- "=i i The Monitor i ^—
A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS.
__THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor_
$2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA. NEBRASKA. JULY 8. 1920 Vol. VI. No. 2 (Whole No. 262)
TO SHOW AFRICANS AS
AS THEY ARE IN AFRICA
Mrs. Mitchell Will Visit Africa and
Southwestern Europe and Presen'
the Results of Her Trip in T'
logue Form, by Moving I w
Films, When She Returns in
tember.
(By T. Thomas Fortune.)
NEW YORK, July 8.—Mrs. Elis
abeth M. Mitchell, of Institute,
West Virginia, has decided to do what
no other woman of the Afro-American
race has ever done. That shows in
advance that she is an exceptionable
woman. She has perfected herself in
the making of moving picture films,
spending the better part of the past
winter in New York City for that
purpose.
The number of Afro-American
women who, in recent years, have
shown that they can do exceptional
things in exceptional ways, is one of
the most pronounced and gratifying
signs of the times.
Mrs. Mitchel sailed from New
York June 19, on the steamship Pa
tria, for Marseilles, France, and will
go direct from that port to North
Africa. On reaching what the French
delight in calling “Black France,” she
will take all of the time necessary to
secure the desired negatives, with na
tive color, of the picturesque Arab
and African inhabitants, and of their
homes, public buildings and institu
tions, and mosques and sacred
shrines.
There are no more interesting peo
ple anywhere to Afro-Americans
than the African and Arab inhabit
ants of Northern Africa, of which
ancient Algiers is regarded as the
bright particular gem.
Mrs. Mitchell will then visit the
Biscayas and the Desert of Sahara,
whose weird and miragic mysteries
have been the enigmas and allure
ments of the scholastic and curious of
the ages, and are still as much so as
the Riddle of Nilus. On leaving the
dreamlands of the Orient, she will
visit Italy, Switzerland and dear
France, the most versatile, generous,
brave and brotherly of all of the
peoples of Europe. In France she will
secure negatives in the principal sec
tors where Negro soldiers fired the
European mind with enthusiasm and
respect and snatched fame from the
jaws of death, despite the efforts of
white American officers to prevent
them and to besmirch their achieve
ments with the poisonous detraction
of race prejudice and falsehoods.
Mrs. Mitchell expects to return to
the United States next September.
This will be her third trip to Europe,
which she nas already penetrated as
far as ♦ e North Cape, having been
caught at Imstruck, Austria, and held
up there for a while, upon the out
break of the World War.
Mrs. Mitchell possesses a charming
personality and an interesting career.
She is a graduate of the New Eng
land Conservatory of Music, and has
had charge of the musical department
of the West Virginia Collegiate Insti
tute during the past ten years. When
she returns to the United States the
pictures she will have taken will be
turned into films, which she will ex
hibit personally in our theatres, as
well as in our institutions of learning,
halls and churches, under the man
agement of her husband, Mr. C. E.
Mitchell.
They can’t keep the Afro-American
people down, however they try. They
are tirelessly reaching out of nothing
after something, and making good.
The God of their fathers enables them
to triumph, even in their failures,
over the world, the flesh and the
devil. They keep step with the stars
that travel in the morning and arc
cheered by the music of the spheres,
aa they bravely march on towards the
highest and the best in Christian civ
ilization.
SEVERE STORM
SWEEPS NORTHWEST
St Paul, Minn., July 8.—Seven
persons killed, more than 100 Injured,
and property losses that will aggre
gate hundreds of thousands of dol
lars, were the toll taken by a terrific
wind and electrical storm that swept
Northwestern Minnesota and Eastern
North Dakota June 8th.
SPANIARDS BOMB ARABS
Madrid, July 8.—Three Spanish
airplanes have bombarded strong
holds of rebellious Moroccan tribes
, men at Adouares and Sagara, drop
ping more than 100 bombs and causing
great damage, according to advices
received here.
«
YOUNG WOMAN AWARDED
ROSENWALD FELLOWSHIP
First One of Her Sex to Win Intern
ship in Famous Freedman's Hos
pital.
Washington, D, C., July 8.—Miss
vrrie Jane Sutton- of San Antonio,
' the only woman graduate of the
^ class of Howard University Med
^ 'ollege, is awarded, by the Gen
ducat ion Board for excellent
s ^ hip, the Rosenwald Fellow
Bh, 1,200, that she may pursue
grac ^ ’search work in the field
of me Miss Sutton’s name also
goes a wn in history—the result of
competitive examination—as the first
woman to win interneship at the great
and finely equipped Freeman’s Hos
pital of the District of Columbia, an
nouncement being made at the Com
mencement Exercises of Howard
University.
Thus, reward comes to one who has
diligently and courageously pursued
her study, and who has demonstrated
to her country and to her race the
unlimited possibilities of young col
ored women.
Miss Sutton, as a member of the
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, has held
the highest office of that college or
ganization, and as vice president of
her medical class, is highly esteemed
by all her associates and others.
The list of those selected for in
terns for the year 1920-21 at Freed
man's Hospital follows: Miss Carrie
Jane Sutton, Luther Ovid Baumgard
ner, George Emmett Bell, Joseph
Hunter Brooks, Louis D. Chubb,
James Taylor Davis, Philip Arlis Hll
tou, Willis C. Johnson, Charles Terrel
Lunsford. John Patterson Sampson,
Jr., Orville Itoslyn Sheffield and Ar
men O. Evans.
KELLY MILLER
An Appreciation.
BORN, In 1866—the year that
marked the close of the war
which freed his people from slavery’s
chain, at a time when the Negro was
regarded by most as a being without
soul, or mind, or manhood, Kelly
Miller is perhaps the most striking
demonstration of his own theory—that
man is bigger than all he does, and
that righteous manhood is the true
goal of individual and group en
deavor. It is not the fact that Kelly
Miller Is Master of Arts, Dr. of Phil
osophy, Professor of Sociology and
Mathematics that make him great;
nor is it that he possesses a mind
brilliant, keen and analytical; nor is
it that bis experience has been far
reaching; nor is it that he possesses
the power to translate his thoughts
into written words which are concise
in style and diction that gives to his
work lasting interest. It is the right
eous manhood of the man himself
which leaves an indelible impression
on everything he does, thinks and
writes which makes him great.
“Out of the House of Bondage,” up
from a people submerged and op
pressed, he fought his way to success
and achievement. From Charleston,
N. C., a barefoot boy, he walked to
Howard University, Washington, D.
C. The grit that brought him there
a penniless youth kept him there, so
that the boy who cut grass on a Uni
versity campuB ended by being Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences
of that self-same University. This is
a remarkable example of a self-made
man who in spite of handicaps has
succeeded and achieved.
But it is not success and achieve
ment as the world counts them; it is
the power back of the man that
counts. It is the soundness and hon
esty of character, the uprightness of
purpose, that has made his life the
constructive, worth-while thing it is.
All those who have touched his life,
either by personal contact or by read
ing, have felt this power which radi
men ii uui iuc mau•
Looking at the life of the man, It
la easy for his students to believe that
in life, as In mathematics, a* straight
line Is the shortest distance between
two points. All other paths are long
er. Sin Is but missing the mark. No
wishing nor working can change an
acute or an obtuse angle to a right
angle, for, the fundamental laws of
life admit of no such change. Kelly
Miller, an example of his own philos
ophy of righteousness, puts a personal
power back of his precepts that Is
their greatest recommendation to the
acceptance of others. We will come
back to our starting point—that what
we appreciate most about the man Is
that he Is bigger and better than any
thing he has done or said or written.
Omaha Is proud to have had as
guest Professor Kelly Miller.—M. P.
“NEGROES DID NOT
RAPE DDLDTH GIRL”
EXAMINATION BY DOCTOR DISCREDITS GIRL’S
STORY—ALLEGED VICTIM’S BODY SHOWS NO MARKS,
BRUISES, CUTS, TEARS, SWELLING OR SENSITIVENESS
Stories of Young Couple Do Not Ring True—Young Sullivan’s
Moral Character Questioned—Late Lynching Marked by Sicken
ing Barbarity and Savagery—Priests Jeered and Judges Ignored
—Grand Judy Investigating Terrible Affair—Expected That
Governor Will Remove Murnian—Will Take Years to Live Down
Disgrace.
. (From the Duluth Kip-Saw)
Saturday. June 26.
AFTER investigation and a careful
analysis of allegations, The Rip
Saw is forced to the conclusion that
six Negroes did not rape Miss Irene
Tusken at West Duluth on the night
of Monday, June 14.
Not only did that young woman’i
physical condition, as diagnosed by
a highly reputable and experienced
physician, fail to corroborate the sen
sational story told by Irene Tusken
and William Sullivan, but their tales
do not ring true. They do not square
with nature, human experience and
common sense.
All this being the case, there was
not the slightest excuse, to say noth
ing of reason, for brutality and un
lawfully hanging three Negroes,
thereby putting a lasting stain in the
fair name of the city of Duluth, to
say nothing of murdering the Negroes
and dooming the souls of the disci
ples of lynch law and mob rule.
The whole miserable affair, at this
time and in the light of developments,
is a travesty on humanity, law, or
der and justice.
The lynching of those unfortunate
colored boys was the crowning trag
edy of a generation. The plot was
conceived in a lawless resort, carried
out by hoodlums and permitted by a
weak and incompetent police depart
ment.
It was not so very many months ago
that three sons of wealthy men took
turns at violating a young girl in a
woodland cabin Influence headed
off publicity and punishment for the
dastardly crime.
A local preacher even wrote anony
mous letters threatening to visit the
editor of the Rip-saw with mob vio
lence.
Seduction, morally as had a crime
as rape, is a vocation and a pastime
with many boys of this city who as
sociate with many members of the re
cent mob, if not actually taking part
In the outburst of savagery, barbarity
and lawlessness.
The Ten Commandments seem ob
solete In Duluth, to say nothing of
Minnesota’s laws.
When devoted priests tried to rea
son with the recent mob and to per
suade the leaders to give up their
plans, what was the reply?
"To h—1 with the church! To h—1
with the law ’*
"Did you never have a wife and
daughter?" one priest was asked.
"What office are you running for?"
one flippant lyncher asked another
priest.
Judges of the district court were
utterly ignored by members of the
mob, as well as appeals by prominent
citizens.
For barbarity and savagery, the j
young fiend who climbed the pole and i
kicked the dying Negro in the face
is entitled to the highest badge of In- ,
fa my.
The tough .lack Robinson shows ,
were in Duluth on Monday, June 14. !
Tuesday evening the readers of the
Herald were astounded to read that a
young woman of West Duluth had
been raped by six Negroes, one after
the other, while her escort was forced
to stand by and witness the bestial
act.
James Sullivan and Irene Timken
were the /two who sponsored that
startling tale. They stated that, at.
about 10 p. m., while watching the
circus hands load out the animals, a
band of Negroes grabbed the girl and
dragged her to a clump of bushes
near the D. M. & N. tracks. One Ne
gro was alleged to have put a revol
ver to yonng Sullivan’s head and
then to have held him tightly. Sul
livan claimed that six Negroes, in
turn, forcibly raped the young woman
and that he was required to witness
the horrible sets.
After finishing with the girl, she
Mid her escort maintained, the Ne
groes compelled them to leave the vi
cinity by a circuitous route and for
bade them to go across the circus
grounds.
The two made the street car and
the girl was taken to her home,
where she retired without notifying
her parents of the alleged outrage.
Young Sullivan went to the Missabe
ore docks, where he works as a boat
spotter. His father, Patrick B. Sul
livan, is night superintendent of the
ore docks. The Sullivans live at 2874
Wicklow street.
The Tusken girl lives with her fam
ily at 48.3S West Sixth street. The
father, William E. Tusken, is a mail
carrier and a man of repute.
Young William Sullivan is alleged
to have worked a couple of hours at
the docks, when he told his father
that the Tusken girl had been raped
by six Negroes and that he had been
compelled to witness the outrage.
That is supposed to have been about
2 a. m. Tuesday morning, June 15.
Superintendent Sullivan is alleged
to have at once called up Mr. Tusken
and reported the boy’s allegations.
The police are credited with having
iveived complaint between 2 and 3
a. m. The News Tribune office knew
of it before 4 a. m., too late to get
Into their last edition.
It is alleged that the circus was
overhauled out near the Canadian
Northern yards. It further is alleged
that both the girl and the boy were
taken out there, but that both failed
lo identify a single Negro.
A dozen of the Negro hands were
taken to police headquarters and
given a hard “sweating.” It is
claimed that three of them admitted
guilt and were locked up. At that
time, at least six of them were locked
up. The tough Jack Robinson shows
went on to Virginia and. that after
noon, Chief Murphy went up to the
Queen City and nabbed still another
hunch for witnesses, tt is claimed.
Now get down to a bit of analy
sis, dear reader, and you will find
many things that do not ring true or
properly square up. Of course there
are so many rumors and allegations
that even the grand jury, now in ses
sion, finds it difficult to sift the true
from the false.
In the first place, back of a circus
Is a peculiar place for a decent boy
and a respectable girl, he admitting
to be 17 years and she not exceeding
18 years, at 10 o’clock at night.
There Is no evidence that the boy
fought or tried to defend his com
panion, although a boy with a single
grain of sand would have fought des
perately under such circumstances.
There is no claim that he yelled. That
stuff about a revolver being held to
Ilia head sounds too much like a Nick
Carter novel to be given much cre
dence.
There Is no claim that tne gin
screamed or struggled. Her clothing
was not torn when she got home, al
though it is stated that the mother
has said that one garment was torn
some.
The alleged victim of the alleged
rapists Is credited with saying that
she became unconscious when the Ne
groes grabbed her and started to take
her to the bushes. She next says that
she regained consciousness just, as
they were leaving her. The girl tells
about the Negroes leaving her, yet the
boy claims that they stood by and
directed the departure from the scene
of the outrage.
After being forcibly raped by six
well developed Negroes, Irene Tusken
would have the people of this city be
lieve that she walked to the street
car, went home and to bed, without
saying anything about her horrible
experiences to her parents. Then, a
few hours later, she was able to go
many blocks to attempt to Identify
her assailants.
Any man or any woman who knows
I
anything about human anatomy and,
especially the anatomy of a young
girl and husky young Negro boys,
firmly will believe that such a girl,
undergoing rape by six lusty young
fellows, would have to be taken to a
hospital, if not a morgue, instead of
walking to a street car, going to bed
without attention and then getting up
a few hours later, apparently in nor
mal physical condition.
Sullivan, the gallant young defender
of female virtue, states that he and
the girl were watching the circus pull
up stakes and load out. That being
the case it was a most strenuous time
for hands. A harsh, driving foreman
customarily stands over his men and
pushes them to the limit. It may not
be out of place to ask where was that
foreman and how did he permit a con
siderable number of his gang to go to
the bushes long enough for each and
every one to commit rape, something
not accomplished in an instant, espe
cially with such huge instruments of
tape as most of those Negro boys car
ried.
To one who knows anything about
circuses, a foreman at time of pull
ing up stakes would be right on the
heels of all of his men. Anyway, the
story of that foreman might be inter
esting and profitable to hear.
About S* a. m. the grieving father
of the girl called at the office of a
highly reputable and experienced
•physician in West Duluth. He has
lived in Duluth for many years and
has served the Tusken family profes
sionally at different times.
When the physician arrived at the
Tusken home, he found the girl in bed.
He began his professional services.
There were no marks or bruises on
her face or neck. The girl’s body
was not examined. When it came to
an examination of the organs that
were supposed to have suffered so
cruelly, there was not bruise, scratch,
cut or tear. There was not the slight
est evidence of swelling, inflamma
tion or sensitiveness. That physician
believes, as does the Hip-saw, that
Irene Tusken never was raped by one
Negro, to say nothing of six Negroes.
Some who know young James Sul
livan believe that he would be fully
as dangerous to a young girl as a Ne
gro circus hand. Although young in
years, Sullivan is credited with hav
ing quite an intimate acquaintance
with Old John Barleycorn, the mys
teries of sex and various forms of
low moral endeavor.
Frank Blodgett, the shoe man, and
Johnson and Jermstad, formerly West
Duluth grocers, own cabins a couple
of miles north of Lakewood.
Once upon a time, a small company
of young people went out to Blod
gett's cabin, where they found young
Sullivan with a girl, both of them
drunk. The members of the little
party were so startled and somewhat
scared that they quickly faded away
without driving out the young roy
sterers and trespassers.
About 18 months ago, a company of
high school boys secured Blodgett's
cabin for a little party. Some time
later, Blodgett discovered that his
cabin had been turned upside down
and that it had been befouled in a
way that no one but. low hoodlums
would do. Johnson & Jermstad’s
cabin also was broken open, the fur
nishings turned upside down and the
place left in a nasty condition. Signs
of drunken revelry were evident, such
as whisky bottles, together with hair
pins and other articles of feminine
wear.
Mr. Blodgett informed the boys that
it was up to them to discover the
ones who committed the nuisance,
otherwise they would have to pay
Johnson & Jermstad for the damage
done. The boys got busy and devel
oped the fact that young Sullivan and
a party of roystering boys and girls
had broken in, staid there all night,
engaged in sinful stunts and then
committed the acts of nasty vandal
um.
What an innocent young girl was
doing out there in the dark, behind a
circus tent, with a tough young kid,
may be a subject for thought.
Time, space and personal knowl
edge do not permit a detailed narra
tion of the collapse of Duluth’s police
department and the terrible scenes
Incident to a lynching of three Negro
boys, pleading for mercy and even de
nying guilt to the last.
That allegation of confessions will
await analysis and discussion at a
later day. False confessions often
have been made under duress and as
a result of great fright. Anyone who
knows the primitive Negro character
will not show much surprise at the
confession, especially if the third de
(Conttaued on Page Four.)
A LARGE AHDIEHCE
HEARS KELLY MILLER
Scholarly ty>an of Howard University,
Learned Author and Publicist,
Speaks for the First Time in Oma
ha—Brings Inspiring Message.
STRESSES MANHOOD
AS FUNDAMENTAL
Low Racial Appraisement to Be Dep
recated and Discouraged—Belief in
One’s PotentiaUties a Valuable As
set-Group Loyalty Highly Essen
MaL
t
f I tHAT the Negro is the chief bene
A ficiary of the world war, in en
larged economic and industrial oppor
tunities, in the establishment of the
validity of his political rights in the
United States and in the larger con
cept of his manhood, were some of the
chief points stressed by Kelly Hiller,
dean of Howard University, Washing
ton, D. C., and one of America's ac
credited first scholars before a large
audience in St. John's A. M. E. Church
last Thursday night. It was Dean
Miller’s first visit to Omaha. He is
on a lecture tour through the west,
and Omaha was most fortunate in be
ing included in his itinerary. He is
making a special study of racial so
cial conditions in the various commu
nities visited.
"The history of mankind,” said
Dean Miller, in beginning his scholar
ly address, "is divided' into eras and
epochs. An era is a long period of
time through which a series of events
is imperceptibly moving towards a
crisis. An epoch is some apparently
sudden reformation which directs
movements Into new channels or
brings new forces, physical, moral or
intellectual, into operation. Chris
tianity was such an epoch; bo was the
French Revolution; so was the recent
world war. The result of wars has
been as a rule to raise up the man
who is lowest down. Governments
have been evolved and advanced
through struggle. Pacifism as a the
ory is all right; as an actuality, It is
still far off. We will never have a
perfect earth until we have perfect
people. Until then, deplore it though
we may, we will have war. And the
lesson of history is that the low man
rises. The Negro has been the chief
beneficiary in the United States be
cause of the war. His industrial and
economic opportunities have wonder
fully advanced. This is a great ad
vantage. His political status has
been defined and his property rights
protected by fiat of the Supreme
Court. There has come a sense of
national amity. The war disclosed
that this is not "a white man's coun
try,” but one of our American citizens,
whatever their color. The war showed
the rigidity of moral and ethical
standards. There cannot be two;
neither can* there be two ideas of
democracy. The race needs to believe
in itself. Self-depreciation is to be
deplored. Manhood without artificial
distinctions count. Racial solidarity
is essential.
E. W. Pryor, a life-long friend of
Prof. Miller, who met him when he
first came to Howard University, pre
sided. Brief addresses of welcome
were made by H. J. Pinkett, a Howard
alumnus, and the Rev. W. C. Williams.
The speaker was gracefully introduced
by Miss Corinne Thomas. Several ap
preciated selections were rendered by
a double quartette, among them Kelly
Miller’s "Ode of Thanksgiving” set to
music by Prof. Clark of Kansas City.
DEAD SOI.DIER IS CITED
FOR HEROISM
(By Associated Negro Press.)
Washington, D. C„ July 8.—Russell
Lewis, a young colored soldier who
died here last summer a victim of
tuberculosis, has just been cited by the
War Department for exceptional brav
ery in action.
WILL HOLD COUNTY FAIR.
(By Associated Negro Press.)
Greenvilel, S. C., July 8.—The col
ored people of this county are making
extensive preparations for a big coun
try (air to be held on the 3, 4, 5 and
#th of November. All colored farmers
In the county are to have exhibits at
the fair. Liberal prizes will be warned
among the exhibitors.
LARGEST CITY WEST
OF SAINT LOUIS
Washington, July 8.—With a pop
ulation of 575.480. an increase of
256,282, Los Angeles has outstripped
San Francisco in the last ten years
and has become the largest city west
i of St. Louis.