m The monitor ^
% NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OP COLORED AMERICANS
| THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor.
$2.00 a Yea * > Cents a Copy OMAHA. NEBRASKA, SEPTEMBER 17, 1926Vol- XII.—No. 12Whole Number 582
BLACKENS FACE; COMMITS OFFENSE
CONFESSES TO SEV
ERAL CRIMES; WERE
CHARRED TO HEOROES
John Sexton (White), of Mississippi,
Claim* to Be One of Gang Who
Blacken Their Face* When
Committing Crime*
CHILD VICTIM OF HIS LUST
St. Louis, Mo.—One of the most im
portant arrests made by the St. Louis
police recently was that of John Sex
ton (white) of Iceland, Mississippi^
who has admitted committing many
robberies and criminal assaults on
women and girls during the past
seven months he has been in St. Louis.
He was arrested in a Market street
pawn shop when he returned to obtain
more money on two rings he had pre
viously pawned said to be a part of
the loot he obtained through robbery.
Assault* 15-Yetr-Old Girl
Among the crimes admitted by Sex
ton is that of luring a 15-year-old
girl to a house at 1610 Pine street
on the promise of work and crimin
ally assaulting her. He has also been
identified by three more girls as the
man who on Wednesday night stopped
them at Oakland avenue and attempt
ed to drag one of them to a lonely
spot when he was frightened by ap
proaching motorists. This was near
the spot, and on the same night, that
a Negro was charged with having
taken a girl from'her escort and as
saulted her. The girl assaulted, after
seeing Sexton at police headquarters
with his face blackened, has partially
identified him as her assailant.
Blacken* His Face.
In an interview with a representa
tive of the St. Louis Argus, Sexton
at police headquarters talked freely
about his masquerading under the
guise of a Negro when committing
crimes. He said it was easy to fasten
crimes on Negroes. He denied he
was the man who took a Miss Rose
Mary Sullivan from her escort in For
est Park and criminally assaulted her.
When asked directly by an Argus rep
resentative did he commit the assault
on Miss Sullivan, Sexton said: “I
didn’t do it. You see I am a south
ern white man who wouldn’t put a
crime like that on a Negro because
it wouhl endanger his life, I would
rather take my own medicine. You
know if I confessed to assaulting a
15-year-old girl, I would confess about
this case. It may be that some of
the other fellows did it.” When asked
what he meant by “other fellows," he
said that there was a gang of white
men with whom he was associated,
who blacken their faces when commit
ting certain crimes.
And while the police have not been
able to fasten this particular crime on
Sexton, yet, it is generally believed
that he with a black face committed
the crime which has been so widely
published as having been committed
by a Negro. Three girls have iden
tified Sexton as the man whom they
supposed to be a Negro, that attacked
them and attempted to drag one of
them into hiding but was frightened
away, just about an hour before the
assault on the other girl which took
place in the same vicinity.
Other jobs done by Sexton under
the cover of a blackened face were
some eight or ten oil station holdups.
T. W. C. A. SECRETARY HAS
RETURNED FROM EAST
Miss Edna M. Stratton, secretary
of the North Side Branch Y. W. C. A.,
has returned from her two months’
"Hcation and absence in the east. Six
--dts of this time was spent in at
tendance at the National Y. W. C. A.
Training School in New York City.
There was a total enrolment of 98 “Y"
workers taking the special course pro.
vided at the school, twelve of whom
were colored. Miss Stratton spent two
weeks with her parents in Pittsburgh.
Relics of a people who lived in thd
valley of the Nile about 14,000 years
ago are now on view at University
college, London.
HOLDS A POSITION OF TRUST
Aiming the number of colored men and
women employed in the various business
houses of Omaha who are holding posi
tions of trust today, is the young man.
Bill Holt, whose picture, appears above.
Bill has been in the employ of the Hart
man Furniture and Carpet company for
10 years and one must render satisfactory
service to remain in the employ ot one
firm for that length of time. Bill holds
the position of “superintendent of build
ing" for the Hartman company, is en
trusted with the keys and superintends the
work during periods of alterations on the
interior of the building or the elevator
equipment. When such work is being
done at night, it becomes necessary for
Bill to look after his regular duties (lur
ing the day and to oversee the work be
ing done at night. Besides being super
intendenl of building, Bill has complete
charge of the cleaning and dusting of
the entire store, having a force of si*
people under him to do the work. 1 his
work consists of general cleaning, the dust
ing of furniture and keeping the store tidy
and attractive. Bill owns his own home
at 2507 Indiana avenue. Ilis wife was
Eunice Annison tiefore she became Mrs.
Holt and they have a splendid family
of three children. The Holts belong to
the St. John A. M. E. church.
The Hartman Furniture and Carpet com
puny employs a number of colored help
and have always treated this help with the
utmost consideration and by speaking
words of praise for the firm, this help
has brought much business from colored
people to the Hartman store.—Adv.
NATIONAL BAPTIST PUBLISHING
BOARD REPORTS
Indianapolis, Inti.— (Special ( —Millions
in periodicals circulating through*)ul tin*
Uni tail States indoctrinating Baptists at
home and abroad in their tenets and prin
cipals was told here in the National Baptist
convention of America in Tomlinson hall
by Henry A. Boyd, the seeretary of the
biggest Negro printing plant owned, op
erated and controlled by Negroes in the
world. The Ifev. Mr. Boyd gave facts
ami figures touching upon the work of
tlte institution founded by hi* father near
ly thirty years ago. He also presented
a resume of the work accomplished in
the Twenty-first Annual Session of the
Sunday School Congress.
OPENS CANDY STORE
Arthur A. Ware an expert candy
maker, who has made candy for some
of the best firms in the country, ha
returned to Omaha and opened a
candy store at 1616 North Twenty -
fourth *t refit. He plans to do a whole
sale as well as retail business. His
store is one of the most attractive
on North Twenty-fourth street. His
goods are of the finest grade and he
should and doubtless will receive a
libera! patronage. When in need of
fine candies be sure to see Ware.
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS ORGANIZED
GAIty, IND.—Under the diretinn of H.
M. Eletcher, organizer and president, the
Industrial Workmen’s Association, an or
ganization created to “unite all the col
ored workmen of Gary," is said to be flour
ishing. The Industrial Workmen’s Associ
ation is comprised principally of Gary
steel workers, skilled and unskilled, who
are engaged in the Gary steel plants.
The interlocking plan upon which the
Gary organization is based has enjoyed
marked success partiulary where colored
workers are engaged in plants, fields and
mines. Ultimately living conditions are
to be treated with and every phase of
work conuntment is to he made subject
of “round table” conferences.
0
ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST,
WARM FRIEND OF NEGROES,
ABDUCTED BY HOODED GANG
- ■■
Father Warren, Who Conducts School
for Poor Colored Children, Cap
tured and Warned by Mob
to Desist.
Norfolk, Va.—The Rev. Vincent 0.
Warren, a Catholic priest of this city,
was taken captive late last Thurs
day night by a band of hooded men |
in Princess Anne county, subjected to
a grilling in an isolated woods and
released with a warning after being \
held prisoner for two hours. The
clergyman was unharmed by his cap- ;
tors, but there were cries of “brand j
the nigger lover” as he was being
questioned. Father Warren (doId in
vestigating officers he was questioned
about his activities as a patron for a
Negro boys’ band and other Negro
philanthropies.
Sought With Flashlights
More than MO white men, all clothed
in Ku Klux Klan regalia, Father War
ren says, stealthily approached the 1
scene of the concert after the boy
had been playing for two hours and
were nearing the end of the program.
Provided with flashlights the hooded
figures started a search of the
grounds, locating Father Warren with
two friends in an automobile, a posi
tion the priest had taken because of
missives said to have come from the
klan warning that the colored band
must not be brought into the county.
The priest was seized, the witnesses
say, dragged out of the machine, anil
forced to enter another automobile in
which he was taken to the woods, fol
lowed by the rest of the raiding party
in automobiles.
He was taken 20 miles into a woods,
and warned to desist from educating
the Negroes.
LEARNS FROM COLORED BOYS
Wichita, Kans. — Geniality, deep reli
gious feeling, a devotion to the cause of
international understanding, and a spirit
of brotherhood- these are the outstand
ing characteristics which W. A. Visser
i 11 oof t, of the World's committee of the
Y.M.CA. at Geneva, Switzerland, found
in the colored boys lie met in his visit
to the Booker T. Washington 11i-V of this
city.
"I was greatly pleased by the warm
hearted welcome to a foreigner," he say*
in World’s Youth. “They (the Negroes!
impress me as having more natural kind
ness and geniality than any other rare.
I have never been in close touch with
the Ndgro race or to put it stronger, I
had never talker! to a Negro until I wus
over twenty years of age. I was terribly
conscious of being white when I found
myself with one other white gentleman
in a hall full of Negro students."
Mr. Visser ’t Hooft found the colored
Hi-Y group intensely interested in boys
of other nations. He discovered in them
an amazing knowledge of India and its
religions, the Balkans uml Balkan prob
lems, the Japanese, various European
people*, and the work of Max Yergan
among the hoys and young men of South
\frica. They spoke to him of education
as one means of attaining a high type
of citizenship ami of giving service to
the country.
In return, he learned, they ask for a
democray “in the fundamental sense of
the term” as explained by Abraham Un
coln, “a government of the people by the
people, for the people.” They plead for
the leadership of youth, even though youth
may l»e individualistic and self-assertattve,
for "mental independence, which is the
essence of individualism, is necessary to
spiritual life.”
ASK NOMINATIONS FOR
WALKER AWARDS
Ney York.—The N. A. A. C. P., 69
Fifth avenue, announces that nomina
tions may still be sent in for the 1926
gold medal, awarded to some member
of the N. A. A. C. P. for conspicuous
service to the race through the N. A.
A. C. P. anil the two Madam C. J.
Walker scholarships, awarded to the
branches for increase in money and
members over the preceding year. The
scholarships may be presented by the
winning branch to any student desig
nated.
SEEKING COLORED GIRL
WHO WILL ATTEMPT TO
SWIM ENGLISH CHANNEL
Race Mermaid Will Try to Master
Difficult Course; Washington
Business and Professional
Men Back Venture.
Washington, D. C.—An American
Negro girl to swim the English chan
nel. This is the hopes of the Rev.
Edward Johnson, Baptist pastor,
who passed a resolution at the annual
session of the White Cross bureau
that the organization seek to find the
mermaid who will conquer the chan
nel and finance her in the efforts.
The drive to find the race girl that
appears as a likely master of the
channel swim was started in earnest
Sunday at Atlantic City. Rev. S.
P. W. Drew, president of the State
White Cross Bureau, said that ef
forts were being made to induce Watt
Terry, wealthy race real estate man of
New York, to aid in financing the
project
Aspirants for the proposed channel
swim met September 6 at 1029 V
street, northwest. Several brown-skin
mermaids from Baltimore, one of
■whom is said to have completed a
20-mile swim in Chesapeake Bay last
week, were present. A trial swim
will be held at Atlantic City.
One year of training will be given
the girl selected by the bureau to at
tempt the channel feat. All her ex
penses will be paid during the period
of training.
HARROD CONCERT COMPANY
DELIGHTS AUDIENCES
The Harrod Concert Company, few
in numbers, but great in melody, have
been in the city for several days de
lighting audiences with their artistic
interpretation of spirituals, jubilee
songs and other soulful music. The
company at present consists of Mr.
Archie Harrod of Washington, D. C.,
manager and tenor; Mrs. Harrod and
Miss Matilda A. Walton, of New York,
contralto. Concerts were given at the
North Side “Y” Sunday afternoon at
4 o’clock; at Calvary Baptist church
at 7-30 and at Hillside Presbyterian
at 9. Monday noon they sang at the
Y. M. C. A. Monday night at Grow*
M. E.; Tuesday night at Dundee Pres
byterian and Wednesday night at the
North Side Presbyterian church. At
all these places the audiences were
delighted. Mr. Harrod. organizer and
owner of the company, has had a
rather varied career. As a boy for two
years he was caddy for President
Taft. For eight years he was mes
senger for Champ Clark, who inter
ested himself in his education, and
helped him attend the University of
Minnesota and the New England con
servatory. Organizing his concert
company they have sung on the Ly
ceum and Chatauqtfa circuits. The
company has made four trips to Eu
rope, two to South America and Ber
muda and three to the Pacific coast. '
ELKS PLEDGE SUPPORT
TO NEGRO EDUCATION
Cleveland—Outsanding among the cor
slructive policies of the 1. B. P. 0. E. W.,
adopted at the most successful Grand
l-odge session in the history of Elkdom,
which adjourned in this city at the close
of last week, was the pledge made by the
EILs to the cause of Negro education.
The Grand Treasurer reported a fund
of $16,489.59, already on hand, which is
the nucleus of a special education fund
to he distributed os scholarships to worthy
boys and girls of the Negro race.
This fund is to be gradually enlarged,
so as to provide a permanent surplus for
the sons and daughters of Elks who quali
fy for the scholarships. The director of
education will supervise the distribution
of the scholarship funds, as well as the
eligibility of candidates.
PICKS COP'S POCKET
New Orleans, La.—Victoria Willis was
arrested a few days ago for disturbing the
peace, and while in the patrol wagon
lifted a $80 watch from the pocket of the
arresting officer. For the next ninety
days sh$ will Ire removed from temptation
unless she takes the lock from the cell
door.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL ARTHUR
BROOKS OIES; A HEART VICTIM
Special to The Monitor
0 ■ ■
By Walter J. Singleton
Washington, D. C.—Lieutenant Colonel
Arthur Brooks, custodian of the White
House, passed away early Tuesday morn
ing. A slight hope had been felt, among
those near him, that he might recover
from the heart attack that prostrated him
on August 26th, but without avail, and
now the host of friends and admirers who
mount him number into the thousands and
are found in every station of life.
Colonel Brooks was appointed instructor
of the high school cadets on October 15,
1888, and served continuously as such un
til November 30, 1918. when special leave
was granted hint to accompany the late
President Wilson to Europe. His work in
the National Guard and with the cadets,
shaping the manhood of the younger citi
zens of this generation, stands as a living
monument to his rare ability and sterling
citizenship. Hi. interest in their develop
ment as citizens, their progress as stu
dents, and their general wellbeing was
highly exemplary.
Arthur Brooks was commissioned captain
of Company A, 6th Battalion, known as
the Washington Cadet corps, on July 2,
1887. This company was transferred to
and became Company A, First Separate
Battalion. He was promoted *n Major,
First Separate Battalion, on Decomiter .0.
1897, and was retired as a Lietutenaut
Colonel op July 16, 1912. In 1914 he
was awarded the twenty-five year gold
medal for service in the National Guard.
Colonel Brooks began his services under
the federal government as chief messenger
of the War Department, serving under the
many secretaries of war from 1881 until
President Taft raised him to the position
of custodian of the White House, March
4, 1909, a bonded position, and there need
be no further citation to prove the respect
and esteem he commanded than the fact
that he held his position, without further
interruption from the date of the original
^rpointment until his rugged health failed
him a few months ago. In turn, be served
under President William Howard Taft,
President Woodrow Wilson, President
Warren G. Harding, and under President
Calvin Coolidge. Few persons have pos
sessed the ability, tact and force of char
acter to hold with honor a position carry
ing such intimate contact of great men
endowed with such diversified tempera
ments as these successive presidents of
the United States.
Colonel Brooks was as fine in his spirit
ual life as in his civic activities. He was
a faithful communicant and officer of St.
Mary's Episcopal church, where he worship
per! for thirty years, and where his fellow
parishioners shall long feel a sense of per
sonal loss in the passing of this splendid
Churchman.
In Colonel Brooks were combined, with
unusual and compelling force, the ability,
devotion to duty, charity, spirit culture,
which beautified by a sweet, yet digni
ved personality, made him a gentleman of
such charm that people of whatever sta
tion, or of whatever race, were proud to
know hint. His merpory shall live long
among the multitude of his friends.
“ROLI., JORDAN, ROLL!”
Washington—The Jordan river will soon
lie rolling for the benefit of industry.
Financial plans for the harnessing have
been completed, and the Palestine Elec
tric Corporation, which owns the conces
sion, has been notified that $750,000 is
available for the project. This project
is part of the plan now being worked
out to restore Palestine as the cultural
and spiritual home of the Jews, and to
bring Jews back to Palestine for industrial
and agricultural life.
SUMMER SCHOOLS FOR PASTORS
OF COFX5RED M. E. CHURCH
Augusta, Ga.—Opening on September
2, and continuing “through the 10th, a
training school for C M. E. pastors is
being held at Paine college, this city,
under the joint auspices of the C. M. E.
Church and the M. E. Church South.
ASIATIC NATIONS BITTER
OVER RACE QUESTION
Session of Nations Show Undercurrent
of Resentment Towards Interna
tional Racial Prejudice.
Tokio, Japan.—(Pacific Coast News
Bureau.)—Bitter resentment over the
enactment of English and American
imigration laws against the Japanese,
Chinese, Hindus and other Asiatic na
tions of the “oppressed" nationalities
represented as was predicted by one
Japanese newspaper, “The Mikado," in
a complete failure of the recent Asiatic
congress held in Tokio. Japan.
Another paper, “The Osaka Asahi,"
declares editorially that the guiding
principles of the Pan-Asiatic congress
were but a rehash of those underlying
the league of nations and asks
whether these principles truthfully
represent the spirit prompting the pro
moters or whether they really are not
a blind behind which an attempt is
being rjjade to foment discord and
foster revolt.
Immigration Laws “Unchristian.”
Calling the American and Canadian
immigration laws as “unchristian.”
the Japan-Methodist-Episcopal Mis
sion, one of the most influential mis
sion organizations in Japan, at their
annual conference held at the moun
tain resort of Karuizawa, moved and
adopted a resolution which raps the
alien ban and seeks to pacify the ori
entals ‘because their offended pride
and disillusionment as to America’s
sense of inter-racial fairness, we have
been somewhat able to assuage indig
nation with the assurance trat what
ever unfairness has entered into
American legislation will surely be
rectified in time when the situation
and the implications of the law are
more thoroughly understood.”
The Mission’s assurance that the
English-American feeling will be rec
tified is hardly the consensus of opin
ion in these countries as stated by
another paper which sees behind the
Pan-Asiatic congress a reiteration of
the cry raised at Versailles for racial
equality and thinks that the “op
pressed nationalities’ are becoming
afraid that the world is fast bee
coming a white man’s property.
“This cannot be tolerated.” says
this paper, “the demand for racial
equality should be kept up. Japan
happens to be the strongest nation in
Asia, a fact which puts upon her
the responsibility of claiming racial
equality with especial vigor. Racial
equality as a theory will be granted
readily enough, but this will not con
duce to the well-being and happiness
of the colored races. The only way is
for everyone to improve his or her
own condition and Asiatic peoples,
while demanding racial equality
should also at the same time make in
defatigable efforts to increase their
own strength.”
COLORED FILM STAR MANAGER
OF NEW RACE JOURNAL
Oakland, Cal.—(Pacific Coast News
Bureau.)—The latest of the race jour
nalistic ventures on the coast, “The
Western American,” of Oakland, has
as its business manager a nationally
known dramatic and motion picture
actor, E. Richards Abrams, a former
idol of the eastern theatre goers.
Mr. Abrams, best remembered by
his leading part opposite Evelyn
Preer in the Micheaux film, “The
Gunsaulus Mystery,” is a native of
San Antonio, Tex., which, by the way,
is also the home place of another
nationally known movie star, Clarence
A. Brooks of the Lincoln Motion Pic
ture company.
In 1915 Abrams started his theatre
career as a juvenile actor in Robert
Levy's famous stock troup of Lafay
ette Players of New York city. Later
when Mr. Levy organized the Reel
Productions, he selected Mr. Abrams
for the leading part opposite Eliza
beth Boyer in the Reel Production.
“The Sport of the Gods.”