Chapter XXXVIII: How to Help the Negro to Help Himself 468 (6)

By an act passed in 1876, by the legislature, the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad Company was leased 250 convicts for three years, to grade its road where the people were too poor to pay for it. The rest of the convicts the governor was authorized to lease to three penitentiary companies for twenty years for $500,000, to be paid in annual installments of $25,000. In a test case by two of these companies, in the Supreme Court of Georgia it was decided that the lessees acquired a vested right of property in the labor of these convicts, which the legislature could not disregard unless their labor was required by the State, in which case the lessee demanded compensation. The Supreme Court consequently granted an injunction restraining the keeper from delivering said convicts to said railroad company, thereby securing to the lessees a legal right of property in the labor of the convicts till the contract is legally terminated.

In an investigation of 1896, presided over by Governor Atkinson, Capt. Lowe, a lessee, testified:

"We do not think ourselves liable for the conduct of whipping bosses. They are given their commissions by the State, and we insist that they are answerable to the State alone. We cannot direct the whipping of convicts; it must be done by the bosses. If all the convicts were disabled by whipping, we think the State would be liable to us for loss of time, because the whipping bosses are the agents of the State."

Lessee Lowe admitted he was a close corporation, being president, secretary, treasurer, boss and everything else of the company, which held no meetings, had no stock, and declared no dividends.

Attorney-General Terrell held that the convicts were under the care of the lessees, whose duty it was to see that they were treated humanely, citing the order of 1887 by Governor Gordon, to prove that while the whipping bosses were appointed by the governor, they were under the control of the lessees. Governor Atkinson said that he did not dream for a moment that the lessees did not consider it their duty to see that the convicts were properly treated.

Mr. Huff, addressing the legislature, said, that "any attempt at reformation of the present system is an absurdity, a swindle and a fraud. It is a damnable outrage. The lessee contract would not stand fifteen minutes before a petit jury. I could hang any of the lessees before a petit jury in two and a half hours," said he.

One convict testified that in his case the skin came off with every blow inflicted by a soaked strap drawn through sand; that twenty bastard children were in one camp. A female convict testified that during her prison life of fourteen years she had borne seven children. A lessee testified that such irregularities as bastard children would occasionally occur as long as women were guarded by men.

Dr. Felton, addressing the Georgia Legislature, said:

"I stated ten years ago that the State was acting as a procuress for convict camps; the legislature is keeping up the supply in accordance with the demand. I repeat the accusation here and now."

In 1895 a number of convicts had their feet so frozen that the flesh and toes rotted off. Governor Atkinson enlightened the legislature of the deplorable condition existing in the convicts' camps through the report thereon by Hon. R. F. Wright, showing nearly fifty misdemeanor camps. In the chain-gangs were twenty-seven white and 768 colored convicts; generally both races and sexes being together day and night. Among these were eleven children under fourteen years of age. Some slept in rude floorless houses; some in tents on the bare ground, and a few in bunks. The bedding was scant and filthy, and full of vermin. The camps were poorly ventilated, the sleeping quarters being generally sweat-boxes, constructed to prevent escapes. There were no hospitals and no preparations for comfort or medical treatment. Female prisoners dressed in male attire, worked side by side with men.

A member of the legislature declared:

"Most lessees would rather see the devil in their camps than a Methodist or Baptist preacher. I do not urge the bill for the Negro, but for the safety of homes and property. Crime has increased in the United States more than in any other country on the globe. I plead for the orphan boys and girls of the State. Better send them to a bottomless hell than to James' camp."

Said the lamented Colonel Alston:

"The public knows how hard it is to get testimony in a case like the lease question. If a guard kills a man, he is not going to tell of it. If a lessee chooses to whip one to death, who is to know it? If he starves them, who is the wiser? I never expect to give up the agitation of this question till I can point to my native State redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled from this great sin, and the finger of shame shall no longer be lifted at her, as a State that is banking on the crimes and misfortunes of her defenseless and ignorant population."

Three months after this Colonel Alston was shot dead in the State Capitol of Georgia, by a sub-lessee during a controversy arising from the leasing of some convicts; whereupon Governor Atkinson declared that, under heaven and by God's help, he meant to lift up the administration of the laws of the State to that high plane that will put an end to these things.

Mr. Byrd of Rome, Ga., by authority of Governor Atkinson, inspected the misdemeanor camps in 1897, and reported that private chain-gangs were being operated against law, and in spite of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Georgia, and that the average penal camp of the State penitentiary is a heaven, compared to the agony and torture endured by the misdemeanor convicts in many of these joints. He said that Mr. Wright did valiant service for humanity by showing that a bondage worse than slavery was being inflicted upon the convicts, who were confined in these "hells upon earth."

In one camp, he said, an ante-bellum residence had been converted into a prison by removing every window, and closing up every aperture, leaving not even an auger hole for light or air. In the center of a room only 18 feet by 20, was an open can, the reeking cesspool of this dungeon in which sat a sick Negro convict confined in this dark sweat-box, perishing.

In another camp, after the visit of Mr. Wright, the guards took turns at beating a convict to death and buried him in his shackles. A respectable citizen asserted that they caught the convict by the shackles and ran through the woods dragging him feet foremost, and that when these facts were sworn to before the Grand Jury of Pulaski County, it was thought best to hush them up and keep the matter out of the newspapers, and out of court, as the superintendent of the prison camp had friends on the jury.

Another case sworn to before the coroner's jury was that of a guard who had whipped nearly all the life out of an old Negro, who said: "Boss, is ye gwine to kill me?" The guard replied with an oath in the affirmative, whereupon the convict begged to be shot and thus freed from his sufferings. He was chained up to a tree where he died in thirty minutes.

In another camp a white convict was being boarded at a hotel ten miles away, and doing a prosperous business at painting, while another white convict who had been made night guard and given a gun and the keys to the camp, had it so free and easy that he threw up his job and decamped.

Mr. Boies of Pennsylvania, in his instructive work, discusses the convict lease system, and shows that the sentences of Negroes in the South are double those of white men for the same offenses; that for petty larceny a Negro may be condemned to the criminal class for life, albeit he had to steal or starve. He shows that the criminal machinery of the South is frequently used to nullify the Negro's right of suffrage; that no hand is extended to lift him up when he falls, and no effort is put forth for his reformation, and for this reason the South turns out one-third of the criminals of the whole country; that Massachusetts expends $20 per capita upon the children of her public schools, while Mississippi with a heavier tax, expends but $2 per capita.

In the Evening Star of Washington, D. C., of November 16, 1901, an exhaustive article on the prison camps of Florida appeared. Although guardedly, it favored the effort to make the criminal self-supporting, arguing that as he lives on the public when at large, he should not be permitted to continue to live on the public when in confinement. But it admits that the convict lease system is faulty. It says:

"At present, offenders of all grades and ages are thrown together, and the younger ones learn more evil than they knew at the time of their arrest, growing daily more depraved and vicious so long as they remain in bad company. It may be possible, however, to employ most of the convicts at tasks which will not require their close association, either at work or in quarters, and if that desideratum can be reached, the last argument against the leasing of prisoners will be met, and the system will be continued indefinitely, such minor matters as the corruption of inspectors, of which Alabama has complained, being capable of rebuke through legislation.

"There are now thirteen camps in Florida, each one of which is technically a State prison, and they are under the watch of a supervisor, who must visit them at least once in sixty days, examine the buildings, food, clothes, and bedding, question keepers and convicts as to work, punishment and health, enforce compliance with the laws and report to the governor every month. All leases are for four years, and the only cost of its criminals to the State are the salaries of supervisors and a sum of $300 a year for chaplain service.

"The country expends at least $200,000,000 per annum in maintaining its convicts. In the city of New York alone, the annual assessment for that purpose is $6 per citizen.

"Where the labor unions have not prevented it, society has made the criminal pay his own bills. In the South where the people are beginning to show a keenness for money that is not surpassed in the North, but where, as yet, capital is not gathered into such immense and usable sums as in the central and eastern States, a new policy has been adopted with regard to the offender. He is generally a Negro, hence he is sent back to slavery. He is sold to a farmer, a distiller, a phosphate miner, or a manufacturer, for a term of years, and his employer pays considerably less to the State than he would otherwise lay out in wages.

"In Alabama, if a State prisoner or long-termer escapes from his employer, he must pay into the public treasury $200, and $100 if a county prisoner or short-termer escapes.

"When an inspector is present at a whipping, the turbulent convict may be given twenty-one lashes on his bare back; in the absence of the inspector, the whipping boss is limited to fifteen lashes.

"The guards are of the poor white class, dull and illiterate, and receive from $20 to $30 per month and their 'keep.'

"In Florida shackling is seldom practiced except as a punishment for running away, as it interferes with the work of the convict. Guns and bloodhounds are much in evidence in the convict camps. Nothing is done for the betterment of the convicts intellectually or otherwise. Missionaries are graciously permitted to distribute tracts among them.

"White convicts are generally assigned to offices and cook shops, or become gang foremen. For the white prisoner, whatever his offense, there is always a hope of pardon, but the Negro prisoner, unless he be a crap-shooter or chicken thief, congratulates himself on being consigned to open air work in the convict's camps, for he remembers how dreadfully easy in Florida it is for a Negro to be lynched."

Judge M. W. Gibbs of Arkansas said he had known white employers in the South to be in collusion with magistrates to have colored men committed on the flimsiest pretext, simply that they might obtain more free labor on their plantations by means of the convict lease system.

The eleventh census shows that in the United States there were 2,468 county jails and only 44 reformatories. There were no reformatories in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Great Britain supports over 400 reformatories and inebriate schools, and they have closed 56 out of 113 prisons and jails in ten years, and thereby reduced to that extent the amount of material for the manufacture of criminals.

Said Judge Calhoun, of a recorder's court in Georgia:

"I tremble when I contemplate the future of little boys who come before me for the first time, and are sentenced to the chain-gang. Some of them are bright-faced and intelligent; some are orphans; many thoroughly penitent; and, I believe, nearly all could be reclaimed, could they be sent to a reform school and surrounded with an atmosphere that would benefit instead of contaminate."

Mrs. Helen Cook, wife of Hon. John F. Cook, of Washington, D. C., has established an organization in the District of Columbia, known as "The Woman's League," which is doing a wonderful work in reducing the number of those who are brought into the courts to be justly or unjustly dealt with. Let the good women of the race throughout the country follow her example and do something to rescue the perishing.

In conclusion, let us hope and believe with the widow of the Sage of Anacostia, that "Meanwhile Hampton and Wilberforce, Howard and Shaw and Fiske and Atlanta and Tuskegee and other like institutions are silently setting the seal of manhood and womanhood upon a race whose face, with ours, is set toward a higher and better civilization."

SECOND PAPER.

IS THE CRIMINAL NEGRO JUSTLY DEALT WITH IN THE COURTS OF THE SOUTH?

BY ATTORNEY I. L. PURCELL.

ISAAC LAWRENCE PURCELL.

Isaac Lawrence Purcell, the subject of this sketch, was born
July 17, 1857, in Winnsboro, S. C. His father, John W.
Purcell, by occupation a carpenter, was born in 1832 in
Charleston, S. C., being one of the old free families.

Isaac Lawrence first attended a school provided by the
Episcopal Church for Colored youths. He afterwards attended
the public schools of his city and, in 1871, entered
Brainard Institute, Chester, S. C., where he remained one
term. In 1872 he entered Biddle University at Charlotte, N. C.,
where he remained until in the Fall of 1873, when the
color line was removed at the South Carolina University. He
entered the competitive examination for the scholarship in
the South Carolina University from his county, being the
only Colored applicant. In the Fall of 1873 he entered the
South Carolina University, where he remained until the
Spring of 1877, when the act of the Legislature of the State
went into effect again drawing the color line, so he with
the other Colored boys had to leave.

Mr. Purcell returned home, and under his father's
instructions learned the carpenter's trade. He went to
Palatka, Fla., in 1885, where he studied law, and was
admitted to practice law in the Circuit and inferior courts
October 8, 1889, and at once commenced the active work of
his chosen profession at Palatka, Fla.

At the first term of the Circuit Court after his admittance
he represented plaintiffs in several large damage suits, two
against the city of Palatka; in both he got verdict for his
clients; one was appealed to the Supreme Court. He was
admitted to the State Supreme Court January 19, 1891, where
he has successfully represented many cases. January 19,
1897, he was admitted to the United States Circuit and
District Courts, and November 8, 1901, was duly admitted to
the Supreme Court of the United States. He has represented
some of the most important cases coming before the courts of
his State. He came to Pensacola, his present home, in
February, 1899, and has by his energy and ability built up a
fine and growing business.

In politics he is a Republican, and has attended as a
delegate every State, congressional and county convention
since coming to the State, several times presided over State
and congressional conventions, was for twelve years chairman
of the Republican Executive Committee of his county, Putnam.
For many years an alderman of the city of Palatka, Fla. In
1895 he was elected as a delegate to the Republican National
Convention which convened in St. Louis, 1896. He has never
held any office of profit, always honest and fearless in his
opinions and his advocacy of right.

His private life has always been consistent; while not a
member of any religious denomination, always attends the
services of the Episcopal Church; is a temperate man; is
generous and kind in disposition; was married October 24,
1895, to Miss E. L. Andrews, of Orangeburg, S. C.

First: What constitutes a court? In the South as in the North and other parts of the country, to constitute a court, there must be a judge, whose duty it is to preside over the court, a sheriff and deputies, and a State's solicitor, who looks after the interests of the State, and last, but by no means least, comes the jury, whose duty it is to discharge or pass on the innocence or guilt of the prisoner according to the law and evidence as offered; it requires all these to constitute an organized court of law.

First: The judge should be a man selected on account of his nobility of character, of heart, of soul and of mind; a man of experience and training, a man of affairs, learned in the affairs appertaining strictly to his branch, as also in literature and science; a man merciful, kind and generous, of a sterling character, temperate, though positive and unbiased by private opinion, in a word, he should be a man, the representative of justice, though not usurping that power as abiding in himself, but as the instrument of that power; whose moral character ought to be without blemish, a man whose habit, integrity, shrewd judgment and wise counsel place him above the average man, making him of the people and for the people.

Sheriffs and deputies ought to be honest and fearless, having the highest regard for the life and liberties of the people; they should be kind and generous, yet positive and fearless, ever ready to defend the life and liberties of the people, using their office only in consonance with the prescribed law in aiding the conviction of crime, but not as a means of revenging personal wrongs or injuries of the people whose color is their only sin.

THE JURY: The jury ought to be composed, if possible, of men of learning, whose moral character, love of truth, unbiased by racial prejudice or private opinions, being only representatives of the people, who in the name of the people adjudge, condemn or acquit according to the evidence, not from any private opinion, but governed by such law as is made in the statement of the judge bearing upon the case given previously to their retiring; if these men of learning can not be found, as in most cases, let others who, for the above qualifications minus learning, be substituted in their stead. In the selection of the jury in the most cases they come as the most refined element of the scum and refuse of the party class, whose labor in the election of some democratic officer, can only be rewarded under these terms; being unqualified to fill even the most inferior office of their party, in a majority of cases, not even one of these is acquainted with even the lowest element of learning, and if, perchance, one can be found, he is made foreman. The Negro is never thought of, but if, perchance, one should be selected, and in such a manner is he prominent, even his color makes him conspicuous, he also is on a par with his companions; men of influence are never selected. Before I conclude with the jury may I say a word of those who select them? In most States they are selected by the county commissioners, in some by a jury commissioner. These commissioners, in most cases, are none other than tools, instruments who have no minds of their own, but like a reed before a gust of the mighty wind that blows nobody good, as serfs and pampered menials bend irrespective of that higher principle, that innate quality of man that places him above the brute creation, serving in abject slavery for the carrying out of party crime and cunning as well as subtle devices.

A court constituted of such elements as described, is an "Ideal One." One to be desired, and the only one at whose hands justice, and only that as gold refined, shall be tried, counterpoised and mete out to every man justice, in the name of Heaven and at the hands of man.

But may I ask how are our courts of the South constituted? are any two of the above qualities to be found in the most prominent of our Southern courts of criminal jurisdiction? If Diogenes of old would seek in our Southern courts for such a man, hereto, as in Greece, such an one could not be found, for truth is no longer enthroned on its sacred altar.

Having defined the true elements of which the courts of our Southland are constituted, I shall pass to consider, THE MANNER IN WHICH THE Negro is dealt with in these courts. Is the criminal Negro justly dealt with in the courts of the South? is a question that I think is more frequently asked than words can answer, language describe, or man's wisdom unravel. Our woes have gone out to the ends of the earth and, the stagnant waters can no longer contain its contaminating germs, and now, even on the other side of the globe, we hear the re-echo of our cries from this damnable cruelty wafted back to us by the zephyrs that sustain expectations impregnated with hope telling of some bright future.

What of the Negro in the sunny South? what of his rights as a citizen? what of his treatment at the bar of justice? are questions also propounded on the other side and since the trial cause of the alleged rape has been made clear, we expect and are looking forth to the dawn of a brighter future.

In our civil courts, in other words, our courts where property rights are tried, I must say, that where tenement rights are concerned, justice is meted out to the Negro even against the white man when elevated to our higher courts, this is the only sphere in which a lenient form of justice is prescribed and given the Negro. The same cannot be alleged of him when his life, his liberty, or reputation or citizenship is at stake.

Against a fellow Negro, he is in some instances protected, as against a white man, seldom, if ever. In this latter it is not justice that is the object of our courts, but the impeachment and condemnation of a fellow man, giving vent to a vindictive racial prejudice. Be the crime of the Negro ever so trivial, when against the white man, the sheriff, having to carry out the oath; the jury, their party plans; the judge, his selfish means; and, therefore, no evidence, however palpable, however substantial and convincing can shield the Negro under such instances. The skin of a white man being held sacred, cannot be violated or polluted by the touch of the Negro's hands, be it in self-defense, or in defense of his manhood, or in the defense of wife, daughter or some other female relative. On the other hand, seldom, if ever, can a white man be convicted when charged with striking a Negro, or for any insult he may offer to his wife, sister, daughter or mother; the juries being all white, they consider this no crime for a white man.

May we notice the following facts of the records of our courts; may I here testify and, without a fear of successful contradiction, that by these, as matter for the criminal statistics of the race serves no purpose.

First: Because our best citizens, the better class of our thinking men and the most virtuous of our people are not tried at the hands of an impartial jury, and innocence made to bear the stamp of guilt, can in no way be accounted justice; for instance, in a case of assault and battery, although the party charged is able and does prove, by legal evidence, that his actions were prompted only by resistance in self-defense, however convincing, if a white man can be found, if even he does not know anything, but can allege a negative, this unjust evidence counterpoises the balance of justice and the Negro is found guilty. If, on the other hand, larceny be charged, it is almost an impossibility even to attempt to defend, if there be a white witness against you, it being taken for granted that every Negro is a thief. Now in courts of justice according to my judgment, and according to the law, every man is presumed to be innocent until his guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt, by legal evidence, and such evidence must be furnished or obtained by the prosecution. But men are daily convicted in our courts, simply because they are Negroes.

In concluding, let me say, that a majority of my people labor under appalling disadvantages, but I hope that the time is not far distant when our courts will be constituted as the "Altars of Justice," the judges and their associates, as its priests, and the American citizen, be his color what it may, can come and there receive at the hands of unblemished and unspotted servants redresses for wrongs, compensation for impeached innocence and justice for his wrongs.

The time is coming when all racial prejudice shall have passed away, and when color will no longer impede our obtaining what is due us, and when the Negro will receive a fair and impartial trial before a jury of his peers; then will justice and equity rule sublime, and the Negro being protected in all his rights; his liberty, life and reputation will be held sacred, and virtue and worth will be considered; and man, the prince of God's creation will be crowned for doing justice unto man.

THIRD PAPER.

IS THE CRIMINAL NEGRO JUSTLY DEALT WITH IN THE COURTS OF THE SOUTH?

BY GEORGE T. ROBINSON, A. M., LL. B.

CAPTAIN GEORGE T. ROBINSON, A. M., LL. B.

George Thomas Robinson was born in Macon, Miss., January 12,
1854, of slave parents. An orphan, in 1865, he set out to
fight life's battles with no one to guide and protect him.
He has risen to a place of distinction--a journalist of
note, a lawyer of high standing, a learned professor of law,
an orator of repute, a molder of thought, and a reformer. He
received his first inspiration from a remark which he heard
Hon. C. S. Smith, now a bishop in the A. M. E. Church, make
to a public school of which he was a pupil. It was: "A boy
can make of himself whatever he has a mind to." George said
to himself, "I will make speeches, too." Since that time
Captain Robinson and Bishop Smith have delivered many
addresses together. They spoke at the Emancipation
Celebration in Nashville, 1st of January, 1892, which took
place in the Representative Hall of the capitol. They were
the principal speakers.

An afternoon paper on the 2nd said: "The ablest address of
the occasion was delivered by Capt. George T. Robinson on
Abraham Lincoln. The speaker electrified the audience."

"Cap." Robinson graduated from Fisk University in 1885 and
from law in Central Tennessee College, now Walden
University, both of Nashville, Tenn. He is a professor of
law in the university.

In 1875 he refused a seat in the Legislature of Mississippi,
in order to complete his education. In 1886 he delivered the
commencement address at Lane College, Jackson, Tenn.; the
same year he began the publication of the "Tennessee Star"
in Nashville. In 1887 he was made a Captain in the Tennessee
National Guard by Governor R. L. Taylor, In 1888 he was on
the invitation committee to invite President Cleveland to
Nashville and served on Gen. W. H. Jackson's staff as
commander of a division in the parade. In 1893 he was a
nominee on the Citizens' ticket for the city council. In
1896 he was appointed a member of the executive committee of
the Negro department of the Tennessee Centennial and was
chairman of the Military Committee. But the entire committee
resigned before the exposition opened.

Settling in Nashville in 1886, he soon forged his way to the
front and became a champion of Negro rights. Hon. George N.
Tillman says of him: "He is one of the best and ablest men
of his race in the State." Bishop Evans Tyree says:
"Professor Robinson is a giant physically and mentally." Mr.
Robinson's fame rests on his journalistic career.

The "Star" was regarded as one of the ablest edited Negro
journals ever published. After several years of successful
work for God and humanity, it consolidated with the
"Indianapolis Freeman."

The "Star" made its advent in the midst of a big social
scandal with a pastor of the most prominent Baptist Church
in the city, the central figure. With the large following
the divine had, it was not only unpopular, but dangerous to
fight him, especially since he had been acquitted by the
courts; and a large majority of his congregation endorsed
the verdicts. The editor routed the opposition. He told the
preacher that he had to quit that pulpit and leave the city.

This was the beginning of a reformation in colored society
in the city which was far reaching, and brought editor
Robinson into prominence. "He woke up one morning and found
himself famous." His article, "A Pure Ministry," caused the
reformer to be welcomed to Nashville as a Moses.

I answer this question in the negative.

There are some exceptions, but proof is too abundant to gainsay the assertion.

In the first place, all of the machinery of the law is in the hands of the white man. He is judge, jury, sheriff, constable, and policeman.

Race prejudice and antipathy so over-ride reason, that the average dispenser of justice is blinded to a sense of right, especially when a white man appears against an accused Negro. What is sop for the white man, is not always sop for the black man. As a matter of fact, the black man is discriminated against in everything in the South, and it would be unreasonable to expect the courts would do otherwise.

The presumption of law is that the accused is innocent, and that presumption stands as a witness in his favor until overcome by credible proof. But in the average court of the South, this applies to white men only. The Negro is presumed to be guilty, and the burden of proof is placed upon him to establish his innocence.

Cases have come under my observation where the accused Negro was not only tried without being represented by counsel, but on ex parte evidence, the black defendant not being permitted to testify in his own behalf or to introduce proof. These cases were not in courts of record.

The organic law of the land guarantees not only trial by jury on an indictment or presentment, but entitles the accused to be heard by himself and counsel and to introduce witnesses. In some instances, the accused is not even in court. The matter is prearranged and the imprisoned wretch is informed afterward and forced into agreeing to the "sentence," as the easiest way out of trouble. It is a rare thing now to see a Negro on a jury In the South.

Even the Federal courts are ignoring him. A white man does not consider a Negro his peer. Then from a white man's standpoint, a colored man tried by a white jury is not tried by his peers.

The Constitution is violated in letter and spirit, in order that the criminal Negro may not be justly dealt with. The greater the demand to keep the convict ranks filled up, the more unjustly is the black criminal dealt with in the severity of the sentence.

The very fact that Negroes are not permitted to serve on juries, even when all the parties are black, proves that it is for the purpose of preventing justice being done the accused Negro.

One of the most popular courts in the South is the Court of Judge Lynch. This "court" comes pretty nearly voicing the sentiment of the section where it thrives and does a large business. Members of this court are summoned as jurors to try Negroes, in legal courts, and thus the mob spirit is carried into the very temple of justice and is meted out to the black criminal in the name of the law. In such cases, who could expect a just verdict? Again, the professional juror, believing his job depends on the number and severity of the convictions of Negroes, is always ready to strain a point in order to convict.

Instead of giving the accused the benefit of the doubt, he seeks to ease his guilty conscience by rapping criminal laws.

The Negro who outrages the person of a female, is worthy of death--a legal death. His crime is no less heinous because his victim is colored--the crime in either case is blacker than the hinges of midnight.

A mob composed of white men takes the ravisher of a white female and burns him at the stake or hangs him and riddles his body with bullets or dismembers his body.

In such a case the criminal is not only unjustly dealt with, for both the moral and civil laws are violated, but a great sin is committed against society, the moral sensibilities are blunted and the crime intended to be suppressed is given new impetus.

Mob violence is the violation of every penal law. The victim has no show whatever.

A mob is not composed of men who have it in their hearts to respect the rights of the victim of their fury.

This is the cause of so many innocent, inoffensive Negro men, women and children perishing at the hands of mobs. Mob violence leads to the utter disregard for law and order, and increases crime, making criminals of "some of the best citizens."

There can be no such thing as dealing justly with the criminal Negro, as long as the rule is to deal unjustly with all Negroes.

For instance, take the black laws, notably the Jim Crow car laws and the infamous election laws, the most outrageous ever inflicted upon a free people. The Negro has been legislated out of the legislative halls, leaving the white man clear sailing in enacting unjust laws which discriminate against all Negroes alike, regardless of condition, culture, refinement, wealth, position or station.

The law places the mark of Cain upon him. His aspirations and ambitions must be curbed in spite of his fitness by character and training. The worthlessness of the Negro does not cause the opposition that the prosperity of the best of the race does. The legislator and constitution maker aims his darts at the latter class.

This state of affairs obtains in every Southern State; and the fact that the ballot, our only safeguard, has been taken from us, shows that the criminal Negro need not expect to be dealt with justly.

The nearest approach to fair play is to be had in the larger towns and cities of the South, and even here the chances are against the Negro. But it will not always be thus. A change will come sooner or later. Let us be courageous, do our best and trust in God.

FOURTH PAPER.

IS THE CRIMINAL NEGRO JUSTLY DEALT WITH IN THE COURTS OF THE SOUTH?

BY ATTORNEY J. THOMAS HEWIN.

J. THOMAS HEWIN.

J. Thomas Hewin was born in Dinwiddie County, Va., December
24, 1871. His parents were slaves. He was left an orphan at
the age of thirteen, with no knowledge even of the alphabet.
At the age of seventeen he was seized with a desire for an
education. Finding no opportunity for mental improvement, he
went to Richmond, Va., in 1889, where he found employment in
a stone quarry. He took his books with him and studied at
meal-time. In the fall he became janitor of a business
college. Finding that he could do his janitor work mornings
and evenings, he entered the public school of Richmond and
afterward graduated from the Richmond Normal School as
valedictorian of his class.

So thrifty was Mr. Hewin, that when he graduated from
school, he had a bank account of $1,375 to his credit.

He also graduated from the Boston University Law School, and
after returning to his native state was admitted to the bar.
He was especially helpful to the unfortunate of his race.

He organized in Richmond the Anti-Deadly Weapon League among
the young colored men of the place, for which he received
the commendation of the press and people. He is a member of
the Baptist Church, an ardent worker among his people, a
power as an organizer and an orator of the Frederick
Douglass type.

For a man of color to approach a subject of this kind, first of all, he must crucify "self." He must not imagine that he is writing to suit the whims, fancies and caprices of a single individual, but must confine himself to the pure and unadulterated truth. To discuss this question from a lawyer's point of view, that is to say, by detailed cases, would be unintelligible to an ordinary layman's mind.

Therefore, we must confine ourselves to the subject from a layman's way of understanding legal matters. The Negro occupies to-day a peculiar position in the body politic. He is not wanted in politics, because his presence in official positions renders him obnoxious to his former masters and their descendants. He is not wanted in the industrial world as a trained handicraftsman, because he would be brought into competition with his white brother. He is not wanted in city positions, because positions of that kind are always saved for the white wardheeling politicians. He is not wanted in State and Federal offices, because there is an unwritten law that a Negro shall not hold an office. He is not wanted on the Bench as a judge, because he would have to pass upon the white man's case also. Nor is he wanted on public conveyances, because here his presence is obnoxious to white people.

But let us not lose sight of our subject which is: Is the criminal Negro justly dealt with in the courts of the South? Permit the author of this article to say that there is no section in this country where there is not some prejudice against the Negro.

Whether the Negro be tried for a crime he commits in the North or South, he will get as fair a verdict upon the law and evidence as presented in a Southern court as in the courts of any State in this Union. When we see such awful examples of brutality and inhumanity as occur in some sections of our common country against the Negro, we do not wonder that people who live in distant lands say that there can be no justice for a Negro in the Southern States. This assertion has been repeated so often, that now it is a common thing for men to say that a Negro can get no justice in the South. Yet it is important for us to note that not one of these miscarriages of justice is traceable to the partiality of the courts. They are the result of men's prejudices, who are not willing for the Negro's case to be tested upon its merits, because they know that in nine cases in ten he would be acquitted in a court of justice; and for this reason they take the law into their own hands, rather than submit it to an intelligent, cool and unprejudiced judicial body as every court is. Is there a man under heaven who would charge this state of affairs up against the courts of the South? Certainly, no one can be found who would do it. It has been my experience in my State in the trial of criminal cases that in nine cases out of ten, the white juries are in sympathy with the poor, ignorant Negro. I think the game rule will hold good in other Southern States. When we approach the subject of criminal law, we must constantly bear in mind that the object of every criminal prosecution is twofold: (1) to reform the criminal; (2) to make an example of him, so that the public will be deterred from the commission of the same offense. It is not the severity of a criminal prosecution that deters crime, but it is the certainty of punishment, when crime is committed. While it is true that the courts of the South as constituted, at present, give the Negro equal justice upon the law and facts of his case, yet we must bear in mind that a criminal prosecution is not ended with judgment in the courts. There are other humane principles to be put into operation, in order that the criminal may receive the benefits of his punishment. The relation of the Southern courts towards the Negro in this respect is particularly weak. Splendid examples of this may be seen in the "Convict Lease System," prevailing in the States of South Carolina, Arkansas and other Southern States. Under this system a Negro may be convicted of a felony calling for a minimum term of imprisonment, and yet serve out a life-time in prison. It is a system which, instead of reforming the Negro, gradually re-enslaves him. It has become such an outrage upon justice and common decency that the eyes of the civilized world are upon the United States to see how long a democratic government will tolerate such an outrage upon common justice and a defenseless people. Yet, when we, at home, begin to trace the causes of this evil, we invariably ascribe them to the courts of the South. Wrong! Wrong! The courts of the South are not legislative bodies, but judicial bodies whose function it is to interpret the laws made, and not to make laws. That right in a republic, like ours, belongs exclusively to the legislative department, and not to the judiciary. The failure on the part of the public to distinguish between the legislative and judicial branches of the government accounts in a large measure for the criticism that has been made upon the courts of the South in their dealings with the criminal Negro. It is well for us to bear in mind that a court cannot make a law, but can only confine its opinion to the law as it is. It is a well-known fact that the United States and the several States composing the same are governed by written constitutions; also, that in a constitutional government all laws must be uniform in their operation. Hence, no law can be made that will operate more harshly upon a Negro than upon a white man who is guilty of the same offense. The criminal Negro naturally thinks that he is dealt with unjustly in the court. I have never seen in my practice a Negro who did not think that a white judge and a white jury were not his enemies, and that they were looking for false evidence upon which to convict him, and were not desirous of passing upon his case on the law and evidence as presented. This, in a large measure, accounts for the enormous fees paid by Negroes to white attorneys for the simplest trouble they may get into. They believe that a white man has more influence in a court than a Negro lawyer, as though the laws were based upon favors to individuals rather than upon fixed rules of judicial construction. As for the judiciary of other States, I cannot speak, but for Virginia, I can and will say, that for the integrity of her judiciary--a fairer and more impartial set of men cannot be found in this country. Never, in my life, has anyone of them treated me amiss in their courts, nor can I point to a single case where snap judgment was meted out to a man of color, for the simple reason that he was colored. The experience of my brother members of the Bar in other States seems to tally with mine in this respect. Though I did once read of a Mississippi judge who told some colored men who had assembled in his court to listen to the trial of one of their race that this was a white man's country, and that Negroes had no business in a court room, unless there on business. Lest we forget it, we will say it now that the greatest of all virtues is charity. The numerous complaints we hear about the maltreatment of the Negro, do not come from within, but from without. They come from people who know nothing of the position we occupy in the South. They tell us that the Southern people are our enemies, that they are doing us all the harm that can be done to any people. Worst of all, our people in many instances, are silly enough to believe them--ignorant of the fact that their success depends upon making their next door neighbors their friends. The same people take this charge and lay it to the courts of justice. Shame that in a democratic government like ours a free people should be slaves to such tricksters whose only object is to create discord among a poor and defenseless people! When we hear people charging the Southern courts with treating the Negro unjustly, it reminds us of an old colored lady who was once warning a young colored man about dying in his sins. The young man wanted to know if the fire in hell was hot. The old lady said, "Hunney de olde sinners fetch their fire wid dem." If the Negro gets a harsh verdict at the Bar in a Southern court, it is because he brings his fire with him. Just why it is that the Negro cannot see things in the same light, I do not know. It is a rule of physics that action is equal to reaction and in the contrary direction. By the side of that we can put this statement, that a man is worked upon by that which he works. The Negro, as a rule, labors under the belief that he is an object of persecution and proscription, and in turn that insane belief so works upon him that it is useless for anybody to endeavor to make him believe otherwise. There is one thing I must say before I close and that is this, that if the Negro wants to break down the great undercurrent against him in the courts of the South, he must do all in his power to establish among his own people the element of caste--a line between the good and bad. He must frown upon those who do wrong, and uphold those who do right. He must lay aside the old adage that you must never do anything against your own color. If a man is my color, and he is wrong, I am against him. If a man is my color and he is right, I am for him. Let the Negro adopt this as a maxim, and justice in the courts of the South is his, now and forever.

TOPIC VII.

TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE NEGRO PULPIT UPLIFTING THE RACE?

BY BISHOP GEORGE WYLIE CLINTON, M. A., D. D.

BISHOP GEORGE WYLIE CLINTON, A. M., D. D.

The career of Bishop George Wylie Clinton, A. M., D. D.,
furnishes indisputable evidence that merit wins success, and
that industry, joined with native and acquired ability,
cannot be denied pre-eminence. His is a story of a man, who,
starting life with a definite goal in view, has allowed
neither the blandishments of flattery nor the frosts of
discouragement to hinder his progress; but, impressing his
great personality upon all with whom he came in contact, he
moved steadily forward, and is now one of the best examples
of erudition, eloquence and practicability in the Negro
pulpit.

This remarkable man was born March 28, 1859, in Lancaster
County, South Carolina. As a child he was religiously
inclined and thoughtful beyond his years, and none who knew
him was surprised, when at the age of ten years, he became a
member of the A. M. E. Zion Church. When quite young he was
sent to the public school, and afterwards to a private
school where he remained until 1874, when he entered the
South Carolina University. In 1876 when the Democrats
succeeded in electing Wade Hampton governor, all the colored
students were forced to withdraw from said university and
thus, after finishing the Junior Classical year he went to
Brainard Institute, Chester, S. C., from which he graduated
with very high honors.

Young Clinton finished his education by taking Theology,
Greek and Hebrew at Livingstone College. Realizing that the
urgent need of his people was education, he became a
successful and conspicuous educator. For ten years, with all
his energy, he was engaged in the public education of his
people, being at one time Principal of Lancaster (S. C.)
High School and Industrial Institute; and he held a similar
position in the Howard Graded School of Union, S. C. Both of
the above schools made marvelous advancement while under his
management. He founded a private school at Rock Hill, S. C.,
out of which has come the widely known Clinton Institute. As
a writer, Bishop Clinton is easily among the best which the
race has produced. In his style there is wonderful richness,
energy and variety. His chaste, pleasing and conservative
writings made the leading papers of his State seek his
contributions.

He founded the A. M. E. Zion Quarterly Review, which he
issued for two years with increasing success; and in 1892 he
transferred it, free of debt, to the General Conference. His
eminence as an editor was so pronounced that said General
Conference elected him editor of the Star of Zion. During
his incumbency in this office he added to his fame as a
thoughtful, versatile writer, and inaugurated the plan by
which the A. M. E. Zion publication was established.

Naturally, his greatest fame was made in the pulpit, for he
is a most eloquent man, and possesses much magnetism. Added
to a most pre-possessing personality, and a sonorous but
well modulated voice, the Bishop has all the graces of a
finished orator, and all the charms of a deep, earnest
scholar. Like Martin Luther, he intended to study law; but
the Bible overshadowed Blackstone. He began to preach at
twenty years of age and in 1896 was elected Bishop in the A.
M. E. Zion Church.

In spite of a multiplicity of duties, the Bishop finds time
to serve as President of Atkinson College; and so well has
he supervised and managed its affairs, that it is enjoying
great popularity and is maintaining a high intellectual
standing.

He was married, February 6, 1901, to Miss Marie Louise Clay
of Huntsville, Ala. His wife is a highly accomplished lady,
and a soloist of national repute. He has one son, George
William, being the issue of his former marriage to the late
Mrs. Annie K. Clinton. The Bishop lives in becoming style at
Charlotte, N. C., where he owns some valuable, and
well-located property. His mother, for whom he has always
manifested the deepest affection, makes her home with her
distinguished son. Bishop Clinton is yet young; and the
church and the race have every reason to hope for many more
years of the distinguished services of this brilliant
leader.

From the establishment of the gospel system the pulpit has occupied an important, unique and potential position in all things pertaining to man's well being along moral, social and spiritual lines.