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Raleigh kgijste ) nlfi fill iflffi 7 By P. M. HALE. ADVERTISING BATES. OFFICE: Kayetteville St., Second Floor Fisher Building. RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION; One copy one year, mailed post-paid $2 00 One copy six months, mailed post-paid. ... 1 00 IW Nojame entered without payment, and no paper sent after expiration of time paid for. Advertisements will be inserted for One Dollar per square (one inch) for the first and Fifty Cents for each subsequent publication. Contracts for advertising for any space or time may be made at the office of the RALEIGH REGISTER, Second Floor of Fisher Building, Fayetteville Street, next to Market House. VOL. I. RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1884. NO. 25. CANDOR. Robertson Trowbridge. O sweet, refreshing innocence of youth! I was aged five, of fair, cherubic gfaee; She five-and-thlrty; and, to tell the truth, There was ho beauty in her shrewd, kind face. And yet, one afternoon, when on her kuee I sat and Talked, tired out at last with play, She asked me if I did not think that she Was handsome like my pretty sister May. 'Oh, Miss Janet!" I cried, " you can't think so! , You're nothing like so beautiful as she. Hut then I love you; and you're nice, you kuow; So I don't mihdi" I added, soothingly. "Well, Arthur, yrTu are frank! But tell me why I'm rather like your sister, I should say; She has red cheeks, Mue eyes; and so have I ; Why-am I not as beautiful as May?" Oh, but you're not; indeed you're not!" I aid. You're thin and freckled. And jour eyes are blue, Kut different. Besides, your hair is red; And and you're kind of girlish-looking, too." Girlish And can it be thBt I have wrung A compliment from you at last? I see! 1 am not handsome, but I'm fresh and young. Girlish, indeed! Well, this is flattery.'" Oh. no!" I sliouted. much perplexed in mind; It isn't that. It's girlish like Christine, And Bridget oh, you know the other kind; It's why, it's servant-girlishuess I mean!" question now is, as it was in 1876, in 1878, in 1880 and in 1882, whether the white people of North Carolina prefer the Canby system of County Government, or that under which their forefathers enjoyed peace and prosperity for near a hundred years. The Canby system means negro rule and extravagant expenditure ; the sys tem of our forefathers means white man's rule and economical government. Choose, ye, white people of North Caro lina between them, but before you choose, it may be well enough for you 'to pause and consider: - i. wnatitne JNortn Carolina system is worth to the negro counties in the State. 2. What these negro counties are worth to the Democratic party, and J. Y hat they are worth to the tnx-pay- ers of the State. COUNTY GOVERNMENT. THE NORTH CAROLINA SfYSTEM VS. THE CANBJ SVSTEW. IIh Value to the Negro Conntlea, the Party and the State. The Value of the System. V Kai.eioh Register, May 21, 1SS4.J A main issue in the coming campaign will be, as it has been in preceding ones between the present or North Carolina system of County Government and the Canby system. The North Carolina system is substan tially the system of our forefathers. The Canbv system is the child of the Federal bayonet. Naturally, the Democrats sup port the North Carolina system, and nat urally, too. the Republicans support the Canbv system'. For 108 years, that is to say, from the day North Carolina ceased to be a depen dent province and became a free State, with the exceptiou of the ten years under Canby 's Constitution, our county affairs were administered by magistrates chosen by the legislature. After the Canby Con stitution went into operation county affairs were administered by commissioners elect ed by the people. Magistrates were also elected by the people. As soon as the white people of North Carolina got the power into their own hands again, they restored their old or democratic-system of electing magistrates, leaving to commissioners, appointed by tb magistrates, the management of county .affairs. In old times the magistrates them selves attended to county affairs; now, commissioners appointed by the magis trates attend to them. That is the whole difference. It pleased the people to order their affairs to be administered in that way during all the years before the Canbv Con stitution, and it has pleased the people to have them so administered since. Hut there is moreireason for us to pre serve the system than there was for our forefathers to adopt it, for there was then no Federal Government to convert African -lavt into American freemen. In certain counties, mainly in the eastern part of the State, negro voters have been since the war in an indisputable maioritv. In other counties they were in such large numbers, so near an absolute maioritv, that, under the Canby system of County Government, with a handful of scallawags or carpet badgers to help them, they had entire con trol." They sent whom they pleased to the Legislature, thev elected whom they leased as commissioners to administer ountv affairs, to levy county taxes and to control county expenditures, to be magis trates, and to control the public-schools It is needless to say that the taxes thus levied under negro rule, and expended under neyro rule: that the schools under neirro rule for white children, and the ad ministration 'of justice for white men by negro officials, were all paid for by white in. n. It does not set well on a white man's stomach to be arrested by a negro consta ble or to be tried lefore a negro magis trate. Of course, when taxes are levied and .-XDcndcd bv men who pay none, the levy is heavy and the expenditure lavish. This is true "of men, whether white or black; but in addition to this, the average colored voter conscientiously believes he is honest ly entitled to everything that he can get from the white man, and that get what he will, be will never balance his account xrninst. the white man for services ren dered durinsr slavery. These things being so, the question nat u rally arose as to the best legal, peaceable reined v for them. A moment's consideration showed that, sr. lrmg as the Canbv Constitution wasun ( hanged, the Canby system must remain i.. fi.re. nnd thus a strong stimulus was ... - - ' iru'cn tfi the ncri tat ion for its repeal In 1874 the people elected a Legislature in wbich'two-thirds of both Houses were hemnemts. These members of the Legis lature very well knew thStrthe people had sT-nt this number there that a convention might constitutionally be called and relief ilier. l.v afforded to the negro-ridden coun liis?: The Convention was duly called, .-mil mr-t in 1875 Anions? other amend incuts to the Constitution, they proposed I one giving the Legislature power to adopt such system of County Government as to it might seem best, with the full under standing that relief should be given to the V'gro counties. - These amendments'were submitted to tin- people for ratification or rejection in November, 1876. The canvass was mem orable for its length and for the obstinacy with which the Republicans, backed by unlimited Federal patronage and unlimit el Federal money, fought ue step by step and at everv point until sundown on the 'lay of election, to say nothing of what they attempted afterwards through Kil patrick and others. Throughout the State, from Cherokee to urrituck, from the South Carolina bor 'ler to the Virginia line, every speaker ap pealed to the people for the relief of the negro-ridden counties, and everywhere with success. As an evidence of this, the amendments were ratified by a majority of l-'..00. votes. The people knew full well what they were doinrr when thev ratified the amend ment giving power to the Legislature to fix the County Governments as it pleased, arid the Legislature knew full well what it was doing whenMt exercised that power and enacted the present system; and There are twenty-seven counties in the State that either now have negro majori ties or will have negro majorities at the next census at the present rate of increase oi tne two races. What then is the pres-- ent system worth to these counties over the Canby system? i The twenty-seven counties are Anson, Bertie, Bladen, Caswell, Chowan, Craven, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Jones, Lenoirp Martin, New Hanover, Northampton, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, , Pitt, Richmond, Robeson, Wake, Warren, Washington and Wayne. ; Their white population in 1880 was 218,926; black population 287,488. The total white population entitled to vote was 51,031 ; the vote for Jarvis 40, 193 80 per cent of the whole. The State taxes paid bv them in 1883 were $232,676. Their expenses for three years under the Canby svstem were' $1,304,343. For the next three years, under the present system, their expenses were $999,358. Saving under present system, $314,594. Their debt at end of Canby system was $545,108. In three years under the pres ent system $266,198 of it was paid. - Their personal property in 1876 was as sessed at $22,995,156 and underthe Canby system declined to $19,506,527 by 1878. In 1880, under the present system, it had advanced to $22,321,993; and in 1883 to $26,571,864. In 1876, under the Canby system, their real property had gone down to $33,93G, 688. In 1883, under the present system. it had advanced to $46021,259. Lnder the Canbv svstem their county scrip ranged in value lrom nothing to (highest) 1665 cents. ow their county scrip is at par. The records then show that, under the S years of Democratic rule, the negro county expenses were $314,594 less than under the three years preceding under the Canby system. And not only this, but the Dem ocrats with that much less money, paid $266,198 of former county indebtedness; and not only this, but they brought county orders and county obligations generally, from their various stages of shameful de preciation up to par, so that they have since been almost universally worth dollar for dollar. But what are the negro counties worth to the Democratic party? The total white vote of these twenty- seven counties, according to the last cen sus, was 51,031, or twentv-seven per cent. of the possible white vote, of te State. The vote cast for Jarvis in these counties, and it was all white, was 40,193, that is to say, seventy-eight per cent, lor more than three-fourths of the white men in the negro counties. In the white counties of the State only fifty-eight per cent., or but little more than one-half of the white men voted for him. ! In other words, if the white men of the j negro counties had voted,; accoruing to their strength, no better than the white men in the white counties Toted, accord ing to their strength, Jartis would have been beaten more than 4,000 votes. Where as, had the white men in the white coun ties voted as well as the white men in the negro counties, his majority would have been moreUhan 30,000. Why this is so, any thinking man may see at a glance. 1 ne wnite man in tue negro county realizes fully the importance of going to the polls and casting his vote in the fcrtate election. It is only in tne State election that his vote counts, and he knows he must make himself felt some where, if he would get relief from the Legislature. Deprive him of this relief, and vou will take from him the inducement to -vote the Democratic ticket with the zeal that he does vote it. Send him back to negro rule, with the knowledge that it is the Democratic party that sends him back, thus cutting him off from all hope in the future, and you certainly cannot expect him to go to the polls any better than his brethren do in other counties in the State, and then, and then there will be no more Democratic majority in the State; that is aik Are we ready to surrender our State elections to the Republicans? If not, then we must not send our brethren of the with them, and the other parts of the State must make up the loss. This is not mere speculation or surmise, but what sad experience teaches us. Under the Canby system of County Gov ernments, in two years personal property in the negro counties depreciated 15 per cent of its value; that is to say, in 1878 it was worth $3,489,720 less than it was in 1876. On the other hand, in two years, under the present system, personal prop erty in these counties went up 14 per cent. ; that is to say, in 1880 it was worth $2,815,466 more than it was worth in 1878. Does any one wish for plainer proof of the advantages to him as a tax-payer of the present system over the Canby system of County Government? And does not every tax-payer know that if the East, by reason of depreciation in property, pays less taxes, that the Centre and West must make up the difference? We say, therefore, that before any man votes to return to the Canby system of County Government, it will be well, very well, "for him -to pause and consider all these things. THE PARTNER. The Color Line. But the great controlling reason why the Democratic party fights the Republican party, man to man, and hilt to hilt, on this County Government question, is that the Democratic party is a white' man's party, and recognizes its obligation to protect its members, in whatever part of the State they may be, from the curse of negro rule. The Republican party, being a negro part', with 105,000 known negro voters in its ranks, cannot afford to make objection to negro rule. The marrow of the whole thing, then, is that white men and not negroes must rule North Carolina. That is what Coun ty Government meant in 1876, when it was adopted, and exactly what it means now. White" men of North Carolina, will you go with the negroes, or will you side with your own blood and your own color? .-In saying this, we mean no unkindness to the negroes, but simply to recognize the feeling that possesses every Anglo-Saxon and. makes him revolt at the thought of being ruled by a negro. North Carolina white men will deal honestly by negroes, treat them with the utmost kindness and humanity, will minister to their sufferings, relieve their wants, will build asylums for their unfortunate and schools for their children; in a word, do everything in their power to improve the moral, intellectual, social and physical condition 6f the negro, but they will never consent to live under his rule. It was this feeling that, born in the white man. has grown with his growth ! and strengthened with his strength, that i led to the return to the present system of County Government in North Carolina, and we scorn to attempt any disguise or concealment of the fact. If, then, we shall retain the present sys tem, we shall know full well what we are doing. The frujts of that system are be fore us in the shape of economical govern ment, the happy homes of a prosperous people, enjoying the kindest possible re lations between the two races. When things are doing so well, why change? Why not let well enough alone? So, too, if we return tb the Canby sys tem, we shall do so with our eyes wide open, for the fruits of that system also are before us. It means corrupt government, it means bad government, it means ex travagant and oppressive government, it means poverty, it means bankruptcy, it means people fleeing from their homes, it means bad blood between the raevs. Are you ready to pay this price for the Canby system? Answer, as before God and man you must do on election day. Answer. DR. YORK. AT HIARSHALL Shaming Men Driving Women Away Asheville Citizen. Dr. York then took the stand and for thirty miuutes delivered himself in such a Warren's Diary of a Detective.J I had virtually, though not formally, left the force, when a young man, of gen tlemanly, but somewhat "dissipated aspect, and looking very pale and agitated, called upon me with a note from one of the com missioners, enjoining me to assist the bearer, Mr. Edmund Webster, to the ut most of my ability, if, upon examination, I saw reason to place reliance upon nis statement relative to the painful and ex traordinary circumstances in which he was involved. "Mr. Edmund Webster," I exclaimed, after glancing at the note. " You are the person, then, accused of robbing Mr. Hutton, the corn merchant (the reader will, of course, understand that I make use of fictitious names), and whom that gentleman refuses to prosecute." "The same, Mr. "Waters. But although the disgraceful charge, so far as regards legal pursuit, appears to be .withdrawn, or rather is not pressed, I and my family shall not be the less shamed and ruined thereby, unless my perfect innocence can be made manifest before the world. It is with that view we have been advised to seek jour assistance; and my father de sires me to say, that he will hesitate at no expense necessary for the thorough prose cution of the inquiry." " Very well, Mr. Webster. The intima tion of the commissioner is, however, of itself all-potent with me, although I hoped to be concerned in no more such investigations. Have the goodness, there fore, to sit down, and favor me minutely and distinctly with your version of the affair, omitting, if you please, no circum stance, however apparently trivial, in con nection with it.- I may tell you," I added, opening the note-book from which I am now transcribing, and placing it before me in readiness to begin "I may tell you, by way of some slight encouragement, that the defence you volunteered at the police-office was, in my opinion, too im probable to be an invention; and I, as you j ,reatj Know, nave nau large experience 111 such j "Nothin"- matters, that also, 1 suspect, is jir. nut ton's opinion, and hence not only his re fusal to prosecute, but the expense and trouble he has been at, to my knowledge, in preventing either his own or your name Lfrom appearing in the papers. Now, sir, if you please.7 " I shall relate every circumstance, Mr. Waters, as clearly and truthfully as possi ble, for my own sake, in order that you may not be working in the dark; and first, I must beg your attention to one or two family matters, essential to a thorough appreciation of the position in which I am placed. "Goon, sir: it is my duty to hear all you have to say." "My father," proceeded Mr. Edmund Webster, "who, as you are aware, resides in the Regent's Park, retired about five years ago from the business in Mark Lane, which has since been carried on by the former junior partner, Mr. Huttpn. Till within the last six months, I believed my self destined for the army, the purchase moncy of a cornetcy having been lodged at the Horse Guards a few days after I m ' n t 1 1 1 came 01 age. rsuaaeniy, nowever, my father changed his mind, insisted that I should become a partner of Hutton'sin the corn-trade, and forthwith withdrew the money lodged for the commission. I am not even yet cognizant of all his motives for this seeming caprice; but those he al leged were, first, my spendthrift, idle habits, an imputation for which, I confess, there was too much inundation; though as to whether the discipline of the counting house would, as he believed, effect a bene ficial change, there might be two opinions. Another, aud, I have no doubt, much more powerfully inducing motive with him was, that I had formed an attachment for Miss Ellen Bramston, the second daughter of Captain Bramston, of the East India Company's service, residing at Hampstead upon his half-pay. My father strongly disapproved of the proposed alliance: like most of the successful city men I have known or heard of, he more heartily des pises poverty with a laced coat on its back compliance was the effectual loosening, before many weeks had passed, of the old gentleman's purse strings, which had of late been over-tightly drawn. I had several pressing debts of honor, as they are called debts of dishonor would, according to my experience be the apter phrase which it was absolutely necessary to discharge : and the success, moreover, of my matri monial project depended entirely upon my ability to secure a very considerable sum of money." " Your matrimonial project?" "Yes: it was at last arranged, not with out such reluctance on the part of Ellen, but I have good reason for believing with the covert approbation jf Captain Bram ston, that we should effect a stolen mar riage, immediately set off for the Conti nent, and remain there till the parental storm, which on mv father's part would I knew be tremendous, had blown over. I ! did not feel much disquieted as to the final result. I was an only son; my sis ters would be indefatigable intercessors; and we all, consequently, were pretty con fident that a general reconciliation, 6uch as usually accompanies the ringing down of the green curtain at the wind up of a stage comedy, would, after no great inter val of time, take place. Money, however, was indispensable money for the wed ding expenses, the flight to France, and living there for a considerable time perhaps; and no likelier mode of obtain ing it occurred to me than that of cajoling my father info good humor, by affecting to acquiesce in his wishes. And here I may remark, in passing, that had I been capable of the infamous deed I am accused of, abundant opportunities of plundering Mr. Hutton presented themselves from the first hour I entered his counting-house. Over and over again has he left me alone in his private room, with the keys in the lock of his iron safe, where large sums were frequently deposited, not only bank notes, but untraceable gold." "That looks like a singular want of caution in so precise and wary a man as Mr. Hutton, I remarked, half under mv the negro counties back to negro rule. We do not say that the white men there will join the Republican party, but we do say that they will, have no more induce ment to go to the polls and vote than white men elsewhere have, and not as much. There, a little over three-fourths of the white men vote the Democratic ticket; elsewhere, only a little over a half. See the difference, and count the cost, be fore voting to change the present system of County Government, for it is the hope of holding that system that makes the whitemen of the East vote so well. Let everv man who considers the success of the Democratic party essential to pros perity in North Carolina ponder well these things, for so far as facts and figures can tell the story, the ascendancy of the Dem ocratic party in JNortn Carolina depends upon the protection it affords to its.white voters in the negro counties. But what are these negro counties worth to the tax-payers of the State? The whole amount of Jthe taxes levied for the last fiscal year was In round num bers $532,000. Of this amount the twenty seven negro counties paid $232,000, much more than one-third, and almost one-half of the whole amount, that is to say, over 42 per cent of the whole amount. With bad County Government in the negro counties ; with' heavy levies of taxes and extravagant expenditures; with the unsettled, disturbed conditions of society, sure to follow the effort to force negro ruje on white men; with no immigrants coming in ; with good citizens leaving to seek homes where white men rule white men with farm after farm thrown upon the market only to find no purchaser, ex cept at a terrible sacrifice; with bad blood engendered between the races, does any fman suppose that these negro counties can -continue to pay their present proportion of the State taxes? Property must de crease, values must diminish, and taxes speech as we have never before heard I than in rags; and he knew no more ef - i . m -1 1 1 1 . 1 j . f. i equaled on the stump, it was coarse, vul gar, bitter. He became so vulgar that ladies on the opposite side of the street who had gathered to hear a discussion be tween gentlemen aspiring to an honorable position, had to retire It shocked his opponents, and shamed every decent man on the ground, of all parties. Dr. York evidently mistakes the character of our mountain people if he thinks they, of any party, will tolerate such language. He stated that General Scales had knowingly falsified facts, and began a coarse, low attack upon the private character and acts of leading democrats. ; General Scales' reply was the severest condemnation of the man and speech we ever heard. He gave expression to the sentiments of a manly heart, swelling with indignation and shame, and grew eloquent in his denunciation and characterization of the man and the speech. Turning to York, he told him if he wished to wallow in filth and dirt, if fHat was his congenial element, he could flounder therein to his heart's content, but he could not drag him (Scales) down to him. After quoting some of York's statements and charges, and show ing their recklessness, he said, "Iwillnot follow him and say he has told a falsehood. I am too much of a gentleman to do that ; but I will sav he is too irrnorant to know any better." ' He characterized the last speech of York as being the most ungen tlemanly he had ever heard fall from the lips of any man holding and aspiring to a high position. General Scales' every sen tence aroused the wildest enthusiasm of approval, even those of his opponents showing they felt the severe castigation given the fellow who was put up as their standard bearer, and also feeling it was well deserved. We have never known a more effective speech, or one that left a finer impression upon the people. Every word which fell from his lips bespoke him the man worthy to fill the highest seat in the gift and place in' the hearts of his peo ple. Dr. York mortified many of his old friends, and for the sake of deeency and what he has been, it is hoped he will not atrain trifle so wantonly with the sensibili ties of the people, the proprieties of the occasion, or with the requirements gentleman. of a U amiH C. K. an Editor ? Newbern Journal Letter. C. K. says he is a model farmer. Says he to one of his tenants, "Bryan do you know what constitutes a good farmer?" Bryan says, "Don't know as I does, sir." " Well," says K., " always keep ahead of your work. " Bryan studied a moment and replied : Then you must be a good far mer, 'cause you was half done gathering corn before you began stripping fodder last year." K. had nothing more to say about farming and walked off. Bryan went on plowing, singing " I won't go home till morning." fectual plan could be hit upon for frustra ting my wishes, than by transforming my expected cornetcy into a partnership in the corn-trade, my imaginary sword into an actual goose-quill; Captain Bramston, who is distantly related to an earl, being even prouder than he is poor, and a man that would rather see his daughter in her coffin than married to a trader. ' It was conde scension enough,' he angrily remarked, 'that he had permitted Ellen Bramston to encourage the addresses of the son of a City parvenu, but it was utterly preposter ous to suppose she could wed an actual corn-chandler.'" " Corn-chandler!" "That was Captain Bramston's pleas ant phrase, when I informed him of my father's sudden change of purpose. The proposed partnership was as distasteful to myself as to-Captain Bramston; but my father proved inexorable fiercely so, I may say to my entreaties, and those of my sisters; and I was placed in the dilem ma, either of immediate banishment from home, and probable forfeiture of my in heritance, or the loss of Ellen Bramston, to whom, with all my follies, I was and am devotedly attached. After much anx ious cogitation, I hit upon a scheme, re quiring for a time the exercise of a con siderable amount of deceit and dissimula tion, which would. I flattered myself, ul timatelv reconcile interest with inclina tion give me Ellen, and not lose my father." " To which deceit and dissimulation you are doubtles indebted for your present un fortunate position? " You have rightly anticipated. But to proceed. Mr. Hutton himself, I niust tell you, was strongly adverse to receiving me as a partner, though for some reason or other he durst not openly oppose the pro ject; his son, John Hutton, also objected to it." "His son, John Hutton! I know the character of Hutton senior pretty well; pray what is that of his son?" "Well, like myself, he is rather fast perhaps, but not the less a good sort of young fellow enough. He sailed the week before last for Riga, on business." " Before you were apprehended?" " On the morning of the same day. Let me see, where was I? Oh Mr. Hutton's j aversion to the partnership, the knowledge i of which suggested my plan of operation. T induced him to represent to my father that I should pass at least two or three months in the counting-house, before the matter was irreversibly concluded, for his, Mr. Hutton's sake, in order that it might be ascertained if there was any possibility of taming me into habits of method and application; and I hypocritically enforced his argument you see I am perfectly can did by promising ultimate submission to my father's "wishes, provided the final de cision were thus respited. The main ob ject I thought to. -.obtain by this apparent of-the sort," rejoined Mr. Edmund Webster with some heat, and his pallid face brightly flushing. "It only shows that, with all my faults and follies, it was impossible for any one that knew me to imagine I could be guilty of perpe trating a felony." "I beg your pardon, Mr.. Webster; I meant nothing offensive to you: the re mark was partly the involuntary expression of a. thought which suddenly glanced across my mind." " I have little more of preliminary de tail to relate," he went on to say. " Con trary to our hope and expectation, my father became not a whit more liberal with his purse than before rthe reverse rather; and I soon found that lie intended to keep the screw on till the j accomplishment of the hated partnership blaced an insupera ble bar between me anjd Ellen Bramston. I used to converse frequently upon these matters with Mr. Hutton, as unreservedly as I do now with you; and I must say that, although extremely anxious to avoid any appearance of opposition to my father, he always expressed his warmest sympathy with my aims and wishes; so much so, in fact, that I at last ventured to ask him for the loan of about five hundred pounds, that being the least sum which would en able me to pay off the most pressing of the claims by which I was harassed, and carry out my- wedding project. That favor, however, he flatly refused, under the plea that his having done so would sooner or later come to my father's knowledge." "And Mr. Hutton, after that refusal. continued to afford you opportunities of helping yourself, had you been so minded ?" " Yes; unquestionably he did : but what of that?" sharply replied the young man, his pale face again suffused with an angry flush. "Nothing, sir, nothing. Go on: I am all attention." " Well, I made application to several money-lenders with the like ill success, till last Monday fortnight, when I was ac costed at Mr. Hutton's place of business in the Corn-market, where I happened to be for a,few minutes alone, by a respectable-looking middle-aged man, who asked me if I was the Mr. Edmund Webster who had left a note at Mr. Curtis' s of Bish- opsgate Street, on the previous Saturday, requesting the loan of five hundred pounds, upon my acceptance at six months' date. I eagerly replied in the affirmative ; upon which Mr. Brown, as the man called him self, asked if I had the promissory note for five hundred and fifty pounds, as I had proposed, ready drawn ; as, if so, he would give me cash at once. I answered in a flurry of joyous excitement, that I had not the note drawn or the stamp with me, but if he would wait a few minutes until Mr. Hutton or a clerk came in, I would get one and write the acceptance immediately. He hesitated for a moment, and then said : 'I am in a hurry this morning-, but I will wait for you in the coffee-room at the Bay Tree Tavern ; have the kindness to be as quick as you can, and draw the note in favor of Mr. Brown.' He had not been gone above three or four minutes, when a clerk came in. I instantly hurried to a stationer's, wrote the note in his shop, and speeded on with it to the Bay-Tree Tavern. The coffee-room was full, except the box where sat Mr. Brown, who, after glancing at the-acceptance, and putting it quickly up, placed a roll of notes in my hand. 1 Do not display your money,' he said, " before all these people. You can count the notes under the table.' I did so: they were quite correct ten fifties; and I forth with ordered a bottle ot wine. Mr. lirown, however, alleging business as an excuse, did not wait till it was brought bade me good-day and disappeared, taking in his hurry, my hat instead of his own. "I was, you will readily believe, exceed ing jubilant at this lucky turn of affairs; and, strange as it must appear to you, and does now to myself, it did not strike me at the time as at all extraordinary or un businesslike, that I should have five hun dred pounds suddenly placed in my hands by a man to whom I was personally un known, and who could not, therefore, be certain that I was the Edmund Webster he professed to be in search of. What with the effect of the wine I drank and natural exultation, I was, I well remem ber, in a state of great excitement when I left the tavern, and hardly seemed to feel my feet as I hurried away to Mark Lane to inform Mr. Hutton of my good luck, and bid his counting-house and the corn-trade a final farewell. He was not at home, and I went in and seated myself in his private room to await his return. I have no doubt that, as the clerk has since deposed, I did look flustered, agitated; and it is quite true also, that, after vainly waiting for upwards of an hour, I suddenly left the place, and, as it happened, unnoticed by anybody. Immediately upon leaving Mark Lane I hastened up to Hampstead, saw Miss Bramston ; and as everything with the exception of the money, had been for some time in readiness, it was soon decid ed that we should take wing at dawn on the following morning for Scotland, and thence pass over to France. I next be took myself to Regent's Park, where I dined, and confided everything to my sis ters except as to how I obtained the neces sary funds. At about eight in the even ing, I took a cab as far as the Hay-market for the purpose of hiring a post-chaise and-four, and of paying a few debts of honor in that neighborhood. I was per sonally unknown to the postmaster; it was therefore necessary to prepay the chaise as far as St. Alban's, and I presented him with one of the fifty pound notes for that purpose. He did not appear surprised at the largeness of the sum, but requested me to place my name and address at the back of the note before he changed it. In my absurd anxiety to previfht the possibility of- our flight being traced, I endorsed the note as 'Charles Hart, Great Wimpole Street,' and the man left the yard. . "He was gone a considerable time, and I was getting-exceedingly impatient, when, to my surprise and consternation, he re entered the yard accompanied by a police officer. ' You are the gentleman from whom Mr. Evans received this fifty pound note a few minutes ago are you not?' 'Yes, to be sure,' I answered stammering and coloring, why I scarcelv knew. 'Then step this way, if you please,' said the man ' That note, with nine others of the same value, is advertised as having been stolen from a gentleman's counting-house in Mark Lane.' I thought I should have fainted; and when a paragraph in the uioue was pointed out to me, offering a reward, on the part of Mr. Hutton, for the apprehen sion of the person or persons who had that day stolen ten fifty-pound Bank of En land notes the dates and numbers of which were given from his office, I was so completely stunned, that but for the police-officer I should have dropped upon the floor. ' This, perhaps, may be cleared up, said the omcer. "so iar as you, jvir Hart, are concerned ; and 1 will, if you like, go with you at once to vour address in Great Wimpole Street.' It was of course necessary to acknowledge that my name was not Hart, and that 1 had given a false address. This was enough. I was at once secured and taken off to the station- house, searched, and the other nine notes being found upon me, no doubt was enter tained of my guilt. I obstinately declined giving my real name very foolishly so, as I now perceive, since Mr. Hutton's clerk the moment he saw me the next dav at the police-court, disclosed it as a matter of course. The result you know. Mr. Hut ton when he heard who it was that had been taken into custody, kept resolutely out of the way; and, after several remands. I was set at liberty, the magistrate remark ing that he knew of no case which showed in a more striking light the need of a pub lie prosecutor in this country. Mv account of the way in which I became possessed of the note was, as vou know, scouted, an quite naturally; Mr. Curtis, of Bishops gate Street, having denied all knowledge of Mr. Brown, or that he had commis sioned any one to present me with: five hundred pounds in exchange for my ac ceptance. Thus stigmatized and disgraced I returned home to find my father struck down, in what was at first thought would prove mortal illness, by the blow Captain Bramston's door shut against me and the settled marriage of my eldest sister, Jane, with an amiable young man, per emptorily broken off by his relatives, on account of the assumed criminality of her brother." "This is indeed a sad, mysterious busi ness, Mr. Webster," I remarked, when the young man had ceased speaking; "but pray tell me, did either Mr. Hutton or his son know ot your application to . air. Curtis?" " I cannot say that either of them did, though it is more than probable that I mentioned it to both of them." "Well, Mr. Webster, I have confidence in your veracity; but it is essential that I should sec your father before engaging in this business." "He is anxious you should do so, and as early as possible." It was then arranged that I should call on Webster, senior, at three o'clock the same afternoon, and announce myself to the servants as Mr. Thompson. I was punctual to the time appointed, and was forthwith ushered by one of the daughters into her father's presence. He was not yet sufficiently recovered to leave his bed ; and I had hardly exchanged half-a-dozen sentences with him, when the same young lady by whom I had been introduced has tily returned to say Mr, Hutton was below and requested an immediate interview. Mr. Webster bade his daughter tell Mr. Hutton he was engaged, and could not be interrupted; and she was turniHg away to do so, when I said hastily, "Excuse me, Mr. Webster, but I should exceedingly like to hear, with my own ears, what Mr. Hutton has to say, unobserved bv him. j "You may do so with all my heart," he revilied: "but how shall we manage to 1 conceal vou?" " Easily enough under the bed;" and suiting the action to the word, 1 was in a moment out of sight. Miss Webster was then told to ask Mr. Hutton to walk up, and in a few minutes that worthy gentle man entered the room. After a few hypo critical condolences upon the invalid's state of health, Mr. Hutton came to the point at once, and with a vengeance. "I am come, Mr. Webster," he began in a determined tone, "to say that I will en dure this shilly-shallying no longer. Either you give up the bonds you hold of mine, for borrowed moneys " "Have you taken "Eleven thousand pounds and upwards !" groaned the sick man. "About that sum, I am aware, includ ing interest; in discharge of which load of debt I was, you know, to have given a third share of my business to your admira ble son. Well, agree at once to cancel those bonds, or I forthwith prosecute your son, who will as certainly be convicted, and transported for life." "1 tell vou again," retorted the excited invalid, "that I will not purchase mere forbearance to prosecute at the cost of a single shilling. The accusation would always be hanging over his head, and we should remain forever disgraced as we now are, in the eyes of the world." "I have turned that over in my mind," replied Hutton, "and I think I can meet vour wishes. Undertake to cancel the debt I owe you, and I will wait publicly to-morrow upon the magistrate with a let ter in my hand purporting to be from my son. and stating that.it was he who took the notes from my desk, and employed a man of the name" of Brown to exchange them for your son's acceptance, he being anxious that Mr. Edmund Webster should not become his father's partner ; a purpose that would necessarily be frustrated if he, Edmund Webster, was enabled to marry and leave, this country." There was no answer to this audacious proposal for a minute or two, and then Mr. Webster said slowly, "That my son is innocent, I am thoroughly convinced innocent exclaimed Mr. Hutton with savage derision, leave of your senses?" Still," continued the invalid, unmind ful of the interruption, "it might be im possible to prove him so; and your propo sition has a certain plausibility about it. I must, however, have time to consider it." " Certainly; let us say till this day week. You cannot choose but complv ; for if you do not, as certainly as I stand here a living man, your son shall, immediately after the expiration of that time, be on the high road to" the hulks." Having said this Mr. Hutton went away, and I emerged from my very undignified lurking place "1 begin to sec a little clearer through this black affair," I said, in reply to the old gentleman's questioning look; "and I trust that we may yet be able to turn the tables upon the very confident gentleman who has just left us. Now, if you please," added, addressing Miss Webster, who had again returned, " I shall be glad of a moment s conversation with your brother. She led the way down stairs, and I found Mr. Edmund Webster in the dining-room. " Have the kindness," I said, "to let me see the hat Mr. Brown left behind at the tavern in exchange for yours." The young man seemed surprised at the apparent odd- ness of the request, but immediately com plied with it. "And pray what maker or seller's name was pasted inside the crown of your hat, Mr. Webster?" "Lewis, of Bond Street,'' he replied; "I always purchase my hats there." "Very good. And now as to Mr. Brown's personal appearance. What is he at all like?" A stoutish, middle-aged man, with very light hair, prominent nose, and a pale face, considerably pock-marked. " That will do for the present Mr. Web ster; and let me beg, that till you see me again, not a soul receives a hint that we are moving in this business." I then left the house. The hat had fur nished an important piece of information, the printed label inside being "Perkins, Guildford, Surrey!" and at the Rose and Crown Inn, Guildford, Surrey, I alighted the ery next day at about two o'clock in the strong hope of meeting in its steep streets or adjacent lanes with a stoutish gentleman, distinguished by very light hair, a long nose, and a white pock-marked face. The chance was. at all events, worth a trial ; and I very diligently set to work to realize it, by walking about from dawn till dark, peering at every head I passed, and spending the evenings in the most fre quented parlors fof the town. Many a bootless chase I was led by a distant glimpse of light or red hair; and one fel low with a sandy p5ll, and a pair of the longest legs I ever saw, kept me almost at a run for two mortal hours one sultry hot morning, on the road to Chertsey, before I headed him, and confronted a pair of fat cheeks, as round and red as an apple, between which lay, scarcely visible, a short snub-nose. Patience and perseverance at length, however, met their reward. I recognized my man as he was cheapening a piece of meat in the market-plaee. He answered precisely to the description given me, and wore, moreover, a fashionable hat, strongly suggestive of Bond Street. After awhile he parted from his wife, and made towards a public house, into the parlor of j which I entered close after him. I had now leisure to observe him more closely. He appeared to be a respectable sort of man, but a careworn expression flitted at times over his face, which to me, an adept in such signs, indicated with sufficient plainness much anxiety of mind, arising, probably, from pecuniary embarrassment, not, I judged, from a burdened conscience. I presently obtained further and decisive proof, though that was scarcely needed, that Mr. Skinner, as the waiter called him, was my Mr. Brown: in rising to leave the room, I took his hat, which. he had hung up, in apparent mistaKe ior my own, ana in the half-minute that elapsed before 1 replaced it,, saw plainly enough, "Lewis, Bond Street, London," on the inside label. The only question now was, how best to avail myself of the lucky turning up of Mr. Brown; and whilst I was meditating sev eral modes of action, the sight of a board, upon which was painted, "This ground to be let on Building Leases: Apply to Mr. Skinner, Builder," at once decided me. I called upon Mr. Skinner, who lived about half a mile out of Guildford, the next morning, inquired as to the conditions of the said leases, walked with him over the ground in question, calculated together how "much a handsome country-house would cost, and finally adjourned to the Roseand Crown to discuss the matter fur ther over a bottle of wine. Skinner was as free a soul, I found, as ever liquor be trayed into indiscretion : and I soon heard that he had lately been to London, and had a rich brother-in-law there of the name of Hutton, with other less interesting par ticulars. This charming confidence he seemed to think required a return in kind, and after he had essayed half-a-dozen in direct questions, I came frankly out with, "There's no occasion to beat about the bush, Mr. Skinner: you wish to know who I am, and especially if 1 am able to pay for the fine house we have been talking of. Well, then, I am a money-dealer; I lend cash sometimes, on security." "A pawnbroker?" queried Mr. Skinner, doubtfully. " Not exactly that: I oftener take per sons in pledge than goods. What I mean by money-dealer, is a man who discounts the signatures of fast then with good ex pectations, who "don't mind paying hand somely in the end for present accommoda tion." "I understand: a bill discounter?" "Precisely. But come, drink, and pass the decanter." A gleam that shot out of the man's gray eyes strengthened a hope that I had hard ly dared entertain that I was on the eve of a great success ; but the trout, it was clear, required to be cautiously played. Mr. Skinner presently fell into a brown study, which I did not interrupt, content ing mvself with refilling his glass as fast as he mechanically emptied it. "A bill discounter," said he at last, putting down his pipe, and turning towards me with a settled purpose in his look. "Is amount and length of time to run of any conse quence?" "None whatever, if the parties are safe." "Cash down on the nail?" "Cash down on the nail, minus, of course, the interest." "Of course. Well, then, Mr. Thomp son, I have a promissory note signed by j Mr. Edmund Webster of London, for five i hundred and fifty pounds, at six months' j date, which I should like to discount." j "Webster of the Minories?" "Uo; his father is a retired corn-merchant, residing in the Regent's Park. The bill's as safe as a Bank of England note." "I know, the party. But why doesn't the rich brother-in-law you spoke of cash it for vou?" "Well," replied Skinner, "no doubt he would ; but the fact is, there is a dispute be tween us about this very note. I owe him a goodish bit of money ; and if he got it into his hands, he'd of course be for de ducting the amount ; and I've been obliged to put him off by pretending it was acci dentally burned soon after I obtained it." " A queer story, my friend; but if the ; signature's genuine, I don't mind that, and ; you shall have the cash at once." 4 "Here it is, then," said Skinner, un clasping a stout leather pocket-book. " I don't mind throwing back the odd fifty pounds." I eagerly grasped the precious docu ment, glanced at it, saw it was all right, placed it in my pocket, and then suddenly changing my tone, and rising from the table, said: "Now then, Skinner, alhi Brown, I have to inform you that I am a detective police-officer, and that you are my prisoner." "Police! prisoner!" sliouted the as tounded man, as he leaped to his feet, " what pre you talking of?" "I will tell you. Your brother-in-law employed you to discount the note now in my possession. You did so, pretending to be a Mr. Brown, the agent of a Mr. Curtis; but the villainous sequel of the transaction the charging young Mr. Web ster with having stolen the very fifty pound notes you gave him in the coffee room of the Bay-Tree Tavern I do not believe, thanks to Master Hutton's success in suppressing the names in the public re ports, you can be aware of." The bewildered man shook as with ague in every limb, and when I ceased speak ing, protested earnestly that he had no evil design in complying with his brother-in-law's wishes. " I am willing to think so," I replied; "but, at all events, you must go with me to London quietly were best." To this he, at last, -though very reluc tantly, consented ; and half an hour after wards we were in the train, and on our road to London. The next morning, Mr. Webster's solic itors applied to Mr. Hutton for the imme diate liquidation of the bonds held by their client. This, as we had calculated, rendered him furious; and Edmund Web ster - was again arrested on the former charge, and taken to the Marlborough Street Police-office, where his father, Cap tain Bramston, and other friends, impa tiently awaited his appearance. Mr. Hut ton this time appeared as prosecutor, and deposed to the safe custody of the notes on the morning of the robbery. " And you swear," said Mr. Webster's solicitor, "that you did not with your own hands give the pretendedly stolen notes to Brown, and request him to take them in Mr. Curtis's name, to young Mr. Webster?" Hutton, greatly startled, glanced keenly in the questioner's face, and did-jiot im mediately answer. "No, I did Hot,' he at last replied in a low, shaking voice. "Let me refres"h your memory. Did you not say to Brown, or rather Skinner, your brother-in-law A slight scream escaped the quivering lips of the detected conspirator, and a blaze of frenzied anguish and alarm swept over his countenance, leaving it as white as marble. No further answer could be obtained from him ; and as soon as possi ble he left the office, followed by the groans and hisses of the excited auditory. Skinner was then brought forward; he made a full and ample confession, and Edmund Webster was at once discharged, amidst the warm felicitations of the magis trate and the uproarious gratulations of his friends. It was intended to indict Mr. Hutton for perjury; but the unhappy man chose to appear before a higher tribunal than that of the Old Bailey. He was found dead in his bedroom early the next morning. His affairs were found to be in a state of insolvency, though the deficit was not large; 15. in the pound having been, I understood, ultimately paid to the creditors. Miss Ellen Bramston, I must not in conclusion omit to state, became Mrs. Edmund Webster shortly ufter the triumphant vindication of her lover's char acter; and, I believe, Miss Webster was made a wife on the same day. TAKE CARE OF THE PENNIES And You'll Make Pounds of 'em. Xewbern Journal. A few weeks since a stranger called at one of the Trenton stores and purchased goods to the amount of $3.25 and having deposited his coat on a side counter when he entered the store, stepped over to his coat and dragged it up to him and out of a huge pocket brought forth a large size shot sack filled to the top with what the merchant supposed to be either gold or silver, and as the merchant is a man that always has an eye to business, commenced studying how he should, capture a goodly amount of this specie' by selling him a large bill of merchandise. He asked his customer if there was not something that he had forgotten to purchase and that he could sell him so cheaply that it would be well to purchase a large bill for future use ; but the' customer informed him that he had supplied his wants for the present, untied his sack, and, to the astonishment of the merchant, he poured out neifcker gold nor silver, but counted him out just three hundred and twenty-five large old- fashioned copper cents, threw his coat over his shoulder, took his purchases and departed. An Old Town Getting New. Wilmington Review. Among the many thriving villages along the line of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, the town of Warsaw seems to be rising into prominence quite rapidly. There have been, quite a number of build ings erected there during the past year, and there are several others now in course of construction. And there is every reason why it should continue to thrive, as it is not only in the centre of a rich farming country, but is in the immediate vicinity of the rich phosphate sections of Duplin county. Added to this is the fact that it is from that town that the branch rail road to Clinton will be built, and that, too, within a short time. The streets are neat and well laid out and there is a thriving school there of which Rev. W. M. Kennedy and his son, Mr. D. 8. Ken nedy, are the principals. Miss Bevvie Kennedy, daughter of the former, and well known in this section as a successful teacher, is one of the assistants. WAYS OP "THB CIDER NAG" In Raeea for Office. Newbern Journal ietter.J At RicMands last Saturday, though that village is a prohibition village, the hard cider flowed freely. It was "won't you have some cider f " What kind The says. "Ward cider," says he. "Qertainly I will;" but says another, "that is not Ward but Thompson cider." "Don't care a darn, will take some of both." And he did. So it goes; anybody, so I get the cider. How is that, K?
The Weekly Raleigh Register (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 13, 1884, edition 1
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