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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1922)
hm.no- npur j\/l A\TTrFAD - -- to° JL nL IVIUiN 11 UK —thankyou 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, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10th, 1922 Vol. VII—No. 32 Whole Numfoer 343 LOUISIANA COLORED GIRL AN HEIRESS TO $29,000,000 DYER-VOLSTEAD ANTI-LYNCHING BILL PASS'- HOUSE — % Lower House of Nation . 'ature by Vote of 230 4o 119 At. \ ss ure AVhith Makes Lyi. Sv. a letleriil Crime. V — \ THREE NEBRASKANS VOTE Y> 7 Congressman Andrews, Jefferis anti MeLoughlin Vote for the Hill, as Evan* A’oles ‘‘Present,” and Reavis is Silent WASHINGTON, IV C„ Feb. 10.— As was notetl editorially In the Mon itor of last week the House of Repre sentatives, Thursday afternoon. Jan nary 2fith- declared itself in favor of the Federal goverment exerting its authority to free America from the crime of mob-murder bv passing the Dyer-Volstead anti-lynching bill by a vote of 220 to 110. The bill as it was passed carried certain amendments introduced by Representative Vol stead of Minnesota, chairman of the judiciary committee. Three of Nebraska’s five represe tatives voted “Yes” or for the meas ure. Thev wetp Andrews, Jefferis, and MeLoughlin. One, Evans, voted "present.," and one, Reavis, who had bitterly opposed the bill, refused to vote. The hill provides life imprisonment or lesser penalties for persons who participate in lynehings and for state, county and municipal bfficers who fail through negligence to prevent them. Th« measurp also stipulates that the county in which mobs form or kill anyone shaLl forfeit $10,000 to the family of the victim. Except for a few perfecting amend ments offered bv Chairman Volstead of the judiciary committee, amend ment* proposed bv individuals were rejected. One by Representative Trench. Republican. Idaho, would have eliminated the provision requir ing counties to forfeit $10,000 to families of moh_victims. Democratic opponents of the bill, defeated in attempts to recommit it - to the judiciary committee and to j strike out the enacting clause, made j amendments adopted. They declared i the principle of the bill could not Ire j changed by amendments hut express-! ed confidence that the hill would never receive Senate approv Amendments .Accepted One committee amendment approv e) removed from the hill the require ment that counties through which a mob passed should pay a $10,000 pen alty. Another one accepted defined a mob as three or more persons acting together to take human life illegally. The bill originally defined a mob as; five or more persons anting together. During debate, which continued in- i termittently for a month, opponents i of the measure declared it would he j an unconstitutional invasion of states’ j rights and would have a tendency to j increase rather than decrease l.vnch ings. They also charged that Repub- ) lirans were supporting the proposal for political reasons. Proponents, however, contended j that states, especially in the south, | had failed to handle the situation and j that to afford all races protection j guaranteed to them under the federal constitution, it was necessary for the federal government to take a hand. Democrats Favoring Eight Democrats and one Socialist (Ijondon, New York) voted with 221 Republicans in favor of the measure, while 17 Republicans joined 102 Dem ocrats in voting in the opposition. Democrats who voted in the affirm ative were Campbell, Pennsylvania; Oorkran, New York; CullPn, New York; Gallivan, Massachusetts; John son, Kentucky; O’Brien, New Jersey; and Rainey, Illinois. Republicans who voted in the nega tive were Barbour, California; Brown Tennessee; Clouse, Tennessee; Cur ry, California; Hersey, Maine; Jones, Pennsylvania; Kelley, Michi gan; layton, Delaware; Luce, Massa chusetts; Nolan, California; Parker, New Jersey; Robertson, Oklahoma, Sinnott, Oregon; Slemp, Virginia, and Stafford, Wisconsin. DOES THIS FORI) CAR DELIVER BOOZE? A Ford car which bears the license certain places located among the col certain 1 paces located among the col ored people in the northern section of Omaha and delivers a jug, which the Monitor believes to contain rot gut, reason-destroying booze. At all events the Monitor knows two men who frequent one of the places visited regularly by this car and get crazy drunk. N. A. A. C. P. TO OBSERVE ANNI VERSARY The N. A. A. C. P. met with the Congregational church last Sunday ifftomoon. Quit* an appreciative audience was at this meeting anil. several topics of lively interest werej taken up and discussed. The Dyer Anti Lynching Bill came in for its share of the discussion and everybody seemed to be glad that the inie had passed the House of Repre tatlves, and pledged themselves to •ip carry the fight through the Sen ate, by sending telegrams and letters to the Senators from this district urging them to support the bill. Next Sunday is the 13th anniver sary of the Association and the an niversary of one of the greatest statesmen that ever trod the earth— Abraham Lincoln. The day will be fittingly observed by a monster mass meeting and specially arranged pro gram at St. .John A. M. E. church. At this meeting those who are not so well informed on the Association and its .work will have the opportunity of finding out how, when and where it functions. We urge all fraternal bodies to send telegrams and letters to the Senators from this district asking their sup port of the Dyer Anti l.vnching Bill. I HORC VS Cl.l'B HONORS ORGAN IZER AND PRESIDENT The Dorcas Club, of wihoh Mrs. Mattie Penn was organizer and presi dent, and Ivy Leaf Court of Calanthe, No. 138, gave a party last week Wed nesday at the residence of Mrs. R. C. | Price, 2411 North Twenty-second street, complimentary to Mrs. Penn prior to her departure for St. Louis. Ivy Leaf Court presented Mrs. Pnen with $5.00 as a small token of es teem. Mrs. 1). W. Gooden made the presentation. Mrs. Little on behalf I of the Dorcas Club presented her a 1 purse of $10.35; and Mrs. Price in the name of five friends of long standing, Mesdanlhs J. H. Russell, Hon. Phan jnix, Ko> and t'ochran presented Mrs. I’enn with a beautiful bouquet. A | luncheon was served. I W. MANNING DIES AT KNOXVILLE, TENV. ' i Associated Negro Press. Knoxville, Tenn. Feb. 10—J. W. Manning, the only man of color in the j class of 1881 at Yale University, and j said to he the only negro ever obtain- j ing a place on the speaking program [ at a Yale alumni reunion—that of ; last June—is dead at his home here] where he has been a teacher and ex- j ecutivn in the city schools for 40 years. He recently had been recom mended to President Harding for ap-/ pointment as minister to Haiti and was recognized as a scholar of ability. COLORED INSIRANCH COMPANY ENJOYING PROSPERITY. * Associated Negro Press. Denver, Colo. Feb. 1.—The Su preme Camp of the American Wood men of this City announces that ne gotiations are now pending for enter ing the states of California, Massachu setts, North Carolina and New York. It is the plan of the management to make one million and a half of assets its goal for the close of 1922. CANADA REFUSES EXTRADITION OF MATHEW BULLOCK Colored American Youth Charged With Inciting Riot at Norlina' N. C., Is Given Sanctuary by Canadian Officials PROVEN EXEMPLARY CITIZEN Successful Fight is Made Against Re turning Man to Southern State Where he Would be Lynched ns Was His Brother OTTAWA. February 10th.—Do minion of Canada will not permit North Carolina to extradite Mat thew Bullock, a Negro, charged with inciting a riot at Norlina, N. C., and whose extradition the North Carolina authorities have been fighting for for some time, nor will Bullork be de ported to the United States. The Minister of the Interior end Im migration, Charles Stewart, made this announcement on Thursday, January 26th, following a meeting of the Do minion Cabinet, and lie declared fur thor that the immigration authorities at Hamilton, Ontario, would immed iate) v release Rullock from custody. He had hern held pending a decision in the case. The action of the Cabinet was tak en after Mr Stewart had made an analysis of the legal points involved, and the derision was based on the fact that Bullock had proved an exemplary citizen of Ontario, even though he may have evaded the immigration laws in coming into the country’. Af ter the law officers from Nortji Caro Mpa had made request for Bullock's extradition, it was found that he had entered Cannda surreptiously- with only $4.r> in his possession, while the immigration law requires $2.r>n as the minimum sum. The Rullock case has attracted wide attention throughout the United States and Canada, and it was not believed that Canada would surrender Bullock to what was certain to be a summary execution. The Rev. W. Bullock, of Washing ton, D. C., father of the young man, is reported to have joined him at Ham ilton, Ontario. A Review of the Case On January’ 2H, 1921, Bullock's 1 < - ' ear-old brother quarreled with a white grocer in Norlina, N. C., over the incorrect change given him when purchasing some apples. The quar rel precipitated a race riot, in which -ovoral persons were shot, none ser iously. Following the riot, young Bullork was taken from the county jail by a mob and lynched. Fearing that he would meet with a like fate, Matthew Bullock starter! North. Knowing Canada’s reputation for freedom, he sought admission, which the immigrant officers refused. Bullork then entered Canadian terri tory bv crossing the ice at Fort Erie. He broke Canada's law by this act. BACHELOR BENEDICTS GIVE DANCING PARTY One of the social events of the sea son was the dancing party given on Wednesday night at Ben Hur Hall by the popular Bach-Ben^Club. It was largely attended and many handsome gowns were in evidence. CHARLES YOUNG, COLONEL The tilling* just relayed from the Liberian boundary of the passing of Charles Young deeply stirs the emo tions. For there was but one Charles Young and there was*no regular army colonel like him. Upon his shoulder straps the colonel’s eagle I wire a spe cial significance—he had soared to win it and no other of his kind had ,.ver achieved it. For this man’s skin was black. He was of a race despiqpd _an American with the bar sinister stamped upon him. He was of those of our countrymen for whom, so some would have it, there is ordained only tillage, serfdom, the ranks, and the private’s uniform, but never the offic er’s. Distinction and leadership are not to be theirs; good enough they are to be thrown into the maelstrom of a world war by the hundred thousand, but not good enough to lead Others or themselves. Was there not a Con gressman in Washington once who said of our Union thatit "is not worth a curse as long as a distinction exists between Negroes and horses”? Yet here was this man Charles Young who had truly recognized such a distinction, When but a lad he dared to enter the portals of a West Point dedicated to the military caste and the white. For five long year* he endured ostracism and insult. Where others had failed he persevered and triumphed. There was a German general about that time, when it was still fashionable to regard the Prus sians as the ablest sons of Mars, who visited West Point. “What was it,” he was asked, "that you liked best there?” "The best thing I saw was a black cadet in charge of a section of artillery'; that IS a soldier.” And so Charles Young went forth a lieu tenant to rise by steady steps tn the two cavalry regiments of the blacks. He knew Jiow to avoid the pitfalls laid for him; he understood perfectly tha® for him there must be a special code of uprightness and of duty. For him would be fatal the slip that would mean glossing laughter fpr one of a lighter skin. So he bore himself blamelessly and looked daily in the eyes of all men without shame, with out fear, and with a great pride. He had God-given tact; he knew how not to offend and yet how to keep a complete self-respect. He intruded nowhere, yet he asked all the rights of his uniform and so compelled the respect of his associates that, be it set down to the credit of the army, he obtained the justice which alone he asked. So it came to pass that years after he had had his baptism of fire he com manded a battalion of his regiment in the field in Texas where the black men were once slaves, and there he messed for months with his subordinate of ficers, every one of whom was white. It was social equality, if you please, that dreaded scourge to offset which men are burned and hanged each year under the Stars and Stripes. But nothing happened in this organiza tion; there was no friction, no quar rol, and no cataclysm. The heavens above did not fall;' neither did any inspector-general report aught but! what was soldierly and good of this battalion. Perhaps it was because of this, perhaps because it was known that of all the smaller volunteer bod ies of the Spanish war there was none better than Charles Young's Ninth Ohio Separate Battalion (with which no white man served), that when Charles Young was lieutenant colonel and our flag went into Mexico in 1010 he led his entire regular regi ment after its colonel was disabled. It was John J. Perilling who com manded that column sent, fruitlessly, to capture Villa, "dead or alive,” and throughout it was Pershing who kept Charles Young at the head of | the Tenth Cavalry when it would have , been easy to put a white colonel over the black lieutenant-colonel’s head. Alas, the justice of the serv ice end ed there—without question because i Woodrow Wilson, the Southerner, was President. Soon there were military medical men found who dis covered in Charles Young a disease no civilian doctor could ever detect. I Just "Vhen the opportunity to show i what a colored commander could do 1 when the greatest of wars was at) I hand, came for Charles Young the retired list with the full rank of col onel as an undesired sop. Activity was his, yes, hut it would not do to |pt this man show what he could he j in the field. Idleness his spirit could not brook; this "disabled” man was ready for service anywhere. To Li beria, where he had already com ; man led the frontier guard, he went l once more, and there in the iungle on a dangerous reconnaissance the jungle fever claimed him. “Sooner or later,” [he had said in speaking of it, “it gets vnu.” So died one who being a Ne >to, vet distinguished between him self and a horse and smashed to smithereens, as haVe the colored generals in the Franrh armv, the ab surdity that Negroes can follow onl if whites lead. It was the black Tmissnint L’Ouverture and his blacks who successively defeated the veter ans of France, of Spain and of Eng land on the fields of Haiti. There was the stuff of L’Ouverture in Charles Young, in the flash of his eve and the lift of hi hea l.—Tin- Na tion, Feb. 8tli. W’POINTED RECORDER OF DEEDS. Washington, Fob. 10.—Arthur J. Froe, West Virginia lawyer has been chosen recorder of deeds for the district of Columbia on recommenda tion of Senator Elkins of West Vir ginia. Announcement was made after a conference at the White House be tween President Harding, Elkins, Rep resentative Goodykootz and Froe. ATTORNEY T. W BELL VISITS CENTRA! HIGH Attorney T. W. Bell of Leaven worth, Kansas, who has been a wel come Omaha visitor for th«j past ten davs, and has thrilled hi audiences with his plea for united action and support for clemency towards our soldiers in the Federal prison at Leav enworth, visited Central High School in company with Miss Ameretta Jack son, formerly of Leavenworth, but now a student at Central. Mr. Bell was pleased with everything he saw 'with one exception, and that is with the small number of colored boys and girls attending the school. Said Mr. | Bell to the Monitor: ‘1 have just returned from a de lightful visit and inspection of your splendid Central High school, which is in charge of an accomplished and excellent gentleman, J. G. Masters, a Kamsas man, with the Kansas spirit of justice and fair play. It's a school of which all citizens should be justly proud. Tell my people for me, that I was highly pleased with everything I saw, but one; and I am displeased about that. There are too few black boys and girls taking advantage of the splendid opportunities offered them there. I understand there are only about thirty colored students. There ought to Ire at least 200. I am a firm believer in mixed schools for true Americanism and in every community where our people have the educational advantages they have here they should make full use of them. Urge the children to go thru high school.” The Monitor agrees with Mr. Bell that in proportion to our numbers too few go to high school. He was ad vised, however, that a comparatively large number attend the High School of Commerce, and this helps out the situation. Live merchants advertise in live newspapers; that’s why their business is not dead.’ SENATORS WHO WILL DECIDE FATE OF THE DYER DILL _ Norris of Nebraska is a Member of Judiciary Committee Whose Deci sion is Most Vital to the Senate’s Action LET THEM KNOW YOUR FEELING _ National Association Which Has Championed Measure Confident of Success if People Will Only Do Their Duty —.. —... NEW YORK, Feb. 10—The Nation al Association for the Advancement of Colored People following the pass age of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill in the House of Representatives, has made public the names of Senators on the Judiciary Committee, to which the bill was referred on Jan. 27. If the Judiciary Committee reports the Dyer Bill, its enactment by the Senate is almost certain. The Sen ators on that committee are: Knutc Nelson, Minnesota William P. Dillingham, Vermont F. P. Brandegee, Connecticutt W'illiam E. Borah, Idaho Albert B. Cummins. Iowa LeBaron B. Colt, Rhode Island Thos. Sterling, South Dakota George W. Norris, Nebraska Richard P. Ernst, Kentucky S. H. Shortridge, California Charles A. Culbertson, Texas Lee S. Overman, North Carolina James A. Reed. Missouri Henry F. Ashurst, Arizona John K. Shields, Tennessee Thomas J. Walsh. Montana Despite all predictions to the con trary, the National Association foi the Advancement of Colored People maintained the Dyer Bill would be passed by ;he House. It has been passed. 1 i,° Association just as fiim ly believes that it will he passed by tA’e United States Senate if every man j and woman who wants it enacted lets | the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee know of the tremendous public sentiment for it. HOUSE BUILT BY COLORED MAN IS 139 YEARS OLD. I — ■ Associated Negro Press. Front Royal- Va., Feb. 1.—What is believed to be one of the oldest frime houses still standing and occupied in this part of the country is the small house on the Gordon es tate directly opposite William North’s store about a mile beyond Huntley Postoffice on the Flint Hill road in Rappahannock county. According to Jim Williams, who now' lives in the house, the building was erected by a colored man by the name of Isaac Russell more than 139 years ago. ' OPENS NEW BARBER SHOP John H. Russell has opened a neat three chair barber shop, known as the Central, at the corner of Twen tieth and Cuming Street. It is most attractively equipped. Mr. Russell and his efficient assistant, T. A. Ed wards, both pleasant and popular gen tlemen, as well as skilled workmen, are always on hand to take care of their large and growing patronage. COLLEGE HEADS MEET | TO RAISE STANDARDS. Nashville, Tennessee, Feb. 4.— Heads of colleges and other educators met with representatives of the Na tional Medical Association here re cently to consider how to raise and j maintain higher standards of educa-' tion and with particular reference to | the study of medicine. The meeting! was held under the auspices of the j Commission on Medical Education foj Negroes. Sixty persons, some of National prominence, were in attendance at the sessions, which were held at Meharry j Medical College; Dr. Green of the National Medical Association presid ing. Among the speakers were Pres ident Hope of Moorehouse College. Dean Johnson of Lincoln University, President Durkee of Howard' Presi dent McKenzie of Fiske, and Dr. Claxton, former United States Com missioner of Education. The latter urged the same standards of educa tion for both Negro and white col leges, and emphasized the fact that the elementary and secondary work must also be improved. GETS PENSION FROM NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh, N. C., Feb. ”.-—Aunt Jane Robertson, a 91-year-old colored j woman of this city, is the only woman of her race to be voted a pen- [ sion and to have her name placed on j the Confederate pension roll by the j general assembly of North Carolina. Her husband was killed at the bat tie of Manassas. I - I N. Y. NATION CALLS DYER BILL PASSAGE GREAT ACHIEVEMENT i The New York Nation, one of the oldest liberal publications of the j United States, in its issue of Feb. 8| rails the passage of the Dyer Anti-! Lynching Rill “the most important legal step ever taken toward ending our peculiarly national disgrace.” The entire editorial paragraph in the Nation reads a^s follows: “The passage of the Dyer Anti Lynching bill in the House of Repre sentatives by the large majority of 230 to 119 is an achievement. Every American should derive distinct sat isfaction from this, the most impor tant legal step ever taken toward end- | ing our peculiarly national disgrace. For this accomplishment the Nation- ; al Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which for years has | labored to arouse the American con- j science about lynchings and to crys tallize public sentiment into effective legislation' deserves full credit. But' the fight is not yet won; the bill still has to pass the Senate. Those who feel the sting when Europeans ask: ‘Do you really mean that crowds gath er to see men burned alive in Amer ica?’ should give the National Asso ciation unstinted support until the bill ! not only passes the Senate and be- | comes a law, but is enforced.” Those who wish to act in accord ance with the suggestion of the Na tion, which for more than fifty years has championed the cause of colored Americans, may send donations for the Anti-Lynching Fund of the N. A. A. C. P. to J. E. Spingarn, Treasurer, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York. Dona tions of one dollar up will be wel comed. TURNER W. BELL Well-known Attorney of Leavenworth, Kansas, and a recent Omaha visitor, who is fighting for the freedom of 61 Boldiers im prisoned for Houston, Texas, riot, August 23, 1917. COLORED WOMAN • BECOMES HEIRESS TO MANY MILLIONS Courts of Louisiana Favorably Decide Claim of Lillian Turner to Valuable Land, Oil Wells and Refineries After Long Contest WEALTH IS ALMOST FABULOUS Her Possessions Are Estimated to be Worth $29,000,000. Which Will Make Her one of the Richest Women in the World HOMER, Im., Feb. 10—Twenty-nine million dollars in accrued assets, num erous oil wells, and a big oil refinery in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, have all been found by the Louisiana Su preme Court to be the property of Miss Lillian Turner colored, as sole heiress of her mother, Mrs. Lona Mc Ghee. Through the decision of the State Supreme Court last fall Miss Turner was awarded a rehearing in the case after an iniunction which prevented her from obtaining title to her in heritance at the time. Formerly, April 11, the third district court of Claiborne Parish awarded the lands and .property to the Colored heiress, the State of Louisiana contesting the decision and obtaining a rehearing on the whole case on the grounds of a contention that Miss Turner was an illegitimate child of her mother, Mrs. McGhee. Another contestant, Mrs. Angelina Allen, mother of Mrs. McGhee and grandmother of Miss Turner, began a contest of the claims of her grand daughter when oil was discovered on the otherwise worthless property but was defeated in both the lower and higher courts. The final big battle in the case came up in the courts at this place on January 17. There were many witnesses on both sides, and every effort was made bv several white per sons with the assistance of suborned Negroes to wrest the colored woman’s enormous holding from her. The ex cellence of the case jmd the strength of the claim which was made by the rightful heiress, though, were of "a nature to bring to her aid some of the best legal talent of this section of the country, with the rare result that Miss Turner received an absolute ly fair decision and come into full and absolute possession of what is possibly one of the largest fortunes in the United States owned by a wo man. The land upon which oil was found and which is finally the sole property of Lillian Turner, was originally a part of the worn out Louisiana bot tom land, practically worthless for farming purpose and only useful as a place of residence for a few poor people. At no time until finally its value went up by leaps and bounds with the coming in of the first big gusher, was the land worth at the outside of more than $6,000. No in terest was taken in it nor its owners. The poverty stricken Angelina Allen, Loma McGhee ond Lillie Turner, grandmother, mother and daughter were of no consequence, apparently, to themselves, their neighbors nor the community. No thought was ever taken of any of the parties to the case. Like many other farms in the district, the Turn er farm was in the oil belt. Experi ments upon it were the same as thousands of other experiments which have been conducted and nothing ob j tained from them excepting hard work and blasted hopes. Once it was established, though, that the oil upon the place was real oil and that the money to be made from it was real money, some of the best legal talent of this section be came the ardent solicitors for the favors of the despised three colored women. No case in the history of Louisiana has ever attracted more widespread interest and at this time no woman in the state is more cor dially received nor more warmly thought of than Lillian Turner, wdth her $29,000,000 golden halo. POPULAR HEADWAITER LEAVES OMAHA Irving W. Gray, one of Omaha’s most popular and successful head waiters, left Wednesday for Hot Springs, Ark., whence, after a brief visit, he will go to Chicago, where he expects to enter business. During his fourteen years residence here, Mr. Gray has made hosts of friends who regret his removal. He has served as headwaiter at the Hotel Loyal, the Rlackstone, the Athletic Club and the Brandeis Cafe. He has the reputa tion of always standing up for the rights of his men. Mr. Gray- for the present, at least, will retain his pro perty interests here.