The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-05-16
SOME OPINIONS.

sensational DuL JudI LdcL
does not prevent it from hurting out
unwelcome truth some times, and
touching the north "in the raw" It
| strongly condemns northern mobs and
| asks this of the swift abusers and ma
ligners of the south:
Look into your own hearts and your
own records before you pass judgment
finally upon the south and the charac-
tiers Of its citizens.
What was your record during the
draft riots? Was your excuse as good
then as the excuse which the killers of
south have today? =
Therefore men of the north, you
may condemn human nature, you may
| deplore human savagery, but you need
not thank God that you are better than
| your brethren of the south-you are
not better"
The negro churches in Chicago held
! great indignation meetings lately over
| the Georgia affair. Remembering how
Illinois has so savagely treated negro
workmen lately, it really looks as if
| the negro sympathiZers might first look
| at home before they become sc fiery
| Furthermore, in d~enouncing bitterly
the whites of Georgia they were dumb
as oysters over the devilish work of the
negro Hose, the extent of whose devil
try is not yet known to the public be-
cause it was not fit to print. Referring
to the Chicago negro mourners, the At
lanta Constitution says, in part:
"The whole argument put up by
these apolOgists of rape was of such a
character that a discussion of it cannot
be taken up.
But the point to which The Consti-
tuition would draw attention is the fact
that the groans Of dying negroes seek
| ing honest work may yet be heard in
| Chicago. For Illinois it has been re-
| served to shoot down black men who
offer to work for a living; that the re-
| publican governor of that state de-
| clared them to be without the pale of
legal protection, and that, in conse-
Quence, they were shot down like dogs
by the b~loodthirsty men who conducted
the Pana and the Virden riots. = =
Talk about Georgia barbarism!'
When throughout the history of the
| state has a negro been murdered in
Georgia because he was willing to
| work? = 4 y
Let them remember that while ne
| groes are lynched in Georgia for rape,
| they are shot to death, with executive
| cOnnivance, in Illinois for offering to
work."
An INTEL gent colored nan writes a
| letter of moderation and sense to the
| Constitution, It. H. Malone is his name.
He makes a suggestion that might be
| tried and it would probably accomplish
much good. Any way it is a owe
ment in direction of better conditions
and for peace. He writes:
LET there be started in the capital
of the state a league composed of ne
| groes who pledge themselves to dis
courage n abstain from crime. Let
this league be regularly organized. Let
there be selected ten or twelve lectur-
erS, who once or twice each year go
through the state lecturing in each
county on crime and it's consequent
%lynching. Let these lecturers have
printed blanks to be signed by every
negro who so desires stating his will
ingness to uphold the law. The result
1 believe will be not only interesting,
but remarkable"
better class-the large class of we'll
behaved and peacefully inclined ne
groes who desire the welfare and pro-
gress of their race might try this plan
in North Carolina and in other south
ern states.
One more extract, this time from a
northern white a a distinguished
journalist, Mr.. Al. Lewis, who edits
the New York Verdict. We have not
space for his entire editorial we regret
to say for it is plain talk and full of
edification. We take a part:
But to judge of a result, one should
ever keep his eye on the cause. There's
a saying that a crow can count two.
Those who are furnishing present,
livid condemnation of the Newman
burning should at least have a counting
capacity equal to a crows. While re-
Numbering h punishment, recall the
crime. 1t is evening. This black hell
thing-to call him negro" would be to
| disgrace Africa-creeping within swing,
buries the ak to the eye in the brain
of the unsuspicious husband and faith
err. The child wrenched from it's moth
er's embrace, is dashed to the floor.
The mother, seized, hurled down in the
blood Of the father and husband. is out
ragged. That is the story. Does it
much matter as a sentimentality how
the earth is purged of such a stain as
Holt? Whether the method of his
wiping be halter, bullet, knife or brand,
isn't from any standpoint of pity for
the crime worth a word! =
There be people of shallowness, and
imprints more nervous than wise. who
wax historical over the Georgia burn
ing of the brute Holt. These shudder-
ing fools and papers are mostly in the
north. The Verdict is no fire-worship-
er. 1t has no religion of the torch; is
no apostle of stake and fagot. But it
is moved to warn a north, pouring forth
In& h