The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-17
RACE PROBLEM IN WASHINGTON 'Lawless Negroes Worry Capital City. ROBBERES ARE FREQUENT Streets Unsafe for Citizens After
 Dark. Police Records Filled With Accounts - of Deeds of BIaeks--Chief
 of Police Asks Fer More
BY ALFRED ,. sToFER

AAF nhO Ss cAOr n<hss Washington. Sept. 16-(Special-- Robberies are becoming so frequent in the capital city of the nation that women are afraid to carry their pocket books with them if they go out on the streets after dark. Nearly every case of pocket book snatching Is traced to the negroes who are Hooking to Washington from all portions of the | country.
 It has always been a difficult mat ter for the authorities to ascertain just how many negroes are located within the city limits, owing to their l migratory habits. The tougher | clements are in constant conflict with I the police. Fully nine-tenths of the men and women brought before the judges of the two police courts here are negroes. A considerable percen- tage of the arrests among this race are boys and girls. showing that the example set them by the older negroes is having its effect.
 Of the house breakers in Washing | ton. the negroes also show the largest | number. They are sneak thieves | rather than bold robbers, and manage opportune times. the pilfering in resi- | dences being generally when families l are absent. Highway robbery of men is not as l common as 1t might be, considering the great number of idle and vicious negroes that have drifted into the Dis trict of Columbia. The police will tell you that is because there is not much courage among the blacks. and that they prefer to attack women who can offer so little resistance when an at- n book.
 Use Cowardly Methods. Hardly a day passes now that there | Is not report that some buriy negro has robbed a woman or young girl of her money while she was returning | from a store. If necessary they will | knock the victim down. Some of these robberies have been in broad daylight | and on streets where 1t would seem impossible for such a thing to have happened without the apprehension of the thief but it is seldom that one is caught He manages to get away as | If the earth had swallowed him up. | With recent months there have been some assaults in the suburbs that have come near costing the lives of the un- l fortunate women victims.
 l Major Richard Sylvester. superinten- dent of the Washington police de-
 
 six years to induce Congress to vote a larger appropriation for his force, but so far without success. He will make another urgent appeal in December. He says that if he could have 100 additional men he would be able to practically put a stop to the robberies and assaults that occur in the streets The force he insists is not adequate to cover the great distances fhA This being the seat of government. a large number of the police are de- tailed in and around public buildings. l The Waite House especially has drawn heavily upon the police force for extra men,, As long as they are detailed | there. of course, just so many are pre- vented from being assigned to the sec tons of the city in which the thieves find their opportunities.
 Would Restore Franchise. l There has been something of a move- ment on foot for the past five years for restoring the franchise in the Dis- trict of Columbia. That will probably never como about. Not even one Re- publican Congressman in five woulj support a proposition that would give the negroes of this town the right to vote again. Suffrage was abolished here by Congress on account of the | tOuBh uc6TO 0Aoluouts Ine report or the committees of the Senate and House was unanimously signed by both Republicans and Democrats. The situation was then so bad that even the very form of government was abolished and a new system establish ed.
 In the old days there was a governor of the District of Columbia and Wash ington also had a mayor. ani there was a local legislature that the aged people will tell you to this day was hummer, In Boss" Shepherds time 1t was known as the feather duster" legislature, and was composed large ly of negroes. That experience was more than the property owners here could stand.
 Robert Terrell. who is a negro judge in this city, stated in a public address a few years ago before the Negro Ma tional Business League in session in