Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-05-03
MORE ABOUT REYNOLDS.

1t viii be remembered that sheriff
we t 70 arrest him on Sunday, April 6,
1902. near Tuscumbia, Alabama, upon a
charge of receiving goods under false
preteuses.
1t is estimated that mob of five hun
dred white men could not capture him,
although backed by a company of state
militia He held all of them at bay for
nine hours and defantly went to his
death only after he was driven from his
cabin by fire and dynamite.
1t is said that WILL REYNOLDS was
quiet and peaceable. He was married
and had one child, being of light brown
complexion and wore small black mus
tache
/ He was q crack-shot, and was said to
be as expert with revolver as he was
with rife. He could shoot running
rabbit with pistol.
Every shot fired by him in that terri
BILE fight found a lodging place in some
part of some member of that mob's
anatomy.
He fired only at armed men, using
his As calibre Winchester with incon.
ceivable rapidity. He was cool, calm
and collected and stood the fire Of his
assailants with the nerve Of trained
veteran.
Men, three hundred yards away were
not safe from his fire.
In order to show hls craftsmanship
and demonstrate his ability to shoot, he
fred bullet at country boy three
hundred and fifty yards distant, pierre
ing his hat but not injuring him in
anyway. The boy was badly fright
ened.
The people were so enraged that they
decided TO kill him at all hazards. The
militia raked his cabin with bullets, but
REYNOLDS was in the cellar and he
would take an occasional shot at his
beseigers, first from one end of it, and
then the'other.
When the cabin was set on fire, REY-
NoLDs was driven into the open.
The light made him an easy target as
he made for small clubhouse to con-
tinue the battle.
He fell mortally wounded, but even
during his death throes, he raised him
self to his knees and kept firing until
his body was fairly riddled with bullets.
What did they do with his body?
They mutilated the corpse. They cut
the fingers from his hands, the toes
from his feet. They offered untold in
dignities to the remains and finally
threw the mutiliated trunk into the
fire for the consuming flames, instead of
rendering Christian burial and per-
hitting his people to erect a tombstone
over his grave.
Think you that we fear white men in
this locality because we laud the brave
ry of this hero? Think you we care for
our own safety as a result of our COM
mendation?
We said then and we believe now
that the chivalric white Virgiuian
will recognize in this lone Alabama Ne
gro, those elements of courage which
have been sung in song and story, pass
ing from the heroic Greek to the daunt-
| less Roman and coming down the ave-
nues of valor TO find resting place in
the Temple of Fame.
| God grant that the down-trodden de-
scendents of Africans may take courage
and indulge in hope.
These traits of character are found in
Africans to-day. Lord WoLsELEY told
of it in his campaign against the Zulus
and Lord KIrCHENER's trained veterans
met it upon the sandy soil of the Sou
dan.
REYNOLDS is dead. He lived his re-
hgiCn and proved his faith in it by fill
ing a hero's grave. He asked no quar-.
ter. Even in death, ne fought to the
last. Whether he would reach heaven
or go to he'll counted little with him.
Smarting under his wrongs, disguised
with the treachery of those who were
arrayed against him, facing five hun
dred men without fear, he fought on
without cringing and fell asleep without
a murmur.
There is something sublimely grand
IN ali this. It makes the blood Jingle
and the breast swell with admiration.
To have known him was a privilege, to
have aided him was favor.
When colored men can learn to dis
play this kind of bravery and go to
their death with an exhibition of this
kind of courage, the problematic condi-
tons now confronting us will disappear
and we will be entitled to and receive
the grasp of the hand from every JUS
tice-loving, fair-minded white man in
the southland.
Colored men, from WILL REYNOLDS
come to you in the language of BRY-
ANT, the ringing words which he him
self has needed:
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,
ScOurged 20 his dungeon, but, sustained and