Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-10-03

ou' good State of Maine is infinitely
ahead of Mississippi in all that per-
tains to n progressive legislation. The
conditions existing in Mississippi are
largely tie same in all the other
Solthern States. The total vote
thrown in the last so-caIleI election
held n the eighth Mississippi distric,
which returned John Sharp Williams.
the Democratic leader Of the National
votes than We're thrown at the last
Presidential election in the single city
of Augusta. In this way do the Demo-
cratic white leaders of the South eNer-
else in the halls of Congress not ly
the power that properly belongs I"
them, but in addition thereto all the
power that properly belongs To the col
ored race whose political rights they
have usurpel. Notwithstanding the
fact that the last census showed ahOu.
| 100000 Negroes in the South and that
they outnumbar the whites in many OF
today single representative of the
colored race in the National House OF
Representatives.
Not omly have the white leaders OF
political rights; but they have in a
| large measure deprived HIM Of his civil
| rights As against white men it is al
most inn ossible FOR the negro to secure
| Justice il the southern courts, ana the
| fiery Governor Nardaman of MISSISSIPPI
| pi-W ho recently sought cnear motor
| iety by insulting President Roosevelt,
| ard who hates the North as the Devil
| mates holy watrr-voiced the real sem
| tin!ent of the " hte leaders of the
| South when he declared in his inaugu-
| raj address against the education OF the
| negro race. The negro who commits.
| or is even suspected Of a capital crime.
| in the South, rarely sees the inside of 4
| Courthouse. \ lynchirg bee is SOON
| formed f.: him. He is tortured I"
| death first and tried afterwards. On
the sixteenth of this present month
Paul Reed and VIII Cato. with their
| writhing in agony. ana screaming to
Heaven for the mercy that the mob
would not show. We're burned at the
II stake in ,Statesboro. Ge.rgil. These
men had been tried for murder had
been convicted. and sentenced to death.
| i;ut all this did not satisfy the popu-
could not satisfy their thirst for ven-
5cance. With the palpable connivance
of many of the militia who were osten-
sibly guarding these prisoners. and
with the active assistance of the deputy
Sheriffs, these prisoners were taken
from tie court ho',Se ana hurried away
, to torture ana death. A reporter who
| VAS on the scene described it as fol-
, lows:
The spectacle was friGhtful. As the
flames touched Reds naked, oil
soaked skin ne twisted his head around
/, in IN endeavor to choke himself and
, avoid the fearful torture. Only once
ii.i he complain, when he said Lord
nave mercy.
Cato screamed in aecny and begged
to be shot. His oil-soaked hair was
almost the first thing the flames fas-
tened on, and his screams of agony
| While the HI mp rope became 4 collar OF
? lir.- around his neck. sent n thrill OF
. horror through the more timid of the
| spectators. soon the rope was burne |
| in two. his head swung from side to
side as h" enGedvored To avoid the fiery
tongues. and by an almost SuperEunGin
, | effort he WritlIad under the close locked
| chains. For only about three minutes
was Ee visible to the crowd before the
great pile of faSotS made wall Of
y iiameS which hid him from view"
!. The days Of Nero: the blacklist nigh,
of the dark az, s; the history Of the in
: QUESTION ITSELF furnishes no detail of
u human cruelt:' that SURPRISES this In
I der our own flag. and in the light of our
Goth century civilization. Crime is no..
{ peculiar to the colored race or to the
I South. We have had crimes commit
f ted in Maine by white men as heinous
e | as that for which these ignorant me-
g groes We're tortured into eternity; but
= thank God VIC have LEFT the punish
= ment of them to our own courts of ius-
:, tice. Never Yet has the bright es-
n cutcheon of our State been stained bv
=, an occurrence 50 infamous. SO nhumln.
" so revolving as the one at Statesboro.
" Georgia, on August 10Th. ana which is
n becoming more and more common IN
the South. We cannot even conceive
: OF such horrible scene being enacted
; among the law abiding citizens of the
n old Pine Tree State Are we ready 70
+" turn OYER this great country of ours to