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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1917)
The Monitor A National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Colored Americans ' c/ebraska and the West if* THE F' vA, ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor --- - $1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy ana, Nebraska, Feb. 3, 1917 Vol. II. No. 32 (Whole No. 84 ______ tv ■ _ Colonel Dennison Gets Appointment Popular Jurist and Military Leader Made Assistant Attorney Gen eral of Illinois. APPOINTMENT IS APPROVED The Leading White Dailies Editorially Commend Recognition of Splendid Race Representative. _ Chicago, 111., Feb. 2.—Comments of a very favorable nature have been heard from many quarters on the ap pointment by Attorney General Brun dage of Colonel Franklin A Dennison as assistant attorney general. That the appointment is generally approved is evidenced by the favorable editorial comment of the white dailies not only in this city but throughout the state. The following editorial from the Springfield, 111., News-Record is a fair sample of the comment concerning his appointment: “Corrupt politicians often give ap pointments to unworthy Negroes in order to build up a political machine. They elevate the worst element of the Negro race and discourage the better element. “Attorney General Brundage is not that sort of a politican. He selected a representative of the Colored race last week, as a member of his staff, and he chose a man who is high minded, above corruption and in every respect typical of the progressive Ne groes who are working for the benefit of the race. “Colonel Franklin A. Dennison, of Chicago, who by the action of Mr. Brundage, becomes an assistant attor ney general, has striven to help Ne groes go forward. His life and achievements are an inspiration to every Colored boy. His appointment is a recognition of merit.” GREAT CITY OF EGYPTIAN RELICS - • The Brooklyn Museum announces a gift of Egyptian relics made in mem ory of Charles Edwin Wilbour, one of the greatest American archeologists. It contains some wonderful statutes, heads, pottery, etc., and will prove very valuable to students of the darker races. The Brooklyn Museum has now the finest collection of any museum in the United States with the single exception of the University of Chicago. RISK LIVES TO SAVE 1 COLORED WORKMEN St. Louis, Jan. 2.—Fifty men nar rowly escaped death when tons of molten iron exploded in the plant of the Mississippi Iron company here last week and scattered flames throughout the structure. Seven Colored em ployes were trapped in the burning building, their escape cut off by the flames, but they were heroically res cued by white workmen. The loss is $40,000. GREAT F t)RE OF COTTON PICKERS ON EXHIBITION The exceptionally good example of Winslow Homer, “The Cotton Fuck ers,” is now being exhibited in the handsome new galleries of J. W. Young, Chicago, along with thirty choice modem art pictures. It waB painted in 1876 and purchased by a wealthy cotton spinner of England. The late Hopkinson Smith discovered it and had an American buy it. The picture represents two comely Col ored women in the cotton fields and has been reproduced for the first time.—American Art News. Colored Woman Elected Assistant Postmistress Mrs. Elnora Gresham Made Assistant House Postmistress. An interesting contest before the representatives in the house caucuses ox Friday and Saturday was that in which the assistant to the legislative postmistress was involved. Ten can didates were aspirants for the place, eight of them being from Des Moines. The applicants included two Colored women, Mrs. Elnora Gresham of Ce dar Rapids and Mrs. Frances M. Hall, of Des Moines. The contest finally resolved itself into a three cornered affair between the Colored women and their white opponent. A combination of the Gresham and Hall strength re sulted in putting the Cedar Rapids woman over a winner. This is the first instance in the history of the state of Iowa, a Colored woman has been elected to fill a position in the Iowa Legislature. Mrs. Gresham haB the indorsement of the commercial club of Cedar Rapids, the lieutenant governor-elect and the Iowa Federa tion of Colored Women. PAVLOWA SUGGESTS AN AMERICAN BALLET Madame Pavlowa, the famous Rus sian dancer, has finished her Ameri can engagement and in an interview suggested that America, or more par ticularly, the United States, have an American ballet. She says that the activity and vitality of the native Ne gro and Indian dances afford a wide range for the building of a national dance that will compare favorably with anything that Europe has pro duced. POLLARD SCORES AGAIN The Outing Football Roll of Honor, of the Outing Magazine, again chooses Pollard on its roll of heroes. The person choosing the roll says, “Among backs the writer hands the award for first honors of those he has seen to Pollard of Brown. Even Oliphant of the Army has nothing on this Col ed boy.” NEW YORK SUN KNOCKS OHIO JUSTICE A man in Lima, Ohio, who took part in an attack on the Sheriff with intent to lynch a prisoner, and who was first sentenced to ten “yea1,8 in the penitentiary, is to get off with a public apology for his violence. This is a new idea in penology. Pub lic apologies for murderous assaults should make rapid headway. Instead of twenty years the convicted wrong doer will have another alternative—a public apology publicly made once a year for the rest of his natural life. A capital apology will be the new capi tal punishment.—The Sun. Omaha Lands Another Big Plum General Hooking Offices of World’s Largest Race Feature Film Com pany Locates in Omaha. Los Angleses, Calif. (Special to The Monitor)—The Lincoln Motion Pic ture Company (Inc.) of this city, the luigest and only Negro Film Company in the World producing with regu larity photo-plays written, directed and acted entirely by Colored people, has recently been incorporated in this State at a capitalization of $75,000. Organized and headed by Noble M. Johnson, the leading screen artist of his race, as well as a talented photo playwright and director; this company in its six months of existence has produced and released through its own exchanges the two leading Race feat ure plays before the public, “The Realization of a Negro’s Amibiton,” two reel society drama of the Far West; and “The Trooper of Troop K,” a sensational and thrilling three reel picturization of the historical Carrizal fight. With ten copies of these two plays in daily use, and a third production being produced, the national demand for the productions of this company has made the step of incorporating a necessity. The releasing organization is about completed, with general booking of fices in Omaha, and branch exchanges in the various centers as follows: Chi cago, 3129 South State St., Tony Langston, manager; St. Louis, 3411 Lawton avenue, W. H. King, manager; New Orleans, 531 South Rampart St,. D. Ireland Thomas, manager; Atlanta, 192 Auburn avenue, R. Black, man ager; Philadelphia, 526 South 16th St., Clarence Edward Wells, manager, with negotiations under way for a New York office. The incorporators and directors are Noble M. Johnson, J. Thomas Smith, Clarence A. Brooks, G. Johnson and Dudley A. Brooks. EDITOR ANDERSON HONORED New York, Feb. 2.—James H. An derson, founder and editor of the Amsterdam News, was the guest of honor at a testimonial banquet given by the Manhattan Citizen’s Committee at the Central Casino Thursda Verdict In Favor of Negro Stands Finding of Federal Jury Against Ten nessee Sheriff For $45,000 Must Be Paid. l IS MAN’S HOME HIS CASTLE? Notable Decision Given by Southern Judge. Comments on Terroriz ing Conditions Besetting Race. Nashville, Feb. 2.—In a lengthy opinion, and one which scored the ac tions of the defendants, Judge J. E. McCall, of the federal court, has de nied the petition of former Sheriff J. A. Reichman and certain of his dep uties for a new trial, with the excep tion of the posseman, J. W. King. The latter will have his petition granted. Mr. Reichman and the deputies formerly on his staff, together with the other possemen against whom a verdict for $45,000 was recently ren dered in favor of Mathew Harris, Colored, formerly residing near Caple ville, will appeal from the decision. Deputies of the sheriff blew up the Harris home with dynamite about a year ago in the effort to arrest Man uel Harris, nephew of Mathew, and who, it developed later, was not in the house. Harris was frightfully mangled by the explosion besides be ing wounded by some of the shots fired into the cabin. In his decision Judge McCall de clares the conduct of the deputies "without authority of Law and in fact in violation of the law.” The opinion quotes from Chatham’s speech on general warrants as fol lows: “The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the king of Eng land may not enter; all his force dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.” The opinion includes the statement: “I shall not omit to state that it is undisputed and proven by the mouths of Lee and Lisbon (two of the depu ties) that Mathew Harris was thoughtful enough to thank them that they were considerate enough not to kill him. “None but those who reside in a community with a large Colored popu lation can appreciate the fright that seizes the inmates of a Negro cabin when there comes a rap on the door after dark. What terror stirred the bosoms of Mathew Harris and his family, who were innocent of any wrong-doing, when following the rap came the information that the house was surrounded by officers, with the request that he come out, no one but Harris and those with him may know. The verdict is large, but not so large as to evince caprice, passion or preju dice.”