The leader., 1905-05-24

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that no man who does an honest
days work is going to have time
to commit crime. When you
pillow all day you don't feel like
prowling around all night. When
a man follows his pillow or his hoe
all day he feels like going home
and going to sleep when night
comes. It's these people who
sleep all day and prowl around all
night that make trouble. That's
the way lots Of negroes do. It's
to the interest of the idler and the
loafer and the vagrant to make
him work because it saves him a
lot of trouble and keeps him out
of jail. Why, a crime has occur
red that has simply shocked the
whole moral conscience of the
State. / believe if the officers of
the law would comply with the
appeal of the chief executive and
would look carefully after the
loafers and vagrants and make
them either go to work or to jail,
these terrible things would not
happen and the conscience of the
State Of Mississippi would not be
shocked. If the local officers
would simply enforce the law and
take active steps in regard to the
vagrants there would be but very
few such crimes, if any. A man
who has done an honest, legiti-
mate days work is not going to
prowI around at night. These
things are serious things for you,
gentlemen, to think about. You
live in the country and think you
are safe and secure. But you are
not. Why, just in the county
south Of US this thing happened
not SO long ago. Why, the white
men know that the loafng negroes
in the country behave just as the
loafng negroes in Brookhaven do,
they all steal.
] noticed some time ago that in
this town of Brookhaven the
night watchman of Brookhaven
was into shooting scrape with
some fellow who was trying to
break into a store, and be didn't
shoot quick enough or was bad
marksman and let him get away.
Do you suppose that this was
laboring man or a working man?
Mol 1t was some ldler, who slept
all day and prowled around at
night. Some of the good men
some of the business men of your
town may say, why, if you en-
force this vagrant law, all my ten
ants will leave" !" What do we
careg If these tenants are going
around and steal their rents from
you and me let's get up some
money and pay the rents and let
bis old houses stand vacant. /
understand that one of your stores
was broken into. / don't know
whether the fellow who did it was
white or colored, but if you were
to enforce the Yagrant law you
wouldn't have any more stores
broken into here. In my little
town we had lot of robberies
and negroes were taken out
and and beat in a way that
outraged the law and outrag-
ed all sense of decency, and when.
the thief was hunted down by the
business people of the town he
proved to be a white boy in the
town who was loafing around all
night and sleeping all day. This
white boy was breaking into
stores and outraging the law.
You let some of these no account
white fellows lie around town and
break in stores and then haul out
some poor old negro and beat him
about.it. That's big pastime for
white people to engage in. 1t
may be some worthless white fell
low, it may be negro who is
committing these robberies, but it
is your business, gentlemen, to in
Vestigate and see who it is. Make
them 60 to work, both white and
black. Good colored people want
the mean worthless negroes put to
work and the good white people
want these loafing white boys to
go to work. want you to inyes-
tigate che robbing Of the stores in
town fairly and fully, and if you
find the right parties / want you
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