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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 1920)
r_ _ 11. t:"™" i Thi y Monitor i__ A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS. ___THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor___ $2.00 a Ye >r. 5c a \ _OMAHA. NEBRASKA, AUGUST 12, 1920 Vol. VI. No. 7 (Whole No. 267) CALDWELL FACES « DEATH FEARLESSLY Returned From Overseas, Sergeant Who Shot and Killed Street Car Conductor in Altercation Over "Jim Crow” Seat Fays Penalty On Scaf fold—Had Been Awarded Croix de Guerre for Bravery in Action. PRESIDENT* ASKEl) STAY OF EXECUTION Efforts for Commutation of Sentence to Life Imprisonment Failing, Con demned .Man Expresses Sorrow for Deed—Goes to Execution With Head Erect and Meets Death With a Smile. ANNISTON, Ala., Aug. 12.—Walk ing to his death with firm step and head up, Edgar Caldwell, former army * sergeant, convicted of the murder of Cecil I.inton, December 5, 1918, in an altercation that arose over "Jim Crow” seats in a street car of which Linton was conductor, was hanged last Friday, July 30, at 12 o’clock noon. The case, since it was first brought before the minds of the pub lic, nearly two years ago, has proved one of the most interesting ever tried in the south. Again and again, ef JL forts had been made to have the sen tence commuted to life imprisonment, the case traveling from the state courts to the supreme courts and then to President Wilson. V Sergeant Caldwell had been award ed the Croix de Guerre for bravery in j action in France. Up until Thursday eyvening, it was hoped that his sentence would be commuted, hut when the statement of Governor Kilby of Alabama wiped away the last hope, Caldwell with stood the blow calmly and stated that his fortitude came from God, who he said tiad forgiven him. k Shows Remarkable Courage. & Caldwell retained remarkable cour f age until the end. He was permitted to talk to the crowd of 2,500 persons . who had assembled before the jail shortly before his death. He spoke ■ 45 minutes, delivering an address which brought tears from many of his hearers. There were many wom en among his hearers. Warns Against Liquor The crowd listened mutely to ad monitions by Caldwell to all people to lead higher lives. He appealed es pecially to young men and hoys to avoid liquor habits, and appealed to women to live more uprightly. When his address was concluded, Caldwell was carried inside the jail, j where Captain Holder of the Salva tion Army held prayer with him. He bade his attorney, Charles D. Kline, good byy, declaring that the lawyer had fought a good fight and had done his utmost, and closing with “God bless you” was then carried into the canvas inclosure where the scaffold was erected. Shakes Hands With Mrs. Linton On the way out he stooped down to take the hands of the little son of the dead conductor, speaking kindly to him of his sorrow for the murder of the boy’s father. He shook hands with the little wife of Linton, who had come here from Clay county for the execution. With her also was a baby born since the murder of Lin ton. They witnessed the execution inside the enclosure. It was said that Mrs. Linton had \ made the black death mask which j was placed over Caldwell’s head on , the scaffold. Goes to Death With Smile Caldwell went to his death w'ith a firm step and a smile. About 200 people were adm’ttcd to the inclos- ! ure, all of whom were deeply im pressed by the fortitude of Caldwell. A few minutes before 12 o’clock the loop was adjusted about his heck and the trap was sprung. The breaking of his neck could be heard a block away. Crowds of people from the country districts and nearby towns came here to witness the hanging. On the tops of buildings from which the jail was visible, many men and boys perched to get a view of the hanging. After wards the streets appeared like a cir cus day. Body Taken to Undertaker A Caldwell’s body was taken to a local undertaker following the hang- | ing. His wife, who lives in Uirming- I ham, was not present at the hanging, hut it was at her order that he under taker took charge of the body, pre paring it for regular burial. President Wilson Intervenes t The case was a result of the shoot 1 ~ . IS u T of Linton, an Anniston street car ^ 'uctor, in December, 1918. Fol 1s T his arrest, a long legal battle I ^ the defense’s efforts to have t* fc nee lightened. First the sta .premie court affirmed the jury verdict of first degree murder. Then the case was taken to the fed eral district court, which ruled that it was without jurisdiction. The Unit ed States Supreme court affirmed this decision. Then President Wilson having his attention called to the many unusual phases of the case, asked that the execution be stayed j pending an investigation by the at | tomey general of the United States. His request was never acted upon. HASOMC DIM Ml 1.0DDK MEETS HERE NEXT WEEK Large \ttendanee K Anticipated.— Drandniaster Hunter Enthusiastic Over Conditions of Order. The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Nebraska and jurisdiction A. F. & A. M., will hold its second annual communication in Omaha next week. The sessions open Wednesday morn ing and will close Friday. A large at tendance is anticipated. "I am in formed by the lodges out in the state,” says Grand Master Nathaniel Hunter, "that they will be represented in large numbers. We have had a most suc cessful year. Never before in the his tory of Masonry in Nebraska have we attained the numerical and financial strength which we have at the present time.” PROMINENT PHYSICIAN DIES Dr. William Myron Gordon Passes Away Thursday, August From Heart Failure—Interred in l 'oi est • Lawn < iemeterj Sunday. — Dr. Wm. M. Gordon, a prominent i anil successful physician of Omaha, died suddenly of heart failure Thurs day morning, August 5, at 10:dO. He was interred in Forest Lawn ceme tery Sunday, August 8, at 4 p. m. Rev. W. C. Williams conducted the last religious rites over the remains. Dr. Gordon was a member of the Knights of Tabor, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and United Broth ers of Friendship, all of whom had parts in the funeral ceremonies. Sev eral hundred witnessed the funeral, it being the largest for several years [ in this city among colored people. Taborean hall, in which the services were held, did not begin to accommo date the crowds which sought admis sion. Dr. William Myron Gordon was born in Shelbyville, Ky., October 20, 1806. He received his academic train ing in the public schools of Kentucky and later went to Kansas City', where he married Miss Maggie E. ltainey of Leavenworth, February 0, 1888, to whom were born 12 children, 10 of whom died. He leaves a widow, Mrs. Maggie Elizabeth Kainey-Gordon, and two children, Clarence Raymond, aged 20, and Merriam, aged 24. Dr. Gordon came to Omaha in May, 1802, and worked at the Creighton Medical College, where he later pur sued a course in medicine, graduating from same in 1001. He has been prac ticing in this city ever since. He built up a very wide practice and acquired good property holdings. He opened his drug store at 2120 North Twenty-fourth street, August 4, 1015, and died exactly seven years there after. The citizens of Omaha greatly feel the loss of such a successful profes sional and business man as Dr. Gordon. MOVEMENT FOR INTERNA TIONAL BLACK REPUBLIC Thirty Day Convention Opens With an Attendance of 20,000 Per sons of Color in Madison Squar e Garden, New York.—Delegates Present From Several Countries.—“Africa Free From Strait of Gibraltar to Cape of Good Hope.—A Negro Republic for the Negro, by the Negro, and of the Negro,” Is Slogan and Aim of The Universal Negro Improvement Association. MARCUS GARVEY, PRESIDENT OF ASSOCIATION, PLANS WORLD WIDE ORGANIZATION OF RACE “What Is (food for the White Man of This Age Is Also Good for the Negro. They As a Race Claim Freedom and the Right to Establish a Democracy,” Declares Originator of Great Movement. NEW YORK, Aug. 12.—A thirty-day convention to fake up the prob lems of the Negro race opened Mon day night. August 2. in Madison Square Garden, where 20.000 Negroes made the big meeting place rock when they yelled for an Africa free from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Cape of Good Hope—-an immense Negro republic of the Negro, by the Negro and for the Negro. The 20,000 were delegates and friends of delegates to the convention. For more than two hours they were worked up to a high pitch of enthus iasm by a quartet, soloists and a band. Then Marcus Garvey, President Gen eral of the Universal Negro Ibprove ment Association and leader in the movement to free Africa, stepped to the platform, clad in cap and gown of purple, green and gold. He received an ovation. Five minutes passed be-i fore he could raise his voice. When he did speak it. was to an-! nounce that he had sent a telegram ! of greeting to Eamonn de Valera, “President of the Irish Republic.” The! message read: "Twenty-five thousand Nefero dele gates assembled in Madison Square Garden in mass meeting, representing 4(10,000,000 Negroes of the world, send you greetings as president of the Irish Republic. Please accept sympathy of the Negroes of the world for your cause. We believe Ireland should be fre<a even as Africa shall be free for the Negroes of th wtlrld. Keep up j the fight for a Tree Ireland.” Determined to Be Free. The message was answered by ap plause equal to that which shook the big building recently when Archbishop; Mannix voiced approval of Ireland's | cause. “We are the descendants of a suf-j feeing people,” Garvey began. "We are! the descendants of a people deter mined to suffer no longer. Our fore fathers suffered many years on both hemispheres, many years of abuse from an alien race. "it was claimed that the black man 1 came from a backward people, not knowing and not awake to the bigger callings of civilization. That might have been true years ago, but It is not true today. "Fifty-five years ago the black man was set free from slavery on this con tinent. Now he declares that what is good for the white man of this age is also good for the Negro. They as a race, claim freedom and claim the right to establish a democracy.” When the shouts and whistling from all part of the hall had subsided he continued: " We shall now organize the 400, 000,000 Negroes of the world into a vast organization to plant tne banner of freedom on the great continent of Africa. We have no apologies to make and will make none. We do not desire what has belonged to others, though olhers have always sought to deprive us of that which belonged to us. Will Sited Blood for Ideal. We new Negroes, we men who have returned from this war—we will dis put every inch of the way until we win. "We will begin by framing a bill of rights of the Negro race with a consti tution to guide the life and destiny of the 400,000,000. The Constitution of tiie United States means that every white American would sed his blood to defend that Constitution. Tiie con stitution of the Negro race will mean that every Negro will shed his blood to defend his constitution. “If Europe is for the Europeans then Africa shall be for the black peo ples of the world. We say it; we mean it” Will Strike fr Freedom. “The world is undergoing a reorgan ization and in this reorganization the Negroes shall do no less thau strrike for lreedom. We shall as kthe reason why we cannot enjoy the benefits of liberty” "No more lynchings!” shouted a Negro at the top of his voice. (Continued on Page Three.) ... .7 | ? Notice to Readers ¥ WING to the high cost of publication, we find, X I I in common with most publishers that we will be ;!; forced to increase the retail and subscription prices of our paper. News print paper has in X creased more than four hundred per cent in price, Iino X type composition, time work, wages in general, in fact •{• all costs connected with and incident to publishing a % newspaper have steadily mbunted, until the publishers X are brought face to face with the alternative of either 3* increasing revenue to meet the al»ove mentioned costs ¥ or go out of business. ¥ Beginning with the first issue in Septem X tier the retail price of The Monitor will he fen cents per copy, and the yearly subscription ¥ price will he three dollars. X ¥ Persons paying their subscriptions on or betore X September 2, will receive the present rate of $2.00 per year. With the increase in price we will return to our ¥ former size of eight pages. We wish to assure our readers that we shall l’eturn ¥ a fair proportion of the earnings of the business at the X new price, in the form of a bigger, better and newsier •{• journal. 3; Thanking you for your patronage and support, ¥ Respectfully your, | THE MONITOR ¥ Omaha, Neb., ¥ August 12, 1920. ¥ <**X~X**X»*X"X“X“X,*X,*X”X,<X"X<,X"K,*X"X~X~X"X-X*,X"X“X~X~X**X COMMERCIAL CLUB OPENS LABOR BUREAl Seeks to Secure a Complete Register of Oeenpation^ of All Onr Citizens. Enrollment Is Invited. The Colored Commercial Club of Omaha, which was organized some months ago has secured rooms at Co lumbia Hall, 2420 Lake Street, which are open daily and are in charge of Mrs. Grace Hutton, assistant commis sioner. As the first of the activities of the Commercial Club, of which E. W. Pryor is president, and which seeks to be of service to the commu nity, is the establishment of a free labor information bureau. Through this agency the club seeks to have a complete registry of the occupations ; of all our people in the city, so that | whenever necessary it may assist them in finding suitable employment. All our people are therefore invited to go to the Commercial Club rooms and register their names, occupations and references. The advantage of this is quite apparent. When business houses or others are looking for help and make their wants known to this bureau which they are being requested to do, the bureau will be in a posi tion to know from its register whether it has a man or woman available for the work desired. INTENSIVE TRAINING SCHOOL FOR DOCTORS General City Hospital Provides In tensive Advanced Courses in Path ology and Bacteriology for all Doc tors Who Desire to Enroll. Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 12.—The | Hospital and Health Board of Kansas j City has granted permission to the j i Colored Division of the General Hos- I pital to establish, free of charge, an : j intensive training school m pathology | j and bacteriology to all Negro physi j cians in the country' for one month, i beginning September 1,1 920. This is | ! the first time such an offer has been I i made by any institution in this coun try. The board has spent several I thousand dollars in Quipping the lab oratory to make this work the most beneficial to the physicians from a practical standpoint. Several hours during the day will he devoted to bed-side clinics cover ing the same line of diseases dealt with in the laboratory; dealing with all phases of blood chemistry'; prep aration and administering of vac cines, and the latest technic in auto therapy. Specialists from different portions of the country will appear before the clinics, and in addition to this course, will be given a special course in municipal hygiene, includ ing the protection and care of the milk supply, water supply, and the handling of the garbage system and the control of quarantines of all de scriptions with which a municipality is confronted, whether it be plague or scarlet fever, smallpox or typhoid fever. A coterie of assistants and special ists under the supervision of Dr. Wm. J. Thompkins, who is superintendent of the hospital, will aid in making this course what the physicians in this country most need. It is the purpose of the institution to help those men of the profession who de sire additional scientific and techni cal knowledge so essential to deriv ing at a positive diagnosis in the handling of their cases, thereby ren dering higher efficiency in the work witli an improved standing of the profession generally'. This, in brief, has become the mission of the Col ored Division of the General Hospital of Kansas City, Mo. DETAILED TO TUSKEEE Washington, D. C., Aug. 12.—Lieut. Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Ninth United States cavalry, after serving the re quired time for officers in the Philip pine Islands with his regiment, and recently stationed at the Presidio, San Francisco, has been detailed as professor of military science and tac tics at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. _ RICHMOND CITIZENS PLAN NEW $150,000 HOSPITAL Richmond, Va., Aug. 12.—A $150, 000 hospital to be managed by citizens of the city, will soon be opened in this city. The colored people of Richmond are making heroic efforts to raise the fund in order that the hospital will be opened some time in the early fall. SHOWN KINDNESS BY COLORED PRISONERS Famous Socialist Who Served Term in Federal Prison at Jefferson City, Tells of Some of Her Experiences and of Kindness Shown Her By Race Women. KATE RICHARDS O’HARA EXPRESSES GRATITUDE Bears Testimony to Sympathetic Hearts of Fellow Prisoners Who Brooked Punishment for Helping Her in Illness—Fought for Better Conditions. PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 12.—After spending fourteen months In the Jefferson federal prison, for her political ideals, Mrs. Kate Richards O’Hara (Mrs. Kate Richards O’Hara was pardoned by President Wilson), delivered a most interesting talk in the overcrowded Labor Lyyceum Fri day evening, July 30. When the chair man announced her name, a semi gray-haired, slim woman was seen to arise. At once a storm of cheers and applause, seldom seen or heard, broke out and lasted many moments. Soon the clear, delicate tones of Mrs. O’Hara were heard. “My dear, beloved friends,” she be gan, “again I am with you after a pe riod of two years. It has been that long since I was in your city of Broth erly Love, where the freedom of these United States was proclaimed. In the years I have been away from you I was one of the many prisoners in the largest political prison, which has be come the home of many political pris oners. There I spent fourteen long months, for which I am not sorry nor do I regret.” Fought for Better Conditions. “From the moment I set foot in the prison, my life became a fight for bet ter conditions and humane treatment for the prisoners. At each step I took I was surprised that conditions, such as were, should prevail and endanger human lives. I could not imagine that such unsightly and unbelievable con ditions existed in the land my great grandfather came to for protection and liberty. Was this the kind of pro tection that my father had fought and sacrificed himself for? I could not believe it, and at once bent my efforts toward rectifying this state of affairs. “For instance, as soon as I came in the prison, I was called to take a bath. I was astonished to see a small filthy bathroom from which there just came out an Indian who had spent nine years of her life and who was afflict ed with that horrible sickness, syphil lis. Her whole body was covered with scabs and the ravages of that most terrible disease known to mandkind. rhe water in the tub was filled with dirt from her bath, and in this tub I was told to wash myself. I naturally refused and thanked the matron for her kindness, but she insisted. This meant contact with that contagious disease. Seeing that my protests were to no avail, I consented, and made as if to go in the tub, but at he same time I pulled the plug and let out the water. This peeved my friends (?) md they became angry. Then it was 1 began my campaign to have shower laths installed where sick and well :oukl bathe and eliminate the danger )f contact. I won the fight, and the uaths were installed. “Natuially, I could not sit and eat ’or nothing. I had to become a part >f an electric sewing machine, with a itipulated amount of work to turn out sach day, the same as all criminal prisoners. In this place, among the criminal outlaws, I found many kind, ?ood, and delicate souls. Colored Girl Shows Kindness. “One day I felt sick and could not ;urn out my allotment of work for the lay. The warden came in, and seeing ;his, spoke to me in harsh tones and ;hreatened me with solitary confine nent. The next day I was no better, tnd a colored girl (who had been in for five years) could not stand to see me treated in such a cruel way, nor bear the idea of my being in solitary sonfinement, came over to my ma :hme and took fifteen unfinished gar ments from there and substituted fif teen of her’s that were finished. The warden came in and gave her the soli tary confinement. Later she told me that what she suffered was to her en joyment because she went through j't for me. I decided at once that this Negro had a whiter heart than many of our officials in the justice depart ment. Another Kind Act. “A second and just as noble in IContinued on Page Four.)