Richmond planet., 1924-02-09

Statement by James Weldon joan
SON Secretary of the National Assocl
alton for the Advancement Oh Coloreu
People and spokesman for the deleg"
ON presenting to President Coondge
mt the White House in Washington
On February 7, petition signed py lzo
600 names, asking pardon for the 24tn
Infantrymen now in LeavenWorth zen
itentiary:
Mr.. President:
We come as a delegation represent
ing the 120 600 signers Of petition ask
ing YOU to exercise the power OF eaecu
tive clemency and pardon the former
members of the United States Twenty
fourth Infantry now confined In LeaV,
enworth Prison convicted on charges
of rioting at Houston, Texas in Aug
lst, 1917. We come as the representa-
tives not only Of those who sign th's
petition. but we are the spokesmen OIL
the sentiments the hopes, the sorrows.
100, of the more than ten million color
ed citizens of the United States.
The petition asks for the pardon Oh
these men on four grounds:
l. The excellent previous record 1or
discipline. service and soldierly conduct
of the Twenty-fOurth Infantry.
2. The provOcat. on of local amnesty
against these men because OF rhelr
race and color. which was manlfested
in insults threats and acts of violence
against these coloIed soldiers wearins
the uniform of the United States Army
and waiting to be sent to France 10
fight.
8. The heavy punishment meted out
t( members of the Twentyfourth In
fantry of whom nineteen were hanged
thirteen of them summarily and with
cut right of appeal TO the Secretary
or War or to the President, their Com
mander-in-Chief.
A. The exemplary conduct OF the
men as prisoners.
The record for bravery and loyalty
cf colored soldiers in every crisis OF
the Nation is too we'll known to be call
ed to your attention here and the Ions
history OF the Twenty-fOurth Infantry
is a part OF that record But we do wish
to call your attention to the conditions
which Immediately proceeded the riots
OF August 1917 IN Houston, Texas.
Contrary to all precedent the pro-
vos guard of this colored regiment had
been disarmed in a state and in
city where insult was the daily expert
ence of the colored man wearing the
uniform of the United States Army.
and what was the treatment accorded
% IN, n
France to fight and perhaps die for
their country? Following a long series
Il f;numiliating and harrassing incidents
cne soldier was brutally beaten and h
well beloved non-commissiOned officer
of the regiment also brutally beaten
and fired upon because they remon
strated at the mistreatment Of a col)r'
ed woman by local white policemen.
The report spread among the regiment
that their non-commissioned offiier,
Corporal Baltimore, had been KILLED.
Whatever acts may have been COM
nitted by men Of the regiment were
not the result of any premeditated de-
sign. The men were goaded to sudden
and frenzied action. This is borne out
by the long record for orderly and
soldierly conduct on the part OF this
regiment throughout its whole history
up to that time.
The punishment meted out to the
members of this regiment was the
most drastic and unusual in the his
tory of the Army. Nineteen Of the men
were hanged the first thirteen OF
them summal lily and without right OF
appeal This wholesale, unprecedented