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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1919)
_i”_j i h iMonitor • i_— A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO TIIE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS. THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor $2.00 a Year. 5c - Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, NOVEMBER 13, 1919 Vol. V. No. 19 (Whole No. 228) Johnsv n Guilty, Jury’s Verdict, District Court _____ JURY FINDS JOHNSON t GUILTY OF ASSAULT Trial of Mail Accused of Criminal At tack I pon Bessie kroupa in Broad Daylight Last July Finished Satur day in District Court. ACCUSED WELL DEFENDED Omaha Branch. National Association for Advancement of Colored People, Believing in Man's Innocence, Em ployed Counsel for His Defense— May Apiteni Case. IRA Johnson was found guilty by a jury in Judge Redick’s court of criminal assault on Bessie Kroupa, an 18-year-old girl, after a trial which occupied practically a whole week. The jury to whom the case was given at 4:30 Saturday afternoon was out over three hours before reaching a decision. Bessie Kroupa, it is alleged, was at- i tacked near her home at 4113 South Ninth street during the noon hour I July 7. The story told by the girl was that as she was one her way to work shortly after 12:30 she met a I Negro dressed in a blue suit and ! wearing a round black hat who, as passed her, suddenly threw Ills arm around her neck, stuffed a handker chief In her mouth, carried her Into a nearby ravine, tied her hands and assaulted her. After accomplishing his vile purpose he went away some distance, but shortly returned and tied her feet so that she could not get away and "squeal” on him. He sat down on a log near her, asked her some questions, wiped his face with his handkerchief, then wiped hers and finally went away. After her assail ant had gone, she succeeded in at tracting the attention of George Krell, a neighbor who was passing the place. He took her home and her parents no tified the police. Ira Johnson, employed at the Bur lington ice house at Gibson, a mile and u half from the scene of the al- | leged crime, was arrested the follow ing morning and taken by the detec tives to the home of Miss Kroupa, who glanced at him through the vine covered porch and cried. "Yea, that’s the man; take him out of my sight.” Johnson had his preliminary hearing in the county court July 18 and was bound over to the district court. He was one of the seventeen prisoners, four colored and thirteen white, hel l for assault or attempted assault in the Douglas county Jail, at the time Will Brown was lynched. The local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of s Colored People interviewed Johnson after his arrest and after verification of his story decided to employ coun sel for his defense. F. H. Howell of the legal firm of Smith, Schall & Howell, who had been employed in other work for the association, was asked if he would take the ease. Mr. Howell's reply was, "It all depends upon the nature of the case. If that fellow is guilty, I feel so strongly against crimes of this character, that I would not defend him for any sum that could be offered me. If, however, after investigation, I believe that he is innocent. I’ll bo willing to defend him; but I’ll toll you frankly, 1 must he convinced of his innocence." In vestigation convinced Mr. Howell of Johnson's innocence and so lie took the case. And hir fee was not $1,000 or anything like it, as The Bee lias falsely stated, to embarrass the case and to make political capital against the senior member of the firm The ease was called for trial last Tuesday. It. was devoted to empanel ing the Jury which, with the Instruc tion of the Jury, was completed Wednesday and the examination of witnesses was begun. The chief wit nesses for the state were: Miss Kroupa, who contradicted several of her former statements, chiefly touch ing the identification of the defendant, but said that now she was positive that Johnson was the man: George Kreil, who found Miss Kroupa after the assault, and who also contradicted several of his former statements, and Charles Wentz, a B-year-old boy who identified Johnson as "a man with humps on his face, had teeth, and wearing a funny shaped high, black cap,” whom he had seen In Riverview park on the morning of July 4; in the same place Sunday morning, July 6. but. wearing a brown cap; and ngnln Monday morning about 11 o’clock near Tenth and Canton streets, wearing a ■ouml black hat. Detectives who ar , ste<l Johnson testified to his actions . the time of his arrest. Questioned by Mr. Howell as to whether they had found any hat of any kind in the bunk car when Johnson was arrested, the detectives said no. The witnesses for the defense were: John SmallB, Eugene Bell, colored, fellow workmen of Johnson’s; George Fahrenbrook, white foreman of the ice house, and Johnson himself. Three young white boys and a Mexican who worked there at the time of John son’s arrest could not be located. Smalls testified that he bunked with Johnson and that they ate their din ner about half past 12 o’clock and that after that they went over by the ice house and lay down in the shade, until about 1:30 when the Mexican, Joe Garcia, came and asked Johnson If he wanted that razor. Johnson said yes, and went over to the Mexican's car, where he borrowed a razor and shaved himself. Bell testified that he reached Gibson around noon on July 7 with a note from an employment agency on Harney street; and that Johnson, whom he did not know, hailed him and after talking with him for a few minutes took him over to the foreman’s shanty and introduced him to the foreman who employed him. George Fahrenbrook testified that shortly after 12 o’clock Johnson brought Bell to him with a note from an employment agency and that he, Fahrenbrook, told Bell to report for work with Johnson on the night shift at 6 o’clock. He testified that he saw .Johnson at the ice house again about 2 o’clock. All these witnesses testi fied that, Johnson at that time was dressed in blue overalls and a khaki shirt and wore an advertising cap, one stated that it was a Charles Denby cigar advertising cap. Johnson de nied that he wras in the vicinity of the crime on the day mentioned. He tes tified that he worked as usual on the night shift and went to sleep, ns was his custom in the morning, getting up about 11 o’clock, soon after which he went to the grocery store near bv and bought some provisions for his din ner; and that he was in conversation with his foreman sometime after 12 o’clock when he took a man who was looking for work over to him. He testified that he was around the ice house all the afternoon until time to go to work at night. He was arrested Tuesday morning while sleeping in his bunk. “When they got me a little ways from the bunk house one of them put his hand in my pocket nnd pulled out a piece of string. I said that wasn’t my string but. they said it was. I never seen the piece of cord before. "J asked them to take me to Mr. Fahrenbrook. that he could testify l hadn't been away from the ice house that day, but they said they didn't have no time. Then they took me to the house where this girl lived. They look me Inside the gate and when we was about 50 feet from the house some woman's voice hollered ’Take that man awaj*.’” Mr. Howell, attorney for the de fense. made a masterly analysis of the evidence and showed how impossible it was for the. defendant to have been in two places at the same time or to have been the man who was dressed one way at 11 o’clock, a mile and a half away and another way at, 12:15, and then back to the scene of the at tack thirty minutes later in the same suit he wore at 11 and then back again in his overalls and cap at the fore man’s shanty about 2 o’clock. He showed how the testimony of wit nesses, with no special objects to serve, agreed as to Johnson’s where abouts at the time of the assault. Ho claimed that Johnson’s identification by Miss Kroupa was by no means be yond question. He closed by saying, "Gentlemen, the evidence shows that this defendant is guilty, of no crime, except, it be the crime of being born black. It is for you to say whether or not he shall be made a sacrifice. Have you the courage and the man hood to render a verdict” according to the evidence. That Is all there is to it. I leave that, question to be an swered by you.” Judge Slabaugh of the county at torney’s office In closing for the state claimed that the Identification of the defendant was complete and urged the Jury to find him guilty. Men arc npver so ridiculous from the qualities which really belong to them as from those they pretend to possess. SENTENCES COMMUTED BY PRESIDENT Soldiers Convicted on Charge of Mu tiny Given Dishonorable Discharge and Ten Years Hard Labor Instead of Death. TUTASHINGTON, U. C„ Nov. 4.—The VV president lias spared the lives of three soldiers of the army who had been sentenced by court-martial “to be shot to death with musketry" They are Privates Headley Braveboy, Pom eroy Jackson and Tom Nelson, 444th Labor Battalion. Quartermaster corps, who were convicted on charges of at tempting to create a mutiny in their battalion at Pisgah, N. C., July 17. j 1918, by disobedience of orders and threatening the lives of Captain Cyrus G. Wood and Second Lieutenant Aaron B. Cronkite, their superior officers. The death sentence was approved by Big. Gen. W. E. Cole, commanding, but was commuted by the president to dis honorable discharge and imprison ment at. hard labor for 10 years in each case. MAN GIVES LIKE TO SAVE CHILD i — Exploit Worthy Carnegie Medal for Heroism. Philadelphia, Pa,, Nov. 8.—In sav ing the life of a 6-year-old boy, Philip j McGilley, a colored man 21 years old, I of Federal street, sacrificed his own October 25th at Franklin and Popular | streets. When he jammed on the brakes of the motor truck he was driv- I ing and swerved toward the curb to escape striking the boy, a Route trolley car. closely following, crashed ' into the rear of the machine and [ hurled it into a telegraph pole. The ; trolley car jumped the track and | crashed the truck like an eggshell, i McGilley's lifeless body was removed I from between the truck and the pole. I while the boy was picked up only , slightly hurt. The hoy, Frederick Brown, started across North Franklin street near | Popular just as the truck of Markovitz ] Brothers, driven by McGilley, came along at a rapid rate. Young Brown was taken to the Children’s Homeo- I pathic hospital suffering from shock ; and bruises, while the police of the Eighth district arrested Harry Wil liams, motorman of the car, who was given a hearing Monday morning. GRAND JURY INDICTS IIEE REPORTER J. Ilnrry Moore (reused of Consplrne) to Commit. Arson Charged With Taking Active Part In Riot. "KIMMIM'P" 1IY CITY 1IA1L, DECLARES REPORTER J. Harry Moore, reporter for The Bee, was indicted Thursday morning | by the grand jury for conspiracy to 1 commit arson. The indictment was returned in connection with the in vestigation «pursuant to the riot of | September 28, when a mob fired the j court house, lynched the Negro, Will j Brown, and attempted to murder I Mayor Smith. Mr. Moore has been accused by i friends of the city administration of incurring their disfavor because of j news stories he has written for The ! Bee, which did not meet with the ap proval of city hall officials. Release Two Witnesses. The indictment against the reporter is said to have been returned mainly | on evidence furnished by a discredited I liquor agent, formerly employed by : the state, and two Other alleged riot- . ers, Ernest Morris and Harold Thorpe, i who got. off with 90-day sentences. ‘‘It, Is a frame-up,” declared the re porter, “and can he traced directiv to the city hall. My information Is that a former slate agent, who has been fired and is now bootlegging, is the man who is responsible for the in formation upon which the indictment was returned. The affair will he traced directly to the Influence of city hall offirfals both in and outside of the grand jury.” Out of Pity. “I was out of the city the afternoon and early part of the night of the riot, ft was after 10 o’clock when f first learned that there had been any [trouble on account of the mob. T can prove this by a dozen witnesses, f hall not stop here, however, because it ean he shown that my indictment Is the result of a conspiracy, and the names of the parties to the deal will I tie given to the public.” 63 LYNCHED IN U. S. IN’ TEN MONTHS, 11 BURNED, 20 SHOT, 1!) HANGED NEW YORK, Nov. 8.—The National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People, 70 Fifth Ave nue, New York, today made public a statement showing that 63 persons wi re murdered by mobs in the United States in the first ten months of 1919. Of the victims 61 were American citi zens and 2 were Mexicans. Fifty-nine of the Americans done to death were Negroes, of whom 11 were burned at stake. “Among the causes for lynching were ‘circulating incendiary litera ture’ and ‘talking of Chicago riot,’ ’’ says tiie statement of the Advance ment association. "Four Negroes were lynched for ‘intimacy’ with white women, one for not turning out of the road for a white boy in au automobile, one for an altercation with a white man and one for being a leader of his race. Georgia led the states with 17 lynchings. Mississippi followed with 10, Alabama and Louisiana dividing the ‘honors’ of third place with 8 lynchings. The tabulations follow: Lynchings in the United States In the First Ten Months of 1919— Ky States. Alabama .(1 white) 8 Arkansas . 5 Colorado .(Mexicans) 2 Florida . 4 Georgia . 17 Louisiana. 6 Mississippi . 10 Missouri .(white) 1 Nebraska . 1 North Carolina . 2 South Carolina. 1 Tennessee . 1 Texas . 3 m _ Total. 63 The manner of lynching was as follows: Burned . 11 Hanged . 19 Shot to death. 20 Beaten to death. 2 Cut to pieces. 1 Browned . 1 Manner unknown . 9 Total. 63 The alleged causes are as follows: Insulting white woman. 5 Alternation with white man. 1 Attempting to pull white woman from horse . 1 Trouble between white and colored cotton mill workers. 1 Assault on white woman. 12 Murder . 18 Insulting white man. 1 Shooting white man. 6 Attempted assault on white woman 4 Result of race riot. 1 Talking of Chicago riot. 1 Not turning out. of road for white boy in auto . 1 Leader among Negroes. 1 Circulating incendiary literature. . I Misleading mob . 1 Boastful remarks re killing of sheriff . 1 Intimacy with white woman. 4 Found under bed in white man’s house . 1 Expressing himself too freely re lynching of Negro. 1 Causes unknown . 1 Total. 63 CO-OPERATE TO PRESERVE RACIAL GOOD-WILL (By Associated Negro Press.) Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 12.—Resolutions pledging support and prayer for the co-operative committees formed by both races were submitted here to 1117 churches, white and colored, as part of the campaign for a better under standing between the races. "Con tinuous rumors of ‘race riots,’ ” also are denounced in the resolutions, which contain a pledge that there shall be no such riots and that those responsible for the rumors shall be hunted out and silenced. METHODISTS TO OPEN GIRLS’ SEMINARY (By Associated Negro Press.) Richmond, Va„ Nov. 12.—Announce ment has been made that, the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Meth odist church decided at a meeting in Detroit to open a seminary in Lynch burg for the education of Negro girlH of the south. The seminary will be built on the site of the Morgan col lege, which was destroyed by fire sev eral years ago. t I SCHOOLS ARE BL A MED FOR OMAHA RIOTING Michigan Professor Says Lynching Re veals Mental Inadequacy in Mob— Says Neither Whites Nor Negroes Fun llo]H> to kill Each Other. “Education and the public school system have failed when race riots can happen,” Professor Charles Mc Kenny of Ypsilanti, Mich., told 400 1 Nebraska teachers last Thursday in the First Methodist church. His talk was a plea for the social sciences. “The killing of even one Negro re veals mental inadequacy in the mob that kills,” he said. “We white per sons cannot logically hope to kill every Negro in the country. There are 10,000,000 of them. Then what avails the death of one? Likewise, the Ne groes cannot hope to kill every white person. Therefore, if neither can eradicate the other stock, then each must learn to live with the other. "Living together does not mean in termarriage or domestic friendships between whites and blacks. It mere ly means that we must arrive at an intelligent and sympathetic under standing of the prablems that basic ally cause race riots. We must ap preciate the fact that the Negroes will not consent forever to be in economic and social bondage. We must not hinder them in their social struggle. We must educate ourselves and allow them to be educated. We must give the Negro the right to prove that the black race has the mental power to emerge from its present status. “I remember well your Omaha riot. A young man of this city, who has a college education, wrote to me. His letter said: ‘I wish I could get a crack at that nigger.’ The remark proved to me that, insofar as his edu cation was concerned, our schools had failed. “A dispatch from Omaha to a New York paper stated that Omaha women approved of the riot and the killing of the suspected Negro. I do not know whether that article reflected the truth. I may, however, hope that Omaha’s women did not approve.” MAN CHARGED WITH RIOT ASSAULT George Davis Indicted on Testimony of Major Smith for Attempt on His Life. George Davis, arrested in Lincoln Saturday, was brought to Omaha and lodged in the county jail to await trial on three charges upon which the grand jury indicted him in connection with the court house riots and the as sault upon Mayor Smith. Davis is charged in one indictment I with assault to murder Mayor Smith and assault to do great bodily injur to Mayor Smith, In another indict ment he is charged with conspiracy I to commit the murder of Will Brown, j who was lynched the night of the riot. It A l'TISTS SEEK TO ESTAM LISH BETTER RELATIONS Chattanooga, Tenn., Nov. 12.—In a declaration of principles and policies, the Colored Baptist educational and Missionary Convention of Tennessee, in Us concluding session here, took an advanced step to bring aliout better relations between the races in Amer ica. ORGANIZE INSURANCE COMPANY (By Associated Negro Press.) Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 12.—Follow ing a series of ijuportant, conferences here between some of the race's most successful and representative busi ness men, a charter has been issued for the incorporation and license of the Supreme Life and Casualty com pany. New Y’ork, N. Y., Nov. 12.—The Brit ish steamship Yarmouth, owned by the North American Navigating Com pany, Ltd., has been chartered through Harris, McClain & Co., of 50 Broad street, by the Black Star Steamship line, with offices at 36 West 135th, of which Marcus Carvey, a Negro editor, Is president. Washington, D. C., Nov. 13.—Inves tigation of the entire colored public school system of Washington Is qsked in a petition, signed by officers of the Parents’ League, which will he pre sented to the house and senate dis trict committees some time this week. I EMMET J. SCOTT RECEIVES LETTER Head of English Department of Vir ginia Military institute Writes Em mett J. Scott, Interesting Letter, by a Southern Pro fessor, in Regard to Injustices Prac ticed oil Race. WASHINGTON, D. C.. Nov. 7.—Pro fessor Robert T. Kerlin, head of the English department or the Vir ginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va., after reviewing Dr. Emmet J. Scott's hook, “The American Negro in tlie World War,” wrote him a letter of appreciation of the contents of the book, and also gave voice to certain expressions with regard to the injus tices visited upon Negro people in America, in the following statement: “Let me say that I have been dip ping into your history of “The Amer ican Negro in the World War’ and reading it with satisfaction. I must, also, in writing to a man who is doing so much for his race, express my ab horrence and shame at the violence now' directed against the Negro. Every man who has any soul in him and pride of humanity must do what he can to remove the blot. * * * “The more I read your race papers, the greater is my sense of your wrongs and your forbearance, the greater my estimate of your virtues and my realization of our sins. What indignation and pain it begets within me to see one part of the wretched human family thus inflicting injury and insult upon another pttrt! My parents were slave-holders of Ken tucky, but could slavery have been more detestable, more infamous than these multiplied lynchings and mob murders? Far from It, I think. My parents, I am sure, loved their Negro servants in the old days, god knows that I desire, above all things, at the present time, to see the descendants of that faithful, kindly, lovable race treated justly and humanly, according to the principles of our national con stitution and the teachings of our re ligion. “Yours cordially. (Signed) ROBERT T. KERLIN.” The leaven is at work. A better south is evidently striving for an ar ticulate voice. Prof. Kerlin is evi dently one of this growing number of enlightened southerners who appre ciates the fact that present conditions cannot continue without hurt to both races. HCILDI-VG HOUSES FOR COLORED TENANTS Enterprising Contractor Helps Out Housing Situation and Encourages Home Ownership. (By Associated Negro Press.) Washington, D. C., Nov. 12.—Six teen new houses, built especially for colored purchasers by Harry Kite, have been put on the market by the Ernest Hall Coolidge Company, Evans building. All of the houses are in the 700 block of Kenyon street. They are of colonial design and modern in every way, containing six rooms and bath. The builder of these homes has felt for some time that the colored popula tions of Washington should be afford ed a chance to acquire on easy terms a house in a better neighborhood than heretofore offered. Extensive building operations are contemplated in the near future by this builder. PROVIDES MORTGAGE LIFTING FUND DePriest Working on Plan to Help Chicago Home Owners Maintain Property. Chicago. Nov. 12.—A fund to help Chicago Negroes lift mortgages threat ening their homes is being established by Oscar DePriest, former alderman of the Second ward, according to an announcement he made in addressing a meeting of the People’s Movement. 2140 Indiana avenue. Further uses of the fund are to obtain fire insur ance for homes of people of his race not already protected. Resolutions "deploring the plans and procedure of the Hyde Park association” were drawn. No rights or privileges grant ed to colored citizens under the Taws of the nation will he sacrificed, and power of segregation will he given no one, according to further clauses of the resolution.