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NEBRASKA'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor.
GROWING —
THANK YOU
'J --— —. . .- ■
$2. Year—5 Cents a Copy
Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, June 1, 1928
Vol. XIII—No. 48
...aci..-.. - it, —
Whole Number 669
Woman’s Confession Gives Man Liberty
WOMAR’S PERJURY
IMPRISONS NEGRO
THIRTEEN YEARS
Fearing to Face Death with Perjured
Soul White Woman Confesses
Her Lie Imprisoned
Innocent Man
BESS NOT GUILTY OF ASSAULT
Governor Richards Liberates Prisoner
Once Property Owner But Now
Penniless; Newspaper
Raising Fund
Columbia, S. C., May 29—Con
science and justice have set Ben Bess,
Florence county Negro, free—after
13 years behind the bars an innocent
man.
i ne woman wnose testimony sent
Bess to prison on charges of assault
for a 30-year term has filed an affi
davit, part of which reads:
"Since I have not much longer to
live, I hereby desire as much as pos
sible to undo the great wrong I have
done this Negro, Ben Bess, and I
hereby declare my testimony upon the
trial of this case to be untrue.”
Justice acted when Governor Rich
ards gave Bess a full pardon.
When Bess went to the peniten
tiary he had some property. He lost
this and when he was given his free
dom he was destitute. Governor
Richards sought to have financial aid
given the man from the state contin
gent fund, but was told that no legal
means of doing so existed. The gov
ernor then expressed the hope that
> the South Carolina legislature at its
next session would take steps to right
the grave injustice done this Negro.
A Columbia newspaper has started
a fund for Bess and this has reached
$364.
The woman who caused Bess to be
sent to prison and who is white, fail
ed to give any reason for her false
testimony in her affidavit.
Bm Case Deeply Stirs South
Columbia, S. C. — (ANP) — The
case of Ben Bess, who served 13
years of a life sentence for criminally
assaulting a white woman and who
was liberated recently when the wo
man declared that he was innocent,
has caused quite a stir in this state
and citizens here and elsewhere are
seeking some way to compensate Bess
for the years which he has spent in
prison.
Suggests Purchase of Home
One white woman, who did not sign
her name, wrote to the South Caro
lina State, a white daily, suggesting
that the state purchase a home and
farm for Bess. Her letter is as fol
lows:
"Being a woman, I am much inter
ested in the case of Ben Bess, who
was betrayed and falsely accused b>^
a woman—shame on her I I should
think a nice little house on a few
acres of land would be very little for
the state to give thiB poor innocent
man for the loss of the thirteen best
years of his life and the shame of be
ing a criminal. Implements to culti
vate a crop, a good mule, and supplies
for a year—not much, but it would
make him so independent and happy.
The home would be a monument to
justice."
What If He Had Been Hanged?
Another white woman raised the
question as to what the state would
do if Bess had been hanged as sug
gested by the prosecution. She point
ed out this phase of the case as an ar
gument against capital punishment,
pointing out:
"That is the outstanding weakness
of capital punishment: there is no op
portunity to correct the errors of hu
man beings proverbially addicted to
error. It is, of course, proper that
Bess should have been pardoned. It
is also proper that, so far as possible,
restitution should be made to him
for the injury which he suffered."
Answering the query as to what
provision could be made in such a
case, the attorney general declared
that there was no legal way in which
the state might make a gift of any
kind to Bess, as the case was without
precedent.
The governor, however, stated that
if no way was found, he would ap
point a committee to receive free will
SOUTHERN EDITOR
GETS PULITZER AWARD
New York City—(ANP)—Accord
ing to announcement made by Colum
bia university recently, the Pulitzer
award for the best editorial writing
was given to Grover C. Hall of the
Montgomery Advertiser, because of
his articles against flogging and racial
and religious intolerance. The award
was $500.
COLORED YODTH WINS CAR
TOONIST PRIZE IN CONTEST
Twenty-two Year Old Elmer Camp
bell Awarded First Prize in An
nual Post Dispatch Drawing
Exhibition
FIRST HONORS PREVIOUSLY
| St. Louis, Mo.—Elmer Campbell, a
former student of Sumner High
school of St. Louis, was awarded the
first prize of $250 as a cartoonist,
recently in the annual Post Dispatch
Black and White drawing competition
of St. Louis artists.
Campbell’s prize cartoon, a tornado
scene in black crayon, portrays the
rescue of a tornado victim. Several
parsons are carrying a stricken victim
from a storm wrecked building.
The award was voted the young
cartoonist by a jury of three white
commercial artists, following an in
spection of competitive exhibition at
the Artists Guild, Union Boulevard
and Enright avenue,
j One hundred black and white stud
| ies were entered in crayon and ink,
or oils. It was the fourth annual
I competition and attracted the largest
number of entries, most white per
sons. The award jury was made up
of Fayerweather Babcock, James
Cody, Ewell and Otto J. Schneider of
Chicago.
Winner Only 22
Campbell is only 22 years old, son
of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell,
a former teacher in the St. Louis pub
lic schools. He early showed a deft
aptitude for cartoon work, although1
tenderly discouraged by his mother.
While a student in the St. Louis High
school, he pursued a special corre
spondence course in a cartooning
school in Minneapolis, Minn. At the
latter school exhibit at the Minnesota
state fair, he won third prize for his
comic cartoon. At the age of 16
Campbell had won the highest dis
tinction ever accorded a Negro boy in
this line. A number of Campbell’s
cartoons have appeared in the Chi
cago Bee.
Previous to his graduation, Camp
bell was awarded first honors by the
University of Wisconsin in a national'
contest for serious cartoons among
high school students. The title of the
cartoon was “Four Years of Peace,”
picturing an American soldier with
bowed head resting his crossed hands
holding a shovel, and kneeling over
the grave of a comrade while on the
wooden cross which marks his final
resting place, hangs his trench hat.
From the heavens above the noble
spirit of the dead hero looks down
upon his sorrowing friend and soothes
and sustains him with, “We’ve won,
Buddy!”
Campbell received his advanced
training at the Chicago university and
the Art Institute of that city. He is
now engaged aa a commercial utW
wit \ the Triad art studios.
MEHARRY CELEBRATES
52ND ANNIVERSARY
Nashville, Tenn. — (ANP) — Dr.
John J. Mullowney, president of Me
harry Medical college, announced re
cently that the 62nd anniversary of
Meharry Medical college was cele
brated from Sunday, May 20, when
tne baccalaureate sermon was deli
vered to Thursday, May 30, which
was commencement day.
Mr. C. H. Hicks, who has been con
fined to his home by illness for the
past three weeks, is much improved
and able to be out and return to his
work.
contributions for the purpose of mak
ing some restitution to the unfor
tunate man.
E D I T O R I A L
The confession of a conscience-stricken woman has brought
freedom to a Negro, Ben Bess, who has served thirteen years of
a thirty year sentence imposed upon him for alleged criminal
assault upon the woman, white, of course, who now with death
imminent, makes affidavit that she swore falsely when she
charged Ben with a heinous crime. Bess, evidently an industi
ous and thrifty man, for he was a property owner at the time
of his conviction, has spent thirteen of the best years of his
life behind prison bars for a crime he never committed. Brand
ed as a felon, who can picture the hell through which he has
passed? Conscious of his own innocence, despite the condem
nation of men and the contumely thrown upon his race, he had
the consolation which comes from integrity and yet he passed
through a veritable Gethsemane. Penniless, he starts life anew.
People of the State of South Carolina are anxious to make what
reparation they may for the injustice done this man.
The unhappy woman, who will be happier now since she
has unburdened her soul, so far as the press advises, has given
no reason for her perjury. Let us be charitable and not seek
to pry further into the secrets of a human soul which seeks
absolution from the sin of perjury which wrought such injury
to another human soul even though the encasement of that soul
was an ebony skin. What other sin or sins were hers which
caused her to perjure her soul it is ours not to inquire into.
Suffice it that she seeks to make whatever reparation she may,
even at this late day. If, however, this case will direct the at
tention of white America, South and North, to the fact that
scores of hapless black men have been done to death by mobs
and COURTS upon the wilful and deliberate lies of weak and
erring white women, and will cause America to be a little less
hasty in taking snap judgment concerning the alleged crimes
of Negroes against women, which the country is so quick to
believe, Ben Bess’s suffering will not have been in vain.
There are numerous cases in which to shield themselves
and their paramours, white in most instances, the cry of
“criminal assault by a Negro” has been raised. This is true
not only of the South, where it is alleged it is more frequent,
but of the North. Duluth, Minn., is not forgotten; nor Coffey
ville, Kan.; nor Columbia, Mo.; nor even Omaha, whose tax
payers and citizens are still paying the price in taxes and loss
of commercial prestige.
That there are bad men of all races, and women, too, can
not be denied. The Negro race has its proportion, but not the
undue proportion of criminally inclined popular white opinion
credits it with. Nor must it be forgotten that many a Negro
has suffered for crimes committed by white-skinned men with
blackened faces.
Perhaps the case of Ben Bess may make America a little
less impulsive in concluding that every Negro accused of crime
and especially of crimes against white women is guilty. Per
haps it may awaken the conscience of the country to the evils
of mob violence. Perhaps it may make America a little more
charitable in her judgment of her Negro citizens.
If this be true, we feel sure that Ben Bess will not regret
the price he had to pay vicariously for this result.
CAST WHICH WILL GIVE THE OPERETTA “THE
PENNANT” WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT BRANDEIS
THEATRE
Reading from left to right: Herbert Lewis, Burns Scott, Bert Fowler, Roy Nelson,
Buster Phillips, Gordon Hopkins, Elaine Smith, Dorothy Allen, Madeline Shipman, Vir
ginia Jackson, Gerald Edwards, Florentine Pinkston, Consuella Cross, Forrester Scott,
Carrie Harrison, Helen Hunigan, Mae Marshall, Willa Hayes, Ware Shaw, John Pegg,
Adrian Johnson, O. C. Winn, Thomas Dooley, Claretta Biddlex, Arthur McCaw, Jean
Dorsey, Hazel Myers, Florence Myers, Valvin Whitesides, Marjorie Bolden, Susie White
sides, Ordea Maxwell, Frances Trusty, Constance Singleton, Julia Brannon, Grace Bran
non, Elizabeth Allen, Margaret Dallas, Aline Burnette, and Pellem Robinson.
Catherine Williams, Woodrow Macklin and Charles Wilson are not in the picture.
CARL DITON, FAMOUS
PIANIST AND ORGANIST,
GIVES RECITAL THURSDAY
Carl Diton, famous composer, pian
ist and organist, whom Omahans are
to have the pleasure of hearing in
piano and pipe organ recital at Pil
grim Baptist church, Thursday night,
under the auspices of St. Philip’s
Episcopal church, is a native of Phil
adelphia, and a product, musically and
academically, of the University of
Pennsylvania. He studied at Munich,
Germany, as a protege of the late
Madam E. Azalia Hackley. He was
the first composer to employ a Negro
spiritual as thematic for an organ
composition and was awarded first
prize in the 1914 National Negro
Composition contest sponsored by
John Wanamaker. This is Mr. Diton’s
second transcontinental tour, upon
the completion of which he is leaving
for a European concert tour.
Miss Marjorie Hall is ill at her
home, 2211 Ohio street.
PROMINENT WOMAN
DELIVERS ADDRESS AT
M. E. CONFERENCE
Kansas City, Mo.—(ANP)—The
work of the National Association of
Colored Women’s Clubs was reviewed
recently before the general confer
ence of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, in session here, by Mrs. Mary
McLeod Bethune, presiden t of the
Bethune-Cookman college, and of said
association and a member of the gen
eral conference.
Mrs. Bethune thanked God “for
what Methodism has done for the
womanhood of the Negro race of the
United States. You have awakened
us. You have given us the opportuni
ty of finding ourselves. We are
steadily going forward awakening the
masses, that the masses might find
themselves and be lifted to that plat
form of real Christian service.”
Such an impression was made by
Mrs. Bethune that the assembly unan
imously adopted a resolution com
mending the work of the National As
sociation of Colored Women’s Clubs.
K. U. GIRL ELECTED
TO SOCIOLOGY FRAT.
Wawrence, Kas.—-Miss Willie A.
Strong, senior in the college, was
elected to the Alpha chapter of Alpha
Kappa Delta, national honorary so
ciological fraternity. She was ini
tiated Wednesday, May 16. Miss
Strong is an Oklahoma girl, and a
member of the Delta Sigma Theta
sorority. She is a sociology major
and will receive her A. B. degree in
June.
AFRICAN METHODISTS ELECT
FODR BISHOPS; EXCITEMENT
Financial Secretary Is Re-Elected by
Acclamation. Few Changes
Made in General
Officers.
NEBRASKA GETS BISHOP GREGG
Chicago, 111.—(ANP)—After one
of the most hectic and interesting
elections ever held in a general con
ference, three additional bishops were
elected here recently.
Following closely on the heels of
Dr. R. A. Grant’s election, Thursday,
which was effected on the third bal
lot, was the election o fthe Rev. S. L.
Greene of Arkansas and the Rev. G.
B. Young of Texas. The fifth ballot
witnessed the withdrawal of Dr. R. R.
Wright, jr., from the race and the
election of Dr. W. H. Davis of Mary
land, with a vote of 580, which is said
to have broken a record which had
stood a century.
The election was a scene of contin
ual balloting extending over a period
of some 38 hours, and it was a tired
group when the fourth and last bishop
was elected.
Choome Hawkinm by Acclamation
John R. Hawkins, Washington, D.
C. , was re-elected financial secretary
Saturday afternoon by acclamation.
The election of general officers re
sulted in all the old officers being suc
cessful, the one exception being the
election of J. H. Wilson of California
to the editorship of the Western
Christian Recorder, to succeed Rev.
J. D. Barksdale of Topeka. Among
the others elected were Dr. D. M.
Baxter, manager of the Book Con
cern; Dr. R. R. Wright, editor of the
Christian Recorder; Dr. E. H. Coit,
secretary of the Department of Mis
sions; Dr. S. J. Johnson, secretary of
the Extension Department; and Dr.
A. S. Johnson, commissioner of edu
cation.
Bishop Gregg Assigned Here
Chicago, 111. — Bishop John A.
Gregg, formerly of the South African
iistrict, has been assigned to the fifth
Episcopal district, embracing Nebras
ka, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.
OMAHA WOMAN’S
BROTHER ELECTED
A. M. E. ZION BISHOP
Doctor Jacob*, Prominent Physician
and Minister of Brooklyn,
Elected by Acclamation
at Conference
EQUAL LAY REPRESENTATION
, St. Louis, Mo.—The twenty-eighth
quadrennial session of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church for
mally closed here Monday, May 21st.
Sunday saw the consecration of the
two newly elected bishops, F. M. Ja
cobs and W. W. Matthews, who were
chosen the previous week. The cere
mony was held in the Metropolitan
church. Bishop J. W. Woods preach
ed the sermon.
Prior to his elevation to the bishop
ric, Dr. Jacobs had served his denom
ination as general secretary. He was
educated at Howard university,
Wesleyan university and Long Island
Hospital Medical school. A native of
Camden, S. C., he has been engaged
in the practice of medicine in Brook
lyn, N. Y., for 27 years. He was
elected bishop by acclamation.
Dr. Matthew is a native of Missis
sippi and was educated at Branch
Normal college, Pine Bluff, Ark., and
New Orleans university, New Orleans,
La. He came into the general con
ference of his denomination when he
(Continued on Page 4)
RACE ACHIEVEMENTS
WIN COMMENDATION
FROM NOTED DIVINE
President of the Federal Council of
Churches in America Answers
Query Covering Negro’s
Contribution
CUTURAL GIFTS THE GREATEST
Music, Literature and Art Enriched
by Hi* Contribution as Well as
Industry, Trade and
Commerce
New York, N. Y.—In the syndicat
ed columns conducted by the Rev. Dr.
S. Parkes Cadman, president of the
Federal Council of Churches of Christ
in America, there recently appeared
the following question, “What, in
your opinion, are the chief contribu
tions made by the race to the social
life of this country?” Dr. Cadman’s
reply, carried in newspapers through
out the nation, was as follows:
“The Negro is remarkably rich in
his emotional nature. His contribu
tions to music through the Fisk Ju
tiiiee S'ngers and similar organiza
ttona, Roland Hayes and other well
i:»wn vocalists of his race, and the
haunting Negro melodies and folk
songs which Dvorak used as the basis
of his new world symphony, have ben
efited the most neglected art among
the American people.
“Nor is the Negro without isolated
painters and poets, actors and writ
ers who show their capacities in fields
which many supposed closed to them.
The ministry of the Negro preacher
to his people deserves emphatic and
honorable mention. Despite tremen
dous handicaps it has conserved the
spiritual forces which largely account
for their amazing material progress
since the civil war.
Both Race* Need Moral Direction
“Their physical labors have made*
the cotton belt of the south possible
and remunerative. The first 20 years
of the Negro’s emancipation increased
his industrial productivity in this one
commodity to a financial amount suf
ficient to purchase his freedom.
Moreover, since 1865 he has acquired
$2,000,000,000 worth of personal
property.
“Negro and white folks alike re
quire moral direction. The race
which began here in bondage has re
mained incorrigibly religious. ltd
members readily respond to good ex
ample. They maintain their faith in
the God of all life. Surrounding
cynicism and doubt do not daunt their
simple trust in unseen realities. An
unselfish, sympathetic study of their
needs in our social readjustments can
rely upon their support.
“Leaders of their own race, rightly
trained and given the opportunity,
can achieve, aided by intelligent white
co-operation, the solution of problems
which so baffle us. Loyalty to his
friends is the Negro’s characteristic.
Notwithstanding his hard usage by
mistaken or tyrannical individuals, he
has never been a traitor to the flag.
His Americanism is confiding and en
thusiastic. It must be attached to the
best ideals. Men like Dr. Proctor
(Rev. Hugh, Henry Proctor of the
Congregational church), of my own
neighborhood in Brooklyn, are ren
dering yeoman service in this respect,
but they need white assistance, which
should not be too long delayed at a
crucial moment.”
THREE GRADUATE FROM
UNIVERSITY OF OMAHA
Among the graduates from the Uni
roralty of Omaha who will receive
diplomas and degrees next Thursday
night are three colored students, Miss
Ruth Seay, Miss Thelma Norris and
Miss Goldie Mitchell. Miss Seay has
| had experience as a teacher in the
public schools of St. Joseph, Mo., but
decided to study for her degree, B. A.,
and so has been attending the univer
sity. Miss Thelma Norris, while at
tending the university has taught for
two terms in the night school con
ducted at the North Side “Y”. The
Monitor extends sincere congratula
tions.