The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-08-09
ASSAULT WOMAN AT CAPITAL,
NEGROES COMMIT AWFUL CRIME
IN SHADOW OF WHITE HOUSE.
Many Assaults in Vicinity of Capital.
MiscegenatiOn Becoming Conn
mon in Washington.

The Atlanta ournal prints the Iol-
lowing special from its Washington
correspondent:
The negro question has been brought
prominently before the people OF
Washington within the past week IN
forcible way, and here at last criticism
of the white people in the far south
has been silenced for while. Har 7ly
day has passed III the past fortnight
that the local papers IN the caplUal
have not had some account OF an as
sault upon women within the lmme>
date neig hborhood of the city. There
have been a number Of brutal assaults
in Maryland recently, and the cuIprlUs
flee to the capital Of their country lof
nrotpction. thinking that here espec'
ially they will be safe from mob VIo-
lence. During the past week the capl-
tai has been shocked by crime which
hardly has it's equal in the south. A
respectable white woman on her way
home from a circus was waylaid by ten
negroes. Her companion was robbed
and told that he would be drowned If
he did not a. once leave. The woman
was dragged little distance from the
glare of the city's lamps when the ten
brutes struck her down and each as
saulted her. The fact that she, in her
shame and anguish, kept the matter
Quiet several days before revealing the
whole truth possibly saved the men
from a mob. They have all been ar
rested and have confessed, and now
their trials are continuing with the
dignity which surrounds the district
courts.
CITIZENS ARE SHOCKED.
That such a crime should have been
planned and executed in the very shad>
oW of the dome of the capitol, for the
moon was just rising and threw the
shadow of the beautiful dome across
the city and over the very spot of the
outrage, has shocked the citizens of
Washing ton as nothing else could have
done. There have been a number OF
assaults and murders in the outskirts
of the city by negroes within the past
year or two, but this is the first case
which has occurred in the limits of the
city itself.
1t is not hard to find an explanation
for the depredations Of negroes about
Washington. This is the mecca, not
only for the negroes who hope to be-
come a factor in the propaganda Of
their race, but for the criminal class as
well. They have been led to believe
that the capital afforded them protec-
tion which they can get nowhere else.
both south and north Of the District of
Columbia seek hiding place in Wash
ington. Here they predominant. They
are coming here in such numbers that
it's serious problem how they can be
absorbed. There is hardly city in
south that has as many worthless, Vag-
dUOuu ueSIOcS 40 W dchiHS JUL "A :
one sees an endless number Of them
swarming the streets on holidays and
pouring down Pennsylvania avenue in
countless thousands the question ma
turally arises, "What is to be the end
of 1T alI?" 1t is impossible for them to
be absorbed in labor. How they live
has long been a wonder, but the prob
lem is nothing to what it will be if the
tide continues to pour into the capital
with the regularity with which 1t IS
coming now.
NEGROES FLOCK TO WASHINGTON.
They swarm certain portions of the
city like locusts. Wherever they set
tie the city ceases to grow in that sec
ton. A negro church or school is
enough to send property down to the
lowest point, for they cOngregate
around their meeting houses and
churches and make day and night hid
eous with their clamOr. The tact that
they are dlsfranChised has done much
to check them as a public nuisance, but
they are becoming a dangerous ele-
ment.
1t will doubtless be as surprising
away from here as it was to many here
to learn that miscegenGtion is not pro-
hibited in Washington. Those who