The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1921-06-16
THE SOUTHERN NEGRO.
Continued from page y

usually very effective and the
hearing is then adjourned sine
die.
Divorces are hard to get for a
white mani in the South, and are
very expensive luxuries that are
rarely INDUCED in, and if white
man should get a divocre decree,
he is frequently required to pay
permanent alimnoy, which ipso
facto robs him of all the pleasures
usually attending legal victory
With the negro it is different. In
the first place he doesn't need a
divorce, but many of them want
them and are willing to pay for
them and pay the clerk SO cents
extra for a certified copy of the
decree, if he will put gilt seal on
it in place of the usual impress,
and rs cents extra where the seal
is attached to a little piece of blue
ribbon with scallop on the loose
end of it. Negro divorces are sta
pie in the South, just as cotton OF
other product, to-wit: $25 for at
t0rney's fee and SIS for court
costs. When negro decides ia
invest money in a divorce, he goes
to an attorney and makes depos-
it of SIS and makes an affidavit
to- the bill prepared by the attor-
ney and is instructed to be back
at the court house on the first
Tuesday of the next term of the
Chancery Court and to bring with
him then the other SIS, which is
essentially necessary to carry his
case through. The first Tuesday
of the Chancery Court is specially
dedicated to try negro divorce ca
SeS.
If white man be guilty of petit
larceny in the South he is either
lynched, deported or sent to the
county convict farm for a long
term. But if a negro be guilty Of
petit larceny, he is cursed, whip
ped or made to pay the value of
the thing stolen, or maybe sent to
Jail, depending on what he has
stolen and from who he has sto-
len. If he steals anything from
another negro. he is arrested,
tried and usually sent to the con-
Wet farm to work out the fine and
costs, especially the costs. but un-
der certain circumstances the fine
may be held up, where satisfacto-
ry ARRANGEMENTS can be made as
to the costs. If he steals from a
white man he is not usually arrest
ed but is given one of those ex-
parte hearings above mentioned
and made to return the article sto-
len Or pay it's value. If he steals
tobacco. whiskey. chickens or wa
termelons from any white man for
whom he is working, or from
whom he has ever worked, moth
ing is ever done or said to him
about it, for it is well known to all
Southern white people that he
cannot help taking these things
and is not responsible for his acts
in the premises. If any white man
should ever undertake to prose-
cute him on charge of this kind.
he would have mo more show be-
fore Mississippi jury than a pa
per shirt would have in a bear
fight.
Il negro is guilty Of selling
whiskey, cocaine or carrying a
pistol he is severely dealt with.
that being absolutely necessary to
protect the lives of both the white
people and the negroes themselves.
for there never was a more dam
gerous combination than negro,
whiskey or cocaine and pistol.
He is just bound to kill somebody,
and he doesn't care who, when he
has a pistol and is under the in
fiuence of cocaine or mean whis- |
key.
Our statute against homicide
scarcely applies to a negro at all.
If he kills a white man. and is
caught, he suffers death in some
form or other, the time, place and
manner of his execution depend
ing altogether ON who caught him, |
the sehiff's posse or the friends |
of the deceased. If the sheriff s |
posse is the first to get him, he is |
hanged the fourth Friday after |
court adjourns, but if the friends
Of the deceased are the first to get
him, he is executed at once, at or
near the place where the homicide
occurred; the manner of his death /
being always matter Of individ- |
ual taste of the parties conduct
ing the ceremonies. When q me-
gro is indicted for killing another
negro, he is seldom, if ever tried
1T all. The usual practice is for
he court to appoint some young,
inexperienced attorney to defend
lin; then partly out Of sympathy
or the negro, and partly out Of !,
sympathy for the young attorney, /