Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-17
COEN Will have
THEPUBLIC KNOW
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR
COUNTY ATTORNEY TELLS
OF RECENT TALK.
SHOWS ATTITUDE TO ALL
That Voters be Given Correct Yer.
sion of His Speech Before Col
cred Men, the Original Is
Published.

Candidate for county attorney On
the Republican ticket, Walter S.
Coen, anxious that the voters of this
county might be given true version
of his short address before the Wa
pello County Colored Republican club
at the recent monster gathering in the
Armory, has prepared the following
correct statement of his remarks, in
order that Wapello county voters may
know beyond doubt his attitude to.
wards all
"Mr Cairman, Ladies and Gentle
men: l am very glad to have an op-
portunity to talk with you for few
minutes this evening. AS you know
l am candidate for. county attor-
ney, the Republican candidate. / am
Republican and could be nothing
else-but Republican. My father was
years he ran away from home and en-
listed in the fifth Iowa Volunteer cav
airy; on Christmas day, 1858, at Pu-
laski, Tenn, he was wounded by
confederate bullet and spent over a
year in the hospitals; he never fully
recovered from this wound and died
a premature death as d result. l fail
to understand how the son of such a
father could ever stray from the path
of that party whose history in war
and peace has been so glorious. And,
like Rev. Jamison, fail to understand
how any negro can so far forget the
history of his race as to vote the Dem
ocratic ticket.
81 sat here this evening listening
in wonder to the remarks of your
speaker and thinking with amazement,
that his father and grandfather were
slaves and that his race has had only
a few short years of opportunity. Yet
here was a command of the English
language, an oratorical ability, poise
and command of himself that any man
might be proud Of.
Cites Home eases.
REV. Jamison has told you of the
unfairness with which your brothers
OF the southland, have been treated. 1t
seems to me that your race has not
always been trated with absolute
fairness in Wapello county. ! receiv-
ed a letter from man now confined
in your county Jail this morning He
is said to be very bad man and pos
sibly he is If lie is a bad man he
should be prosecuted and punished to
the full extent of the law In arrest
ing him he was shot and his limb is
now very much swollen and to a lay
man he would seem 20 be in very
bad condition, yet Democratic doc
tor says there is nothing the matter
1.:. {l,o ,-sc
the officers refuse to furnish him with
any medical treatment. | don't care
what crime a man, black or white,
has committed. believe that if he is
ill, he should be taken care of. This
man may be very bad man; if he is,
he should be punished TO the full ex-
tent Of the law, but he should not be
allowed to suffer without proper med
ical attention.
81 have defended a good many of
your race; with some or them | have
absolutely no sympathy. Some time
ago | defended man charged with
the commission of a very atrocious
crime. I had thought him innocent,
but there was sufficient evidence to
Justify the jury in convicting him and
I do not believe that the conviction
will ever be reversed. Now the crime
for which he was convicted was the
most heinous l have ever heard of;
worse or more dammable outrage
than was done to his poor victim
could not be imagined and no punish
ment human ingenuity could devise
would be sufficient for such an afro
city.
'Yet heard two Democrats, Office
holders, and high in the councils of
their party, say that they believed this
man innocent, but that the niger
should be in the penitentiary on gen
eral principles. No one has right
to make such a remark; no one
should be confined in the penitentiary,
be he black or white. on general prin-
ciples would not have yellow dog
shot on general principles.
Believes In Equality.
81 am now defending a black man,
who is charged under a statute pro-
viding for punishment in the peniten-
tiary with running bawdy house. He
is a big, good natured fellow, who
used to clean out my office. If he
is guilty, he should be convicted and
punished l want to say to you,
though, that if I am elected county
attorney will treat all ,bawdy houses
alike, without reference to the color
Of their inmates. Why should one be
charged under penitentiary statute
and the other under statute simply
providing for fine unless it be the
difference in color. That system is
not fair. The black and the white
shrould be prosecuted alike, without
any reference to race, color or prev
ious condition Of servYtude.
Il do not believe that the black
man should be immune from prosecu-
| ton, but I do believe that the white
man should be prosecuted with the
same force, vim and energy as th'
black man. believe in a square zeal
for black and white, rich and poor
and that is what l will give, if l am
elected. appreciate the generous sup
port you have given me in the past
and hope that you msy see your way
clear to give me the same support in
| he r,,t,t