Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-19
AT THE White HOUSE
South Carolina Negro APP
pointed Postmaster.
FAMILY OWNED SLAVES
LIFE PRISONER SET FREE BY THE
PRESIDENT.
Many Visitors and Routine Business
Many Visitors and Routine Business
Keep the Chief Moving During
the Entire Day.

Despite the violent opposition of many
of the white people of Florence, S. c.,
| President Roosevelt will renominate Rev.
| Joshua Z. Wilson. colored. as postmaster
| at that place. The negro cry has been rails
ed by those who are conducting the oppo-
| ton to the appointment. but the President.
who has carefully looked into the facts,
has concluded that there is no ground for
the issue in view. of the facts, and about
the middle of December he will send to the
! Senate the nomination of Wilson to succeed
| himself.
Wilson is presiding elder of the Florence
! district of the South Carolina conference
oil the African Methodist Episcopal Church,
and was appointed postmaster four years
ago by President Mckinley. at which time
there was little opposition and no in
lection of tie question of the color of the
appontee. Under a previous republican
administration Wilson served four years as
postmaster at Florence. He is nearly
white. was never slave and the peculiar
fact about his family is that although of
negro blood they owned and worked slaves
themselves. There is said to be no objec-
ton to the denomination except on color
lines
The papers filed at the Post Office De-
partment and with the President in be-
half of Wilson's denomination declare that
he is far above the ordinary in manners
and education, and is good type of the
best development of the negro race; that
he has the respect and confidence OF the
people of all parties of his town, and that,
while q republican, he is not partisan
and makes no scramble for office. 1t Is
declared that there is on file with his appli-
| cation a petition requeStiong his appoint
ment signed by the secretary of the state
board of health, who resides in Florence;
by sixty leading business and professional
men of the city, including the best men
nrxyhI 10 avpN-
ployees of the shops of the Atlantic Coast
Line railroad Besides these are the po-
litical Endorsement of the influential men
of his own party.
feels justified in deciding to renominate
Wilson, although many of the democrats
who have signed the petition declare that
their doing so was merely testimonial
to the personal character and worth of the
applicant and not political recommended
ton. These men say that they are OPP
posed to the appointment OF colored men
as poStmasterS in the south.
Whether Senator Tillman Will vigorously
oppose the confirmation of the nomination
on party lines cannot be determined In a
perfunctory way he would of course do so,
being unalterably opposed to negro post
masters anywhere in South Carolina, but
he has his hands so full of the race issue
in the Crum case in the Senate that he
may reach the conclusion that the Senate
will not listen patiently to continued oppo-
sition by him when it is based alone on race
issues. In the Crum case Senator T1llman,
by reason of senatorial courtesy, has man
aged to prevent confirmation, but should
he begin a wholesale opposition to con-
flrmation of nominations by the President
the influence that he counts upon might
melt away rapidly.
President Commutes a Sentence.
The President has committed to expire to-
morrow the sentence of Ephraim w. Clark,
alias William Smith, serving life SEN
tence in the Maine state prison for murder
on the high seas. This prisoner, with a
codefendant named Miller, was convicted
in the United States circuit court at Boston
in 1870 He and his codefendant murdered
the first and second mates of the schooner
Jefferson Borden. sailing from New Or
leans to London. They intended to kill the
captain but were finally overpowered. They
were sentenced to be hanged, but in De-
cember 1879. President Grant committed
the sentences to Imprisonment for life.
Since then several Presidents have declined
to grant further clemency. Miller is now
dead. and Clark. whose sentence has just
been committed, has been in prison for
more than twenty-eght years. The At
torney General, in his report to the Pres
dent. said among other things: when
Clark was convicted the law did not per-
NIT him or the other defendants to testify
in their own behalf. Consequently their
story of the circumstances preceding and
surrounding the act cannot be known eX-
cept as tney are now disclosed IN tins ap-
plication. Clark has been imprisoned TWEEN
ty-eight years. Under all the circumstances
that are known l think act of mercy
1t would be well to grant the prayer of the
petition TO the extent of committing the
| sentence to expire November 90 1907
Presidents Many Callers
The President was not without congress
sional callers at any time from $50 to IL
o'clock. He had a conference of some
length with Senator Gallinger on first
reaching lis office and from then on re-
ceived and talked with a large number of
visitors. Senator Dryden of New Jersey
called with Major Roselle. u. s. A, who
desires his son appointed a cadet at West
Point
Representative Metcalf of California saw
the President to urge the appointment of
Colonel Jasper f. Brady of Los Angeles
member of the board of visitors to
West Point.
Among the other callers were Senators
Depew. Patterson. Ball. Nelson. Burnham
Beveridge and Perkins, and Rep esenta-
| tives Hardwick, Davidson Lawrence Bou-
tell. Mann, Humphrey, Porter. Smith, Pat
terson. Wadsworth and Delegate Mcguire
! of Oklahoma.
| In the afternoon the President received
| about 200 representatives of the German
! singing societies.
\ White House visitor during the day
was n. Nakamura. an intelligent japanese
who is exploring the world. He has been
| travelling in the east and in Europe for
! two and q half years, and will spend an
| other year and a half seeing this country,
| Mexico. South America and Australia.
! The President received the expert ac-
! countants and controllers who have assem-
! bled here at the invitation of the director
! of the census to confer with that bureau
/ as to certain schedules relating to munich