M. H. POWERS
26 yrs. old.

ANN BURLAK
19 yrs. old.

MARY DALTON
18 yrs. dl.

JOE CARR
19 yrs. old.

These six Atlanta defendants, for attempting to protest unemployment and a local graft scandal, were indicted under charges of "insurrection." The insurrection statute is an ancient Civil War law never known to have been enforced previously, carrying the death penalty. The Prosecuting Attorney, John J. Hudson, is publicly clamoring for death sentences. Race prejudice and anti-labor sentiment are being systematically organized by reactionary elements against the defendants.

Trial is set for September. Only effective organization of protest and defense NOW will save them.

HERBERT NEWTON, 26 yrs. old.

John Dos Passos, Treasurer,
Emergency Committee for Southern Political Prisoners
80 East 11th St., Room 430.
New York, N. Y.

DEAR FRIENDS:

Enclosed find $............ which I wish to contribute toward the defense of the Southern political prisoners. (Checks may be made payable to John Dos Passos, Treasurer.)

Name ....................................................

Address ....................................................

21

(No picture of HENRY STOREY, the sixth prisoner, is available.)

178

THE CRISIS

reason that forgetting the investigations by Negroes at Atlanta University they turned to white institutions to encourage investigation and neglected established and worthy work is because if they are going to cooperate with the dominant white South and even with certain classes of Northerners they cannot meet Negroes as men. The propaganda that is so largely carried on and the influence that is so often formed through social intercourse must always, at present, be offered with the Negro unrepresented and unheard.

There follows easily the habit of having no patience with the man who does not agree with the decisions of such boards. The Negro who comes with his hat in his hand and flatters and cajoles the philanthropist—that Negro gets money. If these foundations raise, as they do in this report, the cry of fraud they have themselves to thank. They more than any other agency have encouraged that kind of person. On the other hand, the Negro who shows the slightest independence of thought or character is apt to be read out of all possible influence not only by the white South but by the philanthropic North.

If philanthropic agencies could unite for certain obvious great movements how splendid it would be! Take, for instance, the duplication of higher educational schools

which Mr. Jones repeatedly denounces and which, undoubtedly, is a source of weakness. The General Education Board could settle the matter with the greatest ease. Let it offer in Atlanta an endowment of $500,000 for a single Negro college, provided that there be but one college there for Negroes. The boards of the different schools immediately would have something to act upon. As it is nothing that they can do individually would really better the situation. A new college formed by a federation of colored colleges in Atlanta, Marshall, Texas, and elsewhere, would be easily possible if an endowment was in sight.

## SUMMARY

Here, then, is the weakness and sinister danger of Mr. Jones' report. It calls for a union of philanthropic effort with no attempt to make sure of the proper and just lines along which this united effort should work. It calls for cooperation with the white South without insisting on the Negro being represented by voice and vote in such "cooperation," and it calls for a recasting of the educational program for Negroes without insisting on leaving the door of opportunity open for the development of a thoroughly trained class of leaders at the bottom, in the very beginnings of education, as well as at the top.

# National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

## THE BURNING AT DYERSBURG.

### AN N. A. A. C. P. INVESTIGATION

ON Sunday, December 2, 1917, immediately after the adjournment of church services, a human being was tortured and burned at the stake in the heart of the town of Dyersburg, Tenn. The victim was a Negro man, thirty years old, who was accused of criminal assault on a white woman of the county.

## THE TOWN

Dyersburg, Tenn., is a prosperous town of seventy-five hundred inhabitants, thirty per cent of whom are Negroes. It is the county seat of Dyer County, one of the wealthy counties of the State of Tennessee, and it is situated in the center of the county, which has a population of about

thirty thousand. It is seventy-six miles north of Memphis, and two hundred miles south of St. Louis.

There is a good white public school and two colored public schools. The colored public school is divided into two sections, owing to the fact that some of the Negroes live on one side of the town and some on the other. The principal of the white school is paid fifteen hundred dollars a year; the principal of the colored school is paid one thousand dollars a year. There are six white and five Negro churches. The principal of the colored public school bears an excellent reputation among the white people, as do the ministers of the more established Negro churches. There are five colored physicians.

FILE-ONLY COPY

N. A. A. C. P.

179

While there are no immensely wealthy citizens, there are a number of men in well-to-do circumstances. Several residences in the town are worth from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars.

Two cotton compresses, a cotton oil mill, several large lumber concerns, and a number of other industries are carried on. The main railroad which passes through the town is the Illinois Central. There are three banks, one of which is national. While some of the colored people have fairly comfortable homes, the Negro populace lives, for the most part, in shacks and cabins, which are not fit for the housing of animals.

The present Mayor, Mayor Evans Carne, began the serving of his third term January, 1918. Under his administration, a new lighting system has been installed, streets have been opened, graded, and paved, and many other improvements have been made. It is stated that Mayor Carne has done more for the uplift of the town than any other Mayor.

## LATION SCOTT

The Negro, who was burned at the stake in Dyersburg on December 2, was named Lation Scott. He also went by the name of Ligon Scott.

He had been employed during the crop season for about two years as the assistant of a white man, who rented and farmed a small section of a larger farm. This farm was in the Fourth District, two miles north-east of Dyersburg. The white farmer had been previously employed as driver of an express wagon; at the time of the crime he was employed as freight handler at the Dyersburg Depot.

It is assumed that the white farmer thought he could make more money, after crop season was over, by working in town, leaving the Negro to do the work on the farm. The farmer was, himself, under thirty years of age. His wife was twenty-four. They had been married four years and had two children, one of whom was the particular pet of Lation Scott.

The Negro was thirty years old, six feet and one inch tall, and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. Accounts as to his intelligence vary widely. One report asserts that he was almost half-witted. Others attribute to him the intelligence of the average country Negro. A man who knew him states

that his head was not well formed. Mr. States Miller, a white man who conducts a hardware store on the south side of the square in Dyersburg, and for whom he worked on a farm for a year or more, says that he regarded him as one with the average intelligence. He also says that during the time he worked for him no criminal or dishonest tendencies manifested themselves.

He had the reputation of being a splendid hand at doing general housework, or "spring-cleaning," and a short time prior to the crime, of which he is accused, had done work of this sort for a prominent woman of Dyersburg. She states that she was alone in the house with him for two days. No trouble, however, resulted.

In addition to farming and the doing of odd jobs, he was a preacher. While some claim that he was a Baptist, or Methodist, Mr. John M. Tarrant, of the Dyer County Exemption Board, states positively that he was a Holy Roller. This sect is very strong among the Negroes and poorer white people in West Tennessee, and has been extremely active for the past few years. It is more than possible that he was a Baptist, and "went over" to the Holy Rollers.

The emotionalism of this sect is extreme. They claim the "gift of tongues," and make a practice of going into trances. They jump, jerk, shout, sing, and do what is known as a "Holy Dance." The white people who belong to this sect are, for the most part, inhabitants of the back country regions. It is generally felt among the more intelligent citizens that membership in the sect unfits a person for steady work, and effort is made to prevent reliable servants from joining it.

It was reported that he was a victim of an advanced case of syphilis. This story was widely circulated and unquestionably served to further inflame the passions of the white men who were searching for him. He was included in the selective draft. He did not sign his name to his examination blank, having made a mark instead. The investigator for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People visited the office of the Exemption Board and found that he was not exempt, but had passed the physical examination, and expected to be called for service at any time. He had recently been to the office to in-

180

THE CRISIS

quire when he would probably be called. At an earlier date, his employer had been at the office for the purpose of making the same inquiry, not wishing to lose the Negro's services before his crops were laid by.

Surprised to find that he was not exempt from service, as had been reported, the representative of the National Association repeated to the examining physician, who was present at the time, the report which had been accepted by the community, asking if it were then not true that he was in an advanced condition of venereal disease? The physician replied shortly that it was not true, or he would not have passed the physical examination.

## THE CRIME

The family for whom Lation Scott worked lived in a two-room box house. It is said that he sometimes slept in one of the rooms.

During the day, while the farmer was in town at work, he worked on the farm. There was no one else on the place except the wife of the farmer and their two small children, both under four years of age.

On the day of November 22, when the crime was committed, the wife of the farmer was engaged in picking cotton bolls from stalks, which had been brought in from the field to be picked in the house.

Coming into the house, Scott approached the woman, when she was standing with her back turned, and threw a rope about her neck. He then bound her and, it is said, gagged her. He had either locked the older child in the barn before coming into the house, or else he went out and did so after tying the woman, so that she could not escape. The report states that she begged for her life. He granted her plea on the condition that she would not tell what had occurred. It is, also, thought to be true that he granted her request because of his affection for the child.

When he had left the place the woman ran out into the road, being apparently not tied to the extent of not using her limbs, and reported the occurrence to passers-by.

The news spread rapidly; parties of men set out at once to apprehend the Negro. From that day until the first of December, when he was arrested, posses of enraged white men hunted him through the country with bloodhounds.

For ten days he escaped detection, passing from house to house of colored friends and taking his way through the country. He could have gotten completely out of the community in that time, but this does not seem to have occurred to him.

Descriptions of the Negro were published broadcast and a reward of two hundred dollars was offered for his apprehension. Feeling became very intense throughout Dyer and the adjoining counties. It was well known that if he were caught, he would be lynched. There seems to have been no question of this course on any side.

He was recognized on the afternoon of Saturday, December 1, by a section foreman near Jackson, a distance of forty-nine miles from Dyersburg. He was arrested by this foreman and turned over to Sheriff Perry, of Madison County, of which Jackson is the county seat. Sheriff Perry notified Sheriff Bryant of Dyer County. Sheriff Bryant went at once to Jackson.

From that place Sheriff Bryant took the Negro to Union City, a town sixty-eight miles north of Jackson, and a point much used as a junction between Dyersburg and other places. Here he was put in jail. The following morning, when the Sheriff returned home, he found that news of the Negro's whereabouts was known, and dispatched Deputy-Sheriff Cope Pursell and nightwatchman John Finney to Union City for the Negro. They were accompanied by Joe Curry, an undertaker, who owned and drove the automobile in which they made the trip, and Milton McGee, brother-in-law of the Sheriff.

They took him from the Union City Jail, which is a strong, substantial building, and started through the country with him. It is probable that some members of the mob had left Dyersburg before the officers did. The road which they took from Union City leads direct to Dyersburg.

Definite news of the Negro's whereabouts seems to have spread rapidly. Automobiles began pouring toward Union City and into Dyersburg from the surrounding country. Twenty-five or thirty cars, crowded with men, went to meet the car of the officers, in whose charge the Negro was placed, with the purpose of getting possession of him. Seven-passenger cars were seen car-

N. A. A. C. P.

181

rying twelve men. People stood on the running boards.

The cars carrying the mob were left at a safe point. The passengers hid in the woods which bordered the road. At a point in the Obion River bottom, between the towns of Trimble and Obion, they swarmed out of the cane-brakes and took possession of the Negro. One of the officers states that it was very muddy at this point, and that the automobile in which they were riding was running slowly.

The Negro was transferred to another car; then the whole party raced toward Dyersburg.

In the meantime, the public square of Dyersburg had become packed with automobiles and people. As each car came in sight the crowd surged toward it, in search of the Negro.

A determination seems to have gotten abroad among some citizens to give the Negro a "trial." A list of twenty-five or thirty names had been made, and the citizens to whom the names belonged were asked to serve on a jury. Twelve agreed to do so.

It was feared that the heated temper of the crowd would not permit of even a mob-trial. A prominent and popular citizen was asked to address the crowd, asking that the Negro should be given a trial. He did so, speaking from a point near the court house. It was agreed that this plan should be carried out.

Thirty minutes later the car carrying the Negro arrived in Dyersburg. Avoiding the streets which led to the court house from the north and east, along which the crowd naturally expected the car to arrive, it circled westward and came up to the south entrance of the court house.

### THE "TRIAL"

The Negro was carried into the court room and the jury took its seat. The room and the entire building were packed with people. Many stood on tables and backs of benches.

Mr. David Moss, manager of the Phoenix Cotton Oil Mill, a prominent citizen of the town, acted as spokesman. He told the Negro to stand up. Scott stood up.

"Are you guilty or are you not guilty?"

Scott replied that he was guilty. In answer to inquiry the jury responded that

it found him guilty. Mr. Moss then turned to the crowd and spoke for six or eight minutes, importuning the men to be moderate. He asked them to remember that it was Sunday, and stated that the reputation of the county was at stake. It is reported by some that he then appealed to the woman's husband to prevent the mob from burning the Negro. The woman's husband, however, did not respond to this appeal. It is reported that it was his wish, as well as the wish of the woman herself, that the Negro be burned at the stake.

### THE BURNING

Lation Scott was taken charge of at once by leaders of the mob, who carried him to a near-by vacant lot, the corner of which adjoins the public square, and which is within a stone's throw of two churches and the residences of several ministers, as well as of the Mayor of the town. It is the property, jointly, of several sisters, prominent women of Dyersburg. The court house and the post office, attractive new buildings, are in sight of the spot.

The Negro was seated on the ground and a buggy-axle driven into the ground between his legs. His feet were chained together, with logging chains, and he was tied with wire. A fire was built. Pokers and flat-irons were procured and heated in the fire. It was thirty minutes before they were red-hot.

Reports of the torturing, which have been generally accepted and have not been contradicted, are that the Negro's clothes and skin were ripped from his body simultaneously with a knife. His self-appointed executioners burned his eye-balls with red-hot irons. When he opened his mouth to cry for mercy a red-hot poker was rammed down his gullet. In the same subtle way he was robbed of his sexual organs. Red-hot irons were placed on his feet, back, and body, until a hideous stench of burning human flesh filled the Sabbath air of Dyersburg, Tenn.

Thousands of people witnessed this scene. They had to be pushed back from the stake to which the Negro was chained. Roof-tops, second-story windows, and porch-tops were filled with spectators. Children were lifted to shoulders, that they might behold the agony of the victim.

A little distance away, in the public

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square, the best citizens of the county
supported the burning and torturing with
their near-by presence.

The Memphis, Tenn., *News-Scimitar*
says:

Not a single cry for mercy was ever
uttered by Scott. His fortitude struck
even the mob workers as uncanny. No one
offered a plea for the Negro after he con-
fessed.

Not a domino hid a face. Everyone was
unmasked. Leaders were designated and
assigned their parts. Long before the mob
reached the city the public square was
choked with humanity. All waited pati-
ently. Women, with babies, made them-
selves comfortable.

At last the irons were hot.

"Have you anything to say?"

A meek voice mumbled inaudibly. The
Negro made a speech, but few caught the
portent.

A red streak shot out; a poker in a
brawny hand was boring out one of the
Negro's eyes. The Negro bore the ordeal
with courage, only low moans escaping him.
Another poker was working like an auger
on the other orbit.

The smell of burning flesh permeated the
atmosphere, a pungent, sickening aroma
telling those who failed to get good vantage
points what their eyes could not see.
Smoothing irons were searing the flesh.

Swish. Once, twice, three times a red
hot iron dug gaping places in Lation Scott's
back and sides.

"Fetch a hotter one," somebody said.
The execution went on.

Now someone had another poker—jab-
bing its fiery joint into the ribs of the
doomed black.

Then rubbish was piled high about the
agonized body, squirming beneath its load.

Someone struck the match—they say the
husband of the assaulted woman applied it
—and smoke began to curl upward into a
blue sky. The flames gathered momentum,
engulfing the body. The fire seemed to
groan, but it was Lation Scott.

More and more wood and rubbish were
fed the fire, but at three o'clock Lation
Scott was not dead. Life finally fled at
four o'clock.

The executioners departed, leaving only
the morbid. Women, who had left their
dinners in the making, hastened home.
Children, who had tarried on the way home
from Sunday School, scurried away.

Women scarcely changed countenance as
the Negro's back was ironed with the hot
brands. Even the executioners maintained
their poise in the face of bloody creases left
by the irons—irons which some housewife
has been using.

Three and a half hours were required
to complete the execution.

DYERSBURG SENTIMENT

Public opinion in Dyersburg and Dyer
County seems to be divided into two groups.
One group considers that the Negro got
what he deserved. The other group feels
that he should have had a "decent lynch-
ing." Numbers of prominent Dyersburg
citizens are of this second group. They
say they thought the Negro was going to

DYERSBURG, TENN.

N. A. A. C. P.

183

be given a "decent lynching," and that they consider the burning and torturing a disgrace to the community. By this is meant a quick, quiet hanging, with no display or torturing.

The identity of the mob leaders is known all over Dyer County. From all accounts, they are citizens of doubtful reputation, backed up for this occasion by the sentiment of the community at large.

A prosperous citizen made the remark that these men were no better than the Negro. He was threatened at once with lynching. This remark has, however, been made by others, as well as by the man threatened.

Street talk in Dyersburg on Monday had not yet been touched by reflection. One man, who had been out of town on Sunday, was heard to say with gusto: "The best part about it was the burning. This hanging kills too quick. If I'd been here I'd have helped."

Another commented: "It was the biggest thing since Ringling Brothers' Circus came to town."

A few people—mostly women—said: "It was terrible."

Many citizens seem to have the psychology of having performed an unpleasant duty. One citizen said: "People here can do a thing like that, and then forget all about it."

## LYNCHINGS AND MOB MURDERS, 1917

ACCORDING to the CRISIS records there were 224 persons lynched and killed by mob violence in the United States during the year 1917. Of these 46 were lynchings of persons accused of crime and misdeemeans. The record of the Negroes killed follows:

Proctor, Ark., February 9—James Smith (alias Coy Anderson), hanged; murder.

Hammond, La., February 28—Emma Hooper, hanged; wounding a constable.

Meigs, Ga., March 2—Linton Clinton, shot; assault upon a white girl.

Maysville, Ky., March 12—William Sanders, hanged; robbery.

Dyersburg, Tenn., March 19—William Thomas, hanged; shooting an officer.

Kissimmee, Fla., March 27—S. C. Gardner, hanged; refusal to give up farm.

Pelham, Ga., March 28—Joe Nowling, hanged; reason unknown.

Shreveport, La., May 11—Henry Brooks, shot; intimacy with a white woman.

Fulton, Ky., May 20—Lawrence Dempsey, hanged; wounding a railroad watchman.

Memphis, Tenn., May 22—Ell Persons, burned; rape and murder.

Columbia, Miss., June 2—Van Hayes, hanged; murder.

Holdenville, Okla., June 16—Henry Conley, hanged; assault upon a white woman.

Courtney, Tex., June 21—Ben Harper, hanged; he drove an automobile that ran down and killed a white girl.

Riesel, Tex., June 23—Elijah Hays, beaten to death; striking a white woman.

Cleveland, Fla., June 24—Shep Trent, shot; attempt to attack a white woman.

Galveston, Tex., June 25—Chester Sawyer, hanged; attacking a white woman.

Temple, Tex., June 29—Robert Jefferson, shot; without provocation.

East St. Louis, Ill., July 2—175 colored men, women, and children slain by mobs.

Orange, Tex., July 3—Gilbert Guidry, hanged; charged with attempted rape.

Edgard, La., July 10—Marcel Ruffin, drowned; vagrancy.

Reform, Ala., July 16—Unidentified Negro, hanged; petty theft.

Pickens County, Ala., July 23—Poe Hibler, hanged; attempted assault upon a white girl.

Elysian Fields, Tex., July 23—Unnamed, hanged; entering a woman's room.

Letchatchie, Ala., July 25—Will Powell and Jesse Powell, hanged; insolence.

Amite, La., July 30—Dan Rout and Jerry Rout, hanged; murder.

Garland City, Okla., July 31—Arland Avery, hanged; robbery.

Ashdown, Ark., August 9—Aaron Jimerison, hanged; attacking a constable.

Heathsville, Va., August 16—William Page, hanged; attempted assault upon a white girl.

Memphis, Tenn., August 17—Strickland, hanged; reason unknown.

Marshall, Tex., August 22—Charles Jones, hanged; entering room of a white woman.

York, S. C., August 23—W. T. Sims, shot; opposing draft law.

Chester, Pa., Sept. 3—3 colored men killed by mob.

# IS THIS THE KIND OF DEMOCRACY FOR WHICH ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND AMERICANS GAVE THEIR LIVES IN FRANCE?

While white men and black men were giving their all together in France and Flanders, white men and white women were lynch-ing, torturing and burning at the stake black men and black women in America. Since the war ended, black soldiers returned from France have been lynched.

Below are given a few headlines and paragraphs from daily papers published in the vicinity. The illustrations on pages 1, 3 and 5 are of the Waco, Texas, horror of May, 1916, and are included as typical of such terrible events.

## GEORGIA

### MOBS LYNCH FOUR, SEEK TWO OTHERS.

#### Woman Accused of Part in Murder of Farmer Is One Victim.

Valdosta, Ga., May 19. (1918).—Hayes Turner, Negro, and his wife, Mary Turner, accused of complicity in the murder of Hampton Smith, Brook County farmer . . . . . . have been hanged by a mob. Two other Negroes . . . . . . . . have been lynched.

Citizens still are searching for Sidney Johnson, who, according to Mrs. Smith, fired the shot that killed her husband . . . . it is believed that Johnson will be lynched if captured.

The mob that lynched the Turner woman took her from Sheriff Wade, of Brooks County, while he was taking her to jail at Barney. (From a Report Made by a Special Investigator of the N.A.A.C.P., Published in the May, 1918, Issue of the "Crisis".)

Newspaper dispatches report six persons as having been lynched . . . . . . Investigation shows that at least eleven persons were killed . . . . . . .

At the time she was lynched, Mary Turner was in her eighth month of pregnancy. The delicate state of her health, one month or less previous to delivery, may be imagined, but this fact had no effect on the tender feelings of the mob. Her ankles were tied together and she was hung to the tree, head downward. Gasoline and oil from the automobiles were thrown on her clothing and while she writhed in agony and the mob howled in glee, a match was applied and her clothes burned from her person. When this had been done and while she was yet alive, a knife, evidently one such as is used in splitting hogs, was taken and the woman's abdomen was cut open, the unborn babe falling from her womb to the ground. The infant, prematurely born, gave two feeble cries and then its head was crushed by a member of the mob with his heel. Hundreds of bullets were then fired into the body of the woman, now mercifully dead, and the work was over.

MISSISSIPPI

TWO OF SHUBUTA MOB VICTIMS, NEGRO GIRLS.

Lynchers Hang Four Accused of Slaying Dentist To Girders of Bridge.

Meridian, Miss., Dec. 21. (1918).—The dead bodies of Major Clarke, confessed slayer, and Andrew Clarke, his brother, and Maggie and Alma House, Negro women, alleged co-conspirators, who were lynched at Shubuta last night by a small mob were cut down from the bridge Saturday morning after an inquest and will be buried Sunday. . . . . . Friday night a small mob surrounded the jail, over-powered Sheriff Meadows and quietly took the four to a near-by

The round object to the left of the tree is the head of a human being just burned to death by a Texas mob.

bridge where they were lynched. . . . . Major Clarke, the confessed murderer, was twenty years of age; Andrew Clarke, sixteen; Maggie House, twenty; and Alma House, sixteen. . . . . . All is quiet at Shubuta and no further trouble is expected. . . . . .

The younger House woman was soon to become a mother.

(From a Report of a Special Investigator of the N.A.A.C.P.)

Maggie Howze (House) was soon to have become a mother by Dr. Johnston (the white dentist, whose murder was laid to the four lynched) as well as the younger girl of sixteen, who was pregnant also . . . . . . by Dr. Johnston. The older girl was to have given birth to a child in four months—the younger in two weeks.

INQUIRERS ABOUT LYNCHING GET NO ENCOURAGEMENT.

Gov. Bilbo Says Reply Will Be Sulphurous In Effect.

Jackson, Miss., Dec. 22. (1918).—Governor Bilbo returned to-day from his Pearl River farm... On being asked if he had a reply for certain New York Negroes (the N.A.A.C.P.) who wanted to know what he was going to do about the lynching of four Negroes at Shubuta, he said:

"No, not to-night, but I might give you a little advance information to the effect that I will tell them, in effect, to go to hell."

Quoted from an editorial of December 26, 1918 in the Shreveport, La. Journal:

"Writing about the occurrence, a Shubuta newspaper correspondent expressed the opinion that the citizens "objected to feeding" the Negroes until the court could be convened in regular session (in March) since they were self-confessed assassins of a prominent citizen. This is the first time, within our knowledge, that the food shortage has been advanced as a reason for systematic defiance of law."

On March 8, 1919 the N.A.A.C.P. sent a telegram to Governor Bilbo of Mississippi inquiring concerning the fate of Eugene Green, a Negro taken from the jail at Belzoni in that state by a mob and never seen since. Below is quoted one paragraph from the Jackson, Miss. Daily News of March 9th and also an anonymous comment sent with the clipping to the National Office of the Association.

The paragraph:

"The Governor is not in the city and the telegram has not been answered. However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People need not remain in the dark concerning the fate of Green. He was "advanced" alright from the end of a rope and to save burial expenses, his body was thrown into Yazoo River."

The comment:

"If this information does not suffice, we can give you the size of the rope and the exact location where this coon was hung."

TEXAS

NEGRO IS BURNED IN PUBLIC SQUARE.

Victim of Texas Mob Had Just Been Sentenced to Be Hanged for Murder of Woman and Child.

Hillsboro, Tex., Jan. 20 (1919).—A mob gathered at the jail here at noon to-day, battered down the doors, took Bragg Williams, a Negro, to the corner of the public square and burned him to death. Williams was sentenced this morning to be hanged February 21st for the murder of Mrs. George Wells and her child December 2, 1918. . . . . . The crowd was orderly, and there was little excitement. . . . . Between 300 and 400 persons, including dozens of women, looked on as the Negro burned. The body was entirely consumed in about forty minutes, after which the crowd quietly dispersed.

JURY FAILS TO INDICT.

Hillsboro, Tex., Jan. 29. (1919).—The grand jury, which has been making an investigation into the recent burning of Bragg Williams, Negro, recessed until February 27th to-day, without having returned any indictments in the case. Williams was burned to death in the court house yard and after having been convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.

Note: Although Bragg Williams was burned at mid-day in the court house yard in the small town of Hillsboro (Population 1910,—6,115) yet no indictments were returned by the grand jury.

Note the "Frenzied Mob"

FLORIDA

FLORIDA MOB BURNS NEGRO TO DEATH.

Pensacola, Fla., March 14 (1919).—Bud Johnson, a Negro, who, according to the officers, admitted he had attacked a well-known white woman at Pace, Fla. was taken from Sheriff Harvell at Castleberry early to-day and burned to death near the scene of his alleged crime . . . . . . After the lynching the mob dispersed and everything was reported quiet to-day.

TENNESSEE

NEGRO MURDERER IS BURNED AT STAKE.

Killed Two Young White Men Near Estill Springs.

Estill Springs, Tenn., Feb. 12 (1918).—Jim McIlherron, the Negro who wantonly killed two young white men near here Friday, was burned at the stake here to-day just as the sun went down.... McIlherron was laid on the ground.... and all the negroes in the community were rounded up and made to pass in review.... The mob moved in a quiet and orderly, but very determined manner. A sister of one of the men killed by McIlherron addressed the mob and expressed her hate for the Negro.

"Throughout the whole burning, Jim McIlherron never cringed and never once begged for mercy. He was evidently able to deny the mob the satisfaction of seeing his nerve broken, although he lived for half an hour after the burning started . . . . almost to his last breath he derided the attempts of the mob to break his spirit. The only signs of the awful agony he must have suffered were the involuntary groans that escaped his lips, in spite of his efforts to check them, and the wild look in his eyes as the torture became more and more severe. At one time he begged his torturers to shoot him, but his plea was received with a cry of derision at his vain hope to be put out of his misery. His plea was answered with the cry, "We ain't half through with you yet, nigger!"

KENTUCKY

NEGRO SOLDIER LYNCHED BY MOB.

Hickman, Ky., Dec. 20 (1918).—Charles Lewis, a discharged Negro soldier, who is alleged to have attacked a deputy sheriff when the latter attempted to arrest him . . . . was taken from the county jail here early to-day by a mob of masked men and hanged. The mob gained entrance to the jail by battering down the iron prison doors and beating to pieces the lock to the cell in which Lewis was held when the jailer refused to turn over the keys.

County officials pleaded ineffectively with the mob.

Note: Attention is called particularly to the last statement. The use of the power which was theirs by the jailers and county officials of protecting their prisoner with rifles and other fire-arms while the mob was battering down the jail doors would have effectively stopped the mob, it mattered not how infuriated it might have been.

Charles Lewis wore the uniform of the United States army when lynched.

These are but a few of many similar inhuman, nauseating horrors which are occurring in America almost daily.

Since 1885 nearly three thousand Negroes have been lynched and one thousand white persons.

From April, 1917 to November, 1918, while America was at war, fighting for "God, Humanity and America", NINETY-ONE KNOWN lynchings of Negroes took place in the United States.

Of that number FOUR were WOMEN, ONE OF THEM AN EXPECTANT MOTHER.

During 1918 SIXTY-THREE Negroes were lynched, five of them women, three of the five about to bring children into the world.

Since the Armistice was signed, six Negro soldiers have been lynched—one for striking a police officer—one for "wearing his uniform too long"—four for unknown reasons.

What are YOU going to do about it?

Action, not sympathy alone, is needed. IT IS YOUR AFFAIR and yours is the blame if you do not do what you can to stop it.

JOIN THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE AND HELP END MOB VIOLENCE AND LYNCHING IN AMERICA.

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