The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-10-24
SOUTHERN OUTRAGES.
They Furnish q Topic for Strong Expressions
by One Who Witnessed Many Of Them.

Under the auspices of the Literary So
ciety of Allen Chapel, corner of Cherry and
Broadway streets. the Rev. A. G. Chicon,
q former resident of Mississippi,
delivered a lecture last night on "Southern
O~utrages.n The auditorium was filed with
colored citizens who listened attentively to
the discourse.
The lecturer said the negroes can be COM
pared with the children of Israel wander
ing in the wild erness. Their sufferings are
the same in being persec uted and hunted
like wild beasts, by those whom they have
befriended. They are plundered by those
who were sucked at the breast of black
women in days gone by, and
whipped, dashed. and killed by
those whom they have protected.
Il am here" no continued, Ito confirm the
statements you have read and what you
have been told by those who were here IN
your midst during the late National Bap-
fist Convention. From the time of the
emancipation up to the present day the
South has been besmeared by the precious
blood of the negro simply because he has
been and is contending for the rights of citi-
zenship, because he votes with the Repub-
hcan party, and in other instances. for
demanding from his employers a Just settle
ment of money due to him that was earned
by the sweat of his brow.
II know that some of you believe what
you read in Southern Democratic papers.
Nine cases out of ten, where a negro is re-
ported as having assaulted a white woman,
1T is a lie. a deliberate lie, told for the pur-
pose Of poisoning the Northern
mind against the negro, have
known negroes awakened in the
middle of the night by the sheriff and a
posse. on a charge of criminal assault, and
cruelty dashed. Innocent men have been
taken from their families and thrust into
prison on charges lodged against them by
organizations such as the Ku-klux Khan.
Knights of the White Camellia, White
Leaguers and other rebel societies. They
having sworn to exter1ninate the negro,
hired degraded white women to swear be-
had been assaulted. remember
once, while passing through Missis-
sippi to V~icksbnrg. seeing two officers
arresting a negro. One of them crept up
behind him and knocked him senseless into
the gutter. He was then handcuffed, and,
with his legs tied together. was dragged OF.
Only about four months ago, at Bayou
Portage. two young men went to fish one
night, and q white man on the banks of the
river shot one of them dead and compelled
the other. at the muzzle of the gun. to row
the small skiff ashore and lay the body of
his dead companion on the bank. This
happened only six miles from my home.
The white man then compelled the
young negro to walk to his house
and entering it, shut the door. The white
man went into a room and commenced load
ing q shotgun, the negro hearing attic
of the ramlrOd. jumped through H. win
dow and made his escape. The next
night the white man was telling
it around that he killed a coon the night
before. The negro whose companion had
been shot complained to a magistrate, the
white man was arrested and placed under
a $500 bond. The negro women-not the
men-rose in a body and went to the magis-
frQra onA anrnnniIoH hin. 20 nm orpacf TIM
murderer. If it were not for those women
that man would be at large to-day"
The speaker then referred to the apathy
OF the Governors of Southern States in af-
ned to relate incidents of the suffering of
his people. Il do not speak," he said, in
conclusion. "in the advocacy of war, but
simply desire to unfold the sentiment of
hearts are burning with love for their
fellow-man. and who are planning how to
assist their people by all the limited means
South have had their day. and just as sure
as the negroes were bred in the South, they
will arise in their might and repel those
who are eyer ready to strike and cruelty
use them"
Il think, if am allowed to make a sug-
pastor of Allen Chapel, who followed the
lecturer. that the cause of these
COuchCi douSCo ID tuo uupdTdl-
in the South. 1t is certainly awakening
interest in the minds of our white brethren.
think they see that the solid South can
negro is making along the lines
of learning and acquiring property. such
things as these make the negro powerful.
Some of our leaders recommend retalia-
s nos enough ans 81 Say the that dynamite ws haze sIse
ment. 1 don't believe this can
bring. us what we want. | tell you my
friends. the Colored Baptist Church struck
weeks ago that will ring through the
land. Last Sunday was a day set
apart for the ministers of that church
to preach to their congregation. setting
forth these abuses. These sermons were
heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
What we want is to awaken public senti-
ment in our favor, and that will become
law. we want to get right next to our
bring them to the Lords side.r
I'D. V. Hill also briefly addressed the
audience, aud in the course of his remarks
said: "The true solving of the Southern
question lies in our ability to counterfeit
the prejudices which exist in the
not believe in retaliation. yet L do believe
in having some spirit and backbone, so
that when a man makes "a thrust
You can let him know that there
is some courage in you. / remember
once there were some peoplein our Western
reservation, they were Indians, a special
class of Modocs. They undertook to rise
III. and remedy by force some existing
evils. The word went from General
Grant. and as he spoke he
represented the head and body of the
American people, and the result was that
those Indians We're exterminated. Let
US understand that we are in the
minority; that we cannot cope success
fully with such a large number of people,
100000 against so. 900, 600. l know a time
when you could not walk along the
streets of Indianapolis, but little in
fants who could not say mother
would lisp the name 'nlgger.' They were
taught to say it, but this has all passed
away"
The speaker created much laughter by
saying: I'VE go into our own churches and
do what we like, make as much
noise as possible. but when we go to the
white mans church. we go in c~ringing,
with hat under arm. and half scared to
death. This shows that we have. not vet
come up to the standard of respecting our
selves. When we have reached this point
other peODle will rpSnect usD