The Stark County Democrat

MECKLENBURG CENTENNIAL.

The ceremonies of the centennial anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence were opened at noon, Wednesday, in honor of the fact that at noon on the 19th day of May, 1775, a body of delegates met in the old Court House, in what was then the village of Charlottetown, to confer together concerning the relation which then existed between the Province and the King. The conference lasted all that day and night, and on the following morning resolutions were adopted declaring themselves absolved from allegiance to the British crown.

The celebration was conducted in grand style. Governor Chamberlain, of South Carolina, Gov. Hendricks, of Indiana, ex-Gov. Walker, of Virginia, H. M. Polk, of Tennessee, ex-Gov. Vance, of North Carolina, and others addressed the assembled multitude. Illuminations and fireworks followed in the evening.

Doubts may have heretofore arisen in some minds regarding the authenticity of the Mecklenburg declaration, but the deep enthusiasm of this meeting, if it did not convict, left no doubt that the participants were firm in its belief.

One of the saddest things about human nature is that a man may guide others in the path of life without walking in it himself—that he may be a pilot, and yet a cast-away.