Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-11-25
AN APPEAL FOR HELP.

Inc enquirer Is III receipt Ol IL lellci
from a former Yorkville negro, who
represents that he Is improperly held
in the Pennsylvania hospital for the
insane at Morristown, and who wants
the help Of people among whom he for
merly lived, to secure his release.
In the same envelope with the letter
to The Enquirer were letters to Gov
ernor Blease, the Charleston News and
Courier, DR.. w. G. White Of Yorkville,
the Messenger, the negro paper In Rock
Hill, and certain relatives of the writer
living in Rock Hill, all Of which letters
have been duly forwarded to their re-
spective addresses.
The name Of the negro in question Is
Edward Beckham, mulatto, who will
be remembered by many Yorkville peo-
pie as a WELL behaved boy Of more
than ordinary intelligence, who was a
hard worker and very studious. He
left here some fifteen years ago and has
since been living in the north. In his
letter to The Enquirer he gives a brief
sketch of his life, in which he says he
was born in Yorkville in 1874, taught
school; was graduated from the prepar-
atory department Of Clafflin college,
and later, in 1898, from Howard univer-
sity. He went north looking for work,
but because Of q prescription practiced
against mulattoes by the more prosper
GUS blacks, was unable to make any
headway until he finally established
negro newspaper in Philadelphia, and
went into the reform campaign that re-
suited in the election Of Mayor Blank
enburg.
According to his analysis of the sit
uation, the lower elements of whites
had for years been united with the ne
groes In holding political control over
the better element of whites, and In
the campaign he used his newspaper to
call attention to this situation. AS the
result Of the campaign the low, vicious
elements that had controlled for so long
were overthrown, and because Of the
part he had taken in the affair he was
marked az e victim. He claims that
nine weeks ago he was attacked one
dark night by a negro with a razor, and
that when he complained to the police
they told him to find and identify his
assailant He undertook to do this;
but as the work involved exposure in
desperate, dangerous neighborhood,
and not caring to incur the risk Of
carrying a concealed weapon, he took
along a ri.ie for protection. The po-
lice saw him with the rifle, arrested
him as a dangerous character, and be-
ing unable to make a showing that
would be believed as to just what he
was doing and why, he was finally
railroaded off to the state hospital at
Morristown for observation"
He claims that there is absolutely no
pretense on the part Of the authorities
that he is insane; but at the same
time the doctors have no authority to
release him and goes on to say:
Virtually the only hope Of VIC
tim in my plight is to get another state
to apply for him, and take him on Its
hands. go l have been advised, and
for that reason after many poor COL
ored people have vainly tried to get
me out, want to appeal to you of my
home town to find me some persons
who will undertake only so much as
to get me back in South Carolina.
am a first-class house plasterer, ce-
ment finisher and bricklayer. l can do
machine whitewashing, and will have
no trouble, If can once get back to a
southern state in doing for myself, and
paying all expenses incurred in help
ing me out"