The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-09-10
FROM BOSTON TO HOUSTON, TEXAS

lions Of lynching brutes. They have
caught the cue and are echoing north
ern sentiment. The north as a general
thing does not have much to say about
the causes of %lynching. It is observa-
BILE that the negro speaker in England
before the Methodist ecumenical declar-
ed that ninety negroes were lynched in
the south and only eleven were for
rapes upon whites. That is a lie out
to see it mentioned hat several south.
ern delegates eft in disgust 1t is a
wonder that h southern delegates will
sit with sue professional liars n
slanderers. Within thirty days ten
white woInen have been assaulted in
the south. the Boston Transcript.
strange to say, generally inimical to the
south, has had q revelation Of the truth,
and talks with sense Of the situation
in regard to the ly~nchings. 1t says,
and it is worth copying for it shows
more critical insight and true knowl-
edge than belongs to northern news
papers:
mo man who has not come in con-
tact with white public opinion in the
south; no man who has not seen the
colored masses Of h south as they are
can form a judgment of the critical
situation, or OF the remedies for it that
is OF the slightest value.
ITO the white men of the south the
question often turns on h first law OF
nature. They are in many places a
handful of the higher against thous-
ands of the lower race. The fear of the
nameless evil shadows their lives. 1t
even circles the outskirts of southern
cities, the national capital itself not ex-
cepted. There are southern cities where
no white man builds because if he puts
his home there he could not be at a
at his business, his thoughts being
haunted oy the black terror
Southern whites, while united in
considering q certain crime atrOciouS
of itself, more a~trocious when commit
ted by q negro whose victim is white
are by no means all advocates of lynch
ing. They have given many instances
of opposition to local mob sentiment
that are simply heroic, nor are all the
southern blacks like the cOlOred people
of the north. The southern black is
improving in education, thrift n char
acter undoubtedly, but among the COL
ored masses of the south there is an
element Of brutality that nothing u
education, Christian sympathy, guild
ance and fOrbaarance can eradicate or
even
All good and true men bemoan the
dangers that threaten rural homes and
the conditions hat invite a severe and
quick punishment. 1t is made more
horrible when hurnings are resorted to.
The cry from southern newspapers is
''stop the horrible practice" which IS
very we'll. There are other papers that
protest against all lynchings and call
upon the governors and sheriffs to put
an end to them. But from ten thou
sand homes comes the cry from the
anxious souls of pure and true southern
white women--"stop the awful, cruel
rapings." That should move the hearts
of editors who have not exhausted
themselves over the denunciations of
Furnishing the ravening brutes. Stop
the burnings. But let all unite, of both
races, to stop the rapings. If not, then
as some one said of war, hell is turn
ed loose"
Their is not bad feeling between the
races as such IN the south. There is a
shock in The repeated assaults and the
condign punishment following. The
white children and the black children
played together in h old slave times.
This is no longer done. President Win
ston recently said in relation to the
races in au article furnished a north
ern publications:
1.-The familiar salutation of uncle or
Eauntie' is no longer heard. The lady'S
maid Sl6pnS No longer nv the bedside of
her mistress. The southern woman
with her helpless little children in farm
house no longer sleeps secure in the
absence of her husband with the door
unlocked, but safely guarded by black
men, who's lives would be freely given
in her defense. But now, when a knock
is heard at the door, she shudders with
namelesS horror. The black brute is
lurking in the lark, a monstrouS beast,
crazed with lust. A mad bull or a tiger
could scarcely be more brutal. A whole
community is now frenZied with horror,
with blind and furious rage for VEN
geance. a stake is driven; n wretch
ed brute, covered with oil, bruised and
gashed, beaten and hacked and MAIN
ed, amid the jeerS and shouts and ours
es, the tears OF anger and of joy, the
prayers and the maledictionS of thou
sands of civilized people. in the sight
of school houses, court houses ana
churches, is burned to death. Since the
abolition of slavery and the growing
UP of a new generation of negroes,
crimes HI are TOO hideous to describe
have been committed every month, ev-
cry week, frequently every day
against helpless women and children
of the white race. crimes that were un-
known in slavery. And, in turn, cruel
ties have Deen inflicted upo negroes
by whole communities of whites, which.
if attempted during slavery, would
have been prevented at any sacrlhce-"
The north does not understand the
situation. Its sentimental ignoram,
uses who do the link singing write
without knowledge, and tbs
wandering brutes to press their trade
While the conditions tend to alienatt
the W races to some extent, they are
made worse by such liars as the negro
spouter in London, and the fool talk
ers in the north of h Fortune stripe