est out of Wilmington. If you can
induce them to go to their homes and recognize the authority of the
white people, you can prevent further bloodshed." "I will do my best,"
replied the minister. Dr. Le Grand was placed in a buggy, between two
whites, to protect him against violence. This man of God finished that
day, and the other days of terror to the unfortunate negroes, in
inducing rebellious black citizens throughout the city to submit to
overwhelming odds against them, and staking his own life upon the good
character of this or that man or woman in danger of being killed for
some trivial charge made by a white person, whether remote or recent.

CHAPTER XIII.

Mrs. Adelaide Peterson's Narrative.

New Bedford, Mass., Dec. 19, 1899.

Dear Jack Thorne:

In compliance with your request for a narrative of what I witnessed of
the massacre which took place in Wilmington, N. C., in November, 1898, I
herewith write for the information of the world what happened in the
section of the city known as Dry Pond. The plans for the slaughter of
November 10th had been carefully laid. The negroes, lulled into a
feeling of security by the usual yet unexpected quiet election, were
utterly surprised on the morning of the 10th to find the streets choked
with armed men and boys. The mob, it seems, formed at the Court House,
and dividing itself into bands scattered into every direction, holding
up and searching both black men and women, beating and shooting those
who showed a disposition to resist. On the corner of Seventh and Nun
Streets stands Gregory Normal Institute for colored youth, with Christ
Church (Congregational) and the teachers' home, comprising the most
beautiful group of buildings in the city. This is the property of the
American Missionary Association. The morning devotions had just ended in
this school on the morning of the 10th, and scholars were going to the
different class-rooms, when the report of a gun threw the entire school
and neighborhood into confusion. Children ran to their teachers for
safety, who, with blanched faces, stood dumb with terror, for a mob of
armed whites had already surrounded the buildings and completely blocked
Seventh, Ann and Nun streets. On Seventh street, between Nun and Church
streets, in a small wooden structure, the much talked of _Wilmington
Record_ had found a temporary home, and this was the objective point of
the mob. Surrounding this building, they battered down the