A National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Colored
Americans of Nebraska and the West
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy Omaha, Nebraska, Jan. 27, 1917 Vol. II. No. 31 (Whole No. 83
Eloquent Speech Delivered
by the Late Dr. Ricketts
Speech Made by Representative from Douglas County
Before Joint Session Nebraska Legislature Feb
ruary, 1895, Nominating John M. Thurston
for United States Senator
The brilliant Richard L. Metcalfe,
now editor of The Omaha Nebraskan,
was the efficient representative of
The World-Herald at the legislative
session of 1895, when Dr. Ricketts
made his eloquent speech nominating
ments and the sentiments of its times.
With an untrodden path before me,
one unmarked by other footprints,
with no beacon hung along by the
hand of precedent to light my path
way, necessity forces me to yield the
THE LATE DU. M. 0. RICKETTS.
the Hon. John M. Thurston. Recog
nizing its worth, Mr. Metcalfe sent
the speech in full to his newspaper
with this opening comment:
Ricketts Is a Power
It remained for Ricketts of Douglas
to take the house by storm. In ex
plaining his vote Dr. Ricketts made a
speech that will be long remembered
by those who heard it. He was fre
quently interrupted by applause. At
the close the crowd cheered Ricketts
right royally, and after adjournment
the members crowded around to con
gratulate him. Dr. Ricketts spoke as
follows:
Mr. Speaker: Some writer has
said that ‘ingratitude is a crime so
base that no man charged with it has
ever been found who was willing to
admit his guilt,’ therefore, I crave
permission to make a few remarks
which gratitude, the noblest of human
passions, impels me at this time to
make. In all ages and all times the
proud race to which you belong has
been prolific in its production of great
men, whose tongues have been touched
by the silvery wand of a magnificent
eloquence with which to voice its senti
hand of reason to that of gratitude
and follow where they may lead.
“I shall spare you and this honor
able body a rehearsal of the wrongs
suffered by the unfortunate people
which 1 have at this time the great
honor of representing. War has with
the blood of thousands of your best
and bravest sons written the story of
that great wrong, and in her fearful
retribution the hand of justice has
placed a corpse at almost every fire
side. When I look around me and see
upon this floor so many men who
placed their lives upon their country’s
altar, men who marched to the inspir
ing strains of the music of freedom
and union, men who fought and bled
all the way from Bull Run to Appoma
tox, that the shackles of human slav
ery might be stricken from millions of
human beings and that they might be
clothed in the robes of citienship, I am
overwhelmed by my sense of a deep
and lasting gratitude. But, sir, when
I reflect that when the union soldiers
were unable to withstand the shock of
war, when the clouds of uncertainty
and doubt hung like a pall over the
destinies of free government, when
the loyal heart of the nation was
clothed in profound sorrow, when, sir,
your flag was being trampled neath
the feet of treason you called upon the
Negro, who responded 200,000 strong
with bare breast and brawny arm,
mingling his blood with that of his
patriotic white comrades for the pres
ervation of the stars and stripes, I
am encouraged in the belief that you
will grant me a patient hearing.
Thirty Y’ears of Uncertainty
“In the southland today there slum
ber in nameless graves 10,000 men
whose rich blood was shed that a party
might be bom among men which
Would inscribe upon its banner that
noble sentiment: ‘A government of
the people, for the people, and by the
people.’ The man for whom I vote
is in my opinion the grandest, ablest
and best living exponent of those prin
ciples, which at one time made the re
publican party the great party of the
people. The conditions as laid down at
Appomatox have never been fairly
complied with and the thirty years of
freedom through which my race has
passed have been as one long night
so cruel in its attendant circumstances
as to crush from out their hearts every
human passion. Did I say all? No.
Hope; man’s earliest, truest and best
friend, the singer of lullaby songs at
the cradle of his infancy, the play
fellow of his childhood, the companion
of his youth, the friend and associate
of his manhood, the staff of his de
clining years, still lives, and during
all the years in which we have been
robbed, whipped and murdered, our
wives and daughters insulted and out
raged, and in some instances for dar
ing to defend their virtue have been
stripped stark naked and before the
jeering rabble of drunken men had
their bare backs lashed until the
blood oozed from every pore, I say,
Mr. President, that even then hope
lingered and whispered patience.
Stand by the Party
“There are some people who taunt
my race with fanaticism and claim
that out of a false sense of gratitude
we blindly adhere to a certain political
party. I retort, sir, that when I re
flect that the republican party has
made possible every step taken by my
people upon the highway of human
progress, clothed the humblest slave
in the robes of citizenship, placed
above his hut the flag, in his hand the
ballot and studded his sky with the
stars of hope, I am forced to the con
clusion that we should be slow to fly
from the evils which they say we have
to others which we know not of.
Let the Bloody Shirt Wave
“If there are those in this audience
today who will in the refinement of
sarcasm accuse us of {waving the
bloody shirt I care not, for I believe
that so long as there remains in this
land a single mother who in the hush
of night steals to her wardrobe to
(bop a tear upon the blue uniform
worn away to the war by a dutiful
son or a loving husband, so long as
there remains a veteran who wears
an empty sleeve or a wooden leg
(Continued on Page 6)
Kentucky Governor
Prevents Lynching
Executive Rushes to Scene by Special
Train and Quells Blood-Thirsty
But Cowardly Mob.
LOCAL RACE MAN PRAISES ACT
William H. Gray Receives Letter of
Appreciation From Governor Stan
ley Who Maintains He Only Did
His Sworn Duty.
Murray, Ky., Jan. 24.—Governor
Stanley made a hurried trip by spe
cial train from Paducah here, Jan
uary 11 to prevent the lynching of
Luke Martin, a Colored man charged
with murder, and that of Circuit
Judge Charles Bush and Common
wealth Attorney Denny Smith, whose
lives were also threatened by the
mob.
Martin is charged with the murder
of a white man and had been held in
the Hopkinsville jail for safe keeping.
When brought here for trial he was
kept in the court house all night under
a heavy guard of deputy sheriffs.
When the case was called counsel for
the defense asked for a continuance
because of the discovery of new evi
dence which had not been fully de
veloped. Judge Bush granted the
continuance and it was then that the
court room mob rushed to the bench
and threatened to lynch the judge
and district attorney unless the trial
was proceeded with at once.
Governor Stanley was rushed here
by special train and announced that
if a lynching took place they would
have a chance to lynch the Governor
of Kentucky first. Facing the mob,
he said, “I am here to uphold the law
and to protect this court, with my own
body if necessary.”
The blood-thirsty and cowardly mob
was quelled by this brave man, who
takes seriously his oath of office, and
the state of Kentucky was saved
from an indelible stain.
William H. Gray, of Council Bluffs,
who is a native of Kentucky, wrote
Governor Stanley commending him
for his prompt and heroic act. He
has received a letter of appreciation
from Kentucky’s chief executive. The
letter shows Governor Stanley’s mod
esty and the high sense of official
(Continued on Page 4)
POLLARD TO BE A DOCTOR
The name of Fred Pollard will live
long in athletic annals. He is the
newest addition to the long list of
athletic stars among the young men
of our race. Pollord is a native of
Chicago and is twenty-one years of
age. He is only five feet six and one
quarter inches high and weighs 150
pounds. He is a great hurdler as
well as football player. He expects
to become a physician and is laying
at Brown university, Providence, R.
I., the foundation for a future course
in medicine.
