 The Democrat and Red Shirts felt that if they could "demoralize black leaders", the black vote would decrease.On the day of the disfranchisement election in August, one prominent black leader, Abe Middleton, a former Republican county chairman of Duplin County, was symbolically "killed" when his wife found a "pasteboard coffin" in their garden.During a post-election hearing, Middleton testified that there was an increase in shooting near his home.