The Omaha guide., 1935-09-14
N. "A. "A. @. p. Demands
Atty General Act
Against Election

New York, Aug. 3O-Formal de-
mand was made today On Homer I
Cummings, u. 3. Attorney General
that the Department Of Justice pro-
secute John Cashion of WiIkesboro
n G., for arbitrarily refusing N
register qualified Negro voters and
for refusing to allow them To vote
IN the general election held in No
vember, 1884" The N. A. "A. a. r. -
minds Mr.. Cummings that this viola
ton of the Federal Constitution was
reported to the Department of Just
ice By Professor w. III. Hannum ~
Salisbury, N. O., more than IL
months ago. The Attorney Generals
office at that time referred the case
to Carlisle w. Higgins, u S. Attorn-
ey for the Middle District Of North
Carolina with offices at Greensboro.
The supposed investigation was made
by 7. N. Stapleton of Charlotte N
G., Special Agent for the Department
OF Justice, which the M. "a. IA. u. p
charges was "a fragrant whitewasbD
because in spite of the fact that
written statements were filed bv
fourteen Negro complainants, no
federal agent interviewed these com
plainants except that one agent cal
led upon Mr.. Claude M. Petty Of
Wilkesboro not to obtain information
against Cashion but to try to int:mi-
date and threaten Nh. Petty because
ne had complained
The result, the N. al "A. O. p.
charges, was that u. 5. ATTORNEY
Higgins on May IA wrote to Profess
sor Hannum that the Bureau of In
vestigation was of the opinion that
no action should be taken against
Cashion, this opinion being based Oh
the defense made by Cashion that he
was not satisfied that the complain
ing individuals had the educational
qualifications required BY the Law
of North Carolina"
The n. A. A c. P. charges that
this i a patent evasion Of the facts
and alleges that IF the Bureau VI In
vestgaton had been honest and thor
ough in seeking information. it would
have discovered that the majority If
the complaining Negroes had C) y
better education than the registrar
himself; (2) that the majority of the
complaining Negroes had a better
education than the majority NJ the
white voters in Wilkesboro; (3l that
the registrar did not apply any edu-
cational test to the white voters Of
the county.
In July, 1885, Prof Hannum made
a special trip to Washington bearing
with him additional written state
nnents hy the Negro c~omplainants to
the fact that no federal agent had
'1te- viewed with them with the ex-
ception of Mr.. Petty, and he only for
the purpose Of intimidation and with
signed statements from white voters
Of Wilkesboro that they had been
given no educational tests By Cash
ion as a prerequisite to voting The
M a. a. @. P. reminds the attorney
general that Mr.. Carusi Of the De-
partment of Justice with whom Prof.
Hannum conferred promised that an
investigation would be made immedi-
aely and action taken within a few
weeks. The N, A. a. c. p. alleges
that this promise has not been kept
SO far as it could learn and puts the
issue sqcarely before the attorney
general in these words: 'Here we
are concerned not with primaries but
with a general congressional cleo
ton We are concerned with a flat
denial Of suffrage in a general cleo
ton We have a precedent for prose-
cution by the Department of Justice
in a similar situation in the sam
district in the October term, 1881, Of
the United States District Court for
the Middle District of North Carolina
at Salisbury, in the case Of III. 8. vs..
s r. Sechrest- Under these Grcum-
stances, Negro citizens all over the
country await with particular con-
Germ and interest the decision ard
action by your department. In this
Wilkesboro Ease