The Monitor
*9 _
A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$2.00 a Year. 5c a Ctfpy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1923. Whole Number 399 Vol. VHI—No. 35
CONDEMNED PEONS FREED BY SDPREME COURT
SHAMEFUL BRAND OF
“SOCIAL EQIALITY”
FAVORED BY SOHTH
Prominent State Official Confesses
Illicit Relations and Mends His
Resignation to the
Governor.
SOME CENSURE; SOME SCREE
Colonel Watts, the Alleged Culprit,
Delivered Speeches Against
“Social Equality” and
Negro Domination.
Raleigh, N. C., March 1—One of the
biggest scandals ever visited upon
this state wag released late Sunday
night when police officers visited the
apartment of Col. A. D. Watts, com
missioner of revenue for the state and
discovered there a young colored wo
man, whom the Colonel concealed un
der a couch in his rooms when the of
ficers arrived. The woman in question
came here from Statesville, Watt”s
home town, and the police suspected
that she and the state officer were
carrying on illicit relations, clande
stinely.
Col. Watts and the young woman
were placed under arrest upon
charges of immoral conduct preferred
by the police. Immediately after his
arrest the commissioner admitted his
relations with the woman and tendered
his resignation to Governor Morrison.
It was accepted by the governor at
once.
Col. Alston D. Watts has for forty
years been a "wheel horse” in demo
cratic politics in North Carolina. He
has taken an Important part in every
strenuous campaign during that time
and has held many important public
offices. He is a personal friend and
political associate of Gov. Morrison.
' In the heated campaign to disfran
chise the Negro vote in North Caro
lina Cob Watts covered the state de
nouncing the Negro and painting sor
did pictures of "social equality” and
Negro domination.
The affair has stirred both races
in the state to resentment and mov
ed the thinking people to ehame.
Many of the leading democratic pa
pers have Beverly condemned Col.
Watts, while others have sought to
minimize his offense as being merely
a "personal affair.”
WHITE RACES MUST
STOP FIGHTING OR
LOSE THEIR PLACE
I'nlewM Hostilities Cease Senator Seea
White Supremacy Replaced By
Power of the Darker
Races.
Washington, March 2.—Senators
who declare for disarmament confer
ences, yet oppose the league of na
tions, may be “smart men”, but “his
torically are fools,” Senator Sharp
Williams told his colleagues of the
senate in a characteristic address.
The Mississippi senator asserted his
opinion that the white races of the
world must stop fighting one another
and combine to preserve white su
premacy or eventually a yellow race
or a black race will gain the ascend
ancy. Senator Williams criticizes
France for what he termed that repub
lic’s disregard of tendencies of color
in races as evidenced by the occupa
tion of the Ruhr.
“The strength of Christianity rests
not upon the crucifixion, but upon the
resurrection,” said 8enator Williams,
"and it is of the resurrection I would
speak." f.
t ^
STREHLOW’S ANTI
KLAH BILL NEETS
DEATH IH SEHATE
Committee of Whole Permit It to
Peacefully Expire Without
the Formality of
Roll Call.
OBSEQIIES ME DIGNIFIES
Lincoln, March 2.—The anti-Klu
Klux Klan bill, which passed the house
some time ago, died in the senate
committee of the whole Monday after
noon without the formality of roll
call.
The bill, introduced in the house by
Representative Strehlow of Omaha,
has been amended to include the
names of Tomek and Gumb in the
senate, who were also sponsoring a
similar bill. Tomek, in the course of
discussion, defended the bill on the
grounds that it prevented illegal ac
tion by mobs, but on questioning by
s Senator Robbins admitted it was
(Continued on Page Four)
MORE ABOUT MONUMENT
TO THE NEGRO MAMMIES
Washington, D. C., March 2.—The
Jefferson Davis chapter of the Daugh
ters of the Confederacy has asked
Congress to appropriate money for a
site for a monument to Negro mam
mies. A bill to that effect has been
favorably reported.
George E. Cannon of Jersey City
writes to the New York World con
cerning this movement as follows:
The present Senate, led by Harrison
of Mississippi, Heflin of Alabama and
Overman of North Carolina, has just
recently ignominiouslv defeated the
Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, designed to
protect human life in all parts of the
United States and the Negro’s life
in the South in particular, and now
for this same Senate to vote a site
for a black mammy’s monument would
come with very poor grace to the mil
lions of black citizens who asked the
passage of the Dyer Bill. Should the
Senate forget itself long enough to
vote the site, then the sculptor should
design a monument showing the chil
dren of the black mammy Jim Crowed,
segregated, disfranchised, peonaged,
denied proper public school education,
lynched and burned alive—and all this
ns the reward of the black mammy’s
devotion.
The erection of such a monument,
would only serve to prove how hope-;
lessly the South is wedded to the dead
past. If the Senate wants to do some
thing worth while, let it vote a site
and monument to the patriotism of
the Negro that never produced a trai
tor.
EAST INDIANS ARE NOT WHITE
Washington, D. C., March' 2.—A
high caste Hindu is not a "free white
person” within the meaning of the
naturalization laws and, therefore,
under the recent decision of the court
excluding Japanese, is not entitled to
citizenship, the Supreme Court held
today in an appeal brought by the
United States against Ghagat Singh
Thind.
MCE RANKS NIGH
IN UNITED STATES
WITH INVENTIONS
Colored Americans Hold Patents on
More Than Two Thousand Use
ful Inventions of Vary
ing Value.
IRVENTIOHS «E EXTERSIVE
Tuskegee Speaker Cites Examples of
Rapid Progress in Literature,
Music, Science and Art.
Tuskegee Institute, Ala., March 2.
—That the American Negro has con
tributed substantially to civilization
and to the development of America
was demonstrated by the exercises
held in the Institute Chapel, Wednes
day evening, February 7, at which
members of the senior class related
the achievements of the Negro in
various directions.
The evening, which is designated as
“Negro Night” was devoted to ora
tions on the Negro’s contributions to
science, art and literature, and to
the progress of the race in business,
education and journalism. The music
rendered consisted wholly of composi
tions of such Negro composers as
Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Harry T.
Burleigh and Nathaniel Dett.
Conspicuous among the orations
was that of Eugene Harris, of Green
wood, Mississippi, on Mechanical Arts
and the Negro. Harris pointed out
among the worthy achievements of the
Negro in this direction that the first
clock constructed in America was
made by a Negro, Benjamin Ban
neker, of Baltimore, Maryland, in
1754, and that Negroes today hold
patents on more than 2,000 inventions,
including; agricultural implements,
wood and metal workiflg machines,
land conveyances, sea-going vessels,
electrical devices and mechanical toys.
Another oration which was of spe
cial interest was that of Lucius Pat
ton,' of Montgomery, Alabama, on
“The Growth of Negro Newspapers”.
Patton traced the progress of the Ne
gro in the field of journalism from
the appearance of “Freedom’s Jour
nal” in 1827 to the present day when
Negroes are publishing more than 400
publications with a combined circula
tion of more than 3,000,000.
Other speakers were: Miss Pearl
Lewis, “The Negro in Music”; Miss
Eudora Holmes, “The Negro on the
Stage"; Miss Nina Hall, “The Negro
in Fine Arts”; Charles Reynolds, “The
Importance of the National Negro
Business League”; Miss Virgie Smith,
“Reducing Illiteracy Among Negroes”;
Miss Katherine McNeill, “Negro
Authors”, and William Stewart,
"Race Adjustment”.
| DELAY IN BRINGING
COL. YOUNG’S BODY HOME
Xenia, Ohio, March 2.—Inability of
i the Liberian government to spare
Captain Wm. D. Neighbors, U. S. A.,
to leave Monrovia or Lagos, was de
clared by the War Department as the
reason of the delay in bringing the
body of Colonel Charles Young back
to America for burial in Arlington
cemetery.
Mrs. Ada M. Young, widow’ of the
Colonel, was advised that Carlton A.
Wall connected with the American
Legation at Monrovia, would be sent
to Lagos and superintend the exhuma
tion and transportation of the re
mains.
MEXICANS DENY LYNCHING
Juana, Mexico, Mar. 2.—Mexican
authorities denied that Chester Carl
ton, an American colored man, had
been lynched here recently.
A WHITE MAN JOINS
CHURCH, THEN CONFESSES
CRIME LAID ON NEGRO
Blood Hounds Had Led Trail to Home
of Colored Man But No Goods
of Theft Could Be
Found.
Danville, Va.t March 2.—(Preston
News Service). — About thirteen
months ago Jones’ store at *Dry Fork
was robbed. Bloodhounds were used
to apprehend the thief. They went
to the' home of an aged Negro and
stopped. This man’s home was thor
oughly searched and none of the
stolen goods could be found and after
considerable detective work watching
the activities of the Negro no clews
as to his guilt could be established
and the case was never brought to at
tention of the grand jury for lack of
evidence. Recently a “holiness re
vival’’ struck Dry Fork and several
hundreds of white persons were con
verted. One evening last week a
prominent white man came to Mr.
Jones and told him that the Negro
was not guilty of robbing the store
last year, but that he was one of a
party of three who did the robbing.
He said, “Jones I just had to come to
tell you since I got religion my con
science plagues me so. Please don’t
prosecute me or make this public as
I will pay you for the goods. I can
not tell the names of the other men,
but they have got religion too and
maybe they will come and confess to
you.”
STEVENS RESIGNS
Philadelphia, Pa., March 2.—On the
ground that no self-respecting color
ed man would serve on the trustee
board of Cheyney Training School,
State Representative Andrew F. Stev
ens sent his resignation to the gov
ernor.
From Nebraska to Arkansas and Back
Experiences and Observations of the Editor on Trip to Southland
Where He Saw Many Things of Interest
Having promised to go to Arkansas,
when I was getting ready for the trip
1 naturally began to look up the best
route. Going to the Consolidated
Ticket Office 1 was told I could make
the best time by taking the Missouri
Pacific's "Rainbow Special.” This
meant that I could leave Omaha at
8:05 one morning and reach Little
Rock the next morning after 7, making
the trip of about 800 miles in approx
imately 24 hours. This was quite sat
isfactory. It meant all night on the
train. Knowing that Oklahoma and
Arkansas have a "Separate Coach,
Law", better knov n as "Jim Crow Car
Uw,” I was next interested in knowing
If I could secure a Pullman reserva
tion. Mr. Biendorf, our gentlemanly
local agent, advised me that there
would be ao difficulty about that, and
made my reservation for me from Kan
awa City to Little Rock. I therefore
purchased my ticket and my reserva
tion at Omaha.
it will subsequently appear why this
explanation is necessary, and just
where It comae in. My reservation
was “Lower 6, Car. No. 15J' Some
•lav a thrilling novel—who knows?—
may be written with this title and
prove a great seller.
I made the inquiry about my reser
vation and Just wbat I might expect in
the Sunny South, because when I
promised to go, I had made up my
mind to submit to such peculiar re
quirements and inconveniences in
travel as that section puts upon our
people, but only such as I was com
pelled to. If I had to sit up all night
in a couped-in and narrow-partitioned
"special coach for colored,” 1 would
do so, but if I did not have to do this
I would not, but would travel in such
comfort as I might be able to afford.
The trip from Omaha to Kansas
City was uneventful in the main, and
yet full of interest; for I take keen
delight in meeting and studying peo
ple; and even on a short railroad Jour
ney I see and hear and learn a whole
lot. One has only to keep his eyes
and ears open and he can learn much
on a railroad train. And then, too,
somehow i experience little difficulty
in getting acquainted with people.
PerhapB it is because I am seldom
“grouchy" and if I am grouchy, the
other fellow doesn’t know it Be that
as it may, I have made some pleasant
acquaintances on trains. Among oth
er things 1 find that the men of our
group who are in the employ of the >
various roads as porters and waiters— |
some day they will come into the right-'
ful promotion as conductors and other j
officials—are as a rule men of obser- j
vation, good sense and decided ability, j
They have keen, alert, well-furnished :
minds. Many of them, too, are saving
their money, buying homes, and plan
ning to go into gome line of business.
There is one incident en route to
Kansas City which shows how super
ficial race prejudice really is and how
environment moulds conduct. At Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, a large number
of passengers boarded the train, among
them being some officers and soldiers.
A handsome, well built young sergeant
sat down beside me. Presently he
said with the unmistakable Southern
dialect:
“Do you know what time this train
is due in Kansas City?’’
I courteously replied to his question.
We soon fell into a pleasant con
versation, in the course of which I
learned that he was a native of Sa
vannah, Ga., whither he was now
bound after an absence of five years,
s|>ent in the army in Russia, China,
the Philippines and other parts of the
Orient. He told me many, many in
teresting things concerning those coun
tries. When we parted at Kansas City
we warmly shook hands, wishing each
other a pleasant journey; both ex
pressing pleasure at having become ac
quainted. He learned my name and
I learned his. As we parted I could
not help but think, had we been in
Georgia, this splendid young fellow
would not have shared my railroad
seat or engaged in conversation with
me on subjects which we found mu
tually agreeable. Or is he one of those
men so broadened by his travel and
contact with other men and civiliza
tions that he has risen above the nar
row traditions and provincialisms of
one’s peculiar section which imprisons
our real self? I wonder.
The Omaha train reached Kansas
City’s magnificent Union Station at
3:50. The Little Rock-Hot Springs
“Rainbow Special" was waiting sched
uled to leave at 4. Reaching the
Pullman conductor and porters, who
as customary were standing outside,
I said:
“Car 15, which is it, please?”
The conductor, a portly, stocky fel
low, with a German caste of counten
ance, looked quizzically at me and said:
“Some mistake, some mistake;
where’s your ticket?”’
“Here it is, sir.'
He looked at it and shook hi» head,
saying “Not over the Kansas line, not !
over the Kansas line.”
I said: "What's the matter with
that ticket?”
“Don’t you know what the law is?-’
he replied.
“Yes,” I said, and handing my bag to
the porter, whose name I subsequently
learned was Charles Braxton, I fol
lowed him into the Pullman and took
my seat. Soon the traiD started and
we were off for Arkansas.
In due course of time the Pullman
conductor began to collect the tickets
and it was not long before he got to
me. It was very evident, from his
surly look and manner, that he did not
intend to let me occupy my berth “not
over the Kansas line”—if he could
prevent it, and from the manner
in which he approached me, he doubt
less thought he could. But I shall
have to keep you waiting until next
week to tell you of
Hy Controversy with John Stall,
1*0110180 Conductor on the Rainbow
Special, and How it Came Out.
1 wonder if you can guess how it
came out. Which John would you bet
on? Don’t be too sure. Wait until
□ext week and see.
r Big Events in the Lives of Little Men
m—— -
r •' I i ac
-\VIISM I tWJTWRTCin
SAVING WHEN I WAS
HIS AGE . ,
--
DAY YOU STARTED
A SAVINGS ACCOUNT
_j|jm
AFRICAN PRINCE ASTOUNDED
AT MORAL LAXITY IN U. S.
Chicago, 111., March 2.—While spend
ing a short visit in this city last week
Prince Bulawa Cetewaye commented
in part as follows on American ways
and moral standards: "I think your
American standards of morals are too
loose. I have observed this in both
races here. Maybe these women you
call flappers are responsible. We do
not have them in our country. My
country is almost as thoroughly civil
ized as America. Most Zulus go to
church on Sunday. And morally they
are the finest people in the world.
Commercialized vice is unknown. In
parts of Africa where such conditions
exist, they are the products of the
Anglo-Saxon.”
SCHOOL BOARD EMPLOYS COL
ORED WOMAN THEN BARS HER
BUT MUST PAY HER ANYHOW
Trenton, N. J., Mrch 2.—(Associat
■ ed Negro Press.)—Holding that the
Board of Education of Riverside town
ship did not exercise due diligence or
did not act with proper prudence when
it inadvertently selected a colored
woman to teach in a school for white
children, Assistant Commissioner of
Education Strahan, has decided that
the board must pay to Mrs. Nancy
Wesley White colored, a salary of
$100 a month, dating from Septem
lier 5, and continuing until the of
ficial termination of the board's con
tract with her
AMHERST BARS NONE
Boston, Mass., March 2.—More than
three hundred fifty graduates of Am
herst at the annual banquet of the
local Alumni Association applauded
Rev. Jason Pierce of Washington, D.
C.. when he decleared he was proud
of the fact that Amherst has kept
open door to all races without regard
to color.
Dr. W. W. Peebles, Omaha’s well
i known dentist, is an alumnus of Am
herst.
MAH KILLS WIFE
AM TRIES TO FIX
CRIME ON REIRO
Reports to Police That He Killed
Colored Chauffeur Who
flad Attacked His
Wife.
DYING WOMAN TELLS TNNTH
Declared That Husband Shot Herself
and the Chauffeur—The Latter
is Recovering From the
Wound
(Associated Negro Press)
Gary, (nd., March 1—Harry Diamond
white, known here and thruout nor
thern Indiana as an alleged booze run
ner, after persuading his wife, Nettie,
and his colored chauffeur, William
Armstrong, to take out life insurance
policies payable to himself, tried to
kill them both here laet week. A
month ago Mrs. Diamond drew up a
will leaving $20,000 and her property
to her husband. A week ago Arm
strong secured the life insurance pol
icy. Diamond then had the chauffeur
drive his wife and himself to a lonely
spot on the Chicago road outside of
Gary, where he shot Armstrong in the
bead. He then shot her three times.
Leaving the chauffeur lying by the
roadside he drove to a drugstore In
East Chicago with hie wounded wife
and reported the colored man had shot
Mrs. Diamond and that he killed him
in self-defense. Mrs. Diamond cried
out: “That isn’t true. Arrest him,
he shot us both.” Diamond is held.
Mrs. Diamond and Armstrong were
taken to Mercy Hospital in Gary.
The chauffeur is recovering, but
Mrs. Diamond is dead and her husband
is charged with murder.
EGYPT IS IN REBELLION
AGAINST BRITISH ARMY
Englishmen Are Attacked at Every
Opportunity Wherever They
Show Their Faces.
Cairo, Egypt, March 2.—On top of
the political crisis which is still un
solved come the attempted murders
of several Britishers and a series of
co-ordinated uprisings in widely sep
arated districts. All these blows are
aimed at the tottering British author
ity in Egypt and are made by the
Egyptian workers.
The British have appointed a mili
tary governor for the district of Cairo
and have cordoned it with soldiers.
Police stations have been made into
military barracks, with sandbag pro
tection.
ARKANSAS CASES
ARE REVERSED NT
SUPREME COURT
Fight for Peonage Victims Carried to
United State Supreme Bench
Results in Satisfactory
Reversal.
JUSTICE CAINS A VICTORY
National Advancement Association
Scores in Brief Argued by
Moorfield Storey and
Scipio Jones.
New York, March 2.—The five Ar
kansas peons, condemned to death by
Arkansas courts in connection with
the riots of 1919, whose cases the Na
tional Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People has fought
through five courts including the Ar
kansas Supreme Court, will not be
executed, according to a decision ren
dered by the highest tribunal of the
land on February 19, setting aside the
conviction of these men. The Su
preme Court’s decision takes the
cases of the condemned colored farm
ers out of the jurisdiction of the
State of Arkansas and requires the
United States District Court to exam
ine into the attempt to railroad these
men to death.
The Arkansas cases constitute the
center of a fight being made to
bring the facts of peonage in the cot
ton-raising sections of the United
States to light, and to bring federal
pressure to abolish that evil. In the
legal battle for defense of these men
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People has
raised $14,572.42 and already spent
$14,115.74, besides thousands of dol
lars raised and spent by the colored
people of Arkansas who were vitally
interested in the fate of their com
rades. The victory before the Su
preme Court is due to the courageous,
and untiring labors of Scipio A. Jones,
a colored attorney of Little Rock, and
to Moorfield Storey, president of the
N. A. A. C. P. who appeared before
the Supreme Court in Washington on
January 9, 1923, to argue the cases.
The Arkansas case originated in the
riot of 1919, when it was asserted
that the colored farmers in and near
Phillips county, Arkansas, had con
spired to “massacre the whites”. A
personal investigation of the riot
made by Walter F. White, who was
sent to Arkansas by the N. A. A. C.
P., disclosed that far from planning
a “massacre”, the colored farmers
had been organized to employ a law
yer to compel settlements from their
landlords who were holding their
tenants in a state of peonage or dtebt
slavery.
During the riots some 250 innocent
Negroes, men, women and children,
were hunted and shot down in the Ar
kansas cane brakes, posses of white
men coming from Mississippi and
Tennessee to join in the hunt. The
colored men arrested were beaten and
tortured to make them testify, sixty
seven were sentenced to long prison
terms and twelve were sentenced to
death. The cases of all the men sen
tenced to death hige upon the cases
of the five whose convictions have
been reversed by the United States
Supreme Court.
In the brief filed before the Su
preme Court by Mr. Storey, it is
charged that the courts of Arkansas,
including the Arkansas Supreme
Court, the newspapers, leading white
citizens and clubs, conspired or con
nived at a conspiracy to railroad these
colored fanners to death.
PROMINENT WRITER
PREDICTS FITRRE
FWSIOH OF RACES
Lothrop Stoddard Sounds Note of
Warning That Absorption of the
White Rave by Darker Is
Highly Probable.
MSIM MRTMMTE FACTOR
Columbus, Ohio, March 2.—That the
white race will be absorbed and fused
with those of darker color, unless pre
cautionary measures are taken, is the
prediction voiced in an address here
on “The Rising Tide of Color" by Dr.
Lothrop Stoddard.
Declaring that the non-white races
increase numerically much more rap
idly than the white race, Dr. Stod
dard said that for the next generation
or two—until influences accompany
ing civilization have had a chance to
stem the birthrate—“there will be a
‘heaping up’ of colored men all over
the world.
(Continued on Page Poor) ^
