I have been told that several political meetings have been broken up by armed men, using threats, intimidation, and, in some cases, actual violence; that in other cases property has been actually destroyed, and citizens fired on, that several citizens have been taken from their homes at night and whipped; that in several counties peaceful citizens have been intimidated and terrorized by threats of violence to their persons and their property, until they remove their names from the voter registration.
Therefore, I, Daniel L. Russell, Governor of the State of North Carolina, by virtue of authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws, will use all lawful efforts to preserve the peace; and to secure to all the people the quiet enjoyment of all their rights of free citizenship.
And I do further commend and require that all persons who may have entered this State from other states, to leave this State upon pain of being arrested and dealt with according to law.
By the Governor,
DANIEL L. RUSSELL.
Source: The speech above was published in a Populist newspaper on October 26, 1898.