The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-03
TILLMAN IN FlTCHBURG.
he stirred Up the People in the
Massachusetts Town.

He Stirred Up the People in the
Massachusetts Town.
Fitchburg, Mass, April 1. "Pitch-
fork" TiIlman has been here and has
riled up the animals, TO use one of the
common expressions of the country. He
was the orator of one of the lectures
in the course of the Y. M. c. A., and
had an audience of about 1900 people
when he started in. The number was
somewhat smaller when he finished.
He commenced by telling his hearers
that they thought they knew some
thing about the race problem, but he
assured them they did not. The peo-
pie Of this burg think they are as in
telligent as any folks that ever come
over the pike, and his blunt way of
stating things was not at all to the
liking of some of our people. Since
his departure Veritas, Fairplay. Citi-
zen. Lover of Liberty and other citi-
zens who like to rush into print and
yet to masquerade under sobriquet,
have been fighting the battle over
again since the doughty senator left
US.
Mr.. Tillman's subject was THE
Race Problem from a Southern Point
of View" and in starting in he said,
II have spoken with much bluntness
and insolence, if you please, in the
Senate but there is an opportunity to
reply, and here ! am. / am going to
tell you Gods truth, so help me God,
like it or lump 1t as you will. You
think you know something about the
race problem, but / know you don't,
and / know that l do. l was born on
a slave plantation and was nursed by
a negro woman, and | live in a state
where the blacks greatly outnumber
the whites"
One of the striking utterances of the
Senator that drove some of his hearers
cut of the hall, was this: You tell US
we must take our outraged white wo-
man into the courts and have her tell
the story of her shame there. and that
we must proceed according to the
forms of law, but ! tell you. and
don't care whether you like it or not
we will see you in hell first" When
this declaration fell from the Senator's
lips with all the vehemence with
which he is capable Of giving his ut
terances, some of the ladies elevated
their noses to an angle of IS degrees,
picked up their skirts with much cere-
mony, and walked out with outraged
Tillman may be judged from his next
shot in which he said, Some of your
grandfathers bought and sold slaves.
and the only reason they were not
kept in New England was because of
your long winters. Your grandfathers
took them South and sold them to my
grandfather, and got their money for
them. You can't tell me you are holier
than we are. New England people are
just as deep in the mud as the people
in the South are in the mire. If you do
not like my history, read your own
The Senator discussed the Dred-Scot
decision and the war, and the question
as to whether the Southerners were
rebels or patriotic soldiers, and told
them that if the Southerners had
known that the emancipated slaves
were to be given the ballot the war
would not have ended at Appomattox.
Drawing himself to his full hight, ex-
tending his arm and pointing his fin
ger at his hearers in a voice full Of
thunder, he yelled I'VE would have
licked you anyway. If you had not had
four men to our one" The Senator's
mouth was full of hot words all the
time. Nobody Kissed, but II was our
Rostonese polish that secured the SEN
ator a hearing. He referred to the
recent visit here of Booker Washing
ton, who spoke on the same subject
and said he is an exception to the rule.