John W. Proctor and Harriet Ayers‘ interracial marriage made the news as far away as Raleigh. A grand jury indicted the couple in the fall of 1894 after a proceeding in which Thomas Hawley (alias Thomas Clark) and James Newsom gave testimony.
The couple were convicted. Proctor was sentenced to 12 months in county jail with permission from the court to hire him out. Ayers’ sentence was suspended on payment of one-half of court costs.
Adultery Records, Wilson County, North Carolina, Vital Records 1880-1915, http://www.familysearch.org.