The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-07-28
Negro Caught
TMlCe IN White
Frame Up Net
By WILLIAM PIcKENs

AZ surprised to hear that the gov
ernor of South Carolina is endeavor-
ing to revoke the pardon of Ben
Bess and so "save the face" of that
state. A white woman had Bess
sent to the penitentiary IS years
ago, for a term Of 80 years, on a
charge of rape" although she had
been living in adultery with him,
under the consent Of her husband,
for years. Recently this woman,
thinking she was about to die, con-
fessed the truth and had Bess par
doned.
Newspapers all over the world
used her confession as a fair ex-
ample, indicating how innocent Ne
groes can be convicted on the word
of white people in the south.
Looks Bad"
But Immediately the south was
aroused, South Carolina in particu-
lar. 1t would never do to let the
world know that a white woman
who had sent a Negro TO Jail on
charge of rape later confessed that
she had simply been that Negroes
paramour, with the consent of her
husband, and that she and her hus-
band had decided to frame the Ne
gro in revenge for the Negroes de-
cision not to support the two of
them any longer. No, no; it would
look too bad for the Superiority"
pretensions for the whites to allow
a thing like that to come out.
And SO the state detectives" got
busy. They no doubt threatened to
rut this weak woman into the peni-
Tertiary. Finally she Confessed"
again; that she only meant to "for-
give" Ben Bess for what he had
done" to her, not to say he was
not guilty.
Pardon Revoked.
Who in thunder ever heard of any
person looking up a Judge and wit
ness, and making a voluntary affi-
davit to forgive" somebody for
something?
This poor woman-we pity her
more than we pity Bess. Perhaps
he governor and the civilization of
South Carolina ought to be pitied
oven more.
So, the governor decides to re-
woke pardon-an unheard of pro-
cedure. This awful case was so
much commented on by the whole
world that South Cardinals face
must be saved, even If this poor
weak woman's soul must be damned
by another lie.
No Surprise.
Well, we are not a bit surprised.
Rather have we been looking for
this. We wonder how the truth
ever slipped by them in the first
place. Well bet those state ode
tectives" never got wind of the fact
that the woman was about to con-
fess, or she'd never have got the
chance.
A few years ago in Arkansas a
Negro was about to be hung for
"raping" a white woman. But
few days before the execution the
woman (women are superior in con-
science to mem repented and went
to the governor and told him that
the whole charge of "rape" grew
out of the fact that some white
men ran across her and this col
ored man in the act of kissing each
other, and that she had acquiesced
in the charge of rape to save her
own reputation-and that she and
the man had been living together
for Is years and would have been
married if they had lived in a civil
lied state.
Righteousness.
The governor tried his best to
bully her out of this confession, but
the woman had been wise in that
case; she had gone and confessed
to other prominent white and col
ored people first and took delega-
ton along when she went to confess
before the governor-otherwise she
might have been simply confined as
IN insane person-until after the
execution was over. Even then the
governor refused to act, and the
friends of civilization had to resort
10 a habeas corpus in a federal
court to save this innocent mans
life.