One of the white gunmen asked Manly where he was headed. Manly mentioned a small town north of Wilmington and said he was on his way to buy horses at a farm auction. He recited the password. The white men told him they were planning “a necktie party” in Wilmington for Alex Manly, the black editor. Manly had a ready reply. He told the men that he, too, was “going after that scoundrel Manly.”
