The broad ax., 1907-01-26
SIDE LIGHTS ON THE RACE PRO.
RLEM IN THE SOUTH.
Concluded from page H.

lNl ASA OSSg was uOTu, G6OTRG
Young's widow went far away from
the scene of her woe, homeless, poy-
ety-stricken flor the merchants seiz-
ed everything of value) and half
crazed with the shock; but always as
she recounts the story of the two
forms swinging from the dogwoods,
black fingers clutch tighter around
their ak handles, crow-bars, and lead
pencils, and Negro heart-throbs quick
en- as they declare This shall not be
so always"
1t does not require the rape of a
white woman to furnish the excuse.
for lynching in the South. Whenever
Negro accumulates a little property
and is able to keep out of debt, that
minute he faces danger. He lives in
a universe of fear, haunted by the
thought of the fate that may be his
not knowing what moment he may
feel the moose around his neck.
Taking up the question of rape
which is harped on by white men of
the South and editorial writers of the
North, nothing has ever been said
about the rape of Negro women by
white men.
AS a matter of fact, few of the So
called rapes of white women, really
are assaults. Let a Zegro muddled
with liquor offer to shake hands
with a white woman and it is likely
as not exaggerated into a Just cause
for lynching especially if the Negro
is prosperous and in bushes compe-
tition with the white Let a Negro
jostle against white woman by acct
dent, and according to the unwritten
law Of the South he would be signing
his death warrant. The mayor of a
Southern city, talking to me on this
point, said: IF Niger should come
to my house and offer to shake hands
with my wife, would pour the con-
tents of my shotgun into his heart
There would be nothing left of him to
lynch" This same mayor had, in my
presence, just few minutes previous,
shaken hands most effusively with an
old Colored man whom he met on the
street The Inconsistency of these as
tute reasoners of the South was ever
cause of wonderment to me.
1t may come as a shock to the white
~ he h. &nIl HhoF L.,
many instances, they are the instf-
gators Of murder. Shocking as this
sounds. it is true. Many of me lynch
ings that have stained the pages of
Southern history nave been caused b.
woman's hysteria, and her desire for
sympathy.
The real difficulty lies in the fact
that the South has never looked upon
the Negro as a human being. The
black man is their beast Of burden.
White men can commit rape" con-
stantly and nothing be thought of it.
In many instances it is not even look |
ed upon as an insult.
With Negro" the case is entirely |
different. He cannot make the slight |
est move which a hysterical woman |
can twist into an insult, without cut |
ting the leash that holds the He'll |
hounds of race hatred, and turning |
them loose upon himself, If the wo-
men of the South would think calm
L. o-o- A. .;%vofion tho numher of Il
Negro lynchings would rapidly de-
crease. Southern women are on the /
lockout for trouble of this kind, all
the time. and it is just like trouble
Of any other character, If you go
around with a chip on your shoulder !
looking for it you are always sure to
find it.
can illustrate this by an experience
of my own. One Saturday afternoon
Tor evening they call it in the South
one of the two Negroes who had been
working for me, cultivating my crop
came out from town somewhat the
worse for wear, Prohibition had just
gone out, and the saloon proved an
eGticing bate for the Negroes, OF the
locality. He had looked on the wine
when it was red, and was not himself.
That Negro was a church member,
a man of sterling qualities at other
times. Had / been a Southern wo-
man, hysterical, obsessed with the
thought that he meant me harm, ]
would have raised the alarm, and be-
fore night he would have been hang
ing to q tree.
What terrible crime did this
Negro commit The liquor had made
him feel that he was a brother to the
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