Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1896-07-17

There is not man In this commun It
who does not know that from the day o
the commission of the assault upon tn
Buxton's until the present have coun
seled the people against all acts OF vic
lence and against all Incorporate utter
ances. 1t Is also generally known to TIN
people here that had it not have beer
for my counsel and action Randolph
would have been lynched when he wa
first apprehended, yet, Notwithstanding
these well known facts, some of the
Washington papers announced that Rev
l.. l.. Lloyd was ready to lead q mob K
lynch Randolph. l might give NOR,
like illustrations OF their gross misrep-
reservations In reference to myself and
also in reference to the people of this
community, but these two will suffice
and they are fair specimens.
(3) From the day that the newspapers
published the account of the assault up
on the Buxtons until the day upon
which Sidney Randolph was lynched the
colored people of Washington city by
utteIances in the newspapers, by letters
which were signed by the writer's, and
by letters which were anonymous ad'
dressed to some of the citizens of this
town, and In some cases to some of our
officials, declaring that Randolph did
not commit the deed with which he W at
charged, and that u white man was the
guilty party.
Meetings of the c0lOred people OF
Washington city were announced in the
papers, and such meetings were held fol
the purpose of raising funds for the de
Tense of Randolph They were credited
with declaring repeatedly that Randolph
could not receive n fair trial in this couu-
ty, and that, az matter OF fact, he
would not be tried here.
Colored lawyers of Washington city
wrote 10 some of our officials and to
private citizens of our town urging
that they. the lawyers aforesaid, be en-
ployed for the defense of Randolph,
and that we, the citizens of this com
munity, raise the money to pay them
for their services, otherwise justice
would not be done. BY the pursuance
of this course, and the uLterance of such
and many other like declarations, they
the .colored people of Washington city,
early raised. constantly kept before, and
persistently thrust upon the people OF
this county the race question.
Such are the facts in the case. and
such were the conditions confronting
the people OF tnlS county.
Let us now see what are the results
springing from these facts and condi-
tons.
~ AS to the course pursued by the
detectives AT first the people OF this
county firmly believed that such AL in
Justice as was a result of their insinua-
lions and charges could not long con-
tinue that as They Investigated the
case they would ag he folly OF their
theory, theory which was furnished
them ready mad by the Cooking case,
and which they Brought here with them.
and NJ once be-. gu H hppy 10 this case ;
that very sOoD gh would, Mt least
acknowledge tile Outrageous wrong they
had done an Innocent and greatly In
jured man.
But az the weeks went by and there
was no such acknowledgement made.
and the newspapers of Washington con-
tinuing to assert that the said detectives
were still convinced that Mr.. Buxton
was the murderer Of his daughter
sadie, and the ussailant of his daughter
Maud, and of his wife, then began TO
spring up in the minds not
only of the people of this town
and vicinity, but also In the
minds of some of the best people of this
county, u fear that Mr.. Buxton, who had
suffered 30 much, would, through the
influence and ~ the lnstlgatlon Oh the
detectives Of Washington, be arrested
and tried Tor the murder OF his child !:
and that through detective machina-
ton, Randolph, whom they believed TO
be guilty, would go unwhlpt Of justice.
(2) When the people Of this county
read day after day newspaper accounts
W which they knew to be false, and saw
and knew that the press was slowly
but surely, through these misleading
statements, moulding that almost ON
nipotent, but often unreasonable and I'M
just tribunal, Public Opinion, In favor
of Randolph, then indignation knew 10
bounds and was constrained ny no law.
~ When the colored people or wash
ington raised the race question they
stirred TO their pr0foundest depths the
passions, aye, and the preJudices, too, Ol
the white people OF This county, ana
that irrespective OF political opinion
and affinity, and there are no opinions
30 hard to CONTROL and no prcJudices 30
unreasonable as those which inhere
and spring from The race question: IL Is
confined TO no section of country and Is
limited to 10 political school
Now for my conclusions Again ex-
pressing my sorrow at The lynchiDg Of
Randolph, do express IL as my most
positive opinion. aye. as my intense
conviction, that had II not have been
for the facts above referred TO, and the
conditions and Influences growing out OF
those facts, Sidney Randolph would
have been In the Rockville jail await
ing trial and, furthermore, 1 do be-
lieve that he would have had perfectly
fair and Impartial trial Thus, belieV.
ing there IL OF necessity CORRELATED
belief. namely, that whoever may nave
been the immediate actors IN the lynch
ing Of Randolph, and God knows that
do not know WHO they were, nor do
know any one OF Them. inc detectives
of Washington city, the colored people
who raised the race question, and the
newspapers which created and ioster5d
the conditions which led TO Inc comm O.
sion Of that foul deed, are, In Inc slght
mi