the election in Wilmington by 6,000 votes, a sizable shift from the Fusion Party's 5,000-vote edge just two years prior. However, the Fusion Party remained intact in Wilmington, the North Carolina city with the greatest concentration of black wealth and economic power. On November 9, Waddell went to the county courthouse where he unveiled The White Declaration of Independence'' with its goal of "asserting the supremacy of the white man." He proclaimed, to the raucous crowd of 600, that the U.S. Constitution "did not anticipate the enfranchisement of an ignorant population of African origin," that "never again will white men of New Hanover County permit black political participation" that "the Negro stop antagonizing our interests in every way, especially by his ballot," and that the city "give to white men a large part of the employment heretofore given to Negroes." Wilmington coup d'état The following morning, Nov. 10th, Waddell helmed a well-coordinated government overthrow, coinciding with other violence occurring around the state. At 8:15am, Waddell accompanied about 2,000 white men to the Wilmington's armory. After heavily arming themselves with rifles, and a $1,200 Gatlin gun, they then went to the two-story publishing office of "The Daily Record." For publishing a "defamatory" article about white women, the mob broke into Manley's publishing press, vandalized the premises, doused the wood floors with kerosene, set the building on fire, and gutted the remains. At the same time, black newspapers all over the state were also being destroyed. In addition, blacks, along with white Republicans, were denied entrance to city centers throughout the state. Following the fire, white vigilantes went into black Wilmington neighborhoods, destroying black businesses and property, and assaulting black inhabitants with a mentality of killing "every damn nigger in sight." As the violence spread, Waddell lead a group to Republican Mayor, Silas P. Wright. Waddell forced Wright, the board of aldermen, and the police chief to resign at gunpoint. Around 4:00pm, Waddell was declared Wilmington's mayor ... a position he retained until 1906. It is estimated that, by the end of the day, Waddell's orders led to the murder of between 60 and 300 black people, and to the banishment of about 20 more. "Race riot" On November 26, 1898, Collier's Weekly published an article in which Waddell wrote about the government overthrow entitled, "The Story of The Wilmington, North Carolina, Race Riots" Despite vowing to "choke the Cape Fear River