Your letter of November 23rd, which you sign as Chairman of a mass meeting held, as you say, by the citizens of Columbia, has been received. The Governor has read the resolutions protesting against the reported action of the mob at Winston-Salem.

In reply the Governor directs me to say that he regrets the citizens of Columbia failed to get the truth about the unfortunate affair at Winston-Salem before adopting resolutions of protest. The truth is this:-

A negro committed one of the most horrible crimes ever perpetrated by any person, white or black, in North Carolina. A negro, suspected of being the guilty party, was arrested. A mob attempted to get the prisoner, but was met by the police officers and State militia of Winston-Salem, who stood their ground, and, though many of them were wounded, succeeded in dispersing the mob before the troops, which were promptly dispatched to Winston-Salem by order of the Governor, reached the scene. The prisoner was neither killed nor injured, but was fully protected by the officers of the law, one of whom was killed in order to save this negro from being lynched.

The Governor also deplores the action of the mob, but rejoices in the fact that the prisoner is safe, and that nearly a score of those charged with the responsibility for the outburst are behind prison bars or under heavy bond awaiting trial in the courts of this state for a crime, the punishment for which is not less than two, nor more than fifteen years in the State Prison.