The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-06-01
SUBSCRIPTION $3.50 Cash j,
NO. 25.
GOOD EXAMPLE SET,
Colored Ministers OF Newman, Ga. :,
Den0unce Acts of Violence and
Crime by Members of Their Race as
Well as Deplore Lynching.
New York SUM

|
African Methodist Church in Newman,
Ga, the scene of the lynching Of Sam
Hose, some resolutions were passed
which may be commended to the
consideration OF colored ministers
and men in all parts of the South.
Especially noteworthy among those
resolutions are these:
I'VE condone no crime-neither
do we wish To shield criminals from
any crime for which they deserve
| punishment;
I'VE have no toleration for crimi-
mails who commit crime and heap
disaster upon our race;
I'VE denouncc in the very strong
est terms those creatures of our race
who are SO dcpravcd in their nature
and become so reckless as to invade
the sanctitv of the home and destroy
the priceless virtue of woman:
1--WE believe the Gospel of the Son
of God and the teachings of the
sacred Scriptures by His servants
will do more to check lawlcssness
and crine than any other agency
Finally, the Newman colored minis
ters "call upon their teachers and
ministry to lay aside their petty
jealousies OF church and race and
link their efforts with those of the
white race to hold up the majesty of
the law, to increase the industry and
commerce of their country, that
peace and prosperity may abound in
its borderS.n
1t is charged and believed by the
white people of the South that almost
in no ease whatever is any help
given to them by the colored people
to bring to usticc a colorei man
guilty OF the crime which Is 50
frequently the cause Of lynching.
Practically the criminal is abetted by
members of his own race. He finds
at least II temporary concealmont
among them. Either from fear or
from sympathy they do not inform
the officers of the law Of his where
abouts. Apparently he is not re-
garded by his fellows as a criminal
owed to justice, but as negro en-
titled to be hidden and sheltered.
This seemingly inveterate relue-
tance of the majority of the Southern
negroes to assist in the punishment
of the crime which is most hideous
and horrible in the eyes of the whites
and the fear of which hangs per-
pctually over the white women in the
thinly settled dirtricts, embitters the
whites against the negroes As class.
1t is rs if the whole race made itself
an accomplice after the fact.
int WHll b 9YsjfSS that y in s lhs &9I!b
ravishers usually seek to deny or
minfy the crime. Thus, in the case
of Sam Hose, who ravished white
woman after numbering her husband
before her eyes, several colorcd cor
respondents of the Sun, men of edu-
cation, too, have doubted the facts
and assumed that the crime was inn
probable. Unfortunately the weight
of evidence is that Sam Hose was
guilty; and whatever brutality Of
punishment was inflicted upon him.
his defenders do not do u service to
their race by cavilling at facts which
may seem too terrible to believe, but
are not too terrible to he true.
No matter how manv acts of in
Justice. how MANY causeless out
RACES, how mary political crimes 10
negroes have been doa by the whites,
there is one dreadful me to which
the Southern negro ui the savage
type is prone. Un..~- ne testimony
of the Southern whit to be ilatly
set aside, the crime - not regarded
by the Southern negroes with
adherence enough to induce them
to be active in bringing the criminal
to Justice Thus the Northern apol-
ogist denies the crime; the Southern
negroes, as n class, show no rcproba-
ton of it. Whatever be the faults Of
the Southern whites and to whatever
excesses of savagcry they may have
been led in the panic OF a terror
\ which haunts their homes, they are
\ not to be blamed for being dissatisfied
1 with the general apathy of the
I Southern negro, with the general
denial and denunciation which arr
the answer of the Northern negro
when some negro ravsher j. lyncaed.
1t is for the Southern negroes AMI
the Northern negroes TO admit in
controvertible facts, to try TO civiliZe
and Christianizc the desperadoes who
dshonor the race, to show no
sympathy, active or passive. with the
crime 1t NAV be said, indeed. that
this is sometimes only pretencc
and that innocent men have beer
hanged for it. Granted; but at least
the colored citizens can strive to dim
inish the number Of the guilty.
Stern condemnation Of the crime.
refusal to shield the criminals. th'
q inculcation not OF mere emotional
7 sentimentalism miscalled religion
| but Of the pure morality of th'
. Gospel. and cooperation with th'
whites, to maintain the laws and Il
. promote the good Of the community
- These things the colored citizent
everywhere ought 10 encourage an'
strive for. The Newman c0lore'
lid ministers speak as good citizens
1ss good friends TO their race and Of tn
led country. Their example should b'
Ter followed.
let