Oakland sunshine., 1915-10-08

Slaveholding Oligarchy In the South
! Was Native of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
I From His Speech on the Day of His
\ Execution. /:
By JOHN e. BE cE GRIT"
4 Yonkers, \. Y.-Many years ago /
stood with uncovered and bowed head
on the spot in Southampton county,
Va, where glorious old Nat Turner
/ was executed for 1aring to strike
blow for liberty for himself and for
his race. | shall never forget the SEN
satiOn of that moment as long as l
J live. Nat Turner was Virginia's great
\ est Negro and was one of the three
/ Negroes in America-Vesey and Ga
4 briel being the two others-who, al
. most single handle and alone, shook
the slave oligarchy Of the south from
its center to its circumference
I If we had ncy fey Negroes with
/ the courage and manhood of those
men and fewer Judases to betray
! them, as each Of these were, the great
/ battle for manhood rights which we
are now waging against the forces of
| evil and error would soon be won.
/ Pauline Darlington Bowie, in her
4 book Their Shadows Before" deals
with the Turner instruction in South
ampton county in most engaging and
interesting manner. Turner is shown
to have been a man of wonderful
genius for organization and possessed
a magnetic influence over his follow
ers. He was far above the average OF
7 his race, for he could read and write
and understood something of chemis-
try. He was not the kind of man to
be slave for men Of his mental grasp
could not long endure the CALLING
chains of slavery. Turner seemed to
be able to see the end from the begin
ming. And whenever he spoke of the
wrongs of his race men shuddered
while protesting to scout at his ia
natical utterances."
A Mr. Mortimer, northern man, who
visited Nat Turner in jail on the morn
ing of the day of his execution, said
to him. Don't you zee now that you
were wrong, that what you thought
was your mission was q failure?'
Quick as a flash Turner answered:
WAS Jesus effort a failure? They
killed him too" The work OF Christ
lived on and was accomplished after
him." said Mr. Mortimer. Rising TO his
full height, Turner replied: And mine
is just begun. | say to you what was
begun In blood shall be accomplished
by blood"
i The closing scene in the life Of this
remarkable Negro is thus described by
an eyewitness: we were directly OPP
posite the scaffold, which hitherto had
been out of our range Of vision. Fas-
clnated with the horror of this sight,
| gaZed fiXedly at the instrument or
death as motiOnless as q statue. There
was a stir It its base, and in an in
slant Nat turner, followed by Mr..
Lawson, quickly mounted the few steps
to the platform and with a command
ing gesture faced the multitude. Mas
tiers, may | speak?
Gag him.! called brutal voice from
the crowd. But the sheriff called for
silence. The shouts and jeers died
into a hush, and the loud, clear voice
continued: What is done this day will
not alter what will come to pass. That
which | was sent to do l have done,
but the end is not yet. Three times
ten years shall come to pass before de-
liverance shall be. In vision or the
future the Lord has shown me, Ma
thaniel his prophet, freed nation and
a river of blood White men, there
shall arise one of your race In far
land and blood shall be shed, and the
bonds shall be broken. | have done my
work What the Lord begins he shall
surely finish. saw battles, fire, blood,
freedom
Turner's prophecy that three times
ten years shall come to pass before de-
liverance shall be- was fulfilled almost
to the letter. He was executed In
1881 or 1888, and in 1863 deliverance
did come to his race. So that his vi
, sion of freed nation and a river OF
| blood, of battles, fire and freedom La
now q part of the contempOraneOus his
tory of America. His prophetic words.
| White men, there shall arise one Of
your race in u far land and blood shall
/ be shed and the bonds shall be broken"
show him to have been wiser and keen
er of vision than the rabble that cried
Gag himr
For one of their race did arise In
| far land, who in the words of the He
brew prophet, "Loosed the bond of the
captive and let the oppressed go free"
after a river of blood had been shed on
the battIefields Of the nation, whose
| OVID life went out in blood at the hands
| Of cowardly assassin, and the deep
| damnation of his taking off set the
world In tears Nat Turner was no
| fanatic; he was seer, and. like old
! John Brown of Osawattomie, the eyes
OF his understanding were full orbed.
He suffered martyrdom fuc the cause
, Of freedom and died as only martyrs
can die In the cause of liberty and
righteousness. The time will come
when the names Of John Brown and
Nat Turner will be among the most IL
| lustrious in American history. Poster
| ity will accord them place In the
temple of fame among the immortais