230 Chronicles of the Cape Fear Rwer more than any other man, the father of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and was its first president. He was elected governor, in 1836, the first governor chosen by the people—and doubtless selected because of his advocacy of internal improve- ments. ‘He possessed administrative ability of a very rare order; and his administration as governor was one of the most efficient and practically useful which North Carolina has ever known”—and moreover “his hospitality was dispensed so liber- ally, so graciously, and with such a warm and open heart, that it will long be remembered by all who had occasion to visit the capital while he oceupied the Executive Mansion. * Fc Sia whole energies were given to the cause of internal improvements, for the development of the resources of North Carolina, and for the building up of her commercial greatness. ene completion of a liberal system of internal improvements and the establishment of a permanent system of common schools formed the highest objects of his ambition. His career proves that he is well entitled to the proud name of Father of Internal Improve- ments in North Carolina. He was far in advance of his age; but he lived to see the State arouse from her lethargy and adopt the measures he had forecast with sagacity and enlarged and enlightened patriotism.” Addressing the stockholders of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company, Colonel Cowan said: “You must remember that yours was the pioneer work in North Carolina, that it was an experiment, that it was undertaken without sufficient means, that it was condemned beforehand as a failure, that it encoun- tered troubles, trials, difficulties of the most extraordinary char- acter; that nothing but the most indomitable energy, the most liberal enterprise, the most unceasing patience, the most deter- mined spirit of perseverance, could have enabled it to surmount these difficulties. Governor Dudley brought all of these quali- fications to the task and commanded the success which he so eminently deserved. He subscribed a considerable portion of his large estate to its completion. He devoted all his time, all his talents, and all his energies, and that too at an immense loss from the neglect of his private interests, to put it into successful operation. Nor did his services nor his personal sacrifices stop there. When your offices, your warehouses and your workshops, . and all of your machinery which was not then in actual use were laid in ruins by the terrible fire of 1843; when a heap of smouldering embers marked the spot where all of your posses- Notable Incidents 931 sions in Wilmington the day before had stood; when your most ardent friends had begun to despair; when your own merchants had refused to credit you, and, regarded merely from a business point of view, had justly refused, because they had already ex- tended their confidence beyond the limits of prudence; when your long sinking credit was at last destroyed and your failure seemed inevitable—Governor Dudley came forward and pledged the whole of his private estate as your security, and thus, with renewed confidence in your solvency, you were enabled to go on to that complete success which awaited you entirely through his exertions.” Such was the character of the man—a man of generous senti- ments, of high courtesy, of true courage. He set a noble exam- ple, was distinguished in all the practical elements of life, and was eminently good in all of his social relations. ‘Thus his death was mourned as a general loss, and his memory is treas- ured by the people of Wilmington. THE WILKINGS-FLANNER DUEL. On the evening of the 30th of April, 1856, the old New Han- over County Courthouse, on Princess Street in Wilmington, was packed and jammed” by an enthusiastic and excited meeting of the local Democratic association, of which Dr. John D. Bel- lamy was the president, J. D. Gardner, jr., and C. H. Robinson, the secretaries. Eli W. Hall, Esq., a prominent lawyer, was called to the chair and made an eloquent address upon political affairs out of which had arisen a strong party contest for com- missioners of navigation. He showed how Know-Nothing vic- tories had been won over an unsuspecting people, and party issues forced upon a community in whose local affairs they had been previously unknown. Dr. W. C. Wilkings, a prominent young physician and poli- tician, was loudly called for, and he responded in an animated and stirring address (so runs the Journal) in which he por- trayed the absurdity, the nonsense, the arrogance of the assump- tion of exclusive Americanism, made, he said, by the anti-Demo- cratic party. He was followed by Moody B. Smith, a strong _—— who was listened to with close attention, interrupted y frequent applause. At the conclusion of his speech, Mr. Ashe moved a vote of thanks to the speakers. | y SSSEsSaswekoae aaa”