The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19??, May 18, 1935, Image 1
---- vvuvwyww* wwwwvuvwiw 1 m & Per Copy AWA'MV.WASW VOLUME IX OMAHA, NEBRASKA, SATURDAY, MAY 18th, 1935 NUMBER TEN _ __ Texas Negro Business Man Writes 7Letter* To Senator Huey Long HERB SALESMAN MURDERED IN SO. OMAHA XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Leibowitz Seeks Pardons for Scottsboro Boys SUGGESTS A METHOD OF _ ( Tries New Tactics In Scottsboro Case New York Lawyer Follows Supreme Court Ruling With New Plan_ Suggests a Fact-Finding Committee Montgomery, Ala., May 14—An attempt to put the state of Alabama on its honor was seen last week in the action of Samuel S Leibowitz, chief of counsel for the Scottsboro boys, when he asked Governor Bibb Graves to pardon all nine defendants. ■In his plea to the governor, Mr Leibowitz sought to rob the state of its claim that the cases had been used and were being used by Communists to foment revolutionary propaganda. Leibowitz, last summer broke with the International Labor Defense, Com munist affiliate, and charged that that organization was injuring the cases by the methods employed to exploit them in behalf of the radical program. He asked the governor for full par dons. In the event the governor could not see his way clear to grant pardons, Mr. Leibowitz suggested a second method of procedure: that a “fact finding" commission be appointed to study the case and return its decision to the governor- He further suggest ed that if such a commission is named it be composed “of such men as Bis hop W. G- McDowell of the Alabama diocese, of the Episcopal Church, and some of the heads of the colleges of the state. “Subversive elements,” Mr Leibo witz wrote, “have exploited the un fortunate plight of these hapless youths for the purpose of raising huge sums of money with which to carry on political propaganda avowed ly seeking to tear down our form of government and to substitute for our cherished American ideals and tradi tions the bolshevism of Moscow.” Prior to sending his appeal to the governor, Mr. Leibowitz had sought unsuccessfully to have a conference with the chief executive. Public Invited to Attend Grand Opening of Omaha’s Finest Beauty Salon On Friday evening. May 17th. the public is requested to attend the formal opening of Omaha’s most beautiful modernistic beau ty salon, under the sole manage rs ent of Mr. Homer MeCraney. T1 s Salon is located at 2037 N. 24th St. just two doors south of i the Ritz Theater. Assisting Mr. MeCraney will be one of Omaha’s most popular hair stylists. Secial Announcement to the Ladies. As a special courtesy on the op ening of this salon for your ap proval. the management cordially requests you to attend a “Tea” ; * the salon from 4 until 6 p. m. and from 7 until 9 p. m. FViday evening as our special guests. You are assured of a most charming and enjoyable evening while in specting this beautiful salon. Watch our windows for further announcements concerning the fu ture activities of this service in stitution. This is your beauty salon in your own town, opened for your convenience. r—~—. SECOND PROCEDURE Rush Plans for New Anti-Lynching Fight Secret Lnfer-racial Conferences Perfect Strategy Washington, May 16.—The fervent hope of senatorial op po? ents of the Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching: Bill that no furth er effort would be made this sea son to renew the fight for its pas sage, was blasted this week when interracial s rategy committees privately conferred here and in New York and rushed plans for a fresh battle. While the plan of attack has not been divulged, it is believed a renewed effort will b<> made to line up laggard senat ors. Asserting that “Important is sues of human welfare are not to be settled by parliamentary man euvers. ” Senator Edward P. Oot tiean. eo-author of the bill de clared: “The Senate’s refusal to take up and consider on its merits the anti-lynching bill, and the regrettable resulting failure to secure an expression without de lay of the Senate’s judgement on hat measure must be viewed as era nor ary, not final.” “Xow that the southern senat ors have killed the anti-lynching bill, probably they will be in a hurry to get e res of eeaoinsrdlu hurry to get the rest of the busi ness of the session done so they can get back home to their favor ite sport.” —Decatur. III., Herald. X. Y. TELEPHONE COMPANY RECEIVES HARLEM COM MITTEE: MAY HIRE CLERKS Forty Race Clerks May Get Jobs At Harlem Phone Exchange Following Conference—Company Shown That They Get S2.000.000 Annually From Black Belt. New York, May 14—The New York Telephone Company is considering hiring 40 colored clerks, who may be placed in two of the company’s ex changes in Harlem, as the result of a conference with the director of per sonnel of the company by Ben Roman and Victor Cooley, owner and vice president of the Renaissance theater in Harlem, at the main office of the company, 114 West street. The point was made by Mr. Ro man that Harlem pays 8225,000 per month service and toll charges to the company, about $2,000,000 annually It was suggested that 20 girls be trained for the 124th street and Con vent avenue branches of the company, and that twenty young men be hired, and the combined salaries of the group would turn back $50,000 per month to the community. No definite commitment was made, but the company representative seem ed to be favorably impressed with the idea. Fraternity Contributes to Scottsboro Defense New York—C’NA—The local chater of the Phi Beta Sigma, a Greek letter eollege fraternity, voted to contribute $25,000 to the International Labor Defense in defense of the Seottsboro boys and Angelo Herdon. The fraternity turned down an appeal for funds from the Lieb owitz-eontrolled American Scott boro Committee. CUTS WOMAN IN A DOWN TOWN STORE Mrs. Henrietta Mickens, 2409 N. 29th Street, was slashed with a razor from her right eye to her ear last Sat urday, May 11, while shopping in W. T. Grant's Store Mrs. Estelle Irv ing, 1831 N- 23rd Street, is accused of cutting Mrs. Mickens. The cause i of the disturbance has not been made known. Mrs. Mickens was taken to Lord : Lister Hospital and treated by Dr. Atwood, Police Physician. FIVE INJURED IN COLLISION Five persons were seriously injured last Thursday when the jitney in which they were riding, driven by Mr. Fred Frazier, 2853 Miami Street, col lided with a four ton tramway truck at 24th and Leavenworth Streets. The' jitney was a five passenger Buick Se dan, travelling north on 24th Street, j and the tramway truck was going east on Leavenworth. Those injured were Mr. Frazier. | driver, who suffered internal injuries | and is still confined to Lord Lister Hospital, Mr- Thomas, cuts and j bruises, Mr- Porter, Mr. Turner and! Mrs. Isom. Mr. Frazier sustained j the most serious injuries. However, Mr. Thomas and Mr - Porter were con- \ fined to the Lord Lister hospital un- j til Wednesday, May 15, when Mr. Porter was released- Mr. Frazier and Mr. Thomas are still there. Mrs. Isom and Mr Turner were under the care of the doctor at their respective homes. The driver of the tramway truck was not hurt. He was booked on charges of reckless driving and held over until the trial. Suffers Bodily Injuries; Limb Amputation On May 8th, Dr. Lennox received a card from Lester Price, crack high school track athlete of a decade ago, and more recently a student of Oma ha Municipal University, saying that he was alive, safe and sound. He stated that he planned to be in Omaha around the 15th of this month A few days later word was received i that Mr- Price suffered grave bodily injuries and lost one leg while at tempting to board a freight train in Corsicana, Texas, enroute to Omaha, Texas. It seems that the leg was crushed and had to be amputated just below the knee. His condition is re ported as being serious. _ Ex-Slave, 114 Still Receiving Pension Washington, D. C. May 16th —AXP—An investigation by the Civil Serviee Commission has dis closed that Mark Thrasa. 114 vear-old former slave, is still re ceiving a pension and living at Chickamauga Park. Tenn. Wiih j his pension, Mr. Thrash imports his fifth wife and a step child. He j has 27 children, the eldest of whom is 92 years old. A’Capella Choir Appears in Tekamah The A’Capella choir of Central High School appeared last week in Tekamah Nebraska. Included in the choir were Vonceil Anderson, Dorothy Bell, Mary Ellen Dickerson, Harold Biddiex, Wal ter Rhoades and Carlett Lewis. f---—--v OPEN LETTER to HUEY LONG -—---/' Reader Sends “Open Letter” to Huey Long Senator Huey P. Long, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. Honorable Sir: As editor of the Negro Labor News and executive head of the Texas Negro Business and Laboring Men’s Associa tion, I am trying to make the voice of some ten million Southern Negroes heard in behalf of the continued op portunity to earn a living. A very large number of Negroes are dependent on the production and sale of a normal cotton crop for a liveli hood, but we notice that the cotton which our country produces seems to pile up in our ware-houses, while the cotton producers in Brazil, India. Egypt and other countries do practi cally all the selling to the consumers of the world ■T notice that statistics published recently in the United States News show that Brazil has increased her production 68 per cent, India 8 per cent, Egypt 22 per cent, while the United States has decreased her pro duction 43 per cent. When I ask what the trouble is I am told that our high t-tariff prevents the sale of commodities to us which in turn prevents cotton consumers abroad from buying our cotton. I am also informed that the 12 per cent loans are causing cotton to be held in the United States instead of being sold in exports. I have read with interest your “Share-the-Wealth” plans, and J have also visited your State and noted with interest and enthusiasm the measures that you have instituted by which my people are greatly benefit ed . But while waiting for your plans to work out as you desire, our people need work, not only to keep body and soul together but to maintain their morale. If the South loses its cotton busi ness more than 700,000 N-^gro tenant farmers and thousands of long-shore men, cotton compress, oil mill, gin workers and other employees of cot ton industries will be adversely af fected. many of whom will be thrown on charity. Won’t you please help save the cot ton business of the South so that a still greater calamity will not come to my people? Respectfully, C. W. Rice, President-Manager Georgia State Officials Threaten Secession tlanta. Ga.,—CNA—“We still:* have the right to secede’’ was the! reply of Tom Linder, leading! state official, to the recent Scotts-; boro decision holding unconstitu tional the exclusion of Negroes! from injuries. Democratic Party is White Man,s This statement appeared in an article published in the ‘Market Bulletin.’ official organ of the Georgia State Department of Ag riculture. The article continued1 ‘‘The Democratic Party is sup posed to be a white man’s party. Let's see how far we have wan dered from this. “The United States Supreme Court a few days ago reversed all the courts of Alabama in a case where some Negroes had been convicted of an assault on two white women, on the grounds that no Negroes were on the jury or in the jury boxes. “I notiee where the Governor of Alabama has ordered names of Negroes to be put in the jury boxes. “It is extremely difficult for white men in Georgia to realize that this has happened in the sister State of Alabama. “I ask you men and women of Georgia—do you intend to sub mit to this kind of a proposition? Do you intend to submit to the proposition that no Negro can be convicted of assault on a white woman unless Negroes sit on the jury to try him ? “Remember. No question is ever settled right. We still have the right to seeede.’’ Linder and Governor Eugene Talmadge are leaders of the anti Negro Democratic political mach ine in Georgia. It was this machine which rail 3. roaded a young working class leader to an 18-20 year sentence on the Georgia chain-gang. Hern don is free today on $15,000 bail riased from members, followers and friends of the International Labor Defense. His case is now on appeal in the United States Supreme Court. In the state of Georgia, the un constitutional exclusion of Ne groes from juries is a matter of common knowledge. Herndon was indicted and tried by grand and petit juries from which Negroes were brazenly excluded in open defiance of the United States con stitution. Negroes Not Good Enough When this question was raised and fought in the Herndon ease, by John H. Geer and Ben Davis jr. I. L. D. attorneys the answer of the Fulton County Atlanta jury commissioners was, “we know of no Negroes in Fulton county competent to serve on juries.” Thus when Mr. Linder speaks in defense of the lily white jury system of Alabama, he is protect ing the lily white government of Georgia wheih prides itself on the Ku Klux Klan oppression of its Negro citizens. Court Uses Novelty To Avoid Decision Judge Says Negro Must Prove His African Descent When Jury Question is Raised. Wichita Falls, Texas—CNA— Attorneys for Luke Greear, ac cused of murder, are seeking to - - - - - -----—-- - POPE ARRESTED AND PLACED IN CUSTODY ——_v 2^ - DIXIE SENATOR EXPOSED REFUTES THE STORY THAT HE FAILED TO FAVOR BILL Senator Black of Alabama Challenges Statement by Senator Costigan That Moton Had Endorsed Measure— Moton Replies In Substantiating Northern Senator’s Claim Washington, May 14.—Proponents of the Costigan-Wagner anti-lynching bill which was sidetracked in the United States Senate last Wednesday, were not well enough qualified with information about the crime of lynch ing to dispute and expose all the mis representations made by southern sen ators who contributed to the senate deadlock which caused some of the friends of the measure to desert. One of the most persistent misrep resentations concerned the attitude of Negroes toward the bill- Senator Hugo Black of Alabama, after telling a fancy-dress story about the Willie Peterson case in Alabama, persistently sought to create the impression that everything was hotsy-totsy between whites and blacks in his Utopian state and that the Negroes in Alabama were not interested in the anti-lynch ing bill. On Tuesday he challenged Senator Costigan. one of the authors of the bill, to show that Dr. Robert R. Moton, president of Tuskegee In stitute, had endorsed the measure. As one of the directors of the Southern inter-Racial Commission, Dr. Moton had already gone on record in favor cf the measure, but Senator Black in sisted that Dr. Moton personally gave the bill no favor. In response to this charge, Dr. Mo ton Wednesday sent Senator Costigan the following telegram: “In the absence of adequate meas ures by state action to protect pris oners threatened with mob violence, to put an end to lynching, and to iden tify, to arrest, to indict, and to convict the leaders and participants in lynch ing parties. I am heartily in favor of such legislation as will register the Nation’s disapproval of this crime against humanity and insure the prompt investigation of every lynch ing and the conviction of those who thus take the law in their own hands, and the impeachment and penalizing of officers of the law who fail in their duty to protect prisoners committed to their charge. When state officers and state courts persistently and re peatedly fail in their duty to guaran (Continued on Page 3) quash the indictment on the grounds of violation of the Four teenth Amendment. C’reear. a restaurant keeper, j was indicted for the murder of his wife by a grand jury com posed of white men. Must Prove African Descent. In an effort to defeat the move of the defense, the prosecution haled C’reear into court and went through the solemn farce of mak ing him prove his African descent. Ordinarily, when a Negro is ac cused of any offense in Texas, his African descent and strict punishment are taken for grant ed. Excluded Prom Jury Although Negroes constitute at least ten per cent of the city’s populaion. they are rarely sum moned for jury service. There is but one school, located in the slum district, for all the Negro children. Thus, in a city which boasts of its civic progress, several hundred pupils must walk from one to three mile in order to receive instruction . CHASES MASON INTO STREET WITH GUN James L. Mason, 52, 5219 S. 29th Street, herb salesman, was shot to death Saturday night, when William Pope, 37, entered Mason’s home, bran d.shing a gun. An argument followed Pope’s entrance and Mason, breaking loose from Pope, ran into the street. He entered Foxall’s Fish Market, at 5221 S. 29th Street, with Pope follow ing closely on his heels. Pope struck Mason over the head with the butt of the gun, then fired on Mason, grazing his left forearm and striking in the side, causing death. Mason was carried to Lord Lister Hospital and pronounced dead by Dr. Humpal. Those in the Fish Market at the time of the tragedy were Pitman and Collins Foxall, Titus Alston and Na thaniel Davis. Other witnesses are Ben Gray, Rufus Borton, William Wil liamson and Edna Loftin. No mot.ve for the crime has been revealed. Pope was arrested and taken to jail. The body was taken to the J. D. Lewis Mortuary. ADMITTED TO HOM’R SOCIETY Out of fifty-five students of the senior class at Central High School, who were admitted to the Omaha chapter of the National Honor Society, alter Rhoades, 3015 Manderson Street, was the only colored student. Membership in this society is based on the high scholastic standing of the student. Following a program by the A’Ca pella choir, E. E- McMillan, principal of North high school, made the charge Tuesday morning in the auditorium of Central high school. Aside from his scholastic standing, Rhoades has made quite a record for himself as a track star. Carolinians Protests Bailey’s Opposition To Anti-Lynch Bill Bailey Will Have Plenty of Time To Read His Article After The Next General Election The following wire, sent to Senator Joseph W. Bailey of North Carolina, one of the chief opponents of the Costigan-Wagner Anti-lynching bill, speaks for itself: “Honorable Josiah W. Bailey, Uniter States Senate, Washington, D. C. “We certainly voice the sentiment of Negro North Carolina, when we say we are surprised and disgusted with your leading opposition to the Costi gan-Wagner bill and believe the bet ter element of white North Carolina, concurs in our opinion. You seem to have forgotten the Christian spirit professed whenever you appeared be fore Negro audiences in the State and you seem unmindful of the functions of the U. S. Supreme court to deter mine the constitutionality of laws passed. In the final analysis, it seems to us that the barbarians who perpe trate lynchings get much of their in spirations from the attitude manifest ed by men in your position and we wonder if, under the circumstances you can face your God with a clear conscience. Consider the matter as a Christian, Mr. Bailey, and your con stituents will think none the less of you” ROCKY MT. CITY-WIDE FORUM, B. F. Byers, Pres. Carolinians Protest Bailey’s Opposition to Anti-Lynch Bill