The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-04-11
GEORGIA JUSTICE

trlal III the SldIe VI Neoi6io' NS0AS
likes sensations, but Georgia IS
great state. There are times when the
people over there do all kinds OF
ridiculous things but when a great
occasion arises, they generally come
to the scratch.
And so it was in the Williams case.
John S. Williams was wealthy
Georgia planter. Like great many
farmers he undertook to run his farm
with hborers gotten from the stock
ades in Atlanta and Macon. He be-
lieved this kind Of labor better than
free labor. In order to be sure that
the negroes charged with crime did
not escape he resorted to practices
which caused him to be charged with
peonage.
And when he was about to be
charged in the Federal Courts with
this offense, it is charged by the
grand jury of Jasper county that ne
had a Wholesale slaughter of negroes
on his farm, the negroes killed being
those who had been gotten from the
jails and the stockades and who it
was evident might become witnesses
against Williams.
A jury of his countrymen has said
that he is guilty of murder. They
have said so, although the chief wit
ness was a negro boss on the Will
liams farm, and although there was
the usual effort to create sentiment
in Williams favor on account of race
prejudice. A jury composed mostly
of farmers did not heed the negro ar
gument. They followed the evidence,
and the corroborating evidence was
sufficient to convince most people that
the negro was telling the truth.
The verdict is a notable triumph
for the law. 1t has been too often
said that in the South on account of
race prejudice white men may COM
NIT any kind of crimes against ne
groes and go unwhipped of justice.
The verdict of this Georgia jury of
farmers and other good citizens
warns us that if this has been true in
the past, it is no longer true. Other
verdicts so warn us. Only last week
a white man in Anderson County in
this State was convicted of man.
slaughter for the killing of a negro
man. Crime is crime wherever it is
committed and BY whomsoever it is
committed. And it is refreshing to
know that the pAople who serve on
the juries so decree.
The Williams case emphasizes the
arguments we have been endeavoring
to give to our readers respecting the
danger of working the kind of labor
which Williams worked. The congre-
eating of large numbers of negroes
charged with crime, and there hold
ing them in kind of bondage is not
healthy for the community. Out of
the practice, whether it be in Geor-
gia, or in South Carolina, will grow
crimes Of greater enormity than the
crimes for which the laborers are
charged. It was true in Williams case,
and it will be true in other cases.
Slavery is unlawful under whatever
name it may be called, and all right
thinking people will join forces with
the powers that. be in an earnest en-
deayor to wipe it out of existence
wherever it is in existence. No form
OF compulsory service is to be toler-
ated Dy the law and none should be |
tolerated by civilized people. |
:. The enforcement of the law as it
is written and as it was written at
Lees surrender need not encourage
the negro to thia1isi !, ne IS . ..,
vorite of the law officers. He must
take his medicine if he is guilty of
crime just like other law-breakers.
AS Williams will be punished for or
dering his negroes killed, 50 will Man
ming, his negro boss, who was Will
liams executioner, also pay the pen
atty. He deserves some credit for
telling the truth, and for helping to
unearth the crimes which Williams
sought to bury, but this will not