97

MRS. PEATTIE ON LYNCHING
----------------
The Blot on the Name of Civilization and Why It Is There.
----------------
Something Concerning the Young Negro Woman Who Is Agitating England Against America.
----------------
A Graphic Description of One of the Incidents Which Cause the Lynching of Southern Negroes.
----------------
Mrs. Allie C. Willard, writes from England to the WORLD-HERALD, in a perturbed state of mind, concerning the agitation of Miss Ida B. Wells. Miss Wells is a colored woman, who despairing of finding any redress in this country for such of her race as are lynched for their wrong-doing, instead of being properly tried by law, has gone to England to arouse public sentiment there. Carried away by the subject, and by the bitterness which she naturally enough feels, she indulges in some severe reflections upon this country and upon its most cherished heroes, particularly Lincoln. At least, so Mrs. Willard complains. She has also assailed or reproached Miss Willard for her lack of sympathy with the cause of the negro. And she has been guilty of ingratitude for the sacrifices made by abolitionist heroes, and by soldiers of the civil war, who gave all the had to give for the independence of the slave.

One would be in a much better position to criticize Miss Wells if one had hoard her addresses. Mrs. Willard’s accounts of her exaggerations and misrepresentations may be colored to an extent by her resentment at the reproach leveled at her beloved sister-in-law, and by the natural irritation of an American at having her country abused among foreigners.

But on the other hand, is it not true that we hang, boil, burn and shoot negroes who break the law, and that when a negro commits an offense we are more inclined to lynch than to try him by law?

If so, why should we resent having it told?

There is never any use in trying to conceal the truth. Truth is like water and flows through the tiniest cracks. It will make itself visible somehow.

If we lynch negroes, and maintain that we have a right to lynch them, why should we object to having Miss Wells say so? Why should not England and he whole world know it?

And could anyone reasonably suppose that Miss Wells could talk upon this subject calmly, or that she would not represent us as monsters? It would not be in human nature to do otherwise.

To defend herself against the charge of ingratitude she very naturally attacks our motives and the motives of the men who led us in the civil conflict. And she says very truly that Lincoln was not in favor of emancipation. That is true. He fought to preserve the federation of the states of the union, and it is with reluctance that he signed the emancipation papers, feeling that he was disturbing property rights, and that he was precipitating men into a problem hardly less distressing than slavery, Miss Wells says negroes are socially ostracized; that they have none of them been elected to high office since 1876, that even when they fought as soldiers in the civil war they were enlisted for less pay than the other troops and that they were not treated as well as white soldiers. Miss Wells is mistaken about there having been no negro elected to congress or other high place since 1876. But as for the other facts, they are probably true. There is no denying the social ostracism of the negro. There is not a first-class hotel or a first-class theater in this country where they would be admitted to equal privileges with other guests. There is not a drawing-room in this country where they come commonly as the friends of the family, although in church, or political, or educational work they may occasionally be associated with those of social position.

Mrs. Willard is very deeply moved because the men of the north have been called cowards, and because Lincoln has been assailed. But it is no arraignment of Lincoln to say that he did not at first believe in the uncompromising and immediate delivery of the slaves. Nor is there any occasion for northerners to fret because they are called cowards. Some of them are. A great many of them are moral cowards, and in race questions they are apt to be narrow, arrogant and un-Christian. Since they are so, why should not England know it? We have really no right to resent Miss Wells’ endeavors to get the English to protect the blacks, since it was but a little time ago that many of us were advocating an attack upon Russia by all Christendom, for the purpose of forcing her to respect the lives of her Jews, her peasants and her convicts. If we have been as culpable, must we not face the mortification of being similarly criticized? If we have a cancer in the national breast, denying its existence will not keep the poison from our blood.

It is just possible that Mrs Willard may feel some undefined irritation at seeing on of the scorned receiving honors from the influential. For that Miss Wells has been made much of is shown by Mrs. Willard’s own letter. Speaking of Miss Wells, she says:

She comes indorsed by Frederick Douglass, and has been received by many of the high and some of the best in England. She is in with the leading London papers, such as the Daily News, really the government organ the Sun., T. P. O’Connor’s paper, and the like. The Chronicle has given her one column and one of its big leaders, the Echo was written her up, also the Westminister Gazette and many other strong and influential papers. Among the people she has interested is the Rev. Joseph Parker of the City Temple, the tragedian of the pulpit. She has come at a time itself opportune for all the big annual May meetings, has been received by many of them, been heard and got resolutions passed, etc. [Diued?] and [fensted?], as inclosed clippings will indicate. Her books reviewed and pictures published.

“Now this would be all right if she were honorable, honest and truthful, if loyal to country or party. But she has no good word for her country, and says some dreadful things, and inters others even worse. She is as sly as an Indian in her speech, and wicker as a tiger. She is rather fine looking, a good speaker, calm and possessed, and has learned her role well. It is still hard to understand, though, by what means she secures so many honors, seemingly without effrort.”

Miss Wells’ published material, however, does not justify the accusation that she is shy or tigerish Here is a communication writen by her to the editor of the Daily Chronicle of London:

“Sir. Every moment of my time has been so fully occupied since Governor Northen’s letter was published that I have not before been able to reply to his charges that my statements are false. Your leader and Dr. Clifford’s splendid letter have pointed out that it is not my statements alone, but the reports in the American newspapers, which reveal the lawlessness of the United States. I have only given the negro side of these stories. I have cuttings of lynchings running back six years, which were taken from the columns of the American dallies. This news has been furnished by the Associated Press. Only one newspaper in the United State has kept record of these lynchings as reported, and complied statistics therefrom. The Chicago Tribune has made it a feature the first day of every year to publish a list of the yearly record of murder, suicide, railway accident, lynching, etc. This it has done for the last ten years, and, in keeping with its custom, on the 1st day of January, 1894, was published the complete lynching record for 1893. The list occupied almost two columns. and beginning with January 1, 1898, the date, name, rate, accusation, and place of lynching were given for every day in the year that a lynching took place. The Tribune and the Associated Press are edited and owned by white men.

Governor Northen says: ‘There is not a community or a government of

THE WRONG KIND.

She—I hear you bought a “brown stone;” where is it located?
He—Wife cleans knives with it.

similar extent into which your paper goes, that is more law abiding and peaceful than the people of the state over which I have the honor to preside.’ The authority which I quote above shows that Georgia lynched fifteen negroes last year. Two of these were charged with ‘rape,’ three with ‘alleged rape,’ one with ‘attempted rape,’ one with ‘turning state’s evidence,’ one with assault and battery,’ and sever with ‘murder.’ The people of Georgia have never denied any part of this record. The state of Georgia’s lynching record for 1893 was seventeen persons, and for this present year, up to May 1, three negroes have been lynched in Georgia. This is all during Governor Northen’s administration, and beyond a few letters, and a word or two in denunciation of lynching in general, to deceive the outside public, nothing has been done by the chief executive of Georgia to stop lynching Several of these lynchings took place in broad daylight, and Governor Northen has done nothing to protect prisoners or punish lynchersr. More than 100 negroes have been lynched in this manner in different parts of the state since he became its governor. If his neighbor, Governor Tillman of South Carolina, could invoke the military power of his state to enforce the liquor laws, surely as much might be done to protect human life, but Governor Northen has not a single instance of this kind to his credit. Indeed, there passed through Liverpool in March fifty negroes who came direct Atlanta en route to Liberia. They said they were willing to brave African fover, the jungle, anything, to secure freedom and protection of the law, which they were denied in Georgia. They said there were hundreds in Atlanta who would come if they had only money to pay their passage.

“Outside agitation has done some good even in the south, when the governor of the great state of Georgia comes forward to defend her. It is the truest kindness to him and his state to point out that if they would have the world’s good opinion and support they must put down lawlessnesss with a firm hand; that general denial in face of all facts will not be accepted. Governor Northen did not tell you that he signed a bill against lyching last winter which passed the state legislature. The bill provides that ‘it shall be a misdemeanor for any sheriff to fail to protect the life

THE WRONG VIEW.

“I doan wan’ do boss—he’s dun sprung on dis side.”
“Lor’dent Jus’ look at him de odder side—yos’ crazy man.”

Of a prisoner, and a felony to take part in any attempt to mob a prisoner of the law!’ To my way of thinking nothing could more vividly portray all I have claimed than the wording of the above law. It recognizes that sheriffs have sided and abotted mobs, and that the state considers it a ‘misdemeanor’ for them so to do

‘London, June 8 IDA B WELLS.”

The truth us, Mrs. Willard, we do burn, shoot and hang negroes who break the law. It is a terrible thing to have the world know this, but it is not so bad a thing as that we should do it.

And then—as to the cause!

Permit me to tell of one typical case.

The brother of a dear friend of mine lives in the south, on the Suwance river. He has cultivated his plantation there for many years—it is all he has in the world—and has raised his family of boys and girls there. His wife has been dead for many years, and the older girls have done the housework and cared for the younger children. It is a very free. delightful life they lead, and so much attached to it are they that life in cities has little attraction for them, and when they have visited relatives in cities they have pined for the beautiful, wild home on the Suwanee The planter has always been a friend of the negro, and has written some and worked much for the mitigation of the negro convict, especially those employed in the phosphate mines

Last summer, one of the daughters being ill, two of her sisters were sent on horseback to the nearest town, which is several miles distant, for medicine. The father stayed in the house to care for the sick girl, and his youngest daughter, a bonny ibing 11 years of [?] was sent out to pick some berries for tea. She tied on her little sun bonnet, took her pail and went out.

She was never seen alive again.

Tea time came, the girls returned from the town, and Mary was called. She did not come. A search was begun No one doubted much what the result would be. There had been two tragedies in the same county, which indicated very truly what the terrified sisters has to expect. And they found what they expected—only 200 feet from the house, over among the scrub palmettos, beside a log. The little brown eyes had been cut out with a knife. The pretty white throat was cut so that the head barely

THE WRONG KIND.

She—I hear you bought a “brown stone;” where is it located?
He—Wife cleans knives with it.

hung to the body. The sweet body was otherwise mutilated. And by the side of the body was the print of a huge naked foot—the foot of a giant.

Two negroes were arrested. A crowd gathered the next morning that numbered hundreds, and that grew as the day went on. Men and women came, and tied their horses to the oaks, and participated in the great trial which was conducted there. Four clergymen were present. The father hired an attorney to question and defend the negroes under arrest. By the evidence of white men, and by his own evidence, one negro was acquitted. The other was proved to be near the place of the murder at the hour of its occurrence. His foot was fitted into the print beside the body and found to correspond in every particular, and finally the bloody clothes he had worn were found hidden in his house.

Even then the men delayed.

“Let him live an hour,” the father said. “Give him a chance to repent. Let him confess, and die telling the truth.” He asked the clergymen to pray for him. They refused. He asked the attorney if there was any possible chance that a mistake had been made. The attorney told him not to make a fool of himself.

The men and women built a pyre of dry branches. But the father would not let them burn him alive.

“Do what you like with the body,” he said, “but you cannot burn him alive.”

They put a rope around the man’s neck. He begged for another hour, and said he would confess if they would give it to him. They consented. He made the confession. And one hour later, as the minute hand marked the sixtieth second, they drew the rope up over the bough of a tree. When they took him down there were thirty bullet holes in him. They laid his body—it was almost seven feet tall, and the head was like that of a chimpanzee—upon the dry boughs, and it burned until it was but bones and ashes.

There, in language that tells the whole revolting, hideous, brutal truth, are the facts of this typical case. The negro showed himself a brute—like some monster of the African forest, born to waste, and kill and tear. And he was treated like such a brute. No gorilla, or wild bour, and wolf could have been treated worse.

It is almost useless to expect that any

THE WRONG VIEW.

“I doan wan’ do boss—he’s dun sprung on dis side.”
“Lor’dent Jus’ look at him de odder side—yos’ crazy man.”

One could suffer as that family suffered and not be forever injured. Neither the heart nor the brain, and, perhaps, not even the body, could ever again be quite as normal as they had been. Merely to read the tale is enough to destroy one’s sleep. And it would be a shame to write it if it were not that a tremendous line of defense must be offered to justify even to the least degree the manner in which revenge is taken upon the negroes.

But even this will not justify it. Nothing justifies the taking of human life.

But, all the same, any man, no matter how temperate in his passions, would, under circumstances such as I have portrayed, go out to bunt to death the wild beast who had entered his home and wrought there a friend a ruin.

So stands the case. And Miss Wells has point of view—and no wonder. And those who see the other side have theirs, and no wonder either. It s a condition which must be faced, and which cannot be denied. And the world will know of it.

There is a war between the races. This war does not [axiend?] to every member member of each race. Some negroes and some white men and women are good friends. And perhaps the friendship will grow. But meantime the outlook is discouraging. Even the working men, combining, fighting and working to keep their just rights from being taken from them, have refused the admission of negroes to the American Railway union. They believe that the carner has rights that ought to be [reenacted?] by the employer. But they have not yet discovered that the negro has any social rights that his fellow laborer is bound to respect.

So we rgind each other! So we crash! So the greeds meet like opposing floods. And in the fury of their meeting men go down.

There is no use of trying to find the right in this war of races There is no right. There is nothing but wrong Espouse no side. Neither side is worthy of espousal. It is an episode of history that one contemplates with horrified eyes. ELIA W. PEATTIE.

--------------------------------
A SUMMER BREEZE.

A tiny willful summer breeze
Went roving through the fields and trees;
He started in the early morn
When [duy] was yet but newly born
And wandered through the livelong day
Ever playful on his way,
He roughed the feathers of a bird
Whose morning song no more was heard,
For quickly he began to’ prim
To get himself once more in trim,
He blew against a laden bee
Who flying homeward heavily,
Was made to take a wider flight
Before at home he could alight.
The petals of a lovely flower
He scattered in a pretty shower. Then dipped his sephyr fingers in
A brooklet with its merry din,
That through a wood so dump and cool
Flowed onward to a money pool.
He changed the emerald poplar tree
To shining silver fair to see,
And swung a bird’s nest to and fro
That held three eggs as white as snow,
He left the field, and wood and down,
And blew into the busy town
Where soon he raised the dust in clouds
And sifted it among the crowds.
A person’s window he crept in,
The sermon’s leaves he gave a spin,
Then out again he flew straightway
Sent only on his fun sad play
A church door open, up the aisle
He pushed his way in playful style
And lifted up a bride a white wall
And kissed the bride all fair and pale.
Across a new born infant a face
He crept with fond and [?] ring pace
And loitered for a moment in
The dimples in its cheek and chin.
Through corridors where marbles gleam
And riches weave a golden dream—
Through huts where poverty is found
And shadows fall with depths profound,
He traversed ‘till the night began
With darkness all the world to span;
Then wearily he homeward flew
All damp with softly falling [dow?]
And in a moonflow r opened wide
He laid him down, and greatly died.

NW. REED DUNROY.
--------------------------------
The natives at Colon and Panama were lately discovered in a fairly sharp scheme to rob the steamship company. The transfer of bales and packages of India rubber over the lathmus is always large in volume after the arrival of steamers from Peru and Mexico Then there are constant arrivals from Columbia and Nicaragua, as well as local receipts from within a few miles of Colon. These, pilled on the docks, make a large aggregate and at favorable opportunity a bale or two would be dropped overboard, and as rubber naturally will float, it was comparatively an easy matter to pilot the booty to a point whence it could be readily landed and disposed of by a “fence.” As a bale weighs from 100 to 200 pounds, the haul was a good one to the native. The less could not be discovered until after the steamer reached New York, and it bothered American detectives for months, until the leak was finally located.
--------------------------------
THE HERMIT OF SOUTH OMAHA.

Down in the green freshness and beauty of Syndicate park there is a little cave or dugout that shelters a strange personage. He is a short man with stooping shoulders, and has long hair of a reddish brown color and a tangled beard of the same hue. His face is tanned until it resembles parchment, and with his old clothes all stained, he makes a study in brown that is rather picturesque. Amidst all this brown the only thing that has life and color are his eyes of blue that seem ever restlessly looking for some obscen object.

“Old Charlie,” for that is the only name he is known by, is a tinker by trade. Every day he comes forth from the park carrying his little furnace and tools and makes a tour of the streets, looking for [?]ware to mend. He has become a familiar figure to the housewives and he receives many a little job of work. Day after day he trudges on, heading not the taunts of the boys whose delight it is to torment him on account of his uncouth appearance.

After the day’s work is done, he creeps slowly down through the trees in the park until he reaches his cave hidden by the branches of alder bushes, and swings himself down and it lost to sight. Here he shuts out the world from his joys and his sorrows, no jeering boys come nigh him, and no sound from the busy world disturbs him as he dreams his dreams and lives over again the past. And who can tell what his thoughts may be, there alone in the damp earth? He seldom says anything about himself, but once in a while the longing to sell some one of his sorrows becomes too great, and then he tells his story. It is but a simple tale, old as human nature itself. He tells how that in a land far across the sea he loved a beautiful girl. He worshiped her with all the ardor of his young soul, and it seemed that he could hardly live except when he was in her presence.

She was his promised bride, and he had made all plans for coming to this country as soon as they were married. But alas, for his high hopes Just one short month before the day set for the wedding he received a letter from her, stating that she would never see him again. She was going away with a man she loved better. She begged him to forgive her. He was found lying in his rooms some time after by his mother, with the fatal letter crushed in his hands. He was ill for many days with a brain fever was [?] a great change had taken place in [?] He was no longer the happy lad as of [?], but was the prematurely aged man that we see today.

They said that he was insane, slightly demented, and perhaps they were right. Who can test? He then left the old home in the land across the sea and drifted hither and thither over this broad land. And at last he came [?] South Omaha and took up his home and the beauties of our little park. Sometimes he is driven, by thoughts of the [passge?] the cup, and there for awhile his poor, muddled brain forgets the miserable past.

And then he will go realing down to his home the forlornness looking mortal that over walked. He says that he has relatives who are wealthy, but they will have nothing to do with him. Perhaps they do not like his eccentric ways.

Old Charlie, old in sorrow but not in years, lives on, shut up within himself. Some say he is queer and think he is insane, but who of us have not felt the same desire to flee from the world and all its hollowness and mockery and be alone with self and God? If only we might sometimes go away and let ourselves down into a cave, and there dream our dreams and fight out batties and conquer ourselves, then there might be more happiness than we see now.

We build a ladder of our hopes
And climb high up tow [?] heaven,
But soon the rude shocks of this earth
Its frail supports have riven,
And back we fall all bruised and torn
And few again have braveness
To rear once more the golden stairs
And climb high up to greatness.

W. REED DUNROY.

Not complete 7/8/2020.

MRS. PEATTIE ON LYNCHING
----------------
The Blot on the Name of Civilization and Why It Is There.
----------------
Something Concerning the Young Negro Woman Who Is Agitating England Against America.
----------------
A Graphic Description of One of the Incidents Which Cause the Lynching of Southern Negroes.
----------------
Mrs. Allie C. Willard, writes from England to the WORLD-HERALD, in a perturbed state of mind, concerning the agitation of Miss Ida B. Wells. Miss Wells is a colored woman, who despairing of finding any redress in this country for such of her race as are lynched for their wrong-doing, instead of being properly tried by law, has gone to England to arouse public sentiment there. Carried away by the subject, and by the bitterness which she naturally enough feels, she indulges in some severe reflections upon this country and upon its most cherished heroes, particularly Lincoln. At least, so Mrs. Willard complains. She has also assailed or reproached Miss Willard for her lack of sympathy with the cause of the negro. And she has been guilty of ingratitude for the sacrifices made by abolitionist heroes, and by soldiers of the civil war, who gave all the had to give for the independence of the slave.

One would be in a much better position to criticize Miss Wells if one had hoard her addresses. Mrs. Willard’s accounts of her exaggerations and misrepresentations may be colored to an extent by her resentment at the reproach leveled at her beloved sister-in-law, and by the natural irritation of an American at having her country abused among foreigners.

But on the other hand, is it not true that we hang, boil, burn and shoot negroes who break the law, and that when a negro commits an offense we are more inclined to lynch than to try him by law?

If so, why should we resent having it told?

There is never any use in trying to conceal the truth. Truth is like water and flows through the tiniest cracks. It will make itself visible somehow.

If we lynch negroes, and maintain that we have a right to lynch them, why should we object to having Miss Wells say so? Why should not England and he whole world know it?

And could anyone reasonably suppose that Miss Wells could talk upon this subject calmly, or that she would not represent us as monsters? It would not be in human nature to do otherwise.

To defend herself against the charge of ingratitude she very naturally attacks our motives and the motives of the men who led us in the civil conflict. And she says very truly that Lincoln was not in favor of emancipation. That is true. He fought to preserve the federation of the states of the union, and it is with reluctance that he signed the emancipation papers, feeling that he was disturbing property rights, and that he was precipitating men into a problem hardly less distressing than slavery, Miss Wells says negroes are socially ostracized; that they have none of them been elected to high office since 1876, that even when they fought as soldiers in the civil war they were enlisted for less pay than the other troops and that they were not treated as well as white soldiers. Miss Wells is mistaken about there having been no negro elected to congress or other high place since 1876. But as for the other facts, they are probably true. There is no denying the social ostracism of the negro. There is not a first-class hotel or a first-class theater in this country where they would be admitted to equal privileges with other guests. There is not a drawing-room in this country where they come commonly as the friends of the family, although in church, or political, or educational work they may occasionally be associated with those of social position.

Mrs. Willard is very deeply moved because the men of the north have been called cowards, and because Lincoln has been assailed. But it is no arraignment of Lincoln to say that he did not at first believe in the uncompromising and immediate delivery of the slaves. Nor is there any occasion for northerners to fret because they are called cowards. Some of them are. A great many of them are moral cowards, and in race questions they are apt to be narrow, arrogant and un-Christian. Since they are so, why should not England know it? We have really no right to resent Miss Wells’ endeavors to get the English to protect the blacks, since it was but a little time ago that many of us were advocating an attack upon Russia by all Christendom, for the purpose of forcing her to respect the lives of her Jews, her peasants and her convicts. If we have been as culpable, must we not face the mortification of being similarly criticized? If we have a cancer in the national breast, denying its existence will not keep the poison from our blood.

It is just possible that Mrs Willard may feel some undefined irritation at seeing on of the scorned receiving honors from the influential. For that Miss Wells has been made much of is shown by Mrs. Willard’s own letter. Speaking of Miss Wells, she says:

She comes indorsed by Frederick Douglass, and has been received by many of the high and some of the best in England. She is in with the leading London papers, such as the Daily News, really the government organ the Sun., T. P. O’Connor’s paper, and the like. The Chronicle has given her one column and one of its big leaders, the Echo was written her up, also the Westminister Gazette and many other strong and influential papers. Among the people she has interested is the Rev. Joseph Parker of the City Temple, the tragedian of the pulpit. She has come at a time itself opportune for all the big annual May meetings, has been received by many of them, been heard and got resolutions passed, etc. [Diued?] and [fensted?], as inclosed clippings will indicate. Her books reviewed and pictures published.

“Now this would be all right if she were honorable, honest and truthful, if loyal to country or party. But she has no good word for her country, and says some dreadful things, and inters others even worse. She is as sly as an Indian in her speech, and wicker as a tiger. She is rather fine looking, a good speaker, calm and possessed, and has learned her role well. It is still hard to understand, though, by what means she secures so many honors, seemingly without effrort.”

Miss Wells’ published material, however, does not justify the accusation that she is shy or tigerish Here is a communication writen by her to the editor of the Daily Chronicle of London:

“Sir. Every moment of my time has been so fully occupied since Governor Northen’s letter was published that I have not before been able to reply to his charges that my statements are false. Your leader and Dr. Clifford’s splendid letter have pointed out that it is not my statements alone, but the reports in the American newspapers, which reveal the lawlessness of the United States. I have only given the negro side of these stories. I have cuttings of lynchings running back six years, which were taken from the columns of the American dallies. This news has been furnished by the Associated Press. Only one newspaper in the United State has kept record of these lynchings as reported, and complied statistics therefrom. The Chicago Tribune has made it a feature the first day of every year to publish a list of the yearly record of murder, suicide, railway accident, lynching, etc. This it has done for the last ten years, and, in keeping with its custom, on the 1st day of January, 1894, was published the complete lynching record for 1893. The list occupied almost two columns. and beginning with January 1, 1898, the date, name, rate, accusation, and place of lynching were given for every day in the year that a lynching took place. The Tribune and the Associated Press are edited and owned by white men.

Governor Northen says: ‘There is not a community or a government of

THE WRONG KIND.

She—I hear you bought a “brown stone;” where is it located?
He—Wife cleans knives with it.

similar extent into which your paper goes, that is more law abiding and peaceful than the people of the state over which I have the honor to preside.’

Not complete 7/8/2020.