The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-01-18

NOTES OF PAST AND CURRENT EVENTS.
BY KATE MARKHAM POWER.

dictate letter ne deals WIN Iuduy mat
tiers of interest. Last weeks letter
was upon "The Coming and the Over
throw of the Negro in Congress" His
notice of Hiram r. Revells, the first
negro to enter the United States Sen
ate Tin 1900, concludes thus:
Ten years after Revells' retirement
from the Senate l visited the capital
Of Mississippi, and there met the late
Senator George, who was then Sena.
tor-elect, with the Governor Of the
State and a number Of other promi-
nent officials. l was equally surprised
and gratified to hear from them that
ex-senator Revells was doing a great
work in Mississippi as president of a
college for colored students, and that
he was very highly respected, and his
work was so well appreciated that the
State Of Jefferson Davis, who was then
living, contributed annually and liber-
ally to maintain the institution. Re-
wells continued in that work until his
death, and he lived to see Blanche X.
Bruce, Of his own race, represent his
State in the Senate, with half a dozen
or more negro representatives in the
House. Bruce entered the Senate in
1875, served a full term, and afterward
was made register Of the treasury. He
had a more rosy pathway than his pre-
decessor in the Senate, as the negro
was no longer Stunned as q pest in
the councils Of the nation"
B. X. Bruce's son, Roscoe Conkling
Bruce, is, by the way, the orator of this
years senior class at Harvard.
Col. Mcclure relates also the follow
ing interesting story of John R. Lynch
and President Roosevelt:
"In 1873 John r. Lynch, another
prominent negro, appeared as a mem
Der of Congress from Mississippi, and
was one Of seven negroes in that body.
He was elected for three consecutive
terms, and l saw the rapidly growing
tolerance of the Republican leaders for
negro political fellowship very impress.
sively portrayed at the Chicago Repub-
lican national convention in 1884.
When the chairman of the national
committee called the body to order one
Of the youngest members of the con-
vention rose and in a speech Of sim
gular elegance and force nominated
Representative Lynch as temporary
chairman. In presenting this nomina-
ton the young orator said that it was
"a fitting thing for us to choose to pre-
side over the convention one of that
race whose right to sit within these
walls is due to the blood and treasure
80 lavishly spent by the founders of
the Republican party MI. Lynch was
promptly and unanimously elected,
and the young orator who thus pre-
sented the first negro to preside over
a national convention, and the only
one of his race who has ever been in
charge of such a body, was Theodore
Roosevelt, now President of the United
States"
Capt. John A. Webb, secretary of the
Railroad Commission, has recently
completed statistics from which we
gather the following interesting facts:
During the two years ending October
1, 1901, 1000 persons were killed or
injured on the railroad in Mississippi
Such tragic happenings are on the in
rea and this record shows an in
crease of Is per cent. over the two
years Immediately preceding the pc
Rod, and this despite the fact thai
there were no smash-ups or great &C
cidents involving heavy loss.
The number of persons killed by
railroads In Mississippi in 1900 wal
LOG and the number injured 361, max
ing a total of ACT killed and injured
during the year. In 1901 124 we're killed
and 400 were injured, making a tota
of 500, or an increase of &C over thu
record of the previous year. The tota
number of killed during the biennia
period was 230 and the injured no
making a grand total of killed ant
injured amounting to an even 1000.
Labor agents are infesting some o
our hill counties again, each per
suading the negroes to follow him t,
some new land of promise" Abou
100 families have left Claiborne count,
for the delta already. Most Of thes
people did we'll last year and cleare,
money, but in spite Of this they wer
eager to leave their comfortable cal
ms and patches" their kindred an,
home, to enter a new country an
a new life of "the ills of which the
know not" The poor, deluded crea
lures are usually glad to get bacl
home after a year or two spent in tn
4, arduous labor ~ecessary on the bi
plantations in the swamp. This fac
however, does not go very far towar
helping the Claiborne county farmer
to plant, make and harvest his crop
next year, whatever it may do tn
year after.
His friends-and wherever there ar
l newspaper men, Masons, merchants Q
:. jolly good fellows in the State hi
friends are numerous and sincere