m. "And the king followed the bier; and the king lifted
up his voice and wept; and the king said, 'Died Abner as a fool dieth?'"

As we gaze upon the bleeding form of this simple negro, this question
comes forcibly to us: Died Dan Wright as a fool dieth? Was it right for
him to stand alone against such fearful odds? Yes, that the chronicler
in recording this terrible one-sided fight might be able to mention one
act of true bravery; that among so many cowards there was one man.

I knew Dan Wright ever since he was a lad. He was simple, quiet,
unobtrusive; pious in life and glorious in death.

"He was swifter than an eagle; he was stronger than a lion." Over the
humble grave in which he sleeps no shaft of granite rises to point to
passers-by where this martyr to the cause of freedom lies. But when
Justice shall write the names of true heroes upon the immortal scroll,
she will write the names of Leonidas, Buoy, Davy Crocket, Daniel Boone,
Nathan Hale, Wolf, Napoleon, Smalls, Cushing, Lawrence, John Brown, Nat
Turner, and then far above them all, in letters that shall shine as the
brightness of the firmanent, the name of DAN WRIGHT.

Unlike most of the heroes named above, Dan's name will not in this
generation be engraved upon brass or steel, or carved in marble. To an
unsympathetic world he was an outlaw, who raised his arms against kings
and princes, who feel that they have the sanction of God Himself to
trample upon the lowly.

With tall pines as sentinels keeping watch over it, and stars for tapers
tall, the body of this immortal hero lies beneath the soil enriched by
his blood.

"Fleet foot on the corey,
Brave counsel in cumber,
Red hand in the foray,
How sound is the slumber!"

Who killed this simple fellow, and the score of others of his race who
fell on that eventful day? The blame is laid upon the Georgians, who
were invited there to assist in restoring white man's government, when
there had never been any other government in existence there. But who is
really responsible for this cowardly massacre? Wilmington's best white
citizens, by whose invitation and under whose directions the Georgians
acted. And what better market could have been sought for murderers and
cowards and assassins, and intense haters of negroes than Georgia? In
ante-bellum days Georgia outdid all other slave-holding States in
cruelty to its slave population. The North Carolina master could subdue
the most unruly slave by