536 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



date for office shall be, 'Is he capable? is he hon- 

 est?' " 



Lawlessness. In a fight between revenue offi- 

 cers and moonshiners in Kernersville, March 9, the 

 two moonshiners were killed and the two officers seri- 

 ously wounded. Another revenue officer was killed, 

 Dec-. 4, by a blockade, distiller in Montgomery Coun- 

 ty, and the moonshiner himself was shot dead by 

 some person unknown. Still another affair of the 

 kind occurred in Bladen County, Oct. 2, when a 

 moonshiner, resisting arrest, was shot doad. 



A riot was reported in Person County, Oct. 22, 

 between whites and negroes, on account of political 

 differences. Troops were called out in Franklinton 

 to prevent the lynching of a white man who had 

 killed a negro in a political dispute. 



Political. The State Republican Convention 

 met in Raleigh, May 14. A contest for the nomina- 

 tion for Governor had been going on for months, 

 and there were many contested seats. Resolutions 

 were adopted pledging the delegates present to use 

 all honorable means for the re-election of Senator 

 Pritchard to the United States Senate, and instruct- 

 ing the delegates to the national convention to sup- 

 port William McKinley for the presidential nomi- 

 nation. The platform declared for protection, and 

 said : " We favor the use of gold and silver as 

 standard money, and the restoration of silver to its 

 functions and dignity as a money metal. We are 

 opposed to the retiring of the greenbacks, the money 

 of the people, the money favored by Lincoln. We 

 are opposed to the issue of interest-bearing bonds 

 in time of peace, and we condemn the policy of 

 President Cleveland and Secretary Carlisle in se- 

 cretly making the sale of Government bonds to a 

 foreign syndicate on such terms as to enable it to 

 realize the enormous profit of $10,000,009, at the 

 expense of the people." 



It was declared that " the vital and paramount 

 issue for North Carolinians in this campaign is the 

 preservation of the great reforms enacted into law 

 by the last General Assembly, to wit : local self- 

 government and honest elections. No differences 

 as to questions of currency and questions of tariff 

 should deter us from standing together for the right 

 preservative of all rights, the right to vote and 

 have that vote honestly counted." 



Further, the resolutions declared that the man- 

 agement of schools should be removed from politics, 

 and that " the farmer and the householder should 

 be allowed the same exemptions given to the bond- 

 holder and capitalist, and that every citizen in re- 

 turning his property for taxation be permitted to 

 deduct from the value thereof the amount of his 

 just indebtedness." 



The nomination for Governor was made after a 

 bitter contest. The final ballot gave Daniel L. 

 Russell 119, 0. H. Dockery 104}, and J. E. Boyd 

 13. The other nominations were: For Attorney- 

 General, Z. V. Walser; for Auditor, Ruff Hender- 

 son ; for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 H. M. Douglass. The places of the remaining can- 

 didates were left vacant for the People's party. 



A State convention of colored Republicans was 

 called to meet at Raleigh, July 2. Following is the 

 preamble to the call : 



" Whereas, The fraudulent nomination of Daniel 

 L. Russell for Governor of North Carolina a man 

 who has proclaimed to the world that negroes are 

 largely savages, that all negroes follow rascals, and 

 steal six days 'in the week and go to church on Sun- 

 days and pray it off; that nonproperty holders 

 should not under any circumstances exercise the 

 full privilege of citizenship ; and because he fo- 

 ments racial strife and thereby jeopardizes our edu- 

 cational progress by subordinating all to corrupt 

 politics and politicians," etc. 



At the convention, where 65 counties were rep- 

 resented either by delegates or by letter, a series of 

 resolutions was adopted, calling upon "every negro 

 in whose heart there is still a spark of self-respect 

 and manhood to exert himself to the utmost to de- 

 fend the honesty and integrity of the race by doing 

 all in his power to defeat the election of D. L. Rus- 

 sell, whose name has become a stench to the hum- 

 ble, honest, and intelligent negroes throughout the 

 land, and whose election would be a blot upon the 

 fair name of the State of North Carolina." 



Further, the resolutions declared loyalty to the 

 Republican party and to the National platform and 

 candidates, and said : " In the event of the candi- 

 dacy of Hon. William A. Guthrie, we do heartily 

 recommend that he be voted for as a suitable and 

 worthy candidate " (for Governor). 



The Democratic convention met in Raleigh, June 

 25, with 900 delegates. Ninety-five of the 96 coun- 

 ties were represented, and there were no contests for 

 seats. Delegates to the national convention were 

 instructed "to advocate and vote as a unit, un- 

 flinchingly and at all hazards, for the restoration of 

 silver," and to " use all their efforts to abrogate the 

 two-third rule, if necessary to secure the nomina- 

 tion of a candidate in complete, in hearty, and in 

 known accord with the principles herein enunciated 

 by us." The gold standard a7id the McKinley tariff 

 were declared "twin monsters going hand in hand 

 in their mission of destruction, drawing the very 

 sustenance from the body of the people, and concen- 

 trating all wealth and power in the hands of a few." 



The repeal of the tax on State banks of issue \vas 

 favored, and a graduated income tax. 



The name of Cleveland was hissed. 



On State matters the resolutions declared in fa- 

 vor of fair election laws, the continuance of the sys- 

 tem of public education established by the Demo- 

 cratic party, and impartial administration of the 

 criminal laws. 



It had been expected that Julian S. Carr would 

 be the candidate for Governor; but he withdrew 

 his name just before the convention, and Cyrus B. 

 Watson was nominated. The other candidates 

 were: Thomas W. Mason for Lieutenant Governor, 

 Charles M. Cooke for Secretary of State, Robert M. 

 Furman for Auditor, Benjamin F. Aycock for 

 Treasurer, Frank I. Osborn for Attorney-General, 

 John C. Scarborough for Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, A. C. A very and George II. Brown for 

 Justices of the Supreme Court. 



At a meeting of the State Central Committee of 

 the People's party in July a resolution was adopted 

 inviting the advocates of free coinage, who were 

 then electing delegates to the National Silver Con- 

 vention to confer with the People's party at its 

 State convention in Raleigh, Aug. 13. The com- 

 mittee chose 16 delegates at large to the national 

 convention. The other 79 were appointed in their 

 own congressional districts. 



At the State convention one portion of the dele- 

 gates desired to combine with the Republicans on 

 a State ticket, another to put up a full Populist 

 ticket. The latter controlled, and the following 

 nominations were made: For Governor, William A. 

 Guthrie; Lieutenant Governor, 0. H. Dockery; 

 Secretary of State, Cyrus Thompson ; Treasurer. W. 

 H. Worth; Justice of the Supreme Court. Walter 

 A. Montgomery. The nominations for the second 

 judgeship and the office of Attorney-General were left 

 to the State committee. H. W. Aver was named 

 for Auditor. 



The Gold-standard Democrats held a State con- 

 vention, Aug. 26, in Greensboro, chose delegates to 

 the Indianapolis convention, adopted resolutions in 

 favor of a national ticket, and instructed a commit- 

 tee to chose electors. 



