The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-16
TO Do HIM HONOR.
memorial Service Was Held mt the
First African Baptist Church.

Memorial services were held last
night at the First African Baptist
church, great congregation gather
ing through grief for the death of
President Mckinley. Remarks were
made by a number of speakers, but
the principal address was delivered by
President r. r. Wright of the Georgia
State Industrial College for Colored
Youths. 1t was agreed by rising vote
that resolutions of sympathy and con-
dolence be sent to Mrs. Mckinley, r.
II. Hooks and p. H. Maxwell paying
touching tribute to the honored dead.
President Wrights address was, in
part, as follows:
we are assembled tonight under
the gloom which overshadows our en-
tire country. A great tragedy has oc-
CURED. The heart of the nation has
been stricken with heaviest sorrow.
Perhaps it would not be improper for
me at this sad and memorable hour to
| indulge in few personal "reminiscences,
| Tor l shall long remember it as the
! chief fortune of my life that l was per-
| sonally acquainted with the great man
! VINO has been lately removed by assas-
Slnatlon from the presidential chair.
You Will recall, perhaps, his visits to
our city in 1896 and again in 1898. Upon
each occasion it was my good pleasure
| to be the leader of the movement which
brought him in contact with the col
ored people of this city, The first meet
ing was at Dr. Harris church on West
| Broad street You remember how pleas
antly and courteously he spoke words
of friendship, not only for the whole
| country but for the colored people es
| pecially. L had met him some fifteen
or sixteen years before this, and had
known him most intimately. l there
fore thought it was proper to call the
attention of our people to the magnif-
cent personality of their guest.
-, re of the marked characteristics of
y, -IcKinley was his sincere polite
a. and kindly bearing to those who
| %. ped inferior stations in life. l was
iI-t impressed with this at the time
len he was preparing his great tariff
Dill in Washington while he was
member of Congress. Having made his
acquaintance several years before his
great tariff fight l was thus embol-
dened to call upon him at the Ebbitt
House in Washington. He was very
much pleased that l called, and invited
me to call often. Thus, it was through
his courtesy that l was permitted to
| listen to the discussions at his ROOM
which were carried on during the
drafting of his famous tariff measure.
In this way l learned much of his no.
bility of characteristic entire unselhSh-
ness and patriotic devotion.
He was a true Christian. He was
of the stuff out of which God manufac-
lures heroes and heroines. His trust
in God was sincere. He had faith In
the people and in himself. They grave.
ly erred who believed that he was led
blindly by any man. He was himself
the leader. He seemed anxious to be
the humble instrument in the hands of
God to bring about absolute peace be-
tween the North and South, but L do
not believe that he desired this peace
at the expense of the colored people.
He believed that the black and white
alike should Bury the asperities and
antipathies of both war and slavery
He would not only unite the white
North and South in bonds of peace, but
he would have peace to reign also be-
tween the black and white of the South
He constantly counseled the colored
men with whom he came in contact to
live at peace with white neighbors.
no President has done more for the
colored people than President Mckin-
ley. He once asked me if it were not
a fact that he had done more for the
colored people than had any other
them. You will recall his tribute spok-
en- to the colored people at the Georgia
State Industrial College on the occasion
of his last visit. He said: Mr.. Lon
coin was not far from right when, in
speaking of the black man, he said:
The time may come when they will
help to keep the jewel of liberty in the
hands of the human race Is this not
the time? Was this not the fact when
nf a
to bear the assassin down, thus pre-
venting him firing a third or fourth bull
let which would have brought instant
death to the chief magistrate of the
nation? / repeat, is it not singular my
friends, that in his last great struggle,
a colored man was there to show how
devoted the colored people are, not only
to the nations great chief magistrate,
but to the nation itself-that there was
a negro ready to give his life in order
to rescue the nations chieftain from
the red-handed anarchistic assassin?
That President Mckinley was bitter
ly opposed to lawlessness and lynch
ing, can readily be attested by the
fact that when he heard of the
desire on the part of some to lynch
the assassin, he said substantially
this: Let him alone; let the law take
it's course"
His last words, as he chanted Near
err My God, to Thee" were "Good-by,
good-by; it is Gods way; His will be
done" We must feel that He doeth
all things well, and content ourselves
in striving to learn the lesson which
this great calamity seems to teach;
that the whole nation must rise up as
one man against lawlessness in every
form in every part of this broad coun-
try If President McKinley's death
emphasizes one thing more than an
other, it is that this nation cannot af-
ford to let the lawless go unpublished.
There must be inaugurated an abso-
Lutte reign of law. The violator of hui
man life must not go unwhipped of
justice.
Before the American altar is pre-
scented a victim of violence-our third
martyr President, of unimpeachable
integrity, steadfast in the perform
ance of all his high obligations, the
worthy head of a mighty nation.
Whatever may be the criticisms of pol
iticians of to-day upon certain phases
of his administration there can be lit
tie doubt of the fact that the verdict
of history will he Washington, Lin
coin, McKinley-the greatest Presidents
the country has produced
~-D-s-
FELL IN THE WOODS.