Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1922-01-26
STEVENSON AGAINST
ANTI-LYNCHING BILL
By David F. st. Clair.

ing bill according to sUne Of those
who have closely followed the discus
sion from day to day was that of Rep.
W. i. Stevenson Of the Fifth South
Carolina district. MIR. Stevenson said
to begin with that the cruelty of burn
ing persons alive did not originate
with the lynchers but was first au-
thorized and carried out by the States
Of the North, which had sold the ne
gro slaves to the South. AS proof of
this fact he cited the record Of the
case Of a negro who was burned alive
by the order of court of the State
OF New York in 1712. 1t was in the
North and not in the South that the
burning Of negroes alive by law beg
When the Sou,h purchased the ne
gro slaves from the North 1t modified
the law so that when the Civil War
came there was only one crime in any
Southern State for which a negro
could be burned alive and that was
for the murder of his master and in
most Of the Southern States that form
OF punishment had been abolished al
together.
Mr. Stevenson, in answer to a ques-
ton from Rep. Bird Of Kansas, did !
wish to perpetuate lynching. declared
that South Carolina Is doing more to
stamp out this crime than Kansas is
doing.
How did lynching originate? The
first lynching on record in South Caro-
lima, he said. was the shooting to death
OF a one armed Confederate soldier,
Matt Stevens, by company OF 40 ne
gro militiamen belonging to the Car
pet Bag government Of the State in
1871. Stevens, driving a wagon loade'
with whiskey was met on the highway
by these armed negroes who demand
ed the whiskeN. He risisted and was
lynched but the anti-lynching bill in
the house would not touch that case
for Stevens was not accused Of crime
nor was he taken from the custody OF
officers.
But then and there was called forth
the deepest curse, which we are strug-
Cling to overcome. The white people
of tn community rose up, disarmed
those negroes and put them in Jail.
The Carpet Bag government at once
undertook to release them. The white
people then looked into the matter and
hung those they deemed guilty and
liberated the others. Ever since that
dar the people of South Carolina, de-
clared Mr.. Stevenson, have been fight
ing the crime of lynching. What has
been the outcome? LET me-" said he,
give you % years Of history, so that
vnu will see whether you are any bet
ser ,,ndar he Federal statute" From
1894 to 1898, five years, there were
&c lynchings in the State. From 1899
to 1903, there were 10 lynchings. From
1904 to 1908 there were 10 lynchings.
From 1909 TO 1913 there were IA lynch
ings. From 1914 to 1918 there were
s lynchings and in the year 1919 there
were only two lynchings.
Judging by this steady decrease in
the number of lynchings, Mr.. Steven
son asked the house II 1t could So
that South Carolina is not trying to
maintain the dignity of the law and
pro ect the man accused of a crime.
On the other hand he pointed TO the
race riots that have occurred in the
last five years in New York, Spring
field. ILL.,, East ST. Louis, Chicago and
Washington. He said more people had
been killed in these riots than had
been lynched in South Carolina in the
last Is years, yet none Of these riots
came within the terms OF this bill and
what is more such bloody riots do nc
occur in the South.
tie said if the bill became a law
could imprison the governor of a
State for his failure to protect a
prisoner. The police officers of every
city, town and hamlet In the country
would he liable to arrest and congress
could provide for others to take their
places and concentrate all authority
in Washington. And the only rearon
for this bill is that some people have
appointed themselves guardian of tho
negro.
He drew a psychological picture of
what takes in a Southern rural COM
munity when a black brute outrages
an unprotected school girl on the high
way or a lonely farmers wife and
"slod, do you suppose If you 10
this bill you will better this awful
thing?"
Mr.. Stevenson then concluded with
a solemn warning to the Republicans
in the house. He said: 1--WE have beer
dealing with this evil and South Care