Newspapers / The Chatham Record (Pittsboro, … / Sept. 4, 1930, edition 1 / Page 4
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PAGE FOUR ] THEN’ AND THERE | History told as it would be written today | i By IRVIN S. CODES j S When New York’s Streets Ran Red i i \ *SSSss»tf««v««vvw«w«v«««Sv««v««vwvv««w««vvvvC«3^vwvi w'j To understand a phenomenon in the history of a nation, even our own nation, it fre quently is necessary that first we should consider the phenomena not only of preceding circumstances and conditions, but also the phenomena of existing popular sentiments, popu lar prejudices, popular passions. Let us take New York city at the time of outbreaking of the great war between the North and the South. Except for a negligible minority of secret Southern sympathizers among office-holders and politicians about Albany, the people of the state of New York, outside the state’s metropolis, were sincerely determined that the Union shsuld be pre served. But the city was c# a different temper. Large commercial interests there favored the Confederate cause. To most of those of the present generation it will seem almost in conceivable that in January, 1861, the mayor, Fernando Wood, proposed to the Common Council that Manhattan Island, Long Island, Staten Island should secede from the com monwealth and set up a free and independent city with a separate government of its own, to be known as Tri-Insula. What sounds still more incredible, the council approved the plan and many of the most influential citizens heartily applauded their action. In April, though, when public indignation throughout the North had been inflamed by the attack on Fort Sumter, a majority of the Democrats joined with the Republicans in discarding the proposal and in whole-souled support of President Lincoln and his policies. There re mained, however, an active group of “Copperheads” as loyal Unionists in derision called such of their fellow-Northerners as privately favored the Interests of the South. Bearing in mind that this substratum of anti-Union feeling continued to exist and in some quatrers to flobrish, it is possible to realise the underlying onuses for the great draft riot in 1863. There was this background of clandestine friendship for the secession movement; on top of this came a tremendous wave of resentment against the provisions of the draft act which congress at Washington had enacted. The trouble with the draft ( act was that it exempted from its operations any man chose for military service who would pay S3OO for a substitute in his stead. Accordingly, a well-to-do person might at small expense save himself from the discomforts and the dangers of a soldier’s lot. There was complaint that this rule worked in the benefit of the rich and against the poor. When, in New York city, efforts were made to put in effect the operations of the law, there broke out a Hot which for ferocity, for loss of life and for duration, is unparalleled in the history of this country. It occurred in the midst of the Civil war, when great battles were being fought and, by subsequent contrast with the background of fraternal strife of which it was a part, became dwarfed in the popular imagination. That is why among the present-day generation there are so few even among the well-informed, to whom the draft riot is anything more than a name and a legend. The uprising started on the 13th of July. It continued for nearly five days. More than fifty buildings were burned; hundreds of others were damaged and looted. The fury of the mob especially was directed against negroes, since the black race was a main bone of contention between the warring sections in the nation. Negroes were lynched indis criminately, were hanged to lampposts, stoned to death, kicked to death. The police fought gallantly to restore order, but being overwhelmed by nunfbers, became powerless. Not until several regiments of troops hod been rushed to Che dty to cape with the rioters and not until fully 500 of the latter had been killed by the guns of the soldiers did the bloody carnival end. That distinguished wnter and orator, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, furnished us with a vivid picture of the draft riot. She was not so much concerned with furnishing sta tistics on the deaths or presenting individual narratives as with painting upon a larger canvas a panorama of -the bloody event as a whole. From her story it is possible to get g vision of the horror as seea through the eyes as a brilliant and devoted woman. THERE appears to have been lit tle doubt that Miss Dickinson was in New York during the draft riot. Her account, which is here given, probably was based in part upon statements made to her by other, eye witnesses. In any event, its substan tial features as narrated hy her were accepted, although some details of it never were proved. Excusing the fact that one was an outspoken partisan of the Union cause, and natirally would be inclined to put the worst possible face upon anything savoring of disloyaity to the Union, it may safe ly be assumed that here in her story, as incorporated into an historical novel written'by her in IS6S, we have a rea sonably accurate picture of the most dreadful popular outbreak in the his tory of the United States. “On the morning of Monday, the 13th of July (so she writes), began this outbreak, unparalleled in atroci ties by anything in American history, and equaled only by the horrors of the worst days of the French Revo lution. Gangs of men and boys com posed of railroad employees, workers in machine shops, and a vast crowd of those who lived by preying upon oth ers—thieves, professional ruffians — the scum of the city—jail-birds, or those who were running with swift feet to enter the prison doors, began to gather on the corners and in streets and alleys where they lived; from thence issuing forth they visited fche great establishments on the line of their advance? commanding their in stant close and the companionship of the workmen —many of them peaceful and orderly men—on pain of the de struction of one and a murderous as sault upon the other, did not their or ders meet with instant compliance. Quenching a Thirst for Ruin. A body of these, five or six hundred strong, gathered about one of the en rolling offices in the of the city, where the draft was quietly pro ceeding, and openeTl the assault upon it by a shower of clubs, bricks, and paving stones torn from the streets, following it lip by a furious rush into the office. Lists, records, books, the drafting wheel, every article of furni ture or work in the room was rent in pieces and strewn about the floor or flung into the streets; while the law offices, the newspaper reporters, wtio are expected to be everywhere—and a few peaceable spectators, were com pelled to make a hasty retread through an opportune rear exit, accelerated by the curses and blows of the as sailants. . . . “And then, finding every portable article destroyed—their thirst for ruin growing by the little drink it had had —and believing, or rather hoping, that the officers had taken refuge in the upper rooms, they set fire to the house and stood watching the slow and steady lift of the flames, filling the air with demoniac shrieks and yells while they waited for their prey to escape from some door or window, from the merciless tire to their merciless hands. One of these, who was on the other side of the street, courageously stepped forward and telling them that they had utterly demolished all they came to seek, informed them thai helpless women and little children were in the house, and besought them to 'xtingaish the flames and leave tin premises; to disperse, or at least i< seek some other scene. “By his dress recognizing in him a government official, so far from hear i„g or heeding* his humane appeal thev set upon him with sticks am* clubs and boat him till his eyes wer blind with blood and lie—bruised am mangled—succeeded in escaping. to tic handful of police who stood holules before this imvviig crew, now i< creased to thousands. With difficulty and pain the inoffensive tenants es caped from the rapidly spreading fire which, having devoured the house orig inally lighted, swept across the neigh boring buildings till the whole block stood a mass of burning flames. . . . “The work thus begun continued gathering fcrce and fury as the day wore on. Police stations, enrolling offices, rooms or buildings used in any way by government authority, or ob noxious as representing the dignity of law% ware gutted, destroyed, thee left to the mercy of the flames. News paper offices, whose issues had been a fire in the rear of the nation's armies by extenuating and defending treason, and through violent and incendiary ap peals stirring up ‘lewd fellow’s of the baser soil’ to this very carnival of ruin and blood, were cheered as the crowd went by. Those that had been faithful to loyalty and law were hoot ed, stoned, and even stormed by the army of miscreants who were only driven off by the gallant and deter mined charge of the police, and in one place by the equally gallant, and cer tainly unique defense, which came from turning the boiling water from the engines upon the howling wretches wdio, unprepared for any such warm reception as this, heat a precipitate and general retreat. “Before night fell it was no longer one vast crowd collected in a single section, hut great numbers of gather ings scattered o\»r the whole length and breadth of the city—some of them engaged in actual work of demolition and ruin; others with clubs and weap ons in their hands prowling around apparently with no definite atrocity to perpetrate hut ready iniquity that might offer—and, bway of pas time, chasing every stray i%lice officer or solitary soldier, or inoffensive ne gro who crossed the line of their vis ion ; these three objects—the badge of a defender of the law—the uniform of the Union army—the skin of a help less and outraged race —acted upon these madmen as water acts upon a rabid dog. Fiends Rejoice at Orphans’ Expense. “Late in the afternoon a crowd which could have numbered not less than ten thousand, the majority of whom were ragged, frowsy, drunken women, gathered about the Orphan Asylum for Colored Children —a large and beautiful building, and one of the most admirable and noble charities of the city. When it became evident from the menacing cries and groans of the multitude that danger, if not destruction, was meditated to tin* harmless and inoffensive inmates, a j 7 flag of truce appeared, and an appeal was made in their behalf by the prin cipal to* every sentiment of humanity which these beings might possess—a vain appeal! Whatever human feel ing had, if ever, filled these souls was utterly drowned'and washed awaj in the tide of rapine and blood in which they had been steeping themselves The few officers who stood guard over the doors and manfully faced these j demoniac legions, were beaten down • and flung to one side, helpless and stunned, whilst the vast crowd rushed in. All the articles upon which thej could seize—beds, bedding, carpets furniture —the very garments of th< fleeing inmates, some of them tori from their persons as they sped by— were carried into the streets and liui ried off by the women and ehildrei who stood ready to receive the good which their husband, sons and father flung to their care. The little ones many of them, assailc|i and beaten all —orphans and caretakers —exposed to every indignity and every danger driven on to the street —the buildim.' was fired. . . . THE CHATHAM RECORD, PITTSBORO, N. C. ••The house was tired in a thousaim places, and in less than two hours the walls clashed in—a mass of smoking, blackened ruins; whilst the children wandered through the streets, a prey to beings who were wild beasts in ev erything save the superior ingenuity of man to agonize and torture his vic tims. “Frightful as the day had been, the night was yet more hideous; since to the horrors which were seen was add ed the greater horror of deeds which might be committed in the darkness, or, if they were seen, it was by the lurid glare of burning buildings—the red flaises of which, flung upon the stained and brutal faces, the torn and tattered garments, of men and women who danced and howled around the scene of ruin they had caused —made the whole aspect of affairs seem more like a gathering of fiends rejoicing in Pandemonium than aught with which creatures of flesh and blood had to do. . • . The Governor Lends a Voice. “The next morning’s sun rose on a city which was ruled by a reign of terror. Had the police possessed the heads of Hydra and the arms of Bri areus, and had these heads all seen, these arms all fought, they would have betfn powerless against the multi tude of opposers. Outbreaks were made, crowds gathered, houses burned, streets barricaded, fights enacted in a score of places at once. Where the officers appeared they were irretrieva bly beaten and overcome; their stand, were it ever so short, but inflaming the passions of the mob to fresh deeds of violence. Stores were closed; the business portions of the city deserted; the large works and factories emptied of men who had been sent home by their employers or were swept into'the ranks of the marauding bands. The city cars, omnibuses, hacks, were un able to run, and remained under shel ter. Every telegraph wire was cut, ftie posts torn up, the officers driven from their oflices. The mayor, seeing that civil power was helpless to stem this tide, desired to call the military to his aid and place the city under martial law, but Was opposed by the governor— jl governor who but a few days before had pronouneed the war a failure; and not only predicted but encouraged this” mob rule which was now crushing everything beneath its heavy anh ensanguined TeeL^ This man, through almost two days of these awful scenes remained at a quiet seaside retreat but a few miles from the city. Coining to it on the aVtemoon of the second day—instead of ordering cannon planted in the streets, giving these creatures opi>or tunity to retire to tlieir homes and, in event of refusal, blowing them there hv powder and hall —he first went to the point where was collected the ebiefest mob and proceeded to address them. Before him stood incendiaries, thibves aifd murderers, who even then wei-te seeking dwelling houses and butchering powerless and inoffensive beings. These wretches he apostro phized as “My friends,” repeating the title again and again in the couqse of his harangue, assuring them that he was there as a proof of his friendship, which he had demonstrated by ‘send ing his adjutant general to Washing ton to have the draft stopped’; beg ging them to ‘wait for his return’; ‘to separate now as good citizens,’ with the promise that they ‘might assem ble again whenever they wished to do so,’ ‘meanwhile lie would ‘take care of their rights.’ This model speech was incessantly interrupted by tremendous cheering and frantic demonstrations of delight—one great fellow almost crushing the governor in his enthusi astic embrace. . . . “His allies in newspaper offices at tempted 'to throw the blame upon the loyal pr&ss and portion of the com munity. This was but a repetition of tlkc cry raised by traitors in arms that the government, struggling for life in their deadly hold, was responsible for the war: ‘lf thou wouldst but con sent be murdered peaceably there could be no strife.’ ” “These editors outraged common sjense, truth and decency by speaking of the riots as an ‘uprising of tiie peo pled defend tlieir liberties—an oppo sition on the part of the workingmen to an unjust and oppressive law en acted in favor of the men of wealth and standing.’ As though the people of the great metropolis were incen diaries, robbers and assassins; as though the poor were to <l»rLo«k*'trate their indignation against tn;? »*b by hunting and stoning defenseless en and children; torturing and mur dering men whose only offense was the color God gave them, or men wearing the self-same uniform as that which they declared was to be thrust upon them at the behest of the rich and the grejjt. “By* far the most infamous part of these cruelties was that which wreaked eTery species of torture and lingering death upon the colored peo ple of tliev city—men, women, and children, old and yoting, strong and feeble alike. Hundreds of them fell victims to the prejudice fostered by public opinion, incorporated in our statute books, sanctioned by our laws, which here and thus found legitimate outgrowth and action.” (© by the Bell Syndicate. Inc.) - World’s Biggest Shark" Towed 11 miles out to sea by a he had foul-hooked from his fishing launch, a Rian eventually man aged to capture the fish with, a har poon, and land if at Whangaroa, New Zealand. It proved to be a world’s record thresher shark, weighing 83“ pounds. It was 6 feet 1 inch in girth and oyer 16 feet long. The previous record shark was caught by,a resident of Hamilton, New Zealand, his cap ture weighing 697 pounds. f CAROLtNIANS—Know Yom Stale! l COPYRIGHT I‘HO BY BOYCE & RANKIN _ NSsSy jf A NORTH CAROLINA FUR TRAPPER North Carolina is one of th* chief fur producing states and no closed seasons on fur bearing ani vatior. and Development. NOTICE SALE OF REAL ESTATE BL TRUSTEES IN BANKRUPTCY PURSUANT TO ORDER OF DIS TRICT COURT OF UNITED STATES AND UNDER DEED OF TRUST. Pursuant to the terms and con ditions of that certain deed of trust from Mebane Real Estate & Trust Company to Central Loan and Trust Co., Trustee, dated April 25, 1927 and recorded in the offijce of the Register of Deeds for Chiit ham County, in Book No. GR, paj?e 266, which said deed of trust coln veys the real property herein des cribed to the said Trustee for the purpose of securing the payment of certain bonds therein described, and pursuant to the order of Honor able Johnson J. Hayes, Judge of the District Court of the United States for the Middle District of North Carolina, made in the Bankruptcy proceedings pending in said Court, entitled “Mebane Real Estate & Trust Company and Central. Loan and Trust Company, Bankruptcys”, on the 31st day of August, 1929, which said order was duly entered upon the peetition of the under signed Trustees for the sale of the said real property, and after notice to all creditors and hearing thereon by the Court, a duly certified copy of said order .being recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds for Chatham County, in Book No. GW, page 454, the undersigned Trustees of said Mebane Real Estate & Trust Company in said Bankruptcy proceedings will offer for sale to the highest bidder for cash, at the courthouse door in Pittsboro, North Carolina, on Thursday the 18th day of Septemeber, 1930, at 12 o’clock noon, all of the following described real property, to-wit: s A "certain tract or parcel of land lying and being in Chatham County, State of North Carolina on Dry Creek, and bounded as follows: : BEGINNING at a rock pile, Henry Durham’s corner on the Hills boro and Pittsboro Road; thence S. E. direction with said road to Mary Pilkington’s line; thence East ward with her line to a white oak, said Durham’s corner; thence North with Durham’s line to a sassafras tree in Durham’s line; thence Wefit to the first station, containing 58 9* acres, more or less. This sale will be made subject to advance bids and confirmation by the Court, and increase bids may be placed upon the said property with the Clerk of the Superior Court for Chatham County within ten dajfs from date of sale, and bidder ‘will be required to deposit at least 10% of bis bid as evidence of good faith. The Trustees are informed, but do not represent or guarantee that said deed of trust is a first lien, and purchaser may, have ten days from date of sale to investigate title, and if not good, amount paid will be refunded. This >is a re-sale, bidding to start at $126.50. This the 24th day of July, 1930. R. H. ANDREWS, S. J. HINSDALE, * M. W. MCPHERSON, Trustees in Bankruptcy for Mebane Real Estate & Trust Co. and Central Loan & Trust Co. T. C. CARTER, J. DOLPH LONG, H. J. RHODES, Attorneys. DORSETT REUNION The annual meeting of the Dor-| setts, their relatives and friends, will be held on Sunday, Sept. 7th, f at Loves Creek Church. The has-; ket dinner will be served in the usual way. In the afternoon a va ried program will be held in the church. A welcome is extended to our friends as well as to our rela Every betrayal of a secret it the fault of the person who confided it. —French proverb. 9 You are an honest man, and I am your uncle; and that’s two lies. —English proverb. Tobacco Prices Extremely Low —s — The opening of the eastern N. ’ C. tobacco markets Tuesday seemed to indicate lower prices for that belt than had been received in the , lower belts, which themselves were distressfully low. The quantity of tobacco on the floors was small as [ compared with that of former years. DURHAM-EDWARD License for the marriage of Dr. . Robert H. Durham, big physican in the Ford Hospital at Detroit, Mich., I and Miss Mary Louise Edward, cul ■ tured and attractive daughter of ’ Dr. J. D. Edward of Siler City, ’ Chatham’s representative in the last , General Assembly. . The bride is a graduate of Mere , dith. Dr. Durham is a son of Capt. W. S. Durham of Siler City. ’ THOSE HIDDEN INSURANCE TAXES » , The tax collector is getting a I stranglehold on an industry that is absolutely essential to our indus * trial and social progress—fire in i surance. II According to A. von Thaden, of the United States Chamber of Com -1 merce, our population has increased 33 per cent in the last 20 years, > our national income 160 per cent 1 and fire and marine insurance prem iums 190 per cent. Yet in the same period the taxes paid by fire in surance companies have risen 368 per cent. Mr. von Thaden points out that ! the fire insurance premium tax, | which is paid entirely by policy holders, is especially unjust. This tax is similar, in effect, to one levied on the gross turnover of any other business. Should our collectors take three or four per cent on the gross sales of a mer cantile business or on the average deposits in a bank, there would be an immediate wave of protest. Yet such a tax is levied against insur ance policies and goes unchallenged due to lack of knowleddge on the - part of the public that is being taxed in this manner. 1 Taking one state as an example, in 1928 the assets of the insurance companies doing business there totaled $9662,000,000. Their prem ium income was $248,000,000, of which they paid $6,203,000 in taxes. In contrast to this, the state banks had assets of $1,747,856,000 and \r- \ At What Time i i. Said the man with an injured hand, “It seems to be getting better very slowly. It may get well in time, but it may not be in MY time.” i It isn’t that way at all with a savings ac count at the bank. From week to week your savings may not make a great showing, but i from year to year, if you are persistent, there i will be a steady gain. And best of all, the j money will be available in TIME, and in YOUR time, to help you When needed. > THE BANK OF GOLDSTON HUGH WOMBLE, Pres. T. W. GOLDSTON, Cashier GOLDSTON, N. C. k. ; / THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 iqqa pand only $2,236,000 in taxes. I tt short, banks, with twice the assets of the insurance companies, paid but 36 per cent of the tax borne by insurance. This is not an argu ment to tax banks unfairly but to show the enequitableness of the in surance premium tax. Industrial development, wages, home building, employment—all the factors which contribute to Ameri can prosperity are directly depen dant on insurance. Industry and individuals should not be penalized with double taxation because they are thrifty and cautious enough to protect their property or add to their bank savings. I B^BARBER $ To build a bank account, be one who can be banked on.— Forbes Magaz-ine. $ It’s a trifle that makes fools laugh.—lrish proverb. He who carries lime in a basket leaves traces wherever he stops. — Chinese proverb. * <§> J
The Chatham Record (Pittsboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 4, 1930, edition 1
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