Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-10-04
THURMAN AND COLORED VOTERS

| PittSburg Commercial Gazette.
Judge Thurman was placed In an ex-
tremely delicate position when he was
called to face a delegation of colored
Democrats" OF course, he assumed a
defensive attitude at the beginning of
his address and maintained it to the end
He not only denied that he had ever
been san enemy of the colored people, y
but had the gall to declare in effect that
he had always dealt justly by them. The
manner in which he supported this dec
laratiOn was unique. He said his "grand-
father owned slaves and set them all
free" when he settled in Ohio, and that
he "was raised among colored people. :"
Then he '.dearly loved a little colored
boy who dearly loved him in return"
Here was proof positive of his interest
in and his attachment for the colored
race, and indubitable evidence that he
had never been unfriendly or unjust to
that race.
True, the venerable Roman did confess
that he had resisted with all his power
the attempt to confer the suffrage upon
the colored men of Ohio for the reason
that ''it would not be right to let the
colored men of Ohio vote when those in
other States were disfranchised" This
was about as powerful and convincing
an argument as that he was the friend
Of the cOlored people because his grand
father had set all his slaves free. Not a
word was said, however, about the course
which he pursued all through the pro-
slavery rebellion and the reconstruction
era. He did not tell these 'colOred Dem
Ocrats" that if he and the party which ne
steadfastly supported had succeeded,
there would have been no emancipation
for the blacks of the South, but the
chains of slavery would have been rivet-
ed upon them and their children more
tightly than ever.
What mockery it was for Judge
Thurman to stand up and declare, as he
did, that the Democratic platform ''pro-
nounces for the equal rights of all, with
out regard to race or colorp Yes, the
platform "pronounces for equal rights,
but the party, by fraud, intimidation
and murder, holds a section of the coun-
try sOlidly Democratic, fully One-half of
which would be Republican on free bal
lot and fair count. What means the
recent theft of the ballOt-box at Little
Rock, Ark, when the returns showed
that the Republican ticket had 1000
majority. 1t simply means that NEGRO
is not tolerated in that State, |
and will not be as long as theft, fraud |
and perjury can prevent it. What is the |
of the recent declaration of |
Capt. B. R. Tillman, of Edgefield. S. c., |
in defending the bloody slaughter at |
in 1876: "As l stand here"
be said, II believe, before Almighty God, |
that but for the Hamburg riot Chamber
ain would have been Governor of South !
Carolina and the State to-day as safe for |
he Republicans as Vermont or Massa-
,husetts. 1 proclaim it aloud that l was
)ne of the Hamburg rioters who dared |
eyen the devil to save the State"
Cleveland is President to-day solely |
because the Democratic party, in def
ance of every principle of right and JUS
tice and in defiance of the Constitution
and the laws, denies to the colored voters
1f the South their political rights, and if
ne is continued in that Office four years
Onger it will be by trampling under foot
he very rights which the party stands
pledged in words to respect and defend.
It is to the everlasting credit of the col
red people that they continue to pre-
ent an almost unbroken front to the
Bourbon Democracy, and are not to be
Wheeled or humbugged into support of
is candidates. Their day of deliverance
will surely come, because, as Gen. Har-
ison has so aptly expressed it: 1.-THE
'ud of victory is always in the truth"