The Dayton forum. [volume] (Dayton, Ohio) 1913-1949, 1918-09-27
GEORcIs Gov ERNoR

Dorsey, of Georgia, asking Whist
steps were being taken BY Georgia
authorities concerning the recent
lynching Of John Gilham, Negro,
near Gray, Jones County, Georgia.
Al mob took the prisoner from q
sheriff and two deputies after Gil
ham had been captured BY Negfoe
and turned over to the officers.
The letter reminds Georgia's goy
ernor that eighteen persons have
been lynched in Georgia 20 far tn
year, and that Georgia's lynching
record for 1913 amounts 70 ~ per
cent of the total number for the
United States as . whole.
The association says that II can
not believe the good people Of Geof.
gia are conscious Of the irreparabis
injury which their neglect 10 stamp
out lynching is intlicting upon the
nations cause, and urges the COVER
nor to exercise all the powers Of hls
Office, including the calling into con
suitation of leading men Of Ieorgia
in the determination to stop lynching
and carry out the spirit Of Presi
dent Wilson's recent pronouncemeni
against lynching.
The associations letter follows:
September II, 1913.
Hon. Hugh M. Dorsey,
Governor, Atlanta, Ga.
Sir:
The National Association for tn
Advancement of Colored People ask
for information concerning the step
taken by the authorities Of Georgia
to deal with the mob which. last week
according TO meager press reports
lynched John Gilham, a Negro nea
Gray, Jones County, Georgia, shortl
after he had been delivered into tn
custody Of county officers BY Negroe
who had captured him III 4 nearby
swamp.
Our information il that Gillian
had escaped from chain gang ant
was alleged to have attacked tW
white women, and that upon the al
rival Of the sheriff and two deputie
with the prisoner at the county seal
an armed mob took the prisoner ffon
the officers and lynched him.
This association deeply deplore
and condemns all crime, and IL par
ticularly concerned that At the pres
ent time when nothing must be don
that will weaken the morale Of an
part of our population, that the
cally supported by all abidine
citizens in his earnest desire tha
mob violence and lynching be sup
pressed. We again remind you, that
since January /, Of this year, Geor
gia mobs have lynched eighteen per
Sons, one Of them a woman, and tina
its lynching record for the year ha
reached disgraceful proportions, at
tanning to total of 40 per cent of
the Negroes who during 1913 in Ill
Of the states Of the Union have me
similar fate.
We would remind you further. tina
on May ID, you issued Il statement
which was published in the George
papers, in reply to the protest of th4
Colored Welfare League Of Augusta
Georgia, against the Brooks Counts
lynchings On that occasion you toll
the Negroes Of Augusta that, "whc5
the law-abiding element of the Negf
race shall convince the lawless amonf
them that such crimes will not II
tolerated, and that the guilty parties
will not be sheltered or shielded, bu
will be delivered to the officers of tn
law, such unspeakable crimes as those
which have shocked the state recent
iy will no longer occur to stir race
prejudice and resentment beyond i'm
mediate control and more to the
same effect. The general purporu
of your statement being that If Ne
groes would turn over criminals oi
their race to the authorities lynch
ings would stop.
We ask you in justice to the Ne
groes of Jones County, and Of Geor
gia, as well us in the National inter
est, what can now be said in the face
of the capture of the Negro accused
Of crime by Negroes themselves, til,
turning over of this Negro by fe,
lows Of his race to county officers, and
the criminal neglect of their duty, BY
these officers permitting themselves
to be inadequately prepared to NEE.
mob. and that without apparent re
sistance on the part Of the officers
their prisoner was taken from them
and lynched in violation Of their
oaths of Office and their duty to the
commonwealth
Only three weeks before. another
sheriff and two deputies allowed a
mob to take Negro prisoner from
them near Colquit Georgia, and lynch
him without effective resistance