The Monitor
A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Eight Thousand Colored People
in Omaha and Vicinity, and to the Good of the Community
The Rev. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy. Omaha, Nebraska, April 8, 1916 Volume I. Number 41
Villa Is An American
Negro Claim of Texan
George Bond Alleges That The Hunted
Mexican Was Bom in Baltimore,
Maryland.
FRANCESO’S FATHER MULATTO
Married Woman of Spanish and Mex
ican Blond Who Took Her Son
to Mexico.
Baltimore, Md.—Various reports
from time to time have declared tnat
Villa, the leader of the Mexican revo
lutionary forces, for whose capture
the United States army has invaded
Mexico, is an American Negro. The
Age carried a report some months
ago that he was a former member of
the 10th U. S. Cavalry. It has been
stated by the Rev. Alfred Young, pas
tor of the Eastern M. E. Church, that
he believed Villa to be a long-lost
brother.
The Baltimore American, in its is
sue of March 25, carried the follow
ing story which was given to its
correspondent at Carlisle, Pa., by
George Bond, a native Texan, who de
clares that Villa is the son of a wo
man of Spanish and Mexican blood,
who married a Negro in Baltimore.
A new light is thrown on the per
sonality of Francesco (Pancho) Villa
by George Bond, a native Texan, pass
ing through Carlisle. Bond is known
throughout the Southwest among cat
tlemen as Buck Bond. He declares
that he has known the Mexican revo
lutionary leader practically all of his
life, having worked for five years be
tween 1903 and 1908 with Villa as a
fellow-employee and intimate on u
ranch a few miles outside of the city
of Chihuahua, Mexico.
Bond says that notwithstanding re
ports to the contrary, that he knows
that Francesco Villa was born
in Baltimore, Md. As a child Bond
knew Villa’s mother, who was of Mex
ican and Spanish blood, and who was
married to a mulatto in Baltimore,
from which city she took Francesco to
the southwestern border when the
latter was 12 years old. He heard
her speak many times of bringing the
bandit chief from Baltimore. Working
in close contact with Villa later he
often heard him refer to boyhood ex
periences associated with localities in
and around Baltimore.
Bond repudiates the thought that
Villa is a bad man by nature and says
that although he was by no means in
tellectual, during their acquaintance
he showed a distinct capacity for
handling men, an admirable tact in
acquiring language and dialects and
was always selfrestrained. Bond
thinks the United States government
should know that Villa can raise an
armed force of somewhere around
80,000 men if pushed to the limit. He
believes and frankly states that Car
ranza's subordinates are responsible
for most of the attacks against Amer
icans of late in Mexico.
1
Use the Monitor to Reach the
Colored People of Nebraska, j
THE Z. C. TRACK TEAM
Winners of the Church Quarter Mile Relay Race at the Auditorium,
Friday Evening, March 31, 1916.
Bishop Johnson Tells of Africa and People
The Rt. Rev. J. Albert Johnson, D.
D., the eloquent and scholarly Metho
dist bishop who for eight years has
had charge of the work of that church
n South Africa, deilvered a most in
teresting and instructive lecture on
‘Africa and Her People” in St. John's
A. M. E. church last Thursday night
before a large and appreciating audi
>nce. The lecture was to have been
illustrated with stereopticon views,
but the lantern which had been se
ured did not work satisfactorily, and
o the pictures could not be shown;
but the simple and graphic language
>f Bishop Johnson enabled the audi
ence to make mental pictures of the
people and scenes which he described.
The people of South Africa are
classified as Europeans, which in
dude all white people from whatever
and they may come; Colored people
vho are those of mixed blood result
ng from intermarriage of whites with
he natives; and the natives. The lat
er are divided into various tribes,
differentiated by language, customs,
ohysique and mental capacity. The
anguages of the Africans are n6t
mere tribal dialects, but distinct
highly inflected languages, submit
ting to grammatical constructions and
principles just like Latin, English,
French or German.
The highest types of the Africans
ire represented by the Basutos and
Zulus; the lowest by the Hottentots
md Bushmen. The former are men
>f fine physique, and marked mental
ibility; the latter are small of stature, 1
ilmost dwarfs, and of lower men
ality. The Basutos have never been
I
conquered. The Zulus, too, are a
brave people, with a high sense of
honor which also characterizes all the
higher types of Africans.
The native Africans, despite the
fact that it is customary for them to
be scantilly clad, generally in very
little more than their birthday suit,
are a modest and chaste people. Un
chastity among their women is pun
ishable by death, and a man who vio
lates or dishonors a woman is given
short shrift.
“The work of the Methodist church
among these people is largely educa
tional,” said the bishop, “because
while they are a deeply religious peo
ple, they must be reached through
the intellect and not the emotions.
They pay most respectful attention to
what is said, without showing the
slightest emotion, no matter how
vociferously one may preach. After
the speaker has gone they begin dis
cussing among themselves what he
has said. If the truth appeals to
them they accept and remain loyal
and true Christians. They have no
need of periodical revivals or mis
sions to stir them up to do their duty.”
The lecture was under the auspices
of the Grant Brotherhood.
ONE MORE ISSUE, APRIL 15TH
Before Primaries. This Issue Will
Go to Every Registered Colored
Votes In Douglas County and to
Many in the State. Candidates
Will it be any Advantage to You
to Get Y’our Name Before 2,000
Voters?
From Fair Nebraska
to Sunny Tennessee
Incidents of the Trip and Impressions
Received by Editor on First Visit
to the Southland.
SOME OTHER QUEER IDEAS.
Black and White Have One Entrance
to Street Cars, But Leave by
Separate Exits.
Several readers have been kind
enough to say that they anxiously
look for The Monitor from week to
week because they enjoy reading the
articles on our trip to Memphis. We
are glad that what we have written
has proven of interest and given
pleasure and perhaps not a little in
struction. As a matter of fact, we
don’t believe we have gotten to the
most interesting part yet, because
we have said practically nothing
about Memphis itself or the delight
ful people it was our pleasure to
meet, or of the homes, schools, the
churches and business establish
ments which we visited or saw. So
you see there is lots to come.
Should Be Off the Front Page.
It is customary, you know, in news
papers after one subject has been
run for one or two issues to retire it
from the position of a front page at
traction. By this time we should
be off the front page and giving place
to some more live topic like Villa,
who is the leading current event.
Do you get that? He is leading our
“boys in blue”—no, that’s wrong,
now, for they are in khaki—quite a
chase, and that he is current cannot
be denied, for all the reports we re
:eive say he is still running and run
ning rapidly. We still hold the front
oage, but can at any time gracefully
retire to an iner or back page.
Let us get through with what we
iave called strange inconsistencies in
the observance of queer social cus
toms.
About Street Cars.
The street cars have no partitions
separating the races. All passen
gers enter by the one door. Sugges
tive isn’t it ? All men, whatever their
race or tongue, must enter into life
through the one gateway of human
birth, and all must pass through the
one gate of death. But this aside.
All passengers enter the Memphis
street cars, or all those we saw, by
the same entrance. The front end
of the car carries this notice: “This
end for white people.” The back
end bears the sign: “This end for
Colored people.”
The Colored people must begin at
the back and fill up—the seats, of
course; what else could you think
we meant? Because Memphis is sup
posed to be a “dry” town—we beg
your pardon, city? The white people
must begin at the front end and fill
up—the seats of course—from the
front towards the back. Each race
(Continued on eighth page)
