Newspapers / Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, … / Dec. 31, 1922, edition 1 / Page 9
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GREENSBORO , DAILY NEWS, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1923 "The Blue Season Rangers" (Wilson Mirror) Om of th asset tlvla.memorlei f the ldr folk of tbli. Motion, who remember th trying time Immedi ately following the CItU war, ii that f "Th Bin Ihmi Raagers." Thli was aa organisation of men far th rototln ( thlr loved na. tfhlr dds ot daring and hravary aiak colorful ioeal history, and Th Mirror la fortunate In having; eeeured (or publication a flm hand aooount ot th formation and aom ot th work, at .this hand of nil, aa told by th leader, Dr. B. T. Parson, to th daughter of the Confederacy, John W. Durham ehaptr, many yaara at. Her la th leader1 storyl Mr. tY L. Woodard, tha members f (h John W. Durham chapter of th Daughters ot tha Confederacy, th ladles ot Will, town and county: My dear friend! W t ;n 1 In addition to. a paper raad In a former meeting ot yoar camp. I want ta add a few 11 nee relative to th eausea and oondltlena that ltd to th organisation ot a band of Regulator! at Fremont, N. C, known among themselves aa "Blu Seaeon Rang art,' tb deslderetnne ot whose ieSorts waa to defend th defenseless, and jrld th ootintry at tha parpatratar at tha outrage that wara blng com mitted on th peopl of our heme and our country. ., When w returned from the Csa 1 federat army, wa wara tired of war. 'and anxloua for peace. Wi aoeepttd i In good faith, th term of surrender entered into by Lee and Orant; wa 'earn prepared to taka oar poaltlana a law-abiding altlsena, and a far aa a i limited competency would sustain ui, to perpetuate th obligation an- "tered Into by Lee and Orant, and aa : they, and wa thought looking to th 'reiteration at paa to tha aatlra country, aim ta tha prataatloa at per. on and property in tha Confederate states. But, Initead of, finding any nviaenoe or ui exiateae or suok son Won, wa found tha loved enu of home, th author of oar being, and tn mono ot ear childhood, enjoy Inaj tha poaoa th hawk given th dov. th wolf glree th lamb, tha Modo Indian give tha whtta man, and death gives tt victim. ' Tha Tilaaaaia, Tha tribunal! eitabllehed for the protection of .person ana property, and known aa Frdman'e bureau, were presided over by men. who would eteal Are out, of tha hottest place mntloned from th nrst ot Otneala to. th last of Reflation. In August, whan everybody la living on canned goods, to remove or obviate tha neoesslty ot making a lira for cooking purposes. ,-' ; ", Tha country was infested ny .un compromising cut-throatf and ramp followers, 'who were commixing all manner of outrages on the unpro tected and defenselesa people ot th country. Th "big buck; of th gang waa a tallow named Andrew Wilson, a deserter from th Federal army, but, after Sherman and Schofleld mat at Goldeboro. he returned 40 them, and, Judging by th manner 1ft which h waa received and protected, he soon became a, favorite among them, notwithstanding he waa committing ... all klnda of lnfa moue outrage! , on tha help less people. The commander ot tha post In Ooldiboro sent blm out, from tlm to time, with written au thority to do hie devilment. To that aspect of affaire la , aaorlbabla th organisation of, the "Blu Season Ranger.'' W had a eminent regard for the law ot our country! we re vered th preoepts of .our holy , re liglon; w war lck f th sheddng of human blood; and practiced mod- aratloa and forbearance to avoid as draadful a calamity; but we had been driven to the point wher deg radatlon i and dlegrae , begin. That was out condition; we had no remedy, and w met and reeolved to oppose It, regsrdleis ot odds and op. position, aa long a w had hearts to fl or hands to strike.) Wa knew th Infamous deed ot tha desperado Wll aon war approved and sustained by t To Our Friends and ' Patrons Va Jiwt a kind and friendly frtlnff In the troe old-fashioned way, Just the old, old words repeating, "Happy New Year, bright and gay." Tanenhaus Bros. Inc. the garrison In Ooldiboro for ha dlad with orders In hi pocket his -last word being, whan ordered' to aur- render, "I won't do It, I am acting under orders; . call out tha troopa! call out th troopa" ' I waa In position to know 'the were his dying words, and aa a tuI. a mao'a dying words ara regarded as true. Wa knew he and hla gang were protected by the federal authorities. ana. In the interest of our poor un fortunata people, wa felt oalled upon to apply our own remedy, and we did It, a ' Very naturally tha question has arisen, "why did Tom Person fei called upon to take the Initiative?" In reply to that, I want to say: I didn't do It; the leadership waa given ma by acclamation by th crowd that 1-fis.d assembled at Coley's, t pur. aue -the gang that shot Peacock,' it waa known to us all that Wilson was a fearless desperado, and that he waa accompanied by a detachment of fed' era! soldiers, under ordera, from th commander of the garrison. In ooldi boro. to .oppose th carrying out of those ordera, which, of course, meant the antagonlilng of tha whole federal army, and If that had been tha only outrage committed upon our people. perhaps w would pot have pursued the course, or applied the remedy a We did, but similar, and even worse 4eeds, by th same gang, war ot frequent occurrence. . Eltsba Applewhite, a grandson of old man Bartlet Deans, and a first eoualn to Allison and Pat Deana of our county, a man who was held In high esteem by all the better class ot people In Wayne county, was called to his door, at a late hour at night and, upon hesitating, waa told that Jack Co ley and Dr. John Pereon wanted to aee him, thereby deceiving blm; and whan h opened th door, ha waa shot tb death In th presence of hla wife and little children, two of three of the Infamous scoundrels fir ing on him at the aame time. We knew of nothing contained in the obligation entered Into by Lee and Orant -at Appomattox requiring us to unreatatlngly submit to such condi tional In fact w rsoognlied no au thority oa earth to bind us to any euoh proposition. A I eald before, I wag given the Initiative by eoclama ton, and aooepted under th follow ing conditions, In regard to Peacock, who waa shot through with a mini balL I had a man to bring out and aaddl "Quaker," a magnificent horse, but whoa nam wa not In keeping with th service h was called on to render. - I told th crowd I . would follow hay man who would abllgat to neither ask, ner give, any quarters, or I would lead ander the same obli gation, . whereupon, they, unhesitat ingly, and unanimously, pot me In tha lead. After mounting, I said to thm: "All I ask of you ti to keep clotod up and follow m. and when the proper time cornea, to th mark, and do not allow me to fall lir th hand of that mob unsupported." The proposlttoa was cheerfully accepted by all, -and kpt In good faith by some, but It was a long chase i th roads war bad, and aom of them oouldn't keep ap. Bom of them were eppoeed to shooting th gang, If we caught than. I told them with thai aspect of th case, they had better g baok. After being assigned to leaa aad hearing few timid suggestions In regard to the eourae to be pur sued. I drew up my reins,, touched "Quaker" with my, spurs, and rave th eommand t "Forward." where- 2 upon, we sprang out on a fifteen mile chase." I was continually Interrupted by Jack Coley to make remarka In regard to the propriety ot filing on He finally stopped, me at the railroad crossing, at the Wayne county poor-houie,- and protested against my th gang. If we hould overtake them. ehobtlng them, saying: "It wouio goi me In trouble." I told him that, for years, trouble had been my normal condition, and the meana by which I proposed to get Out of It, was my favorite amuaemenU I then said to him. "Now Jack. 1 want to notify you here and now, for the last time. It you don't want to aee Wilson snot. don't keep up with me; and so far aa trouble is. concerned, I will trust to 'Quaker and 'Lisa Jane,' my navy pistol to bring me out," and they did It to my entire satisfaction. , ' Wet Blanket. Coley'a objection, . and ' my reply seemed to throw a wet blanket on some of the crowd, and from there to Ooldiboro, I have Jio Idea tha num ber of times I gave the command te "close up." I was satisfied, however, there were three or four who were determined to be there and take a hand In the "round up." After 'he Wilson raid and round-up, I was, by common consent and approval, ex. Dctdto take the Initiative, and ) did It for no other motive but aa honeat conception ef duty. V Soon after the Wilson raid, and while his friends In Goldsbor.i, 1 mean th federal troops,- were camping on my trail, I had occasion M travel the Snow, Hill and Ooldaboro road for a few miles. I had gone but a short distance when I met a man, who had deserted a 'Wayne county company: went to New Bern, and returned with Scbpfleld, aad piloted a detachment of Yankee troop's through the country, plundering, threatening to klok de fenseless women out of their homes, heanlngeall manner of abuae oa them,' and, in fact, doing all manner of meanneaa. He had been pointed out, and hla rascality told ma a few day! before. To be sure of my man, I asked him hla name, whtoh he told ma Thereupon I dlamounted and gave him a hundred laahea, over the aeaa, face, and back. Ha waa furious, and went Immediately to report me to th commander of th garrison. Phil Sal ter, a brother of Mrs. H. P. Dortch, and a close friend of mine, hap pened to bear hla report and the of ficer'a reply. Th officer teld th de serter that he eould do nothing for him. "for." said be. "we want him for coming her In town and shooting one of our own men la open daylight, but we can't get him, therefore you will have to apply ycur owa remedy." But instead of acting upoa that auggea- tlen, the fellow decided to change his range) and a soon as he esrald ar range hla affaire, ho acted accord ingly. aaek Blow Dm . After the smoke from the Wilson raid had blown over, and the excite ment Incident thereto had. subilded, the ease, waa transferred to the Wayne' county Bu p e r I o r court, through the professional Influence and management ot W. T. Dortch and George V. Strong, who had . volun teered to appear for ue. Ex-Governor Tom Bragg also sent me word by Colonel Tom Kennedy, If they made out a aaae against me, he would ap pear for, me willingly and without charge. ' The .traoef ar .of the case, tcgether'wlth th professional back ing given us, relieved the situation considerably. , Jack Coley and Bill Lewi a had given their bend In the mm of 11,000 for my appearance at court, and I re turned to Fremont to practice medi cine. There were still numerous oaaea In the country, whose eymptems very urgently Indicated and required the "regulation treatment," one of whloh, I will relate, but there were evherav the detail of which were too revolting for th refine yt or th v I I Many have redeemed or sold their Victory and Liberty Bonds arid many will soon redeem their ' War Savings vftamps, "and unahy: more will soon" be receiving! divi-:! dendsv - ' Start the year right' Vy ' investing these sums in safe and. sound -investments, yet which yield a good return. Let us suggest to you investments paying 7 and 8 with state, county and city taxes paid. 7 . ... ' , -- - J - : In other words, these returns i will ! be net and we can satisfy you absolutely as to their safety. ' w ! - - 7 .. t See us at once and let us go oyer the matter! with you. TRUST DEPARTMENT 'Southern Life & Trust Co. Greensboro, N. C. 0 public prees. It ta sufficient to y of them, they received "special treat ment" and war entirely sat lines with the result ' ' WUe ef it Jalaa Th east I now propos to relate wa that of the wife ot Jeff Jenkins. who waa a native ef Oxford, Gran ville county, who earn to Wayne be fore the-war and married one of the flneet glrli In the oounty, Carrie Saula, daughter of Dred Sauls, whs In- the general ..acceptation ef the term, was one of the moot prominent and all-around best cltlsane ot the oounty. Mrs. Jenkins waa sister to Lawrence Saula, a schoolmate rnd close friend ot mine. Destiny, had thrown us together a good deaL Be fore the war, Be wai assooiat4 with the old Rountre company In Wilson, while Dan Summers and I were clerk ing for Ollly Myers acroee Tarbor street. Hie father was held ill very high esteem by the people of his county, and waa sent by them, for a number ot yeara to repreaent them In the legislature of the etate. Hla family were friends of my boyhood, and I regarded their wrongs aa my wrongs, and while sitting in my office one afternoon,' Mr. .Jenkins came In and related a .very aggravated cese committed by a company ot Yankees, while on a terrorising: raid of apoll- atlon and tyranny, piloted by Damps James, the fellow I had cow-hided a few days before, and a fellow named Stephen Cotton, who had also de serted a Wayne county company, and return-with Schofleld 'aa a pilot Steve waa very active In the service he rendered hla Tankee inenas; treated Mrs. Jenklne shamefully, plundering the private receeeee for valuablea, and threatened to klok her out of the house. The story as re lated to me would make the blood run cold In the velna of a Modoo Indian. Of course, all who knew me and my organisation, knew what that meant for Steve Cotton, and without hesita tion. I told Jeff we would be at hi house at early nightfall "prepa'ed to treat the case," which we did, ana while eating a fine jupper prepared by bar, with a tremulous voloe, and with tears In her eyes, she, Mrs. Jen kins, related her grievance I saw at one that Dick Mary was terribly enraged and I learned afterwards It was by reason of the fact that he de serted Dick's company, and It was very difficult to prevent his carrying the treatment to a fatal termination. I want to here and now aay w never did that If w eould avoid It Some of the boys. howvr, were pretty thoroughly identified pith the black flag persuasion, whlcft, being Interpreted, means neither to ask nor to give any quartera I never favored It In but one or two oaaea, and tiey were not susceptible to other treat ment I We gave -Steven the "regulation treatment" and suggested th pro priety of his changing hla range; at one, and notwithstanding that ill wtnga were pretty badly clipped, h flew th ooop and haa never been seen , In that oountry since. Other Wroaure. Th cases I have related are only a few, and certainly not more ag gravated than numeroua o t h'e r wrongs, that were done our people without roe t rat at or hindrance from those who were supposed to prefect them in person and property. There may be those who ar In clined to unfriendly comment and whv feel disposed to orltlclie us on our acta, and. In soma lnatanoel, we perhaps exceeded the bounds ot just retribution, but I don't think so. . Now i. want to aay, thla Is a state ment f facta won th part of th of fenders and th organisation that punished and drove them from the country.' -1' want to further say we never, at any time, or under any cir cumstances, attempted to dlegulse our laentity or conceal the evldencea or results of eur action In any ease. "W left thm where we found them eubjeot t th Investigation of all whom It concerned. Nor haa there ever been a time when we would at tempt to avail ourselves ef any am nesty, proclamation or atatute of lim itation te evade the dedlilon or judg ment or any tribunal eatabllshed, or authorised by the organlo or statute lawa or out country, hut we had 1 a profound, ooatempt for martial law, a It waa administered In our coun try, and war determined- not to sub mit to ths finding or penalty ot any oourt established by such authority on the charges that were brought against us, had their origin in and were ascribed to wrongs done our people by those who' were supposed to be fully committed to, and, ldentl- nea witn, the perpetuation of peaoe; but ou the contrary, their -very aot waa. convincing evidence they were thoroughly Identified with, and fully endorsed th lawlsn that waa be ing committed la th country, vn characterising the despsrado Wilson aa one of aur men. With that aspect of affairs we oould not for a moment entertain any proposition looking to the trial of any charge against ua b( ranxee oourt marshal: our Ju diciary and executive, officials were distinguished for their sealoua devo tion to right and unoompromlelng op position to wrong and administering even-handed Juitloe to all. Heve DeakteC Tk.tr Aa. No man ever doubted the acta of , J. Warren oa the bench, or the aervlce ot Col. Tom Kennedy as shsrlff, or of Mlka Wood and Frank Ayoock aa deputies. If he questioned tne official acts of either, he keot It to himself, for It he hadn't either of them would have resigned his posi tion ana requirea mm io toe tne mars for who Should live the longest Those people and their olass were my friends, whom I love to remember, aa aucn, and the consolation of my old age Is the cabin smokes of that class were pillars of clouds to me by day and their oabln lights were pll lara of fire to me by night W. In common with all others, perhaps, had our faults, but if wa had any dlstln gulshlng characteristics, they were unanimity of purpose, promptness and concert of action. In all eases, all condition and under all circum stances Involving tha rights, ths In terests and the lnstitutlona et eur homes and our country. ' I have one conaollng reflection. We aever, under any elroumstaaoea, harmed an Innocent man. It la alao equally gratifying to me to remem ber, that we never turned our baoka on. or failed to act promptly In, any case Involving the rights, or Beoeasl I want to aay, "a tear from the ladlea tatlng the protection of any defence less woman or child. That waa the highest aspiration we had to gratify, and we gratified It In a degree that waa entirely satisfactory 'o our selves, and to the absolute relief of th country. riaal SaaaaalBB Up. Now, upon a final summing up, and last analysis of th tormy career, thrilling scenes, and stirring events, through which we paaaed, I want to aasure you, I have given the causea and eoadltlona that gave rise to the organisation of the ' Blue' Senaon Eanger and their deed, without ex aggeration, and a th only living oharter member of th aame, I want to aay, I have nothing whatever to offer In extenuation -of their deede. At II I waa prepared te stand by their record until my right arm shrank palsied from Its socket and at II I am prepared to do the same should It become n actuary, and. In th language of th Osslan Serenade, I want to lay, "a tear from the ladles ot my country la all I ask for the Kanger'a grave. Very sincerely, your to count on, (Signed) B. 1. PERSON. n May the New Year . Be Replete With Health, Joy and Happiness ' For You and For Yours Sprinkle Piano Co., Inc. Brunswick Player .Pianos and Phonographs. 115 E. Market Jccessohes THE Accessory Department of this organization is as complete as you could find anywhere. Larg6 stocks, such as we carry, enable us to f ur nish you any desired accessory. No disagree-' able waiting for shipments they're here when you need 'em. And you will find our prices fair, consistent with the quality of merchandise. t V Greensboro Motor Car Company The Motorist's Department Stor9 315 W. Market Gas 20o PIumm 2500 ; ... ' YouCaii'tBeatltl A WHOLE year without a kick, and only one damage; which was settled satisfactorily to the customer and our selves. You can't beat it. , " Honesty and square dealing describe the way we get, business, and wet got it Notwithstanding that last January and February were two of the dullest months we have ever-had, the other ten more than made up for -them. ' , We, closed our doors last night at the end of one of the most successful years we have ever had. Our new and up-to-date dry cleaning plant is responsible for it and has enabled us to do work of the highest quality and give quicker service than ever before. Our many friends ; and customers have taken advantage of this and have kept us busy, all of which we deeply appreciate. Our promise for the New Year is to continue the stand , ard, and improve if possible, set during the year just closed. We take this method of expressing our appre ciation for the business accorded us and desire to thank our friends and customers for their Bplendid patronage. We wish them a most prosperous and happy New Yea.. When it is cleaning or pressing call 2517 ".- . You can't beat it. Ask your neighbor. ' ,' HOLT CLEANING GO. 1304 Spring Garden St t - - Wz2sds rara I:.
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 31, 1922, edition 1
9
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