Sunday morning globe., 1901-12-15
Knew Cruznn,. Father wen.

Knew Cruzan's Father Well.
Col. William Murrell, who was one of the
colored leaders in Louisiana during the re.
construction period, knows Cruzan and
knew his people before him IN the south
Colonel Murrell has resided here at inter
walls for nearly twenty years and has long
been connected with the lighthouse service
under Admiral Farquhar, When seen at
home, 1858 !. street northwest he said
The father of Cruzan was for many years
my confidential secretary while / was a
member of the Louisiana legislature, having
gone from Mobile to New Orleans with me
He was a very able man and served also as
clerk to several committees Of the legis-
lature. In 1873 was commissioned as col
onel of the Fourth Regiment, Louisiana
National Guard, composed of colored troops
and appointed Cruzan as my adjutant, his
commission being signed by Governor
Kellogg He was associate editor of the
Madison IfHdicai0y./ /0WyRak which Jour
mails were bought by me and combined
The paper was printed In Delta Madison
Parish, La, and was devoted to the inter.
ests of the negro"
Now it appears plain enough from this
paragraph that William S. Cruzau, the
BlalAN Il lANNA % 20 NNAhINNA man ANN VI hNlA
negro instead of the Caucasian race But
what of it2 1t is not a crime TO be a negro
and why this beating about the bush and
this dodging and avoidance of the plain
statement Of the fact in the big head-lined
articles announcing his fight from the mar
riage ceremony Why wait until next day
and slip in a paragraph naming his race and
color surrepttiously as if il were criminal
to be a colored man?
We confess that we cannot understand it
at all. IT, as the daily papers assert, on the
testimony of Col William MurreI (who
very properly is not ashamed Of his lieneage
and race that Cruzau is a colored
man, why was that fact omitted from the
scare head lines and elaborate write-up TO
be sueakngly dropped in, in a subsequent
issue, as "a give away,
This is not decent and 1t is not right. II
makes out or leaves the deduction that
Cruzau would feel belittled by being called
a colored man when there is no such evil
dence furnished on the part of Cruzan or
his friends If Mr. Cuzan ever denied he
was a negro and that he passed himself of
for a white man, why in the name of good
ness did not the papers mention that fact
honestly, instead of stabbing him in the
back and leaving the impression on their
readers that he had done so2
This is cowardly way Of reporting facts
and is given as an illustration of the meth
ods in vogue in Washington Here is the
account leybaiim ef iiieyafim taken from
the daily press of Cruzan's jilung Miss
Emmert, and there is not one word in the
whole article iutmating the race or color
of the absent bridegroom:
"a merry wedding party gathered at the
residence of Rev. II Schroeder the pastor
of the Trinity German Lutheran Church,
go7 II street northwest, about 2 O'Clock yes
terdav afternoon and waited three hours or
more in vain for the arrival of the bride
groom William S. Cruzan, twenty.six years
of age, a plate. printer at the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing, who resides at III3
Tenth street northwest. Miss Cordie Em-
inert was the prospective bride, With her
was her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Emmert
widow of George Emmert her sister. Mrs.
Hans T.. Roberts, and her husband MI T.
n Ogden, stcpfather of Mr. Cruzan, the
missing bridegroom Mrs. Ogden, the
mother of the young man. and several other
intimate friends Of the two families.
"NIr. Cruzan IS relatives became alarmed at
his absence. but search by the police last
night tended to show that the young man
had left the city He had been paying Miss
Emmert attention for two years OF so past,
and their engagement met with the ap-
proval of most of their rreiatives. Miss Im.
inert Is a most estmable young woman,
and with the members of her family en-.
Joys the esteem Of wide circle If friends.
About eighteen months ago, Cruzan's
friends say, he became infatuated with AN.
other woman and IL is hinted that she is re-
sponsible for the indefinite postponemeut of
the marriage announced for yesterday. She
has left The city At least this was the iu.
formation given out at her home last even