Onslow-Newhanover County NcArchives Obituaries.....Russell, Daniel Lindsay May 14, 1908 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Bill Gibson bgibson@uncfsu.edu May 19, 2006, 11:39 am Raleigh, News and Observer, May 1908 FUNERAL EX-GOV. RUSSELL [This heading was posted in large bold letters.] --- Dr. E. A. Alderman Delivers Commencement Address --- Duplin Farmer Suffers Loss of Barn, Live Stock, Wagons, Harness, etc., by Fire— Coroner’s Jury Verdict in Case of Supposed Infanticide—Two Prisoners in Jail. (Special to News and Observer.) Wilmington, N.C., May 15.—The funeral of the late ex-Governor Daniel L. Russell was conducted this afternoon at two o’clock from the First Presbyterian church, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, by Rev. Dr. Wells, and Rev. Dr. McClure, of the Presbyterian church, and Rev. R.W. Hogue, of St. James Episcopal church. Members of the bar met the funeral party from the ex- Governor’s late home in Brunswick county and acted as an honorary escort to the church. The remains were interred this afternoon at the family burying ground in Onslow county. News reaches the city today of the burning of the barn and stables of G.R.D. Parker, of Chinquapin, Duplin county, with seven head of livestock, wagons, harness, 300 bushels of corn and other property on Wednesday night. The origin of the fires thought to have been incendiary. An effort was made to get bloodhounds to trail the criminal, but this was unsuccessful. The coroner’s jury, which had been investigating for the past three days the supposed case of infanticide of an unnamed male child of Miss Kate Hewitt, formerly a telephone operator here, returned a verdict this afternoon that the child came to his death through the ignorance or carelessness of the young mother, that the birth of the child was concealed and its body secretly buried by Katie Hewitt, the mother, Fred Walton, who acknowledged the paternity, and Julia Walton, a colored domestic. Walton and the negress are in jail and the young woman is under detention at the hospital, until the preliminary trial, which will be held later. The commencement exercises of the Wilmington High School in the Academy of Music tonight was featured by a scholarly and most eloquent address by Dr. Edwin Anderson, alderman, the theatre’ having been taxed to its capacity for the evening. The distinguished visitor was introduced by Mr. Rountree, chairman of the county board of education. Certificates of graduation were awarrded to seventeen young ladies and gentlemen of the class. --- Ice cream for Sunday dinner, of course. Phone Dughi and he will do the rest. Just tell him what you want. --- Additional Comments: To understand the humor in the way in which the above obituary was presented in the News and Observer, in May of 1908, I have written a brief history of Daniel Lindsay Russell, Jr. The article was placed in a middle column of the page, not even at the top of the column, and nestled amidst commencement address, barn fire and and infanticide reports. Daniel Lindsay Russell was born on August 7, 1845 to Daniel Lindsay, Sr. and Caroline Elizabeth Sanders. He died May 14, 1908 and after funeral services in Wilmington, his body was taken, by train, to Onslow County where he was buried at Hickory Hill (between Maysville and Palo Alto). Between the dates of his birth and death he managed to have an interesting and often controversial life. His mother died shortly after childbirth. His father, Daniel Russell and grandfather, on his mother’s side, D. W. Sanders, were extremely wealthy plantation owners. He became an CSA artillery officer during the Civil War, and his family’s money funded the formation of his unit which initially was stationed at Fort Fisher. Russell soon became bored and, without orders, packed his unit up and headed to the train station to head north, to Virginia, where the “action” was. He was arrested at the station, but due to some political wrangling and manipulation, he became an elected official which exempted him from further service (or prosecution). After the War, he became a judge, and then married his “auburn haired” 2nd cousin, Sarah Amanda Sanders (“Manda”). He also became a staunch Republican, which was unusual in the post-war South, and especially North Carolina. Through the years, he made many controversial appointments and decisions which riled the “white” Democrats. He and Manda were snubbed by the Wilmington social elite for many years. That he was elected Governor of the State of North Carolina in 1896, would appear to have been almost miraculous, if it were not for the fact that politics sometimes does “make for strange bedfellows.” During the election process in 1896, the News and Observer, was vehemently against “ole Dan”. This was definitely before “fair and balanced” reporting, and the N&O is quite comical as to it’s constant, steady, anti-Russell reporting, political cartooning and lampooning. After his election, he and his wife arrived at the Governor’s Mansion in Raleigh, to find that it had been “trashed,” and was without even food in the pantry. In the State House and Senate, his political base fell apart almost immediately, and his term as governor, was ineffective. He truly became one of the most hated governors of North Carolina. At the time of the next election, he took a train down to Brunswick to cast his vote. An assassination plot was formed for when his train arrived in Maxton, N.C., but he was hidden and managed to arrive safely in the Wilmington area. His last years, post-governorship, were spent in intelligent vindictiveness through legal processes, some directed back to the State of North Carolina. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/onslow/obits/r/russell207gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb