Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-12
Reuben Fosters Death Considered at
Two Meetings.
EQUAL RIGHTS COUNCIL hear SPEECHES
A Proposal to Aid in Prosecuting
the Policeman.
HILLSDALE'S INDIGNATION

The Vermont Avenue Colored Baptist
Church was well filed last evening. the
Equal Rights Council an organization Of
colored people, having called meeting to
discuss the shooting of Reuben Foster. the
young colored man, by Policeman Green on
the 4th instant, near Hillsdale. The meet
ing was presided over by President Lawson
of the council, and in calling the meeting
to order he explained that the council had
invited good citizens of both races to be
present. for the reason that both races
were equally concerned. The question was
whether a policeman could be at once
judge. jury and executioner. The meeting,
said Mr.. Lawson, was not called for the
purpose of making fiery speeches. or to
ask for any unreasonable thing. All that
the colored people of the District desired
was fair play and equal rights. The law
had been violated, all good fair-minded
citizens, white or black would say, and the
meeting had been called to express indig-
nation thereat, and to ask the authorities
to prosecute the guilty man. Mr.. John NJ.
Langston, said Mr.. Lawson. had promised
to attend and address the meeting, but had
been prevented by the inclement weather.
Mr.. E. NJ. Hewlett. a colored attorney,
was presented as one who had been fore
most in bringing the case to the Afternoon
of the authorities.
MIR. Hc>vIett's Address.
Mr.. Hewlett explained that he had come
t. the meeting merely to listen to others,
but could not well decline the invitation
to say few words. He was glad. he said,
to hear it stated that there was to be
nothing fiery said. but that the meeting
was to be one for calm, dispassionate dis
cussion. There was no need, he was glad
to say, for anything like fiery speeches for
the people and press of the entire District
were of one mind and belief in the matter
of the shooting of Foster. 1t should not
be said that the large attendance at the
meeting was due alone to the fact that the
man killed was a black one and the man
who killed him white man. The attend
anoe remarked Mr.. Hewlett, would have
been just as large if the colorS had been
reversed. A great crime had been COM
mitted, said he. and all the community
agreed that it was not a mere accident.
policeman, in attempting to make or
maintain an unlawful arrest, had wanton-
ly shot down fleeing, unarmed man, one,
too, who was not by any means of as bad
a character, he said, some desired to
make him. But, he continued, the officer
would surely be indicted. for District At
torney Birney, stating that Fosters repu-
tation, good or bad, was not to be con-
sidered. had promptly laid the case before
the grand jury.
Policeman Green. said Mr.. Hewlett.
would undoubtedly shortly be indicted for
manslaughter. That offense, he explained.
could be punished by the inflction of
small fine, by few days In jail or by as
many as ten years in the penitentiary.
The people Of the District, In the event Of
the policeman's conviction. should, there
fore. see that he spent a term in the peni-
Tertiary. Green might have been a good
officer, but he had said: Damn the Niger,
killed Foster, should be made to stand the
consequences. The officer was without the
least excuse, declared Mr.. Hewlett, for
Judge Miller, in the Police Court, had, year
nQliCpmon
the reckless use of the pistol, and had re-
marked that unless it stopped it would
become necessary to take their pistols
from them. Mr.. Hewlett stated that, while
he felt sorry for the officer. he would, as he
had done in the case of Policeman Terry,
now serving term in the penitehtiary for
shooting the young colored man, Willis
Washington, assist in the prosecution of
Green, believing that the welfare and safe
ty of the people of the District, white and
black. demanded the officers conviction.
lett, despite the fact that Green's friends
had offered him 500 to remain silent. All
the people desired, he said. was that police
men should be taught that they must make
arrests in lawful manner.
Mr.. Hewlett's remarks were loudly ap-
plauded, and then Mr. Lawson introduced
the pastor of the church, Rev. Geo w. Lee,
who briefly addressed the meeting.
Rev. MIR. Lee Talks.
Mr.. Lee said everybody knew where he
stood-but he happened to stand just about
where every good man and woman in the
District stood. The whole District con-
demned the shooting of Foster, and the
manner in which the young man was killed
had made him a martyr. He might have
been bad, but his death placed him, said
Mr.. Lee, at least equal with his slayer.
The so-called verdict of the coroners jury
In the insult to common sense
and reason. In considering that verdict,
said Mr.. Lee, he lost sight of Green, but
the verdicts monStrousness grew on him in
it's enormity the more he thought of it. He
did not say the policeman's act was muir
der, for he believed the officer deeply re-
GREETED his act the moment he realized
what he had done. 1t might have been an
accident, said Mr.. Lee, as some people
claimed, but it was crazy thing to do.
If Green was maniac, then, said he, it
was an accident for which the District was
responsible as it allowed such a man to
carry revolver.
He believed that Green did have a good
character, but he FELL and he should be pun
ished. But, said Mr.. Lee, he believed that
the officer not once realized what he was
doing in firing at Foster. Yet Green was a
man Of intelligence, and he should have
realized that in using deadly weapon he
was doing an unlawful thing. The bad
character of Foster had been magnified
until, ii some folks were to be believed, he
was a regular desperate, before whom
everybody trembled. But that was not So
ana even II 1t laQ Deen the OfnCer was Still
guilty.
Thomas L. Jones' Remarks.
President Lawson next presented Mr..
Thos. L. Jones, who was introduced as the
attorney general of the council. He stated
that the moment he heard of the unfortu-
nate affair he had investigated 1t, and had
assisted in laying the case Of Officer Green
before District Attorney Birney. He then
referred to a speech he made several weeks
ago. in which he stated that while negroes
were not lynched in the District, they were
subjected to harshness cruelty and dis
grace by the police here. But few weeks
ago Willis Washington, the inoffensive,
reputable victim of Policeman Terry, said
Mr.. Jones, passed away, and although his
slayer was now serving term in the peni-
tertiary. the grave had hardly closed over
him before another negro is shot down, 1t
was necessary, declared Mr.. Jones, for the
negroes here and elsewhere to demand the
rights due them under the Constitution and
laws of the land Elsewhere the negro had
used dynamite. but. said Mr.. Jones, while
he did not encourage violence, he would
never cease to urge the negro to demand,
secure and maintain his rights and protect
himself. Mr.. Jones intimated that he
would, as attorney general of the Equal
Rights Council, assist the authorities in