to free passes and pledged to support of the election law of 1895, local self-government, and the reduction of railway rates. A conference committee, consisting of Cyrus Thompson, Hal W. Ayer, James B. Lloyd, M. H. Caldwell, J. B. Schulken, Z. T. Garrett, and E. A. Moye, was appointed to treat with any party declaring its endorsement of these purposes.
The invitation was plainly addressed to the democrats and a conference of democratic leaders was quietly held in Raleigh to discuss the proposal. Much sentiment for acceptance was found, the powerful influence of the News and Observer was being exerted in that direction, and it looked as though that would be the conclusion reached by the group present when Charles B. Aycock, of Wayne, rose in opposition. He was
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well known, having canvassed a large part of the state in 1892 as candidate for elector-at-large. He strongly opposed acceptance of the offer, declaring that the party could not afford to compromise for the sake of victory and urging inde- pendent action as the best if not the only hope for the future. He swept his audience into almost complete agreement and this to a great extent determined the course of the party.
On May 25, two days before the meeting of the democratic convention, the populist committee by letter made their pro- posal. When the democratic convention met the question was referred to the committee on resolutions. There it was dis- cussed and was championed by Josephus Daniels of the News and Observer but the majority favored refusal and the report of the committee was unanimous. The reply, adopted without dissent by the convention, was brief :
Resolved 1. That the proposition for fusion submitted by the Populist committee be, and the same is hereby, respectfully declined.
2. That the Democratic State Executive Committee be, and the same is hereby, instructed to entertain no further proposition for fusion.
The convention was highly confident and enthusiastic. The platform, after a discussion of national matters, condemned the fusion administration for corruption, extravagance, and incompetence, denounced the two fusion legislatures for sad- dling negro rule upon the eastern towns and for the choice of negro school officials, and condemned the republicans and populists for placing ignorant, irresponsible, and corrupt men in office. Much of the rest of the platform bore a close resem- blance to that of the populists. The democratic organization was perfected and F. M. Simmons became chairman. His capacity for detail and his tireless energy fitted him for the position and much of the credit for the successful conduct of the campaign was due to his skillful management.
With the democratic refusal to fuse with the populists there was great popular interest in the probable action of the latter. At first it seemed unlikely that they would fuse with the republicans. But the party was deeply angered by the refusal and the leaders, eager for republican fusion which would hold them in power, were able to convince the rank and
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file that the action of the democrats was due simply to the fact that the party was still dominated by "gold-bugs" and rail- road lawyers. After that it was easier to arrange for "co- operation" with the republicans, although there was division of opinion, the Progressive Farmer violently opposing it.
When the republican convention met, it adopted a plat- form which, while largely devoted to national affairs con- tained the following planks on state affairs :
We hereby commend the administration of the State, because (first) the finances have been wisely, economically and honestly ad- ministered; (second) the laws have been ably, fairly and impartially administered, and the rights of life and property secured thereunder ; (third) there are marked and gratifying signs of progress and de- velopment in all the material conditions of the State exhibiting the return of prosperity and the satisfaction of the people.
We believe that the men who broke the chains of Democracy in 1894, and who restored to the people the right of local self-government and of honest elections, will stand together in the coming contest for the preservation of these rights, which assure to our beloved State in fact as well as in name a truly Republican form of government. The joint administration of local and county affairs by the Republican and Populist parties through their chosen representatives has met the expectation of the men who elected them, and the financial con- duct of the affairs of the different counties east and west, has been honest and circumspect as well as economical, and deserves our highest praise.
We favor the amendment to the State Constitution embodying the provisions of our present election law, which will guarantee to every citizen of the State the right to cast one free ballot and to have that ballot counted as cast.
We invest our State Executive Committee with plenary power to deal with the nominations of candidates for the offices of Superior Court Judge and Solicitors in the several Judicial Districts of the State.
As time passed the two groups drew together and fusion was finally accomplished. It had the immediate result of driving back into the democratic party quite a large body of populists who had come to distrust and dislike their allies.
Increasingly the campaign centered about the negro. Dem- ocratic denunciation of the participation of the negroes in politics grew so bitter and the color line was so sharply drawn that finally little else was talked about politically. All the offences charged against the fusion régime were made depend- ent upon the participation of the negro in politics. During
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August white government unions or leagues were organized in various counties of the east and, as feeling grew, spread westward, remaining, however, of prime importance only in the east where the menace of the negro was most keenly felt. The chief center of the race feeling was, of course, Wilming- ton.
It will be remembered that under the law of 1895 the board of police commissioners of the city were given all power. In 1897 the law was so changed as to give the governor power to appoint the board of audit and finance and five of the alder- men. Under this law S. P. Wright, a white republican, was mayor, John E. Melton, another white republican, was chief of police, but the magistrates, policemen, and other local offi- cials were chiefly negroes who dominated the government. The sheriff of the county was a mere figure-head who farmed out his office to the notorious "Gizzard" French who, although a member of the legislature, as deputy sheriff administered it politically.
During the summer the conduct of the negroes in New Bern and Greenville was particularly bad, but in Wilmington conditions were indescribably bad. Murder, burglary, arson, with the threat of rape, stared the people in the face, and, since there was no protection in the law, men as always sought it outside the law. As Governor Aycock described it:
We had a white man for governor in 1898, when negroes became intolerably insolent ; when ladies were insulted on the public streets ; when burglary in our chief city became an every night occurrence ; when "sleep lay down armed and the villainous centre-bits ground on the wakeful ear in the hush of the moonless nights"; when more guns and more pistols were sold in the State than had been in the twenty preceding years.
Under their rule, lawlessness stalked the State like a pestilence- death stalked abroad at noonday-the sound of the pistol was more frequent than the song of the mocking bird-the screams of women fleeing from pursuing brutes closed the gates of our hearts with a slock.
On August 18, the Daily Record, a negro paper, edited by one Manly, printed an editorial which contained the para- graph :
We suggest that the whites guard their women more closely, as Mrs. Felton says, thus giving no opportunity for the human fiend,
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be he white or black. You leave your goods out of doors and then complain because they are taken away. Poor white men are careless in the matter of protecting their women, especially on farms. They are careless of their conduct toward them, and our experience among poor white people in the country teaches us that the women of that race are not any more particular in the matter of clandestine meet- ings with colored men than are the white men with colored women. Meetings of this kind go on for some time, until the woman's infatua- tion or the man's boldness bring attention to them, and the man is lynched for rape. Every negro lynched is called a "big, burly, black brute," when in fact, many of those who have thus been dealt with had white men for their fathers, and were not only not "black" and "burly," but were sufficiently attractive for white girls of culture and refinement to fall in love with them, as is well known to all.
It won instant and fiery denunciation from every quarter of the state, and men wondered why the editor still remained in Wilmington and why the paper still continued to appear. It is likely that the fact of his apparent immunity made the demonstrations about the state seem less purposeful and de- termined. As a matter of fact while there was great political lethargy, the people of Wilmington, looking forward to one goal-the redemption of the state-and, determined to do nothing which might injure the chance of accomplishing this great purpose, exercised great self-restraint and bided their time, none the less determined, however, to settle the account forever at a later time.
By September the republicans and populists began to ac- cuse the democrats of an intention to disfranchise the negroes and the other ignorant voters by an amendment to the con- stitution imposing an educational test. This was promptly and loudly denied by the democrats and it is not likely that any such policy had been agreed upon by party leaders. Certainly it was not the purpose, however much the wish, of the mass of the party. When the charge was made a document was sent out from the democratic headquarters which contained a discussion of the charge in which occurred this statement :
The constitution gives the right of suffrage to all male persons over 21 years of age, not disqualified by crime, and the Legislature cannot add or take away a letter from that. That can only be done by the people themselves, and the Democrats will never submit any proposi- tion to the people to take from a man his right to vote. No Demo- crat has ever proposed such a thing. The charge is only intended to mislead, to deceive and to make political capital. It is entirely false.
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There is not a Democratic convention that would not spit upon the man who might make such a proposition. There is not a Democratic candidate for office who would not pledge himself most solemnly against it.
Chairman Simmons branded the story as the same old republican campaign falsehood which had been employed since 1870 and James H. Pou, a former chairman, in a speech at Salisbury in October pledged the democratic party against such a policy. Such influential newspapers as the News and Observer and the Wilmington Messenger echoed the denial.
In September a staff correspondent of the Atlanta Consti- tution sent from Raleigh a letter upon conditions in the state, in which occurred this remarkable statement:
It is no secret that colored leaders, ambitious for their race, have mnatured in their minds a plan by which they hope to obtain absolute control of the legislative, judicial, and executive machinery, and then to rapidly carry out a scheme of colonization by which this will be- come a thoroughly negro sovereign State, with that population in the majority and furnishing all officials in the public service, from United States Senators and Governors down through judges, legis- lators, and solicitors, to the last constable and janitor. If their plan succeeds, North Carolina is to be the refuge of their people in America. Their brethren from all the Southern States will be invited to come here, cast their lot among their fellows, and together to work out their destiny in whatsoever degree of prosperity and advancement they may be able to achieve for themselves.
It was widely copied in the state press and was received generally as a genuine and startling revelation of a deep-laid scheme. The speech of George H. White, the negro congress- man in the republican convention was remembered. "I am not the only negro who holds office," said he. "There are others There are plenty more being made to order to hold office. We don't hold as many as we will. The democrats talk about the color line and the negro holding office. I invite the issue." One newspaper, after citing the case of Washington, after the close of the Civil War, closed with these rather pertinent remarks :
* * * The city government soon became so corrupt and ex- travagant that Congress was forced to repeal the act giving the people the right of local self-government. What place is now to him what Washington once was? What one State in all this Union now holds out the inducement to enter her citizenship and seek her political
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honors ? What State, and what State alone, is represented in the Congress of the United States by a negro? What State, and what State alone, has registration laws which make it easy for him to register, whether he is a legal voter or not ? What State, and what State alone, requires nothing of him to entitle him to vote except his bare oath that he is so entitled? The answer to these inquiries is North Carolina.
By October a tremendous drive was on. Public feeling was tense in many quarters and there was evident a wide- spread determination among the democrats that the election must be carried if necessary by fraud or by force, or both. There was little opportunity of course for the former so com- pletely were the polls controlled by the fusionists. In the employment of the latter there were two alternatives. The negroes must either be frightened away from the polls or pre- vented from depositing their ballots. Of the two, intimidation was easier, safer, more effective and in every way less object- tionable and it was the plan resorted to in most instances. Organizations of "Red Shirts" appeared spontaneously, un- connected with each other or with the party organization. All through the southeastern portion of the state these "Red Shirts" rode about, boisterous, spectacular, and in the main harmless, visiting localities where the negro population was large, all wearing the lurid uniform which was at the same time a patent implication and a warning. Open violence was rare. An occasional republican meeting was broken up; in a few instances speakers were warned not to appear, but their power of intimidation was great. It was argued at the time and afterwards that they were merely a spectacular adjunct of the campaign but this is not true. They represented a fixed determination to put an end to existing conditions, and while they sought notoriety as the best means of accomplishing their purpose, they were nevertheless in deadly earnest. That they went no further was due solely to the fact that there was no need. Nor were they the irresponsible elements of the com- munity, the riff-raff, and the ruffians. They were in the main respectable and well-to-do farmers, bankers, school teachers, and merchants,-in many cases the very best men in the com- munity.
The threats and demonstrations produced at once the
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counter threat by republicans of the use of federal troops, a suggestion which vastly helped the democrats. Reality was given the threat by a public allusion by Senator Pritchard to the possibility of their employment which was promptly con- strued by democrats into a threat and even a formal demand for them. Not a few republicans placed a similar construction upon the suggestion and employing it as a threat, assisted in . magnifying it and spreading it abroad.
The democratic press kept the feeling at high tension. As a visiting writer of note put it:
The result was that in all sections of North Carolina, from the mountainous border of the West to the sand-dunes on the Atlantic shore, the doctrine of antagonism to the negro was preached from every stump and reiterated in the columns of every newspaper. * * The negro himself was pilloried as the quintessence of all that was brutal and dangerous. Especial prominence was given to items, the purport of which is evidenced in the following headlines, all of which are taken from a single issue of a Raleigh daily.
"Estimable Lady Grossly Assaulted by a Black Negro!
"An Impertinent Negro Puts in His Lip and Narrowly Escapes Being Roughly Handled !
"Black Scoundrel Assaults a White Man !
"Negro Youths Assault and Rob a Venerable and Highly-Esteemed Citizen on a Principal Street !
"Insolent Negroes Parade, Arm Themselves and March through the Streets of Wilmington !"
A fact to be remembered in this connection is that while doubtless the campaign caused an increase of emphasis, the condition of affairs, thus portrayed, actually existed.
During October, to add to public excitement, there was a 1 small race riot in Robeson County.
In the meantime conditions had grown worse in Wilming- ton. The negroes were becoming more lawless and were heav- ily armed, though the common rumor of the time that they were bringing in great quantities of arms was without any adequate foundation. The truth of the matter was that the negroes were not planning or plotting anything. The mass of them were quiet; the loud and dangerous minority, badly led, and encouraged by scheming white politicians, were assert- ing themselves in fancied security. The white population, with few exceptions, practically lived under arms. Riot guns
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by the hundred and pistols by the thousand were brought in and a rapid fire gun was placed in the armory of the Wilming- ton Light Infantry.
Politically, hopelessness had been replaced by untiring ac- tivity. A campaign committee consisting of twenty of the best business men of the town, headed by Frank Stedman, E. G. Parmele, Walker Taylor, and George Rountree, was chosen and a campaign fund raised for necessary expenses. In a short while the white people were in a flame of excitement and ready to go to any lengths to effect a change of conditions. The chamber of commerce passed strong resolutions against the continuance of negro rule, and among white men party distinctions began to disappear.
In the meantime, as a protection against a possible up- rising of the negroes, the town was quietly divided into mil- itary departments and the white citizens organized under the command of Colonel Roger Moore, one of the best men of the community.
The tensity was so great that those in contact with the community sensed impending trouble. On October 18, W. H. Chadbourn, the republican postmaster, a Northern man, wrote and sent to Senator Pritchard an open letter in which he said:
I had thought at first that it was the usual political cry and a fight for office; but I am convinced that the feeling is much deeper than this, as it pervades the community, and there seems to be a settled determination on the part of the property owners, business men, and taxpayers to administer the city and county government. As a matter of fact, there are in this county 36 colored magistrates and a colored register of deeds and various other minor officials, be- sides some presidential appointees, and the property owners, tax- payers, and business men seriously object to this state of affairs, and there now exists here the most intense feeling against any sort of negro domination. There is a greater feeling of unrest and uncer- tainty about the maintenance of order than I have ever seen, and many, even the most conservative, feel that a race conflict is imminent, than which nothing could be more disastrous, not only to this city and county, but to our party in the State, and rather than have riot, arson, and bloodshed prevail here, I, Republican though I am, advise giving up the local offices in this county, as there are no national . political principles involved in this conflict.
Later in the month, Governor Russell and the Senators Butler and Pritchard were advertised to speak in Wilmington. Vol. III-19
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A meeting of business men was called and a committee repre- senting them met the speakers on the morning of their appoint- ment and pointed out the grave danger of such conduct on the part of the negroes as would precipitate a riot. In con- sequence the appointment to speak was not kept.
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