Nebraska Newspapers

    The Monitor i.,°wi ”»»»'»?
"■■■■■" -= \
, NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS -nJ
. , THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$2.0* a Year—5c a Copy ’ OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1925 Whole Number 540 Vol. XI—No. 20
BHIHlUNDn SUING WIFE; I MITS LYING
Sensational Statement Sprung by Sweet Defenses Startles Spectators
KIP RHINELANDER
WANTED ALICE FOR
HIS PARAMOUR
Attorney for Defense Secures Damn
ing Admission That He Courted
Girl with Other Intention
Than Marriage
WITNESS ADMITS THAT HE LIED
Knowingly Signed Five F’alse State
ments in Bill of Particulars—
Wife’s Relatives Brought to
His Attention
White Plains, N. Y.—The attorneys
for Leonard Kip Rhinelander, who is
suing his wife, Alice Jones Rhine
lander, for annulment of the marriage
on the grounds that she concealed
from him the fact that she belonged
to the Negro race but represented her
self as being “pure white”, have at
tempted to prove that he was the
helpless victim of a designing woman.
The defendant is now having her day
in court and her attorneys are prov
ing by Rhinelander, himself, that he
was the pursuer and ardent wooer of
this servant girl, whom he Wanted
not as his wife, but as his paramour,
that he persuaded her to go to the
fashionable hotel with him where they
spent a week, registered as man and
wife, prior to their marriage, and
that he had lied and been guilty of
perjury when he swore to and signed
a bill of particulars in which it was
stated that they had discussed the
question of his fiance’s color.
Here is a tabulation of the events
of the trial on Tuesday:
1. From thd witness stand Kip re
viewed a procession of the dark
skinned relatives of Alice Jones
Rhinelander and declared that the
sight of them had never roused a sus
picion) concerning the . color of his
wife.
2. Asserting that he was suing of
his own volition, he admitteil turning
over more than $238,000 in securities
to Leon Jacobs, personal counsel for
his father, Philip Rhinelander.
3. Shown the bill of particulars
supporting the annulment action, he
confessed to signing FIVE FALSE
STATEMENTS in the FOUR para
graphs.
4. Confronted by ten letters anil a
telegram to his wife before their mar
riage he admitted that he was the
PURSUER and she the PURSUED in
their romance and that his primary
object was NOT MARRIAGE.
Finally, a minute before adjourn
ment, Lee Parsons Davis, the lank
lawyer for Mrs. Rhinelander, whirled
on him and demanded:
“Are you a free agent in this ac
tion ?”
The witness hesitated, then stutter
ed in a low tone:
“Yes, I am."
Again, the attorney thrust at him:
“You don’t think Jacobs here will
prevent you doing as you see fit in
your own law suit?”
Will Follow Orders
The youth answered warily:
“If advised, I’ll follow his orders.”
Then came the interrogation that
the inquisitor hoped might send the
whole case tumbling to the floor:
“But do you really want to proceed
with this law suit?”
Exhausted by six hours’ raking ex
amination, Rhinelander hesited again
and his eyes roved the room unstead
ily, but he mumbled the response:
“I do.”
“Asked when he first doubted Mrs.
Rhinelander was white, life declared it
was when he read the newspapers
after their marriage, but this did not
prevent them living as man and wife
until the very day he fled from her
alley home.
Then Lee Davis abruptly ordered
Alice to stand up beside him at Jhe
end of the table, facing her husband.
She rose quietly, tears filling her
eyes, and gazed at Kip as the lawyer
demanded:
“She didn’t look any different when
you wooed her in 1921, 1922, 1923 and
1924 than she does now?’’
Never Questioned Color
Stammering, the bridegroom admit
ted she did not. Had he ever ques
tioned Alice or anyone else about her
color before marriage? No, he), was
sure he had not. Then Davis fluttered
the bill of particulars in the'suit be
fore him and made him read the para
graph in which he^twore that when
Emily, sister of his wife, married a
black man, Rhinelander Introduced the
subject of color to Alice and she as
serted she wap pure white.
This assertion, he admitted, was
false. Why then did he swear to it?
Because Jacobs told him.
Was there anything else untrue in
the four paragraphs? Rhinelander
confessed that four other statements
were false. These were that his wife’s
representations that s"he was white
were made orally, that no copies of
the representations could be furnished,
that Mrs. Rhinelander had repeatedly
falsified to him and that he made
inquiries as to her color when Emily
| married Brooks, the colored Butler.
While the witness was still impaled
on these points, Davis directed Emily
Brooks to rise and the plump, person
able quadroon obeyed, grinning wide
! ly into Rhinelander’s face. She is
| the darkest of all the Jones daughters,
but the youth declared that the sight
of her four years ago did not stir a
suspicion of her ancestry in him. Then
her husband, Robert, colored, rose be
side her, blacker than any of the
Jones clan. Again, Rhinelander as
serted that Emily’s marriage to hifn
created no doubt of Alice’s blood.
Grace Faces Kip
Grace rose next to face him, with
the family smile spreading across her
| round cheeks. The suggestion stirred
that this was a parade of dark wraiths
J come to haunt the youth in the hour
I of direst need. George Jones, father
in-law of the Rhinelander scion, stood
up next, and again the bridegroom
repeated that the appearance of the
man, or all of them, did not cause
him to think the family colored. (
Color Question Up
Under pressing interrogation, the
vouth asserted that some time in 1924,
before their marriage, he had no idea
just when the color question came up
btween him and Alice four or five
times. Then this trap was set and
sprung on him:
Q—You did not want to marry into
a colored family or associate with
colored folks or Ife on terms of in
timacy with them, did you? A—No.
Q—I show you postcards in what
you admit to be your handwriting di
rected to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brooks,
in 1924, on which is written: “Dear
Emily and Robert” and “Dear Em and
Bob” and saying “Love to Roberta”.
Now does not that indicate you were
on terms of intimacy with Robert
Brooks and his colored baby? A—
Yes, it does.
Q—Do you still say you did not
wish to be on terms of intimacy with
colored people? A—I can’t answer
that question.
Q—But Brooks called you I.en at
your request and you called him Bob?
A—Yes.
Q—And you played cards witlt, him ?
A—Yes.
Says Brain Was O. K.
Q—You did all that and yet no
doubt that your wife was colored ever
entered your mind ? A—Yes.
Q—Was your brain all right then?
A—Yes.
Q—Did you fall in love with Alice
voluntarily? A—Yes, very soon after
I met her in September, 1921, a cou
ple of weeks after.
Q—Were you pursuing her with
honest marriage in view? A—No.
■ Davis demanded details of Rhine
lander's courtship.
Q—Innocent as you were, you held
her hand, didn’t you, knowing that it
was different from a handshake ? A—
Yes.
Q—Ever put your arm around her?
A—Yes.
Q—Ever kiss her? A—Yes.
Q—What else is there to learn
about making love?
Rhinelander refused to answer.
“Come, tell us about your love mak
ing,” urged Davis. “I want to see
how far advanced you are. You took
her around in your auto, you held her
hand, put an arm around her, kissed
her, now tell us what else you did
to that little girl they claim snared
you.”
Ultimately the details came, begin
ning mildly enough, then slipping into
the unprintable.
Rhinelander acknowledged that he,
had planned to undermine the moral (
opposition of Alice and compel her |
surrender. tHe just played with her,
he admitted stammeringly.
300 Letters to Alice
| Rhinelander admitted writing 300
j letters to Alice, at a rate of three
a day. He admitted writing on Oc
tober 28, 1921, a month after their
meeting, urging her to attend the
I marriage of his sister, Adelaide, to
Julian St. John Shackno in St. Thom
as’ church, and repeating the invita
tion later.
WHITE AND COLORED
WORKERS COMBINE
New Orleans, La.— (By the Associated
Negro Press) Amalgamation of the white
I and colored longshoremen, who have been
j on strike for the past two years was con
sumated Sunday, when the two organiza
tions by an unanimous vote decided to
join hands in an effort to win better
wages and conditions generally. Hereafter
the two organizations will meet as one
body, with Harry Keegan, white, as presi
dent, and Mose Johnson, late president of,
the Negro longshoremen, as vice-president. I
DISSATISFACTION DECLARED
AIJOUT DISCRIMINATION
Washington, D. C.—(By the Associated
Negro Press) That the Negro is not re
ceiving a “square deal” in law enforce
ment and in the government service was
voiced by Bishop A. J. Carey of Chicago,
presiding officer of the Race Conference
held here this week, which considered the
President and leaders of the party in con
trol of the government directly responsible
for failure to ameliorate conditions. The
bishop said:
“The Negro voter will never understand
continuance of discrimination under the
civil service in a Republican'Administra
tion. He is bitter in various sections, be
cause of sharp discrimination in exten
sion of rural credits. He feels keenly the
need of assignment of Negro educational
experts to national educational tasks, par
ticularly in the South.
Give to the Community Chest!
A $50,000 Defense Fund Being Raised
New York—There has been a country
wide response to tile appeal of the Nation
al Association for the Advancement of
Colored People for a $50,000 Legal De
fense Fund. Two branches of the N. A. A.
C. P. have givtr-n $1,000 each. Those
branches are Cleveland and Philadelphia,
the latter’s president, Isadora Martin bring
ing a thousoand dnllar check in person to
the National office. In addition, Julian
St. George White, secretary of the Phila
hiadelp Branch a check for $500.
Among the first individuals to respond
to the appeal for funds was Representa
tive Leonidas C- Dyer, of Missouri, spon
sor of the Anti-I.ynching Bill, whose check
for $50 was accompanied by a note read
ing: “To help in the fight for justice.”
The Washington Branch of the Nation
al Association has sent in an additional
check for $200.65 bringing its total con
tribution to date up to $880.15 and the
Chicago Branch, through its secretary,
Morris Lewis, telegraphs
“Defense Fund now $500, goal $5,000
for Chicago. Big mass meeting 22nd of
November.”
George W. Gross, president of the Den
ver Branch writes that Denver is sending
$200 and V. D. Turner telegraphs that the
St. Paul Branch is seeding $375. New Ha
ven has sent $50; Toledo. $446.57; Port
land, Oregon, $71.90; Princeton, $50;
Richmond, Ind., $50; and Connellsville,
Pa., $25.
Among other contributors to the fund
are: St. Peter African Methodist Episco
pal Church of Minneapolis, $128; Walter
Frank of New York, $50; John E. Nail
and Mrs. Susan Payton Wortham of New
York, each $25; James E. Shepard, Dur
ham, N. C., $25, an if as „Toup of persons
through Mrs. Hattie B. Jarrett of Denver.
$27.60. In addition many small contri
butions ranging from one dollar upward
are being mailed from aP parts of the
country.
The status of the N. A. A. C. P. De
fense Fund as of F’riday morning, Novem
ber 13, is as follows:
Given by Garland Fund.$ 5,000.00
Offered in addition. 15,000.00
Required to meet offer. 30,000.00
Total.$50,000.00
Raised to Date. 6J)22.60
Still to go... 23,977.40 !
Commenting on the results to date, j
James Weldon Johnson, National Associ
ation secretary said:
“The country-wide response to the ap j
peal for funds to fight for the Negro’s I
fundamental citizenship rights is most en
couraging. With these funds we hope to i
win the Detroit case. But that case is only
the most dramatic one of many we have
to fight. The Washington Segregation case
is |no less important. Colored people
should know that in the Washington case
the eminent counsel associated with the at
torneys for the plaintiffs, Messrs. Moor
field Storey, Louis Marshall, Arthur B.
Spingarn and Herbert K. Stockton are
giving their services absolutely without
compensation. For that reason only the
Washington case will cost less than the
very -expensive Detroit fight, but the in
cidental expenses such as printing, will
nevertheless be heavy. There is crying"
need for every cent that anyone has to
give. The enthusiastic response to the N.
A. A. C. P. appeal shows that both white
and colored people are aware of the cri
tical moment.”
WOMEN’S CLUBS JOIN SWEET
DEFENSE FUND DRIVE
Kansas City, Mo.— (By the Associated
Negro Press) In response to a telegram
from James Weldon Johnson, secretary of
the National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People, Mrs. M vivJe
Forter Cook, chairman of the national de
fense fund committee of the National As
sociation of Women, has issued a call to
the colored women of the country to
give as honestly as you are able,—a dime,
a dollar, many dollars, a days’ work; a
personal sacrifice gift of a frock, a foible,
a frolic; to organize groups and commit
tees for popularity contests, subscriptions,
collections, special Thanksgiving offerings,
for the Negro's right to life, liberty, and
happiness”
Sunday, a week ago, Mrs. Mary Mc
Leod Bethune, president of the Women’s
Association led off in a grand rally
which netted $1,200.
Fifty thousand dollars are being sought
to assist the Negro in gaining the rights
which the conviction of Dr. Sweet would
endanger.
FINEST TYPE OF COLORED
STUDENTS AT ILLINOIS
Chicago, 111.— (By the Associated Negro
Press) The visitor to Illinois University
at Champaign cannot help heing impress
ed by the fine type of young men and wo
men who comprise the colored student
body there. The business-like way in
which they handle their local affairs be
speaks great public careers for them up
on their graduation. A typical illustra
tion of the progress these sterling young
men and women are making is found in
Beta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi. Earl
B. Dickerson, Grand Polemarch of this or
ganization, recently visited this chapter
to learn, at first hand, just what the boys
were doing. He found that they have,
among themselves, raised sufficient funds
to purchase a palatial chapter house, that
they have remodelled this home on the
strict college fraternity plan, adding a
dormitory that will accomodate thirty
young men; that all the members of this
chapter are living in the home and manag
ing their own affairs with the same pre
cision a9 the most select clubs are manag
ed. They have inaugurated their own
study period and selected upper class-1
men in all university subjects to coach
freshmen who have not yet become ad
justed to the college system. In this way
they are forestalling possible failures and
improving the scholarship of the organ iza
tion.
STABS COLORED BOV TO DEATH
T
El Dorado, Ark.— (By the Associated
Negro Press) E. P. Hall, 18-year-old
white boy, is held in jail here, charged
with first degree murder as a result of
the stabbing to death of Ernest Wood, a
colored employee. Hall, the white boy
explains that he did not mean tp kill Wood,
although they had been arguing. Other
employees state that Hall was running
around the plant of the Ritchie Grocery
Company looking for Wood.
Please be ready to pay your subscrip
tion when the collector for The Monitor
calls.
WALTER WHITE IN DETROIT
REPORTS ON SWEET DEFENSE
_
New York,—Walter White, Assistant
| Secretary of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, work
I ing with Clarence Darrow, and other de
i fense attorneys in the defense of Dr. 0.
H. Sweet and 10 other Negroes, has tele
graphed the following last minute report
on the progress of the trial;
“End of second week of trial finds
j prosecution’s case almost finished. Wit
ness after witness has been forced into
damaging contradictions by merciless
cross-examination of Darrow and Hays,
three of prosecution’s witnesses have
through Darrow’s questioning admitted they
saw persons throwing stones at Sweet
home just before shots were fired.
“The outlook is good but are far from
being out of the woods. There is urgent
need of immediate funds for payment heavy
costs including attorney fees, payment of
investigators, payment for daily transcript
alone averages over $150 per day. Pub
lic sentiment changing in our favor and
general opinion that counsel for defense
is most eminent array of attorneys ever
seen in a Michigan court.”
The Detroit City-Wide Committee, rais
ing funds in cooperation with the N. A.
A. C. P., has paid, $400 to each of the
three colored attorneys in the case.
ANGLO-SAXON CLUB PROTESTS
CONCERT AT HAMPTON
Hampton, Va.— (By the Associated Ne
gro Press) Objection to the spirit of
Hampton Institute which lies dormant in
the breasts of many whites in this section,
flared into a nasty flame Monday when the
infamous Anglo-Saxon Club, which gained
some notoriety some months ago by criticis
ing the practice of “social equality” at
Hampton, took exception to a recital to be
given in the Institute auditorium by the
glee club of the University of North Caro
lina because the colored and white mem
bers of the audience were expected to sit
together.
The glee club gave its concert despite
the protest which was made to the gover
nor of North Carolina.
GETS PORTION OF ESTATE
OF HIS DECEASED EMPLOYER
Texarkana, Ark.,— (By the Associated
Negro Press) Ned Brooks, 62, has been
awarded a judgment of $50,000 against the
estate of the late J. H. Herndon. Herndon
was 82 when he died. In the suit filed by
Brooks, it is stated that the plaintiff had
worked for the deceased defendant for near
ly fifty years without pay and that it was
with the understanding that if Herndon
died, Brooks was to get the estate. Shortly
before he died, Herndon discovered oil on
his farm property, and his wealth grew to
nearly one million dollars. He left it to
near relatives and Brooks contested the
will. As soon as the suit was filed, $60,
000,000 in a local bank was attached.
ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
A large congregation was present Sun
day morning. The services next Sunday will
be at the usual hours. Thanksgiving Day
there will be two services, holy communion
at 7 a. m. and morning prayer with ser
mon at 11. :00. Men of the congregation
have painted and decorated the guild
room and other improvements are under
way.
—
Give to the Community Chest!
m
<e>A N '' MEMBERS NATIONAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONFERENCE AT WHITE HOUSE. Photo by Hcuriock.
Reading from left to right; C. A. Franklin, Rev. Charles Humner Williams, Miss Jeanette Carter, 0. R. Rlcbardson, J. W. UcConlco, Rev. B. D. Taylor, Bishop A. J. Carey, J. A. Munnerlyn, JoBn R. Hawkins, R. B. Dennis,
A. D. Uolsey, Robert J. Nelson, K. W. Dale, W. W. Chlsum, R. J. Davis, J. E. Mitchell, Rev. Noah Williams, B. D. Patton, Hclplo A. Jones, C. E. Hall, Rev. W. H. Peck, W. J. Jones, Melvin J. Cblsum,
Claude A. Barnett, Perry W. Howard, D. R. Dautler, West A. Hamilton, Joseph D. Bibb, A. G. Froe, C. O. Hpauldlug, Rev. C. M. Tanner, Joseph Trigg, P. B. Youug, Emmett J. Scott,
Dr. W. Jarvis Bowen, James A. Cobb, Joseph Johnson, Henry A. Boyd, W. B. Driver and Charles H. Calloway.
_' ' S
/
DEFENSES CHARGES
THAT POLICEMAN
KILLED BREIHER
Startling Statement Made by Attorney
Arthur Garfield Hays Thrills
and Electrifies Court
Room
POLICEMEN ARE SOUTHERNERS
Hostility of Sworn Guardians of the
Law to Negroes Will Have an
Very Important Bearing
on Case
I -
(Special to The Monitor.)
ifetroit, Mich.—To say that a bomb
shell was exploded in Judge Murphy’s
court room Monday morning when
Arthur Garfield Hays of New York,
one of the associate attorneys for the
defense in the Sweet murder trial, in
opening for the defense boldlf
and fearlessly charged that a police
man killed Breiner, is to put it mild
ly. The packed courtroom was stunned
and electrified.
“We shall prove,” said Hays, “that
a Detroit policeman fired the bullet
that killed Bremer. The direction
from which the bullet entered his body
is sufficient proof that it could not
have come from the upper window
in the home of Dr. Ossian H. Sweet,
as indicated by the prosecution. The '
man who fired this shot is from Ten
nessee. We will show in this con
nection that fully one quarter, over
500 men, of all the Detroit police
force are southerners, and we will
prove the animosity of Detroit police
assigned to guard the home of the
Negro physician towards members of
the colored race.”
“We shall also prove that the state of
mind of the defendants barricaded in
their home, caused by the treatment,
that Negroes had received not only in
the South, but also in th'e North
would have justified the defendant in
shooting.”
The state concluded the presenta
tion of its witnesses Saturday. Ef
fort was made by the state to prove
a consipracy upon the part of Dr. Os
sian H. Sweet and his co-defendants
to commit murder; but the grilling
cross-examination of the witnesses by
Clarence Darrow, seems to have clear
ly disproved this by the state’s own
witnesses and showed that there was
conspiracy and threats upon the part
of the Waterworks Improvement
association to use force if necessary
to keep colored residents out of that
community. Mr. Darrow forced some
of the witnesses to admit that the
Waterworks Improvement Association
was formed for the express purpose
of driving Negro residents from the
neighborhood.
In the opening days of the trial the
state attempted to show that Dr.
Sweet’s home was under adequate po
lice protection. If it was Darrow
clearly proved by his cross-examina
tion of Police Lieutenant Schellen
berger that Dr. Sweet did not know
of this protection. The officer admit
ted that neither he nor any of his
men had communicated with Dr.
Sweet. He admitted that he did not
go to the house until after the shoot
ing when he said he asked them:
“What in hell are you fellows shoot
ing about?”
In his direct testimony Schellen
berger said he noticed only a few per
sons around the Sweet residence on
the night of the shooting, probably
50. By patient work Darrow made
him admit there were 160 and finally
200.
Schellenberger said when he en
tered the Sweet home he found only
one small stone on the floor and some
clothing and that was all.
“Was there any broken glass?”
"Yes."
“Why didn’t you tell about that?”
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Oh, I intended asking you. Don’t
worry about that.”
Heard Windows Broken
Edward Wettlanger, white, a, wit
ness for the state, admitted that he
heard the sounds of stones striking
Dr. Sweet’s house and the sound of
broken glass falling a minute before
Breiner was killed. ^
Darrow took out his watch and re
ferring to Wettlanger's testimony that
the glass was broken a minute before
the shooting, asked him to make a
signal when he thought a minute had
passed.
Wettlanger squirmed for 30 sec
onds and gave the signal.
(Continued on Page 2)