Richmond planet., 1921-04-09
THE AMERICAN CONGO
THE BURNING Of
HENRY LOWRY
(ByWilliam PickcnS.)


from Memphis to the great delta mny
properly be termed the Congo or
America. Ii includes the St,ies or
ArlHlM5as, Louisiana. Mississipp,.
weatern Tennessee, and eastern Texas
Tho quest OF thi$ Congo is not for
rubber and ivory but for cotton and
sugar. Hero labor is forced, and tho
laborcr IL Il slave. The slavery Is Gun
ningly contrivcd deht.siavery, TO give
the appear. .,,ice Of civ iitIation and tbs
sanction OF law. A debt OF Il few hun
dTed dollars may tie Il black man and
his family Of ten as securely In bond
ngc to a great whitc planter rs * ho
had purchased thicr bodies. II tho
Thirteenth Amendment, which hnS
aevcr heon enforced In this region,
means anything it is that man'6
body cannot be held !or IN honestly
contracted debt; that only his proper
ty can be hcld: and that if a contract
Ing debtor has no property, the crcdl
tor take, the risk in advancing credit
Otherwise a law ahoiiShiug slavery
could be easily cvndcd. lur the veal.
thy enslavcr could get tho poor vic
tim into icht and then hold his body
in defanlI oi payment. Wages could
then be SO adius'rd to expenses and
the costs OF keep that the slavery
would be unrndnE. The only way for
uilis dchtsn +" to get free from. su ch
n mas or is 20 get some ono else 10
pay thi" debt; that IS. to sell himself
to another with added charges, cX.
penscS moving ANA bonuses. BY
this mctho' the cuSlavcr gets his
iondmcH he rnHlaH,sr gets his
slave system FOR in the debt system
ha does not have 'o pay the full mar
ket prt"" 80 mau. Thr effect is TO
aalow I'll" i'@norAnt and The poor un-
willingly md nnwi'inrly to sell them
Sclycs Tor much less than an old
Slavchol'"r would hove sold them. The
debtmastcr has other advantages. in
thar he Is fro" from liabilities on aC-
count of tho 'rhor'" :n-hcnlth or ihc
failure OF hi" crors The debtor takes
all the risk; and in case Of misfortune
o. crop failure, gets deeper into debt
more securely til" N bondage.
This Is the system thnt oh'uins in
the great Mississippi Valley. and il
has not |c"n r'Cdifinh FOR thirty wear.
or more Th" cv;l o. this system is
responsible F"r a. Of the horrible
lynchings and hurn'ngs OF Individual
Negroes that Hn"n .ntcly taken pla @
IN TINS lrGton. 7 :: recent most bar
barous Of all hurningS OF n human Re
INF that of Henry ! o"'ry, at Nodena.
Arkansa" Irr" N"nnh's Tcnncrsoc
ls directly and Immediately traceable
TO this debt slave system The newspo-
pers or that section which described
IN great detail the Negro "murderes'c"
deed OF killing white plan,er and
the savage torture which the farm
ers inflicted upon the slayer. either
pretend not to know the cause Of all
this or dr1*"cr" tel" 'caoro it, Some
Of the newnnancrs. whose representa-
tVes saw memh"rs ." tho white rlsnt
cr'S family "nd fonrl out everything
else said that mo reason could be
aScertainc1" Ms TO why tho Negro shot
the white m"n 'nn n.h2~ paprre j.,
vented or accented 4 beautiful little
fiction fhat lowry bad chased q col.
ored woman for 4 mile or more trying
to Kill hcr. :hnt tn's cOlorcd woman
finally ran into the home OF q. II.
Craig. the PLANTER. for protection;
that the planter etcupcd out 10 rem
onstrate" with Lowry. when the lat
ter shot II" Aon1, inridcntally kill
ing his d"T"htrr = Nf"s Williamson
who stood -" y him ,nd woundinr his
2 SONS Wv" C.o;" thirtv.fivr ynn,t.
old md Richard Craig. twentyscven
wars old. As we know the South. We
- onld have to be very supplemented
to lelieve this even if wc had NO;
gone immediately to the section nnd
found the f@"ts otherwise. For a Ne.
4 gro In Arkar""s 10 do what the rapers
et Memphis say Lowry did, that Ne.
ere would have to be a maniac; and
4 SO the pancrS tried to be consistent
i by asserting that he was "drunk,"
8one even going so far na to report
that still had heen found Mt his
heusa.
l.et us look at the facts. We should
Always bear in mind when there is
Atr0ublc n"ro%" ~" color line that wn
nevor read the aide OF tho colored
&people In these papers, and also that
many white people say over their
Adinner tables and to few OF their
oolered servants what they will not
l8say In public About two years ago
Henry Lowry. the Negro, came from
the State o. Mississippi to work on
3the ARMS OF o. IT. Craig, q largeplan.
n er In Mississippi County. Arkansas.
with him came hia wife and n ak
yeaf old t}aughrr. He was we'll be.
ha'eas and industrious. aad kn.w