or of the Chronicle,
and his patrons, knew that the story was a lie.

While I was at Yanceyville, at the inquest, William Henry
Stephens--(usually called Henry) as I could not at once go home,
thought it would be better for me to stay all night at his late
brother's residence. My sojourn at the dwelling, that night, gave
me my first opportunity to see how it was fortified. The lower
story was protected by thick planks, bullet-proof. The stairway
was fixed with a trap door, which could be let down, by its
hinges, from above; and then no one could go upstairs without
forcing his way against great odds. There was a plentiful supply
of firearms with abundant ammunition. Twenty men could resist
successfully a hundred, or more, if the attacking party had no
artillery. But if a lodgment could be effected below, what could
prevent the firing of the dwelling and the destruction of its
inmates?

Here Stephens had lived and kept his enemies at bay; and he was
as brave as any of them and much more desperate. The cowards who
attacked negro cabins in the dead of night, with overwhelming
numbers, never invaded Stephens's premises, for that sort took no
risks. Yet he felt secure, for he had said that he suffered none
to approach him, but those he knew to be his friends. I suppose
he thought Wiley was his "friend."

Let us go back a few weeks. At spring term (April, 1870) of the
Caswell Superior Court, an alarm was given that the Kuklux were
coming to kill Stephens, Judge Tourgee, and all Republicans and
break up the court. This disquieting intelligence was conveyed to
me by Judge Tourgee himself. At the time, I occupied a room in
Mitchell's house, already mentioned. My apartment, although
joined to the dwelling, had no door opening into the main
building, so that one had to go into the yard to get to the
entrances of that part of the structure. Hon. James T. Morehead,
an aged lawyer, who had been famous in his day, and now attended
the court from habit, occupied a room of the same size as mine,
and opening into it, and detached, as mine was, from the main
building.

On Monday afternoon, the first day of the term, Judge Tourgee
told me that one Hemphill had informed him of the contemplated
raid, and that it was to occur the next Wednesday night.