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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1918)
n==n The Monitor • E=n —__.=11 .. '**. -.========= A National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of Colored Americans THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor $1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA. NEBRASKA. MARCH 2. 1918 Vol. III. No. & (Whole No. 137) Prominent Tennesseans Protest Recent Horror Press and Pulpit Are at Last Awakened to the Necessity of Creating Sentiment That Will Result in Suppression of Southern Savagery. CONCERNING LYNCHINGS f IM1IS practice of burning Negro A criminals at the stake and sub jecting them to torture is rank sav agery. It is of no avail to try to ex cuse or modify it, or call it by any milder name. No really civilized peo ple ever indulged a practice of that kind. The Banner is willing to admit the surprising fact that such out breaks occurred in communities where refined and cultivated people live, and where al the outward exhibitions of a Christian civilization are found, but such acts in themselves are unmixed savagery and mark a most painful re version to primitive conditions to the wild men who knew no law, in whom human instincts had not developed and who, lacking the power to administer justice, resorted to merciless cruelty in dealing with those who gave of fense. The Banner hopes to see Tennessee grow beyond the possibility of such revolting deeds, and has long hoped for it, but it is a painful and dis couraging fact that they grow more frequent, more violent and are charac terized by more sickening exhibitions of barbarity. The lynching began with hanging Negroes for rape. It was extended to hanging them for all manner of crimes. Then Negroes were burned for rape and now they are burned and tortured for other offenses. Lynchings are placing the South in the ranks of the backwood, half-civilized people of the earth, and they must be sup pressed. It doesn’t put any better phase on such evil happenings to argue that they have occurred elsewhere. They are wholly evil and without excuse in one place as much as in another, and | our own faults need correcting for j our own sake, no matter what those i of other people in other regions may need. And it is undeniably true that they occur in about the ratio of ten to one in the South. It avails nothing to rave at the critics of the outside world who con demn us when we have given ample cause for all they say. To torture and bum to death a criminal is not civilization, it is not Christian, and there is no defense for such practice. There is a large and enlightened element of Tennessee citizenship to whom the sinister aspect of such hap penings is wholly apparent, and whose minds are not befogged and whose morals are not blunted by the manner of excuse made in their behalf. This element should vigorously assert itself to oppose such practices, and endeavor to awaken the civil authorities to the 'duty of preventing them. They .should try to create a better, higher and more enlightened public sentiment that will not tolerate or give countenance to anything so utterly intolerable. The news ot these constantly re curring lynehings go abroad, and they make on people of other lands the same manner of impression concern ing Southerners that accounts of tin massacres of Armenians by Kurds makes on Americans. When the stoiv' of such happenings get to >ther lands the sympathy is all with the victims and the race that suffers. 1 he South ern wnites are charged with revolt ing brutality because of this lynching, and the trouble is that one such deed in a remotd locality will be charged to the whole South, and y'ears will not eradicate the reproach it puts upon us. Mob violence is no proper way to enforce white supremacy. It de grades the white man and argues his inability to keep order or to properly enforce the law's that he has himseli created. He can best rule by abso lute justice and by commanding uni versal obedience to law. And it is the duty of the white men, the ruling class, to the Negroes, w'hose submission to the law they require, to insure the blacks the full protec tion of the law and absolute justice in its application to them and their af fairs. Nothing less is worthy of a race that asserts its superiority. It is not the Negro’s fault that he is here. He is not an intruder. He 1 is a native to this soil as much as the whites. He is a human being and he is entitled to full recognition of his ; living rights and his humanity. He is in many ways exceedingly useful. The South needs his labor and prefers it to any other. There is serious ob jection to his emigration, and, without any regard to his social and oplitical status, he is entitled to humane treatment and the full protection of the law. Anything else reflects on the white people and works to their detri ment more than it does to that of the Negro. It is an unquestioned fact that no other people in the position of the Ne groes would be so tractable and sub missive to the dominance of a superior race. Hut without regard t?o this fact it is for the reputation of the whites, for the good of the community in gen eral, for its material prosperity and moral advancement that lynchings should cease, and these horrible exhi bitions of mob madness that resort to barbarous cruelty be forever made impossible.—The Nashville Banner, Feb. 14, 1918. THE LYNCHING ATROCITIES By the lit. Rev. Thos. F. Gailor, Bish op of Tennessee, in the Nashville Banner, February 15, 1918. T AM sure that I express the opinion I of thousands of the citizens of Tennessee when I hereby record my solemn protest against the horrible lynching of a Negro man which took place at Estill Springs day before yes terday. I realize that it is futile to attempt by any written word to stem the tide of what Seems to be the popular will; Lut a man can at least declare his abhorrence of such atrocities. This kind of lynching seems to be becoming epidemic in our state. About two years ago a Negro from Fayette county was lynched most barbarously near Memphis, and parts of his body according to the newspapers, carried away as souvenirs. Many citizens of Memphis protested, but they were ig nored. Last winter a Negro man near Memphis was burned at the stake, gasoline was poured over his body, and his head was cut of and taken through the city streets as a trophy. Last fall a Negro was burned to death in Dyersburg and thousands of white men in charge first tortured the mis erable creature with a red-hot iron, “to break his will,” while the victim, al ready shot nearly to death, with one eye hanging out, screamed for mercy, and a thousand white men, with hun dreds of women and children, looked on and were not ashamed. The cruelties practiced in the first instance were designed, it was said, to prevent further crimes; but they have sadly failed of their purpose. And then, in nearly every instance, the officers of the law, having taken a solemn oath to enforce the law, seem to have tamely acquiesced in the law's violation. It is noteworthy that in only one of these four cases was the Negro charged with assaulting a white wo man. We therefore protest against these lynehings, first, because they are a plain violation of the constitution of the United States and make a mockery of our boasted freedom. Whether we like it or not, the Negro is an Ameri can citizen and has a right to a trial before he is punished for a crime. In deed, the constittuion does not limit this right to “citizens,” but declares that any "person” accused of a capital crime shall have this right. This is one of the fundamental principles of government and of civilized society, for which our fathers fought and died; and for us to go to war with Germany in defense of liberty and then calmly permit such violations of the common rights of humanity is a monstrous in consistency. And, secondly, we pro test against these enormities of bru tality because they are barbarous, in decent and degrading. A Christian woman said to me yesterday: “Please do not mention that lynching at Estill Springs before my little boy. It would ; damage his soul even to hear about ; it.” And just think of a human being, a man made in God’s image, with his | eye shot out and his blood spurting I from his wounds, writhing under the tortures of a red-hot iron, and boys and girls looking on and rejoicing in it! There is an old French proverb, no blesse oblige, and it means that su periority of station involves obliga tion. The noble man is gracious to his inferiors. The "superior” race proves its superiority by its refine ment of feeling and by its courage to be merciful. Noblesse oblige—the su perior race damns itself when it adopts the manners and shows the passions of the savage. So we make our protest, and appeal to the men and women of Tennessee who profess to be Christians and be lieve the Bible. “Cursed be their wrath, for it was cruel,” and “He that is cruel troubleth his own flesh;” and Christ says, “He is kind to the un thankful and to the evil; be therefore merciful.” CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE By G. C. Brewer, Evangelist, Winches ter, Tenn., in Nashville Banner, February 18, 1918. AS a constant reader of your edi torials I have noticed that you always deprecate lynchings in the strongest terms and that you also la ment the stigma which these manifes tations of savagery and heathenism bring upon our beloved South. I ap prove the sentiment and heartily en dorse your words. But in view of the recent lynching at Estill Springs and in considering our attitude—the atti tude of the Banner, and of all the rest of us, toward this shameful crime so shamelessly perpetrated right in our midst I cannot overcome the feeling that our preachments against these things after they happen is more or less of a camouflage; a sort of de fense against the criticisms of other states. Why don’t we stop these out rages? Will there be any genuine effort made to apprehend and punish the members of the Estill Springs mob? We know there will not be any such effort. There never is. Was there any effort made to prevent mob violence in this case? Let us consider the facts: The Negro committed the crime Fri- j day afternoon. He was not taken by officers till Tuesday forenoon. We all knew a mob was hunting him and that he would be lynched when taken. County officers were heard to say Friday night that he would be lynch ed. Newspaper reporters from Nash ville come out to report the burning and followed the officers and dogs all night. Yet nobody come from Nash ville or from anywhere else to pre vent mob violence. The Negro was found in Warren county Monday and men from Estill Springs had ample time to go to the scene. Tuesday morning newspapers carried the report that he was found and held at bay. He was captured, after having been wounded about 11 o’clock Tuesday and the report reach ed Nashville in time to be published in the noon edition of the Banner. I was in Nashville and read the report while at luncheon. The Negro was taken to McMinnville and released by the officers of the law and commit ted to the men from Estill Springs who I am told were not officers. These men with their prisoner waited for a train at McMinnville and then came on to Tullahoma where they again waited for a train which leaves Nash ville at 3:30 p. m. The train came, but did not bring anybody with au thority to prevent mob violence. The j men with the prisoner boarded the train for Estill Springs. The county jail is at Winchester where he should have been incarcerated and where his trial should have been held and that train came on to Winchester. Nobody in Winchester, however, was expect ing the Negro brought there. The crowd had gathered at Estill Springs for everybody knew what was to take place. On the streets of Winchester Evangelist Culpepper made a speech and begged the people not to go to Es till Springs to witness the horrible sight. According to schedule the cap tors of the Negro got off the train j with him at Estill Springs and there j he was tortured dftd burned alive. Now in view of these facts, an.l 1 think they can be verified, it seems useless, nay it seems weak and spine less if not hypocritical for us to send up a lugubrious wail about a certain class of ignorant and misguided peo ple bringing a stain on our state and our South. We are guilty of criminal negligence, if not of acquiescence in the brutal deed, and we would as well confess it with bowed heads and take what the Northern papers give us. I doubt if they will give us more than we deserve. Yet let it be understood that I am a Southerner, a native of Tennessee and my people on both sides were Confederate soldiers. I’ll tell you there is no use in dis guising facts. We all know that the common people of our state under stand that nothing will be done when they lynch a “Nigger.” In fact there is a sentiment among them—I am one of them; I was reared among them and I have had opportunity to see five lynchings in my life—that a community that would permit a “Nig ger” to commit a brutal crime and escape lynching would be untrue to our traditions, devoid of chivalry and lacking in real manhood. No doubt of it. Of course they always expect a fevc “high brows” and “sissies” to whine when they see the blood or hear the frying flesh but the real men, the real sons of the South, the de scendants of the Ku KIux are not go ing to let a “Nigger” get by with such crimes. This is the sentiment that exists among a large portion of our people. It is just one of the curses that have been entailed upon us from the days of the carpetbaggers and we need a strong concerted action of the press, the pulpit, the schoolroom, the court room and the governor’s chair to edu cate this sentiment out of our people. Frankly I do not see how we could consistently punish the Estill Springs mob, when no one said to them nay, and they were permitted to go un molested to the shocking deed. MISSISSIPPI FOLKS HELP SOLDIER MOVEMENT Greenville, Miss., Feb. 14.—Last week the Colored Women’s Aid society of this city raised $100 and sent it on to the National Colored Soldiers’ Com fort committee at Washington to help along the fund of $2,000,000 the na-> tional committee is raising for relief work. The Colored people of Green ville have only started in their effort to rank first, in proportion to popula tion, in the amount they will raise for the national committee. — GOVERNMENT CONTROL HAS NOT KILLED JIM-CROW SERVICE Washington, D. C.—Although the government is now in control of the railroads, and the federal statute for bidding discrimination against soldiers in uniform is still the law of the land, Colored soldiers continue to be segre gated in jim-crow cars throughout the South. The appeal of the National Negro Academy made to the President the day the railroads passed under government control, has not as yet se cured relief from jim-crow cars. CONDITIONS CHANGING IN CAPITAL CITY Washington, D. C.—Two advertise ments appearing in a Washington daily last week were straws which showed which way the wind is blow ing for the race. Both were “Wanted” advertisements. One was that of a leading laundry which advertised for “Educated Colored Girls,” and the other was that of a large gentlemen’s clothing and furnishing store which advertised for Colored boys as wrap pers. Both of these were new open ings offered up to the race. The laundry wanted Colored girls for markers, places not heretofore filled by Colored girls, and the employing of Colored boys for wrappers is a new departure for the big men’s clothing store mentioned. The war is proving a great leveler up and leveler down. _ HOG ISLAND PROBE SHOWS WASTE OF MONEY Philadelphia, Pa—The investigation under way at Hog Island shipyard has disclosed the fact that the Amer ican International shipbuilding corpor ation is composed of New York bank ers and millionaires who never built a ship and that expenses have ex ceeded estimates by $8,000,000 in a period of ninety days. All kinds of fancy salaries were paid men abso lutely unacquauinted with the science of shipbuilding. -— The Ne^ro Soldier of America: What We Are Fighting For (Written for The Monitor.) W/E fight—and for DEMOCRACY. ” Lord, we are glad of this sweet chance To brave whatever hells there be Beside the bleeding heart of France! We fight—for all who suffer pain We give our souls in sympathy; We fight that Liberty may reign From Berlin unto Tennessee. In Tennessee—where last we saw Infernal brands of death applied To men—our men—within the law, Yet “lawless” as they moaned and died. In Tennessee—where vain, it seems, Have been the gifts of passing years; Where vain have been the eternal dreams And toil of Lincoln, sad with tears. In Tennessee—where Life’s best part; Rich “pearls are cast before the swine”; CHRIST’S GOLDEN RULE that rules the heart And keeps man nearer the Divine. In Tennessee—where Wrong is Might, With Hate and Horror on the throne; Where GOD’S DEMOCRACY OF LIGHT AND LOVE, it seems, has never shone. In Tennessee—and all her kin Of sister criminals, year by year, Who’ve lost the consciousness of sin, The tenderness that is a tear. We fight—and for DEMOCRACY. We’ll dare Atlantic’s tragic foam— Go “over the top”—Lord, just to see PEACE AND ITS HAPPINESS AT HOME! LUCIAN B. WATKINS, Sergeant (First Class) Medical Department, United States Army. Field Hospital 366, 92d Division, Camp Funston. Hotel Warden, Omaha, Neb., Feb. 23, 1918. Austin, Capital of Lone Star State Not Only the Seat of Government, But Also of Important Educational In stitutions. Race Progressive and Prosperous. IN the midst of a slow, drizzling rain I boarded the I. and G. N. for points north and east. With brief stops at New Braunfels, San Marcos and Kyle I arrived at the city of Aus tin, the capital of the state, situated on the north bank of the Colorado river, with about 40,000 in population, one-third of which is claimed for the race. Austin as a capital is very impres sive and wears well the honor, of be ing the seat of government of the largest state of the Union. Here are also located the state institutions for the insane, deaf and dumb and blind. As the race is segregated, the institu tions provided by the state are equal to those of the other races. The school for the blind is especially worth a visit from any one. You will find that the state is very liberal in its support. It is located in large ex pansive grounds in modem as well as comfortable buildings in charge of an efficient superintendent and corps of teachers. Here are also located two large colleges promoted for the race by Church foundation. The first, Til litson Institute, was founded in 1880 by the American Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church, whose purpose was to give to boys and girls of our race an opportunity of obtain ing a short college course of education. How well they have succeeded is liber ally testified to by the many fine men and women you meet in this section of the country who claim Tillitson as their alma mater. The other, Samuel Huston, is of a later date, being es tablished about sixteen years ago. It was named Samuel Huston, not after the first President of the Republic of Texas, but in honor of a philanthropic Iowan who donated the first $10,000 for the building and support for this school that was established by the Freedmen’s Aid Society. It is ideally situated on a large hill overlooking the residential portion of the city. It consists of five large modern build ings, has an enrollment of 872 stu dents under the care and control of Prof. M. S. Davage and a corps of twenty-one able and efficient teach ers. East avenue, an exceptionally wide boulevard, leads directly past the main entrance. There is connected with the college the Eliza Dee Industrial Home for girls. It is the finest in the entire system of Freedmen’s Aid Schools. It specializes in home economics. The city of Austin you would liken to the city of Washington. Standing on the broad granite steps of the state capitol building, which is the third finest and largest in the United States; built of red granite and fin ished inside in blue and white marble, both products of the state, and look ing south on Congress avenue at the foot of which is the Colorado river, one would imagine himself in Wash ington and following his gaze along Pennsylvania avenue down to the Po tomac. Strange coincidence of top ography and scenery, one the capital of the great United States, the other the capital of the largest state. Austin is the city of homes, 80 per _ cent of the race owning or buying their homes. They are well repre sented in the busines sand professional world as well as holding positions of merit in both state and governmental service. I bade farewell to Austin Thursday morning for Round Rock, which lays no claim to prominence other than it is the place where forty years ago was killed the famous out law, Sam Bass. I spent a day here and passed on to Taylor, my nxet stop. After a busy day I jumped to Thrall, where lives relative number two, my cousin, Mrs. Helen Lafond. Today finds me preparing to move on after spending four pleasant yet wet days as the guest of Prof, and Mrs. J. H. Lafond, who are engaged in educational work at this point, he be ing principal of the city school. I only intended to spend Sunday here, but the long looked for, gladly wel comed, yet disagreeable rains came and I had to—well, if you have ever been in the black land county in a rainy season you know what every body has to do—stay in doors, of course. Well, the rain has ceased and the sun and wind are rapidly drying things up and I am about to be on my way again. FRED C. WILLIAMS,