The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-03-24

mob law is the fact that it is an easy
hing for any white villain to blacken
MS neck and face, his hands and arms,
put on a wig of crispy hair aud personate
! negro, and in that disguise commit the
most nameless and shameless of crimes
for which some innocent negro may be
made to suffer. 1t is not known that
any negro ae yet has attempted to per-
,onate q white man-that is practically
The Position of the Negro as to Rape.
1 do not hesitate to say that the negro
is as unslterably opposed to rape as he
is to murder or any other heinous crime.
It is mistake to suppose that he has
no sympathy for the rapist's victim.
He has compassion for the outraged,
and would 'avenge her wrongs as speedily
as any one else. Moreover, the negro
does not covet the white women of the
South or of any other section. Why
should he? Has he not the fair maidens
of his own? If white complexion is
the desideratum, can he not crafty his
taste among his own people? Unlike
the white man, whose women are uni
versally white, the negro can select from
among his own females varieties of
colors-including white, black and all
the intermediary hues. But, in more
serious vein, I most emphstically declare
that he will g, as far to protect the
white women and girls of the South
from violence as will their own fathers,
brothers and sons. have never yet
heard q negro of any hue or condition
offer an apology for the crime of rape
per Sc. 1t is not possible to organize a
court with a negro Judge and jury that
would fail to convict q negro of the
crime of rape where the proof warranted
it. So far from palliating the crime, he
devoutly wishes that all rapists, whether
white or black, were banished from the
earth. Put our sincerity to test If you
please. Let the white men of the South
enter into compact with us to 60 as far
with Us in helping to protect our wives
and daughters a. we will 60 with them
in helping to protect theirs, and neither
the jaws of death nor the gates of hell
will cause us to falter or fall. Be this ae
it may, we pray God to write upon our
hearts the law which enjoins us not to
covet our neighbor's wife nor his daugh-
ters. No crime that has ever been
alleged sgainst the negro has so stune
him as that of the charge of rape-it
beiug extended even to the child ol
tender years. He remembers with what
painful solicitude and unf agging watch
fulness he protected the wives and
children of the Southland when theil
own marital and paternal protectors had
been called away by the demands OF war
and that he was then, though slave
true to sacred trusts. Is he less trust
worthy now that he is free? Whatever
others may think, he knows that he il
not. In pleading for the maintenance,
of law and order. and that all law
breakers shall be tried according to th'
established forms of law, the negro can
not be Justly branded as an apologist fol
crime. He is by every impulse OF hi
being disposed to law and order. He il
not q revolutionist, an anarchist, nor
traitor, and We thank God that tn
people with whom We are identified
have not given birth to Judas Iscario
nor Benedict Arnold.
Social Equality.
Another erroneous allegation directe'
against the negro is that his chief desir
ia for social equality with white people
Now, the negro may be ignorant of SOM
things, yea many things. but OF on
thing he is not ignorant, and that is tina
social equality does not exist anywher
or among any people as universal rnle
Moreover, he knows that all whit
people are not social equals, which
equally true of all colored people. Socis
equality is based upon individual choic
and preference. and does not lie within
the sphere of statutory enactments O
police regulations. The negro does NO
desire to pose as an intruder, and repel
with righteous indignation every assel
ton that he is disposed to force hi
association on those who are averee
receiving it. 1t is not to be understoo
by this that he is Indifferent to the right
which belong to him under the commo
law. He may not ineist on riding in th
same railroad coach with white paseer
gers, but lie does rebel against payin
first-clas fare for second-clsss accomme
dations, an injustice, which he regard
as nothing less than . bold stroke {
highway robbery. He may not deman
that he be allowed to eat at the sam
table with white people, but he doe
demand that he be allowed to buy som'
thing to eat when hunger overtakes hil
on the highway. That cities like Chat
tanooga and Knoxville, Tenn, an
Atlanta and Macon, Ga, should tolera'
lunch counters in connection with raj
rosd stations which refuse colored pa
sen gers the privilege of purchasing foe
is, to say the least, cankerous bl'
upon civiliz alton, and in a go calle
lChristian community is an impeacl
m ent, a contradiction of and q traves'
on that mandate of the gospel of divi1
love which says: "If thine enemy hui
ger, feed him." You cannot find
negro in all the land 30 ignorant, so poo
"a doa&ituka of 4ha milk