Newspapers / The Star of Zion … / Aug. 13, 1903, edition 1 / Page 1
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Vol XXVI vn THE OFFICIAL ORGAHkOFTHE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL Z ION CHURCH Charlotte, N. C., Thursday, August i3, 1903. No. 3 4. MOB VIOLENCE. Severely Condemned by President Roosevelt. GOVERNOR DURBIN PRAISED. “Oyster Bay, August 9, 1903. ‘Governor Durbin, of Indiana, per mit me to thank you as an American citizen for the admirable way in which you have vindicated the majesty of the Jaw by your recent action in reference to lynching. I feel, my dear sir, that you have made all men your debtors who believe as all of the far-seeing men must, that the well-being, indeed, the very existence of the republic, depends upon that spirit of orderly liberty un der the law which is as incompatible with mob violence as with any form of despotism. Of course mob violence is simply one form of anarchy, and anar chy is now, as it always ha3 been, the hand-maiden and the forerunner of ty ranny. “T fftftl that Tnn tiavo rmt fleeted honor upon the State which for its good fortune has you as its Chief Executive, but upon the whole nation. It is incumbent upon every man throughout this country not only to hold up your hands in the courseyou have been following, but to show his realization that the matter is one of vi tal concern to us all. “All thoughtful men must feel the gravest alarm over the growth of lynch ing in this country and especially over the peculiarly hideous forms so often taken by mob violence when colored men are the victims, on which occa sions the mob seems to lay most weight, not on the crime, but on the color of the criminal. In a certain proportion of these cases the man lynched has been guilty of a crime horrible beyond description, a crime so horrible that as far as he himself i9 concerned he has forfeited the right to any kind of sym pathy whatsoever. The feeling of all good citizens that such a hideous crime shail not be hideously punished by mob violence is due not in the least to sym pathy feu the criminal, but to a lively sense of the tram of dreadful conse quences which follow the course taken by the mob in exacting inhuman ven gence for an inhuman wrong. In such cases, moreover, it is well to remember that the criminal not merely sins against humanity in inexplicable and unpardonable fashion, but sins particu larly against his own race, and does them a wrong far greater than any white man can possibly do to them. Iherefore, in such cases the colored people throughout the land should in every possible way show their belief that they, more than all others in the community, are horrified at the com mission of such a crime and are peculi arly concerned in taking every possible measure to prevent its recurrence and to bring the criminal to immediate jus tice. ri ne slightest lack of vigor either in denunciation of the crime or in bringing the criminal to justice is itself unpardonable. “Moreover, every effort should be made under the law to expedite the proceedings of justice in the case of such an awful crime. But it cannot be necessary, in order to accomplish this, to deprive any citizen of those fundament al rights to be heard in his own de tense, which are so dear to us all and which lie at the root of our liberty. It certainly ought to be possible by the proper administration of the laws to secure swift vengeance upon the crimi nal, and the best and immediate efforts °l i j ^S^ators, judges and citizens should be addressed to securing such retorms in our legal proceedure as to leave no vestige of excuse for those misguided men who undertake to reap ^geance through violent methods. “Men who have been guilty of a crime like rape or murder should be visited with swift and certain punish ment, and the just effort made by the c°ur‘® t0 protect them in their rights should under no circumstances be per verted into permitting any mere tech nicality to avert or delay their punish ment. The substantial rights of the prisoner to a fair trial of course must be guaranteed, as you have so justly in sisted that they should be, but, subject to this guarantee—the law must work swiftly and surely, and all agents of the law should realize the wrong they do when they permit justice to be de layed or thwarted for technical or in sufficient reasons. We must show that the law is adequate to deal with crime by freeing it from every vestige of tech nicality and delay. “But the fullest recognition of the horror of the crime and the most com plete lack of sympathy with the crimi nal cannot in the least diminish our horror at the way in which it has be come customary to avenge these crimes and at the consequences that are al ready proceeding therefrom. It is, of course, inevitable that where ven geance is taken by a mob it should fre quently light on innocent peop,e, and the wrong done in such a case to the individual is one for which there is no remedy. But even where the real criminal is reached the wrong done by the mob to the community itself is well nigh as great. Especially is this true where the lynching is accompanied with torture. There are certain hide ous sights whjch once seen can never be wholly erased from the mental reti na The mere fact of having seen them implies degradation. This is a thous and fold stronger wheD, instead of merely seeing the deed, the man has participated in it. Whoever in any part of oar country has ever taken part in lawlessly putting to death a crimi nal by the dreadful torture of fire, must forever after have the awful spec taele of his own handwork seared irto his brain and soul. He can never again be the same man. This matter of lynching would be a terrible thing even if it stopped with the lynching of men guilty of the inhuman and hideous crime of rape ; but as a matter of fact, lawlessness of this type never does stop and never can stop in such fashion. Every violent man in the community is encouraged by every case of lynching in which the lynches go unpunished to himself take the law into his own hands whenever it suits his own convenience. In the same way the use of torture by the mob in certain cases is sure to spread until it is applied more or less indiscriminately in other cases. The spirit of lawlessness grows with what it feeds on, and when mobs with impu nity lynch criminals for one cause, they are certain to begin to lynch real or ah leged criminals for other causes. In the recent cases of lynching over three fourth were not for rape at all, but for murder, attempted murder aud even less heinous offenses. Moreover, the history of these recent cases shows the awful fact that when the minds of men are habituated to the use of torture by lawless bodies to avenge crimes'Of a pe culiarly revolting description, other lawless bodies will use force to accom plish crimes of an ordinarv tvpe. Sure ly no patriot can fail to se‘e the fearful brutalization and debasement which the indulgence of such a spirit and such practices inevitably portend, surely all public men, all writers for the daily press, all clergymen, all teachers, all who in any way have a right to address the public should with every energy unite to denounce such crimes and to support those engaged in putting them down. As a people we claim the right to speak with peculiar emphasis for freedom and for fair treatment of all men without regard to differences of race, fortune, creed or color. We for feit the right to speak when we com mit or condone such crimes as these of which I speak. “The nation, like the individual, ca: not commit a crime with impunity, we are guilty of lawlessness and brut violence, whether our guilt consist : active participation therein, or ijs me: connivance and encouragement!, - y shall assuredly suffer later on 'becaui of what we have done. The corne stone of this republic, as of all fr< governments, is respect for and obed ence of the law. Where we permit tl law to be defied or evaded, whether t rich man or poor man, by black man < white, we ar9 by just so much weakei ing the bonds of our civilization and ii creasing the chances of its overthro and of the substitution therefor of system in which there shall be violei alternations of anarchy and tyranny. Sincerely yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT. “Hon. Winfield T. Durbin, “Governor of Indiana, “Indianapolis, Indiana.” Mice. BY A . L. M. HILL. To the Presiding Elder, minis ters, presidents of the V. C. E. so ciety of the North Alabama Confer ence, knowing that the C. E. work is a great one and nothing can be great without organization, there fore as president of the V. C. E. so ciety of North Alabama Confer ence, for the good of order and for the saving of the young people, I call a Convention to meet at Pratt City, August 27-30,1903. It is ex pected that all societies will send a delegate, and where there is no V. C. E. society, the church will send. Tuscaloosa, Ala. THE PLUM TREE MAN. Elect Him Editor of the Star of Zion. BY REV. E. M. ARGYLE. The distant 'thunder of the ap proaching army of Zionites with columns headed toward St. Louis in 1904 is heard. They approach from the North, South, East and West. The eir of the wise-acres are close to the ground, and many are the conjectures as to the gen eral legislation of that.august body of delegates representing nearly 600,000 followers of the lowly Naz arene, worshipping under the ban ner of Varick, planted aloft upon the hill of adversity, over 119 years ago. The questions of vital impor tance to many is (a) How many bishops will elected? (b) Who will they be, if any? (c) W7ho will be elected as delegates to the Geuer Smith of the Star, and J. S. Cald well, General Steward, will be the hardest men in the Church to side track, without election to the bish opric. They seem to have the right-of-way, and opposition to them will be momentary or eph emeral. They are without doubt the choice of the Church at large Who, then, shall succeed them? Quite a dozen spring up and claim this right but it may be that the General Conference will act dis creetly in the selection of its rep resentatives of these two impor tant positions. We do not assume the authority to say who shall be Editor of the Star or General Steward, but as one who loves the Church, as one feels an interest in everything that tends to build up our beloved Zion, allow me to rise and nominate Rev. E. D. W. Jones of the “Plum Tree” fame. Dr. Jones would wear the mantle of Dr. Smith with credit to the Church. He would be equal to the REV. E. D. W. JONES, A. M., D. D. al Conference to assist in making these new bishops, etc etc? It is true there are other matters to come before the General Con ference of more importance to the local church than the election of REV. E. M. ARGYEE. bishops, but as this phase of the General Conference work will over shadow everything else until it is out of the way, it is well to give it first consideration. It is gener aly conceded that Drs. J. W. task of protecting Zion’s interest beyond question His versatility is undisputed. His originality is attractive and captivating. His manliness wins the admiration of his detractors. His erudition is philosophic and reflects credit up on his Alma Mater. His loyalty to the Church of his sainted father has never been in question. Dr. Jones’ election to the editorial chair would eradicate any section al feeling that might arise in the scramble for Dr. Smith’s tripod. All who have read uShaking the Plum Tree'''' will admit that he writes with a trenchant pen—hews to the line, and lets the chips fall where they may. Mark the predic tion, give us the brilliant E. D. W. Joues, as Editor of the Star, and the General Conference will satis fy a host of Zionites who will have no voice in the General Confer ence. More of this anon. Rockioood, Term. A series of meetings will begin at Logan Temple A. M. E Zion church, the first Sunday in August Dr. A. J. Warner, the one who erected the Logan Temple, also one of the greatest preachers in the Connection, will be present.— Knoxville Messenger. PERSONAL & LOCAL. Favetteville, Ilf. C. BY DR. J. M. HILL, MANAGER. The Fayetteville district Sunday School Convention held at Mat tock’s chapel July 28, 29, 30, 1903, presided over by the able Presid. ing Elder, Jno. R; Mattocks, was quite a success. Revs. N. B. Stel ly and noble congregation enter tained the convention royally. Revs R. L. Houston, N. B Stelly, W. F. McKee, W. H. Wilder, R. Culbreth, E. J. Hawkins, G. W. Murphy, C. T. Simmons, W. H. Blackman, P. J. Jones, S. J. W. Spurgeon, and J. S. Settles, pas tors on the said district, all made fine reports, also Miss G. C. Hood, the book agent and Vice Presi dent of the Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society, re ported her work in a most pros perous conuiuon. Prof. Edward Evans, A. M., was on hand and rendered substan tial assistance. He is one of the leading educators in the State, a true and tried Zionite. As usual the ministers and dele gates did not forget the Publica tion House. While there I col lected for the Houle $35. Many thanks to Presiding Elder Mat tocks and his faithful pastors for their financial consideration. Dr. P. N. Melchor of Fayette ville, N. C., is one of the leading physicians in the State. He was my family nhysician when I lived in Fayetteville and always ren dered faithful and efficient service. Finding that I was feeble during my visit to his town, he treated me and I am sure his prescriptions reached my case and I have re ceived good results. He is a well equipped<physician and worthy of 4 patronage from any who stand in need of medical skill. He is also an annual cash subscriber to the. Stab of Zion. Perry and Williston are doing a flourishing business as druggists. Murphy and Williston Co. is run ning a fine first class grocery store, also Mr. E. N. Williams, the lead ing market man of Fayetteville, has added a fine grocery department to his flourishing business. He carries a full line of first class fam ily groceries. I found Dr. E. E. Smith, the great educator at his post looking after the educational work. While in Fayetteville my wife and my self were the guest of Rev. and Mrs. J. H. Mattocks,Mrs. Thomas Broadfoot, and Mrs. Bishop K. P. Hood. These eminent ladies and their kind husbands know how to comfort sorrowing hearts. God bless you sisters for your kindness toward us while in your homes and the good people of Fayetteville for their kind words. Mrs. Sarah Mitchell, on old sub scriber to the Star, who has been ill for some time is up and out again. Charlotte, N. C. Asks Russia to Protest. London, England.—The Catholic Her ald has requested the Russian ambassa* dor at London to forward to St. Peters burg a statement drawing attention to ‘‘the continuous and increasing number of outrages on Negroes in the United States, which are usually accompanied by the most appalling brutality.” The paper wished the Russian government to make representations to Washington to have the evil suppressed. The am bassador, in reply to the request, said that such action was outside his prov ince, and he could not deal with it. The communication will therefore be sent direct to St. Petersburg.
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Aug. 13, 1903, edition 1
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