Richmond planet., 1890-07-05

Judge ought to be very careful how
he makes that statement, when he
remembers the fate of Annanias and
Sapphira. want to ask the Hon.
Judge few questions. If the boys
meant only to tease me, why did
they come after night? Why did
they come armed with rocks, pistols,
guns and clubs? No they came to
do just the kind of teasing they did
do, and that was to mob me about
the Abbeville Post Office.
The Neg roes of the South are sub
ject to such teasing by white mobs.
The Hon. Judge has found very
nice name for mobs, because his
son Wade s. Cothran is one of the
worst teasers there is in the State
of South Carolina. When n Negro
is mobbed about Abbeville, you al
ways find him at the head of the
gang. The Judge further states that
| showed guilt by running. l wish to
ask him one more question. Had you
been aroused at night, finding your
house surrounded by a Negro mob
twenty or thirty strong, armed to
the teeth, having no way to defend
yourself, would you not have fled to
save your life too? Yes you would have
fled, and left your wife and children.
did not flee because l was guilty,
nor afraid, but / knew very well
that l was overpowered, and Just
what l was going to receive at the
hands of that band OF "teasers," as
you style them.
| never made any untrue state
ment in my petition against Mrs. f.
j. Lawson. Every statement l
made in my petition against Mrs.
Lawson is true beyond contradiction.
Any man that denies the statement,
surely does not mean to tell the
truth about the whole matter. They
never named anything, about any
untrue statement in my petitions
against Mrs. Lawson on that night.
| desire to refresh
THE JUDGES MEMORY
about this teasing son of his. How
in 1884 or 1886 he teased Elijah
Jones, by enticing him into one of the
stores at Abbeville c. H., S. C.. and
then "teased" him by wilfully and
maliciously shooting him, and COM
ing very near killing him, for no
other reason than for voting the Re
publican ticket.
All leading coiored men in South
Carolina, catch such teasing as Eli
iah Jones and at the hands of Wade
s. Cothran and his murderous teas
ing mobs.
1t was said In the House of Repre-
sentaflves That nay statement WIS
untrue, as regards TO how / was beat
en- almost TO death. But thank God !
am here at the National Capital
where | can be interviewed at any
time, and by any body. The condi-
tion that my body is in, speaks for
itself in marks of violence, and brok-
en- bones, at the hands of the teasing
Wade S. Cothran and his confeder-
ates. These wounds will carry me to
my grave. / do not make this
statement for any political excite
ment, but / am constrained to do so,
because the sad and cruel condition
to which we, our wives and daughters
are placed, is truth that the intel
ligent and law abiding people of our
Republic ought to know. The Negroes
crime is that they are faithful and
true Republicans. Now we expect
protection in our civil and political
rights, as good American citizens of
our friends. the Republican party. /
have been leading among my race
for the last twenty-five years | was
associated with them in leagues,
private and public meetings. | never
advised nor heard it advised that
cOlored men should burn the white
peoples barns and houses, and COM
NIT murder upon the white people at
night, when they were asleep.
If the whites would accord to the
cOlored people, their rights, civil and
political, the South would be as
prosperous and happy as the North.
| entreat the white and colored peo-
pie of the North to rise in their
might of Justice, and see that we
colOred people have our civil and
political rights as any other Ameri-
can citizens. We ask no more, nor
less. Furthermore, here are more
outrages of such teasing" in South
Carolina as Judge Cothran styled the
hot headed young men of Abbeville,
South Carolina. These
| WHITE MODS
wait until late hours in the night
after all the colored people are gone
to bed and asleep. They then go and
burst open the colored peoples doors
and go in, assault their wives and
daughters, and outrage them, ant
draw their pistols, poke them into
their husbands faces, and say tC
them, ''f you ever say a word about
this transaction, you will be killed
you damned old rascal" / hav,
known colored men to be beateI
on the Streets OF Abbeville, unit
they were bloody, for no other cause
only their wives had been outraged
by these mobs, and their husban d
happened to speak about it on tn,
Streets. Their husbands had to take
} their families and fee to other State
to save their lives. When a coloreC
) man has family, and raises nic,
girls. after theV become fourteeI