THE RESULTS OF RECONSTRUCTION--Continued.
A. D. 1868 TO 1870.
On the 21st of May, John W. Stephens, then a Senator from
Caswell county, was secretly murdered in an unused room in the
courthouse at Yanceyville. A large concourse filled the house
when the deed was committed, the occasion being a Democratic
political gathering, and Stephens was seen and talked to at the
meeting, being there as a spectator. Strange to say, however, it
is a mystery to this day as to who committed the crime.
2. It was insisted by Governor Holden and his party that Stephens
had been murdered by the Ku-Klux. This however, was as stoutly
denied, and the assertion added that, as Stephens was an object
of derision and contempt rather than of hatred, there was neither
desire nor cause to put him to death.
3. Meanwhile, Congress had refused to confer upon the President
the power to declare martial law, and the August elections kept
drawing near. A new Attorney-General and a new Legislature and
new Congressmen were to be elected. The Governor and his party
were therefore compelled to rely on the Shoffner bill alone.
4. State troops, as they were called, were now recruited, and, on
the 21st of June, George W. Kirke, a brutal ruffian of infamous
character, and known to be such, who had commanded a regiment of
Federal troops during the war, was brought from his home in
Tennessee and commissioned Colonel. This man Kirke, in his public
posters calling for recruits, the original of which was found in
Governor Holden's own hand-writing, appealed to his old comrades
to join him, saying that "the blood of their murdered countrymen,
inhumanly butchered for opinion's sake, cried to them from the
ground for ensconce."
5. On the 8th of July, the county of Caswell was declared to be
in a state of insurrection. Meanwhile, however, a company of
Federal troops had been stationed at Yanceyville, and had found
use for neither ball nor bayonet, and in both Alamance and
Caswell the courts were open and not the slightest obstruction to
any process of the law.
6. On the 13th of July, Kirke having organized his regiment, was
ordered to take command of the counties of Alamace and Caswell.
In a few days more than a hundred citizens of Alamance and
Caswell were arrested and imprisoned by Kirke and his
subordinates. In some instances persons thus seized were hung up
by the neck, or otherwise treated with great brutality. Among
there prisoners were many men who had been for years of the first
respectability as citizens, and were known and honored in every
portion of the State.
7. Application was speedily made to Chief-Justice Pearson for a
writ of habeas corpus, that Adolphus G. Moore, and others thus
imprisoned, might know the cause of their detention and receive
the protection of the laws. Judge Pearson granted the writ, but
when it was served on Kirke, he directed the messenger to inform
the Chief-Justice that such things "had played out," that he was
acting in accordance with Governor Holden's orders, and he
refused to obey the command of his Honor. The lawyers of the
imprisoned men then asked for further process of the Judge to
punish Kirke for his disregard of his orders; but Judge Pearson
passed over his contemptuous message as the "flippant speech of a
rude soldier," and held that his powers were exhausted, as the
Governor had ordered Kirke to seize the men, and the judiciary
could not contend with the Executive, and in this he was
sustained by the other members of the court.
8. The conspiracy against the Constitution, the laws and the
liberties of the people developed rapidly, now that the highest
judges in the State had declared the courts of the State to be
impotent. The military tribunals that the Governor failed to get
from Congress in March, he now proceeded to organize under the
Shoffner act. The court was to consist of thirteen members,
seven of whom Governor Holden selected from among his own
partisans in the militia and six he left to Kirke to select from
the officers of his command. * The 25th day of July was first
selected for the meeting of the court, and then the 8th of
August. [!] It was a terrible state of affairs. The Chief
Executive of the State was daily making his preparations for
holding a drum head court-martial to try the best men in all the
land, tie them to stakes and shoot them like dogs, while the
judiciary, standing in sight and in hearing, declared itself
helpless!
*For full letter, see Impeachment Trial, Volume I, page 238.
[!]For full letter, see Impeachment Trial, Volume II, page 1147.
9. Fortunately, Chief-Justice Pearson and those who sat with him
were not the only judges in North Carolina. There proved to be
at least one judge who did not think his powers exhausted. That
judge was George W. Brooks, Judge of the United States District
Court for North Carolina, and application was accordingly made to
him for a writ of habeas corpus. He came to Raleigh, and was
told by the Governor that if he interfered civil war would ensue;
but Judge Brooks was inflexible, and, on August 6th he ordered
Marshal Carrow to notify Colonel Kirke that in ten days his
prisoners should be brought before his Honor at Salisbury.
10. Governor Holden then appealed to President Grant, informing
him of the situation; and the President, after advising with the
Attorney-General, replied that the authority of Judge Brooks must
be respected. Kirke accordingly brought a portion of his
prisoners as ordered, to Salisbury, and as no crimes were alleged
for their detention, they were all set at liberty.
11. As soon as Governor Holden was informed of the decision of
the President, he sent a messenger in haste to the Chief Justice,
who thereupon came to Raleigh, and the prisoners who had not been
brought before Judge Brooks at Salisbury were carried before him
and the other Judges of the Supreme Court at Raleigh.
12. But it was Judge Brooks who broke the backbone of this great
conspiracy against the government of North Carolina. No man ever
lived on our soil who deserved to be held in more grateful
remembrance by the people of North Carolina than he. Whatever
others may have done in building up the State, it was he that
saved her Constitution and her laws and the liberties of her
people. The scenes of horror that would have been witnessed but
for his timely interference cannot be thought of, even now,
without a shudder. It is greatly to be hoped that the
Legislature will speedily erect a suitable monument in the
capitol square in token of the gratitude of the people for whom
he did so much.
QUESTIONS.
1. What occurred at Yanceyville on May 21st?
2. Who were accused as the murderers of Stephens? Upon what
ground was this denied?
3. What had Congress done concerning martial law?
4. What man was put in charge of the state troops? Where was
Kirke from, and what was his character?
5. What was the condition of affairs in Alamance and Caswell counties?
6. Give an account of Kirke's exploits in these counties?
7. To whom did the people apply for aid? With what result?
8. What was next done by the Governor?
9. To what judge did the people next go for protection? What did
Judge Brooks do?
10. What was Governor Holden's next step? Where were Kirke's
prisoners taken?
11. Where were the prisoners then carried?
12. What tribute is made to Judge Brooks? What are the
reflections upon this matter?