The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1918-03-01
NATIONAL DE-
| FENSE LEAGUE
THREE REPRESENTATIVES OF
NASHVILLE HoNORED-J. c.
NAPIER, PRESTON TAYLOR
AND H. A. B0YD-REPRESEN-
TATIvES OF OTHER PLACES
WILL MAKE UP ORGANIZATION.
New York, Feb. 20. |!

New York, Feb 20, 1918.
President Wilson on Tuesday after
noon received a delegation Of four
members of the New York Branch
of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People by
special appointment. The delegation
placed before the President a petition
signed by twelve thousand citizens Of
New York in which the President was
asked to extend executive clemency to
the five Negro soldiers Of the Twenty
fourth Infantry now under sentence
of death by verdict of the court mar
tial which tried the Houston riot cases,
and requesting the President to cause
to be laid before him review of the
cases of the forty-one soldiers of the
| same regiment who were sentenced
to life Imprisonment by the first court
martial. The delegation consisted OF
James Weldon Johnson, Field Secre-
tary of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People,
Rev. George Frazier Miller Rector OF
st. AugustIne's Church. Brooklyn, Rev.
Frank NJ Hyder pastor of ST. James
Presbyterian Church, New York City,
and Rev. r. A. Cullen, President of
the New York Branch.
Mr.. johnson. VINO acted as spokes-
man of the delegation, said:
Eve come as delegation from the
New York Branch of the National AS
sociation for the Advancement Oh
Colored People. representing tne
twelve thousand singers tothis peti-
: tion which we have the honor to lay
before YOU. And we come not only as
, tho representatives of those who sign
cd this petition. but we come repre-
: spnting the sentiments and aspirations
, and sorrows, too, of the great mass
Of the Negro population of the united
S States,
: eve respectfully and earnestly re-
ouest and urge that you -extenp- seAe-
D cutive clemency to the five negro SOL
: diers of the Twenty-fourth lnfantry
l now under sentence of death by court
; nortiaI And understanding that the
: cases of the men Of the same regi-
mont who were sentenced to life I'M
nrieonment blythe first court martial
are to he reviewed. we also request ana
urge that YOU cause this review TO De
) laid before you and that executive
clemencv be shown also to them.
1--WE feel that the history or tms
particular regiment and the spienulu
record for bravery and loyalty Oh OUT
Negro soldiery in every crisis OF the
nation give us the right to make thls
request And, we make it not only In
tho name of their loyalty, but also III
the name of the unquestioned loyalty
to the nation of twelve million Ne
proes a LOYALTY which today places
them side by side with the orlglmai
American stocks that landed at Fly
mouth and Jamestown
"The hanging of thirteen men WIN
ont the opportunity of appeal 10 tne
SECRETARY of War or to their Com
) mander.in.C Chief, the President OF the
United States. was a punishment SO
, drastic and so unusual in the history
ne the nation that the execution Oh
additional members of the twenty,
fourth Infantry would to the coioleo
e people of the country SAVIOR OIL 'eh'
. eeance rather than justice
t at is neither our purpose nor s
:, this the occasion to argue "nethot
}. this attitude of mind on the part u
/ colored people is justified or not: As
!. ronrasentatiyes of the race we deslre
/, onIv to testify that it does not exist
t. Tbis state of mind has been lntensi-
fed nv the significant fact that al
J. though white persons were lhVol'eu
l. in the Houston affair and the resllhen,
r IN which the colored men belohgeu
5. was officered entirely by white men,
t none hut colored men, so far as we
+ have been able to learn nave oeen
q prosecuted OF condemned. ~
1--WE desire also respectfully W oaI,
TO YOUR attention the fact that 'hele
were mitigating circumstances ioi
the action of these men of the twenty
fourth Infantry. Not by any prenlcu,
;tated design and without cause uiu
these men do what they did at Hous'
Ton but by a long series of humlliat
inc and harrassing incidents, cuimin,
atinq in the brutal assault on Corpola'
u baltimore, they were goadeo W SUI,
d den and frenzied action. inns Is DoiMe
>. ont nv the long record for orueris
% and soldierly conduct on the part VI
- the regiment throughout lts "no'e
Ia history up to that uhe' r.ora
~ ~ and to the end that you extenu eng
~ the clemency which we ask, we iay
81 -, before @ YOU this petition signed py
Is white as well as colored cltizehs " y,
" Now York: one of the singers peins
or a white man, president of a New iofs =,
,r hank, 70 years of age native oi
" Lexington, Ky. -. ~ would
le "And now, Mr.. President we 's,u,,, wouna
m not let this opportunity pass wlthou, ,us
e, me- mentioning the terrible outragea ,1d,sam
+. against our people that nave tasen
le Mace in the last three quarters OIL
st year; outrages that are not oniy . un.
ri, speakable wrongs against them' Du'
VS. blots upon the fair name OF our com,
Is mon country. We mention the riots
of at East st. Louis, in which the coior'
ed people bore the brunt OF both tne
mt cruelty of the mob and the processes
et- of the law. And we especially men
es tion savage burnings that have taken
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