N.C. Gen. Stat. § 26-2: Principal liable on execution before surety.

When an execution, indorsed as aforesaid, shall come to the hands of any officer for collection, he shall levy on all the property of the principal, or so much thereof as shall be necessary to satisfy the execution, and, for want of sufficient property of the principal, also on the property of the surety, and make sale of all the property of the principal levied on before that of the surety. (1826, c. 31, s. 2; R.C., c. 31, s. 125; Code, s. 2101; Rev., s. 2841; C.S., s. 3962.)