Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-11
STILL IN The FIELD.
END OF PLANET LIBEL SUIT IS
NOT YET.
OLD PHASE OF CHURCH SPLIT.
colored Baptists are Hcpelessly
Divided and Richmond is the Hot
Bed of This Discussion-Furthe
Legal Proceedings in the Wind.

Nelson Williams. Jr.. the plaintiff II
the case Of the First African church
against the publishers Of the Planet, sait
last night that the colored people arc
anything but Satisfied with the verdict
given in the case. Indignation is I'M
bounded among the colored school teach
ers who were summoned as Witnesses,
said Williams "and many people who1
John Mitchell summoned, think they
We're summoned by me or my counsel,
and I've been kept busy Strengthening
myself ever since the trial"
I've are still in the field. The question
Of costs has not been settled as yet. so
1 am informed by my lawyers, =
The lawyers for the plaintiff were te
have had a conference with their client
yesterday evening. but it had not oc-
CURED al a late hour last night.
SPLIT IN THE CHURCH.
There has been a tug OF war for some
time among the negro Baptist churches
and Their are two distinct factions. One
side is known as the Virginia Baptist
State Convention. or co-operationists;
the other as the National Baptist State
Convention. or anti-co-operationists The
co-operationists are supporters Of. and
contributors to the American Baptist
Publication Society. g northern syndicate
r
in in the South and requires the colored
Baptist denomination to bear a certain
proportion of the expenses
This society draws the line at co1ored
presidents Of these institutions and the
division among the colored people can be
practically traced to that discrimination.
AT one time the Lynchburg Seminary
was floating in debt. and Mr.. Morgan,
who was the head of the northern syn.
dictate. offered to relieve the institution
of it's obligations provided that it would
enter the circuit under the management
Of his syndicate. Some kind of COM
promise was arrived at and the Lynch
burg school relieved OF some of its debts.
the president Of this school was Gregory
w Hayes. a colored man. Colored pres
idents Of colleges being distasteful to the
American Baptist Publication Society,
the head OF thai syndicate after reduc
ing the debt Of the institution, proceed
ed to remove Hayes from the presidency
This drew a protest from the rank and
file of the Baptist denomination Of color.
ed people, "A convention was called and
split declared in the Baptist denonina,.
ton.
It soon became national issue among
the colored Baptists, and those who fay-
ored the colored president drew away
from the syndicate and formed what is
called the National Baptist Convention
with Headquarters IN Nashville. Tenn.
They do not use the northern Baptist
syndicate literature. hut print their owr
and distribute it among the colored
churches OF that circuit
HOT BED OF THIS DIVISION.
Richmond is the hot bed OF this dtvi-
sion. and the peace conference that AS
sembled at the t.ifth-Street Baptiss
church last April and decided that that
church last April decided that that
Mitchell, Jr,. who had been excluded
from the First African Baptist church.
It was this same issue at stake that
brought about the muddle at the First
African Baptist church in the election OF
pastor to succeed James II. Holmes.
There met in this contest two strong
forces. each determined to Gerry out its
lists wanted Rev. Brooks. Of washington
and. the syndicate wanted Rev. johnson
OF Lexington Rev. Johnson was called.