  In this work we study a {\it gedanken} experiment constructed in order to
test the cosmic censorship hypothesis and the second law of black hole
thermo-dynamics. Matter with a negative gravitating energy is imagined added to
a near extremal $U(1)$-charged static black hole in Einstein-Maxwell theory.
The dynamics of a similar process is studied and the thermo-dynamical
properties of the resulting black hole structure is discussed. A new mechanism
which stabilizes black hole event horizons is shown to operate in such
processes.
