Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1906-09-29
BLOODY WORK OF THE MoB.

Niewel from any standpoint, the
outbreak Of mob violence as Atlanta
Georgia Saturday. September 22d.
1906 was brutal. cruel. merciless
murder. The disappointing feature
of il all is the failure Of the hunted
colored people 10 infict punishment
upon those actually engaged in the
bloody revelry IL is too late now
TO 50 It. for it would be retaliation
in a form where innocent white men
would be as liable 10 receive pun
ishment as the guilty.
We have carefully read every line
of the sad story and no where. not
even in Mr.. John Temple Graves
mastery plea OF palliation and given
20 the press of the country 30 we
find one scintila of lawful or jus
ufable excuse for this baroarous
manning. wounding and killing of
innocent men and women. whose on
~ onense was that of being born a
Negro.
we dare say that if the dead peo-
pie could be brought back TO life
and questioned not one could be
found who had not deplored the al
legged era of lawlessness said TO exist
in the neighborhood of Atlanta.
The principal sufferers are those
who have lived upright Cody
Christian lives and the suffering OF
a.. .r.sr.s-... .---fv.~ FOR Hr,.a an
mothers. wives. and relatives mourn
ing over the death of those who have
been So unceremoniously butchered.
What are the facts as culied from
the columns of the Atlanta. Geor-
gia Constitution?
II is alleged that four assaults
occurred n one dag The logical
deductions are that they were Grim
inal assaults. that is assault in which
rape was attempted.
Mrs. Lizzie Cash Chann saw a
colored man in the brush and she
told him to leave the place. He
did not go and she went TO the
house and got a gun. The colored
man was frightened. He came back
In the brush again and she fired the
gun and he has not been seen since.
The logical deduction IS since the
! massacre occurrcI cnat ne rs stu
running. SO ends one attempted
criminal assault charge, distorted
and magnifed by scare line headings
i fr tho r,av-er,a r,ors
Mrs. Frank Arnold started 10 her
door az about o'clock in the even
ing when q colored man jumped out
from the darkness and knocked her
down. Immediately running for the
woods There is no statement that
the colored man attempted to Grim
inally assault her
Miss Alma Allen was grabbed By
a colored man in the rear OF her
home and thrown down. He did not
tarry, but disappeared on short no
tce. Her screams brought the whole
neighborhood but the man escaped.
There is no allegation that the man
made any indecent proposals to
her or that ne disarranged her
clothing or that he knocked her down
in getting away.
Mrs. Matte Holcombe. an old
lady that had no attractions for
white man much less a cOlored one
went TO close her blinds when she
saw a colored man looking in the
window. She screamed and the
colored man disappeared. although
he had not said anything. neither
had he made any effort to injure her.
This too was tortured into an at
tempted assault case and upon this
evidence the work OF killing inno-
cent, hard working colored people
began.
The case that had been tried the
day before in the court at Atlanta
was that OF a colored man confessed |
ly drunk. who went into a lighted
room where there were a white la
dy and her three children together.
He tried to strike one of the chill
dren with a shoe which he held in
his hand. The family screamed and
ran out while the eldest girl ran in
to a closet. The colored man was
arrested and is now in Jail in Allan
ia.
The explanation of the colored
man was characteristic. He said:
Judge. I don't remember a thing
that happened last night. III the
white folks say ] was in that house
] reckon II must be So I got drunk
with another Negro and the last
thing i remember was when I was
In a bar-room on Decatur street. I
don't remember anything about tax
ing on part OF my clothes"
This then was the most serious al
legation made against any OF them
and this Negro confessed that he
had been the victim of some of the