The Omaha guide., 1933-11-18
THE DePRIEST-BINGA
CONTROVERSY THOR
OUGHLY
AN EXCLUSIVE NEW STORY
By Clifford c. Mitchell

lures in such papers as the Pittsburg
Courier and the Kansas City Call
there is an accredited Associated
Negro Press story in which Jesse
Binga is quoted as saying:
"- | am a bankrupt. $500, 10000
worth Of assets belonging to me were
turned over to Oscar DePriest, as
Trustee in Bankruptcy. He has been
lustee for nearly three years. Prior
% turning ove these assets to him,
J had derived an income of from
eight to ten thousand dollars a mon
III from (meaning his propcrties).
Since he has been Trustee there has
been only one report Of 100000 col
lected, Of which $15O0.0O went to pay
creditors, and the balance was taken
in fees.-.---"
Immediately on reading the above
statement the thought came to me
as to what happened to such assets
under the Congressman's ~trusteeship
that formerly yielded eight to ten
thousand dollars a month and du-
ring the Congressman's control could
only yield three thousand dollars in
three years time, according to the
Binga statement. To ascertain the
facts I journeyed to the Congress-
mans office where his secretary,
Mr.. Morris Lewis informed me that
the Congressman was in the east.
When | explained my mission to Mr..
Lewis he was very glad to give me
such facts as he personally knew but
to make the facts authentic he inn
mediately arranged for an appoint
ment with the Lawyers for the
T~rustee-ship and personally escorted
me to their office in the Loop.
Arriving at the magnificent Of
Ices on the fifth floor of $50 West
Washington Street, we were imme-
diately ushered into the private of
flee Of Mr.. William L. Dawson, the
colored alderman Of the city Of Chi
cago representing the second ward,
and there met Attorney Irwin C. Mol
-lsOn, a law associate with MIR. Daw-
son who ~courteously showed me the
file and other pertinent data on the
Binga-DePriest matter.
And from the data persued l am
quite capable of writing my own
conclusions in the matter but mas
much as the Associated Negro Press
story contained the verbatum quota
tons of Mr.. Binga, in all fairness I
prefer to give the verbatum state
ment of the Attorneys for the Trus-
teeship, which follows:
"Only one statement in the para
aph quoted from Mr.. Binga is ac-
curate, and that Jesse Binga is a
bankrupt and was so adjudicated on
he 18th day of December 1880 by the
District Court Of the United States
for the Northern District Of Illinois,
in Case Number 45816 in Bankruptcy.
Some little background is necessary
lin order to show the falsity Of Mr..
Binga's statements. On December 8,
1880 the John j.. Dunn Coal Company
to whom Mr.. Binga owed a debt Of
him over a period of several years,
filed a petition in the District Court
to have Binga declared a bankrupt,
and three days later Binga was ad-
Indicated a bankrupt. A Receiver,
Immediately appointed to take pos
session of the assets and properties
Of Jesse Binga. This Receiver, Fred
E. Hummel served from December,
1880 until June, 1881 when Oscar De-
Priest was elected Trustee in Bank
ruptcy by the creditors of Jesse Bin
ga.
I'm respect to Binga's statement
that he turned over $~600000.00 worth
of assets there is only a small grain
of truth in his assertion. In the first
place, he estimated the value Of his
property in he schedule filed by him
in the District Court to be $578000.O 90
but he neglected to state hat upon
every piece of real estate which was
listed in his Bankruptcy Schedule
with a possible exception Of one or
two vacant lots there was a mort
gage encumbrance equal almost to
the value Of the property at the
time when he filed this schedule. Not
that the deflation and l~iquidating
prices has gone over in real estate
that all Jesse Binga's property in
volved in the Bankruptcy Court
would not bring he amount and value
of the existing frs mortgage encum-
brance thereon.
"Mr. Binga also neglected to state
that he had not paid taxes upon his
property for several years. Jesse