little bit.--'White girls in isolated districts exposed to lustful Negro
brutes.' Colored girls in isolated districts exposed to lustful white
brutes; what's the difference? Does the Negro's ruined home amount to
nought? Can man sin against his neighbor without suffering its
consequences? 'Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!' I'll
throw a broadside at that old women, so help me God."

The editor took up his pen and wrote the retort which shook the old
State from mountain to sea, and which enhanced the chances of the white
supremacy advocates who were then planning for an uprising in November.
"_Punish sin because it is sin_," concluded the editor, "_and not
because the one who commits it is black._" The article was commented
upon by the press throughout the State, and "the affrontery of the
Negro" in assailing white women bitterly discussed. _The Record_
advanced from five to twenty-five cents a copy, so anxious was every one
to see what the Negro had said to call for such ado. Threatening letters
began to come in to the editor's office. "Leave on pain of death." "Stop
the publishing of that of paper." "Apologize for that slander," etc. But
the editor refused to apologize, "Suspend or quit." A meeting of
citizens was called, and a colored man sent to advise the editor to
retract, but he was obdurate. Immediately after the departure of the
colored advocate, the owner of the building came in and told the editor
that he was compelled to ask him to move out. He looked around the
office so full of pleasant recollections. The face of "Little
Shunshine," once the writer of the social column whose rolicksome
disposition had robbed labor of its irksomeness in the work-room, beamed
upon him from far over the seas, and rendered the quitting of the old
home a much harder thing to do. But go he must. Colored friends hearing
of his predicament rallied to his aid, and offered him at least a
temporary asylum in one of their buildings. So the office of _The
Record_ was moved into Seventh Street. Excitement soon abated however,
and _The Record_ resumed its work. Those who are inclined to blame the
editor of _The Wilmington Record_ for the massacre of 1898 must remember
that the article was written in August, and the massacre occurred in
November; and that the editor of that paper did not leave Wilmington
until a few days before the massacre, upon the urgent advice of friends.
The whites of Wilmington had need to be afraid of