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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1920)
GROWING, 'T'TTT? l\ ^ t I r ■ |) LIFTING. T=m 1 HL IVIOiSI 11 OK 1 ift> toq! A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS >_ THE BEV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor $3 00 a Year. 10c a Copy_OMAHA, NEBRASKA, NOVEMBER 18. 1920 Vol. VI. No. 21 (Whole No. 281) TOD TOTD-E LTITCEED VICTIM ' FLORIDA MOB, A SUBSTANTIAL AND SELF-RESPECTED CITIZEN Cl> ' 9 DRIVEN FROM HOMES BY MOB AND DWELLINGS SET ON FIRE _ f Reign of Terror Instituted in Florida Town Because Colored American Who Had Registered Sought to Vote—Julius Pe.ry, Whose Effort to Exercise Right of American Citizen, One of Best Respected and Most Substantial Men in His Community WOUNDED TAKEN FROM JAIL AND LYNCHED Thirty Houses, Two Churches, School house and Lodge Building Burned—Inhabitants Driven Into Surrounding Woods Some Being Killed in Flight—Mock Coroner's Jury Returns Usual Verri'ct: "Came to His Death at the Hands of Persons Unknown” , (Special to The Monitor) OCOISE, Fla., Nov. 18.—The true story of the murdering here of in offensive men and women November 2 and 3, growing out of the effort of Jule Perry to vote, is best told In the language of an open letter addressed by the Hon. George B, Lockwood of Washington, It. C., to Governor Catts requesting him to use his authority to bring the guilty persons to Justice. The facts, which were furnished Mr Lockwood by a reputable gentleman residing in that community, thor oughly conversant with the situation, arc reliable. No doubt the general Im pression given by the press dispatches was to the effect lhat Perry was a wortless member of our race. If so, this is erroneous. He was one of the most intelligent, self-respecting and substantial citizens in the community. But here are the facts as given by Mr. Ldckwood who, not being a member of our race and therefore not biased In our favdr, would have no object in misrepresenting the facts: "At Ocoee, Orange county, Fla., on "November 2, a Negro offered to vote He had registered as a voter under the laws of the Htate, but It was claimed that he had not subsequently paid his laws of the state, but it was claimed he bad not subsequently paid his poll tax r and therefore was not eligible to vote. His ballot whr refused. He went away ■and later returned to the polling place got Into an argument with democratic watchers, some hot word's passed and he was knocked down and went, away It was claimed, though not proved that he had a gun hidden in his auto mobile. It is not claimed that he dis played it, or offered to shoot. I "About eight o’clock on the evening * of November 2, a so-called ‘posse’ com posed of about a dozen democratic leaders, went to the Negro settlements, as they claimed, tp ‘disarm’ the blacks. One man forced his way Into a house and was shot. The ‘posse’ then opened fire on the house. The fire was re turned by the Inmates and two white men were killed and several wounded. Then the posse set the house on Are, and the Inmates, Including several women, were burned to death. Then the ‘jiosse’ went from house to houso burning homes and murdering the oc cupants. Thirty houses, two churches, a school house and a lodge building were burned. The ‘posse’ drove all the Inhabitants Into lie surrounding woods, some being killed In Alght. They chased the Negro who had attempted to vote Into a clump of bushes and shot him to pieces, tearing off one arm. He was sent to a hospital, where his wounds were pronouneed fatal. He was put in Jail at. Orlando, Fla., whence he was tnken before morning by a mob, and hanged. This man was one of the best Negro men in the county, respectful, law-abiding and owner of a Ane grove. His name was July Perry. A mock coroner’s Jury , was assembled under the color of law, f and returned the verdict on Perry: ‘Game to his death at the hands of persons unknown.' ‘‘Inoffending Negro men, women and children were attacked next day In the locality without their knowing why; In one case a Negro hoy was driven from a wagon he was driving and chased under a corn-crib, ■where he remained, fearing to come out, forty-eight hours without food or water. “There has been, so far as I am dvised, no investigation into these hoiesale murders; no action by county, state or federal authorities. None, 1 am informed, is contemplated. “You are governor of the state and i minister of ihe gospel. Do you pro pose, by failure to take any action in this matter, to rest under the imputa tion of sympathy with such wanton •rimes, brutally inflicted by savage and lawless men upon helpless peo ple who had not the most remote con c lion with the crime of this regis tered Negro in attempting to vote, if that be a crime? “This inquiry has nothing to do vitli 'social equality;’ no law can fix •ither the inferiority or superiority, socially or otherwise, of any race; no one but a common liar or blockhead Jleges that the republican party seeks to establish ‘social equality’ in the South or elsewhere. It has nothing o do with the franchise laws of Flor ida, which your state has enacted and for which Florida Is alone respon Ible, subject to the provision of the 'ederal constitution that citizens de prived of the ballot shall not be used s the basis of representation in con gress or the electoral college. It has nothing to do with the conduct of the Negro who offered to vote, or even the right or wrong of attacking him for his persistence in the mistaken idea, if it was mistaken, that he was a voter under the laws of your state. “The question is whether such an orgy of slaughter can be carried on s against many helpless and innocent people, by members of your party, for political reasons, or for the sport in volved in murder, without the hand of authority being lifted either to pre ent or punish it in a commonwealth where recently denunciation of ‘Hun •itrocities’ was heard from nearly ev ory pulpit and platform in the stute! Whether, too, such an incident can pass without condemnation from the press and pulpit of your state. “The American people recognize that the race question in the South is one full of difficulty and danger. They would not make it more serious. They fail to see whether such epi sodes as the one just recounted can '•eln to bring it nearer a solution.’’ i,lTTLK JULIUS SNEEZER -__-BYHAKEk [yes SIP, I/VE RAISED l, [THAT SORELY) EVERYTHING 'A'ITHOOTi HAY ME A ( THE AiO Of RAIN T CjUE.S TIN' j j CN OOE rAr-TM! I jil /\H- THE GROOM) [ whV- I VSt I MOST BE MOIST TO to WALK- OYCRj GROW ANYTHING' IT1 WE DID'WT |__ you cavt fool mc 1 NEEDAfOY| RAIKI ’ I i HOW DID VOUR WA> KiNG ] OVER THE F ARM, KEEP | * «■ I NO CLEMENCY FOR MEN CHARGED WITH MURDER LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Nov. 18.— No clemency will be shown in the cases of six Negroes under sentence of death for participation in the Elaine, Ark., riots of last year, aud the fixing of dates for their execu tion awaits only official notice from the United States supreme court that ‘he cases will not be reviewed by that tribunal, Governor Charles H. Brough announced. The governor said he had reached a definite conclusion that these men were guilty of murder in the first de gree and that the sentence imposed ay the courts of Arkansas would not lie commuted by him. The statement was made following a conference with everal residents of Elaine, who rged the governor to allow the sen tences to stand. INDIANS TO ASK FULL CITIZENSHIP BY LAW ST. LOUIS, Mo., Nov. 18.—Enact ment of federal legislation "to grant citizenship without reservation” to members of their race will be urged by the Society of American Indians, according to delegates to the ninth annual conference, which opened here Tuesday. Every tribe in the United States is epresented in the society, it was as orted, and delegates from virtually ill are expected to attend. A present, delegates said, approxi mately 300,000 Indians, representing bout two-thirds of the population of the race in this country, are not citi zens. MAY BE COURT-MARTIALS OVER HAITI KILLINGS PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Nov. 18. —The United States naval court re sumed its sittings Tuesday. It is probable that a dozen marines will :ive evidence relating to charges of individual violence toward natives. Major Jesse F. Dyer, judge advo •ate, returned Monday from Cape Taitien and other points, where he .vent to round up witnesses who had Seen ordered to report here. Although officials are silent, the correspondent learns that the naval '•ourt is gathering evidence on which it is likely several court-martials will he ordered, some of them on charges mf murder committed last year. SEEK TO AMERICANIZE CALIFORNIA JAPANESE SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 18.—An active Americanization campaign will be carried forward among thd Japan ese in California, K. Kanzaki, secre tary of the Japanese Association of America, announced here, following a meeting of the executive committee of the organization. tl.HERMAN ELECTED IN TENNESSEE CLEVELAND, Tenn., Nov. 11.—In Hi- mtftritdpal election held here re ently, Dr. T. E. Stevens, prominent physician of the race, was elected alderman of the Third ward, receiving 107 votes, whereas his closest oppon nt, a white man, received seventy-six votes. The vote of the women figured prominently, they having cast a ma lorlty of votes. „ ASK ENFORCEMENT RTEENTH AMENDMENT the National Association for the Ad vancement of Ihe Colored People Through Its Board of Directors 1 rges Congress to Enforce Consti tution and Reduce Southern Repre sentation. IMPORTANT ISSUE MUST BE FACED Many Newspapers Urgent in Their Advocacy of Enforcement of the Amendment—Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph Editorial Representative of Attitude of Many Northern Newspapers. (By the Associated Negro Press) ■VIEW YORK, Nov. 18.—The board 1 ’ of directors of the N. A. A. C. P. it its regular meeting voted that a ‘elegram be sent to Representative Tsaac Siegel, chairman of the house •ommittee on the census, urging en forcement of the fourteenth amend ment, ar>d consequent reduction of representation in southern states in which colored voters are disfran chised. The telegram follows: “The board of directors of the Na tional Association for the Advance ment of Colored People in behalf of '6,000,000 colored people of the Unit 'd States, urges upon the congress of 'he United States a reapportionment representation in accordance with | Wk Tciins of the fourteenth amend ment to the constitution. “Open and flagrant disfranchise ment of colored voters in a number of states has occurred in the presiden tial election of 1920, of which this association is prepared to furnish evi dence. The board of directors of the N. A. A. C. P. therefore urges that the qualifications for voting be - de fined by the congress of the election laws enforced by the federal govern ment. “Enforcement of this proposal nat urally falls within the providence of the United States government as muchjas enforcement of woman suf frage and prohibition.” Reduction of southern representa tion is going to get an inning in con gress. A number of outspoken news papers have spoken frankly on the subject. The Pittsburgh Chroncile Telegraph, one of the leading daily newspapers of Pennsylvania, speak rng on this important subject, says: "With the 1920 census figures be fore it, congress will soon have to take up the question of reapportion ing the membership of the house. There are now 495 members, on the basis of one for 210,504 persons. A reduction rather than an increase of membership is being strongly urged. This could be accomplished by appor ioning representation on the basis of the presidential vote instead of upon the basis of population. This would reduce the entire membership, but would especially affect the southern representation. The states which do not allow Negroes to vote would be naiticularly hard hit. Section 2 of the fourteenth amendment to the con stitution provides that ‘when the right to vote is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such states being -1 years of age and citizens of the I'nited States, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representa ion therein shall be reduced in the ame proportion which the number of ucli male citizens shall bear to the vhole number of male citizens 21 ears of age in such state.’ The loven states of the ‘solid South’ have fifth of the nation's population, but nit of a total presidential vote of 18,528,743 in 1916 they cast only 1, 96,108 ballots. A condition where eleven southern states, plus Okla homa, have fewer voters than Illinois, but five times its representation in congress and in the electoral college certainly calls for correction. "The situation mentioned does not take into consideration the new wom an vote. Southern members of con gress did not hesitate to declarp, when .ighting the enabling resolution for mbmission of the woman suffrage Amendment, that Negro women would ever be allowed to vote in their sec on. If the South persists in its pol cy of deliberate disfranchisement it 'annot complain if it suffers the di rect legal consequences of its course md has it representation reduced in ongress and the electoral college to •cord with its actual vote at the —oils.” JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CONFIRMED (By the Associated Negro Press) ' NEW YORK, Nov. 18.—The board of directors of the National A. A. C. P., at their regular meeting, con firmed the appointment of James Weldon Johnson as secretary. Mr. Johnson, who ras been serving as acting secretary, succeeds John R. Shillady. Mr. Johnson was formerly United States consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua. He is tre author of “The Autobiography of an Ex-Col ored Man” and “Fifty Years and Other Poems.” Mr. Johnson this spring undertook an investigation of the administra tion of Haiti for the N. A. A. C. P. and his charges were reiterated by Senator Harding, resulting in the ap pointment of a naval board of inquiry and the promise of a congressional investigation. \LLEGED BANDIT IS HELD TO DISTRICT COURT Chris Cochran, giving his home and address as Twenty-fourth and Grant streets, was bound over to the district court on $2,500 bonds on a charge of ■obbery Tuesday, after being posi tively identified by L. S. Smith, 4802 South Thirty-sixth street, as the man who held him up Friday night at Thirtieth and L streets and robbed him of $8, a watch and fob. Cochran was arrested on suspicion by Officers Buford and Ransom Sun day. He had a gun, which Smith said he used when he robbed him. JAILED FOR ILL TREATING CHILDREN (By he Associated Negro Press) PITTSBURGH, Pa., Nov. 18.—The Rev. T. H. O. Messer is under arrest accused of ill-treating minor Negro children who were in his care as the superintendent of the Fairfax Chil dren’s Home. He will be tried in the criminal court. JEWISH REPORTER MAKES DISCOVERY Unearths Colony of Colored Jews in Gotham Who Claim Descent From Esau and Call Themselves “True Jews"—Hold to Old and New Testament Scriptures and Wear Crucifixes. HOLD PECULIAR SABBATIC NOTIONS (By the Associated Negro Press) t NEW YORK, Nov. 18.—A cult of self-styled “true Jew” Negroes have been discovered in Harlem by B. Levi tin, a reporter on the Jewish daily, the Forward. They are led by a chief prophet, a certain mysterious Rober son, who has never yet been produced, and claim to have seventy members in this country. Twelve elders head the board of directors of this organi zation, which, on its letterheads, calls itself “The Hebrew Settlement Work ers’ Association.” When Mr. Levitin, in the interests of American Jewry, traced the claim ants to the title of “true Jews,” he round them holding their*meetings in the back of a co-operative grocery store at 2367 Seventh avenue. This part of the stor e they considered too sacred for his intrusion, hut they con sented to give him the interview un ler a tree at the corner of 135th street and Third avenue. The secretary of the cult was at first afraid to say anything on the ground that the “white Jews” were going to persecute these “real Jews.” • “You white Jews are afraid,” he said, “that we, the real Jews, should lot tell the world the whole truth, that we, the colored, and not you, are he real Jews.” He then declared that the cult con lidered themselves descendants of ^sau, brother of Jacob, who was col 'red. Most of the following, he said, ad been born in Palestine, while oth •rs came from Calcutta, India, but ad been in Palestine. Most of them speak an eastern dialect, possibly Arabic, which they call “God’s lan guage.” Only one of the elders was American bom, but he said that his Barents came from Palestine. The American-born elder said he had learned this “God’s language” in five minutes. Though they claim to be Jewish, many wore crucifixes on their per sons and affirm their belief in both Old and New Testaments. They do not seem to know of any of the Jew sh holidays, according to Mr. Levitin, and do not keep the Sabbath. This omission they explained by saying that since a day of eternal time was 'oual to a thousand years of earthly time, and since the Jews, by their own intimation, are in the five thou sandth temporal year or fifth day (in eternal time) of their existence, the ■'bhath, or seventh day, had still two thousand years in which to arrive. The “Hebrew Settlement Workers” live on the communistic plan, follow ing earthly occupations and paying their wages into a common fund, from which they draw all their necessities. They claim to be maintaining an or nhan, asylum for white and Negro children at Obsecon, N. J., and also somewhere on Long Island. *