REYNOLDS HISTORICALGENEALOGY COLLECTION

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.J

ADDRESS BY

Judge Frank A. Daniels,

AT OPENING OF

Wayne County’s New Court House,

NOVEMBER 30, 1914.

Exercises Incident to the Occasion.

No. 1, L F. Ormond, Chairman of the Board; No, 2, R. A. Whitfield, of Ganrnaaitownship; No. 3, VVi A. Martin, of Naliunta ; No. 4, D. N. Newsome, of New Fepe ; No*3, C. F. Herring, of Indian Springs No. 5, Bade A. Humphrey. Attorney to the -wwA.

Dedication of New Court HouseAND

History of Wayne County.

It would seem that all Wayne countyhad gathered .in Goldsboro today to

participate in the most prideful event

in the city and county's history—theformal opening of Wayne county’smagnificent new Court House, thanwhich there is none finer, and fewcomparable to it in the South. Andwe deem it of primal interest andworthy of emphasis as cause for ad-

ditional1 pride to every citizen of

Wayne county that it was not only

builded in all its superlative beautyat the common assent of our people,

as a public necessity, but its construc-tion was supervised in every detail of

specification and executed to comple-tion by native Wayne county boys,

only the plans of the building beingthe work of other than home talent

The architects were Messrs. Milburn-Heister & Company, of Washington,D. C., and the builder was Mr. W. P.

Rose, of this city, a native Waynecounty boy, and his associate, repre-senting the architects, was anotherWayne County boy, Mr. J. M. Kennedy,now a leading architect of Raleigh;and the County Attorney, who attend-ed to all the legal technicalities of thebuilding bonds, their drafting andsale, and the construction contract,

throughout its intricate specifications,with such consummate skill that therewas not a hitch from start to finish, is

Mr. Earle A. Humphrey, son of thelate Col. L». W. Humphrey, and a na-tive Goldsboro boy; while supervisingthe entire and exacting work, theChairman of the Board of CountyCommissioners, Mr. I. F. Ormond, wasconstantly “on the job,” and nothingrequired in the specifications or es-sential to the completeness of themagnificent building was overlookedor neglected, sustained and encour-aged, as he always was, by the special

Building Committee, composed of him-self and Mr. C. F. Herring, on the partof the Board, and Mr. Frank K. Bor->

den, representing the citizens of thecounty as a whole.And today this court house is being

viewed and visited by thousands of ourcounty people, here for the celebrationof its formal opening, and a commonthrill of patriotic pride permeates all

bosoms over its substantial build, its

symmetrical proportions and superla-tive beauty, and we are proud to beable to present to our thousands of

readers pictures in this issue of thebuilding and of the builder and of theBoard of County Commissioners andCounty Attorney whose public spiritand patriotism gave to our countypeople the opportunity of building forthemselves the *most creditable courthouse in the South.Owing to the absence of Mr. I. F.

Ormond, who was called last night to

Atlanta, to the bedside of a critically

ill brother, Hon. W. S. O’B. Robinsonpresided at the opening exercises andintroduced Judge Frank A. Danielswho then took charge of the pro-gram.

In presenting Judge Daniels, JudgeRobinson paid a really brilliant trib-

ute to the occasion, the American peo-ple—his home county people and tothe man he was presenting, JudgeDaniels, that was thoroughly appreci-

ated and applauded.Judge Daniels then announced that

the exercises would formally openwith prayer by Rev. Jacob F. Hill, ofSaulston township, and that venerableand beloved divine responded, and withbenignant countenance lifted heaven-ward, uttered a beautiful and appro-priate prayer that settled like a bene-diction over his vast audience and will

linger in their hearts for aye.

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6 History' or Wayne County.

5-* /-v « wO o »' KcV, J, r. hiLL A i j HeOPENING OF WAYNE COUNTY’S

NEW COURT HOUSE.

0, Lord, Thou who has created us.

who has preserved us and kept ourlives, and who has given unto us that

knowledge, that instinct to recognizeThee as the God of heaven, and the

God of all the earth, we come to Theewith humbleness of heart and beseechThee at Thy throne of grace and askThee, Lord, look from heaven, Thylofty habitation, to earth Thy foot-

stool upon us; forgive tig of anywrong that we may have committedagainst Thy holy and precious will;

grant unto us repentance for Christ’s

sake.Now, oh Lord, we have come this

day to dedicate this temple of justice,

and we ask Thee that Thou will bless

everyone in Thy Divine presence. OhGod, bless these attorneys that are

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here to defend those that may commitj

wrongs. Help them to realize their i

responsibility, and, oh God, grant thatj

they may be endowed with Thy spirit

and do justice both to the State andtheir clients. Heavenly Father, bless I

the officers of this court; guide andlead them to a faithful discharge of

their several duties. And we prayThee, Lord, that Thou will have mercyand bless the law makers of our land, i

guide and lead them that they mayenact such laws as will be accordingto Thy will and beneficial to the peo-ple.

We pray Thee, oh God. to bless ournation; bless the President of our na-tion and his cabinet, and guide andlead them by Thy Holy Spirit in theright. Bless our State Government;bless our Governor, and we pray TheeLord, that he may administer in his

office justice to the State.

We pray Thee. Lord, to bless theLegislators, as they convene fromtime to time, and may they be inspiredwith a purpose to er act such laws aswill be beneficial.

Have mercy, our Father, u non the

j u r 1 e s that , .a y be s m 1

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: oued fre r« i i

time to time in this Four . may theyj

be guided in such a way that they mayJ

nder their verdicts according to Thyholy and precious will.

Now, Lord, we ask Thee to remem-ber our own Judge Daniels. Father,bless him, guide and lead him; grant,

that he may live many days upon theearth to serve his people

Father, have mercy upon the pris-oners incarcerated in the jail. Helpthem to realize the enormity of theirsins and turn Unto Thee that theymay receive forgiveness.Have mercy, our Father, upon all

suffering humanity.And now. Lord, we pray that as we

realize from Thy word that the time-

is coming when there shall not standone stone upon another, and all thetemples, and all that man has erectedmust crumble to the dust, grant, our'Father, that we may so live and walkbefore Thee that when the time shall

come that this earthly tabernacle ofours shall be dissolved, and that wemust go into eternity, prepared or un-prepared, before the judgment seat ofthe Lord Jesu 3 Christ, may our lives

be so hid with Him in Thee that wemay be able to hear His welcomevoice saying, ’‘Come, you blessed ofMy Father.” and that we may find

abundant entrance into that templenot made with hands, eternal in theHeavens. AM of which we ask forJesus’ sake. Amen.He vva s followed by Hon. Earle A.

Humphrey, attorney to the Board andSolicitor of the County Court, who onbehalf of the Building Committee for-mally presented the Court House to theBoard, speaking as follows:

PRESENTATION OF WAYNE COUN-TY'S NEW COURT HOUSE.

(By County Attorney E. A. Humphrey)

Mr. Chairman and Members of theBoard of County Commissioners, Fel-low-Countyrnen, Ladies and Gentle-men :

—To me has been assigned the duty

and privilege of presenting you this

day with Wayne County’s new courthouse, said to be one of the hand son

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f M structures of its kind in the en-

tire Southern states.On May noth, of last year, you vi! ;

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T - • - 5 g- *- r.T p r tp/'l f* r> •

employed the mosr. skillful and ablej

architects you could secure, to super-

intend the construction of the build-

ins according to plans finally sub-mitted by them and approved by you.

On August 2 "dh. about three monthsthereafter, you awarded the contract i

for its construction to a popular localj

contractor and builder, who had en-j

tered into competitive bidding Wth|

a number of other builders, and thej

wisdom of your choice in the employ-j

meat of both contractor and builderj

is, I believe, fully proven here today,j

Then on December 1st, of last year,;

just a year ago tomorrow, you ap- !

pointed as a building committeej

Messrs. Chas. F. Herring, F. K. Bor-1

den, and I. F. Ormond, with the lastj

named gentl unan designated as Chair-;

man of that Committee, to superintend ;

and personal];,- manage and controlj

the work as it progressed.The skill and. ability with which!

the Committee has done its work and !

performed its duty are clearly in

evidence here today, and I believe

you will agree with. le that it hasdone its work well and deserves' yourpraisei.

Especially do I commend, without,

reservation, the untiring work and|

labors of the Chairman of that Com-J

mitfcee, who is. none other than thej

Chairman of your your own Board,j

Hon. I. F. Ormond.Day in and day out. he has been at

his post of duty, inspecting and exam-ining the construction rs it progress-ed, and exercising personal controland supervision of the work, and I

should feel derelict in my duty if I

failed to tell the good folks of WayneCounty that they owe him a lastingdebt of gratitude.

Before turning this building over to

you I wish to say, I trust we all un-derstand that it represents much morethan a material structure where mengather fcr . the transaction of every-day routine business, for trading andtrafficing one with another; it standsfor much more than that:

It represents a clearing house forthe adjustment oi mens rights; where

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Justice is dispensed without distinc-

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tier, pz to riches or poverty, politics

or religion, creed or color.

Within its walls at all times thewronged and oppressed should duct

that principle rules, and that equityprevails, while the State and the coun-ty are protected from the violation

of law.And. Mr. Chairman, in presenting

this building I cannot but express thepleasure of the Committee in pro-viding officials of Wayne County andmembers of the Bar with such accom-modation :y unsurpassed by any countyin the State of North Carolina.

I know they appreciate it, and I

know they deserve it: They are aworthy and industrious lot, especiallythe lawyers.Folks seem to think the lawyer

has an easy time, but it’g no suchthing; he’s the first man to help youafter the last man has turned youdown. He is expected to knew thelaw, to look after your business mat-ters, and get you out of trouble: andhe is frequently imposed upon. Some-times by a guilty client, when thatclient goes to him with his tale of

persecution and oppression: a victimof some of his enemies, etc.

Former Senator Morgan, of Alabamawas a great lawyer; and had been em-ployed. to defend an old darkey, aformer sUwe, upon the charge of steal-

ing a mule. The Senator workedhard in behalf of old Mose, and madea great speech to the jury, who re-

turned a verdict of not guilty.

After his client was acquitted. Sen-ator Morgan turned to him and said,' Mose, did you get that mule?” And?\Iose replied: “Boss, it was dis way;before I was tried I sorter thought I

did git dat mule, but since you madedat speech I knows I didn’t.”

The time of each speaker has beenlimited, I have been informed, andI do not wish to trans*r* rtss the rules

nor encroach upon the rights of otherswho are to follow me.

I therefore, for and in behalf of theBuild ,‘ng Committee, present to you,Mr. Chairman, and members of theBoard of County Commissioners, andto your successors in office, in trust

for and as custodians of the citizens

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8 History of Wayne County.

r-f Tn.vn-ft Comity. thisV. magnificentproperty, to lia.ce and to hold to the

good people of this County as tenantsin common, in fee-simple, to use andenjoy forever.

On leaving the city last night Mr.Ormond expressed a desire that Col.

W. T. Dortch of the city bar, shouldrepresent him in formally acceptingthe Court House for the county, andthis Col. Dortch did admirably,even on but a few moments’ notice,

speaking eloquently for the people of

the county their appreciation of this

commodious, modern and most cred-itable court house and their thanksto the Board of County Commissionersfor co-operating with them in buildingit.

Col. Dortch was followed by ColJos. E. Robinson, who had been dele-

gated to present the X. C. Flag, onbehalf of Gimble Brothers Company,of Philadelphia, and he spoke as fol-

lows :

PRESENTATION OF N. C FLAG.

(By Col. Jos. E. Robinson.)

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the

Board or County Commissioners—MvFellow Citizens: Today-—this occas-ion—marks a new and proud epochin the • history of our County—

a

county whose citizens have alwaysportrayed the most splendid quality

of patriotism: for patriotism is love

of country—love of state—love of

county, and loyalty to their lives andwelfare—love tender as affection of

son for mother; strong as the pillars

of death: loyalty, generous and dis-

interested—shrinking from no sacri-

fice : seeking no reward except coun-try’s triumph. Through the ages hu-manity has burnt the incense of ad-miration and. reverence at the shrinesof patriotism. The most beautiful

pages of history are those which re-

count its deeds. Fireside tales—out-

pourings of the memories of peoplesborrow front it their warmest glow.Poets’ song; are sweetest when theyecho its w:::sp- rings: orators mostpotent when they attune their speechto its inspiration. The patriotism of

' the exiled Hebrews exhaled itself in

a canticle of religion which Jehovahinspired, and which has been • tm

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mited as the inheritance from Cod’speople to the nations of ali times :

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“Upon the rivers of Babylon, therewe sat and wept when we rememberedZion. If 1 forget thee, O, Jerusalem,let my right-hand be forgotten. Letmy tongue cleave to my jaws if I donot remember thee—if I do not makeJerusalem the beginning ot my joy."

The value of patriotism to a peoplecannot be estimated. It is above goldand precious stones—above commerceand industry—above citadels and war-ships. Patriotism is the vital sparkof the State’s honor: the living fountof the State’s prosperity, the strongshield of the State’s safety : i?> effu-

sion is the fragrant flowering of the

purest and noblest sentiments c: theheart; but it attains its full force andbeauty only where minds are elevatedand hearts are generous.That the minds and hearts of Wayne

County's citizens are elevaw.d andl enerous finds most creditable proofand expression in this magnificentCourt House, which they have buildedto the goddess of Justice—and a* a

shrine of our progress and public

spirit, at which generations coiningafter us may gather to con the lessonof patriotism here perpetuated andcatch the ennobling inspiration of

high resolve. And over this structure

—the common pride of our :ountypeople—shall float the flag of our e-or-

ious commonwealth; and it is nowmy prideful privilege to press >r. that

flag—the most inspiring object tn.a

th : eyes of patriotic North Carol Tuansever beheld: there is no such red in

summer rose—in sparkling wine or

sunset glow: no. such white in 'winter

snow, in dogwood bloom or floating

cloud : no such blue in woman's eye. in

ocean’s depths or heaven’s dome—nosuch brilliant star in all “those ar-

gent fields above" as that, whichshines from the unfurled flag of NorthCarolina—-‘Heaven’s blessings attendher: While we live we will cherish,

protect, and defend her:"

Mr. S. F. Teague, of the city bar* had been delegated to receive Gris

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History of Wayne County. 9

fi ho gracernUy .<jld ill thefollowing stirring words:

SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE OF THENORTH CAROLINA FLAG.

(By S. F. Teague)Mr. Chairman—Ladies and Gentle-

men:

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Within the last four months morej

hearts have been thrilled and moresouls stirred with patriotic fervorthan ever before in the history of theworld: and millions of men have beencalled to their colors and have left

their homes and loved ones to fight

for their flag. Within the past four,

months thousands of men have march-ed into the face of cannon and havecharged into the thickest of battle

under the inspiration of their flag.

Yes, today, even at this very hour,thousands of men lie bleeding anddying upon the battle fields of Eu-rope wrapped in its folds, and heartsand homes are left desolate that their

flag may be saved.A flag! Only a piece of variegated I

silk or sarin. A flag! What is it in

a flag, which, when trampled underfoot, causes an entire nation to rise

as one man to avenge the insult? Ahag! What is it in a flag, which, whenwaved before a company or a regi-

ment rallies disorganized soldiers arid

turns defeat into victory? A flag!

What is it in a flag, which, when|

wrapped in its folds or'sailing under

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its banner an American citizen can '

walk among the warring Nationssafe and secure ? A flag! It is to acountry what the cross is to a Christ-

ian or the crescent is to a Moham-medan. It is a country's most sacredpossession. A flag! It symbolizesideals, the freedom, the independenceand the integrity of a people.And so, fellow North Carolinians,

this flag represents ihe most sacredof our possessions*—o u r ambitions,our ideals, our freedom, our independ-ence and our integrity. This emblemof our state was first accepted forNorth Carolina by the first ColonialCongres.; at Halifax. April 12. 1 77*5.

This flag was born w ah eftTrt. to

establish a state win- re freedom ofconscience, independence of thought.

and justice and right should prevail..1 \.a,

5bought \vi:h the blood of our

fathers and floated over the stateduring the perilous days of its early* .waggle. it was the standard o?those men who worked out the first

laws for North Carolina and forWayne county. Its motto was theecu} of the men who established

Wayne county and built the courtLouse which has ben replaced by this

magnificent structure. This flag hascome down to us as a priceless her-itage, and we who hav e the right to

call it our flag, may -veil be proud ofour right.

it seems fitting therefore, Mr. Chair-man. that the flag of our • fathersshould float from the most modernand commodious court house in NorthCarolina. This new court house is

a magnificent expression of Waynecounty progress and a shining ex-ample of its people wishing "to berather than- seem ”

In behalf of the people of Waynecounty, therefore, Mr. Chairman, wevwe't with thanks, from GimbeiBrothers, of Philadelphia, this NorthCarolina flag; and in behalf of thecitizenship of Wayne county, sir. wqpledge a new loyalty to the flag of theOld North Srate. and our hearty sup-port of the principles of right andjustice which it symbolizes.

Next on the program was the pre-sentation of the U. S. Flag, from theJr. 0. U. A. M., who had selected Col.

A. C Davis, _of the city bar. as their

spokesman, and in eloquent words andforceful gesture and thrilling climax-es, as is his wont, he performed theduty assigned him amid great en-thusiasm and applause, the JuniorOrder being in attendance in full num-bers and regalia.

Judge D. IT. Bland, of the CountyCourt, had been selected by the com-mittee to receive this flag, and he, in

his own always graceful manner ofspeech, accepted it in the followingwords

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JUDGE BLAND'S ACCEPTANCE.

In accepting the IT. S. flag. Judge D,H. Bland, of our County Court, said:

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10 Hi ^toby of Wayne County.

UU Otiiciit Oi tiiti Board. Ci CowavyCommissioners, who are the custodiansof this -beautiful building,as well as theguardians of our county affairs gen-erally, it gives me much pleasure to

accept from this great fraternity theflag of our country. The Junior Orderof American Mechanics, as the namesuggests, is distinctively an AmericanSociety. In the history of fraternity

it will be noted above all others. I

think, for its teachings of a genuinepatriotism, too often neglected amonga free people, and. for its constantdisplay and reverence for the emblemsof our Nationality. The fear of Godand love of country are the foundationstones upon which the society haserected a splendid structure and it is

determined that no effort shall bespared to impress these great princi-

ples, so essential to the welfare ofour 'Republic, upon the citizens of ourState and Country.This beautiful Court House is in a

very real sense, the property of the

citizens of Wayne county, and yet it

also belongs to our State, of which ourcounty is an important part, and also

to our Nation, of which our State is adistinct and important unit. With noblush or a oology to make for our pasthistory, we feel a just pride in thegreat influence our State is wieldingin the National government today, andwe are looking forward with confidentanticipation to a yet more brilliant fu-

ture. It seems to me. therefore, to beeminently fitting that this stately build-

ing. the capitol of the great county of

Wayne, should he adorned with theflag of our Nation, along with the flag

of our State, which has just been pre-

sented. This flag represents thoseprinciples of government which ourforefathers won and obtained throughblood and tears, and of vrhich wTe are

the inheritors without effort and with-out price—those principles wfhich areproclaimed in our National and StateConstitutions and which guarantee to

every man. the right to personal liber-

ty. private property and equality be-

fore the law. Our system of govern-ment is founded upon a recognitionof the rights of the individual. T seeksits authority in those incalculablerights which God has given to everyman. Its stability rests upon that sound

discretion, innate honesty and naturalsense of justice which exist. In vary-ing degree, in every man. This is thetemple of justice, in which those rightsare asserted and maintained, or for-

feited, according as the law framed byour countrymen, applicable to r he factsas. found by our countrymen may di-

rect.

Is it not, therefore, fitting and prop-er that this new and stately CourtHouse should be adorned with the flag

of our great Nation? Its inspiring col-ors should be a constant call to everycounty officer to render in every in-

stance. the best service of which lie is

capable that our system of governmentmay attain its most successful end.It should be a constant reminder toevery Judge, juror, counsellor and wit-ness that his country demands of him,within these portals at least, that de-gree of honesty and integrity uponwhich only a government such as ourscan be successfully maintained, andwhich v,i‘l secure to our fellow-men asnearly perfect justice as can be ad-ministered by human hands.Gentlemen of the Fraternity, in the

name of our Commissioners and thecitizens of our county, I thank you.

Following Mr. Bland, Mrs, C. F.Taylor, regent of David WilliamsChapter Daughters of American Revo-lution of this city, was introduced, andin the following eloquent words pre-sented the Bible provided by herChapter

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PRESENTATION OF BIBLE BY MRS,CHAS, F. TAYLOR. FOR DAVIDWILLIAMS CHAPTER D. A. R.

Mr. Chairman and Board of Commis-missioners of Wayne County.. N. C.

Gentlemen: On behalf of the DavidWilliams Chapter of the Daughters of

the American Revolution, of Goldsboro,North Carolina, we present this tokenof our interest in and love for theinstitution of justice and equity, an in-

stitution, which, next to national orcolonial independence and the creationof a representative form of govern-ment, w as desired and made possibleby the heroic and victorious struggleof our forefathers in the Amen- anRevolution. This book, the Bible, was

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History of Wayne County. 11

fh fi>y 1* f a r>h i p <r q <; if (^fipq

the love of God, home and country.It is, therefore, most fitting that in a

court of justice its presence is consid-

ered necessary and proper. And, solong as the teachings of its Author,the great Law Giver, are accepted andfollowed, the service of this great in-

stitution. into the hands of whose rep-

resentatives we commit this copy, will

be conducted in accordance with thedesires of those who established ourGovernment and whose memories anddeeds the Daughters of the AmericanRevolution honor and perpetuate.The Chapter which we represent, es-

teems it a great privilege, in present-

ing this gift to you, to indicate thepurpose of its organization. We desirein this manner to express our devotionto the administration of justice to

which this beautiful building is dedi-

cated. We wish to convey to you anexpression of the high regard in whichall the institutions of our communityand State were held by the soldier andpatriot whose name our Chapter bears,

and to pledge to you. the representa-tives of the County of Wayne, our as-

sistance in the teaching of righteous-ness, justice and liberty, and the doingof loving and kindly deeds, thus pro-

! mo ting the moral and civic welfare of! the home of our fathers, and whichwill be to our children a precious her?.’

tage.

Mrs. T. A. Henley then rose andhanded the Bible to Rev. J. W. Gard-ner/saying: ‘‘ As Loving Deeds, Officer,

! the presenting of this Bible is the first

|work of the Chapter."

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Rev. Jno. W. Gardner had been se-

i lected to accept this Bible, which he

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did in an earnest and eloquent talk

that thrilled every hearer and he wasoften interrupted by spontaneous ap-plause—especially in his fervid wordsexpressive of appreciation of the late

Hon. W. T. Dortch, whose picture wasdisplayed, life size, from the Judge’srostrum, and eloquently referred to afew moments later by Judge RoHn-son. that brought tears to many eyes,

who remembered and loved the greatjurist. Judge Robinson stated that

the picture was only exhibited today,

out would at a subsequent meeting of

i the bar be presented to the county to

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be hung on the walls of the courti room. Judge Robinson then present-

|ed Judge Daniels, who at once entered

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upon the delivery of his comprehensiveI and masterly address.

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Address by Judge Frank A. Daniels,

DELIVERED AT THE OPENING

WAYNE COUNTY, GGLD3BORO;

Mr. .Chairman, Gentlemen of the

Board of County Commissioners, La-dies and Gentlemen:— 1 appreciate the

very kind introduction of my friend

Judge Robinson. 1 cannot, of course,

endorse ail he says about me. I at-

tribute a large part of it to his good-

ness ^ heart and the life-long friend-

ship that has existed between us, I

have to return my ks to tl

of Commissioners for their invitation

that I should preside at this term andmy acknowledgments to my friend

Judge Connor, one of the finest andmost promising of our young judges,

and to our Governor that they haveconsented to give me the pleasure of

being with you today, on an occasionconsecrated by the highest patriotism

and purest religion upon which rest

all our laws and all our civilization.

It is well that the Bible should be

presented. It is well that ministers

should invoke upon this court andupon this people the blessing of Al-

mighty God. I do not know any menanywhere who need more the influ-

ences of the gosy-el in their daily lives

than those men who are called uponto take into their hands the lives, lib-

erties and property of a great peo- i

pie, ' the judges and jurors - of ourcourts.When I think of these preachers, of

this man who sits here before me.

Jacob F. Hill, who has been so close

to me all these years, and of that other

minister of the gospel, Jno. W. Gard-ner, when I think how they have gonethrough the length and breadth of this

county and this section of the State

preaching a pure and simple gos-

pel; when I think of the menand of the neighborhoods in myhome county, whkh through their

ministry have been led 'into better andpurer lives, I feel like- thanking Godand taking courage. Thi s is their

place today. I have -often thought that

of all the .meetings' that ought lo beopened with, prayer, the courts of the

land are those, in order that the laws

OF THE NEW COURT HOUSE IN

,N. C, NOVEMBER 30th, 1914.

may he administered with high pur-pose, that justice may be temperedwith mercy, and that the intellect maybe cleared and the judgment strength-ened by an appeal to the highest thingthat touches the lives of men, the gos-pel of Jesug Christ.

It is well that the flag of this Stateshould have been presented—the first

State in the Union to raise its hand in

rebellion against tyranny, the first todeclare its independence, and to winthe first victory in our Revolutionarystruggle, and it is well that thereshould be placed upon the walls ortliig court house the flag of this greatnation, and that under its ample foldsthere should rest the flag of NorthCarolina.

I am glad to bo present on this oc-casion for another reason. I am al-

ways S'laa to bo at home—and I havenot been at borne much lately.

When I was up in the mountains in

the fine county of Watauga, up closeto the sky, sitting as 1 sit now, lookingout upon one of the finest bodies ofmen and women l ever saw in mylife, I was a little bit. troubled a3 I.

looked into their bright, handsomei faces. I said, “1 am afraid they arebetter looking folks than my peopledown in Wayne,” and I have beenafraid ever since until today when I

look: into the faces of this splendidgathering of our citizens; these menof character, these men of courage,and these home builders, these queenswho wield the sceptre and train theyouth of this land, and upon this bandof students from our schools—the hopeof future generations.

1 am not afraid any more.And now. Mr. Chairman, I de-

sire to congratulate you, I desireto congratulate the good peopleof this county upon the workof your hands. I never came intoit until this morning l did not wantto see if as it grew slop by step, butI wanted all of its loveliness to u vii

on me at one glance. I had that picas-

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14 History of Wayne County.

ufe liiia morning. i oi:, have erectedhere one of the linear. Court Houses in

the State. I have held Court in. sixty

counties. I have not seen in any of

them a finer one; and if there is abetter arranged, more commodious andhandsomer building than this in our

borders, I have yet to see it. But you•were in no hurry about it, gentlemen.I remember that the citizens of this

county had to get after you and otherBoards of Commissioners that pre-

ceeded you, and I expect if Mr. Hatchwould turn to his docket there hewould find on reading the reports ofthe grand juries, that they had said

in a dozen reports for a period of 10

years that the Board of County Com-missioners ought to build a new courthouse here.

But you '.'ere not to be stampeded. I

don't know of any men in Waynecounty who can be stampeded andparticularly the men we put onour County Board, our County Com-missioners. They of all men that I

have known cannot and ought not to

be hurried. You waited and in thefullness of time you took occasion bythe hand, and last year in an era ofour greatest prosperity you made yourplans, deliberately and sensibly, andcalled to your assistance the best helpvon could gen You employed, in or-

der to put your plans in .proper con-dition, one of the best architects in

the country. Mr. Mil burn, of Washing-ton, D. C. After done ;

let the contract to one of your owncapable builders, Mr. W. P. Rose, andyou called to assist the architect Mr.J. M. Kennedy, son of my friend Dr.

Kennedy, and one of the most promis-ing young architects of the State. Heand ’Mr. Milburn came often duringthe progress of the v ork to look after

Mr. Rose and see that he was getting

everything in the right place and car-

rying out his- contract.

The old building, the predecessor of

this., that had resounded with the eknqueues of many of the best and ablest

men had served its time. Sixty-three

years had • ...p ;ed fr ; the time >

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the building of the old Court Houseuntil you began :he construction -of

thig magnificent edifice. You did it

at a time when Wayne County stood

twelfth among the counties of theState in wealth and population, andwhen you had approximately apopulation of foity thousand. I

ought to say that these gentlemen,Mr. Rose and Mr. Kennedy came fromthe township of the contractors whobuilt the original structure that stoodupon this site; and it is a good town-ship to come from—named Grantham,after one of your oldest families,

among the first settlers of this coun-try.

Now, on this occasion so fraughtwith pleasant memories, so consecrat-ed as 1 have said by the purest patriot-

ism and the benediction of the minis-ters of God, and in an age when wehave made more progress than in anyperiod of our history, on this the134 th anniversary of the holdingof a Court of Justice in Waynecounty. I regard it rppropriate to refer

briefly to the history of the countyfrom its establishment in 1779 by vir-

tue of an act of the General Assemblyheld at Halifax during the administra-tion of Richard Cas veil, the first. Gov-ernor of the State of North Carolina.This act provided that Dobbs Coun-

ty (named- after one of the RoyalGovernors) ‘should be divided by aline run through the middle part,

from north to south, and tha:: the

western half should te called Wayneco u n ty ~

in honor oi Oeaeral An i b on

y

Wayne, a distinguished officer in the

Continental army, and that the first

session of the Court of Flees andQuarter Sessions should be held cn the

second Monday of January, 17*0. at

the home of Josiah Sasser or; Little

River. Commissioners were appoint-ed by said act to select a site andhave built a court house, prison andstocks.

It may not be amiss to trace thedescent of Wayne. As I have stated,

it is the western half of Dcbbs county.

Dobbs county was formed from .'‘illu-

sion by. the act of the General Assem-bly of 17."A, and included the territory

rmw embraced in Wayne, Greene andLenoir, all of which is desorb ed in

the ac f of the General Assembly as

S’. Patrick’s Parish. The court house,jail and stocks of Dobbs county were,

in 1779, located about 12 miles from

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History of Wayne County. 15

Oehd.'bnro : n r BizzoU’s mill, in f

what is now .known as New Honetownship, in Wovne county.

After the creation of Wayne, thecourts of Dobbs were directed to boheld at the house lately occupiedby Col. Glasgow. ;

rt the town ofIPnston. i have taisea 'with, some of

our eldest citizens, who remember to

have seen, the ruins of the Do buscounty jail near the mill.

John son county, naMed after Ga b-

riel John sot:, perhaps the best ofj

our Royal Governors, was founded :

in IT id of the upper hull of Crav c :-.j

which was in ITft one of the ninej

precinctej - which were ohanged in 2 73Sj

to « o a.t -: Ira n 1

- - c u e of

three , reciucts of Bath. All of these i

precincts «~ere embraced in thej

; -ants or Charles If to his favorites, ;

who ,,.*ere known ns the Lords. Pro- i

pr-.etors, and embraced a territory ‘

much wider than the North Carolinaj

of today . an i xtendc . fro i tla At i

lanfiC : b . SoWayne may claim Royall descent, if i

she wishes it.

A short account of he conditionsj

in IT 7.3 . end piior th rcvo, may enable i

us- to b arer appreciate the difficultiesj

and - advantages existing ar. the timej

of the e .a fc i >hin . at of the coi nty. I

Prior to ITcO, the .only occupants of I

the territory now known as Wayne !

county were Indians and - wild animals. j

At tear r; nic‘ the rw.ywlation of the

i

•entire - state, was- on iy MM)

e

; Aboutj

that year settlers gradually beganto come in. but there was no generalmovement of immigration before 1750.

Among the earlie settlers were ti

Quaker families, the Edge-rtons, Hol-lowells, Pikes, Pearsons, Doans, Cox-es and others. At tlm time of the

establishment of the new county, thepopulation was about 5.000, one-fifth

of whom were slavesIn. 1790. .aecoruiug to the first cen-

j

«i,s of the Called Slates, there were|

4576 whites, .ui.l 1557 slaves, some|

of who oj were probably Indians, or i

of Indian descent, it having Mencustom -uy to hold Indians capturedin war as slaves, which re.ay accountfor the «;:r! rat ter Lite: I :.& ion features !

and color frequently observed in thej

descendants of former slaves, The 1

name;-, of. the heads of families are forthe most part those best known to this

generation.The largest slave owuer was Joseph

Green, who had TO. The Whitfields,Needham, William, William-, Jr., andLewis owned about JO -r ich: AlexBus;-, Jr.. 24; Edward Pass. 10; Rich-ard Bass, 28; Charles- Holmes. 16;,

: :.v " Jernigan, 26; Steuben Jernigan24: Richard McKinnie, 16; Mary Mc-liinnie. 16; John Ad kin son, 10; Wil-liam Rhodes, 15: Elisha Pipkin, 14;

David Cordell, 21: Thomas Carravvay,

12; James Tinsley, IQ; Burwell Moor-ing, 9; Ishum L. Lane, 6; WilliamHowell, Sr.. U: James Han lev. 8;

Elhekired Hoveii, 16; William Sher-rard, 24; Ltuu Edmundson, 19; Wil-liam Fori:. '{ 0 : John Sherraa, 16; JohnMin ' 10; I p, a 3 t : : -

. b 19; Eph-ram Daniel. 11 : Jessie Aicock,- 3;

Sliadrick Dickinson, 14 I ridgett Col b,

y, Jan '

1;

. Nath an Cobb, 71

:

John Barefoot, 25 ;. William Hocks, 14 ;

Charles Hopkins, 10; John Herron,Sr., 20; Sarah' Ward, 17; Sarah Pope,

16; Joint Hanley., it; William Alford,11; Robert Hooks. 14; John • Coorpen-der, 11; Moses Stanley. 12; and Eze-chial Slocumb— (an officer in the Con-tinental army), i.

• In the foregoing list may be foundthe names of many of our citizens oftoday. There were many other slaveowners whose descendants still live

among us who owned from one to

twelve slaves, but the majority of

our citizens were never slave-hold-ers. The principal business of thecountry was hog and cattle rais-

ing, and the principal crop wascorn, though a small quantity of cot-

ton and tobacco was grown and theturpentine industry was beginning.A great epidemic in 1760 destroyedseven-eighths of the cattle of theErate. The cleared areas were small,except in a few instances. The oldestclearing in the county, and probablyat the time, the largest, was the farmof Jos tali- Sasser, upon which the first

court was held, which is now1, ownedby Messrs. I. F. Ormond and E. B.Borden, and which has been, accordingto well established tradition, in

coin inu on ; cultivation since 1775, andprobably prior to that date.

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History of Wayye County.16

T'nam ^ai>o farr rnp;]y nd travel

was usually by neighborhood paths onhorse-back. Practically ail the houseswere built of logs. An order in Coun-cil, March 31,' 1726,. provides that “Forthe saving of lands for the future,

every house shall be fifteen foot long,

ten Broad, made tight and habitableof clapboard and loggs squared, withroof and chimney place and a Door

j

place. The whole acre cleared wellj

and the major part of it broke up andj

planted with either fruite trees orj

grain/' In the towns, purchasers of

lots were required to build houses 18

by 24 feet. Lumber was generallysawed by hand and was scarce and ex-pensive. There were few saw- mills

and North Carolina produced onlyabout 150.000 feet of lumber a yearprior to 175), and probably twice asmuch in 1770 . In the older settled

regions along the Cape Fear, Neuseand Chowan a number of large andelegant mansions had been built andthere was a degree of wealth an 1 lux-ury enjoyed there which pres ntw! to

the traveler a striking contrast to

the humble homes and frugal live? cfthe people of this section. In I73uthere were only two wafer mills in thecolony, and grain was generallyground in hand mills even to a much.later date.

Clothing, shoes and hats wrere madeat home, home grown cotton, wool,leather and the skins and fur of wildanimals - being utilized for the pur-

pose.

I note that an Tern of North Caro-lina Export Trade in 1753 was 30,000deer skins. In 17S4, 71 bags of cottonweighing 225 pounds each were ex-ported to England from Charleston,there being no export of cotton fromany other port, and seized by theEnglish Government on the groundthat the United States could not pro-duce so much.A traveler, writing just before th€;

Revolution, says: ‘’There is but little

specie tu. circulation, there being nooccasion for it; for a planter raiseshis own meats, beef and bacon, his

own corn and bread, his drinks, cyderand brandy, his fruit, a owes, peaches,etc,:, a; id a great part of his clothing,which is cotton.”

The cotton gin had a late introduc-tion in this county; and before its ad-vent, cotton was picked by hand fromthe seed around the fireside at night,

and a shoe full was the task for eachmember of the family from supperuntil bed time. My friend, Capt. J.

B. Edgerton, informs me that he en-gaged in this pleasant past-time aslate as 1845, and that growers of cot-

ton in the middle of the 40's hauledtheir cotton to Fayetteville to be gin-ned. He remembers quite vividly,

that, as a boy, he accompanied his

father’s wagons on this long journey.Some plantation gins operated by handwere in use. The card, the spinningwheel and the loom were necessitiesin every well regulated house, and of

the matron of that day it. might havebeen written as Solomon wrote in

praise of the good wife:

”She seeketh wool and flax, andworke fh willingly with her hands.”“She layeth her hands to the spindle

and the distaff.”‘ She looketh well unto the ways of

her household and eateth not the breadof idleness.”

From early times until the railroadsbegan operation, the transportation of

our products was so primitive as to

excite the amused interest of the peo-ple of this age, so familiar with rail-

roads, steam boats and. automobiles,sun soon to be equally familiar withair craft of various sorts.

Our ancestors rolled their barrelsof turpentine on the rough ground byhand until they reached a water courseof sufficient volume to raft it to NewBern. They carried their tobacco all

the way to Petersburg, Va. revolvingover bad roads, drawn by horses har-nessed to axles skilfully placed in theends of the stout hogsheads contain-ing the precious weed.

The surplus hogs were made to

transport themselves to the markets ofFayetteville and Petersburg. CouncilBest, father of Geo. W. Best, and otherlarge farmers of his time and beforehim. frequently drove 1,000 to 1500head of hogs along the county roadsB’oia. their homes to these marcs of

t. re'>

The late Probert B. Scott among

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ot'n orr, vr s r ’ pcs sfu! w rr'ffiir.gj

corn and hogs that he accumulated agood estate and left each of his chil-

dren a valuable plantar ion.

In 1790 there were only four postoffices in the State—Edenton, NewBern, Wilmington and Washington,

—

and up to 1759 no post routes. Letterswere carried by travelers from planta-tion to plantation and forwarded as

promptly as practicable, but themeans of communication were in ade-quate and unsatisfactory. Official mailwas carried by messengers or special

carriers on horse back and at greatexpense. In 1755. upon the recom-mendation of Gov. Dobbs, James Da-vis, Printer, was employed for the sumof one hundred pounds, six shillings

and eight pence, proclamation money,for one year, “To carry • all publicletters, expresses, and dispatches relat-

ing to this province to any part there-

of, and every fifteen days send a mes-senger to Suffolk, in Virginia, and. to

Wilmington.”There were four or five newspapers

published in North Carolina at the be-

ginning of the Revolution, at NewBern. Wilmington, Halifax, Edentonand Hillsboro. The publication of the

Ncrth Carolina Gazette was begun in

New Bern by Fa es Dayig about 17olor 1752. It contained according to its

announcement “The freshest advices,

foreign and domestic.” and was pub-lished weekly. To James Davis belong,;

the honor of having set up the first

printing press in North Carolina in

the year 1749, and of having printedthe first book in 1751. a “Revisal of

the Acts of the General Assembly,”known as the “Yellow Jacket.” Hewas appointed postmaster at New' Bernby another famous printer whosename was Benjamin Franklin. JamesDavis was a Virginian by birth, andthe ancestor of Airs. Thomas W. Slo-

cumb. Col. Adam C. Davis and Jeffer-

son Davis, Esq., of Goldsboro, andJames Davis, deceased, of Wayne.Among 'his descendants living in othercommunities. I have known -lames W.and Thomas C. Davis and their sister.

Mrs. James -Murray of Wilson. All of

these have exhibited the high charac-ter, fine intelligence and public andprivate worth, which characterized '

|the first Editor and Newspaper andLaw Publisher of the StateThe publication of these newspapers

was frequently interrupted and re-

sumed from time to time as greatevents stirred the minds of the people.

Their intermittent appearances seemthe result of scarcity of subscribers,who could read them, and the smalland scattered character of the settle-

ments.The settlers of North Carolina were

in large part as illiterate as the barons,w 1 o wrested “ 5 1 a.gna -0harta” fromKing John and could not read it, norsign their names to that immortalinstrument which they adorned withtheir seals. It is probable that at thetime of the Revolution not one in

thirty of the white citizens of the

colony -above the age of twenty-onecould read or write; as late as 1850only one in seven could, boast of thoseaccomplishmen t s

.

There were no public schools,though as early as 174b John Starkey,a minister of the established Church of

England, introduced and procured Die

enactment by the General Assemblyof a bill making an appropriation of

6,000 pounds for the establishment of

free schools, nut the money was spentfor other purposes.Another appropriation of the same

amount was made in 1754, but met theveto of England.At the time of the establishment of

Wayne County, there were, so far asour records show, only two schools in

this State where there was any sem-blance of public education. The char-ters of the Academies of New Bernand Edenton each provided that free

tuition should be given to ten poorchildren. Not until 1839 was thereany" Act of the General Assemblycreating a public school system, andno poll or property tax was levied for

the support of the schools until after

1850. It was provided that they shouldbe sustained out of what was called

the Literary Fund, consisting of theproceeds of the Swamp Lands, divi-

dends upon the stocks of certain cor-no rat ions- held by the State, ami thelicense; .rax on . retailers, tavern keep-ers and auctioneers, all of which for

* the year 1.850 amounted to less than

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$125,000. After careful examinationof our histories and records, I amable to find no evidence that anyschool existed in Johnston, Dobbs, orWayne prior to 1790, or that any wastaught in Wayne until after the pass-

age of the Act of 1839, under whichthe public school system began.Governor Martin wrote in 1775

“Literature was hardly known; therewere in the province but two schools,

those at New Bern and Edenton,” butas to the latter part of this statementhe was evidently in error.

It is probable that some of the moreprosperous citizens employed teachersin their families, who taught their

children, and sometimes the childrenof equally fortunate neighbors, and it

is probable that now and then a boywas sent to school at New Bern, Eden-ton, Wilmington or in Virginia, wherethere were academies and even schoolsof high degree, as there were also in

Guilford, Granville, Bertie, Rowan andMecklenburg, but such education wasfor a limited number, and wras com-pletely out of the reach of the greatmasses of people.The establishment of schools had

been rendered difficult by the policy

of the English Government.Governor Burrington was instructed

in 1731 that no school master shouldhe permitted to come from England to

North Carolina to teach school with-out the license of the bishop of Lon-don, and this instruction was given to

all subsequent Governors.In 1771 an Act was passed by the

General Assembly to charter QueensCollege in Charlotte, but was vetoedon the ground “That this college, if

allowed to be incorporated, will in ef-

fect operate as a Seminary for the ed-

ucation and instruction of youth in theprinciples of the Presbyterian church,and the Board of Trade doubtedwhether the King should give that

encouragement to the Presbyteriansof North Carolina." The same policyembraced Quakers, Baptists and Meth-odists and had a depressing effect uponall efforts for the establishment of

schools and colleges. The remotenessof the people from cities, their ignor-

ance, their poverty and indifference,

co-operated with this selfish and un-

wise purpose. The Presbyterians ofthe West, more than any other denom-ination, resented this treatment, and,in spite of the displeasure of Gover-nors and Kings, built and maintainedschools and colleges, and preparedtheir people for the great strugglesoon to come for equality and inde-pendence.At the time of which I speak, the

influence of that other great factorin the upbuilding of mind and charac-ter was feebly exerted. There werebut few preachers of the Gospel, fewchurches, and the Sunday schools, like

the free schools, had not arrived. Theattempt to force on the people of theState the established church of Eng-land was resented and its ministerswere to be found only in the townsalong the rivers.

In 1764 there were six ministers ofthis church, and in 1776, 18 in theeastern and northern counties.William Edmundson, a Quaker,

preached the first sermon ever heardin North Carolina. Quarterly andMonthly meetings were held in Johns-ton and Dobbs by the Quakers priorto the Revolution, at which time theynumbered 1,000 in this state.

The Baptists came early to thestate; the first churches organizedwere Shiloh and Meherrin, and thenext, Kehuka Creek in 1742. Soontheir ministers began to preach in this

county, and by 1776 had establishedchurches in every county in the State.

The Methodist church began inNorth Carolina with the ministry ofJoseph Pilmon in 1772. In 1777 JohnKing, John Dickens and Edward Pridewere assigned to the Circuit of NorthCarolina, and at the end of the yearreported to the Conference in thebounds of their circuit 930 members.It is probable that some of thesepreached in this county, but I am un-able to find any record of it.

In 1790 the Contentenea Circuit wasformed of Greene, Pitt, Craven, Lenoirand Wayne, the ministers preachingmostly in private houses. The earl-iest Methodist preacher in the county,of whom I have been able to learn,wras Phillip Hooks, who was a localpreacher at Waynesboro in the earlypart of the 19th century.

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History or Wayne County. IS

y.--oni -iTV; C; eie b'lilt in !

Waynesboro a church which was used|

by ail denominations.A striking illustration of the condi-

j

tions existing at the time is found in

the fact that when Dr. Elisha Mitchell,

a Presbyterian minister and professorin. the State University, on his travels

through the State in IS 27, spent Sun-day in Waynesboro, he writes that onthat day he “collected a 'little congre-gation, and held forth to them at theTavern.”Most sections of the country were

destitute of religious instruction, andat this time none of the fine and up-lifting influences emanating from the

churches had been present longenough to have much effect upon theinhabitants of the county. The peo-ple, however, were of English stockwith all the virtues and vices of that

great race, with its glorious historybehind them, and the promise of asplendid future in. this new land beforethem; with stout hearts arid soundheads, with resources unknown else-

where, many of which they them-selves did not dream of; and here theyset out to conquer the forests, till -the

soil and build homes for generationsyet to come.An unfriendly writer (Chalmers)

says of them that they were “desti-j

tute of the kindly influences of re-

ligion and of law-—and during the year1749 North Carolina was found to belittle better than an asylum for fug-

itives—such are the unpleasant inci-

dents which occupy the story of aninconsiderable settlement that grad-ually filled with people as the lawafforded protection to the vagabond,as everyone lived without control andall enjoyed in security what a trivial

labor had gained.” On the other handthe impartial historian, Bancroft,writes of them: “They were men whohad been led to the choice of their

residence from a hatred of restraint

and had lost themselves among thewoods in search of independence. Arethere any who doubt man’s capacityfor self-government, let them studythe history of North Carolina, its in-

habitants were rentiers and turbulentin their imperfect submission to a gov-ernment imposed on them from

Tru mui. The administration of theColony was firm, humane and tran-quil, when they were left to take careof themselves. Any government, butof their own institution, was oppres-sive. North Carolina was settled bythe freest of the free, by men to whomthe restraints of other colonies weretoo. severe; but the settlers were gen-tle in their tempers, of serene minds*enemies to violence and bloodshed.Freedom, entire freedom, was enjoy-

ed without anxiety as without guaran-tees; the charities of life were scat-

tered at their feet like the flowers in

their meadows, and the spirit of hu-manity maintained its influence in theArcadia, as Royalist writers will haveit, of ‘Rogues and Rebels’ in the Para-dise of the Quakers.”

It must be remembered that thecounty was born in the throes of theRevolutionary War. Before its for-mation and while it was a part of theCounty of Dobbs, a company of eightyof its citizen soldiers under the lead-ership of Ezekiel Slocumb marchedfrom his home, at the call of ColCaswell, to join the Continental forcesin their attack upon the Tories andBritish at Moore’s Creek, and. accord-ing to our historians, were a part ofthe division that made the final charge

Iacross the Creek, and through theswamps, that completed the rout ofthe enemy and gained the first victoryfor American Arms in that great con-test.

It was at this time that one of themost interesting incidents connectedwith onr Revolutionary struggle tookplace, when Mary Slocumb, the wifeof Capt. Ezekiel Slocumb, being left

1 at home with an infant, child, fearfulof the fate of her husband and hiscomrades, was unable to sleep andrising in the night, saddled a fine mareand rode from, near the present site

of Goldsboro, through the forest in thedirection of Moore’s Creek, about 75miles, until she came within hearingof the cannon announcing the begin-ning of the battle, when quickening herpace she soon arrived at a clump ofwoods mar the Creek and found therethe wounded of her husband’s com-mand. She was greatly distressed atthe sight of an apparently, lifeless

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20 History of "Wayne County.

faoay covered with her husband'sj

cloak, but, upon removing the cloak,;

discovered that, instead of lier has- i

band, the wounded man was Frank}

Cogdell. Her husband soon appearedj

and remonstrated with her for her;

daring conduct. She remained a short

time nursing the wounded, and then re-j

turned to her home. At one time the

British Colonel, Tarleton, had quarter-

ed his troops on her plantation and re-

marked in her presence that it wouldmake a fine estate after the war for

j

some British officer; to which she re-

plied that all he would ever get of herplantation would measure only twoby six feet. Captain Slocumb waspresent as a Continental officer at

the surrender of Yorktown by the

British. He and his wife, who was a

sister of Charles Hooks, the Repre-sentative in Congress from the Wil-mington District, lived far into the

19th century, honored and respected;

the husband serving in the House of

Commons from Wayne in the years1812, .1814. 18 l-r,. 1S.W and 1818. Theyowned a large tract of land south of

j

the Meuse- River and West of toe A.

C. L. Railroad, and lie buried in tfm

family burying ground between. MountOlive and the town of Dudley.

The sword worn by Capt. EzekielSlocumb in the Revolutionary War is

now ;n the possession of his greatgrandson Capt. Thomas W Slocumb,of Goldsboro, while Mrs. Hattie Slo-rumb Gay is. the proud owner of asilver tea pot once the property of her

j

great, great grandmother Mary Slo-j

cumb. Junius Slocumb, Esq., of

Goldsboro, is the only other surviv-

ing great grandson of Ezekiel andMary Slocumb. I have known twoothers, Era. Wr

. and Charles Slocumb,now deceased.

But even before the Battle of

Moore’s Creek, the inhabitants of

Dobbs were called upon to furnishsoldiers to the Royal Governor Tryonfor the subjugation of the Regulators.There is no evidence, however, that

they responded to the call, or that anycitizen of tbb section took part in the

bavle of Alamance. It seems that they

res 'lately refused. I am unable to

ascertain whether they refrained, be-

cause they did not understand thequarrel, or because they were unwill-ing to take part against the oppressedand rebellious Regulators.

I find in the Colonial Records acopy of a letter written at the Time theinhabitants of Dobbs were ordered to

muster for service in that campaign,in which it is stated that only sevenmen in all the county responded. I

And also that after the battle two of

the Regulators escaped to Dobbs andupon resisting arrest, one was killed

by the Sheriff and the other captured.I am sure the failure of our people toaid the Royal governor against their

fellow citizens was not due to theirreluctance to. fight. They - furnishedtheir full quota to the ContinetalArmy, a number of them were wound-ed, and after the close of the war someof these were pensioned by Con-gress.

Organization of the County,

In the midst of the stirring scenesof the Revolutionary War the Countyof Wayne was organized, and courtvas. held, as the records show, on the

aeon Mend a y of January, IT .- it

Josiah Sasser’s, pursuant to the Actof the General Assembly. The follow-ing Justices were present : RobertSimms. Ethel red Ruffin, Jesse Jerni-gan, John Handley, Thomas Williams,Stephen Cc-bt*. Joseph Sanderson andJohn Sheppard.

.Little business was

transacted.On January, 1781, the Court appoint-

ed' Thomas Grey, Stephen Cobb. Jo-

seph Sanderson, and Needham VJ bit-

field* inspectors of paper money. Dur-ing the same session, having elected

Robert Simms as first Sheriff of theCounty, and James Cobb, Clerk of theCourt, it was ordered that ThomasGrey, Stephen Cobb and John Hand-ley, Esqs., be appointed commissionersof confiscated property for this coun-ty, and their bonds were fixed at

200,000 pounds each (which is equalto $1,000,000 of our money) fromwhich it may be seen that papermoney was abundant but cheap, andthat the few Tories in the .countywere in great danger of losing their

property.Jurors were drawn to attend the

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s-/ p o"io •- Court, vo bo hold at Newj

Bern, and this entry appears of rec-

ord: “Court adjourns in-course to Mr.Josiah Sasser's on Little River.”

The Court again held its session at

Josiali Sasser's January 17S2. and oneof the most interesting orders is as

follows: “Ordered that Needham Whit-field and Samuel Bl.vthe-.be appointedto Inspect the pool for the InsuingEllection.” A session of the Court washeld on the second Monday of April,

ITS 2, at the home of Mr. John Herringon Little River, an adjournment hav-ing been taken at the previous meet-ing “I'ncourse” to Mr. Daniel Her-ring’s; there is no explanation whyhaving adjourned “Incourse” to Mr.Daniel Herring% the court shouldhave been held at Mr. John Herring’s

.

At this term the will of Josiah Sasserwas proven and Elizabeth Sasser, his

widow, qualified as his executrix.

The Court again met the secondMonday in July 17S3 at John Herring’son Little river, and among otherthings William McKinnie was appoint-ed Commissioner to collect the Specific

Provision Tax as provided by Act of

Assembly.October 14, 1782, the Court was held

at Mrs. Elizabeth Sasser’s, and amongother things the following entries ap-pear of record: “A deed of sail fromJohn Grantham to David Jernigah for

60 acres of land is proved in court bythe path of David Jernigan and order-ed to be registered.” “An account of

sails of the estate of Josiah Sasser,

deceased, was turned into the Courtby the Sheriff and ordered that samebe recorded.”Our ancestors seem to have extend-

ed their views of independence and to

have spelled according to the dictates

of their consciences.

This interesting record also ap-

pears at this meeting: “John Rowell,

whose wire ana daughter, complain-ing that hr- bad abused and i broadenedthem prayed the peace- of the Stateagainst him, he appeared and cross-examined his daughter Sabra, and,not liking some answer, assaulted andiwat her in tin? presence of the Court.He was adjudged in contempt and

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. sentenced to three months in jail, and I

[ to give a bond for 81.000 in specie forhis good behavior

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Session of January 13, 1783, washeld at the residence of SamuelBlythe.

Session of November 1783 was heldat Stephen Cobb’s. Among other mat-ters to which attention was given, it

was “Ordered that Joel Granthamname the inhabitenee of Ca.pt. Pipkingsdistrict.”

Court was held at John Fleetwood’son Little river, July 1.2, 1734. At thatmeeting Joseph Pipkin, NeedhamWhitfield and Stephen Cobb reportedthat they had let out the building ofthe Court House, Prison and Stocksto Col. Wm. McKinne for 335 pounds,he being the lowest bidder.

A session of the Court way held atWest Pent Monday, January 2, 1783,and again, at the same place April 11.

1785. at which meeting Dr. AndrewBass was authorized to keep a publicferry at West Point over Neuse riverand to keep a. house of public enter-tainment on his land on the northside of said river.

I gather from the records that theCommissioners appointed by the Actof 1770 to select a site on which to

have the Court House and Gaol andStocks built, recommended, and hadapproved by the Court at a very mea-gerly attended session a location whichappeared satisfactory to them, andthat at the next court, more largelyattended than any court during theperiod under consideration, the said

order* was annulled, and in 1782 anAct of the Assembly was passed re-

citing the failure of xhe former com-missioners to act, and appointing Ste-

phen Cobb, Needham Whitfield andJoseph Pipkin to contract for threeacres as- near the centre of the coun-ty as may be. for the Court House,prison and stocks, also to contract for

building the same. From all of whichit appears that a controversy existedrespecting the location of the CourtHouse. It seems that the formerCommissioners and three Justices of

the Peace undertook Die location of

r.he County Seat to swi: themselves

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Ibut when the

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great body of Jus clow

igathered they incontinently rescinded

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Ike c i'vlcr of r.he Court and procuredthe passage of the Act of 1782, re-

moving the old Commissioners andappointing new ones.

On the 14th of February, 1782, An-drew Bass, Doctor, conveyed to Ste-

phen Cobb, Needham Whitfield andJoseph Pipkin, Commissioners, threeacres of land on the North Side ofthe Nense river, as a site for theCourt House, and the County build-

ings were built upon that site, aboutone mile from the corporate limits ofthe present city of Goldsboro, by Col.

William McKinnie.

Some of our older citizens informme that they remember very distinct-

ly this Court House. It may havebeen larger than the dimensions re-

quired by the statute in the buildingof court houses, which was 24x16feet. It was a frame building, weath-er-boarded and raised high above theground on brick pillars, leaving alarge, open space underneath, in whichspace Capt. Thomas W. Sloeumb. his

boy friends' and the goats used to

play.

At that time the County Seat hadno name, except rhat of “The CourtHouse.” but in January. 1787, thetown of Waynesboro was incorporated,as it is stated iii the Act of -he Gen-eral Assembly, on the lands of An-drew Bass, and it was provided in theact that Andrew Bass should convey to

certain trustees, to-wit: William Mc-Kinne, Burwell Mooring, WilliamWhitfield, Joseph Green, David Jerni-

gan, Richard Bass and William Fel-

lows, sixty acres of land, including

the three acres theretofore conveyedon the North side of the Neuse River,

where the Court House and public

buildings then stood, and specific di-

rections were giver? for dividing the

said tract into lots', laying cut streets

and selling lots; the proceeds of sale

Co be divided between the Commis-sioners and said Andrew Bass. Theproceeds retained by the Commission-ers were directed to be used for the

improvement of the town. Tiie Com-missioners were given large powers:among others, were a-u'horized- to re-

mo- w- all porches and building, that

projected into the proposed streets.

to make rules for th e prevention ofthe running at large of cattle andhogs, and to prohibit, the erection ofstick chimneys. These progressiveideas were doubtless carried out,

though it is difficult to imagine thatthe rules prohibiting the running atlarge of live stock could hem beenvery acceptable to the citizens of thenew town, if its inhabitants were thegenuine ancestors of the residents ofsome of the towns and cities I haveknown, in which I have seen muni-cipal campaigns decided upon thequestion whether live stock shouldrun at large upon the streets.

Our records show a number of con-veyances made by the Commissionersto settlers. Among others, to Rich-ard Washington, John Wright, Fran-cis Casfex, D. G. W. Ward, Charles J.

Nelson and Arnold Borden.

Richard Washington, the leadingmerchant of 'Waynesboro and -Golds-boro. was the father of the late Col.

James A. Washington, so well knownand highly esteemed throughout thecounty, and the grandfather of Com-mander Thomas M. Washington, andLieut. Pope Washington, of the UnitedStates Navy; Mrs. Jas. M. Alien andMiss Daisy Washington. JohnWright was the father of Mrs. Lou M.Jones. Mrs. J. D. Brooks, and thegrandfather of Mrs. J. W. Nash, andMrs. Nellie Brenizer of Washington, D.C. Francis Castex was the father of L.H. Castex, F. L. Castex and Mrs.Winslow. D. G. W. Ward, a physi-cian, was the father of Judge D. L.Ward and Wyatt M. Ward of NewBern. Charles J. Nelson, a Baptistminister and prominent citizen, left

no descendants living in this county.Arnold Borden died in 1846, leavinghis widow, Maria Borden, and his

children, Mrs. Harriet Dewey, wife of

Dr. Charles Dewey; Janies C. Bor-den, E. B. Borden. Mrs. Lou Korne-gay, wife of W. F. Kornegay

.Mrs.

John F. Miller and William H Borden.He was one of the leading businessmen of Waynesboro and Goldsboro,and built the Borden Hotel, up :• ?he

square on West Centre -bPreep uponwhich tiie business houses of theGoldsboro Drug Company, Roy ali &

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IItstoby of Wayne County. 9 55

Bora -1 wM Dewey Brnrhem and oth-

ers now stand. This hotel was thestopping place for travel by the old

stage road from the West and Eastbefore the North Carolina Railroadwas built, and from the North andSouth on the old W. A W. Railroad.After the death of her husband, it

was conducted by Mrs. Maria Bordenfor many years.

Among other residents of the townwere John H. Powell, Mrs. KeziahWel'lons, Dr. Daniel Cogdell, Mrs; E. A:Churchill. Dr. Andrews and Wm. Craw-ford. The only living persons known to

have lived in Waynesboro are L. H.Ca-itex, E. B. Borden. Miss Sal lie

Churchill. W. W. Crawford, Mrs.Rowena Dowell, of Goldsboro, andMrs. Sophia Hutton, of Washington,D. C.

Holding the First Court.

The first Court was held at Waynes-boro on July 9, 17ST, The following

Justices attended: Robert Simms.William Alford. Willis Bryan, JohnBeck, Absolem Williams, RichardMeKinue and Josiah Jernigam. Ofthe earliest settlers we have little in-

formation, but as far back as the

memory of living man reaches the

town contained a population probablyless than 100. Its principal merchantswere John Wright, Richard Washing-ton and Arnold Borden, whose stores

stood upon the river. C. J. Nelsonconducted a buggy and repair shop.

The home or Francis Castex stood onthe opposite side of the street, imme-diately upon the river bank, and the

homes of Washington, Wright. Dr.

Andrews and Borden, were amongthe principal residences of the

town. The Borden residence, wasafterwards moved to Goldsboro andis now the property of James W,Bizzell on Ash street. The Washing-ton residence was also moved to

Goldsboro and is now owned by Mrs.j

Clara Jones and is situate on WestCenter street. ' Richard Washingtonwas the last resident to leave the

abandoned town.The ' Castex residence was also

moved to Goldsboro, and is now apart of the residence of Carl Gris-

wold, a descendant of James Gris-

, woM The only relic remaining of theold town is an ancient cedar treestanding on the bank of the NouseRiver on the lot formerly owned byFrancis Castex.The site of the town is now the

property of Major H. L. Grant andupon it is located the brick manuf&c-

1taring plant of H. L. Grant & Son,The old cemetery is on the plantationof Capt. J. E. Peterson.A slight glimpse of the town of

Waynesboro is found in a letter writ-

tail December 28. 1327, by Dr. ElishaMitchell to his wife, from which I

quote the following:T rode down to Bass’ Ferry and

paddled about the river a while in

an old crazy canoe, to see the lime-

stone about the mouth ot falling creek,

jand then passed on to Waynesboro and

!put up at Isaac Hill's. Found therea young lawyer from Orange, whoknew me anti went with me to seeMrs. Andrews, formerly Miss Gunn,who was married in the meetinghouse in Washington the summer youwere there. She lives just on thebanks of the Xeuse. On Sunday col-

lected a lirtle congregation and heldforth to them at the Tavern. Dr.

Williams and Tippoo Henderson andM.orris called upon me, and foundthem ail very pleasant. Took mytea and spent the evening at Dr.Andrews’. Monday morning crossedthe Xeuse and got my breakfast at

Mr. Griswold’s. Griswold is a Yankeeboy who came from Rocky Hill to

Carolina, as he married a girl of someproperty, failed, and now lives in

rather humble style in Wayne. Hedoes not appear to be efficient, and I

doubt his wife regrets her havingmarried a Y'ankee.”The Dr. Andrews referred to kept

a tavern at Waynesboro for manyyears and -was a practicing physicianand one of the most influential founders of the present city of Goldsboro.One of his sons, Rev.'S. G. Andrews,was a colonel in the ConfederateStates army. Another, George P. An-drews, was a Colonel in the IT'S,army. Another. John X. An-drews, was a gifted Methodist preach-er. and the t'curih, B. Frank Andrews,a iocal Methodist preacher.

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Descendants of Dr. Andrews in thepersons of Mrs. M. T. Breazele, MrsB. W. Southerland and Mrs. FredMintz. live in Mount Olive. Waynecounty, and there are other descend-ants in this and adjoining counties.

James Griswold, who was denomi-nated a Yankee by Dr. Mitchell, i

who was himself a Connecticut Yan-kee. appears net to have deserved the

censure of Dr. Mitchell. On the con-

trary, he was one of the mos* promi-nent and influential citizens of thecounty. He was chairman of theCourt of Pleas and Quarter Sessions

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and for many years served as Clerkand Master in Equity. He was thefounder of a numerous and highly re-

spected family, several of whom still

reside in Goldsboro.Dr. Andrew* Bass, the founder of

Waynesboro, was a delegate to theProvincial Congress of 1775, and to

the convention held at Hillsboro in

17SS. His fellow delegates to this;

last were William Taylor. BurwellMooing. Richard McKinne and JamesHandley, and. following the lead ofThomas Jefferson and Willie Jones,they voted against the ratification of

the Federal Constitution.

I think it prpl able that seme of hisdescendants still live in this county,and in that part of Wilson which wasformerly a part of Wcvne. though of

this I have no definite information.In the Convention of I7>b Tw dele-

gates from Wayne were Richardj

McKinne, Burrell Mooring, DavidCogdell, Joseph Jernigan and JamesHandley, and of these. Mooring andCogdell voted against the ratification

of the Constitution, and McKinnne,Jernigan and Handley voted for theratification. It was at this Conven-tion that the Constitution was rati-

fied.

North Carolina refused at first to

ratify until a Bill of Rights ha,} beenguaranteed, or the first ten amend-ments to the Constitution assured.There was no Superior Court held

in Wayne Count v until 1S06. Priorto that year Wayne was a part of a

district in which court, was held at !

New Bern* and nil .cases of importftn.ee

were tried in the ' Superior Court <v'

Craven. In INfC Superior Courts

were established in each county,and in ISIS, the Supreme Court wasestablished. Before the organizationof the Supreme Court the judges ofthe Superior Court met twice a yearto settle questions of law in what wryknown as the "Court- of Conference."

i All matters relating to the probateof deeds arid wills, the qualificationof administrators and guardians andthe settlement of estates, togetherwith the levying of taxes and the lay-

ing out and working of roads, and thetrial of cases of minor importance,

jwere cognizable in the Court of Pleasand Quarter Sessions.

I find throughout the records theappointment of overseers and bands.whose duty it was to remove iogs,

trash, sandbanks, etc., which obstruct-

ed the waters of the Neuse, over whichall the freight moved from New Bernby flats, and afterwards by steam-boats. The Superior Court had sub

! stantially the jurisdiction cf the Su-perior Court of to-day. There weretwo terms held annually, and manyof the famous lawyers of the State,

including Gaston, Badger. Haywoodand others, attended this court from

• time to time, and were entertained at

the village taverns. It is reportedthat they complained of the fare, as

has occurred in the lives of numerouseminent lawyers since that time, andl have heard of one of the most dis-

tinguished lawyers of the State whoj

was peculiarly bitter in his animad-versions upon the taverns of Wayens-lioro.

Although there "was for the times a

large business done in Waynesboro in

rhe early part of the nineteenth cen-

tury. the town never grew much in

extent or population. It was the onlytown in the county and its leadingcitizens were people of refinement andculture, a number of them being fromthe Northern States, where they hadenjoyed the advantages of education.One of the reasons why the popula-

tion of Wayne did not increase morerapidly was the stream of ^migra-rion to the Southern Slates which set

in about 1830, continued for nearlytwenty years ami deprived this coun-

nd er counties - 81 te < £

many of their best citizens, to he

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History of Wayne Cof.yty.

enrkhmeui wR Alabama and- Missis-sippi.

I* may be interesting to recall thatat the time of the organization of theCourt in Wayne County and for manyyears afterwards the administrationof the criminal law had not beenshorn of many of the barbarities whichdistinguished the English commonlaw. and punishments for crime wereinflicted which, shock the sensibilitiesof more modern, times.

I find among the old records a notewritten by one of the judges of theSuperior Court to the Clerk, which is

as follows:

“Please draft the entry' to be madeon the minutes as follows: ‘State vs.

H. Grant, upon conviction for forgery.;

The defendant being put to the bar,

and having nothing to offer, where-fore the setence of the law should notbe awarded against him, the court pro- !

nounces the following sentence. Thatthe said H. Grant stand in the pillory

one hour, that he receive 39 lasheson his bare back and be imprisonedfive months. Sheriff of Wayne is or-

dered to carry our this sentence asregards the corporal punishment this

day. It is ordered that he be com-mitted to the jail of Lenoir county.'

”

I note that it frequently occursthat prisoners are confined in thejails of Lenoir and Wake counties,and sometimes find the recital that

the jail of Wayne is regarded as in-

secure.

It was customary at the time,where the prisoner claimed the bene-fit of clergy, in addition to some otherpunishment to bum him in the handwith a red-hot iron. The benefit of

clergy grew' up under the Eng-lish law, when the authorities of. theRoman Catholic Church demandedthat the priests- of that church shouldnot he tried by the secular courts,bur should be turned over to the ec-

clesiastical courts for trial. At first,

it seems this demand was accededto without condition, but the secular

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courts afterwards began to asserttheir rights and a compromise seemsto have been effected, and clergymenwere turn >d over for trial to the

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church court, but only after havingj

been branded with a red-hot iron, in

•order that they might not be able toclaim again what was called, theirclergy, and later still the benefit ofclergy was extended to laymen, andmembers of the nobility charged withcrime were discharged for the first

offense without reading, whilepersons of lower degree were dis-

charged upon its appearing that theywere able to read, but not until theyhad been branded. This blot uponthe law was afterwards swept away

gislation in this country and in

England, after having been modifiedin our courts and by statute, butwhile it existed a gentleman now liv-

ing in this community, E. B. Borden.Esq., relates that in his boyhood he

jwas present at a session of the Su-perior Court held in Waynesboro, andthat he heard a prisoner sentenced tobe burned in the hand and saw the

|Sheriff corns in with the red-hot iron,

and apply it to the hand of theprisoner, heard a frying sound andsaw the smoke arise from the burningflesh.

Tlie modifications were in a numberof instances of severe character. Afair instance may be found in thejudgment rendered in the case of

State vs. Daniel Gooding, who hadbeen convicted of burglary, whichreads

:

“On the arraignment of the prisoner,he having pleaded guilty in part ascharged in the indictment as appearsunder date of the 3rd instant, andStephen Miller, Esq., solicitor for theState, who in this behalf prosecutedfor the said State, being present herein the Court, saith that he admits theplea aforesaid of the prisoner, andprays judgment, etc. And it beingthereupon demanded of the said DanielGooding, if he hath or knoweth any-thing. wherefore judgment of deathshould not be pronounced against himfor the felony aforesaid. He saiththereof, he prayeth the benefit of his

clergy, which is allowed to him. Andit is thereupon considered by thecourt here by force of statute in

that case made am. provided, that'('instead, of the burning. of the hand)tl 0 said Daniel Gooding be fourtimes publicly whipped, once on Mon-day, the Of.h inst., again on the 3rd

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Aiondav iii, November next, and onthe 3rd "Monday of February next,

and the fourth whipping on the first

Monday after the fourth Monday ofj

March next, and that he receive 25lashes on his bare back each time.And it is ordered that the Sheriff of

"Wayne county carry the judgmentinto execution and have the saidDaniel Gooding in his custody until

the same is executed,"Another judgment, rendered during

this period is as follows:

“Whereupon it is considered by thej

Court that the prisoner, , be.set in the pillory for one hour andreceive on his bare back 25 lashes,

and be imprisoned for the space of

12 calendar months, and that the

Sheriff of Wayne county carry thisj

sentence into execution, and causej

the whipping to be inflicted on the i

Tuesday of the next court, and the

pilloring on the Monday of the samecourt. And that the prisoner standcommitted until the costs are paid.

This, the 7th day of October. 1823.”

It is gratifying to note upon the

minutes that, after undergoing the

corporal punishment, he was relieved

"by the pardon of the governor of the

payment of the costs.

I am unable to find any instance in

which the Court of Pleas and Quarter

Sessions in Wayne tried any defend-ant for a capital felony, but as late

as 1787, in our reign boring county of

"Duplin, the Court of Pleas and Quar-

ter Sessions constituted of several jus-

tices of th^ Peace and without jury

tried a murder case, convicted the de-

fendants and ordered the execution.

'Two negroes, brothers, were chargedwiin killing their master on March 15,

1787. They were brought to trial

March 17, 1757, before the Court of

Pleas and Quarter Sessions, and con-fessed their guilt. The elder, whostruck the blow, was sentenced to becarrier to *he common gaol and there

to. be safely kept until the next day.

when he should be carried by the

Sheriff to rhe Court House squareau d b< ti°d *:o a stake and burned

' alive', and bis ashes scattered uponthe ground. lr was adjudged that the

younger brother be committed to the

custody of the Sheriff, to be carriedto the county gaol and there safely

kept until the next day, and then car-

ried. to Court House square, tied to

a stake and have his ears cut off, theletter “M” branded on his cheek, andone hundred lashes laid on his bareback. (This leniency is shown—as

is recited in the minutes of the court

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on account of his youth, and the prob-

ability that . he had been under theinfluence of his elder brother. )

From the minutes of the same Courtat a later session it appears that, after

a laborious session, the Court adjourn-ed " to take hip” at the tavern.

This propensity, not confined ex-cY:sive!y to the Court of Duplin,, last-

ed late into the 19th Century.

A. gentleman who has not been prac-• icing law more than forty years givesthe following striking incident illustra-

tive of customs which long prevailed:

Soon after my friend began the prac-tice lie was attending Court in one of

our eastern towns, and one eveningafter Court, was taking a walk withthe presiding judge and several law-yers, when, passing a bar-room, thejudge invited the party in to drinkwith. him. The performance of thebar-keeper in preparing the drinksproved unsatisfactory to His Honor,who immediately took the bar-keeper’splace and apron, and soon concoctedsuch delightful beverages as they hadnever seen, demonstrating a skill in

the mixing of drinks, that broughtmuch commendation from his profes-sional brethren as well as from thelaymen who witnessed this achieve-ment.

There were many more capital of-

fenses than in this day. The institu-

tion of slavery was responsible for

he enactment of many harsh laws.

It was made a crime to teach, a slaveto read, it was a crime for a slave

preacher to preach to slaves, otherthan those of his own master. Aslave found off his master's planta-

tion without a pass, when caught bythe patrol, was subject to be beatenwith many stripes. A runawu slave

could be outlawed on the. application

of any person by two justices of rhe

peace, upon its appearing that he

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woods or swamps and killing' cattle,

arid it was expressly provided that

such slave might be killed by anyperson who might find him, and in any

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manner that he saw fit, and that the

slayer should not be in any mannercalled to account therefor. The steal-

ing of slaves was punished by death,without benefit of clergy.

So fearful were the lawmakers andthe people of negro insurrections that

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no books or papers of any sort werepermitted to be distributed amongthe slave population, or among thefree negroes—-an unintentional rec- ;

ognition of the power of enlighten-

ment. The legislation in reference to

slaves was a stronger indictment of

the system than the pbiilipics of all

the abolitionists.

While the laws were severe in somerespects, they were mild in others.

Offenses involving moral turpitude,

such as forgery, larceny and fraud,

were severely punished, while crimes;

of violence were dealt with more i

gently. Violations of law resulting|

from impulse or the natural frailities

of human nature were treated withgreat tenderness.The court records of to-day show

that we have inherited man}' of the

feelings and practices of our ances*tors.

Laws were passed to correct themorals of the people by mild punish-ments. It was enacted that everyperson swearing in public should befined 25 cents for each offense; thatevery person convicted of being pub-licly drunk should be fined 25 centsif the offense was committed on aweek day. and 50 cents if committedon the Sabbath, and that every per-

son committing fornication shouldbe fined $2.50 for each and every of-

fense. In view of a contention ad-vanced in recent years that the lawshould not deal with questions of

morals, the action of the early law-makers of the State is quite signifi-

cant.

During the period of which J. speaka "citizen of Wayne county .performedon* o.l the bravest and most daringacts in the history of the State.

About the year 1816 John Coor-Pen-der. who had been Sheriff of the coun-ty and also member of the GeneralAssembly, was assassinated as he drovealong the road from his home to theCounty Seat. The assassin, who wasunderstood to be David Jernigam fled

and every effort was made to appre-

hend him. At last, Paul Coor-Pender.a son of the murdered man, learnedthat Jernigan had taken refuge amongthe Seminole Indians in Florida.- Thisyoung man, not quite of age, traveledthrough the uncleared country byhorse and wagon from Waynesboro,,through the States of South Carolinaand Georgia and into the Evergladesof Florida. He introduced himself io

the Chief of th e Seniinoles and de-

manded the surrender of his lather’s

murderer. The Everglades at thattime constituted a secure refuge for

criminals from the older settlements,

and J grni * n claimed the 1 1 rt of bes-

pitalky and protection, which HieChief generously extended; but whenhe learned that the son was demand-ing the murderer of his father in or-

der that his death might be avenged,his natural sense of justice prevailedand he surrendered the prisoner to

young Pender, who, without assist-

ance conveyed Jernigan back, to

Waynesboro and delivered him to the

Sheriff.

The prisoner was indicted for mur-der at September term,. 18 16, and up-

on his application the case was re-

moved to Lenoir for trial and P. C.

Pender was recognized to appear as awitness against him. It was providediri the order that the trial should takeplace on the succeeding Thursday.The prisoner was convicted and exe-

cuted. There are few instances in his-

tory of a more heroic exploit.

As there seemed no prospect for

growth for the town o* Waynesboro,probably because the location was notconducive to health, but principally

because the Wilmington & WeldonRailroad was in process of construc-tion through the county, about the

year 1840 agitation began for the re-

moval of the County Seat to the iocar

tion afterwards known as Goldsboro.As in every proposition for the re-

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movai oc a County Scat, a great con- !

trove rv arose between the advocatesj

and -be opponents of the- movement.Waynesboro was vigorous in its op-

position and other sections of thecounty were equally so. Ail the citi

zens were aroused on one side or thej

other of the proposition; public meet-|

ings Were held, speeches made andmuch warmth of feeling shown.

A great meeting was held in Golds-

boro in the large oak grove whereare now situate the residences ©i

Mrs. Henry Weil, Mrs. Sol Weil andMrs. Arnold Borden, at which elo-

quent speeches were made, and muchbarbecue and much, good, home-madeliquor consumed. There is a tradi-

tion that one of the ardent advocatesof removal on the morning of the >

meeting deposited in the well on thepremises several barrels of ice, whichhe had surreptitiously procured fromWilmington, and that the assembledmultitude drank at the well, alter par-

taking of dinner and of the otherliquids, and pronounced it. the coldest

and best water in the county, and be-

came enthusiastic for Goldsboro as

the County Seat.

Tradition further says this story

was started after the election by

some disappointed advocate of the

town of Waynesboro, and that the wa-

ter of the new location was na turnip'

so pure- and cool,

that it would havebeen absurd to 'have polluted it with

Wilmington ice.

After much agitation and discussion,

at a session of the Court of Pleas and

Quarter Sessions held at Waynesboro,November 15. 1*47, a majority of the

justices being present, it was moved.

“That they take a vote whether they

should have a. new Coiirr House or

not.” Among orders, William K.

Lane, Thomas T. Hollowed, l ria.li

Langston. S. P. Cox. Hardy Ydverr.on.

e in : ii B. Edmim is u A j

cock and James Griswold, twenry-six

in all, voted in favor of Hie ’proposi-

tion., and ten .others voted against if

;

among v hom were John C. SJoeomb,

John Everett, • Ira Langston, John

Coley. James F. Kornegay and \\ id-

iam Hollowell. An order was man-- •

for a vote of the people on the first

! Thursday in August next, to ascertain

!whether the majority of the voters fa-

vored building a new Court House in

Goldsboro or Waynesboro.

At the August term, 134-8, OllenCoor, Esq., Sheriff, reported that at an

i election held August 3, 1848, a ma-jority of the votes polled were in fa-

vor of the removal of the Court Housefrom Waynesboro to Goldsboro. Thefollowing order was thereupon made:“The Court doth thereupon appointcommissioners from each captain’s

district in said county, namely:James Griswold, John Kennedy, HardyYelverton, Benjamin Aycoek. T. T.

Simms, Ethelred Sauls, W. H. Gardner,John Everett, Bryant H. Pate, Will-

iam Carroway, John Becton and Wil-

|

Pis Hall, to prepare a plan for a newCourt House and gaol of such size

ard built of such material as theyshall, deem requisite and expedient,which plan, with the estimate of ex-

pense and particular description of

such contemplated building, be shownto the said board before the said

'•Court of Wayne on or before thetick'd Monday of February next, andthe commissioners or any majority ofhem shall likewise, withou: delay,

lay off a site for said Court Houseand gaol .of not less than two normore than four acres in size, 'within

one half a mile of Mrs. Borden’s hotel,

ami purchase the same and draw up-

on the County Trustee for the pay-

ment thereof, and take a deed there-

for to the Chairman, according to theAct of Assembly, and said commis-sioners or a majority shall and maycontract for the building thereof uponsaid place according to the terms of

said Act, and report their actionsthereon to the Court.”At the same term H. W. PI listed.

Esq., resigned as County Attorneyand William T. Dortch was electedCounty Attorney in his stead.

On February 19, 1849, the said com-missioners purchased from JamesRhodes for the consideration of $250four acres of land, and he executed a

deed therefor to James Griswold,chairman. . Jam.es .Rhodes conveyedthe whole of the square upon whichthe. Court, House is now situate, ex-

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History of Wayne County. 29

i qq o,] f)

»' <y -'ir-vstero sUfe

thereof.

It is an interesting circumstancethat Tames Rhodes, the grantor of

the Court House square, was the uncleof James R. Hatch, Esq., the accommo-dating and obliging Clerk of this

Court at pres cur and for the past

eight years. It is also a pleasant re-

flection that Isaac F. Ormond. Esq.,

the active and efficient chairman of

the present Board of Commissioners,now owns the land on the south side

of the county road at Hooks’ bridgeover Little River, formerly belong-ing to Josiah Sasser, upon which the

first Court for the county of Waynewas held, and that he served eight

years most acceptably as Clerk or theSuperior Court of the county, and that

Charles F. Herring. Esq., a member of

said board, was for eight years anadmirable Clerk of this Court.

The contract for building the CourtHouse and jail was awarded to JohnE. Becton and Joseph Kennedy. At

the August term, IS 5 0, the commission-ers reported that they bad purchaseda lot and had received from the con-tractors the Court House and jail. I

find no record or any report of thecommissioners, required by the orderof the August term, 1848, nor of anypayment made to the contractors, buthave understood that the contract pricewas about $17,009.

At the August. Term, 1850, the last

Court held in the town of Waynes-boro, it was ordered “That the wilful

defacing, cutting or in any other man-ner injuring the walls, or any otherparts of the Court House shall be heldan offense in the contempt of theCourt, and the officers of the courtare ordered to bring all persons sooffending forthwith before the Courtto be dealt with in the premises.”

The first Superior Court held inthe new Court House was on Septem-ber 30, IS 50. when Hon. John W. El-lis, afterwards Governor of the State,presided. The first Court, of Pleasarid Quarter Sessions was hold in thenew Court House n the 18th day f

'November, 1850. The minutes recite,.

“Justices present, the Worshipful Will-iam K. Lane, John C. Slocumb,

Thom.no T. Ho!Iowrell and John Hayes,Esqs.”

I note that nt the November term,1851, an order was made allowingWilliam T. Dortch, County Attorney,the sum of $82.50 for his services at

this term and at the three precedingterms.John A. Green, a descendant gy Jo

seph Green, who in 1700 was the larg-

est slave owner of Wayne county,was Clerk of the Court of Pleas andQuarter Sessions. He served in that•capacity from August term, 1833, toSeptember term, 1853, when he wassucceeded by Benjamin Aycock, wrhoserve i until 1S62.

John A. Green was the father of

Mrs. George L. Kirby, the late Mrs.Susan Gulick and the late George D.Green, of Wilson.

A- the same time William G. Bryanwas Clerk of the Superior Court. Heserved from 1849 to 1861, and was thefather of John W. Bryan, Esq., for-

merly a member of the firm of Grain-ger <& Bryan, attorneys, of Goldsboro,and now one of the officers of theEastern Hospital for the Insane.At the same time James Griswold

was Clerk and Master in Equity. Hefilled that office from 1829; until 1853

He was succeeded by Geo. V. Strong,who performed the duties of office

until I860.

At the same time Ollin Coor wasSheriff. He served for 22 years.

Sheriff Coor was the father of Capt.Hopton H. Coor, of Fork township,

Ollin Coor and his kinsmen, who pre-ceded him, filled the office of theSheriff of Wayne county for manyyears.

In the 63 years intervening betweenrhe first court held in Waynesboroand the first court held in Goldsborogreat changes had taken place. Muchof the land had been cleared, manylarge plantations stocked with numer-ous negroes were to be found in the

different sections of the county.Among the large land owners andslave owners was John W. Sasser,

the father of Mrs. Ellen Dortch, de-

ceased. and Mrs. Millie McKee, of

Raleigh, It is related that he couldride on horseback from Goldsboro to

his home, some six or seven miles dis-

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History of Wayne County.30

Other large land arid slave owners;

were William K. Lane, George W,j

Collier, Theopinius Best, Council .!

Best. Sam Smith. John Coley. \Y. B.;

Fort, John Everett, David Everett,j

Levi D. Howell, Capt. R. P. Howell,|

William D. Cobb,, the numerous Whit-fields. John C. Slocumb. David F. i

Mc-Klnne, Thomas Uzzell. Peter Pea-j

: 3 i

:

Gabriel and William Sberrard, E, B.;

Border:. W. F. Atkinson and others.jThe cultivation of cotton had be-j

come general. The population had 1

increased to 7.S02 whites and 5,020;

slaves and dot tree negroes.The- free schools ha 1 begun their

j

•work and a number of private schoolsj

had opened in Goldsboro, and in somej

other sections o: The- county. Among i

the other teacher.-: were William Rob-j

inson and Jour. Robinson, graduates\

of Dublin University and natives of,

Ireland, gb'wt that time they con- I

ducted successful private schools.

John Robinson was the father of;

Hon. W. S. O B. Robinson, Col. .Tos.|

E. Robinson, .Miss Eliza Robinson,j

Mrs. D. B. Frazier, deceased, Mrs. M.|

R. Cox, of Newton Grove, and Mrs.j

Mary Morris, all of whom, except i

Mrs. Cox, reside in Goldsboro, and Dr.

George Robinson and James Robinson,deceased.

Ministers of most of the denomina-tions preached in almost every neigh-borhood. Illiteracy had been re-

duced at that time to such an extentthat one in every seven white personsover 21 years of age could read andwrite. There was no development of

manufactures except along the rail-

road turpentine stills were every-

where to be found. There were gin

houses and a few saw and grist mills.

There were no banks and the moneylenders and their customers attendedthe courts, where leans were madeand collected. The town of WhiteHall, situated on the Neuse River,

was beginning to grow and become a

center, of trade. Nahunta, now Fre-

mont; 'Eureka, Pikeville, .- Dudley andMount Oh re did not exist. . Golds-

boro was growing into a thriving andprosperous village and the center of

trade. •

rich in \ -

The Patriot Republican, Democratic,was published by W. B. Guile’ : theGoldsboro Telegraph, by W. T. S. Al-

ston and U.e Goldsboro Patriot. Dem-ocratic. by William Robinson, the fath-

er of our townsmen, Dr. M. E. Robin-son and Thomas R. Robinson.About the time the county seat was

moved to Goldsboro. Miss IndianaWills, at; erwards Mrs. J. B. Whitaker,conducted the first school, and wassucceeded after her m-arriasre . by Miss.

Emily Web.-.

Acadei y which ised tostand at the head of John Street andwhich is now the property of W. HGodwin, was used by John and Wil-liam Robinson, as a school for boyson the lower floor, and by Miss Webbas a school for girls on the upper.

The first church was a small framebuilding on the corner of John andChestnut streets, where St. Paul M. E.

church now stands, in which ministersof all denominations preached, and in

which one of the earliest schools wa sconducted.The Methodist Church, now belong-

ing to the Primitive Baptist denomi-nation, was built about 1853. and thePresbyterian and Episcopal Churches,about 1 857, and the Baptist Churchlater.

A hotel was built on the corner nowoccupied by the Kennon Hotel andoperated by James Griswold.

During the ’70s the towns of MountOlive and Nahunta, now Fremont,were established, and have since

grown into prosperous and thriving

towns, among the most progressive in

the Slate. The name Nahunta waschanged to Fremont in honor of Col.

S. L. Fremont, for many years con-

nected with the old Wilmington &Weldon Railroad Company.

I believe I neglected to state that

j

Goldsboro was named after a civil en-

gineer in the employment; of the Wil-

mington &. Weldon Railroad Company.

Later the towns of Dudley, Pike-

ville. Eureka, -came into existence, the

old town of White Hall on the Neusehaving preceded them by many years,

and now known as Seven Springs.

I It .would be interesting to c-.miyure

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History of Wayne County. :*1

ill conditions under which oui' geo ,

pie live at this day with the condi-

tions that existed at the time the.

Court House just removed was com-pleted. We hear much said about the

palatial homes of the old-time planter

and slave-owner, but the fact is that

the average man to-day lives in a bet-

ter home than ; hey enjoyed. Thereare hundreds of homes in Waynecounty that are more comfortable, bet-

ter furnished and have more of theluxuries of life than were known to

even the most prosperous of our citi-

zens in that day. Their owners are

more intelligent, have higher ideals,

and lead better lives.

The Superior Courts were presidedover by learned and able judges, thelaw enforced with some severity, andthe Court of Pleas and Quarter Ses-

sions intelligently dispatched the busi-

ness of the county and tried the casesboth civil and criminal within its juris-

diction. Lawyers from New Bern, Fay-j

etteville, Wilmington and Raleigh werej

usually in attendance upon the Courts,|

and our people were brought in contactj

with some of the. brightest intellects

of the State. The local bar was smallbut able, i-onsisting of Win. T. Dortch,Geo. V. Strong, W. T. Haircloth. andW. G. Morrisey. The officials of thecounty were men of character, intelli-

gence and property, and leaders in so-

cial and political life.

Oil in. Coor, the Sheriff, was a man ofmarked peculiarities and of unbound-ed popularity, and withal a man firm

and determined. Near the middle of

his term of office occurred what wasknown as the "Holleman War.” Afeud existed between the HollemanClan and Lewis Cogdell, growing outof trespassing of stock upon the landsof each other, and partly. 1 am inform-ed, from the purchase by Cogdell of

some lands of the Hollemans at pub-lie sale, which the letter claimed wereimproperly sold, and at a sacrifice.

Not caring to resort to law for thevindication of their rights, the Holle-mans waged war upon Cogdell. Onseveral occasions they shot at himand on one occasion shot through hiscarnage in which -he and -his wife

;

* ere riding to their home. They sur-j

rounded his residence and shot at anyj

tone appearing iri his yard after night-fall. They were considerate of theemployees of Cogdell and notified themthat when they were moving about thepremises after night it would be advis-able for them to whistle, that if theyfailed to do 30 they might be the recip-ients of bullets not. intended for them.On one occasion one Pennington, anoverseer of Cogdell, who had receivedthis caution, in haste to get his horseand ride off, forgot to whistle, but

Ifortunately for him the horse he wasriding passed too close to the gate postof the lot and hurt his foot, whereupon,forgetful of the statute forbidding theuse of profane language, he cursed thehorse. He was afterwards informedby one. of the Hollemans that it waswell for him that lie violated the stat-

ute, for that otherwise he would havereceived a dose of lead. Warrantswere sworn out for the members of theHolleman family and placed in thehands of Sheriff Coor. who made dili-

gent effort to apprehend the offenders,but was unable to do so. They retiredto their home which they convertedinto a castle, and prepared for a siege,denying admittance to all comers, in-

cluding the High Sheriff.

Sheriff Coor, a most considerate manand on very friendly terms with theHollemans. who had always been hispolitical supporters, resorted to everyspecies of diplomacy in order to inducethem fo surrender, but in vain. Whileexpressing profound regard for himpersonally they declined to accede tohis official request or to receive himin his official capacity: finding thatmild measures were without avail, theSheriff summoned a posse of determ-ined men who with arms in their handssurrounded the Holleman home and theSheriff, as was his duty, demandedadmittance. The defenders announcedthat they would be very glad to re-

ceive the Sheriff, whereupon he wasadmitted, endeavored to induce thegarrison to capitulate which was veryfirmly refused; but in order to showtheir regard for their personal friend,

they insisted that he should drink withthem. Brandy was produced and theSheriff ms oi

man family drank together. Thinkingthat this social intercourse had prob-

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32 History of Wayne County.

ably softened their resolution, theSheriff again insisted that they accom-pany him. They positively refusedand he retired. The besieging force

drew closer to the dwelling and soonthe besieged opened fire with the re-

side that one of the Sheriffs- possewas wounded in the 1 eg ; whereuponthey withdrew out of range and theSheriff, reeling that patience had. ceas-

ed to be a virtue and that his for-

bearance might be misconstrued, dis-

patched Blount King, one of his posse,

to Goldsboro with, instructions to bring

the cannon which was used in firing

fourth of July salutes. King pro-ceeded immediately upon, his errand,

shortly returning with this weapon of

destruction, and under the order of theSheriff, after another demand made for

surrender, leveled his deadly artillery

upon the house and fired. The chargewent through the house and woundedone of its defenders. Thereupon, beingunable to resist further, they surren-

dered. The kind hearted Sheriff took|

the* entire family, including the wound-ed man. to his home, where he kept

them until the succeeding term of

court, when he had them duly appear.

It is not recorded whether the jail

was still out of repair, or whether the

Sheriff's line sense of hospitality in-

duced him to pursue this unusual

course.

From IS50 to the breaking out of

the hostilities in 1S61, there was con-

tinued progress and growth—moreland being cleared and cultivated andmore negroes being brought and work-

ed upon the farms. The wealth of the

countv greatly increased. Tie- Stare

Bank of North Carolina in 1ST) estab-

lished an agency in Goldsboro in

charge of E. B. Borden.

The first and only loss of territory

occurred T. 1854. when, the mu-- tern

part of the county was taken by Act

of the General Assembly row hi in the

creation of the new county of '•Yimou,j

Before that Conientnea Cheek- hadj

been a part of the northern line j

of Wayne, and Black Creek was in

YYayre. Two • Sheriffs. Sims and

Thompson, had come .from Urn terri-

tory now given > < Vv t sois. i ee due

established 1 y :he Act contained a

peculiar crook which is recited to have i

f been caused by the determined resolu-

i lion of Jacob Hooks to remain a resi-1 dent of Wayne, and it was provided

j

that it should be so run as to leave his

land on the South side of the Wilsonline.

When the State threw in her lot

with the Confederacy there were nomore loyal supporters of the movementfor secession.Wayne, like many other counties,

had contained a number of union men,but after President Lincoln called uponthe State for volunteers, like most ofthe other Union men, they enteredheart and soul into the cause of the

j

Confederacy. The county sent twenty-two companies into the ConfederateArmy, containing about 2,500 men.

Captain Thomas W. Slceumb, a greatgrand-son of Ezekiel Slocumb, becamefirst lieutenant of one of the compan-ies. the Goldsboro Rifles, and was af-

terward promoted to Assistant Ad-jutant General with the rank of Cap-tain.Among the officers now living. T re-

call Col. Jno. P. Cobb, now of Florida,Capt. H. H. Coor, Capt. J. B. Edge rton,

Capt. R. P. Howell, Capt. D. J. Broad-hurst, Capt. D, A. Cogdeli, and Capt.Thomas W. Slocumb.

No troops in the Confederate Armyconducted themselves with more gal-

lantry than the contingent fromWayne.The inhabitants of Wayne escaped

the greatest rigors of the war untilnear the close when Sherman’s armypassed through the county and destroy-ed much property. General Shermanwith his lieutenants. Generals ScofieldTerry and Logan, and a very largearmy encamped at Goldsboro for sometime, soon after the battle of Bentons-vi.lle.

Many of our citizens remember dis-

tinctly hearing the roar of the gunswhile this battle was in progress. Afterthe close of the war the town was gar-risoned by Federal soldiers, a large

part of whom were negroes. In 1867,

‘companies of negro federal troopswere concentrated in Goldsboro, anda reign of terror followed during whichdepredations of all sorts were com-mitted. and the conduct of the troopswas so violent that it was unsafe for

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History of Wayne County.

v' uaRC n 10 jcUiVti their homes. Thesetroops remained until some timein 186b. Some bummers or campfollowers, who pretended to be

connected with the army, engag-ed in forays into the surroundingcountry, robbing, pillaging and insult-

ing women, until ax last a band of Con-federate soldiers who had returnedfrom the war, after their surrender,found it necessary to pursue and de-

stroy these marauders. One of them,whose name was Wilson, at the headof his band of ruffians, was on one of

his usual expeditions in the summer of

1865, between Goldsboro and the Wilsoncounty line, when a party of ex-Con fed-

erates' under the command of Or. B.

Thomas Person, now of Wilson, hastily

gathered, attacked and pursued themand ran their leader into Goldsboro,where lie sought protection from thegarrison, and shot and killed him or.

the steps of the store on the corner of

Boundary (now Holly) and East Cen-ter Streets, then occupied by the late

Sol. Keaton. This act. daring in theextreme, brought relief to the peopleof the county. Among those who par-

ticipated in it I recall Frank M. Ay-cock, a gallant soldier, patriotic citizen

and excellent farmer, and Gilbert !

Ward, who won distinction in war, andnever in his life feared man or devil,

whose affectionate loyalty to his

friends was unsurpassed by any manI ever knew.

Dr. Person, a. man of dauntless cour-age, capacity for leadership, and great-ness of heart, after practicing his pro-

fession for many years, during whichno sufferer, however poor, ever soughthis service in vain, still lives far be-

yond his four score years, enjoying theconfidence and love of troops offriends. A kindred spirit representing'the gallant soldier, loyal citizen andold time physician, whose life has beenspent in unselfish devotion to his

neighbors, is Dr. J. F;. Kennedy, of

Grantham township. It is a delight to

pay tribute to these old time countrydoctors, among whom I should like toinclude John F. Miller. \\\ H. H. CobbGeo. L. Kirbw .T. D S' Jeer and The-.Hill. o f Goldsboro, who have .passed

• ay and M Mel. Tatum, of MountGave, who still survives.

33

One of the most celebrated trials

that took place in the Court. House justremoved was the trial of the Worleymurderers, in April 1878. On February11, 1878, James Worley and his wife,Appie Jane, humble but industriousand worthy citizens, living in the lowlands of Fork township, were foundmurdered in their humble home, inthe presence of their infant child andlittle five year old daughter. On in-

vestigation it was found that a crime,even more horrible than murder, hadbeen perpetrated. David A. Granthamwas at that time Sheriff of the county—a descendant of one of the oldest andmost respected families, a man of un-usual intelligence, energy and charac-ter. Pie organized an investigation,

d y the citizens of toe neighbor-hood, which resulted in the arrest offour negroes, Noah Cherry, Harris At-kinson, Robert Thompson and JerryCox. So careful and thorough hadbeen the investigation that the lastnamed defendant finding himself in

the toils of the law turned states evi-dence. There was great excitementwhen the facts of the tragedy becamegenerally known, and there was immi-nent probability that an attempt mightbe made to lynch the prisoners, whichthe coolness and courage of SheriffGrantham pretented; and the prisonerswere duly brought to trial on April30, 1S78, in the presence of a numer-ous and highly excited multitude. Hon.John Kerr presided at that session of

the court. The State was representedby Hon. L. J. Moore, Solicitor, assistedby William T. Dortch and W. E.Clarke.

The defendant, Harris Atkinson, wasrepresented by John D. Kerr, now' ofClinton; Noah Cherry, by Georg* T.Wassom, a negro lawyer of Gold stor'd,

and Robert Thompson by Swift Gallo-way, afterwards Solicitor of the dis-

trict.

The evidence was fully developed byable and experienced counsel, both forthe State and defendants, argued withgreat ability and the charge of the pre-siding judge was clear and impartial.The defendants. Cherry, Atkinson andThompson were convicted, sentencedand on the 1 tth day of June, 1878. exe-cuted by Sheriff Grantham in the pres-ence of an immense multitude.

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M History of Wayne County.

i fit} ii *siigatiaa ul Uii

by Sheriff Grantham, and his ass is- !

taints, participated in by the Coroner’sJury, presided over by Dr-; George L.

j

Kirby, the Coroner; the quiet couragej

and determination of Sheriff Gran-|

tham, which prevented the applicationof lynch law, and the impartial trial,

sentence and execution taught a mostsalutary lesson, and furnished an ex-

ample. not only to the citizens ofWayne but to those of the Stateworthy to be followed in tragedies,which are calculated to arouse the i

strongest passions of men, and to pre-cipitate them into lawless conduct,bringing the law into disrepute andinvolving those who participate in theguilt of murder.

Among the citizens of Wayne whoj

have been greatly honored in the past i

are Jesse Slocoin ». the son of Ezekielj

Sloeumb, who after serving as clerkj

of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Ses-

sions, was elected to Congress fromthis District, and served from 1818 to

1823, He died in Washington and was I

buried in the Congressional Cemetery; :

William H. Washington, who servedj

in Congress from 1841 to 1843—it

is sometimes . claimed that when hewas sent to Congress he was a resi-

dent of Craven, but the authorities

differ on this point; Thomas Ruffinan attorney at this bar prior to 1810,

.who served in Congress from 1853 to

1801 inclusive, was a gallant colonel

in the Confederate army, and died of

wounds received in battle; Curtis H.

Brogden, after whose family oue of

our fine townships was named, after

having served the county repeatedly as

a member of the House of Representa-

tives served for many years as Comp-troller of the State, as Lieutenant Gov-

ernor and upon the death of Governor

CaldWell, as Governor—ho was elect-

ed to Congress in 1UI7, and afterwards

served in the State Senate; Swift G al-

low ey who was first elected in 1 Wsand served two terms as Solicitor

of the district; and Benjamin F.

Aycock, who served as State Sc a- I

•ator at the sessio 1 - of 188b, 1891,

1853 "' and '

r, there he w as

regarded as one of the ablest, wisest

and most progressive of senate-.:'.-. •

who formulated and procured thei

enactment of many useful and far-

reaching measures, He was elected

a member of the Corporation Commis-sion in 1908 and served most ably un-til his death.

The district has again honored us in

the election to Congress of our county-man. Geo. E. Hood, a member of this

bar, who has served as County Treas-urer, Mayor of the City of Goldsboroand as a representative in the Housefrom Wayne,Before 1880 there had not been much

improvement in farming, though twen-ty-live to thirty, thousand bales of cot-

ton were marketed in Goldsboro. Sincethen improved methods have been in-

troduced and have resulted in theproduction of larger crops of corn,

tobacco and cotton, and there hasgrown up the great industry of truckraising in one of the finest, sections,

around the prosperous and. progressivetown of Mount Olive, which has addedto trie wealth of the citizens of that

portion of our county.Prior to 1880 there were but two

manufacturing establishments in

Wayne, W. F. Kornegay & Company’sMachine Works and the Planing Mill

of W. H. Underhill.In 1881 J. H. Strauss & Co, built the

Rice Mill and operated it. It has since

become the Carolina Rice .Mills. In1882, the Goldsboro Oil Mills wereerected and operated. In 1884. the

Goldsboro Lumber Company erectedand operated its mill, since removedto Dover. In 1SS5 Roy all U. Ik. Menorganized the Mattress Factory for the

manufacture of the Royal Felt Mat-tresses. Dewey Bros, built their ma-chine shops in 1885. In 1SS5 TheGoldsboro Furniture Company was in-

corporated. In 18S6 Wayne Agricul-

tural Works was organized. In 1887,

The Enterprise Lumber Company be-

gan business; in 1900, The BordenManufacturing Company; in 1905, A..

T. Griffin Manufacturing Company; in

1 9 ; 7. the Goldsboro Buggy Company;in 1907, the Goldsboro Knitting Mills,

new the Durham Hosiery Mills; in

19o7, the Utility. Manufacturing Com-pany; in !9R>. the Empire Manufac-turing Company, and „in 19.1 L. the

Wayne Hardwood Company. H. WellAfc Bros.. H. L. Grant & Son, Borden

Hjstory of Wayne County. 35

Bi'ioK &• Tile Company, and the WayneRed Brick Company have beenengaged in manufacturing brick andtile. The capital of these various cor-porations amounts to about one mil-lion seven hundred- and fifty thousand !

dollars. The output of these in-j

stitutions is three million, threej

hundred and sixty thousand dollars a !

a year, the monthly pay roil exclusivej

of office force, is forty-seven thousandj

and five hundred dollars. Then thereI

are the Mount Olive Lumber CompanyJ

with J. R. Bell as its president, and thej

Fremont Oil Mills under the manage-j

ment of J. T. Hooks, president and J.!

B. Lane Secretary and Treasurer,j

Goldsboro is developing, too. into a !

tobacco market. There are gins andsaw mills throughout the county. Oneof the best things about theseenterprises is that they have beenbuilt and operated with Waynecounty money. We made themoney and saved it and put it intothese industries that are giving era- !•

ployment to thousands of our citizens ’

and bringing. wealth into the commun-ity.

The men who have done thesethings, I regard as constituting a roll

of honor, and as such they should oc-cupy a place upon the records of thecounty. W. F. Kornegav, W. H. Un-derhill, Street & Hyman, CharlesDewey, E. T>. Borden, Henry Weil,Solomon Weil, W. H. Smith, W. H.Borden, F. K. Borden, John L. Borden,Nathan O’Berry, Geo. C. Royall, M. E.

Robinson, Robert Kornegav. J. S. Carr8c Sons. A. T. Griffin, A. H. Edgerton,H. L. Grant, I. F. Ormond, Geo. A.Norwood. Thomas H. Holmes, J. R.Bell' and J. T. Hooks.You remember in the opening, part

of my address I stated that only aboutthree hundred thousand feet of lumberwere manufactured in the early daysin all North Carolina. Statistics showthat now we are manufacturing overa billion feet per year, and in recentyears the lumber companies are de-vising ways to preserve the timber,and every time they saw a thousand•feet they try to arrange that the Innds’s

young growth shall be left intact to

bear a thousand more.Another class of instiutions has

been of vast benefit to this county. I

refer to the banks, and first I mentionthe Bank of Wayne. The last state-

ment of the Bank of Wayne, June SO,

1914, showed the bank had resourcesof one million five hundred thousanddollars; the statement of the NationalBank of Goldsboro, made at the sametime, showed that that bank had re-

sources of five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars; the SavingsBank had one hundred and fifty thous-and; the Peoples Bank three hun-dred and fifteen thousand; total in

Goldsboro two million five hundred andforty thousand dollars, resources for

the development of our enterprises, thecultivation of our fine farms and thegeneral business of the county. TheBank of Mount Olive had resources oftwo hundred and twenty-one thousand,eight hundred and three dollars. TheCitizens Bank of Mount Olive onehundred twenty-eight thousand eighthundred and sixty-eight dollars; theBank of Fremont two hundred eighty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-

Elars, ma : rt tal bankingresources three mi lion one hundredseventy-six thousand dollars. Theseinstitutions are managed by men of

character, excellent business qualifi-

cations and experience, and have theconfidence of all classes. The capitaland deposits are made up almost en-tirely of local money.Some things that have helped con-

ditions are the extension of the tele-

phone, and the rural delivery routesand the circulation of newspapers,and these useful agencies have servedto bring our people close together, toharmonize and unite them.

I do not think I should close this

address without some reference, whichI hope will he pardoned, to a gentle-man born in Waynesboro, who cameearly to Goldsboro, where his wholelife has been spent, organized the first

banking institution in 1 SCO as an agencyof the State Bank of North Carolina,and who in 1873, calling to his assist-

ance Capt. R. P. Howell as the cashier,and Geo. W. Dewey us assistant cash-ier, oragnized the Bonk of New Han-over, which was afterwards mergedinto the Bank of 'Wayne. I refer ‘ oits honored president E. B. Borden,

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History of Wayne County.30

tv iiu iui tx : i.'J \ kail ‘<6 ilc.S Zi.OOCi iit LUC

head of this business' world, andwho by h :

s good life, high character,clear intellect and fine business senselias done much to mold and shape thebusiness community, which is regard-ed by the entire State as one of . its

most steady aDd reliable. 1 think it

but just to say in this connection whatevery citizen of Wayne feels andknows.

In passing 1 should wish, if timepermitted, to refer to all the officials

of our well managed and prosperousfinancial and other institutions. I

cannot go into particulars about these

gentlemen, but recent events in this

community compel me to make refer-

ence to a gentleman, who is presidentof one of the banks of this city. I

refer to Geo. A. Norwood, president of

the National Bank of Goldsboro, a manof high character and fine intelligence

who has grown upon this community,interested in its development, and alive

with public spirit. It is a fortunatething for a County like ours that its

manufactures,.

its trade, its banksand its business are in the hands of

men of character and men of intelli-

gence.When I came to practice at this Bar

I was greatly impresed with the sturdycharacter of the citizens of this coun-ty. In every township, there werestrong, vigorous men. men of charac-ter and of real power who had a lead-

ership which they used wisely, andwell; they could be relied upon in anycontingency to take positions whichwould do honor to the State. I haveknown many of them. I would like to

name them all if I had time. Someof them had gone through the War.Many participated in the bitterness

that existed before the war. passedthrough that great ordeal and some of

them came out wounded for life. Theyhere with courage the evil conditionsthat came in the wake of war. Theyhad to rebuild this country. They gotdown to the hardest sort of labor in

order to feed and clothe their families.

They endured great vernations. In themidst of all. they never forgot the r

duties as c it i zens. The y grew s r, ron

g

through adversity, and sometimes w henI think of them in contrast with the

generation now growing up, I take theprivilege of an old man and wonderwhether our young people will attain

the stature of these splendid men. Theyshould do it. They should do more,because they have more advantages.There is another thing I want to

mention in the development of this

county. In 1850 there was spent in

Wayne county for the education o: thechildren one thousand four hundredand seventy-two dollars. Last year,

1913, the amount ran up to $86,094. Myfriend Mr. E. T. Atkinson, our CountySuperintendet of Education, pro-nounced by the school authorities of

the State to be one of the best on the

list of North Carolina Superintendents,and a descendant of one of the earliest

of the settlers, has given me the fig-

ures. What a contrast! Against onehundred and twenty-five thousanddollars in 1850, we spent in 1913, tor

the education of the children of theState four million dollars for better

schools, better teachers and longerterms. The school property of thecounty is worth five times as muchtoday as it was worth in 1900. Noth-ing is of more importance than theeducation of all the children, for uponthe character and intelligence of

.the

coming generations depends the futureprosperity of the county. I take pleas-

ure in talking about the materialgrowth of thip county. I rejoice in', it,

but there is something I rejoice in

more than that; it is the moral growthof this community, its growth jr. in-telligence and high ideals. If we couldlet some old citizen compare the in-

tellectual and moral conditions exist-

ing here fifty years ago with the in-

tellectual and moral conditions ex-isting today, and show us the differ-

ence. we should be astounded and de-lighted. Never has progress beenmore wonderful. Wherever progresshas been made, it has been the result

of the work of the church, the schooland the home in the uplifting o: acitizenship that is growing morally andintellectually higher every year.

The first vote l ever cast was for

the establishment of the GoldsboroGraded School. I came in 1881- to tins

Bar, and in that year we had a bitter

controversy about the establishment of

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History of Wayne County.

public £’

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worth but private schools, and it • wasi

a fight to a finish whether this|

community should take charge of thej

great function of government, the

training up of its future citizens. I

remember a man who has passed awaywho was a great power in that day,

and some o ;’ you gentlemen rememberhim, Julius A. Bonitz. He was heartand soul in favor of that movement.I remember that he came to Aycockand your speaker and asked us to

write the editorials in his great anduseful paper, The Goldsboro Messen-

j

ger, in favor of the establishment ofj

the Goldsboro Graded School; andAycock and I, from week to week,wrote the editorials for the paper.

Sometimes Aycoek started to write,

was interrupted, left the editorial half

finished, and when the editor called

for it, 1 would finish the other half.

Sometimes conditions were reversed;I would start and he finish. I shouldlike to see those old editorials. I

should like to see them because theGovernor's style and mine were en-

tirely different., but our hearts weretogether on that great, proposition.

The fight was won. How about it now?Why, it is the most popular institution

in Goldsboro. If a man in Goldsborowho cares for popularity wishes to

destroy himself utterly, let him puthimself in opposition to the progressof that splendid institution. Some of

the finest educators in the State havegone out from its halls. I might men-tion, Moses, Alderman, Claxton, Joy-ner, Foust and Brocks and others.

While I admire this modern educa-tion, while I have the highest respectfor those useful institutions, the StateNormal ana Industrial College, at

Greensboro, and the Teachers’ Training i

School, at Greenville, while I know that

it is almost a liberal education for ourboys and girls to come in contact withthose refined and cultured young wo-men who come from these institutions

to teach our children, I wish to stopjust a moment and talk about someold teachers 1 knew. I want to say

j

that in this community when there was 1

'go public school, worthy of the name, i

that the little children were taughtJ

and trained and influences exerted !

37

up'Ui their characters which will last

through eternity by four good women,two of whom have gone to their re-

ward: the others linger here honoredand revered by this whole community.I refer to Miss Mary Carrow, Mrs. M.D. Crayton, Mrs. M. 0. Humphrey andMrs. Mary B. Griswold. I do not thinkmy task would have been completeuntil I had paid this just tribute to

these noble women.In this connection it should be ad-

ded that in the 70’s J. B. Williams andE. M. Nadal conducted an excellentschool at Fremont.Another great factor in the educa-

tion of the people has been the pres3represented in this county by TheArgus, The Record and The Headlight,of Goldsboro, The Tribune of MountOUve and the Messenger of Fremont,always conducive to the public wel-fare.

In 1881 four young men were licen-

sed by the Supreme Court and came topractice at this Bar—Charles B. Ay-cock, Wm. R. Allen. Jos. E. Robinson

Iand Frank A. Daniels, and in the next

! few years a fifth, Wm. T. Dortch. JrThey were intimate personal friendsand their youthful regard for eachother deepened with the years withoutinterruption and bound them togetheras with “hooks of steel.” Of widelydiffering temperaments and gifts, an-tagonists who met each other in this

arena in many a hotly contested de-bate, their affection and loyalty for

each other, cemented by generous andmanly rivalry, never faltered. I re-

gard my friendship and life long asso-ciation and communion with thesegolden hearted gentlemen as one of

the great joys with which my life hasbeen blessed.

Jos. E. Robinson in a few yearsleft the practice, which I am sure hewould have adorned, for newspaperwork, established the Goldsboro Argus,which he still edits and which hasbeen for more than thirty years theeloquent advocate of every measurethat tended to the material advance-ment and moral uplift of the com-munity. After many years of service

to the cause of public education he-

still preside** over the Board of Edu-cation of the county, with Barnes

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History of Wayne County,o qo

A v'cock -and \\ . t ikigliaL a a ms faith-'

ful associates. His val liable and con- I

slant services to the cause of charityj

and humanity aided greatly in thej

establishment of the Goldsboro Hos- s

pital, and other benevoient agencies,j

and are known and appreciated byall his fellow citizens. No worthycause will ever lack an advocate solong as he presides over the sanctumof the Argus. He was on the staff of

Governor Avcoek and wears with dis-j

tmctidn his title of Col. Robinson. •

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William R. Allen, the student and atj

the same time the practical man ofi

affairs, of well balanced and highlyj

discriminating mind, from his youthprepared his cases with scrupulouscare and argued them with unusualclearness and directness. He earlybecame a well grounded, accurate

and painstaking lawyer. His familiar-

ity with the decisions of our SupremeCourt, his facility for putting his hand*upon them at a moment’s notice as

well as his able use of them, wonearly the admiration and the despairof his less fortunate brethren. A manof tact and delicacy of feeling andthought, considerate of the opinions of

others, while tenacious of his own.quiet', persuasive and logical, he hashad a large measure of success in

impressing his ‘Views upon his asso-

ciates. He is regarded as a man of

great self control, and he is. but at

.the. same time of feeling and emotionseldom exhibited unless when deeplytouched. Steadfast in his friendships,

loyal to his convictions, always ac-tively interested in the welfare of his

county and his State, his career hasbeen one of great usefulness. Heserved the county as a member of the

House of Representatives during the

sessions of 1893, 1899 and 1991,where

he rendered valuable service as a wise,

constructive legislator, and. where he '

stood in the front rank of the ablest i

statesmen of that body. He was inj

June 1894 appointed a Judge of the I

Superior Court. He served until Janu- i

ary IS 9.1. In 1902 he was elected Judgej

of the Superior Court and served un- >

til January 1, 1911. In that capacity|

'hie learning, ' acuity and characterj

male a great impression upon thej

profession add the people. Every-

1

where I go, I hear expressions, of re-gret that he no longer rides che dis-

tricts of the State. His conduct ofthe business of the Court, his ' tactand courtesy, his impartiality and evi-

dent love of justice, the clearness ofhis charges which enabled juries easilyto grasp complex and troublesomequestions of fact and law, marked himas one of the ablest trial judges theState has produced. In .1919 lie waselected one of the Associate Justicesof the Supreme Court, and worthilyupholds the traditions of that greattribunal. His opinions, clear, conciseand exhaustive, furnish, evidence of

hig learning, good sense and almostinfinite industry.William T. Dortch. Jr., soon after

his majority was elected Tax Collec-tor of the County for two terms andis now serving as United States Mar-shall for the Eastern District of NorthCarolina under the appointment of

President Wilson. He is a son of

William T. Dortch, for many years theleading citizen and lawyer <; thecounty, and has inherited and w iri rat-

ed a large measure of the great Rentsof his distinguished father. He hasalways had a strong hold upon t;u af-

fections of the people • of. the countyand has been one of its most popularcitizens. An experienced and capablelawyer, and an advocate of greet; pow-er. he has for many years enjoyed, alarge practice and a great in due nee.Ris kindness of heart, gee ia i C ' po-sition and excellent common sensehave wron him many friends in all

sections of the State. Generous andso loyal that he counts not the costwlun he can render service to . afriend, long live this gallant gentle-man and close neighbor of mine.

Charles Brantlv Aycoek—and whatshall I say of the friend of in'* boy-hood, my school and college mate, andfor nearly a quarter of a century mypartner in the practice of the law,bound to me by ties as close and ten-der as those that bind brothers ol thesame mother? What a. heart he had.that beat in sympathy with ail man-kind! What a generous hand u u im-poverished itself to relieve human suf-

fering! How the poor and the weak andthe helpless appealed to him who was

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History of Wayne County. 39

Frang, heipiui auk rich in the love oi

his family and big friends! How frombis early youth the passion for theenlightenment of those coat sat in

darkness burned in his great soul!Shall I tell in my feeble words of thegreat campaign that he made for thelittle children of the State who werefrying for the light “and with nolanguage but a cry”? It is written in

tie hearts of the people of NorthCarolina who responded to his bravewtrrls and are fa Billing his prophecythat knowledge should unfold its am-ple 1 5s.ge to the p’Z'ze of every chA:lborn of woman. Shall I say how in a

distant State while making his greatappeal for the enlightenment of all

mankind his great heart forgot to beatand he rested from his labors? Is it

worth while to tell of his political

campaigns, of the splendid eloquencethat convinced, thrilled and moved to

action a whole people, of his serviceas District Attorney and Governor 0

Great as they were, his greatest ser-vice wras his educational campaign,and. such will, I think, be the verdictof future generations. No purely tech-nical lawyer could he be, though heknew' the technical side of the lawnNo mere case lav/yer—-lost unless hefound a decision in point, but a lawyerwho knew and loved great principles,

had assimilated them and made thema part of his speech as well as a partof his life. How on this spot wasexhibited his greatness as a lawyer,and his power over the minds andhearts of men? Here in somesplendid passage clothed in languageunapproachable, when mind and soulseemed lifted above ordinary limita-tions, he satisfied the judgment andstormed the citadel of the emotions.He was the greatest among us. stand-ing, like Saul, higher than his breth-ren; and, though we envied his greatgifts, there was no jealousy, but onlyadmiration and love. No other manof his generation, and 1 doubt, of anyother generation of North Carolinians,has had in so full a degree the re-

spect and confidence and love of hispeople.

Frank A. Daniels served as Senatorin the State Senate in 1899 and lb 00,and was elected Judge of the Superior

Court in 1910, since which time he hasserved in that position.

The Bar to which these young mencame had a high reputation through-out the State for learning, ability andcharacter. Indeed, probably the prin-

cipal reason why I came to this Barwas the advice of a wise friend, andhe advised this course not only be-

cause Goldsboro was at the time- arailroad center and the county seat of

a fine farming country populated bysterling and industrious people, butprincipally because it had one of theablest bars of the State. The leaderof that bar wras William T. Dortch,w’ho from the building of the CourtHcuse in 1850, and for many yearsafterwards, had as his principal an-

tagonist George V. Strong. W. T.

Faircloth, H. F. Grainger, John W.Bryan, Stephen W. Isler, A. K. Srnedes,

I. F. Dortch, W. S. O’S. Robinson,

Swift Galloway, Col. W. A. Allen, Col.

L. W. Humphrey and Nixon P. Cling-man were the other lawyers practis-

ing here at that time.

William T. Dortch, a native of Nash,was county attorney for many years,wras a member of the House in 18GO,

and speaker of that.body. He vas

elected to the Confederate States Sen-

ate in 1862, in which he served until

near the end of the Confederacy. Heafterwards served in the sessions of

1579, 1881 and 1883 as State Senator,and won the reputation of a wise legis-

lator and a safe political leader. Hehad been in his early years a diligent

student of the law', and as early as1855 was one of the best lawyers o?

the State. Judge Strong once told meyiat when he came to the bar of

Goldsboro, a few years after Mr.Dortch, he regarded him as one of

the best informed lawyers that he hadever seen. Mr. Dortch was a manof great vigor of intellect, strong com-mon sense and practical judgment; awise counselor in his office, noted for

the careful and thorough preparationof his cases, for consummate manage-ment in the court, master of the art

of examining and cross-examining wit-

nesses, exhibiting great power in pre-senting the law and the evidence to

the court and jury. I have known

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40 History of Wayye County.

BU.iii.fc; ia 81 S Who SUlpaSUc-d li 1m •! u

some one or more of these qualities,

but taking him all in all, I havethought that he was the best lawyerI ever knew. No man has lived in

Wayne who gained in so great a de-

gree the confidence and respect of all

classes of its citizens. Three of his

sons, I. F. Dortch, W. T, Dortch andJ. T. Dortch, have been members ofthis Bar.William T. Haircloth, who was long

one of the most, prominent practition-

ers at this Bar, was a native of Edge-

combe, a diligent and careful lawyer,of good judgment, who when arousedpresented his cases to the jury withmuch vigor. He was at one timesolicitor of this district, served as amember of the Constitutional Conven-

tion of 1S65, was Associate Justice of

the Supreme Court from 1876 to

1879; elected Chief Justice of the Su-preme Court in 1894, and served fromJanuary, 1S95. to his death in Decem-ber. 1900. His opinions are usually

brief, clear and strong. His excellent

common sense enabled him to seej

and present the determining, princi-j

pie of the case, and to fortify his de- i

cision by the citation of the authori-|

ties sustaining it. In this last posi-

tion he wen much reputation amongthe lawyers of the State.

It is interesting to recall that in

1878 and. 1879 Hon. F. M. Simmons,now senior Senator from North Caro,

lina, lived in Goldsboro and practiced

law as the junior member of the firm

of Faircloth & Simmons, and that while

living here he married his first wife,

Eliza,_ daughter of Col. L. W. Humph-rey.

H. F. Granger, a native of Greenecounty, associated with John W. Bry-an, was doing a practice almost equal

to that of William T. Dortch. Heserved as a member or the House at

the session of 1881.- Mr. Granger wasa sound lawyer, careful and indus-

trious, and an advocate of real

strength. He was one of this strong

array wh died .in the year 1884.

John W Bryan, his partner, a native

of Wayne, a quiet, studious lawyer,

who was iiot attracted to tlie con. toe's

of the court room, devoted himself to

the study o£ the law and the businessof the office. It was the general im-pression of the young men who cameto the bar chat his opinion on a legalquestion was as valuable as that of

any of his associates. On account of

ill health, he retired from the prac-

tice about the year 1SS7. He servedas a member of the House at the ses-

sion of 1891.

Stephen W. Isler, one of trie mosteccentric but kindest of men, was agreat student and for many years readlaw for about fourteen hours a day.

It was said that he had read, amongother things, the Revised Statutes of

I the United ’States including every cie-

;

cision cited in them. He was excep-I tional in being a man of large prop-erty, the management of which en-

; grossed much of his attention. He af-

terwards removed to Kinston wherehe has recently died.

George V. Strong, a native of Samp-son, had shortly before I came to the

Bar removed to Wake, retaining, how-ever, Mg practise at this Bar which,

he always attended, and at which hewas a great figure. Shortly thereafter

he formed a partnership with Chas.

B. Aycock and F. A. Daniels whichlasted until 1SS6 or ’87. He tvag agentleman of fine manners, a mostindustrious lawyer who never rested

content until he had seen and thor-

oughly examined every authority onevery side of every proposition. Hisacute and somewhat subtle mind en-

abled him to see a subject at so manyangles that there resulted sometimesan uncertainty of conviction, which,however, did not militate against his

eloquent and persuasive presentationof his views to the court. He wasnot the equal of Mr. Dortch in the

practical management of his cases,

but I have never known his superiorin the domain of law. He surpassedall his associates in literary attain-

ments, and in beauty and felicity of

speech. In his youth he was a poet

and published a volume of verse aboutwhich later he became sensitive andendeavored to recall from circulation.

He afterwards represented the countyof Wake in the House, -and served as

Judge of the criminal court, of that

county. He served as a member from

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History of Wayne County. 41

A. K. Smedes wa* at that time ini thelull meridian of his pavers. A mas. of

great ability, fine judgment and thor-'

ouglily immersed In the study of thej

law. He read law. talked, law, thoughtj

law, but stii'l had leisure for the eul-j

tivation of literature and intercourse;

with his friends. His genial and cor-j

dial manner, dignity, kindness of heartj

and unselftsh service to the young;

men of the Bar won their hearts, and I

have kept his memory green. He diedj

in 1884 at thirty-eight in the full ma-j

tnrity of his great faculties. There|

was no honor to which a lawyer couldj

aspire that could not have been his !

if ' his lire had beer, spared. His lastj

argument to the jury in a capital case i

was so able a presentation of the lawj

of circumstantial evidence that it hasj

ever since served as : model, to hisj

brethren. I have heard it substan-tially made by members of this Bar at

least a hundred times.

I. F. Dortch, son of William T.

Dortch, a well informed lawyer, strong;

s g aker and t g 3 mversationalist.j

did a large office practice, wrote most-

j

of the deeds .and wills and settled mostof the estates of the county. He also

appeared in most of the importantlitigation. In clearness and direct-

j

ness of speech, in the grouping of thej

facts of his case, and in his ability toj

impress the jury, he hud few equals.;

He represented this Senatorial Districtj

in the General Assembly of 1876 mostacceptably.William Smith O'Brien Robinson, a

native of Wayne, the son of John Rob-inson, for four years District Attorneyfor the Eastern District of North Car-olina, and for eight years, from 1895

to 1903, Superior Court Judge of this

District. 1 have found in traveling

over the State that he made manyfriends who keep him in remembrance.He is a brilliant lawyer and advocate.

I recall several of his arguments be- :

fore juries which in real eloquencej

and power stand out in my memoryj.

ay. among the best I ever heard. He Is !

endowed with the Irish gift of humorj

which brightens .and i! inminates norj

only hi s public speeches but his pri-j

vate conversation. In many, countiesj

of this State, as well as in his home

county, his love of justice and hishatred of oppression, and the originaland brilliant manner in which theyhave been demonstrated have left alasting impression. Social, genial andloyal to his associates, he has drawnand held a multitude of friends. Heis the only practicing member of theold Bar, Jno. W. Bryan being the onlyother survivor, I trust that he may belong spared for the delight of hisbrethren and the good of the commun-ity.

Swift Galloway, a careful and ac-curate lawyer and model Solicitor, waspossessed of extraordinary powers ofeloquence which often produced greateffects. His sense of humor and his

goodness/ of heart are cherished bythose of us who knew him. After leav-ing the county he represented thecounty of Greene in the House of Rep-resentatives.

Col. W. A. Allen came from Duplinto Wayne shortly after the young menI have mentioned began to practise.He had been a practicing lawyer formany years in Duplin where he hadmade a great reputation as an able,

safe, and learned lawyer. He was thefather of Hons. 0. H. and William R.Allen. He took a large part in publicaffairs in Iris early life: served in the

General Assembly with much reputa-tion as a wise legislator, and renderedvaluable services to his State. It wasalways, hm ambition to go. upon thebench, and he would probably havebeen elevated to that position but for

the fact that while a member of theLegislature in the early ’70s he in-

troduced and secured the passage of

a usury act which so grievously of-

fended a number of the bankers of his

District that they secured his defeatwhen he was a candidate for that

position. He did not live to appreciatethe honors conferred upon his sons,

but his wife and their mother lived

until both her sons were known, hon-ored and respected throughout the

State. Col. Allen died in 1884,

Col. L. W. Humphrey, a native of

Onslow, moved to Goldsboro in the

spring of 1865, and engaged in the

practice of bis profession here, andwas an able and accomplished law-

yer, but with, strong bent towards

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History of Wayne County.42

business. With Hon. W. A. Smith in

the early 7 -i s. Col. Humphrey built the

hotel no”-' known as the Kennon, onEast Centre street, and he was the

first to engage in the erection of

brick business buildings, He served as

president of the A. 6z N. C Railroad,and I have heard it said, made one of

the best presidents that corporationhas ever had. He was the father of

Earle A. Humphrey, at present a mem-ber of this Bar, County Attorney andSolicitor of the County Court, and of

D. C. Humphrey a member of this Barand City Attorney of Goldsboro.Nixon P. CHngruaxu nor. actively en-

gaged In practice, a man of fine liter-

ary attainments and poetical taste,

whose numerous poems found manyadmirers.W. C. Monroe, a genuine Scotch

Presbyterian and a native of Bladen

.

came from Greene to tills Bar in the

early ’SOs, after a successful careerthere. He was a man of unusual in-

tellectuality, of fine literary taste anda learned, industrious painstaking law-yer, a delightful companion and con-versationalist, devoted to his friends

and unswerving in his loyalty. Hewag the author of Munroe's Annota-tions, greatly prized by the Bar of theState. At rhe request of the membersof the Bar. among whom he was re-

garded as better fitted by learning,

training and patient industry than anylawyer of the State, he had begunshortly before his death the prepara- 1

tion of a digest of our Supreme CourtReports, but failing health preventedthe completion of this great undertak-ing and deprived the profession of amuch needed work. He representedthe county in the session of 1895 of theGeneral Assembly.

I have the most pleasant recollec-

tions of the kindness of every one of

these gentlemen from the eldest to theyoungest, Their helpfulness and kindlyconsideration' for their younger breth-ren begot in us an affection that thelapse of years has left undimned.

In 18:81, when I came to the bar, the

officers of this court were W. T. Y el-

verton. clerk, and D. A. Grantham,sheriff. I have already spoken at somelength of Sheriff Grantham. W. T.

Yelverton belongs to one of the old-

families in the county,, and is a

man of intelligence and high, characterand one of the best officials I haveever seen. He taught me about ail I

ever knew about the probate prac-tice. He soon after retired fromoffice and with W. H. Smith formedthe hardware business of Smith &.

Yelverton, to which on the death of

Mr. Smith, he succeeded.In conclusion let us trust that while

this building shall stand the lawyerswho practice here shall have a highsense of their responsibility to their

clients and to the court, may glow in

ability, learning and character, andmaintain the high standard establishedbv the old time bar; that the officers

of the court may sustain the reputa-tion bequeathed to them by their pre-

decessors; that the jurors shall meas-ure up to the requirements of theStatute, and always be men of goodmoral character and of sufficient in-

teligence to discharge properly the

great duties committed to them; that

the Judges who shall preside heremay be men who know the law. lovers

I

of justice, endowed with great; abilities,

of high character, who shall knowneither the person of the poor nor the

person of the rich, administering the

law in the spirit of humanity, doingjudgment in righteousness. May no in-

nocent plan ever be convicted withinthese walls, and may no guilty manescape.

Let us remember the language of

the great Webster that “The Chiefconcern of man on earth is justice.'*’

Let us write over our portals the im-mortal words of Jefferson “Equaland exact justice to all men.”

Note.

T am indebted for much of this ad-dress to that great mine of informa-tion the Colonial and State Records,Wheeler’s History, J. Bryan Grimes’.Notes on Colonial North Carolina.Diary of a Geological Tour of Dr.

Elisha Mitchell, edited by Dr KempP. Battle, L.L.D., the records of theCourts, Unpublished notes on Golds-boro b\ Mrs. Julia Winslow, address,by Nathan O’Berry, Esq... before theChamber of Commerce of the City of

.

-

History of VVavxk County. 43

G,;cG.:mY, IG.J, lion. 1L u, GUeriU,

State Librarian . Hamilton’s Recon-struction in North Carolina, many citi-

zens of Wayne, and especially to Vot, I

History of North Carolina by Capt.

Samuel A. Ashe, the only history of theState that deserves the name, I regardit a serious reflection upon the patriot-

ism of oar people that so few volumeswere sold that, though the materialfor the . second volume completing the

work is ready for publication, the

means are not available to secure it.

i'uore are in the State enough patri-ot ic citizeng; who have the ability to

i

insure the publication of this greatwork who will do it when their atten-tion shall be directed to this public

!

duty.

The people of the State and theirchildren should not lose the benefitsof the labor of this able, scholarly andindustrious North Carolinian whosefamily and himself have largely con-tributed to our past achievements.

N,

w. P. ROSH,

Builder of Wayne County Court House