The broad ax., 1923-07-28
HOW THE ARKANSAS Poems
WERE FREED-N. A. A. G. p.
ISSUES HISTORY OF FAMOUS
CASE


CASE
In response to nationwide interest
III the freeing Of the colored farmers
Of Arkansas. sentenced to death in
connection with the Arkansas riots in
1919, the National Association for the
Advancement Of Colored People. %
Fifth avenue, New York City, has
issued the following history of the
cases:
In October, 1919, the country woke
to the existence Of slavery in the form
Of peonage on the farms Of Arkansas.
Several white men and $50 colored
men, women and children were killed
III the canebrakes Of that state. While
the disorders were still going on,
representative Of the National Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Colored
People, Walter F. White, Assistant
Secretary, hasteped to the scene from
New York Armed with letter APP
pointing him special correspondent OF
the. Chicago Daily News, Mr.. White
interviewed the Governor of Arkansas
and was permitted to travel into the
center of the disturbance. He escaped
just in time from 4he Arkansas mob
iof- white men who had discovered that
''yaller niger" was investigating
their reign Of terror.
Mr.. White returned to New York
and reported that colored people had
been held in peonage or perpetual
debt slavery on the farms. Contrary
to report sent out by white news ser
vices the Negroes had not organized
to massacre whites" but in order to
employ lawyer to obtain settlements
from their landlords. Following the
riots, colored people were arrested BY
hundreds, penned in stockades in Lit
tie Rock, and after being tortured to
make them give false evidence in
court, 81 Of them were railroaded to
long prison terms and II colored men
were sentenced to death.
Acting upon information obtained
by Mr.. White, the. National Associa-
ton for the Advancement of Colored
People stepped in to defend the II
men sentenced to death. u. S. Brat
ton, the white lawyer to whom the
poems had originally appealed, was en-
listed in the cause. Mr.. Bratton.
owing to threats against his life had
to leave Arkansas. So the brunt OF
the work fell upon Scipio "A. Jones, a
colofS- lawyer Of Little Rock who
carried six Of the cases to the United
States Supreme Court where their
sentences were reversed on February
10 Of this year, and took the other six
cases to the Supreme Court Of Ark
ansas, which freed the men on June
rs Of this year
The entire power of the N. A. A. c.
T. was invoked to win these cases.
Moorheld Storey, former president OF
the American Bar Association and
now president Of the N. "A. "A. &. P.
travelling from his home in Boston to
argue the cases before the u. S. Su
preme Court in Washington. About
$4,000 has been spent on these cases
and the victories have brought COM
mendation from the most distin-
guished lawyers, including Louis Mar
shall of New York, counsel for Leo
Frank, and Charles Nagel of St. Louis.
former Secretary Of the Interior in
President Taft's cabinet.
The victories in the Arkansas eases
constitute one Of the most damaging
blows ever struck against peonage in
America. Scipio Jones, for the N. A.
A. c. p, will file as soon as possible
IN the federal court, a petition for
writ of dismissal in behalf Of those OF
the 81 colored people still serving
prison terms in connection with the
riots.