Phoenix tribune., 1919-12-06
Labor Unions Are
Inclined to Fairness
Toward Colored Brethren
(By Associated Negro Press.)

stance oil Wnere the LABOR unions
have shown willingness to protect
their Colored members is shown in
the incident which recently occurred
in Bogalusa, widely known as one
of the hell holes of the South. Three
men were killed and several wound
ed in battle here today between
members of the Loyalty League,
composed of former soldiers and
other townspeople and several union
labor leaders, who were defending
the Negro president of a Negro la
Dor union
The dead are: I. F. Williams,
president of the local branch of the
American Federation of Labor and
editor of The Press, a union labor
newspaper, and A. Bouchillon and
Thomas Gaines, union carpenters.
The wounded include: A. J
O'Rourke, a leader in union labor
circles, mortally wounded and Jules
Leblanc, former army captain and
member of the Loyalty League.
Today's trouble between the 10y
atty League, comprising representa-
tives of the Southern Lumber com
pany, builders of Bogalusa and other
important interests, on the one hand
and union labor, whose members as
.sert the Great Southern locked out
about $500 employees because they
would not tear up their union
cards." on the other, followed last
nights action of about 500 armed
members of the Loyalty League in
holding up a train half a mile from
the railroad station and searching it
for "undesirables."
After a search of the train failed
to reveal any one whose presence
was unwelcome here, the crowd
started out TO find Saul Dechus, a
Negro labor leader, alleged to have
been active recently in trying to stir
up i'll feeling among his race, but
was unsuccessful
This morning, to the surprise of
the Loyalty League men, the Negro
they sought marched forth from
some hiding place and walked boldly
down the principal street of the
town. On either side of him, how
ever, was an armed white man, one
of them, A. ]. O'Rourke, a leader in
union labor circles, and the other
a strong union sympathizer, whose
identity has not been ascertained.
Sight of the Negro protected by
the two white men maddened the
Loyalty Leaguers. They claimed the
ilack had been trying to cause race
rioting, and did not purpose to per
nit him to linger here
When called upon to surrender
the Negro, the men in the garage
refused and firing began. The de-
fiant "agitators" drew first blood.
Jules Leblanc, former army officer,
was shot. That only increased the
zeal of besiegers, who constantly
increased in numbers.
When the attackers finally 81
fenced the barricaded forces in the
garage, three dead and one fatally
injured were found within. The Ne
gro. however had escaped
Williams, Bouchillon and Gaines
apparently had sacrificed their lives
in protecting the Negro, and
O'Rourke had suffered fatal wounds.
The labor officials have filed
charges against the members of the
Loyalty League, charging them with
wearing the uniform of the United
States army, contrary to the law.
Bogalusa is a lumber town. The
Southern lumber interests have been
accused of holding Negroes prac-
tically in peonage in their lumber
camps in this and the Florida dis
tricts, and are said from their head
quarters in New Orleans and Mem
phis under the guise of the Missis-
sippi Welfare League to have spent
large sums in spreading propaganda
throughout the country against the
Negro in the hopes of stopping the
exodus to the North.
1t is said that Sutton f. Griggs
of Memphis, now iecturiDg in the
North, one of the prominent Negroes
in this combinations employ.
The same forces recently hired
number of Negroes, including Henry
Goines of Chicago. to make a trip
of inspection through Mississippi.
The delegation reported that Missis-
sippi was delightful place in which
to live and that race relations are
most amicable.