"The press and the people should make it known that public sentiment does not condone this thing and will not stand for it," declares Governor Locke Craig yesterday in a statement calling upon the people of North Carolina to let it be understood that they condemn the lynching by Wayne county people of the negro who killed Anderson T. Gurley. Governor Craig understands that there is a determined effort being made on the part of the Wayne county authorities to get at the bottom of the affair. Thus far he has not asserted his prerogative as Governor to take charge of the situation and offer reward for the apprehension of the members of the mob. In ordinary course of matters, it is the policy for the State not to offer rewards until the county has made an offer.

"I was astonished to hear of the lynching in Wayne county," Governor Craig continues. "I had read in the newspapers the harrowing account of the murder of Mr. Gurley which occurred last Thursday. This murder was calculated to excite and enrage the people. There was some talk at the time of lynching, but I understood on Saturday that all such apprehensions had subsided, that the people were quiet.

"There is no excuse for this lynching from any standpoint. The negro would have been promptly convicted by the courts, and would have been executed in the orderly administration of justice. His execution according to law would have been a terrible warning far and wide to all in like cases offending. Without any excuse this mob set at naught the law and did murder on Wednesday morning, because another murder had been committed on the Thursday preceding. The good people of this State cannot stand for this crime. The obligation to bring these men to justice is primarily upon Wayne county. In Old England and Scotland whenever a murder was committed the county or clan was held responsible until the criminal was delivered up for the judgment of the law. Wayne county is now responsible, but the responsibility does not end there. It is on the whole State.

"The good citizens of this State ought to make it known that they condemn this thing, and condemn it severely and with determination. The investigation that has been instituted will not stop until the men who outraged law and civilization be known and punished. The press and the people should make it known that public sentiment does not condone this thing, and will not stand for it, that the officers who are seeking to bring this mob to justice will have the support of those who believe that North Carolina should be a State of law and not a State that can be trampled down in the darkness of night by violence in disguise."