THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 
 
 Winfield H. Collins 
 
 
 Published on demand by 
 
 UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS 
 
 University Microfilms Limited, High Wycomb, England 
 A Xerox Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. 
 
* * * 
 
 This is an authorized facsimile of the original book, and was 
 produced in 1969 by microfilm-xerography by University 
 Microfilms, A Xerox Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. 
 
 * * * 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT 
 LYNCHING and THE 
 NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 
 
 IN WHICH THE AUTHOR PLEADS THAT THE 
 SOUTH BE MADE SAFE FOR THE WHITE RACE 
 
 */ BY 
 
 WINFIELD 1 COLLINS, A.M., PH.D. 
 
 AUTHOR o? 
 The Domestic Slave Trade of the Southern States 
 
 THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 440 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 MCMXVIII 
 
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THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 AND 
 THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 
 
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 Copyright, 1918, by 
 THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 209 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I THE LYNCHING OF NEGROES IN THE SOUTH PRE 
 VIOUS TO THE CIVIL WAR 9 
 
 II LYNCHING DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND THE CAR 
 PET-BAG RULE 29 
 
 III LYNCHING FROM THE END OF CARPET-BAG RULE TO 
 
 THE PRESENT TIME 48 
 
 IV THE CRIMINALITY OF THE NEGRO .... 72 
 V SEGREGATION OF THE NEGRO 101 
 
 VI NEGRO WEALTH OR POVERTY, WHICH? . . 123 
 
 VII THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO . 141 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN the preparation of these pages an eRort has 
 been made to discover and present the truth in re 
 gard to the Negro in the South. The first three 
 chapters need not be considered an attempt at justi 
 fication, of lynching nor an effort at palliation of the 
 disorder, but rather as a setting forth of the facts, 
 conditions, and extenuating circumstances in such 
 connection. The purpose of the other four chap 
 ters is to throw light upon the mental, moral, and 
 material condition of the Negro. 
 
 W. H. C. 
 
 REIDS GROVE, MD., 
 
 January 30, 1918. 
 
The Truth About Lynching 
 and the Negro in the South 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE LYNCHING OF NEGROES IN THE SOUTH PREVI 
 OUS TO THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 T is generally supposed that the custom 
 ; practice of lynching in this country had n.s on^m 
 in the method of punishment used by a Vir ;;nLin 
 farmer named Lynch, who during the Revolution 
 ary War sought in this way to maintain orucr in 
 his community or section, hence, Lynch s Law, 
 and Lynch law, from which corncs the word 
 "lynching." 
 
 In the beginning, however, the term seldom, if 
 ever, conveyed the meaning "to put to death"; 
 nor does it appear that Negroes were lynched even 
 so often as whites. The methods of punishment in 
 the majority of cases consisted of riding the victim 
 on a rail, beating or whipping him, and often of 
 giving him a coat of tar and feathers. 
 
 Moreover, it does not appear that lynching in 
 
 9 
 
io THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 any form was very common in the early history 
 of the country. Indeed, in 1839 a writer in the 
 Southern Literary Messenger 1 began a brief arti 
 cle on the subject with the following: 
 
 "Forty years ago the practice of wreaking pri 
 vate vengeance or of inflicting summary or illegal 
 punishment for crime actual or pretended which 
 has been glossed ov .r by the name Lynch law 
 was hardly known except in sparse, frontier set 
 tlements beyond the reach of courts and legal pro 
 ceedings." 
 
 Newspapers, periodicals, and other literature of 
 the time show, as the years pass, an interest 
 ing change in the meaning of the term Lynch law. 
 As the practice of lynching increased, the methods 
 of the executors of this law became more severe, 
 and it grew more often to mean "a putting to 
 death." Possibly the change in meaning was part 
 ly due to the fact that lynching came to be a favo 
 rite means of punishment for abolitionists, their 
 Negro dupes, and for both Negroes and \vhites 
 who might be found guilty of unusual or shock- 
 Jng crimes. 
 
 The change from the mild to the severer mean- 
 \ ing of the term was gradual. From 1830 to 1840 
 Vol. V, p.ai8. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH n 
 
 it seldom meant u to put to death"; from 1850 to 
 1860 it very often had that meaning, and by 1870, 
 or 1875, this became the almost exclusive inter 
 pretation of "lynching," even as at present. 
 
 The "New English Dictionary" defines Lynch 
 law as "the practice of inflicting summary punish 
 ment upon an offender, by a self-constituted court 
 armed with no legal authority; it is now "limited 
 to the summary execution of one charged wirh 
 some flagrant offense." So this is about the sense 
 (unless otherwise indicated) in which I shall use 
 the expression "Lynch law," or "lynching," in 
 these pages. 
 
 In seeking a cause for the great increase of 
 lynching, whether in its milder or severer form, 
 from about 1830, I think one need not hesitate to 
 give first place to the Anti-Slavery agitation; and 
 the Southampton Slave Insurrection is also to be 
 considered as contributory. 
 
 When, about 1830, the Anti-Slavery agitation 
 began to attract some attention there wore a num 
 ber of anti-slavery societies in the South. These, 
 however, soon broke up as those formed in the 
 North became unreasonable. The net effect of the 
 societies in the North was to produce distrust 
 and even hatred at the South. It could hardly 
 have been otherwise, for the Northern anti-slavery 
 propagandists during the whole period of such 
 
12 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 agitation seemed to have regard for neither law 
 nor common sense. Nothing better could have 
 been expected from them, however, as, for the 
 most part, the abolitionists were poor, misguided 
 men and women. Instead of adopting persuasive 
 methods and of showing a fair and conciliatory 
 spirit, they were dictatorial, inflammatory and 
 menacing. And by whatever of higher law or 
 Divine inspiration they may have claimed to be 
 actuated, they failed to recognize the fact that 
 they had to deal with human beings and human 
 institutions. 
 
 Again, on whatever lofty plane of morality they 
 professed to stand, their propaganda did not com 
 prehend even ordinary honesty. Indeed, it ap 
 pears as only another illustration, for history af 
 fords so many instances, of self-elected good 
 men endeavoring to impose their own half-blind 
 perception of the way of the Lord, or their own 
 ideas of what constitutes righteousness on their 
 open-eyed and superior fellow-men, and exerting 
 themselves to the utmost of their ignorance in 
 such efforts, thus, as is usual in such cases, mak 
 ing hell on earth. Even the Kaiser claims to be 
 ihe agent of the Lord. 
 
 William Lloyd Garrison, the leading exponent 
 
 \ of the abolition movement, called the Constitu- 
 
 \ tipn of the United States "An Agreement with 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 13 
 
 Death and a Covenant with Hell." In the begin 
 ning his most earnest supporters were some pious 
 y old women, who doubtless with fair intelligence 
 and good intentions, like many professed good 
 people, let their emotions aided by their imagina 
 tion get the better of their heads. They seemed 
 to enjoy criticizing the South, with the occasional 
 diversion of holding prayer-meetings for Negroes. 
 However, it was a long while (even in the 
 North) before the abolition movement gained 
 much headway. Garrison himself was treated with 
 scarcely more consideration in the North than 
 awaited those Apostles of anti-slavery that should 
 go South, having persuaded themselves that they 
 were called to preach the "gospel" of abolition in 
 that benighted section. Indeed, once, in 1835, he 
 hid himself in order to escape from a mob of 
 some thousands of people, including many of the 
 leading citizens of Boston, that had collected in 
 front of his office. Some of the crowd found him 
 and soon had a rope around his neck, but he was 
 rescued by the mayor of the city. About two years 
 later, however, a noted abolition editor, Rev. 
 E. P. Lovejoy, was killed by a mob in Illinois. 
 
 In 1856 The Liberator made the following re 
 markable statement in regard to the treatment of 
 abolitionists in the South : 
 
14 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 "A record of the cases of Lynch-Law in the 
 Southern States reveals the startling fact that with 
 in twenty years over three hundred white persons 
 have been murdered upon the occasion in most 
 cases unsupported by legal proof of carrying 
 among the slaveholders arguments addressed to 
 their own intellects and consciences as to the mo 
 rality and expediency of slavery." 2 
 
 npi 
 
 1 i 
 
 his is evidently a great exaggeration. If it 
 were alleged that over three hundred had been 
 lynched," bearing in mind that during those years 
 the word, more often than otherwise, meant giv 
 ing the victim a coat of tar and feathers, and so on, 
 it would not even then be in accord with what is 
 indicated by better evidence. Books of trivel and 
 other literature of the time fail to show that any 
 great number of abolitionists in the South met 
 death by lynching during the period in question. 
 
 Indeed, a booklet, "The New Reign of Terror," 
 published early in 1860, and in all probability 
 compiled by Garrison himself, is weighty evi 
 dence against the truth of this statement. Ac 
 cording to The Liberator, the booklet gave "multi 
 plied newspaper accounts of lynchings, murders, 
 and mob raids of the Black Power of the Slave 
 States within the past year [1859]." Although 
 
 The Liberator, Dec. 19, 1856. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 15 
 
 this was a time of intense excitement throughout 
 the South, a time when a more bitter feeling w.is 
 manifested against abolitionists than in any previ 
 ous period, a careful examination of the "New 
 Reiga of Terror" failed to reveal more than one 
 case in which an abolitionist was put to death by 
 lynching. 
 
 There is much evidence of a law-abiding spirit 
 in the South (especially in the eastern part) at the 
 beginning of the Anti-Slavery agitation. Indeed, 
 even when lynching was resorted to, it seems to 
 have been done with great reluctance. 
 
 Another thing that had some effect on lynching 
 was the Southampton Slave Insurrection, which oc 
 curred in 1831. About sixty white men, women, 
 and children were murdered in cold blood by Ne- 
 grocs. However, not more than one of the fifty 
 or more Negroes concerned in it was lynched. In 
 stead, they were given a fair trial, and disposed 
 of according to law. The Insurrection may have 
 caused an increase in the lynching of Negroes by 
 the fact that it begat a kind of fear and distrust 
 of the blacks everywhere, caused them to be more 
 carefully looked after, and more severely dealt 
 with when refractory or guilty of crime. 
 
 This was no more than could be expected. In 
 1835 there were four great fires in the city of 
 Charleston, all supposed to have been the work 
 
1 6 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 of slaves. Moreover, up to 1860 there were ru 
 mors of insurrections, and many minor insurrec 
 tions did take place. The abolitionists, not with 
 out reason, were accused of trying to set the slaves 
 against their masters and of fostering outbreaks 
 of the bondmen. 
 
 Such things could hardly be considered lightly, 
 for in many places the whites were practically at 
 the mercy of the Negroes. A quotation from Mur 
 ray, 8 an English traveler, may be interesting as it 
 gives an example of the situation in many of the 
 Slave States: 
 
 "The farms of the two gentlemen whom I visit 
 ed occupied the whole of the peninsula formed by 
 the James River; they had each two overseers: 
 thus (their families being young) the effective 
 strength of white men on their estates amounted 
 to six: the Negroes were in number about two 
 hundred and fifty: nor was there a village or place 
 within many miles from which help could be sum 
 moned." 
 
 Could one reasonably expect that any man so 
 situated would be inclined to be too ceremonious 
 with any person, black or white, however innocent 
 or saintlike his looks, who might be caught tam 
 pering with the Negroes and thereby jeopardize 
 "Murray, "Travels in North America," Vol. I, p. x66. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 17 
 
 the safety of his family and those of his neighbors 
 as well? When one considers the exasperating 
 circumstances, the wonder is not that there were 
 so many lynchings but rather that there were so 
 few, comparatively. 
 
 Some interesting lynchings occurred in 1835. 
 They were widely commented upon at the time. 
 One, the case of a mulatto from Pennsylvania, 
 who was supposed to have some connection with 
 the abolitionists, was burned at St. Louis for kill 
 ing an officer who was trying to arrest him for 
 some crime he had committed. The judge s charge 
 to the grand jury in reference to the matter is 
 worth consideration as it indicates the attitude to 
 ward lynching shown at the time by those in au 
 thority : 
 
 "He told the jury that a bad and lamentable 
 deed had been committed in burning a man alive 
 without trial, but that it was quite another ques 
 tion whether they were to take any notice of it. 
 If it should prove to be the act of a few, every 
 one of those few ought undoubtedly to be indicted 
 and punished; but if it should be proved to be 
 the act of the many, incited by that electric and 
 metaphysical influence which occasionally carries 
 on a multitude to do deeds above and beyond the 
 
1 8 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 law, it was no affair for the jury to interfere 
 with." 4 
 
 The same year, 1835, two Negroes were burned 
 near Mobile. 5 The circumstances were these : 
 
 Upon the failure of a certain little girl and her 
 brother to return from school at the proper time 
 a search was made and the body of the girl at last 
 found. It appeared that she had been violated, 
 then murdered, and her body hid in order to con 
 ceal the crime. Soon after this, two young ladies 
 of Mobile were seized by two Negroes near the 
 place where the body of the little girl was found. 
 The young ladies escaped. At once suspicion 
 pointed to these Negroes as the murderers of the 
 children. They were arrested, tried by the court, 
 and found guilty. The gentlemen of Mobile, it 
 is said, then seized the Negroes, took them to the 
 place of their crime, and burned them. For it 
 was felt that the law did not furnish adequate 
 means of punishment for such fiendish criminality. 
 
 Another noted instance of lynching took place 
 at Vicksburg in the same year. This time it was 
 not a Negro but whites that were lynched. 
 
 For many years the population of the Missis 
 sippi Valley had been increasing rapidly. The 
 courts of law were so few, weak, or dilatory, that 
 
 4 Harriett Martineau, "Retrospect of Western Travel," pp. 30-1. 
 I bid., "Society in America," Vol. II, pp. 141-2. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 19 
 
 the better citizens sometimes found it necessary to 
 take the law into their own hands in order to insure 
 for themselves protection. Such was the case at 
 Vicksburg. Some gamblers had lately made this 
 town their home and had established themselves at 
 the low taverns to which they decoyed the young 
 men of the vicinity. These, after being plundered 
 and debauched, often cast their lot with the gam 
 blers and became almost as desperate as their cor- 
 rupters. After a while all restraint was thrown 
 off, and the gamblers went about the streets even 
 in the daytime armed with deadly weapons, and 
 by their insults, drunkenness, and crimes, made 
 themselves a terror to the inhabitants. 
 
 At length the people, having decided to put an 
 end to such conditions, held a meeting and passed 
 resolutions, giving the gamblers notice to leave 
 within twenty-four hours. But, instead of doing 
 so, they garrisoned themselves in a house. This 
 the men of the town surrounded, and breaking 
 open a door, they were fired upon from within, 
 one of the most prominent men of the town being 
 killed. This so enraged the people that they took 
 the house by storm. Five of the gamblers were 
 made prisoners. Then a procession, headed by 
 the leading men of the town, led the gamblers to 
 execution, hung them, and buried them together in 
 a ditch. 
 
20 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Feathcrstonhaugh, an English traveler, in writ 
 ing of the Mississippi gamblers, says: 
 
 "In various travels in almost every part of the 
 world, I never saw such a collection of unblushing, 
 low, degraded scoundrels." 6 
 
 He also quotes a passage from a justification 
 of the above lynching, which was drawn up by 
 the people of Vicksburg, and is as follows: 
 
 "Society may be compared to the elements, 
 which, although, order is their first law, can some 
 times be justified only by a storm. Whatever, 
 therefore, sickly sensibility or mawkish philan 
 thropy may say against the course pursued by us, 
 we hope that our citizens will not relax the code of 
 punishment which they have enacted against this 
 infamous, unprincipled, and baleful class of so 
 ciety; and we invite Natchez, Jackson, Columbus, 
 Warrenton, and all our sister towns throughout 
 the State, in the name of our insulted laws, of of 
 fended virtue, and of slaughtered innocence, to aid 
 us in exterminating this deep-rooted vice from our 
 land. The revolution has been conducted here by 
 the most respectable citizens, heads of families, 
 members of all classes and professions and pur- 
 
 8 G. W. Featherstonhaugh, "Excursion through the Slave 
 States," pp. 136-9. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 21 
 
 suits. None have been heard to utter a syllable 
 of censure against either the act or ihc manner in 
 which it was performed; and so far as we know, 
 public opinion, both in town and country, is de 
 cidedly in favor of the course pursued. We have 
 never known the public so unanimous on any sub 
 ject." 
 
 Only a few days before the Vicksburg affair 
 two white men- and seven Negroes were lynched 
 about forty m-iles from Vicksburg on the charge 
 of attempting to organize an insurrection of 
 slaves. Featherstonhaugh quotes the following 
 account of it from a newspaper: 
 
 "Twenty miles from this place [Jackson, in 
 Madison County] a company of white men and 
 Negroes were detected before they did any mis 
 chief. On Sunday last they hung two steam doc 
 tors, one named Cotton and the other Saunders; 
 also, seven Negroes without law or gospel, and 
 from respectable authority we learn that there 
 were two -preachers and ten Negroes to be hanged 
 this day." 
 
 That such lynchings were exceptional in the 
 South before about 1855, or even before the war, 
 is shown by the fact that these cases were men- 
 
22 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 tioned by several different travelers and the papers 
 of the time as well. I examined with more or less 
 care books of travel too numerous to mention, 
 scores of them, for the period between 1830 and 
 1 860. Those travelers, especially, who visited the 
 South between 1838 and 1854 are eloquently si 
 lent on the subject. I examined The Liberator 1 
 for 1839 and 1840, but found mention of only one 
 Negro who was put to death by a rnob. No State 
 was given so I am not sure whether it was in the 
 North or the South. However, it gave five in 
 stances of Negroes legally executed in the South; 
 one for rape, one for arson, one for firing on two 
 white men and threatening two others, and two 
 for connection with an attempt at insurrection. 
 Two more cases may be given: that of a Negro in 
 New Orleans suspected of rape and murder, and 
 one sentenced in Kentucky for rape upon two 
 white women. 
 
 Again, a search of The Liberator for 1848 and 
 1849; Niles Register, July, i845-January, 
 1849; The Vicksburg Sentinel, and The Augusta 
 (Va.) Democrat, July, i846-January, 1849, re " 
 veal but two lynchings: One a Negro "hung by 
 a committee of citizens" at Bentonville, Arkansas; 
 
 7 In using The Liberator one needs to be careful, for the same 
 instance is often found to be given two or three different times, 
 weeks, even months apart. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 23 
 
 the other, a white man named Yeoman, in Florida, 
 for robbery. The latter was given both by N lies 
 Register and a book of travel. However, one Ne 
 gro was sentenced to death in the South for rape, 
 and ten legally executed, the majority for mur 
 der. 
 
 As one might naturally expect, The Liberator 
 for 1855 and 1856 shows several lynchings in the 
 South. At least six Negroes were lynched in the 
 South during these years, two for rape (one or 
 whom was burned) and four for murder (one of 
 w-hom also was burned). Two of these criminals 
 were lynched in Arkansas by a mob, after being 
 acquitted by the court, led by the sons of their 
 master, whom they had killed. Two white men 
 were also lynched: one, in Texas, for stealing Ne 
 groes, and the other, in Missouri, for poisoning 
 a spring. Moreover, eighteen Negroes were 
 legally executed in the South : two for rape, and 
 nearly all the others for murder. In addition, 
 seven Negroes were mentioned as under sentence 
 of death. 
 
 A quotation from Bancroft clearly shows that 
 the number of lynchings in the South at this time 
 hardly compares with the number in the West: 
 
 "Out of 535 homicides which occurred in Cali 
 fornia during the year 1855," he says, "there were 
 
24 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 but seven legal executions and forty-nine informal 
 
 ones." 8 
 
 One does not need to go far in order to find the 
 causes of the increase of lynching in the South 
 after 1850, or for the disorder and commotion 
 both North and South as,well. 
 
 In 1 850 the Fugitive Slave law was passed. The 
 endeavor to enforce it gave great impetus to the 
 abolition cause in the North; this reacted on 
 the South. Indeed, many of the same men who 
 were ready to hang Garrison in 1835, now became 
 his earnest adherents. This great change in the 
 feeling of the North opened the way for the en 
 thusiastic reception of "Uncle Tom s Cabin" 
 when, in 1852, It was published in book form. The 
 author of this book ingeniously made the isolated 
 and exceptional incidents of slavery appear as the 
 general condition of the institution; however, as 
 for the chief character of the book, Uncle Tom, 
 it is very doubtful whether the pure Negro race 
 ever produced such an individual. Nevertheless, 
 this piece of fiction was read by hundreds of thou 
 sands both in the North and in foreign countries 
 as if it were "Gospel truth." 
 
 Another thing that added to the excitement and 
 helped the abolitionists was the Dred Scott Decis- 
 
 8 H. H. Bancroft, "Popular Tribunals," Vol. I, p. 749. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 25 
 
 ion, given in 1857. Then, in 1859, came "Help 
 ers Impending Crisis," a book of great influence. 
 At last, in 1859, as if to "cap the climax," the 
 whole country was startled by John Brown s Raid. 
 After this, the greater part of the South, suddenly, 
 became an extremely unhealthful place for both 
 abolitionists and unruly, criminal, or insurrection 
 ary Negroes. 
 
 "The New Reign of Terror," mentioned above, 
 published early in 1860, not many months after 
 John Brown s Raid, has the following, which indi 
 cates the then feeling in the South: 
 
 "In almost every city, town, and village south 
 of the border slave-holding States, Vigilance Com 
 mittees have been appointed to put to inquisition 
 every Northern man who makes his appearance 
 in the place, whether as foe or friend. Even 
 harmless young women, who have gone from 
 Northern boarding schools to be teachers of 
 Southern children have been waited upon by re 
 spectable and even clerical gentlemen with the 
 polite hint that the sooner they leave the State 
 the better for their safety." 
 
 The Augusta Dispatch* warned the South 
 against "strange loafing white men, and especially 
 
 "Quoted by Liberator, Aug. 24, 1860. 
 
26 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 the one-horse invalid preachers from the North," 
 for it said: 
 
 "We would guard well against imposition from 
 transient candles of the Lord lest we suffer them 
 to light the fires of insurrection, instead of bearing 
 aloft the light of the Gospel." 
 
 Indeed, in man} - Southern States there were 
 rumors of Negro insurrections. In Mississippi, 
 Georgia, and Alabama plots of Negro insurrec 
 tions were discovered in 1860. In Texas, how 
 ever, the greatest excitement prevailed. What 
 was supposed to be a State-wide insurrection was 
 discovered. Dallas and other towns were partly 
 burned before it was checked. 
 
 The excited state of the public mind in some in 
 stances may have suspected plots of insurrection 
 when none existed. However that may be, 
 wherever and whenever such a plot was dis 
 covered, investigation nearly always pointed to the 
 abolitionists as the instigators. Indeed, even when 
 Negroes were insubordinate and refractory on a 
 plantation, it was often found that they had been 
 tampered with by abolitionists. 
 
 Occasionally, when such things were proved 
 against an abolitionist beyond the possibility of a 
 doubt, he would be immediately hanged to the 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 27 
 
 limb of some convenient tree. Several were so 
 dealt with in connection with the insurrection in 
 Texas. As a rule, however, when the proof was 
 not so conclusive, a severe whipping, or a coat of 
 tar and feathers, would be given him, and then 
 he would be forcefully admonished to leave the 
 South. 
 
 One cannot but reach the conclusion that the 
 anti-slavery agitation was detrimental to the hap 
 piness and welfare of the slaves, and to the free 
 Negroes as well. Of the latter there were in the 
 slave States (by the fifties) something like 225,- 
 ooo. The majority of these were indolent, miser 
 able, and often vicious. Finally some States passed 
 laws giving them the option of leaving such State 
 or of being sold into slavery. 
 
 Nearly everywhere more stringent regulations 
 and laws 10 were made both for slaves and for free 
 Negroes. The slaves were deprived of many for- 
 mer privileges, the enjoyment of which by the Ne 
 groes might be dangerous for the white people. 
 They were more closely guarded and much more 
 harshly dealt with when guilty of offenses or 
 crimes. Indeed, three Negroes in as many States 
 were burned in 1859 for the murder of their mas- 
 
 10 The attitude toward both slaves and free Negroes varied 
 in different Southern States; but as a result of the anti-slavery 
 agitation, as we approach 1860 the more severe it becomes. 
 
28 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 ters, one of these was burned before 1,500 or 
 2,000 people. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is quite evident that through 
 out the period from 1830 to 1860 the lynching of 
 Negroes was sporadic, and usually was resorted 
 to only for exceptional reasons. Generally the 
 law was allowed to take its course. However, it 
 is also plain that after 1850 the law was relied 
 on less and less, while the people more and more 
 assumed the initiative in such matters as the ex 
 citement increased. What was true as regards the 
 Negro was undoubtedly true also as regards the 
 treatment of the abolitionists. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 LYNCHING DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND THE 
 CARPET-BAG RULE 
 
 IT is said that an Abolitionist Society by a bribe 
 of $3,000 induced the slave valet of Henry Clay 
 to leave him and go North. The Society thought 
 that this large sum would be v/ell spent in produc 
 ing what would appear to be such a noteworthy 
 fiample of dissatisfaction with the condition of 
 slavery. Though the Negro accepted the money 
 and left, he soon repented and returned to his 
 master. Thereupon Clay gave him $3,000 (for 
 the Negro had long since spent the bribe), telling 
 him that when he had returned the sum to those 
 who had tried to corrupt him that he would be re 
 stored to his master s service. The money was 
 given back as directed and Clay then took the 
 Negro back as his valet. 
 
 Such x a case was, no doubt, exceptional. In 
 one way or another, however, the abolitionists 
 produced more or less dissatisfaction among the 
 slaves and were almost wholly responsible for the 
 
 29 
 
30 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 escape to the North of something like an average 
 of 2,000 a year. The Negroes did not always find 
 conditions in the North so favorable as they had 
 been led to suppose. As a consequence it did not 
 infrequently happen that a "runaway" Negro 
 would become dissatisfied and return of his own 
 free will to his master in the South. 
 
 During the Civil War those slaves who for any 
 reason had become dissatisfied with their condition 
 embraced the first opportunity to gather in the 
 wake of the Union army, mainly, no doubt, to 
 shun work. 
 
 While this was true as an exception, the great 
 mass of the slaves remained quietly at work on 
 the plantations. Thus, instead of creating an 
 tagonism between the two races, the War served 
 rather to foster and cement a good feeling between 
 them; indeed, throughout its darkest days they 
 lived harmoniously side by side. Elizabeth Col 
 lins, an Englishwoman, who was in South Caro 
 lina the greater part of the War, says: 
 
 "In regard to the slave population of Charles 
 ton, I may say that they appear to be, almost 
 without ^xception, happy and contented." 1 
 
 Indeed, an examination of several Southern 
 
 Elizabeth Collins, "Memories of the Southern States," p. 46. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 31 
 
 newspapers and some books of travel 2 revealed 
 but two possible cases of lynching of Negroes in 
 the South during the War : A Mr. Harris, Uchec, 
 Alabama, was murdered by six of his Negroes, 
 whereupon: 
 
 "The citizens of the county about ninety in num 
 ber, after consultation, determined upon the im 
 mediate execution of the murderers/ 3 
 
 The other case was in Mississippi: Some Ne 
 groes were hung, seemingly, for trying to get on 
 a steamboat in order to escape from slavery. 4 The 
 Liberal or 5 mentions two instances of Negroes 
 being lynched in New York in 1863 : A negro in 
 jail at Newburg, on suspicion of rape, was taken 
 out by a mob "who pounded him almost to death 
 and then hung him on a tree until he was finished." 
 Two were also lynched in the City of New York, 
 one of whom, it seems, was roasted alive. 
 
 In no place was there any mention of any Ne 
 groes being lynched for rape in the South during 
 the War. Indeed, it is often said that during the 
 
 a The Frankfort (Ky.) Commonwealth, The Charleston (S. 
 C.) Mercury, The Louisville (Ky.) Democrat for 1863 and 
 1864, The L)aily News (Savannah), for 1862 and one Northern 
 paper, The Liberator (Boston) for 1863. The books of travel 
 include Elizabeth Collins "Memories of the Southern States." 
 
 Savannah News, June 9, 1862. 
 
 * The Liberator, Feh. 22, 1863. 
 id., June 26 and July 24, 1863. 
 
32 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Civil War when the white men were nearly all 
 away from home, leaving the white women almost 
 at the mercy of the slaves, no Negro was guilty of 
 a criminal outrage against them. 6 It may be true. 
 Viewed in the light of the sporadic occurrence of 
 the crime under the restraining influence of slavery 
 before the War, and of its quite frequent occur 
 rence sometime after, it is both remarkable and 
 suggestive. 
 
 It may truly be regarded as evidence not only of 
 the generally fair treatment that, according to un 
 prejudiced travelers, they were receiving in sla 
 very, as well as a tribute to their fidelity, but it 
 also makes it obvious that the Negro and the 
 Southern white man might have continued in har 
 mony mutually advantageous after the War, had 
 both been free from outside influences. 
 
 Almost immediately after the War, however, 
 the South began to "swarm" with harebrained 
 preachers and teachers from the North, ostensibly 
 to elevate the Negro; as a rule, though, they 
 served no better purpose than to aid in setting the 
 Negro against his former master. For, it seems, 
 they cared not what became of the white man so 
 they secured the "salvation" of the Negro, en 
 tirely ignoring that saying of Scripture which is to 
 the effect that those who fail to serve first their 
 6 Grimkc, "Lynching of Negroes," p. 29. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 33 
 
 own house or people have denied the faith and arc 
 worse than infidels. 7 
 
 Such a condition of affairs was promoted by 
 Congress, who, at about the close of the War es 
 tablished the so-called "Freedmen s Bureau," and 
 shortly after passed the Civil Rights bill, both of 
 which tended to cause friction between the two 
 races. However, as compared with that of a few 
 years later, the trouble does not appear to have 
 been very serious notwithstanding exaggerated ac 
 counts which were reported to Northern papers. 
 In most parts of the South and at most times for 
 something like two years after the War, there 
 was comparative quiet and safety. 
 
 The crjmes of the Negroes during these years 
 were for the most part of a trifling kind, petty 
 thievery and robbery. However, it is true they 
 committed crimes of a very serious nature, also. 
 Notwithstanding, the law was generally allowed 
 to have its way. Harriett Martineau observes in 
 one of her books that nothing struck her more than 
 the patience of the slave-owners of the South with 
 their slaves. Even during the first years after 
 the War a patient and even indulgent spirit was 
 often manifested by the leading whites toward the 
 Negroes as to their shortcomings and sometimes 
 it extended to their serious crimes. 
 
 7 1 Timothy, V, 8. 
 
34 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 For instance, in 1866, near Rome, Georgia, a 
 whole family consisting of a man, wife, and two 
 daughters, were murdered, and one of the women, 
 ravished. The newspaper account ends with: 8 
 
 "It was difficult to restrain the people from in 
 flicting summary punishment upon them." 
 
 For such a crime now, a Negro would likely be 
 burned alive. The same paper quotes the follow 
 ing from The Raleigh Progress: 
 
 "Charles Wethers, the rascally Negro, who at 
 tempted to commit a rape upon a highly respect 
 able young lady of this county some weeks ago, 
 was placed in the stocks this morning for the last 
 time, having completed his sit still in the burning 
 sun for two hours during each day of this week. 
 He was returned to jail and will remain in the 
 custody of the sheriff till the workhouse is ready, 
 in which institution he will labor at five dollars per 
 month until the fine, $200, and the cost of the trial 
 have been liquidated by muscle." 
 
 Would it now be possible for any one to take 
 such a tolerant, if not even good-natured, view 
 of such an affair? 
 
 * Richmond Times, Oct 24, 1866. 
 9 1 bid., Sept. ii, 1866. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 35 
 
 In order to make a comparison I have selected 
 for study, here, two three-year periods: First, 
 1866-7-8, including the year before and year after 
 the passing of the Reconstruction Act of 1867 for 
 the South; second, 1873-4-5, when the carpet-bag 
 rule, which resulted from the Reconstruction pol 
 icy of Congress, was in full operation. Although 
 the number of lynchings during the first and sec 
 ond periods are in striking contrast, even this but 
 faintly indicates the great change from the com 
 parative tranquillity of the first (as illustrated by 
 newspapers) 10 to the confusion, chaos, and crime 
 of the second. 
 
 In 1866, one Negro was lynched in the South 
 for attempted rape, another was sentenced to 
 death for rape, and one was sentenced to the peni 
 tentiary for a like crime. Also, near Srnithiiela, 
 Ohio, Negroes committed outrages on two girls. 
 In Kentucky three white men were lynched for 
 murder, and three more were put to death by a 
 
 "Newspapers examined for first period: Richmond Times, 
 1866; Richmond Times, Baltimore American, and the AVtt- Or 
 leans Times, 1867; and the Sun (Baltimore), Leader (Balti 
 more) and Atlanta News Era, 1868; second, Missouri Republi 
 can, Baltimore American, 1873; Richmond Enquirer, Baltimore 
 American, St. Louis Republican, 1874; Baltimore American, 
 St. Louis Republican, Richmond Enquirer, and New Orleans 
 Republican, 1875. I do not claim that I found every case of 
 lynching in the South for either period, but as the same case 
 would often be found in two or three different papers, I be 
 lieve that I found practically all. 
 
3 6 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 band of regulators. No doubt Kentucky was in 
 fluenced in such matters by the example of the 
 West. 
 
 The following occurred in 1867: one Negro 
 lynched in Missouri by Germans for the murder 
 of a German; a Negro, given sixty lashes in Dela 
 ware for assaulting two white women; three Ne 
 groes legally hanged at Charleston, S. C., for out 
 rage. In the North, two or more Negro soldiers, 
 deserters, lynched in Kansas for the rape of a 
 white woman; four white men lynched in Indiana 
 for murder and robbery; thirty men hanged in 
 three Kansas counties by Vigilantes during the 
 winter and spring. 
 
 For 1868 : Two Negroes who confessed to the 
 horrible murder of a white family in Mississippi 
 were taken from a sheriff by a band of Negroes 
 and burned; 11 one Negro was lynched in Ken 
 tucky for rape and another in Maryland for at 
 tempted rape; two Negroes, in jail for murder, 
 lynched in Mississippi after boasting that the 
 Loyal League would prevent their execution, even 
 if convicted; a man lynched in Tennessee after he 
 
 11 This lynching of the two Negroes by Negroes is the only 
 case I found where Negroes alone did the lynching in cases of 
 crime against the whites. Several times during the seventies, 
 however, Negroes are found helping the whites to lynch some 
 Negro guilty of crime. It shows, I believe, that in some places, 
 at least, the Negroes were yet in accord with the Southern 
 whites. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 37 
 
 had confessed to the murder of three men at dif 
 ferent times. In North Carolina over thirty Ne 
 gro desperadoes, who confessed to several mur 
 ders and robberies, were captured and put in jail. 
 Ten Adam s Express robbers were lynched in In 
 diana; two men lynched for murder in Illinois 
 and one for stealing horses in Colorado. 12 
 
 In 1873, however, six Negroes were lynched in 
 the South for rape; three were legally executed 
 for the same crime; one, condemned to be hung, 
 and three awaiting trial in all, thirteen Negroes 
 charged with rape. In Louisiana, three Negroes 
 were lynched in the presence of 1,000 people for 
 an atrocious murder; four men were also lynched 
 in Louisiana for cattle-stealing, and another in 
 the same State for arson. Also, one white man 
 was lynched in Tennessee by fifteen Negroes. Two 
 Negroes were legally hanged for murder, one 
 in Kentucky, the other in Virginia. In the North: 
 One white man was lynched in Ohio for rape; a 
 Negro and a white man were lynched in Nebraska 
 for robbery, also a Negro for murder; two men 
 were lynched in Montana for murder and two in 
 Kansas for supposed murder. 
 
 During the year 1874, eleven Negroes and one 
 
 "So far as the North and West are concerned, I simply hap 
 pened to find such without any special search. I was searching 
 carefully for lynchings in the South, etc. 
 
3 8 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 white man were lynched in the South for rape, 
 while two Negroes were legally executed for the 
 crime. In two instances, one in Arkansas, the 
 other in Missouri, both Negroes and whites took 
 part in lynching Negroes. Three Negroes were 
 also lynched in the South for murder and two for 
 riot; and four Negroes in Tennessee for threat 
 ening to kill some whites and to sack and burn a 
 town. In addition, ten white men were lynched, 
 four in Arkansas and one in Missouri for horse- 
 stealing, the others in the States of the Southwest 
 for scandalous murders. In the North, two Ne 
 groes were lynched for murder, and two Negroes 
 in Pennsylvania and one white man in Kansas for 
 rape. In the North, also, seven white men, one 
 Mexican and one Chinaman were lynched for mur 
 der, and one white man for horse-stealing and an 
 other for thievery. 
 
 In 1875, the l ast Y ear f tne second period, 
 nine Negroes were lynched in the South for rape 
 and four for attempted rape; also, one Negro 
 guilty of rape, and another who attempted rape, 
 escaped, in all, fifteen rape cases. 10 One man 
 and two Negroes were lynched for murder. Also 
 one Negro was legally executed for rape, eleven 
 
 "In 1875, there was another interesting case in which both 
 Negroes and whites, about equal in number, lynched a Negro 
 for attempted rape of a white woman. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 39 
 
 for murder, and one case cause not given. In the 
 North, one Negro was lynched, cause not given, 
 and one Negro guilty of rape, escaped. Three 
 men, also, were lynched for murder, one for arson, 
 and one in New York for robbery. 
 
 By comparing the two three-year periods it will 
 be found that during 1 866-8 there were seven 
 cases of rape or attempted rape by Negroes in 
 the South. In three instances they were lynched 
 and in four, the law was allowed to take its course. 
 While for 1873-5, twenty-six Negroes were 
 lynched for rape, and four for attempted rape. Six- 
 Negroes were legally executed for rape, one was 
 under sentence of death for the crime, three were 
 awaiting trial and two escaped in all forty-two 
 Negroes in the South were charged with rape 
 during the second period. This was just six times 
 as many as for the first period. Further, ten 
 times the number of Negroes were lynched for 
 rape in the South during 1873-5 as during 1 866-8, 
 or but 43 per cent of those charged with the 
 crime during the first period as against 73 -f- per 
 cent for the second. 
 
 That this^ wonderful change was due almost \^ 
 wholly to misgovernment at Washington, no one 
 can doubt. Surely, History was never obliged 
 to record a more colossal blunder in statesmanship 
 than that of Congressional Reconstruction. Nor 
 
40 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 is it likely that any civilized people were ever be 
 fore called upon to endure a system of misrule 
 and legalized plunder equal to that which such 
 legislation, maybe unwitting .y, paved the way for 
 inaugurating at the South. 
 
 The confusion, turmoil, and strife that it cre 
 ated is only too well known. Not only did it re 
 sult in a cleavage of the social structure, setting 
 one part against the other, but it also caused as 
 much or more financial damage to the South than 
 the War itself. For instance, four and one-half 
 years of Reconstruction, it is said, cost the State 
 of Louisiana alone over $106,000,000; while the 
 assessed valuation of property in New Orleans 
 dropped from $147,000,000 to $88,500,000 dur 
 ing eight years of carpet-bag rule. 
 
 It was made easy for political-fortune hunters 
 from the North, with little concern for the good of 
 either the whites or the blacks of the South, to 
 gain position and power through cultivating the 
 friendship of the ignorant, credulous, newly en 
 franchised Negroes. This they assiduously did 
 from the start. At the same time they left noth 
 ing undone which might create and foster among 
 the Negroes a feeling of ill will against and dis 
 trust of the Southern whites. If their former 
 masters came into power, the Negroes were some 
 times told, they would be reduced to slavery. The 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 41 
 
 Negroes love of display was appealed to by en 
 couraging them to form secret societies, to make 
 public parades, and hold celebrations which tend 
 ed to create a race consciousness and race soli 
 darity. This, of course, was for the purpose of 
 helping the carpet-baggers in perpetuating their 
 power. JH[f one considers the conditions, what else 
 could be expected but riots and lynchings? 
 
 If the control of the Negroes in shivery times,, 
 with all the advantages to such end embodied in. 
 the institution of slavery, had often been one of 
 anxiety to the South, how fearful must have been 
 the conditions now that they were not only free 
 from such control but enfranchised and taught by 
 their new friends to be self-assertive, even if noc 
 sometimes encouraged in acts of violence against 
 the Southern white people? It does, indeed, seem 
 that a great part of the Negroes almost ran wild 
 for they were free, but did not understand how 
 to use their freedom. So, lazy, worthless, rob 
 bing, murdering gangs of them went prowling 
 through the South. For it is as natural for the 
 Negro to sit in idleness, or shoot crap, to go on 
 marauding expeditions or connive at insurrections, 
 as it is for the white man to establish courts, col 
 lect libraries, and found schools. 
 
 Can History prove that the Negro, during his 
 thousands of years of contact with superior races, 
 
42 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 has ever yet risen to the dignity of stable and 
 progressive self-government? Even Liberia, with 
 all the help that has been given her, is gradually 
 sinking to the level of the surrounding barbarism. 
 And what of San Domingo? Indeed, everywhere 
 the tendency of the pure Negro is to fall when the 
 white man s props are removed. 
 
 To return: If there ever was a time when the 
 best elements in a society were justified in taking 
 the law into their own hands, that time was during 
 carpet-bag rule. The wonder now is that such 
 a people as those of the South should have acted 
 with even the moderation that appears. 
 
 That some of the carpet-bag governments were 
 absolutely corrupt goes without saying. "Get all 
 you can in any way you can" seemed to be the 
 idea, justice was for sale. In some instances, it 
 is said, the criminal elements knew that any one 
 could commit crime and escape punishment for a 
 money consideration. A few examples may be 
 of interest: 14 A man who was accused of out 
 rageously murdering a woman, although caught 
 and imprisoned, was released, it is said, without 
 even a trial, for $800. Moreover, a Negro who 
 had been sentenced by a court to the penitentiary 
 was released and returned home on the same train 
 as the sheriff who took him there. Indeed, the ac- 
 
 " St. Louis Republican, Sept. 14, 1875. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 43 
 
 cusation was made that a certain carpet-bag, gov 
 ernor, in order to help the Republican Party, con 
 nived at the killing of a number of Negroes in 
 such a way that the blame might fall on the South 
 ern whites. At one place, 15 a court in passing 
 judgment on a convicted Negro rapist merely sent 
 him to the penitentiary, which so enraged the peo 
 ple of the community that they took him from jail 
 and hanged him near the place of his crime. 
 
 In order that one may the better understand the 
 reason for the development of the lynching spirit 
 in the South the following quotations are given : 
 
 I. u New Iberia, La., Sept. 13, the Parish of 
 Vermilion for years has been infested with cattle 
 thieves. The people have been unable to obtain 
 redress by process of law and last month they or 
 ganized a vigilant committee as a last resort. A 
 large number of thieves and their confederates 
 were given notice to leave within a specified time 
 but instead of doing so armed themselves and 
 threatened to destroy the town of Abbeville. The 
 Vigilantes pressed them and they scattered. It is 
 reported that three of the band were hung on 
 Friday. . . . All kinds of vague rumors are afloat 
 concerning the number executed." 10 
 
 15 St. Louis Republican, July 22, 1875. 
 "Missouri Republican, Sept. 14, 1873. 
 
44 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 II. "The right of a robbed people to revolt 
 against robbery. ... In Edgefield, S. C., a few 
 days ago the country was startled by a resolution 
 adopted at a meeting of the citizens of the county, 
 which declared that, Parties black or white who 
 may be caught in the act of firing any house in this 
 county shall be dealt with in accordance with the 
 precedents of Lynch lav/, which is a part of the 
 unwritten law of America. 
 
 "Edgefield people present a statement of facts 
 which while not justifying resort to Lynch law 
 shows a strong provocation for it. Just before 
 the November election, the most prominent white 
 Radical of the county is said to have advised the 
 Negroes to burn the houses of the whites; and that 
 this advice was not lost on them seems to be 
 proved by the fact that thirteen citizens were 
 burned out of their homes by incendiaries between 
 the 7th and iQth of December. The Radicals 
 have a large majority and they have used their 
 power without mercy. 
 
 "No security for persons or property, for the 
 Ncgrccs and poor whites who act with them had 
 a majority on every jury so that it was impossible 
 to convict pne of their number no matter how plain 
 the evidence. And even if convicted was prompt 
 ly pardoned by the infamous executive, Moses. 
 To such an extent was this carried that Carpenter, 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 45 
 
 the Republican Judge of the circuit, announced 
 that he would not permit the State to be put to 
 the expense of trying criminals who were pardoned 
 as soon as convicted. The citizens assert that 
 Lynch law is the only remedy for the evils they 
 endure and therefore they proclaim it. They may 
 be wrong but they are more sinned against than 
 sinning." 17 
 
 III. "Augusta, Ga., Aug. 23. Several promi 
 nent Negroes connected with the troubles in the 
 counties below have made confessions. Jake 
 Moorman, First Lieutenant of a Negro company, 
 testifies on oath that 19 counties were to be em 
 braced in the insurrection. All white men and 
 ugly white women were to be killed. Pretty white 
 women were to be spared and the land and spoils 
 were to be divided among the Negroes. 13 All who 
 have so far confessed testify to substantially the 
 same as Jake Moorman." 10 
 
 17 Editorial, St. Louis Republican, Jan. i, 1875. 
 
 1( *This recalls an account of the Texan Negro insurrection of 
 1860 as quoted by The Liberator of July 21, 1860: "The old 
 females were to be slaughtered along -with the men, and the 
 young and handsome women were to be parcelled out among 
 those infamous scoundrels. They had even gone so far as to 
 designate their choice. . . . The Negroes have been incited to 
 these infernal proceedings by the abolitionists." 
 
 19 St. Louis Republican, Aug. 24, 1875. Accounts of riots in 
 Mississippi, in which several were killed, were given by the 
 same paper, Sept. 5, 7, 1875. 
 
46 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 However, in some States, for instance, Vir 
 ginia, Maryland, and Delaware, v/here the 
 Southern whites had control, order was preserved 
 and comparative quiet prevailed, while the lynch 
 ing of Negroes was sporadic, not only during this 
 early period, but even until the present. Discord 
 and collisions between the two races have been 
 almost unknown. 
 
 y" It is doubtful if any greater mistake was made 
 irt deintn^fwith the Southeaster the War than in 
 disfranchising the leading Southern whites and 
 granting the Negro suffrage. The Negro might 
 ijU- h cn^jy e n the_b allot graduallyjisJie proved 
 himself fitted for it without any Detriment. But 
 considering the Face as a whole^^t may be put 
 ting it too mild it may be too great a compli 
 ment to the Negro, too disparaging to the in 
 telligence of the average white boy, to say that 
 
 were no more fit_for^thejballot than seven-year-old 
 jxjys*., Nor was it any moreTeaTorTaBTeTo expect 
 them to act the part of men in using it, or in politi 
 cal affairs, than to expect it from seven-year-old 
 boys. They were, and to a large extent are yet, 
 a race in its childhood. 
 
 President Lincoln, however, seems to have un 
 derstood better than any one else of his party 
 what was for the best interest of both races: That 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 47 
 
 the Negroes, at least, for a while, with proper 
 guarantees and restrictions, should be in a posi 
 tion of tutelage or apprenticeship to the whites. 
 Indeed, there is little doubt that he expected the 
 Southern States to make some such temporary ar 
 rangements, for in a proclamation, December 8, 
 1863, in reference to the reestablishment of State 
 governments by several States of the farther 
 South, he says: 
 
 "That any provision which may be adopted by 
 such State government, in relation to the freed 
 people of such State which shall rccjgnize and 
 declare their permanent freedom, provide for 
 their education, and which may yet be consistent 
 as a temporary arrangement with their present 
 condition as a laboring, landless and homeless 
 class, will not be objected to by the National Ex 
 
 ecutive." 
 
 But unfortunately for both races in the South, 
 Lincoln was assassinated. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 LYNCHING FROM THE END OF CARPET-BAG RULE 
 TO THE PRESENT TIME 
 
 BEGINNING in 1885, The Chicago Daily Trib 
 une 1 has kept a record of lynchings to the present 
 time. Although statistics are to many very dry 
 reading, nevertheless, to others, who arc more im 
 pressed by facts than fancy, they are of the most 
 intense interest. However that may be, here they 
 
 1 Lynchinps in the country for the past thirty-two years ac 
 cording to The Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 30, 1916: 
 
 1885 184 1901 130 
 
 iSS6 138 1902 96 
 
 1887 122 1903 104 
 
 1888 142 1904 87 
 
 1889 176. 1905 60 
 
 1890 127 1906 60 
 
 1891 191 3:907 65 
 
 1892 20$ A 90S 100 
 
 1893 2OO 1909 87 
 
 1894 190 1910 74 
 
 1895 171 1911 71 
 
 1896 131 1912 64 
 
 1897 106 1913 48 
 
 1898 127 1914 54 
 
 1899 107 1915 98 
 
 1900 115 1916 58 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 49 
 
 appear to be indispensable to any satisfactory con 
 sideration of the subject. 
 
 The following statistics which arc based upon 
 the records of The Chicago Dally Tribune are 
 compiled by periods : excepting the last which is 
 for four years, these periods were taken almost in 
 discriminately for two years together, beginning 
 with 1885 and 1886: 
 
 LYNCHINGS AND LEGAL EXECUTIONS FOR 1885 
 AND 1886 
 
 In the United States there were 314: 159 
 whites, 149 Negroes, and 6 Chinamen; 62 in the 
 North, 252 in the South. Of those lynched in 
 the South, 144 were Negroes; nearly all the 
 whites were lynched in the Southwest for horse- 
 stealing and murder; the Negroes were lynched 
 for the following causes: 51, rape; 65, murder; 
 12, incendiarism; 6, arson; 3, cattle and horse- 
 stealing; i, self-defense; i, robbery; i, threat of 
 political exposures; i, assault; 2 cutting levees; 
 i, cause not mentioned. There were also 191 legal 
 executions in the country; 72 Negroes in the South, 
 63 for murder and 9 for rape. 
 
50 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 LYNCHINGS AND LEGAL EXECUTIONS FOR THE 
 YEARS 1892 AND 1893 
 
 The whole number for the country was 436: 
 309 Negroes, 110 whites, 5 Mexicans, and 8 In 
 dians. 53 lynchings in the North. 287 Negroes 
 in the South: 74, rape; 18, attempted rape; 5, al 
 leged rape; i, attempted rape total, 88 for rape. 
 99, murder. Nearly all the remainder for mur 
 derous assault, alleged or complicity in murder, 
 arson, etc. 231 legal executions. 127 of these 
 were Negroes in the South: 1 18, murder; 6, rape; 
 3, arson. In the North, 9 Negroes were legally 
 executed for murder. 
 
 LYNCHINGS AND LEGAL EXECUTIONS FOR 1901 
 AND 1902 
 
 Lynchings for the country, 231. 29, North; 
 202, South. 194 Negroes; 35 whites; 2 Indians; 
 i Chinaman. 185 Negroes lynched in the South: 
 40, rape; 19, attempted rape total, 59 for rape; 
 63, murder; 7, murderous assault; 4, complicity 
 in murder; 3, suspected murder; 3, implicated in 
 murder; 2, sheltering murderers; i, attempted 
 murder; 6, theft; 5, Negroes quarrel of profit 
 sharing; 4, race prejudice; i, making threats; i, 
 lawlessness; i, mistaken identity; remainder, 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 51 
 
 causes not given. In the North, 9 Negroes were 
 lynched, 5 for rape and 4 for murder. There 
 were 262 legal executions, of which 162 were Ne 
 groes. Execution of Negroes in South: 128, 
 murder; 14, rape; 4, attempted rape. In the 
 North, 1 6 Negroes were executed for murder, 
 nearly all in Pennsylvania. 
 
 LYNCIIINGS AND LEGAL EXECUTIONS FOR 1906 
 AND 1907 
 
 For the United States, 132. 3, North; 129, 
 South. Negroes lynched in the South, 129: 27, 
 rape; 25, attempted rape; 2 rape and murder; i, 
 suspected rape total, 55 for rape; 2 32, murder; 
 13, murderous assault; 5, race riot; remainder, 
 minor causes. There were also 189 legal execu 
 tions. Of these 115 were Negroes in the South, 
 15 for rape and 100 for murder. 
 
 LYNCIIINGS AND LEGAL EXECUTIONS FOR 1911- 
 1914, INCLUSIVE 
 
 During these four years there were 235 lynch- 
 ings in the United States. 1 1, North; 224, South. 
 
 a It seems fair to count rape, alleged rape, attempted rape, and 
 so on, all as rape; for it often happens that a Negro commits 
 rape and escapes entirely. As an example, see account of the 
 lynching of Ed. Berry (Baltimore Sun, Aug. 27, 1915). Berry 
 confessed to twelve cases of criminal assault, each victim being 
 a white woman. 
 
52 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 In the North, 5 Negroes and 6 whites were 
 lynched; in the South, 215 Negroes, 8 whites, and 
 i Mexican. The causes for the lynching of Ne 
 groes in the South were as follows: 33, rape; 8, 
 attempted rape; 2, alleged rape, total, 43 for 
 rape; 117, murder; 14, murderous assault; 3, 
 complicity in murder; I, suspicion of murder; I, 
 alleged murder; 5, arson; 5, race prejudice; 8, 
 insulting white women; 1 1, by night riders in Ken 
 tucky; i, refusal to pay note; I, race troubles; i, 
 threat to kill; i, assault and robbery; i, horse- 
 stealing; i, annoying white women.; remainder, 
 cause not given. The number of legal executions 
 in the whole country for the four years, were 381. 
 Of these 136 were Negroes, 1 12 in the South, and 
 24 for murder in the North. In the South: 93, 
 murder; 10, rape; 2, attempted rape; i, burglary; 
 4, cause not given. 
 
 Now, adverting to the statistics for 1873-5, 
 not far removed from the beginning of the Negro- 
 lynching disorder, it is found that of the 44 Ne 
 groes lynched in the South during the three years, 
 30, or 70 per cent, were lynched for rape; while 
 but: 14, or 30+ per cent, were lynched for all 
 other causes combined. Thus it is seen that at 
 this time rape was practically the only cause for 
 the lynching of Negroes in the South. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 53 
 
 Moreover, it is quite evident from the statistics 
 above given, beginning with 1885, that rape has 
 continued to be, if not the whole cause for the 
 lynching of Negroes in the South, anyhow almost 
 that, with other crimes as merely incidental: 
 
 The three pairs of years, 1885-6, 1901-2, and 
 1906-7, show 165 Negroes lynched in the 
 South for rape, 160 for murder, and 127 for all 
 other causes. Here rape takes the lead. Adding 
 to these figures the statistics for 1892-3, the num 
 bers for the four pairs of year are: 259, murder; 
 253, rape; and 227, minor causes. Again, adding 
 for the four years 1911-14, the result for the 
 twelve years, is: 376, or 39+ per cent, mur 
 der; 296, or 31+ per cent, rape; and 282, or 
 29+ per cent, minor causes. This would seem to 
 indicate that rape was not even the leading cause. 
 
 However, according to the statistics for the 
 twelve years under consideration, 502, or 57+ per 
 cent of the Negroes in the South who committed 
 murder during these years were legally executed, 
 and but 376, or 43 per cent were lynched; 
 while for rape, only 60, or i6-{- per cent were 
 legally executed, and 296, or 84 per cent were 
 lynched. 3 The proportion may be stated thus: 
 
 3 This argument assumes, of course, that all Negroes who 
 murdered whites in the South were either lynched or legally exe 
 cuted, aiid that all Negroes caught who committed rape against 
 white women were likewise dealt with. It seems to be about 
 as fair in one case as the other to assume this. 
 
54 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 57:43:116:84=7+. This shows that a Negro is 
 more than seven limes as liable to be lynched in 
 the South for rape than even for murder. 
 
 Indeed, the belief of the average white man 
 of the South that lynching is the most effective way 
 of dealing with the Negro for his crime against 
 white women also seems to be borne out by the 
 statistics: In 1892-3, 88 Negroes were lynched 
 for rape; in 1901-2, 59; while for the four years 
 1911-14, only 43. That this great reduction in 
 rape cases and lynchings was not due to legal ex 
 ecutions is shown by the fact that during the same 
 time but 36 Negroes were legally executed, only 
 12 of these being for the four years 1911-14. 
 Thus as a consequence of a reduction in the crime 
 of rape by Negroes is noted a great reduction in 
 the lynching of Negroes, from 287 in 1892-3; 
 185, 1901-2; 129, 1906-7; to 91 for 1913-14. 
 
 However, during 1915 and 1916, 104 Negroes 
 were lynched in the South as compared with 91 
 for 1913 and 1914. The increased number 
 lynched for rape is very marked: being only 13 
 for 1913 and 1914, but twice the number, or 26, 
 for 1915 and 1916. During the former two 
 years, also, 6 Negroes were legally hanged for 
 rape as compared to 12 for the latter. The pro 
 portion remains the same: thus during 1913 and 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 55 
 
 1914, 19 Negroes in the South were put to death 
 for rape as compared with 38 for 1915 and 1916. 
 
 Although the legal execution of 12 Negroes in 
 the South for rape during 1915 and 1916 rnr*y 
 show a tendency to allow the law to take its 
 course in such cases, may not the above statistics 
 also indicate that when for a few years but few 
 lynchings occurred, especially for the crime of 
 rape, that the effect of such immediate and fearful 
 punishment consisting of burning as it sometimes 
 does gradually fades from the mind of the 
 Negro inclined to such crime, with a great in 
 crease of rape as a consequence? 
 
 Again, in extenuation of lynching, it is im 
 portant to observe, that, as a result of most crimes 
 against the body, such as murder, but little, if 
 any, humiliation attaches. But it is quite differ 
 ent in rape cases. Not only is there often groat 
 physical injury, but also an unutterable humilia 
 tion. Our civilization teaches that one should 
 hold certain personal rights and considerations 
 even more dear than life itself. To have in mind 
 such ideas and live up to them measures our 
 reach above lov/er peoples. That this feeling or 
 spirit should be encouraged, rather than risk its 
 check, is not to be questioned. Therefore, the 
 average Southern white man does not believe that 
 the innocent rape victim of a Negro should be 
 
56 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 obliged to endure further humiliation incident 
 upon her appearance in a court of law. 
 
 In this connection, a set of resolutions published 
 by those who lynched a Negro at Annapolis, Md., 
 in 1875, are interesting. These resolutions, which 
 set forth the causes of the act, were drawn up 
 before the lynching took place and show serious 
 consideration. I quote: 4 
 
 "Fellow Citizens: In view of the fact that 
 we are about to take into our hands the sword of 
 justice to do to death one who is now incarcerated 
 in our county jail, it is meet that we should give 
 sonic reason for the purpose we hope to consum 
 mate. First, then: While we can but honor the 
 deep feeling of interest manifested by those who 
 arc the proper guardians of our lives, our prop 
 erty, and our honor; and while we, as true and 
 loyal citizens of the State of Maryland, and of 
 Anne Arundel County, do bend to the supreme 
 majesty of the law and acknowledge trials by jury 
 as the very arch-stone in the grand edifice of hu 
 man rights, stillfwe know the vilest criminal is ac 
 corded the same rights under the law that belong 
 to the petty thief, nor can this devil incarnate, 
 should he claim his rights, be^emed the privilege 
 of a change of venue^ucn^ circumstance might 
 
 * Baltimore American, June 15, 1875. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 57 
 
 probably rob the gallows of its due and foil the 
 aims of the law. Before God we believe in the 
 existence of a higher code than that which is digni 
 fied by the great seal of a Commonwealth and that 
 the high and holy time to exercise it Is when the 
 chastity of our women is tarnished by the foul 
 breath of an imp from hell and the sanctity of our 
 homes invaded by a demorhj 
 
 "Secondly, admitting tnat in the event of a 
 trial by a jury he shall be hanged a highly prob 
 able result yet would his execution be as illegal 
 as though done by a band of wronged citizens; 
 for must not a juror be a peer, and with a mind 
 free of bias, and where can a man be found com 
 petent to try this case? Who can be found of 
 Jills level, and who that has heard has not already 
 ^convicted him in his mind? At best, that which 
 would be done under the semblance of law would 
 tbe a more sham by force of all the circumstances 
 -Connected with this horrible deed, and if under the 
 jjaw the penalty is death, and we know the deed 
 Utvas committed by him we claim that there is no 
 moral difference in the means of destroying him, 
 and we act upon this conviction. 
 
 "Thirdly, we are not willing that the victim 
 shall be dragged into court to tell over and over 
 again the story of her terrible wrongs, or that 
 her name shall be entered upon the records of 
 
5 8 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 our criminal jurisprudence for future reference." 
 Further comment on this lynching is unnec 
 essary unless indirectly: the Negro, child of 
 Africa, but lately removed from the jungle, be 
 cause of the necessity of the habitat of his origin, 
 has had developed in him by nature, possibly, 
 stronger sexual passion than is to be found in any 
 other race. 5 But he is infinitely lacking in the 
 higli mental, moral, and emotional qualities that 
 are especially characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon, 
 and it is a grievous mistake to attribute such high 
 qualities to him. When proper restraint is re 
 moved from the Negro he gets beyond bounds. 
 The Anglo-Saxon, indeed, or members of that 
 race, has a way of meeting extraordinary condi 
 tions with extraordinary means hence lynching in 
 order to hold in check the Negro in the South. 
 
 Indeed, a country occupied by two races so 
 widely apart in origin, characteristics, and devel 
 opment as the whites and the Negroes of the 
 Southern States one race of the highest mental 
 endowments and culture, the other of the lowest 
 one having a civilization that reaches back hun 
 dreds, if not thousands, of years, the other in 
 the early dawn of civilization might reasonably 
 have two codes of law suited, as nearly as pos 
 sible, to each race, respectively. 
 
 "To make up for the high death rate. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 59 
 
 A mode of punishment that would be out of 
 place as to the white man may be well suited to 
 the Negro. Small-pox is not to be treated as 
 chicken-pox. Barbarous criminals require bar 
 barous laws. The innocent and law-abiding cit 
 izens of a State have rights as well as the crim 
 inals at least, the right to protection from the 
 criminals. But let some crafty scoundrel finally 
 get in jail, and he will be flooded with letters of 
 consolation and sympathy from sentimental 
 women and soft-headed men. And let some 
 Negro brute, guilty of rape, suffer the punishment 
 he so richly deserved at the hands of an outraged 
 community, and one would think, if he considered 
 the bitter censure from distant quarters, that the 
 foundations of the government were being under 
 mined, or that a poor lamb was set upon by a 
 pack of howling wolves, thirsting for its blood, 
 but not a word of commiseration for the family, 
 or the victim, of the fiendish Negro s unbridled 
 bestiality. 
 
 Moreover, instead of a Negro s being over 
 awed by the solemn deliberations of a court, 
 rather, as he is the center of interest, he all but 
 
 "Joliet, 111., Sept. 10 (1917), Riot in State Prison. Rioters 
 numbered about fifty. Had become angered at impositions of 
 restrictions. "Among the privileges previously enjoyed by the 
 convicts was an almost unlimited correspondence with senti 
 mental women." Washington (D. C.) Star, Sept. 10, 1917. 
 
60 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 enjoys it. For once in his life he finds himself 
 in a position of prominence. It would be contrary 
 to the Negro nature if he were not somewhat 
 elated at being the object of so much attention. 
 Even were this not the case, he has no such ap 
 preciation of his degradation as the white man 
 feels under similar circumstances. Indeed, it 
 would sometimes appear as almost a triumphal 
 procession for him from the time he gets in jail 
 until he reaches the gallows. The two quotations 
 below may help to justify this idea : 
 
 "Joe Clark, colored, . . . was hanged 
 at this place on Friday forenoon, in the presence 
 of about 3,000 persons, mostly Negroes. Clark 
 spoke about fifteen minutes, giving a detailed ac 
 count of the murder and fully confessing the 
 crime. He advised all present to live an upright 
 life. . . . After he had shaken hands with 
 his friends the trap was sprung, and thus the sen 
 tence of the court was duly executed. Clark s 
 last request was that the black cap be kept off, so 
 that all might see how easy he could meet death/ 7 
 
 The second one is taken from accounts of the 
 execution at Denton, Md., of "Wish" Shepperd, 
 colored, for the outrage of a fifteen-year-old white 
 girl: 8 
 
 T Taken from Richmond Enquirer, May 4, 1775. 
 * Baltimore Sun, August 27-28, 1915. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 61 
 
 "He told his spiritual advisers that he had a 
 message for the public: Tell all the young men 
 to avoid the fate that awaits me by joining the 
 church and attending its services. [Evidently 
 inspired by his preacher advisers] . . . 
 He slumbered soundly, the guards noticed, and 
 awoke early this morning apparently indifferent 
 to his doom. . . . With a firm step he 
 accompanied the officers and his spiritual advisers 
 to the scaffold which was erected near the Chop- 
 tank River. Passing undismayed through the 
 throng which had gathered along the way from 
 the prison to the gallows. Plis gaze passed fear 
 lessly around surveying the people." 
 
 Again, in connection with the lynching of 
 Negroes in the South, one must not lose sight 
 of the conditions that are peculiar to that section. 
 The greater the number of Negroes in propor 
 tion to the whites in any State or community the 
 easier it is for the Negro to commit crime and 
 escape. And the Negro criminal does often es 
 cape. Seldom is it found that the Negro will 
 aid in the detection of the Negro criminal, rather 
 otherwise. Even the hope of escape is a won 
 derful encouragement to the criminally inclined. 
 
 Now, before the War, as is well known, the 
 South was almost entirely an agricultural section. 
 
62 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 It had but few cities and these were small. In the 
 last thirty or forty years, however, it has been 
 rapidly developing manufacturing industries. 
 Some of the cities have become great industrial 
 centers. 
 
 Nor is manufacturing confined at all to the 
 large cities. Indeed, almost every town in some 
 parts has a cotton mill or other establishment. As 
 illustrations, I may mention Hickory, N. C., and 
 La Grange, Ga. Hickory, with a population of 
 about 5,000, has two large cotton mills; the Pied 
 mont Wagon Shops, which employs hundreds of 
 men; several furniture factories, saw mills, and 
 other industrial interests. La Grange, a city oi: 
 about 6,000, has ten cotton mills, one of which is 
 valued at $1,000,000, and four of the others at 
 $500,000, each. In the manufacture of cotton 
 alone the South has increased from 316,000 bales 
 in 1885 to 3,193,000 bales in 1915. 
 
 As a consequence the white people have largely 
 been drawn to the towns and cities: the wealthier 
 own and control the various business interests 
 while the poorer ones contribute their help or la 
 bor. Few Negroes work in the factories, for the 
 Negro seems to lack the qualities necessary: name 
 ly, punctuality, dependability, and a certain amount 
 of mental alertness. So, in some parts of the 
 South the whites are nearly all living in the towns 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 63 
 
 and cities, while the country districts are filled with 
 Negroes. However, even in such places there arc 
 some whites in the country, and as is evident, in- 
 additional danger. 
 
 Moreover, the population of several Southern 
 States is nearly half Negro, while in two, South 
 Carolina and Mississippi, it is even more than 
 half Negro, being 55+ per cent and 56+ per 
 cent, respectively. Indeed, in 53 counties of the 
 South the Negro population of each exceeds 75 
 per cent. In Tensas Parish, La., and Isoquena 
 County, Miss., the Negro population is 91.5 per 
 cent and 94.2 per cent, respectively. That is, in 
 every 1,000 persons one meets in Isoquena County, 
 Miss., 942 are Negroes and but 58, white. Such 
 conditions should be readily appreciated. Is it 
 any wonder that the white man thinks it necessary 
 to strike terror into the soul of the possible or 
 incipient Negro criminal by any method that may 
 cause him to stand in fear of an immediate and 
 dreadful death? 
 
 Further, the origin of a great part of these Ne 
 groes, especially those of the farther South, is, 
 also, worthy of consideration. 
 
 During the operation of the internal slave trade, 
 it was usually the most undesirable, unruly, and 
 the criminally inclined Negroes of the border 
 slave States that were sold to the States of the 
 
64 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 further South; nor should it be forgotten that be 
 tween 1808 and 1860 the farther South received 
 around 270,000 Negroes from outside the United 
 States. It seems likely that the greater part of 
 these were barbarous Negroes, directly from 
 Africa. It was these criminal and barbarous Ne 
 groes, along with their children and grand-chil 
 dren, who by the fortune of war, without home or 
 master, were turned loose on the South. 
 
 Thus it is that the white woman is obliged to 
 be constantly on her guard against the Negro, 
 otherwise rape cases would be multiplied. 10 An 
 idea of the necessity of this and the hardship of 
 it may be had from the following quotation: 
 
 u ln a population about evenly divided in North 
 Carolina was a family of unpretending intelligent 
 people. 
 
 "There was a school house only a mile and a 
 half away, but they could not let their two daugh 
 ters go to it. They could not let them stir away 
 from home unprotected. They had to pay for 
 their education at home, while at the same time 
 they were being taxed for the education of the Ne 
 gro children of the district. 
 
 9 W. H. Collins, "The Domestic Slave Trade," p. 20. 
 
 10 It is unlikely that all rape cases get in the papers. An intel 
 ligent resident of Rapides Parish, La., told the writer that four 
 cases of rape occurred in that parish once within a month. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 65 
 
 " Do you think, was asked a leading Negro 
 educator, that those girls could safely have gone 
 to school? 
 
 " It would depend upon the district/ was the 
 reply. In some districts the girls could have gone 
 to school safely enough; in others, no. 
 
 "This I think was a terrible admission." n 
 
 As the world is to be made safe for democracy, 
 so ought the South to be made free for white 
 women. Is it not the business of the South to en 
 deavor to make the South safe for white women 
 by whatever method appears to be most effective? 
 The women of the South should be just as free 
 to go when, where, and as they please as women 
 in other sections of the country and not be, as has 
 been so aptly put by John Temple Graves, "pris 
 oners to danger and fear": 
 
 "In a land of light and liberty, in an age of en 
 lightenment and law, the women of the South are 
 prisoners to danger and fear. While your women 
 may walk from suburb to suburb, and from town 
 ship to township, without escort and without 
 alarm, there is not a woman of the South, wife 
 or daughter, who would be permitted or who 
 would dare to walk at twilight unguarded through 
 
 "William Archer, "Through Afro America," London, 1910, 
 p. 22. 
 
66 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 the resident streets of a populous town, or to ride 
 the outside highways at midday. 
 
 "The terror of the twilight deepens with the 
 darkness, and in the rural regions every farmer 
 leaves his home with apprehension in the morning, 
 and thanks God when he comes from the fields 
 at evening to find all well with the women of his 
 home." 12 
 
 A few words now as to the minor causes of 
 lynching. In reading the annual summary of 
 lynchings given by the Chicago Tribune, one may 
 get the impression that Negroes are often lynched 
 for very trifling things. Investigation, however, 
 is apt to show that back, of any such lynching was 
 something much more serious than what appears 
 on the face. Many illustrations might be given 
 but one may suffice: thirteen Negroes lynched in 
 Arkansas, March 26, 1904, cause, race preju 
 dice. 13 The following account of this affair is 
 abbreviated from an Arkansas paper: 14 
 
 "Dcwitt (Ark.), March 25. Five Negroes 
 who had been arrested as a result of the race 
 troubles at St. Charles, were taken from the 
 
 "Address: John Temple Graves, New York Times, Sept 4, 
 1903. 
 
 "The Chicago Daily Tribune, Dec. 31, 1904. 
 
 "Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), March 26, 1904. Sec also 
 Daily Arkansas Democrat, March 29, 1904. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 67 
 
 guards by a crowd of men last night and shot to 
 death. . . . The five victims make nine Negroes 
 that have been killed within the past week in the 
 vicinity of St. Charles. . . . 
 
 "A few days ago a difficulty occurred over a 
 trivial matter at St. Charles between a white nan 
 by the name of Searcy and two Negroes by the 
 names of Henry and Walker Grifim. One of the 
 Negroes threatened to knock Searcy in the hoad 
 with a beer bottle. The trouble was stopped for 
 the time being, but on Monday last the two Ne 
 groes met Searcy and his brother in the store of 
 Woolfords and Marsworthy in St. Charles, and 
 the difficulty was renewed. One of the Negroes 
 without warning, struck both of the Searcy boys 
 over the head with a table leg, rendering them 
 unconscious and fracturing their skulls, one of 
 them to such an extent that he may die. The 
 Deputy Sheriff, . . . James Kirkpatrick, at 
 tempted to arrest the Negroes and he, too, was 
 knocked down. 
 
 "The Negroes then gathered and defied the of 
 ficers, declaring that No white man could arrest 
 them.* Their demonstrations aroused the fear of 
 the citizens of St. Charles and they phoned to this 
 place for a posse to come out and protect the 
 town. P. A. Douglass, deputy sheriff, went out 
 with five men, Wednesday morning. Constable 
 
68 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 L. C. Necly went forward with a posse of several 
 men to capture the Griffin Negroes, The con 
 stable met three Negroes ... in the road. Fie 
 inquired of them if they knew where the Griffins 
 were and one of them replied that they did, but 
 
 would tell no white the Negroes then 
 
 attempted to draw their pistols, but the posse fired, 
 killing all three of them. 
 
 "Yesterday sixteen men left this place for the 
 scene of the trouble. . . . Large crowds in from 
 Roc, Ethel, and Clarenden. During the day while 
 the Sheriff s posse was searching for the Griffin 
 Negroes, they were fired upon by a Negro . . . 
 from ambush. Three of the posse were hit, but 
 the shot used were small, and no serious damage 
 resulted. The posse returned the fire, and a shot 
 . . . felled the Negro to the ground. Several 
 other shots were fired into him, killing him in 
 stantly. 
 
 "Five other Negroes ... who were the Ne 
 groes that had defied the officers, were arrested, 
 and last night a crowd of men took them away 
 from the guards and shot them to death." The 
 next issue of the same paper stated that two more 
 Negroes had been killed, and the Dally Arkansas 
 Democrat, March 29, reported that the Griffins 
 who were the cause of the original trouble had 
 been killed, completing the list of thirteen. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 69 
 
 The above quotation is given merely as an ex 
 ample of a state of affairs so apt to exist in con 
 nection with what usually passes as trivial causes 
 for lynching. May those at a distance from such 
 conditions the better understand! 
 
 Thus far I have not discussed lynching in the 
 North, nor do I purpose to do so; but a few words 
 in passing seem pertinent. There is no basis for 
 the assumption, which some seem innocently to 
 hold, that the people of the North are inherently 
 good and law-abiding, while those of the South 
 are inherently wicked and lawless. Indeed, sta 
 tistics would seem to indicate the opposite. 15 In 
 1910 over 750 persons to the 100,000 popula 
 tion were committed to prison in Ne^v England as 
 against less than 450 in the South. I take it that 
 the people of the North are neither better nor 
 worse than those of the South. The same condi 
 tions in either section would produce about the 
 same results. The statistics of lynching I gathered 
 for the North were merely incidental. However, 
 for 1901 and 1902, I find that nine Negroes were 
 lynched in the North, four for murder and five 
 for rape. 
 
 Further evidence that the people of the North 
 will engage in lynching when necessity dictates 
 may be had from the early history of California. 
 
 18 Statistical Abstract of the U. S., 1915, p. 55. 
 
70 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Vigilance committees for the protection of the 
 better class of citizens against the disorderly and 
 criminal elements, were organized without war 
 rant of law. In writing of one of these commit 
 tees H. H. Bancroft says that it was well repre 
 sented by men of wealth, intelligence and indus 
 try, and that "the largest element comprised men 
 from the Northeastern part of the United 
 States." 10 
 
 Of remedies for lynching I have none. Of pro 
 posed remedies, I have only to say that those 
 which seem in any way practicable might result in 
 unmerited hardship to whites and an increase in 
 rape cases as well. Any hope of escape or miti 
 gation of punishment that even unintentionally 
 may be held out to the criminal serves as a won 
 derful stimulant to crime. The positive knowl 
 edge on the part of those criminally inclined that 
 punishment will be immediate, sure, and adequate, 
 is the best deterrent. The Negro is a creature 
 that lives in the present and even postponement of 
 punishment robs it of much of its force. The law 
 sanctions personal self-defense. The white man 
 in lynching a Negro does it as an indirect act of 
 self-defense against the Negro criminal as a race. 
 
 When the abnormally criminal Negro race 
 (partly so, no doubt, because he is not yet ad- 
 
 " H. H. Bancroft, "Popular Tribunals," Vol. II, pp. 666-7. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 71 
 
 justed to his environment) puts himself in har 
 mony with our civilization, if ever, through as 
 similating our culture and making our ideals its 
 own, then may it be hoped that his crimes will be 
 reduced to normal and lynching will cease, the 
 cause being removed. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE CRIMINALITY OF THE NEGRO 
 
 THE present criminal status of the Negro, 
 and his criminal record since the Civil War as 
 well, should cause every member of the race in 
 America to hang his head in shame. 
 
 Yet, may it not be that, after all, the Negro is, 
 to a large extent, an irresponsible creature of cir 
 cumstances, and that his crimes are upon the heads 
 of those who unwisely placed him. in a position 
 that he was unable to occupy, except with in 
 jury to all concerned? 
 
 Scholars hold that the average citizen of the 
 ancient Athenian Democracy, the greatest of an 
 cient democracies, was as intelligent as the aver 
 age member of the British Parliament, or of the 
 American Congress. The Negro, however, with 
 all his barbarism and ignorance, totally unrelated 
 to the white man in origin, character, and race, 
 directly after his emancipation, was made a full- 
 fledged citizen in the greatest of modern democ 
 racies. The fact is appalling. 
 
 72 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 73 
 
 Stupidity unsurpassed, unless by the pacifist 
 visionaries of the present day who seek to usher ia 
 the millennium by proclamation, peace treaties, 
 world federations, or leagues to enforce peace. 
 Human nature cannot be changed overnight by 
 edict. When the sun fails to rise wars will cease. 
 It is to be hoped that enough sanity yet remains 
 in the American people to save them from such 
 nonsensical vagaries of sentimental dreamers. 
 
 But the Negro, son of a wild and tropical race, 
 content for thousands of years to roam the jungles 
 of Africa, supplied by bountiful nature with all 
 his heart s desire, failing thus to develop any con 
 trolling trait of character, or mental stamina, and 
 although civilizations rose and fell beside him, it 
 meant nothing to him. And even now in the midst 
 of American civilization he is moved to action, 
 mainly, by the gusts of primitive emotion and 
 passion. This is the creature that was expected to 
 take an equal share in the government of the most 
 enlightened and progressive people that the world 
 has ever known. 
 
 "Who sows to the wind shall reap the. whirl 
 wind." So to-day all other domestic problems or 
 questions pale before "What shall be done about 
 the Negro? The mob acts upon it, conventions 
 of learned sociologists discuss it. Every superficial 
 thinker has a solution of the problem, ready 
 
74 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 made, but never in good working order. The Ne 
 gro is such a problem in our society mainly, no 
 doubt, because he represents the chief criminal ele 
 ment, how criminal, let statistics, by way of com 
 parison, declare: 
 
 In the Northern and Western States in 1910, 
 one white person was in a penal institution for 
 every oj>2 of the white population, and one Negro 
 for every 123 of the Negro population; while 
 in the South, the ratio was one to every 2014 for 
 the white, and one Negro to every 308 of the 
 Negro population. Thus in the North Negroes 
 had eight times their proportion in prison, and in 
 the South six and one-half times. That Negro 
 crime is on the increase is evidenced by the fact 
 that in 1 890 the Negroes had hardly six times their 
 proportion in prison in the North, and hardly five 
 times their share in the South. 
 
 In this connection statistical tables should be 
 helpful and interesting as well. Table I gives a 
 comparative showing- of whites and Negroes in 
 some State penitentiaries. Instead of giving the 
 number of prisoners on hand at a certain time, 
 some prison reports give the number received and 
 discharged during a certain period of time while 
 a few give both. In Table II is given the num 
 ber of prisoners received by the penitentiaries of 
 a few States during a specified time. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 75 
 
 TABLE I 
 
 State 
 
 Population in 1910 
 
 Number in Penitentiary 
 
 Times the 
 Number of 
 Nc :/!-,< 3 to 
 \\hitcs, 
 Year 1910, 
 or There 
 abouts 
 
 White 
 
 Negro 
 
 Year 
 
 White 
 
 Negro 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 1002 
 
 201 
 
 525 
 
 
 Alabama .... 
 
 1,228,833 
 
 908,882 \ 
 
 
 4 l6 
 
 1,076 
 
 7- 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1914 
 
 357 
 
 2,252 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 IQ05 
 
 201 
 
 i, 089 
 
 ] 
 
 Georgia 
 
 1,431,802 
 
 1,176,987 j 
 
 1910 
 1914 
 
 248 
 380 
 
 2,300 
 2,692 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 1916 
 
 412 
 
 3.170 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 1901 
 
 107 
 
 928 
 
 1 
 
 Mississippi... 
 
 786,111 
 
 1,009,487 ] 
 
 1013 
 
 156 
 
 1.55? 
 
 \ 74- 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 I9IS 
 
 145 
 
 i,3,i6 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 1906 
 
 354 
 
 586 
 
 | 
 
 Maryland. . . 
 
 1,062,639 
 
 332,250 \ 
 
 1910 
 
 369 
 
 663 
 
 8- 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1915 
 
 402 
 
 632 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 KjlO 
 
 532 
 
 i,aV> 
 
 ] 
 
 Tennessee. .. 
 
 I,7",432 
 
 473,088 \ 
 
 igi2 
 
 013 
 
 1,207 
 
 i 8- 
 
 
 
 
 I9U 
 
 651 
 
 1, 208 
 
 J 
 
 Arkansas.... 
 
 1,131,026 
 
 442,891 | 
 
 1906 
 1912 
 
 244 
 213 
 
 603 
 643 
 
 } 3- 
 
 Texas 
 
 3,204,848 
 
 690,049 | 
 
 IQOS 
 I9IO 
 
 1,004 
 1,119 
 
 1.93? 
 2,095 
 
 } S-f 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 IQ04 
 
 249 
 
 1,143 
 
 1 
 
 Louisiana.... 
 
 941,086 
 
 713,894 | 
 
 IQIO 
 
 382 
 
 332 
 
 1,663 
 1,663 
 
 1 S ^ 
 
 Kentucky . . . 
 
 3,027,951 
 
 261,656 [ 
 
 IQII 
 1915 
 
 603 
 
 674 
 
 720 
 726 
 
 ] 9-4 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1904 
 
 419 
 
 52 
 
 ) 
 
 Connecticut.. 
 
 1,098,897 
 
 15,174 j 
 
 IQIO 
 
 542 
 
 63 
 
 8.4 
 
 
 
 
 1914 
 
 578 
 
 56 
 
 J 
 
 Kansas 
 
 1,634,353 
 
 54,030 ( 
 
 IOO2 
 1914 
 
 874 
 508 
 
 209 
 269 
 
 j 17- 
 
 
 New Jersey.. 
 
 3,445,894 
 
 89,760 { 
 
 1010 
 1915 
 
 1,049 
 I.OJO 
 
 346 
 329 
 
 } 9 
 
 Ohio 
 
 4,654,397 
 
 "1,453 | 
 
 1900 
 I9II 
 
 1,216 
 I, no 
 
 407 
 4*7 
 
 } I5 ~ 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 1904 
 
 149 
 
 s 
 
 1 
 
 Vermont .... 
 
 354,398 
 
 1,631 < 
 
 1910 
 1912 
 
 147 
 167 
 
 8 
 13 
 
 I 12- 
 
 f 17- 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 X9I4 
 
 212 
 
 13 
 
 j 
 
76 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 TABLE II 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Timer, as 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Negroes as 
 
 Convicts Received at the 
 
 Whites 
 
 
 Populati 
 
 on in igio 
 
 Penitentiary During 
 
 Committed 
 
 
 White 
 
 Negro 
 
 Year White 
 
 Negro 
 
 in Propor 
 tion to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Population 
 of Each 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Race 
 
 
 
 
 Nov. i, 1912 1 
 
 
 
 Arkansas. . . . 
 
 1,131,026 
 
 442,801 
 
 to [ 606 
 
 776 
 
 3-4 
 
 
 
 
 ,0ct. 31,1914] 
 
 
 
 Alabama .... 
 
 1,228,832 
 
 [Sept. 1,1910] 
 908,882 \ to } 587 2,414 
 
 6- 
 
 
 
 
 t Aug. 31, 1914 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 July 1,1908) 
 
 
 
 N. DakoU... 
 
 569,855 
 
 617 
 
 to V 217 
 
 ii 
 
 43 
 
 
 
 
 June 30, 1910 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1006 513 
 
 306 
 
 
 
 
 
 ilQop 560 
 
 374 
 
 
 Missouri .... 
 
 3,124,932 
 
 
 1910 543 
 
 303 
 
 11 + 
 
 
 
 
 1912 660 
 
 389 
 
 
 
 
 
 1914 803 
 
 37S 
 
 
 Maryland . . . 
 
 1,062,639 
 
 332,250 
 
 Year Ending 1 
 fsov. 30, 1910 J 
 
 199 
 
 7 + 
 
 
 
 
 Sept. i, 1908 1 
 
 
 
 Texas 
 
 3,204,848 
 
 690,049 
 
 to > 835 
 
 1,251 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 Oct. 31, 1910 j 
 
 
 
 Louisiana.... 
 
 941,086 
 
 913,874 
 
 IQIO 1 202 
 
 i, 1915 ; 257 
 
 549 
 654 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year Ending \ A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Oct. 31,1907; 4 a 
 
 145 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 4,654,897 
 
 111,452 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 Year Ending \ , 
 Oct. 31,19x0; s 4 
 
 169 
 
 
 
 
 
 Two Years ) 
 
 
 
 W.Virginia.. 
 
 1,156,817 
 
 64,173 
 
 Ending [ 519 
 Sept. 30, 1908 j 
 
 428 
 
 15 
 
 Both Tables I and II have reference to pcnetentiaries, no account being taken 
 of other penal institutions. The calculations arc based upon the census of 1910 and 
 penitentiary reports of the same year, or thereabouts, but some prison statistics for 
 other years arc oUo given. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 77 
 
 For the Southern States considered, Table 1 
 shows that the number of Negro prisoners around 
 1910, varied according to the State from five plus 
 times their proportion in Louisiana to eleven times 
 in Georgia. While in the North, the number 
 varied from eight times in Connecticut to seven 
 teen minus times in Kansas. Thus showing that 
 the Negro is everywhere many times more criminal 
 than the white man, and that his criminality is 
 more pronounced in the North than in the South. 
 
 That he is discriminated against by the court, 
 and otherwise, is sometimes given as a reason 
 for the great criminal showing of the Negro; that 
 for the same kind of crime the Negro gets a much 
 longer sentence than a white man, etc. This is 
 hardly to be held as against the North, and that it 
 is true to any appreciable extent in the South is 
 doubtful, but hard to determine, absolutely. 
 
 As Table I gives the number of prisoners on 
 hand at a certain time and Table II the number 
 committed to prison during a period of time, 2 
 other things being equal, it is clear that if the 
 Negro is discriminated against through the length 
 of sentence imposed on him by the court, it should 
 be shown by a smaller number being sent to prison 
 
 3 Some State penitentiary reports ^ive the number of prisoners 
 on hand at a certain time, others simply those committed during 
 a period of time, while a few reports give both items. 
 
7 8 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 in proportion to the respective population of the 
 two races in any State than is to be found on hand 
 at a certain time. For instance, at the Maryland 
 and the Texan penitentiaries, according to the 
 above tables, in 1910 the numbers of Negroes on 
 hand were, respectively, eight-minus times and 
 eight-plus times their proportion, while those corn- 
 mifced for the same year were seven-plus and sev 
 en, respectively. This would seem to indicate that 
 in neither Maryland nor Texas was there but lit 
 tle, if any discrimination against the Negro. But 
 a comparison of the statistics for Arkansas and 
 Louisiana seems to show that the Negro is dis- 
 criminated against in these States. However, 
 upon further investigation it is found that ninety- 
 one Negroes were sent to the Louisiana peniten 
 tiary in 1911 for murder and manslaughter, and 
 thirty-two for shooting with intent to kill, as 
 against thirty white men during the same year for 
 these crimes. Again, in the Arkansas peniten 
 tiary in November, 1912, there were 213 white 
 and 643 Negro prisoners. Of the whites but 50 
 had committed homicide, while 218 of the Negro 
 prisoners were guilty of the crime. 
 
 Moreover, one might naturally expect that the 
 whites, on account of greater influence, would be 
 much more likely to secure pardons. It is doubt 
 ful if the whites are thus favored to any large ex- 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 79 
 
 tent. Between November I, 1910, and October 
 31, 1912, Arkansas granted pardons to 121 whites 
 and 86 Negroes, while during the year ending No 
 vember 30, 1911, Kentucky pardoned nine white 
 men and eighteen Negroes. If statistics were 
 available from all the States it might be rather 
 conclusively demonstrated that the Negro is dis 
 criminated against but little by the courts. 
 
 In this connection it may be well also to note 
 the fact that in Ohio fourteen-minus times as 
 many as their proportion (according to Table II) 
 were sent to the penitentiary; in West Virginia 
 fifteen times, and in North Dakota forty-three 
 times their proportion. 
 
 A comparison of the number of whites and Ne 
 groes arrested a year in some of the large cities 
 is given in the following table : 
 
 TABLE III 
 
 
 
 
 
 White, 
 
 Nc^ro, 
 
 ity 
 
 Population in 1910 
 
 Arrests 
 
 
 One 
 
 Ar-r~ 4 
 
 One 
 
 
 White Negro 
 
 Year White 
 
 Negro 
 
 ./ii t-t 
 
 in 
 
 Arrest 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 
 
 Every 
 
 Every 
 
 
 
 1904 6,602 
 
 10,05.1 ] 
 
 
 
 Atlanta 
 
 102,861 51,978 
 
 igog 6,2.;i 
 
 
 16.5 
 
 4-5 
 
 
 
 1915 6,369 
 
 XOJ954 j 
 
 
 
 Baltimore . . . 
 
 473,387 85,098 ^ 
 
 1005 21,713 
 lyog 20,445 
 
 12,323 ] 
 xi,l6i 
 
 23 + 
 
 7-5 
 
 
 
 1915 25,108 
 
 15,840 J 
 
 
 
 Buffalo 
 
 421,809 1,906 
 
 ign 23,983 
 I 1915 30,7* 
 
 236! 
 
 18- 
 
 8 + 
 
 
 
 1907 S3 >49 
 
 4/>S3 } 
 
 
 
 Chicago 
 
 2,139,057 46,226 
 
 1909 6; 864 
 
 
 34 + 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1915 10^,119 
 
 oisoS J 
 
 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 s. c 
 
 37,803 31,069 
 
 !I907 1,559 
 1911 1,734 
 
 2,631 } 
 2 836 \ 
 
 
 IZ ** 
 
 
 
 1913 3,487 
 
 3,185 J 
 
 
 
So THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 City 
 
 TABLE III (Continued) 
 Population in 1910 Arrests 
 
 White, 
 One 
 Arrest 
 in 
 Every 
 
 Nepro, 
 One 
 Arrest 
 in 
 Every 
 
 White 
 
 Negro 
 
 Year 
 
 White 
 
 Negro 
 
 
 
 
 (1 000 
 
 10,887 
 
 7751 
 
 
 
 Detroit. 
 
 459*926 
 
 5,840 
 
 IQIO 
 
 1^,7 26 
 
 976 \ 
 
 77 r 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 1915 
 
 19,539 
 
 a, 121 j 
 
 JO O 
 
 
 
 
 
 11907 
 
 8,324 
 
 1,663 ] 
 
 
 
 Omaha 
 
 119,580 
 
 4,516 
 
 IQIO 
 
 QtS07 
 
 2,083 [ 
 
 12 ^ 
 
 3 -j. 
 
 
 
 
 1915 
 
 13.091 
 
 2,211 J 
 
 ** 
 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 1,463,371 
 
 85,637 
 
 1910 
 
 71,325 
 
 9,507 
 
 20 + 
 
 9 + 
 
 New Orleans. 
 
 249,403 
 
 89,672 
 
 f 1903 
 \ 1910 
 
 9.529 
 
 i5,oi<; 
 
 6,917 1 
 10,052 \ 
 
 16.7 
 
 Q 
 
 
 
 
 I 1913 
 
 19,486 
 
 H,l63 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 IIQ04 
 
 20,149 
 
 <,->75 1 
 
 
 
 St Louis. . . . 
 
 645,478 
 
 44,541 
 
 1910 
 
 29,746 
 
 8,382 V 
 
 22 
 
 5 + 
 
 
 
 
 1913 
 
 29,166 
 
 8,099 j 
 
 
 
 Providence, 
 R.I 
 
 218,623 
 
 5,703 
 
 / 1911 
 I 1912 
 
 xi, 33 a 
 10,632 
 
 434 1 
 470 J 
 
 19-3 + 
 
 13 + 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 
 
 f 1904 
 
 2,851 
 
 3,674 1 
 
 
 
 Va 
 
 80,879 
 
 46,749 
 
 | 1907 
 
 4,356 
 
 5.246 
 
 22 
 
 8- 
 
 
 
 
 I 1910 
 
 3,710 
 
 5,893 j 
 
 
 
 Wilmington, 
 
 
 
 11908 
 
 3,175 
 
 963 } 
 
 
 
 Dei 
 
 78,309 
 
 9,162 
 
 1910 
 
 2,033 
 
 955 [ 
 
 26 + 
 
 9.6 
 
 
 
 
 1911 
 
 3,896 
 
 979 J 
 
 
 
 Washington, 
 D.C 
 
 736,128 
 
 94,941 
 
 [ 1908 
 \ 1910 
 
 15-085 
 1^,371 
 
 17,430 ] 
 17,632 [ 
 
 14-3 
 
 5-3-r- 
 
 
 
 
 I 1915 
 
 17,415 
 
 I7.7I6J 
 
 
 
 Table III shows that for the cities given, one 
 white person to twenty-one-plus of the white popu 
 lation was arrested during 1910 or thereabouts, 
 but one to eight-minus of the Negro. In the cities 
 of the North one to twenty-three whites were ar 
 rested and one to six Negroes; in the South ex 
 cluding Wilmington, Del., and Washington, one 
 to twenty whites and one to eight for the Ne 
 groes. In Detroit: one for every two plus Ne 
 groes were arrested. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 81 
 
 In this connection, it would seem that a com 
 parison of the jail population of a Northern and a 
 Southern State might be of interest. For this pur 
 pose Alabama and Connecticut were selected. In 
 1910, Alabama had a white population of 1,228,- 
 832 and 908,282 Negroes while Connecticut had 
 1,098,897 whites and 15,174 Negroes. 
 
 In both Alabama and Connecticut the ratio of 
 whites and Negroes sent to jail during the fiscal 
 year ending September 30, 1914, was about the 
 same, one white to four Negroes.* However, in 
 Alabama one white person to 216 of the white 
 population as against one to 54 of the Negro, 
 while in Connecticut, one white person to 100, and 
 one Negro to 20 was put in jail. 
 
 Again, the four counties of Connecticut embrac 
 ing the large cities of the State, and having nearly 
 all the Negro population, sent to jail one white 
 to 92 of the white population, and one Negro to 
 24 of the Negro, or nearly four times their pro 
 portion. 5 But in the other four counties with an 
 
 My statistics are based on the census of 1910. The Special 
 Report of the Prison Inspector of Alabama for the year ending 
 September 30, 1914, and the returns of the county jails of Con 
 necticut for the same period. As the white population of Con 
 necticut increased about 225,000 during the previous decade, 
 while the Negroes slightly decreased, I added 70,000 to the white 
 population of 1910 to offset the increase of whites during the 
 three or four years between 1910 and 1914. But as both races 
 increased in Alabama I use the 1910 census for that State. 
 
 4 In proportion to their respective population, of course. 
 
 * In order to avoid repetition, unless otherwise indicated, when 
 
82 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 aggregate of 187,058 whites and 1,661 Negroes 
 the ratio was one to 174 for the whites, and one 
 to 64 for the Negroes or hardly three times as 
 many. 
 
 Now, taking the three counties of Alabama in 
 which the cities of Montgomery, Mobile, and Bir 
 mingham are located, with an aggregate popu 
 lation of 207,295 whites and 182,211 Negroes, 
 one white person to 90 was sent to jail and one 
 Negro to 21, or nearly four and one-half times 
 as many. 
 
 Moreover, twenty-two counties with no towns 
 of more than 1000 population each, and having a 
 total population of 293,187 whites and 274,533 
 Negroes one white to 523 was sent to jail and one 
 Negro to 141, or nearly four Negroes to one 
 white. 
 
 Also, in fourteen counties with cities of 1000 to 
 10,000 population, and a total population of 205,- 
 844 whites, and 207,966 Negroes, the races being 
 almost equal in numbers, one white to 400, and one 
 Negro to 75 were sent to jail, or six times the 
 Negro s share. 
 
 one white to four Negroes or any such ratio is mentioned, the 
 meaning is this: I divide the white population of the state by 
 the white prisoners for the number of white people to each white 
 prisoner, and divide the Negro population of the State for the 
 number of Negroes to each Negro prisoner, and then divide 
 the white prisoners by the Negro to get the ratio of Negro pris 
 oners to the white, 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 83 
 
 Furthermore, six counties consisting almost 
 wholly of white people, having a total population 
 of 119,496 whites and 5,670 Negroes, had in 
 jail one white to 363 and one Negro to 27, or 
 twelve Negroes to one white person. 
 
 Moreover, eight counties of Alabama, with an 
 aggregate population of 41,323 white and 185,222 
 Negroes, about four and one-half times as many 
 Negroes as whites, one white to 689 were sent to 
 jail and one Negro to 156, or about four and one- 
 half times as many. 
 
 In studying the jail statistics of Alabama, 
 whether cities or counties, it soon becomes evi 
 dent that the criminality of the Negro increases 
 as his proportion to the whole population de 
 creases; in other words, the fewer the Negroes in 
 a given population the more criminal they appear. 
 An examination of Tables I, II, and III will show 
 that this is not only true of Alabama, but true, 
 with scarcely an exception, both North and South. 
 Negro crime seemingly increases in the cities and 
 in the North and the West. So does the crime of 
 the white man increase, although not to the same 
 extent. 
 
 In general, the denser the population the more 
 likely is friction to occur, or collisions among its 
 
84 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 units. But this is not an adequate explanation for 
 the increase of Negro crime. Nor can it be ac 
 counted for except in small part, by attributing 
 it to the more complex social environment of the 
 cities and of the North. However, it is not to be 
 doubted that the unstable character of the Negro 
 is easily influenced by the temptations incident to 
 city life. More important, no doubt, is the as 
 sumption that where Negroes are few in com 
 parison with the whites, they are more tempted 
 to commit acts of thievery, robbery, and burglary. 
 Again, in the cities, officers of the law are on the 
 watch, consequently more apt to detect and catch 
 a criminal; also, where the Negroes are few they 
 are likely to be held more strictly to the white 
 man s standard of conduct. However, in some 
 parts of the South, a white man sometimes may 
 be arrested when for the same act a Negro would 
 hardly be bothered. The idea seems to obtain 
 that for certain things allowance must be made 
 for the ignorance of the Negro, but no excuse is 
 made for the white man. 
 
 Again, a great deal of the friction between the 
 two races in the South is caused by the resistance 
 of Negro criminals to officers of the law. Not 
 only so, but relatives, friends and other Negroes 
 as well often attempt to shield the Negro criminal 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 85 
 
 in order that he may escape detection and arrest. 
 This is not exceptional but rather of frequent oc 
 currence. It is one of the ways in which the black 
 man shows himself to be an enemy of law and 
 order. He does not seem to realize the attitude 
 in which he places his race in acting thus. Now, 
 where the Negroes form a large part or the 
 greater part of the population, it is much easier 
 for him to aid Negro criminals, and it is often ef 
 fectively done. But where there are but few Ne 
 groes in the population, it is to that extent more 
 difficult for the Negro criminal to escape detection 
 and arrest. These seem to be the main reasons 
 why Negroes appear more criminal where there 
 are but few in the population. 
 
 In addition to statistics, a few newspaper clip 
 pings may aid one more fully to appreciate Negro 
 criminality. 7 It is hardly probable that anywhere 
 in the United States has the Negro, on the whole, 
 had better advantages than in Maryland, Virginia, 
 and Delaware, especially is this true of the Eastern 
 Shore of Maryland. For this reason the follow 
 ing are the more significant: 
 
 7 1 made no effort to find these. I give here only a few of 
 those taken from Baltimore Sun, Baltimore American, and refer 
 mainly to Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. What may be 
 true in these States as regards Negro criminality, is likely to be 
 found intensified farther south. 
 
86 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 RESISTING OFFICERS, ETC. 
 
 "John E. Goode, a Negro, blew off the top of 
 his head at Bedford City this morning in prefer 
 ence to appearing as a witness "against Thomas W. 
 Preston, the Negro murderer of M. D. Custy, a 
 saloon-keeper. . . . Goode was present when the 
 murder was committed. A Negro family named 
 Davis, relatives of Preston, are said to have 
 threatened Goode s life, if he testified." 8 
 
 A Negro in Chestertown, Md., being tried on 
 three charges of arson, attacks the officers of the 
 court: 
 
 "Pointing to the Negro, State s Attorney Vick- 
 ers intimated that he had set fire to the beautiful 
 buildings on the grounds of the Washington Col 
 lege near Chestertown. Suddenly the Negro 
 made a leap for the States Attorney, but was 
 stopped by Deputy Sheriff Brown. The enraged 
 Negro turned and struck the deputy sheriff a stun 
 ning blow under the chin. ... It required seven 
 men to quiet the Negro." 9 
 
 "John Carter, the Negro who shot Policeman 
 Elizabeth Faber and Patrolman George W. Popp 
 
 * Baltimore Sun, Jan. 6, 1910. 
 9 Baltimore News, Oct. 20, 1916. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 87 
 
 on October 17 on the Edmondson Avenue bridge 
 when they attempted to arrest him died in the city 
 jail at 3.10 o clock yesterday morning." 10 
 
 "The final decision in the Brownsville incident 
 is closed finally and the verdict will give entire 
 satisfaction to everybody except Hon. Joseph 
 Foraker of Ohio; the Negro soldiers who shot up 
 the Texas town and their comrades who concealed 
 the guilt of the bloodthirsty marauders." n 
 
 "Negro soldiers of the Twenty-fourth United 
 States Infantry had planned a riot of bloodshed 
 among the white residents of Houston (Texas) 
 August 23, two days before the deadly attack 
 which cost the lives of 15 Houston citizens last 
 month, according to the report of the Civilian 
 board of inquiry which reported to the Houston 
 City Council to-night. . . . 
 
 "The committee says that the undisputed and 
 convincing testimony of witnesses proves that the 
 Negro soldiers went forth to slay- the white popu 
 lation indiscriminately: that no Negro was hurt 
 or molested by them, not one Negro house was 
 fired into, and that the Negroes were warned be 
 forehand ... to stay off the streets." 12 
 
 10 Baltimore Sun, Aug. 4, 1915. 
 "Ibid., April 8, 1910. 
 "Ibid., Sept. 12, 1917. 
 
88 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 "The police of the Northwestern district are 
 looking for about 25 Negroes who late Saturday 
 night attempted to break down the front door of 
 the boarding house conducted by Miss Mary Ash- 
 ten at 906 McCulloh street." 13 
 
 "Ccntcrville, Md., Jan. 7. The Rev. J. D. 
 Jackson, colored, pastor of Bethel-African Metho 
 dist Episcopal Church, was arrested and placed 
 in jail here to-day charged with housebreaking and 
 burglary." 14 
 
 "Middle-town, Del. The Rev. Aaron Gibbs, a 
 Negro preacher, is being held in $500 bail for 
 court for alleged theft of 280 pounds of meat 
 from the farm of Daniel Ford, near this place. 
 The meat was recovered at the home of Gibbs by 
 Chief of Police, Lee Cochran." . . . 
 
 "Another Negro, Arthur Brewington, wanted, 
 for theft of meat and chickens held the whole 
 Smyrna police force at bay for hours, until his am 
 munition gave out. He then retreated escaping 
 from the force into a deep swamp five miles 
 away." 16 
 
 u Baltimore American, Feb. 18, 1913. 
 "Baltimore Sun, Jan. 8, 1917. 
 "Ibid., Feb. 21, 1917. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 89 
 
 "Seaford, Del., July 3. Negroes who live in 
 and around Bridgeville attempted to take the 
 town last night. . . . About 10 o clock at night 
 the Negroes began firing among themselves, and 
 Bridgeville being without police protection, was 
 at the mercy of their revolvers, which were being 
 fired in rapid succession. The town seemed to be 
 alive with brawling blacks, and several fights were 
 started in different parts of the town. Ac the rail 
 road station a large crowd collected and fired shots 
 in every direction. At a colored church another 
 crowd got together, firing desperately among them 
 selves. The citizens being utterly helpless stayed 
 in their houses behind locked doors." 10 
 
 NEGROES AT PICNICS AND ON EXCURSIONS 
 
 "Federalsburg, Md., Aug. 14. John Henry 
 Lake, a Hurlock Negro, was killed and Frank 
 Dickerson wounded, perhaps fatally, at a celebra 
 tion by Negroes last night." 17 
 
 "Gettysburg, Pa., Sept. n. Clara Brown, of 
 Baltimore, colored, was shot in a brawl here in 
 the course of an excursion and picnic. Her condi 
 tion is critical. Three other persons were also 
 injured. The picnickers had a gay frolic. It is 
 
 10 Baltimore Weekly Herald, July 8, 1909. 
 "Baltimore Sun, Aug. 15, 1914. 
 
90 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 charged that fifty of them attacked a policeman, 
 and one of them robbed Robert King of Hunters- 
 town of $35. There were about 7240 excursion 
 ists. Gettysburg has made a protest." 18 
 
 "Roanoke, Va., March 29. Drunken Negroes 
 took charge of an excursion train between this 
 city and Winston-Salem last night and as a conse 
 quence Sidney Wood of Winston-Salem is dead at 
 Martinsville, and two-score other Negroes are 
 more or less wounded. Knives, razors, and pistols 
 played prominent parts in the melee. . . . The 
 train was stopped several times by Negroes pulling 
 the bell cord, arid the train was cut in two several 
 times, leaving a number of coaches behind with a 
 second section following. . . . The three coaches 
 which were cut off were filled with white people. 
 . . . When the train reached Bassetts, in Henry 
 County, every Negro in two coaches was appar 
 ently in a fight. The screams of the terror-stricken 
 women added to the excitement." 19 
 
 NEGROES AT CAMP MEETING 
 
 "Smyrna, Del., Aug. 9. As has been the case 
 yearly for a dozen years there was a fatal shoot 
 ing affray at the Negro camp meeting at Friend- 
 
 " Cambridge (Md.) Record, Sept. 12, 1913. 
 M Baltimore Sun, March 30, 1910. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 91 
 
 ship last night. Hov/ard Holiis, a Negro of Clay 
 ton, Del., was shot in both legs during the fight. 
 ... It is not known who shot Holiis as bullets 
 were flying thick and fast during the melee." 20 
 
 "Federalsburg, Md., Sept. 6. Officers are 
 scouring lower Caroline County to-day for four 
 Negroes who last night shot up a Negro camp- 
 meeting at Mount Hope, near this town." 21 
 
 "Deputy Sheriff Bruce C. Dean, yesterday after 
 noon shot and killed a Negro named Smith at what 
 is known as Henry s Cross Roads [near Cam 
 bridge, Md., negro] carnpmeeting. . . . There 
 has always been more or less disorder; in fact, it 
 is generally known that fights, catting affrays, and 
 a general disregard for the law exists." 22 The 
 Negro who was killed shot at the deputy Sheriff 
 when he tried to arrest him. 
 
 "Salisbury, Md., Aug. 23. A riot occurred 
 last night at the Negro campmeeting, on the west 
 side of the county, and Asbury Waters, 19 years 
 old, was killed, and Clinton Gosless was shot 
 through his jaw-bone and his chin carried away by 
 a bullet. 
 
 ** Baltimore Sun, Aug. 10, 1915. 
 
 21 1 bid., Sept 7, 1915. 
 
 * Cambridge (Md.) Record, Aug. 25, 1913. 
 
92 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 "Just at the height of the services one of the 
 local preachers, was raising his hands in prayer, 
 a colored woman slipped into the kneeling crowd 
 and pulled a pistol from her dress folds and fired 
 a bullet into his heart. Waters pitched forward 
 and died instantly. . . . Immediately after, Sallie 
 Milburn whipped a pistol from her pocket and 
 blazed away at Clinton Gosless, the bullet enter 
 ing his jaw. Gosless is in a very serious condition 
 with little hope of his recovery." 
 
 Both these accounts were in the same issue of 
 the Cambridge (Md.) Record, but the camps 
 were in adjoining counties. 
 
 Indeed, Negro camp meetings and bush meet 
 ings had become so numerous, occupied such a 
 large part of the Negroes time during summer, 
 caused so much lawlessness among them; and con 
 sequently so much expense to the whites, that the 
 Maryland Legislature in 1916 passed a law evi 
 dently directed against them, which in part is as 
 follows : 
 
 "It shall be unlawful for any person, persons, 
 association or organization of any kind whatever 
 to hold any camp meeting or bush meeting within 
 the limits of Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Somer- 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 93 
 
 set, Kent, and Worcester Counties without first 
 making application in writing at least fifteen days 
 prior to the date of such camp meeting or bush 
 meeting therein. That such application for a per 
 mit as aforesaid, shall be accompanied by a peti 
 tion in writing signed by at least twenty-five tax 
 payers, each of whom shall reside within three 
 miles of the place where such camp meeting is 
 to be held, and each petition shall have annexed 
 thereto as a part thereof an affidavit to the effect 
 that each of the said petitioners are bona fide tax 
 payers and of their residences within three miles 
 of said place of such proposed meeting. And 
 whenever the County Commissioners of any of the 
 respective counties shall have any reasonable 
 grounds that any lawlessness or disorder will oc 
 cur, at said camp meeting or bush meeting, they 
 shall refuse to grant such permit, and if, after is 
 suing any permit to hold any camp meeting or 
 bush meeting there shall be lawlessness or disorder 
 reported to said County Commissioners, it shall 
 be the duty of said officials to investigate or have 
 investigated by the Sheriff or other officer of said 
 county, the matter, and upon proof of said law 
 lessness or disorder they shall forthwith revoke 
 said permit and it shall be the duty of the Sheriff, 
 or other officer of the respective Counties to en 
 force the provisions of this act." 
 
94 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 In about the same spirit and for the same pur 
 pose, the reduction of Negro crime, a few years 
 ago, the city of Mobile, Alabama, passed an ordi 
 nance, an account of which is taken from a Balti 
 more periodical: 23 
 
 "The police department of Mobile, Ala., has 
 established a curfew law for Negroes. Com 
 mencing on the night of July 21, the law provides 
 that all Negroes must be in bed at their homes by 
 ten o clock or be subject to arrest. Any caught 
 wandering at large after that hour will be locked 
 up. This action is taken because there is said to 
 be an epidemic of hold-ups perpetrated by the Ne 
 groes. If such a law was enforced in Baltimore 
 it would decrease the alley fights ninety-five per 
 
 cent." 
 
 NEGRO IMMORALITY 
 
 In connection with Negro criminality it seems 
 pertinent to say something of Negro immorality. 
 Two of the Negro s most prominent character 
 istics are the utter lack of chastity and complete 
 ignorance of veracity. 
 
 The Negro s sexual laxity, considered so im 
 moral or even criminal in the white man s civil 
 ization, may have been all but a virtue in the 
 
 ** Methodist Protestant, July 28, 1909. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 95 
 
 habitat of his origin. There nature developed in 
 him intense sexual passions to offset his high death 
 rate. Then, too, the economic influences which 
 fostered a family life among other peoples were 
 mostly lacking in tropical Africa as nature pro 
 vided abundantly without effort on the part of 
 man. 
 
 Although the regulations adopted by masters 
 for the control of the Negroes during slavery times 
 may have served as a check upon their natural 
 sexual propensities, however, since emancipation 
 they have been under no such restraint and as a 
 consequence they have possibly almost reverted to 
 what must have been their primitive promiscuity. 
 Huffman says that in 1894 more than one-fourth 
 of the colored births in the city of Washington 
 were illegitimate. Many prominent Negroes ad 
 mit that above ninety per cent of both sexes are 
 unchaste. A negro may be a pillar in the church 
 and at the same time the father of a dozen ille 
 gitimate children by as many mothers. 
 " Another Negro failing is lying. One can be 
 lieve neither layman nor minister, neither criminal 
 nor saint among them. One may occasionally find 
 a truthful Negro, just as he may find a virtuous 
 or an honest one. Undoubtedly both honest and 
 truthful was the Negro, an elder in the church, 
 who refused to partake of the Lord s Supper, be- 
 
96 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 cause, as he said, the flour the bread was made of 
 had been stolen. 
 
 Some benevolently-inclined men and many re 
 ligious zealots thought that religion and educa 
 tion was the "Open Sesame" by means of which 
 the "salvation" of the Negro was to come. So 
 they sent him money to build churches and to 
 found great schools. Many, however, are now 
 finding that though the Negro may have religion 
 he has no morality; and that too often his educa 
 tion makes him unwilling to do what he can do 
 and wish to do that for which he is unfitted or for 
 which there is no demand. At present who can 
 tell whether he is going forward or backward. 
 Some one has said that there is going on side by 
 side in the Negro people a minimum of progress 
 with a maximum of regress. 
 
 However, the Negro takes great pride in his 
 church, and in his way is intensely religious. The 
 late Booker T. Washington said: 
 
 "Of these millions of black people there is only 
 a very small percentage that does not have formal 
 or informal connection with some church." 
 
 It is, indeed, likely that more than one-half of 
 the male Negro adults are actual members of 
 church, while not more than one in four or five 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 97 
 
 white male adults have such connection. Notwith 
 standing such a showing, religion does not seem to 
 have any controlling influence over the life and 
 character of the Negro. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Negro enjoys his religion, 
 for he is an emotional animal. It is the emo 
 tional clement in religion that appeals to him and 
 makes his face to shine. The promise of never- 
 ending pleasure in a world to come may be but 
 faintly comprehended by him, but the fear of a 
 far off punishment deters him but little from crime. 
 He is the optimist of the human race, and lives in 
 the eternal present. He has no sorrows from the 
 past, and no care except for the immediate future. 
 He keeps without effort or intention two injunc 
 tions of Scripture: "Visit the sick," and "have 
 no care for to-morrow." 
 
 He goes to camp meetings or revivals, sings, 
 prays, and shouts until the small hours of the 
 night. He may think he thus pays the Lord His 
 due, even though the next day, if he works at all, 
 he sleeps on the plow-handle, or with half-closed 
 eyes cuts up the tobacco or the cotton. 
 
 However, he may be free from the painful ne 
 cessity to work the next day, if his wife or mother 
 should have just returned from a white neighbor 
 with an "apronful," even if he did not visit some 
 
9 8 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 tempting smoke-house or hen-roost on the way 
 home from his religious revelry. 
 
 How can Negro criminality and immorality be 
 lessened? The answer is not easy, and what fol 
 lows is merely suggestive. Up to the present, 
 what little the Negro has accomplished, in most 
 part has heen due to the white blood he has re 
 ceived, or to white direction and sympathy. The 
 Negro is woefully lacking in initiative and per 
 sistence. He would be greatly benefited by some 
 sort of probationary oversight. If the Filipinos 
 are not fit for self-government collectively, much 
 less the Negro individually. A great part of them 
 are no more fit to profit by their freedom than 
 so many children. Nothing so promotes health 
 of body and strength of character as regular and 
 persistent industry. To the Negro should be 
 preached the "gospel of salvation" through work. 
 Somehow get him to work six days in the week, 
 instead of working two and loafing four, as many 
 now do. Industrial schools such as Hampton and 
 Tuskegee meet a great need but they touch but 
 few. 
 
 If the States had the power to train or even to 
 enforce habits of industry and thrift upon the 
 shiftless, idle, and vicious Negroes it would un 
 doubtedly result in measureless benefit to both 
 white and black. Liberty should not be made 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 99 
 
 a "fetish." If the Negro has rights that should 
 not be abridged, so have the white people rights 
 and lives that should not be endangered. The 
 law-abiding many have the right to protection 
 from the criminal few actual or incipient. With 
 the adoption of some such scheme the Negro might 
 gradually cease to be a menace to the white race. 
 Again, so often the Negro leaders of the Negro 
 race are merely blind leaders of the blind, en 
 tirely lacking in breadth of view, often discour 
 aging in their race what they should encourage 
 and encouraging what they should discourage as 
 the following quotation may indicate : 
 
 " Make lynching a Federal crime, and stop 
 turning the murderers over to local authorities 
 who are in sympathy with them, demanded Dr. 
 W. T. Vernon, of Memphis, Term., before 15,- 
 ooo Negroes, who were celebrating the twenty- 
 fifth quadrennial Conference of the African M. E. 
 Church in Convention Hall, Broad street and Al 
 legheny Avenue, yesterday." 
 
 Such talk as this serves to promote Negro 
 crime. If instead of Negro leaders writing ar 
 ticles for magazines and Negro papers, in ser 
 mons in Negro churches, and in addresses before 
 * Philadelphia Record, May 8, 1916. 
 
TOO THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Negro conventions denouncing the whites for pro 
 tecting themselves against Negro crime in their 
 own way, could realize that it is not so much the 
 black skin as what sort of man the black skin 
 covers, that counts, would demonstrate to their 
 black brothers that they themselves are the sin 
 ners rather than the sinned against, that they are 
 the transgressors rather than otherwise, they 
 might accomplish much toward lessening Negro 
 crime. If such leaders would use their influence 
 to the utmost to make their race as law-abiding 
 as the whites, and should bring it about, it is 
 hardly likely that then they would need to com 
 plain that their race is imposed upon. But if they 
 were, at least, there would be more force in their 
 complaint. But so long as the Negro race com 
 mits its present amount of crime, the complaint 
 against unfair treatment is more than childish. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SEGREGATION OF THE NEGRO 
 
 IT is hardly to be questioned that since the Civil 
 War the white man and the Negro have been 
 drawing farther and farther apart. Religious 
 teachers, political adventurers, and fortune hunt 
 ers gave the first great impetus to the movement. 
 The teachers, however, misguided, may have been 
 sincere in their efforts to benefit the Negro ; but the 
 carpet-baggers had in mind only personal aggran 
 dizement. 
 
 This political separation of the Negroes from 
 the Southern whites was the entering wedge that 
 split asunder the tics that had bound the two races 
 together. Otherwise the Negroes might have di 
 vided with the whites between two or more politi 
 cal parties. This would have resulted greatly to 
 their advantage for each party would have bid 
 for their vote. 
 
 Upon the passing of the carpet-bag administra 
 tions, however, the Negroes lost most of their po 
 litical importance. Since then it has been further 
 
 101 
 
io2 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 reduced until it is now almost a negligible quan 
 tity. 
 
 During the Reconstruction period, the attitude 
 of the Negroes served to alienate their former 
 masters, who undoubtedly would have otherwise 
 been their best friends. Between most of the Ne 
 groes and the poor whites of the South, there had 
 always existed a feeling of mutual dislike if not 
 contempt. After the War great numbers of the 
 latter secured wealth and influence. Their dislike 
 of the Negro, however, has increased rather than 
 abated. 
 
 Thus, the Negroes began to feel the lack of 
 that sympathy, consideration, and direction from 
 the whites to which they had been accustomed. 
 Therefore, whether consciously or unconsciously, 
 they turned to leaders of their own color more 
 readily, and this has gradually developed a feeling 
 of race solidarity. However, this should not be 
 an unmixed evil. 
 
 Again, in many parts of the South, the indus 
 trial development of the past thirty years has fur 
 thered segregation in that section by drawing the 
 whiter, to the towns and cities. But Negroes have 
 also turned to the cities in great numbers notwith 
 standing the fact that the industrial enterprises of 
 the cities usually hold out but little if any induce 
 ments to such migration. This has given rise to 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 103 
 
 the agitation for the segregation of the races in 
 the cities 7/hether voluntary or by legal enactment. 
 While this is more pronouncc d in the South it has 
 also spread to the North and West. 
 
 One of the most noteworthy examples of volun 
 tary segregation is to be found in New York City: 
 
 "In one district of New York City a Negro 
 population equal in numbers to the inhabitants of 
 Dallas, Texas, or Springfield, Mass., lives, works, 
 and pursues its ideals almost ?.s a separate entity 
 from the great surrounding metropolis. Here the 
 Negro merchants ply their trade; Negro profes 
 sional men follow their various vocations; their 
 children are educated; the poor, sick, and the or 
 phan of their race is cared for; churches, news 
 papers, and books flourish heedless of those out 
 side this Negro community who resent its presence 
 in a white city." 1 
 
 Indeed, in many parts of the country the Ne 
 groes have separated themselves from the whites 
 by founding small communities of their own. In 
 almost any state, villages and towns populated 
 and governed almost exclusively by Negroes may 
 be found. A few of the more important are: 
 Buxton, Iowa, 1000 whites and 4000 Negroes; 
 1 The Outlook, Dec. 23, 1914. 
 
io 4 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Brooklyn, Illinois, 1600 Negroes; Balor, Okla 
 homa, 3000; Plateau, Alabama, 1500; Mound 
 Bayou, Mississippi, 700. 2 
 
 In addition, there are almost an unlimited num 
 ber of what may be termed Negro settlements 
 scattered over the country. Such is Petersburg, 
 on a railroad two miles from Hurlock, Maryland, 
 which may serve as an example. It consists of 
 about twenty-five houses and lots or little farms, 
 altogether embracing about one hundred acres. 
 These are mostly owned by the Negroes who live 
 on them. They bought these little tracts several 
 years ago when the land was considered almost 
 worthless as it was so sandy and poor. The men 
 till their lots and occasionally work by the day 
 for some of the surrounding white farmers. In 
 season, the women and children and some of the 
 men as well go elsewhere to pick berries. In the 
 late summer all have employment at home for 
 about two months furnished by a white cannery, 
 near. Altogether it seerns to be a very contented 
 community. Each Negro is his own boss and can 
 work when it suits him and stop when he pleases. 
 To make such a living as satisfies him he need 
 work scarcely half of his time. This just suits 
 Negro inclinations and consequently Petersburg 
 is a little paradise for the Negro. 
 
 "Negro Year Book," 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 105 
 
 However, the segregation of the Negro is not 
 yet universal. In some towns and cities as well 
 both North and South they arc more or less scat 
 tered. In the City of Washington they are found 
 practically everywhere. In most cities they oc 
 cupy the most undesirable parts such as any low 
 muddy places or narrow alleys. In some small 
 cities of the South, while there may be a well, de 
 fined Negro section, nearly every well-to-do fam 
 ily has a Negro servant family in the back yard. 
 La Grange, Georgia, is an example. 
 
 But in the greater number of towns and cities 
 the Negro section and the white section have been 
 clearly defined for years. Cambridge, Maryland, 
 a city of about 5000 whites and 2000 Ne 
 groes, is of that sort. All the Negroes live in 
 the Southwest section except two or three fami 
 lies that live in a kind of alley near the bridge 
 which connects East Cambridge with the main 
 part of the city. One sees but few Negroes on 
 any white street, not even on the main business 
 street except Saturdays when they do their shop 
 ping. But on the street just west of the main 
 business street and parallel with it, the business 
 street of the Negro section, only a few whites are 
 ever to be seen but it is always black with Negroes. 
 Here are Negro grocery stores, a drug store, bar 
 ber shops, theater, schools, and churches. Very 
 
io6 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 few mulattoes are in evidence for the Negroes are 
 nearly ail of pure blood. One never hears of any 
 serious trouble between the Negroes and whites 
 of Cambridge for they live in comparative har 
 mony with one another. At East New Market in 
 the same county, a railroad separates the white 
 from the Negro section of the town, while at 
 Vienna, eleven miles distant, the Negro section is 
 several hundred yards from the white part of the 
 town. 
 
 Although Negroes constitute about one-third 
 of the population of the Eastern Shore of Mary 
 land, they have not become sufficiently numerous 
 as farmers as to cause much injury to farm land 
 or to farming interests, whether by careless and 
 indifferent farming or by making the country dis 
 tricts undesirable to white people as places of 
 residence. Most of the Negroes in the country 
 districts are used by the white farmers as farm 
 hands. Negroes are seldom able to rent the better 
 grade farms while those owned by them are usual 
 ly small and poor. As a consequence most of the 
 land on the Eastern Shore is in a high state of 
 cultivation and the farmers prosperous and con 
 tented. 
 
 In most parts of the farther South, however,- 
 except Texas and Oklahoma, and the Piedmont 
 and mountain sections, the whites have allowed the 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 107 
 
 Negroes to gain such a foothold in the country 
 districts that they are now the greatest obstacles to 
 agricultural progress. The South is just begin 
 ning to realize the true condition of things. 
 
 Indeed, already in North Carolina an agita 
 tion has begun for the segregation of the Negro 
 in the rural districts. If this could be accom 
 plished in all parts of the South it would be a 
 wonderful boon to that section. Not only would 
 it to a great extent free the white women from 
 fear of attack by Negroes but this would serve 
 to attract to the South thrifty and ambitious farm 
 ers from other parts of the country. A more satis 
 factory social life could be developed in the rural 
 districts. Adequate schools and churches could 
 better be maintained, not only for the white race 
 but for the Negroes as well. As a consequence 
 both races would be benefited. 
 
 With the exception of the establishment in the 
 South of separate schools for the whites and the 
 Negroes, only in comparatively recent years has 
 segregation been brought about by law. More 
 than twenty years ago, however, a few Southern 
 States had laws providing for segregation in rail 
 road travel and now almost every Southern State 
 has such a law. In some, Maryland for example, 
 the law also applies to passenger steamboats. A 
 certain section of the boat is given to the Negroes. 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Both races have now become so accustomed to 
 these laws that they are generally taken as a mat 
 ter of course. 
 
 Lately many Southern cities have passed ordi 
 nances extending the principle of segregation in 
 travel, to street cars. Mobile, Alabama, how 
 ever, as early as 1902 had such an ordinance in 
 force. As it was one of the first, and but slightly 
 different from those in force in other cities, the 
 main part is quoted here,, as follows: 
 
 "All persons or corporations, operating street 
 railroads in the city of Mobile or within its police 
 jurisdiction shall provide seats for the white peo 
 ple and Negroes when there are white people and 
 Negroes on the same car by requiring the conduc 
 tor or other employe in charge of the car or cars 
 to assign to passengers to seats in all the cars, or 
 when the car is divided into two compartments in 
 each compartment, in such manner as to separate 
 the white people from the Negroes, by seating 
 the white people in the front scats and the Ne 
 groes in the rear as they enter the car, but in the 
 event such order of seating might cause inconveni 
 ence to those who are already properly seated, the 
 conductor or other employee, in charge of the car, 
 may use his discretion in seating passengers, but 
 in such manner that no white person and Negro 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 109 
 
 must be placed, or seated, in the same section, or 
 compartment arranged for two passengers: I 3 ro- 
 vided, That Negro nurses having in charge white 
 children, or sick or infirm white persons, may be 
 assigned to seats among the white people." 3 
 
 The conductor is also given the authority of 
 police officer to enforce the law. 
 
 The form of segregation which is receiving most 
 attention in the South at present, however, is the 
 effort of various cities, great and small, to pro 
 vide by law, for (as nearly as possible) distinct 
 residential sections for the two races. This ques 
 tion was first agitated in Baltimore in 1809. A 
 segregation law was passed but it was soon pro 
 nounced invalid by the courts. In 1911, another 
 such ordinance was put in force but it, too, was 
 declared void, first by the Criminal Court of Balti 
 more, and later by the Maryland Court of Ap 
 peals. The latter Court, however, maintained 
 that the city has the rignt to pass a segregation 
 law. I quote the following words of the court: 
 
 "This Court is of the opinion that the Mayor 
 and City Council of Baltimore may, in the exer 
 cise of its police power, validly pass an ordinance 
 for the segregation of the white and colored races 
 
 Code of Mobile, 1907, p. 330. 
 
no THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 without conflicting with the Constitution of the 
 United States or of the State of Maryland." 4 
 
 Very soon after this, another ordinance v/as 
 passed. It has now been in operation about four 
 years (1917). However, the Maryland Court of 
 Appeals is holding a case sub curia, awaiting a de 
 cision of the United States Supreme Court in a 
 case testing the validity of the segregation law of 
 Louisville. 4a 
 
 In 1912 the Virginia Legislature enacted a law 
 for the purpose, it seems, of encouraging the cities 
 and towns of that State to segregate the whites 
 and the Negroes. Richmond, however, had al 
 ready passed a segregation ordinance in 191 1. It 
 is as follows: 
 
 "That it shall be unlawful for any white per 
 son to occupy as a residence or to establish and 
 maintain as a place of public assembly, any house 
 upon any street or alley between two adjacent 
 streets in which a greater number of houses are 
 occupied as residences by colored people than are 
 occupied as residences by white people. 
 
 "That it shall be unlawful for any colored per 
 son to occupy as a residence or to establish and 
 maintain as a place of public assembly any house 
 
 4 Baltimore Sun, Aug. 6, 1913. 
 
 <a Found void by U. S. Supreme Court, Nov. 5, 1917. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH ii i 
 
 upon any street or alley betv/een two adjacent 
 streets on which a greater number of houses are 
 occupied as residences by white people than are 
 occupied as residences by colored people. 
 
 "That no person shall construct or locate on 
 any block or square on which there is at that time 
 no residence any house or other building intended 
 to be used as a residence without declaring in his 
 application for a permit to build whether the house 
 or building so to be constructed is designed to be 
 occupied by white or colored people, and the Build 
 ing Inspector of the city of Richmond shall not is 
 sue any permit in such case unless the applicant 
 complies with the provisions of this section. 
 
 "That nothing in this ordinance shall affect the 
 location of residences made previous to the ap 
 proval of this ordinance, and nothing herein shall 
 be so construed as to prevent the occupation of 
 residences by white or colored servants or em 
 ployes on the square or block on which they are 
 so employed. t 
 
 "Every person, either by himself or through his 
 agent, violating, or any agent for another violating 
 any one or more of the provisions of this ordinance 
 shall be liable to a fine of not less than $100 nor 
 more than $200, recoverable before the police jus 
 tice of the city of Richmond, and, in the discre 
 tion of the police justice, such person may, in addi- 
 
ii2 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 tion thereto, be confined in the city jail not less 
 than 30 nor more than 90 days." 6 
 
 Some of the principal reasons for the demand 
 for the segregation of the two races in towns and 
 cities are given in the Preamble to the Virginia law 
 of 1912 as follows: 
 
 "Whereas the preservation of the public mor 
 als, public health, and public order, in the cities 
 and towns of this Commonwealth is endangered 
 by the residence of white and colored people in 
 close proximity to one another: therefore, be it 
 enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia," 
 etc. 
 
 The effect upon public order of the "close 
 proximity" of the two races may best be shown 
 by the following quotations : 
 
 "Having occasion to ride on the Guilford Ave 
 nue car last week, going down town, there were 10 
 or 12 Negro men in their dirty working clothes. 
 On one s ,-ut there were two of them; the other 8 
 or 10 had each of them a separate bench. Refined 
 handsomely dressed women entering the car had 
 to stand or sit beside one of these dirty Negroes. 
 
 * Baltimore Sun, Aug. 8, 2913. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 113 
 
 I am not an enemy to the race. I believe they 
 should have as good accommodations as we have, 
 but they should be to themselves." 
 
 "I prefer rubbing elbows with them (Negro 
 guano factory laborers) to riding with tfie so- 
 called respectable Negroes on the Preston Street 
 and other cross-town lines. On the Preston street 
 line in particular conditions have become so un 
 bearable that the writer, who formerly used this 
 line to reach his place of business, has been obliged 
 to adopt a more circuitous route, which takes fully 
 twice as long. 
 
 "On this line respectable white people and white 
 women especially, are subjected to every species 
 of affront and insult, which they cannot resent 
 without risk of being drawn into a dispute, in 
 which no decent person cares to be involved. The 
 Negroes realize this and it emboldens them still 
 further." 7 
 
 "Residents in the 1300 block, Myrtle Avenue 
 were greatly excited yesterday by a colored family 
 moving into 1334 during the morning. The block 
 is occupied by white people and this is the first in 
 trusion by Negroes." 8 
 
 8 Letter to Baltimore Sun, March n, 1914. 
 
 Ibid., Aug. 18, 1913. 
 
 * Baltimore Sun, Aug. 22, 1913. 
 
ii 4 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 "Angered because a colored family had moved 
 into house No. 128 Patapsco Avenue, a crowd of 
 about loo residents of Pimplico gathered before 
 the dwelling last night and battered it with sticks 
 and stones until every window pane was smashed, 
 valuable chandeliers demolished and plaster 
 knocked in great clouds from the walls." 9 
 
 "About i $o determined white men gathered 
 early yesterday evening at a house on Mattfeld 
 Avenue, near Falls road, and camped on the 
 grounds until a Negro family of two men and 
 three women and two children living in the house 
 left. . . . After the Negroes had found a place 
 the men scattered. . . . No violence or cruelty 
 was meant toward the Negro family, but that the 
 neighborhood was determined to show that it was 
 white and meant to stay white." 10 
 
 Indeed, objections are often made to the loca 
 tion of Negro churches, schools or Y. M. C. A. s 
 in or near white neighborhoods. The following 
 newspaper headings may be sufficient to indicate 
 the situation: 
 
 "Relay [Md.] Objects to Negro College," 11 
 "Mount Washington Up in Arms Over the Plan 
 
 9 Baltimore American, Sept. 21, 1911. 
 
 10 Baltimore Sun, May 19, 1916. 
 
 11 Ibid., January 13, 1914- 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH IK; 
 
 to Locate Morgan College [Negro] There, 
 "Lafayette Square Protests Against Putting a 
 Colored School On Its Borders." 13 
 
 Nor is this attitude toward the Negro confined 
 to the South. If the North had as many Negroes 
 in proportion to its population as the South, the 
 feeling there would be just as acute. The follow 
 ing quotations so indicate: 
 
 "Boston, March 23. Refusing to associate 
 with Dr. Melissa Thompson, a Negress of North 
 Carolina, who has been appointed a physician in 
 the maternity department of the New England 
 Hospital v for Women and Children in Roxbury, 
 five young white women doctors sent in their resig 
 
 nation." 
 
 "Boston, Sept. 8. Here where years ago a 
 mob of exclusive Back Bay residents stormed the 
 old courthouse to free a Negro from his Southern 
 master, descendants of the Back Bay rescuers to 
 day are fighting against serving as election super 
 visors with a Negro, whose appointment became 
 known Wednesday." 15 
 
 13 Baltimore Sun, August 26, 1913. 
 
 13 Ibid., Aug. 14, 1915. 
 
 "Ibid., March 24, 1911. 
 
 " Baltimore American, Sept. 9, 1911. 
 
ii6 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 "Ithaca, N. Y,, March 28. The petition of 
 more than 200 women in Cornell University 
 against the admission of [Negro] women into the 
 only dormitory in the University has been for 
 warded to President Schurman." 1C 
 
 "New York, July 2. Twenty teachers, about 
 half the staff at Public School No. 125, in Wooster 
 Street, Manhattan have applied for transfers, 
 owing to the assignment by the Board of Educa 
 tion of William L. Burkley (mulatto) as head of 
 the school." 17 
 
 "Burlington, Vermont, dislikes the idea of hav 
 ing the Tenth Cavalry at Fort Ethan Allen. The 
 Tenth happens to be a colored regiment and the 
 prospect of having 1200 Negro soldiers within 
 three miles of the city is greatly exciting many of 
 the people of Burlington." 18 
 
 "Akron, Ohio, August 13. A serious race riot 
 may take place if notices posted on the homes of 
 North Side Negroes last night by members of a 
 citizens Vigilance league in that section of the 
 city, who have warned the Negroes that unless 
 
 " Washington Times, March, 28, 1911. 
 
 17 Baltimore Sun, July 3, 1909. 
 
 " Democrat and News, Cambridge, Md., Sept. 3, 1909. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 117 
 
 they sell their property and leave that section of 
 the city, they will be forcibly evicted from their 
 homes, which are also threatened with destruction. 
 
 "Members of the Vigilance league declare to 
 day that the Negroes are practicing a form of 
 blackmail by buying property in the fashionable 
 residence district of North Hill, which they oc 
 cupy until their white neighbors pay an exorbitant 
 price for their property to get rid of them. 
 
 "They say several instances of this kind have 
 been recorded recently and feeling against the Ne 
 groes reached a high pitch at a secret meeting held 
 last night. The public have taken every precau 
 tion to guard against a serious outbreak. 
 
 "The Negroes have been given one week in 
 which to sell their property and leave that section 
 of the city by the Vigilance league. " 19 
 
 "Bellville, 111., Oct. 7. Ten of the 13 Negroes 
 who have been on trial here for a week, charged 
 with the murder of Detective Samuel Coppedge 
 on the morning of July 2, which precipitated the 
 East St. Louis, 111., race riots were convicted to 
 day and sentenced to 14 years in the penitentiary. 
 Three were acquitted." 20 
 
 19 Baltimore American, Aug. 14, 1913. 
 "The Philadelphia Record, Oct. 8, 1917. 
 
nS THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 "York, Pa., Aug. 20. Dr. George W. Bowles, 
 a Negro physician, has started a movement here 
 for the segregation of his race. Bowles believes 
 that Negroes would be better taken care of if in 
 one part of the town. Now the blacks are housed 
 in the alleys and few are permitted to rent houses 
 on the main streets." 21 
 
 A few such Negro leaders as Dr. Bowles, just 
 mentioned, seem to appreciate the advantages of 
 segregation for the Negro, and for both races. 
 Others, however, object to segregation because to 
 their minds, it is a denial of social equality with 
 the white race, or that they are deprived of the 
 best living conditions. If the Negro had the 
 proper race pride he would welcome the oppor 
 tunity to live among his own race. He would de 
 light in the companionship of those of his kind. 
 Among the Negroes would develop grades of so 
 ciety as among white people. Indeed, already in 
 Baltimore Druid Hill Avenue and other streets 
 have become a sort of aristocratic section for the 
 Negroes. Those who have money have the op 
 portunity to live among their own race in the best 
 manner possible. 
 
 Other races are so proud of their traditional 
 grandeur or present attainments as to claim su- 
 
 n Baltimore Sun, Aug. 21, 1913. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 119 
 
 periority and exclusiveness. But the Negro has 
 such little race pride that were it possible every 
 Negro man would have a white wife and every 
 Negro woman a white husband. Many Negro 
 leaders are so lacking in race esteem as to seize 
 every opportunity to force themselves into the 
 society of other races. And although they possess 
 a strong sense of their rights they are usually 
 found unmindful of attendant obligations. 
 
 The great mass of Negroes, however, soon ac 
 commodate themselves to segregation regulations, 
 whether for schools, railways, or for the residen 
 tial sections of cities and seem to care but little 
 about the question of equality. It is only when 
 stirred up by the unwise of their own race, or by 
 some sentimental, if well-meaning, but shallow- 
 thinking whites, who have lived far removed from 
 association with Negroes, that they manifest much 
 interest in such matters. 
 
 In association among races, unless there is some 
 strong cementing influence to counteract it, fric 
 tion is likely to occur between them in proportion 
 to racial difference. And so long as racial antip 
 athy shall exist and practical minded men see 
 no signs of an end of it in the near future regu 
 lations for the promotion of harmony should be 
 encouraged by both whites and blacks. 
 
 It would be almost as reasonable to expect an 
 
120 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 idiot and a genius to find a common ground of 
 association as to expect it of a white man and a 
 Negro. For in both races there is a failure to 
 recognize that consciousness of kind which is the 
 basis of all pleasant association. Indeed, even 
 the subdivisions of the white race show a strong 
 preference each for those of his own division. An 
 Italian prefers to associate with an Italian; a Ger 
 man, with Germans; and a Jew, with Jews. 
 
 So, in the last analysis, the most potent reason 
 for the segregation of the whites and the Negroes 
 is their unlikeness. For they are antipodal in the 
 extreme: the nadir and zenith of peoples. This 1 
 dissimilarity cannot be removed by soap andj 
 water, time, charity, education, or culture. After! 
 all these it will yet remain. 
 
 Another reason for segregation is the criminal 
 ity and immorality of the Negro race. Even if it 
 would benefit a few Negroes or satisfy their van 
 ity to travel with whites or to live on the same 
 street with them is little reason why the comfort, 
 property values, health and morals of the whites 
 should be endangered thereby. The better ele 
 ments of society have rights as well as the worst 
 and the majority should receive consideration as 
 well as the minority. It is in strict accord with 
 sound ethical principles that laws should aim to 
 level up rather than to level down. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 121 
 
 Again, the susceptibility of the Negro to dis 
 ease is another very potent reason for segrega 
 tion laws. The Negro s manner of living since 
 his emancipation irregular in every way, some 
 times half-starved together with their immoral 
 habits, have so weakened the constitutions of a 
 great part of them that they easily become victims 
 to disease. 
 
 According to the Washington Post (March 3, 
 1917) of 20,000 Negroes who had lately arrived 
 in Philadelphia from the South 1000 were ill with 
 pneumonia and tuberculosis, of whom 700 were 
 said to be dying. 
 
 The "Negro Year Book" for 1914-15 makes 
 the statement that 450,000 Negroes in the South 
 are seriously ill all the time, and that 600,000 of 
 the present Negro population will die of tuber 
 culosis. When one recalls that thirty-five years 
 ago tuberculosis among Negroes was scarcely 
 heard of, he may the better appreciate the full 
 force of the above statement in regard to tuber 
 culosis among Negroes. 
 
 In a letter calling a conference in Baltimore to 
 consider better housing conditions for the Negro, 
 Mayor Preston said : 
 
 "The insanitary housing of many of our color 
 ed people and the congestion within the area in 
 
122 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 which they reside are developing breeding for dis 
 ease. The condition is a serious menace to the 
 general health of the city. It threatens to become 
 in the future a matter of such gravity as to chal 
 lenge the thoughtful consideration of our entire 
 community. . . . 
 
 "The high death rate in Baltimore is occa 
 sioned by the high mortality among the colored 
 people. The death rate from tuberculosis alone 
 is three and a half colored to one white." 22 
 
 The Health Department, in a bulletin issued 
 about the same time, showed that the death-rate 
 per thousand of the Negro population of Balti 
 more was 33.96, while that of the white popula 
 tion was but 16.91. What is true of Baltimore is 
 more or less true elsewhere. 
 
 It is needless to consider other reasons for 
 segregation laws, the three given; viz., to lessen 
 friction, to check criminality and immorality, and 
 to prevent the spread of disease, are sufficient war 
 rant for segregation laws of whatever kind. 
 
 M Baltimore Sun, Feb. 20, 1917. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 NEGRO WEALTH OR POVERTY, WHICH? 
 
 THE statement sometimes made that in 1865 
 the Negro was a landless and penniless race is far 
 from the truth. Some slaves had property that 
 they had secured through opportunities given them 
 by their owners. No doubt free Negroes secured 
 at least a small share of the public domain. Many 
 slaves upon being given freedom by benevolent 
 masters, were also given money or property at the 
 same time. 
 
 Cases of this sort were frequent during slavery 
 times. Several such instances are given in the 
 Staunton (Va.) Democrat during 1846-1848. 
 Such cases as the following were not uncommon : 
 
 "A Negro man named Lerr; age about 35 
 years; a slave for life $700." U A negro man 
 named Jacob; age about 24; a slave from life 
 $600." i 
 
 1 Baltimore Sun, Dec. 18, 1909. 
 123 
 
i2 4 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 These were two items in. an inventory of the 
 estate Phillip B. Saddler returned to the Orphans 
 Court of Baltimore in 1860. 
 
 Even The Liberator mentions some cases of 
 the kind. For example : 
 
 A man in Kentucky willed to his slaves, whom 
 he made free, horses, wagons, farming imple 
 ments, and $4,000. Another, also in Kentucky, 
 freed a Negro family of four, purchased an ex 
 cellent farm for them, paying fifty dollars an acre, 
 and in addition gave them a wagon, a pair of 
 mules and a quantity of provisions. These are 
 given merely as examples of what was constantly 
 taking place. 2 
 
 Indeed, there were many rich free Negroes in 
 the South at the time of the Civil War. Although 
 there is abundant evidence thai the free Negroes, 
 as a rule, were an indolent, thriftless, and even 
 vicious class, some of them, no doubt on account 
 of the recnforcement of white blood in their veins, 
 were industrious and prosperous. 
 
 At Charleston, S. C., alone in 1860, there were 
 355 free Negroes who paid taxes. 8 Of these 226 
 owned real, estate valued at $1,000 or more, each. 
 
 * Liberator, Jan. 20, 1854, and Nov. 9, 1860. 
 *lbid. t May n, 1860; E. Collins, "Memories of the South 
 ern States," p. 44, 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 125 
 
 Some of them had $10,000 to $40,000 worth of 
 property. Altogether they had almost $ i ,000,000 
 worth. 
 
 In Louisiana also, as might be expected, there 
 were many wealthy free Negroes. Most of these 
 were descended from the French and the Spanish 
 planters and their Negro slaves. One free Ne 
 gro family of Louisiana was said to be the richest 
 Negro family in the United States before the War, 
 having property valued at several hundred thou 
 sand dollars. 4 Frederick Law Olrnsted, who trav 
 eled through the State about 1855, was told that 
 some of the free Negroes owned property worth 
 $400,000 or $500,000, which included some of 
 the best sugar and cotton plantations. Indeed, all 
 over the country might have been found free Ne 
 groes with more or less property. Thejjreatcr 
 part of it, no doubt, had been given them by white 
 masters or white relatives. 
 
 In reference to the amount of property held by 
 Negroes at the time of the Civil War, William H. 
 Thomas, a Negro writer, says: 
 
 u We have no trustworthy data by which to 
 measure the wealth of those residing in the North, 
 though it is known to have been considerable; 
 
 * Liberator, March 18, 1859. Also, Olmsted, "Seaboard Slave 
 States," pp. 633-640. 
 
126 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 but in the South, where separate racial statistics 
 were kept, the value of property owned by free 
 Negroes. was between $35,000,000 and $40,000,- 
 
 In 1860, there were in the neighborhood of 
 2^0,000 free Negroes in the South and around 
 225,000 in the North. Then, if the free Negroes 
 of the South had nearly $40,000,000 it would 
 seem a fair estimate that in both sections the free 
 Negroes had at least $60,000,000. Taking this 
 for granted, as money at six per cent compounded^ 
 annually, doubles every twelve and one-half years, 
 the $60,000,000 at interest until the present 
 (1917) would have amounted to about $960,- 
 000,000. If the 10,000,000 Negroes of the coun 
 try at present had as large amount of property in 
 proportion, as the less than 500,000 free Negroes 
 of 1860, they would be worth more than $1,200,- 
 000,000. 
 
 However, in 1903, it was estimated by a com 
 mittee of the American Economic Association that 
 ail the taxable property in the United States own 
 ed by Negroes in 1900 amounted to only $300,- 
 000,000. The $60,000,000 at six per cent would 
 have amounted to about $400,000,000 by that 
 time. 
 
 In 1913, in an address before the Negro Busi- 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 127 
 
 ness League which met in Philadelphia, Booker 
 T. Washington said that Negroes pay taxes on 
 $700,000,000 worth of property. Many other- 
 students of the Negro question both black and 
 white have placed about the same estimate upon 
 Negro holdings. Even if true, the amount would 
 be about $200,000,000 less than the $60,000,000 
 at interest to the same time. 
 
 Now, assuming that Negroes actually owned 
 $700,000,000 worth of property in 1913, what 
 docs it signify? The value of all property in the 
 United States is now estimated at almost 
 $250,000,000,000. Now, suppose that: it wns 
 $210,000,000,000 in 1913, this would be just 
 three hundred times the estimated value of Negro 
 property at the time. In other words, 10,000,000 
 negroes owned one three-hundredth as much as 
 90,000,000 whites. Thus one _. white man on an 
 average would have as much as thirty-two Ne 
 groes. 
 
 Even were it true chat the Negro race began 
 with nothing after the War, likely thousands of 
 white men who became millionaires had just such 
 a start. One such white man, especially, is, no 
 doubt, worth as much as the 10,000,000 Negroes 
 claim to be, even though he has given to charity 
 almost half as much more. 
 
 Indeed, the $700,000,000 in question is but lit- 
 
123 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 tic more than two-thirds as much as the whites in 
 the United States, according to the Chicago Trib 
 une* gave to charity during 1916. Again, the 
 $700,000,000 lacks nearly $200,000,000 of being 
 equal to the taxable basis of Baltimore. It would 
 be difficult to secure statistics in reference to the 
 matter, but there could be little doubt that the 
 first immigrants to the United States after the 
 Civil War, including the descendents of such to 
 the number of 10,000,000, immigrants who 
 came with practically nothing, no money in the ma 
 jority of instances and ignorant, now are worth 
 many times $700,000,000. 
 
 The $700,000,000 may also be considered from 
 another point of view: The "Negro Year Book," 
 1913 credits the Negro with $700,000,000 worth 
 of property and speaks glowingly about the in 
 crease of the previous ten years. The statement is 
 made that farm land and buildings owned by the 
 Negro increased from $69,639,426 in 1900 to 
 $273,506,665 in 1910, and that during the same 
 period the total value of Negro farm property, 
 including live stock, and implements and ma 
 chinery increased from $177,408,688 to $492,- 
 898,216. 
 
 Now, the Census shows that in 1900 Negroes 
 
 The Chicago Tribune, Dec. 30, 1916, gives a list of gifts to 
 charity during 1916 as near $1,000,000,000. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 129 
 
 owned 13,770,801 acres of land entire and 2,205,- 
 297 acres in part. If their share of the land owned 
 in pare were half, then, the Negroes had in pos 
 session 14,873,449 acres. In 1910, they ov/ned 
 15,961,506 acres entire and 3>ii4>957 acres in 
 part. Allowing them the same share of that held 
 in part as for 1900, gives them in 1910, 17,518,- 
 984 acres. However, only about two-fifths of 
 the land owned by Negroes is arable, die larger 
 part being woodland, swamp, rough and stony 
 land, much of which is almost valueless. 
 
 According to the "Negro Year Book/ Negro 
 farm land and buildings increased in value from 
 $7.98 an acre in 1900 to $17.40 an acre in 1910.^ 
 If this is true; the value of the Negro lands and 
 buildings in 1900 was $118,690,124 instead of 
 $69,639,426; and in 1910, $304,830,332 Liblcud 
 of $273,506,665. 
 
 "According to the census, "The average value of lam; prop 
 erty per acre was $27.01 for farms operated by Negroes in 1910 
 as compared with $13.08 for 1900, and $47.72 for /arms o~er;v;> d 
 by whites in 1910." There was no indication whether all land 
 or merely arable land is rner.nt. About three-fourths of the 
 farms operated by Negroes are rented. Observation convinces 
 me that farms owned by Negroes are not more thar h.:.lf so 
 valuable an acre on the average as the land rented by them, :or 
 from necessity they buy the least valuable land. This being 
 true, Negro lands in 1900 couid not have been worth more than 
 $6.00 an acre and about $13.00 in 1910. Ilov/ever, in makins: 
 any calculations as to the value of Negro lands and property, I 
 will take the Negro Year Book estimate and apply it to all 
 Negro land. 
 
130 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Again, Negroes operated in 1910, 893,370 
 farms while but 241,221 of these were owned or 
 partly owned by them. An idea of the value of the 
 farm stock on these farms, and the Negroes lack 
 of thrift as well, may be had from a statement 
 made before the Negro Conference at Tuskegee 
 Institute in 1015 : 
 
 An investigation has shown that there arc 
 20,000 farms of Ncg; ocs on which there arc no 
 cattle of any kind; 27,000 on which there arc 
 no hogs; 200,000 on which no poultry is raised; 
 140,000 on which no corn is grown; on 750,000 
 farms of Negroes no oats are grown; on 550,000 
 farms no sweet potatoes arc grown, and on 200,- 
 ooo farms of Negroes there are no gardens of 
 any sort." " 
 
 According to the Census, however, on farms 
 operated by Negroes, farm implements and ma 
 chinery increased from $18,859,757 * n 1900 to 
 $34,178,052 by 1910, while live stock increased 
 in value from $84,936,215 to $184,896,771. 
 Adding to these amounts for 1910 the above sum 
 of $304,830,032 for Negro lands and buildings 
 a total of $523,904,855 is obtained for 1910 in 
 stead of $492,898,216, which is the Negro Year 
 
 1 cott and Stowc, "Booker T. Washington," p. 171. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN" THE 8011711 
 
 Book estimate. 5 So here credit may be given the 
 Negro for the larger amount". 
 
 Again, according to the Census of 10,10, Ne 
 groes owned around 220,000 homes other i;i:in 
 farm homes. No estimate as to their value is 
 given. Although $400 each is undoubtedly a high 
 valuation they may be rou. imated at t!r.r.. 
 
 This amounts to $88,000,000. r T. Y /ash- 
 
 ington claimed for Negroes just h. ; cLa.tii, 
 
 43,000 business interests. Th.- 
 writer is that Negro business interests average 
 much less than $1000 each. Indeed, great num 
 bers not more than $100 or $200 each. However, 
 if they average $1000 each they amount to $43,- 
 000,000. 
 
 By adding the three items: $52.3,904,855, the 
 
 "The estimate of $7.98 an acre in IQOO, and $17. .;o nn acre ir: 
 1910, according to the "Negro Year iJook" mentioned above, is 
 undoubtedly too high by at least one-third, but I ur.e it so as to 
 give them the advantage rather than otherwise. I know a body 
 of 1,300 acres of land in my own county, Dorche^er, M\L, con 
 sisting of some cleared land, woodland and brushland, which a 
 real estate man told me could be bought at five dollars an acre. 
 This is such land as the Negro usually buys. Only a short dis 
 tance from the body of land mentioned in this note land is val 
 ued at from twenty-five to one hundred dollars an acre. 
 
 "Among the Negro business interests arc 64 banks which are 
 often mentioned in Negro speeches. It seems, however, that rvvo 
 of them have failed. The total capital of these banks is said to 
 be $1,500,000. In striking contrast arc the 27,000 while bunks 
 with $2,162,900,000 capital. Petersburg, Negro settlement in 
 Md., mentioned above, has two Negro stores with hardly $100 
 worth of goods, each. 
 
132 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 value of Negro farm property; $88,000,000, Ne 
 gro-owned homes other than farm homes; and 
 $43,000,000, the value of the Negro business in 
 terests; a grand total of $654,904,855 is obtain 
 ed. Thus it would appear that in 1913 Negroes 
 might have had around $700,000,000 worth of 
 property in their possession. 
 
 Naturally the next question that comes to mind 
 is this: How much does the Negro owe? 
 
 Scarcely without exception the white man is his 
 creditor, consequently what the Negro owes is to 
 be subtracted from the amount of his possessions. 
 
 According to the Census of 1910, something like 
 65,000 Negro farms and 50,000 Negro-owned 
 homes have mortgages or similar encumbrances 
 against them. It is unlikely that this is true to 
 any large extent except as regards the more valua 
 ble Negro properties. If the average farm 
 mortgage is $500 and the average home mort 
 gage $300 both together will amount to $47,500,- 
 ooo. it is reasonable to suppose also that the 
 43,000 business interests owe at least $15,000,000. 
 
 Again, while more than 150,000 Negro farms 
 and about as many more Negro homes were re 
 ported by the census as free of encumbrance, never 
 theless, it is not unlikely that they owe a large 
 amount of money in notes, bills, etc. Nor need it 
 be forgotten that often Negro tenants owe their 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 133 
 
 landlords fully as much as the entire value of such 
 tenant s personal property. 10 Many Negroes in 
 one way or another owe about as much as they 
 are worth. This is undoubtedly true of some 
 white men, also, but the point is, what Negroes 
 owe they owe to white men. A well-to-do farmer 
 told the writer a few years ago that he held vari 
 ous kinds of small claims to the amount of more 
 than $4000 against the Negroes of his community. 
 So, $50,000,000 should not be an excessive esti 
 mate for such Negro liabilities. 
 
 By adding these various items; $47,500,000 
 in mortgages and liens against Negro farms and 
 homes; $15,000,000 against Negro business in 
 terests: and $50,000,000 against Negro farm own 
 ers, home owners, tenants, etc., gives a grand total 
 of $112,500,000. Subtracting this from $654,- 
 904,855, which was found to be the value of Ne 
 gro property, leaves $542,404,855 as the value 
 of Negro property when debts are paid. 
 
 Again, in regard to the statement above that 
 Negro farm property increased in value from 
 $222,485,096 in 1900 to $523,904,855 in 1910 
 one may need to be reminded that live stock and 
 land about doubled in money value during this 
 
 10 I make no mention of the little personal property often not 
 taxed many poorer Negroes possess, for the reason that usually 
 such Negroes owe retail store keepers even more than their 
 little property would sell for. 
 
i 3 4 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 time and that by 1913 they had rr Drc than doubled. 
 This was due mainly to the wonderful increase in 
 the output of gold mines thus making money 
 cher.per. With this depreciation in the value of 
 money the Negro, of course, had nothing to do. 
 
 Except for this, it is unlikely that the $222,- 
 485,096 the valuation of Negro farm property 
 in 1900 would have increased to more than $265,- 
 000,000 in 1910 instead of $523,904,855. For 
 during the time the Negro added but 2,645,535 
 acres which may be valued at $21,000,000. The 
 remaining $23,000,000 being sufficient to allow 
 for the improvement of the land, if any, and any 
 actual increase of cattle and farm machinery. Now, 
 subtracting $265,000,000 from $523,904,855 
 leaves $258,904,855 which was due to rise in price 
 rather than to effort on the part of the Negro. 
 Again, subtracting the $258,904,855 from $542,- 
 404,855, the value of all Negro property after 
 their debts were paid, leaves $283,500,000 which, 
 except for the circumstances over which the Ne 
 gro had no influence, would have been the actual 
 wealth of the Negro about 1913, instead of $700,- 
 000,000 as claimed. 
 
 Of this amount, no doubt, quite a large part 
 was given to individual Negroes by whites for one 
 reason or another. I have already adverted to 
 the fact that during slavery times Negroes often 
 
AND THE, NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 135 
 
 received both money and property from kind- 
 hearted masters, along with their freedom. How 
 much has been given them since emancipation 
 would be hard to determine. Only a short while 
 ago, indeed, the New York Tribune mentioned 
 a white woman who had left her Negro maid $12,- 
 ooo in cash, and other valuables in addition. 11 
 
 Moreover, it has been estimated, that of the 
 $28,496,946, the value of plant equipment and 
 endowment of Negro private schools, five-sixths 
 was contributed by whites and only one-sixth, by 
 Negroes. 12 During the years 1912 and 1913 white, 
 people gave nearly $2,000,000 towards Negro 
 education. 13 Nor does there appear to be any fall 
 ing oft in the white man s gifts to Negro schools. 
 In the early part of the year 1917, the Rockefeller 
 Foundation appropriated to American schools and 
 colleges $575,200, of which $197,000, several 
 times their share, was given to Negro schools. 14 
 In addition, Federal and State institutions for the 
 higher education of the Negro have an income 
 about $1,000,000 and property valued at $6,000,- 
 ooo. 15 Nor is this all, no doubt, Southern whites 
 
 11 New York Tribune, Jan. 25, 1917. 
 
 ""Negro Education," Government Printing Office, 1917, Vol. 
 I, p. 8. 
 
 *U. S. Educational Report, 1914, Vol. I, pp. 612-13. 
 
 "Baltimore Sun, Jan. 30, 1917. 
 
 "Negro Education," Government Printing Office, 1917, Vol. I, 
 p. 12. 
 
136 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 have contributed several times as much to Negro 
 education by taxation as has been given otherwise. 
 Again, the amount of money and lands that the 
 Negro secured during the reconstruction period 
 might be an interesting subject for investigation. 
 The Negro legislator had the same privilege as 
 the white one to sell his vote and influence. Nor 
 could there be little doubt that he failed to use 
 the opportunity. The following story is credited 
 to Senator Z. B. Vance of North Carolina : 1G 
 
 A Negro member of the North Carolina legis 
 lature was found chuckling to himself over a pile 
 of money which he was counting. "What amuses 
 you so? he was asked. "Well, boss," he re 
 plied, grinning from ear to ear, "I s been sold in 
 my life leven times, an fo de Lord, dis is de fust 
 time I eber got de money." 
 
 During the Reconstruction period taxes became 
 so oppressive that thousands and thousands of 
 farms and plantations were sold at auction for 
 taxes. In some places land became almost value 
 less. It is hardly to be doubted that many Ne 
 groes who got easy money through politics at this 
 time failed to use some of it in the purchase of 
 land. 
 
 " James Ford Rhodes, "History of United States," Vol. VI, p. 
 305. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 137 
 
 Now, what is the reason for the poverty of the 
 Negro? Indeed, from the foregoing it must ap 
 pear that poverty is a more appropriate word to 
 use in such connection than wealth. The answer 
 is not far to seek. It is the natural result of the 
 Negro character, disposition, and training. The 
 following letter is suggestive: 
 
 "... I have done my work practically the 
 whole summer with the exception of a few weeks 
 that I had a trifling no account Negro, and even 
 then I had to do the best portion of it in order to 
 get them to accomplish anything. When they 
 would wash and iron, those days I did everything 
 else and they helped a little with the ironing, for 
 if I didn t they would never get through. They 
 [Negroes] are absolutely worthless, and if I 
 didn t have small children I wouldn t let one light 
 within a mile of me. . . . n 17 
 
 A Negro who worked in the strawberry section 
 of Delaware told the writer a few years ago that 
 although he usually worked in the daytime he 
 roved about every night. It happened that once, 
 when he had been carousing as usual on the night 
 before, that he was put to harrowing strawber- 
 
 17 Quotation from a letter shown to the writer, which was 
 written by a woman in Richmond. 
 
138 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 ries. About three o clock in the afternoon the 
 overseer came along and found that he was har 
 rowing up the strawberries from one end of the 
 row to the other, he was so sleepy. The over 
 seer simply told him to put his horse in the stable : 
 and go to bed, which he did. As he got some 
 sleep, when night came he was out again for a 
 great part of the night; and so on. 
 
 As a laborer, the Negro is not so satisfactory \ 
 a si formerly. The old-time Negro, trained in 
 slavery to work, has about passed away and his 
 successor is far less efficient and faithful to duty. 
 Lately, large numbers of Negro laborers have 
 shown a tendency to leave the farms for work on 
 railroads, in sawmills, and in the cities, large num 
 bers migrating to the cities of the North. They 
 like to work in crowds and this often results in 
 making more work for the police. 
 
 From the good wages Negro laborers have re 
 ceived for several years, many of the more far- 
 sighted have saved enough to buy little homes. A 
 few of the more ambitious may continue to save, 
 but far the greater part are then perfectly satis 
 fied and settle down to a life of ease and content 
 ment. By raising a hog or two, a few chickens, 
 some garden vegetables, and, with a day s work 
 now and then, they pass their time in a way suited 
 to their indifferent nature. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 139 
 
 A concrete example may be of interest. A pure 
 Negro, about thirty-five years of age, a few years 
 ago, purchased about half an acre of land on the 
 bank of a "branch" near a small village in Mary 
 land. For a few dollars he bought an old dis 
 carded house about one hundred and fifty yards 
 away, and with the aid of neighbors moved it on 
 his lot. It is doubtful if both the lot, and the house 
 (after being moved and repaired) cost him more 
 than one hundred dollars. 
 
 This Negro has been living in it for years and 
 seems perfectly contented. His family consists of 
 himself, wife and three daughters eleven to seven 
 teen years of age. The surrounding country is 
 one of the best tomato growing sections in the 
 United States and during about six weeks of the to 
 mato season tomato pickers are in great demand 
 and make good wages. During this time the Ne 
 gro man and his family usually work hard; for 
 they pick by the basket and make in the neighbor 
 hood of two hundred dollars. This is practically 
 their year s work. The remainder of the year 
 they do but little. They have a garden, pigs, and 
 chickens. It would be an easy matter for this 
 family to get ahead in the world; but they prefer 
 the easy life of comparative idleness, for this 
 was their incentive to secure a home. 
 
 This is also one of the main reasons, no doubt, 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 for the great increase in Negro tenant farmers, 
 especially that of share tenants. The latter class 
 increased about thirty-six per cent between 1900 
 and 1910. Many of these seldom work a full 
 day at a time. As they usually put off cultivating 
 a crop to the last moment, if a wet season hap 
 pens to set in, it is soon greatly damaged by a 
 growth of grass. As a tenant farmer, the Ne 
 gro realizes that he is more independent, his time 
 is his own, and that he can usually work when he 
 pleases. A great part of his time is given to vari 
 ous Negro recreations, such as visiting, riding 
 and driving, crap-shooting, preaching, attending 
 revivals, and camp-meetings. 
 
 So the cause of the Negro s failure to secure 
 a reasonable share of wealth is not lack of oppor 
 tunity, for (at least, in the South) he has every 
 opportunity that he could wish in order to do so, 
 but rather to his racial traits or characteristics, 
 some of which are: a happy-go-lucky disposition, 
 indolence, shiftlcssnes s, laziness, indifference, lack 
 of mental stamina and ambition, and strong crim 
 inal tendencies. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO 
 
 MANY solutions of the Negro problem have 
 been proposed. Men so gifted with imagination 
 that they do not find it necessary to consider either 
 logic or facts, over and again, in a single speech 
 or magazine article, have solved it to their indi 
 vidual satisfaction. Such proposed solutions are 
 usually no less preposterous than visionary. With 
 these I have nothing to do. As elsewhere in this 
 study, so also here, I consider only what seems 
 to have a firm basis of fact. 
 
 However, in passing, I may be pardoned, if I 
 have the temerity to suggest the following, which, 
 although seemingly fanciful, yet may have suffi 
 cient ground in reason as to merit some considera 
 tion: If about 100,000 square miles of territory 
 on the Gulf of Mexico, embracing, say, Louisiana 
 east of the Mississippi River, excepting New Or 
 leans., the southern part of Mississippi and Ala 
 bama, the part of Florida south of Alabama, and 
 a small part of southwest Georgia, were set apart 
 as a State or States to which all the Negroes in. 
 
 141 
 
142 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 other parts of the country be encouraged or 
 obliged to migrate, it might result in great good to 
 both races. 
 
 Something like half the population of this sec 
 tion are Negroes, while the whites that are here 
 are mostly in the towns and cities. The area sug 
 gested is more than that of New York and Penn 
 sylvania combined. There would be room for all 
 Negroes in the country for generations to come. 
 As the Negro states would be members of the 
 Union, with representatives and senators in Con 
 gress, the Negroes would have an opportunity 
 under the Federal Government to develop a po 
 litical and social world of their own removed from 
 the overshadowing presence of the white man. If 
 the Negro showed himself unable to develop the 
 power of local self-government under such an ar 
 rangement, his case would be absolutely hopeless. 
 However, there are so many difficulties in the way 
 and so many objections that might be made that 
 no one need either hope or fear that any such 
 thing will ever be undertaken. 
 
 But somewhat more in keeping with common 
 sense and prevalent ideas is the proposal that Ne 
 groes be encouraged to distribute themselves 
 equally over the country; thus relieving the South 
 of its burden of Negro population. If such an 
 equalization of the Negro population could be car- 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 143 
 
 ried out, the Negro then being everywhere few in 
 numbers to the whites, could the better be held 
 to the white man s standard of conduct. Not only 
 so, but the Negro would have an opportunity to 
 absorb the white man s civilization more quickly, 
 if ever. In addition, the race question would 
 cease to be sectional, and laws mutually advantage 
 ous to both races could then be passed. 
 
 Before going further, even at the risk of digress 
 ing, for it is a matter of justice to the Negro, 
 it should be said in favor of the Negro that even 
 though he is the most alien race among us, no 
 question as to his patriotism is ever raised. He 
 has fought in all our great wars and has shown 
 himself patriotic to the core. 
 
 A day or two after President Wilson had made 
 his German War address before Congress, the 
 writer happened by the Star bulletin board in 
 Washington, and noticed a German talking to a 
 big burly Negro against war with Germany. He 
 pointed to the bulletin board and told him not to 
 believe anything he saw there for it was all lies 
 made in London. The Negro seemed to listen in 
 a half-disgusted sort of way, but as he started off 
 he was understood to say: 
 
 "I wish I was with some colored soldiers in 
 Europe. We would show the Germans how to 
 
 fight." 
 
144 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 The Negro has no kindred country to look 
 to, so he is undivided in his allegiance. This can 
 not be said of all other races among us, not of 
 the Japanese and Chinese who seek admission at 
 our Pacific shores. Like the Negro they cannot 
 be assimilated by our people. ^ In numbers, how- 
 
 Over, they would constitute a much more danger- 
 us element to our welfare and safety than the 
 Negro. 1 Japan is almost abreast of our ciyiliza- 
 tiojVTaml thcTwestern nations-TrTTtoitTg-th^Tr best 
 to train China to be an antagonist worthy of their 
 steel, should she ever have cause to cross swords 
 wiiii them. Large numbers of Chinese and Jap 
 anese would not only add to our race problems but 
 would increase our chances for friction with their 
 home governments. In addition they might con 
 stitute a reverse army of the enemy in our midst 
 in case of war. But no such danger need be feared 
 from the presence of the Negro. 
 
 I have just adverted to the fact that the yellow 
 race and the black are not easily assimilated with 
 the white race. It may be well that it is so. To 
 the normal white man amalgamation with these 
 races is almost unthinkable. Nevertheless, there 
 are a few misguided individuals who surely have 
 either a mental or a moral twist who persist in 
 joining together that which nature has put asunder. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 145 
 
 A few years ago, a minister sent the following 
 telegram to the Governor of California: l 
 
 "I have just married a Japanese io an Ameri 
 can and have done more for God and Uncle Sam 
 than the alien land bill will do in 1000 years." 
 
 It is not the ungodly that cause the suffering in 
 the world so much as the bigoted if well-intention 
 ed fools. Self-elected good people can usually be 
 counted on to cause a lot of mischief. If trios*, 
 who set themselves up as leaders and ethical teach 
 ers would but first make sure that they were pos 
 sessed of at least a fair amount of common sense 1 
 
 In a recent Methodist Conference at Roanokc, 
 Virginia, the statement was made that the rec 
 ords of some churches in Massachusetts show that 
 in the previous year "17 per cent of the marriages 
 were those in which Negro men married white 
 women or white men married Negro women." 
 This is the more remarkable when account is taken 
 of the very small Negro population of that State. 
 
 It is even sometimes asserted that the Negro 
 would bring to the white race some qualities which 
 would tend toward the development of a more per 
 fect man. But such an idea has no basis in fact. 
 The following quotation is to the point: 
 
 1 Baltimore American, May 23, 1913. 
 8 Baltimore Sun, March 30, 1917, 
 
146 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 u \Ve have ample experience to go upon in 
 South America, in the West Indies, in the South 
 ern States themselves. The mulatto exists and has 
 existed for generations, not in hundreds or thou 
 sands, hut in millions; in what respect has he 
 proved himself the superior of the pure Spaniard, 
 or Portuguese, or Anglo-Saxon? Does South 
 American history bear testimony to his political 
 competence? Have his achievements in science, in 
 literature, in music, been superior to the un-Afri- 
 canized peoples? Or waiving the question of su 
 periority, has he ever in these domains, produced 
 meritorious work in any fair proportion to his 
 numbers? I do not say that it is impossible to 
 make out a sort of case for him, by the ransacking 
 of records and the employment of a very indefinite 
 standard of values. But I do most emphatically 
 say that no conspicuous or undeniable advantage 
 has resulted from the blending of bloods, such as 
 can or ought to counteract the instinctive repug 
 nance of the South." 3 
 
 It is said that an investigation of 2200 Negro 
 authors showed that nearly all of them come from 
 the mixed stock. 4 How many of these would take 
 
 William Archer, in McClurSs, July, 1909. 
 
 4 C. A. Ellwood, "Sociology and Modern Social Problems," p. 
 
 241. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 147 
 
 first, second, or even third rank in the literary 
 world? It is needless to answer. Indeed, Negroes 
 and mulattoes have been toilers in the United 
 States for generations but who ever heard of an 
 important labor saving instrument invented by 
 them? The same abilities or characteristics which 
 would make a white man only locally important 
 would make a Negro or a mulatto famous. There 
 were thousands upon thousands of white men in 
 tellectually and otherwise superior to Booker T. 
 Washington who gained but little recognition, but 
 because he was a negro, or rather mulatto, Wash 
 ington s abilities stood out in striking relief. Mu 
 lattoes ought to furnish the leaders of the Negro 
 race for the best white blood runs in the veins of 
 some of them. Although mulattoes may furnish 
 the Negro leaders, there can be no doubt that they 
 also furnish far beyond their share of the vicious 
 and the criminal elements of the race as well. 
 
 It may be pertinent in this connection, however, 
 to observe that in the South the two races have 
 been gradually drawing apart, amalgamation or 
 miscegcjiation is becoming more a rrd~7TTC)re -repug 
 nant, the~~conditions which favored it do not ob 
 tain to anything like the extent as formerly, as a 
 consequence the mixing between the whites and 
 the blacks is rapidly lessening. Although the cen 
 sus shows an increase in the number of mulattoes 
 
148 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 from decade to decade, the increase is mainly due 
 to the mixing of mulattocs with pure Negroes. 
 
 Some students of the subject, who seemingly are 
 more familiar with the conditions in the North and 
 the border States than with those of the farther 
 South, sometimes estimate from one-third to one- 
 .-half of the Negroes in the United States to be mu 
 lattocs. This, I am confident, is a mistake. I 
 was reared in a border State, have spent some time 
 in the North as well as in several Southern States, 
 and nave been in many of the leading cities of the 
 South. My observation leads me to believe that 
 the Census, in this respect, is more nearly correct 
 than any other source of information. 
 
 The Agents of the Census, in 1910, were in 
 structed to "report as black all persons who were 
 evidently full blood Negroes and as mulattoes 
 all other persons having some proportion or per 
 ceptible trace of Negro blood." Accordingly in 
 a population of 9,928,000 Negroes in the United 
 States there were found to be 2,050,000 mulat- 
 toes, 20.9 per cent, or a little more than one- 
 fifth. 
 
 By geographic divisions the percentage of mu- 
 lattoes among the Negroes was as follows: New 
 England, 33.4 per cent; Middle Atlantic States, 
 19.6; East North Central, 33.2; West North Cen 
 tral, 28.7; South Atlantic, 20.8; East South Cen- 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 149 
 
 tral, 19.1; West South Central, 20.1; Mountain., 
 28.6; and Pacific States, 34.7. 
 
 Of the Northern States, Michigan took first 
 place, with 47 per cent of mulattoes among her 
 Negroes. Maine was next, with 45.9; and Wis 
 consin third, with 39.4. Those with the smallest 
 percentage were Wyoming, 13.1 per cent; New 
 Jersey, 15.8; and Pennsylvania, 19.2. The South 
 ern States having the largest percentage were, Vir 
 ginia, 33.2 per cent; West Virginia, 32.5; and 
 Missouri, 28.4 per, cent. A large number of 
 States in the South had a small percentage of mu 
 lattoes among their Negroes: Maryland, 18.6 
 per cent; Georgia, 17.3; Mississippi, 16.9; Ala 
 bama, 16.7; South Carolina, 16.1; Florida, 16.0; 
 Delaware, 11.9; and the Eastern Shore of Mary 
 land which borders Delaware on two sides, had 
 only 1 1. 1 per cent, or one mulatto to every nine 
 Negroes; thus the Eastern Shore has the distinc 
 tion of having fewer mulattoes in proportion to 
 its Negro population than any other section. It 
 is therefore evident that in the North the propor 
 tion of mulattoes among the Negroes is from about 
 one-fifth to almost one-half; while in the South the 
 proportion ranges from above one-eighth to about 
 one-third. In. the States where the bulk of the 
 Negro population is found it is only about one- 
 sixth. With slight exceptions, it seems to be true 
 
150 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 that the fewer to the white population the more 
 mulattoes there are in proportion to the number of 
 the Negroes. 
 
 Indeed, may it not be true that the much larger 
 proportional number of mulattoes among the Ne 
 groes of the North in no small measure accounts 
 for the greater proportional amount of crime 
 among the Negroes of the North? So it would 
 appear that the amalgamation or miscegenation of 
 the whites and the Negroes is not a leveling up 
 but rather a leveling down process; at best nothing 
 otherwise than building up the Negro by lowering 
 the white. So no greater nor more fearful calam 
 ity could befall the white race in America than 
 that the Negro should lose his identity through 
 being absorbed by this great division of the Anglo- 
 Saxon race. 
 
 Again, many optimistic white men have thought 
 that the Negro could be raised to the white man s 
 level by means of the training and culture that 
 comes through the study of books. To these edu 
 cation for the Negro has been a watchword. To a 
 large extent Southern whites have been in sym 
 pathy with the education of the Negro. Indeed, 
 many years ago, contrary to what one not familiar 
 with the South might suppose, a prominent man 
 in North Carolina in seeking a congressional 
 nomination on a platform hostile to Negro educa- 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH "151 
 
 tion failed even to carry his home county. And 
 efforts to restrict the amount appropriated to Ne 
 gro schools to the part of the school taxes paid 
 by Negroes have failed. 
 
 Since 1870 the South has spent on Negro edu 
 cation around $230,000,000 and is now appro 
 priating for that purpose near $10,000,000, an 
 nually. It is doubtful if the Negro contributes in 
 taxes even half the amount spent on his public 
 schools. In 1912, according to the Educational 
 Report of that State, North Carolina spent $436,- 
 480.08 for Negro teachers and Negro school 
 buildings, of which the Negro contributed in taxes 
 for schools $190,378.81, or a little more than 
 two-fifths. Texas spends not far from $2,000,000 
 a year on Negro schools, and Georgia about $850,- 
 ooo. The District of Columbia, indeed, spends 
 more per capita on Negro pupils than on whites. 
 However, this is a notable exception. 
 
 There are also more than six hundred private 
 and denominational schools of secondary and col 
 lege grade in the United States for the higher edu 
 cation of the Negro. The property of these is 
 valued at about $28,5OO,ooo. 5 From 1865 to 
 1917 about $65,000,000 has been contributed to 
 Negro education in the South through various re 
 ligious and philanthropic organizations. 
 
 "Negro Education (Government Report), Vol. I, p. 8. 
 
152 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 But notwithstanding the fact that the illiteracy 
 of the Negro race had been reduced by 1910 to 
 about thirty-three per cent, there is a widespread 
 feeling of disappointment in Negro education. 
 Not that it has made the Negro more criminal 
 as has sometimes been said, however, this is not 
 yet well determined, but rather that it has failed 
 to make him a greater producer, or to aid him 
 to adjust himself to economic conditions. Instead 
 of firing him with the desire to do more and bet 
 ter work, too often he quits it altogether. 
 
 As a teacher or a preacher the Negro has a 
 wide field for his race needs him and the State 
 and the Church pay him. But as a doctor, law 
 yer, or other professional, poverty and pauperism 
 (the condition of the greater part of the Negro 
 race) militate against them. In addition, the Ne 
 gro has net yet sufficient confidence in the profes 
 sional skill of those of his own race as to cause 
 him to employ them exclusively. 
 
 There is a growing conviction in the South that 
 the first aim of Negro education should be to fit 
 the Negro for the opportunities of his social and 
 industrial environment. Also that it should en 
 deavor to strengthen his will power, in order that 
 he may overcome his constitutional inertia; and 
 that it should give him a knowledge of sanitary 
 living, thus preventing disease. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 153 
 
 In the South Carolina Public School Report for 
 1915, the State Superintendent of Schools has this 
 to say: 
 
 "The Negro is here and is here to stay. He 
 cannot remain ignorant without injury to himself. 
 his white neighbors and to the Commonwealth. 
 His training should fit him for the work that is 
 open to him. . . . While industrial education is 
 needed for both races it is especially desirable for 
 the Negro. 
 
 "The money now expended for Negro educa 
 tion is largely wasted. Can we afford longer to 
 allow this large element in our population to fol 
 low their present practices and remain in their 
 present condition?" 
 
 Such schools as Hampton Institute and Tuske- 
 gee have fairly well demonstrated that industrial 
 education is at least a good thing for the Negro. 
 In these and other such schools thousands have 
 been given an inspiration for a higher plane of 
 living. Indeed, it is claimed that very seldom is 
 any graduate of these two schools convicted of 
 crime: The influence of Tuskegee on the Negro 
 in a material way may be appreciated by the state 
 ment that in 1881 when the school was opened in 
 
 6 "Education and Crime," South Atlantic Monthly, January, 
 1917. 
 
154 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Macon County, Alabama, not more than fifty or 
 sixty Negroes in the county owned land, but in 
 1910, 503 Negroes in the county ov/ned 61,689 
 acres, u probably the largest amount of land owned 
 by the Negroes of any county in the United 
 States." 7 
 
 If a few Negro industrial schools make such a 
 good showing, then why not multiply the num 
 ber? Indeed, it is yet too early for either the Ne 
 gro or his friends to indulge in too much optimism 
 in regard to the matter. For while it may be true 
 in general that whatever is done in behalf of a 
 lower element in a society benefits the whole so 
 ciety, at the same time, it needs to be borne in 
 mind that to the extent that it is done to the cost 
 or by the neglect of a more homogeneous and 
 wholesome element in the society or if it in any 
 way militates against such element it is a question 
 able proceeding. 
 
 What if the industrial education of the Negro 
 should be found to conflict with the interests of 
 the white laborer or skilled worker? Does any 
 one suppose that it is the purpose of the South so 
 to educate the Negro (or even allow him to be so 
 educated) as to enable him to take the bread from 
 the white man s mouth? And does any one sup 
 pose that the laboring white man of the arrogant 
 
 f Scott and Stowc, "Life of Booker T. Washington," p. 1760 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 155 
 
 and aggressive Anglo-Saxon race will stand tamely 
 by with folded arms while there is danger of its 
 being done? 
 
 This is the central point of the whole situation. 
 But in the South the contest between these two con 
 flicting interests is not yet, as the demand for 
 labor skilled or unskilled is too great. The Negro 
 has had and can have all the work he wants and 
 more for the asking; indeed, often his labor is 
 anxiously solicited. How long this will continue 
 no one knows, positively. However, when the 
 population of the country reaches 150,000,000 or 
 200,000,000 then labor will likely be as plentiful 
 here as it is now in Europe. Then, the labor of 
 the Negro will hardly be solicited, rather other 
 wise. The white man s sympathetic altitude to 
 ward the Negroes many shortcomings is fast 
 passing. When the Negro is required to measure 
 up to the white man s standard and is found want 
 ing, what remains for him? 
 
 Furthermore, the Negro might as well get fully 
 in mind that, although the white man sometimes 
 may win without merit (yet often fails to win 
 even though deserving to do so), for the Negro 
 himself, even though merit may not win, without 
 it he will have absolutely no show. He must be 
 not only as well adapted to an occupation, or quali 
 fied for it, as a white man but better. 
 
156 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 Until lately those especially interested in the 
 welfare of the Negro might have entertained the 
 hope that he would hold his place in his custom 
 ary occupations or even make them in great part 
 his very own. This would have been a kind of 
 segregation to occupation analogous to his segre 
 gation as regards residence and at least as advan 
 tageous to him. But in hardly more than one oc 
 cupation is such the case. As a porter he seems to 
 have the field practically to himself, and as hod- 
 carrier lie is in demand. But as a barber he has 
 fast been losing ground. The Negro as a waiter 
 takes more pride in his occupation and is more po 
 lite and obliging than the white man of the waiter 
 class but he is even being displaced in this work. 
 Even as a farm laborer, for which service he has 
 been trained for generations, he is losing his grip. 
 "Too slow, unreliable, inefficient" are some of the 
 counts against him. 
 
 The idea that prevails outside the South that 
 Negroes do practically all the work on Southern 
 farms is far from the truth. More than half of 
 the cotton crop is raised by white labor, in 
 Texas, three-fourths or more. Even in sugar and 
 rice fields white labor is getting common. 8 Often, 
 indeed, a farmer will not employ a Negro if he 
 can get a white man. 
 
 "Year Book, Dept. of Agriculture, 1910, p. 193. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 157 
 
 Indeed, the Negro farm laborer and the Negro 
 farmer are the greatest stumbling-blocks in the 
 way of the agricultural development of the South. 
 Were it possible to remove from the South ut 
 least three-fourths of these and replace them with 
 whites whether native or foreign there can be no 
 doubt that the production of Southern farms 
 would be wonderfully increased. It is an injury 
 to the South and to society as a whole that the 
 Negro has under his control even as much land 
 as at present. When his "slipshod" farming gives 
 place to more scientific and businesslike methods 
 there will be more farm products for distribu 
 tion. 
 
 The inefficiency of the Negro as a farmer is 
 strikingly shown by a study of the conditions in 
 several Mississippi counties: 
 
 "Lowdnes County with three Negroes to one 
 white man, having 21,972 blacks and 7121 whites, 
 requires 3.15 acres to make a bale cf cotton, while 
 James County, with three whites to one negro, hav 
 ing I 3> 1 5^ whites and 4,670 blacks, requires 1.98 
 acres to make a bale. The farm lands of Jones 
 county are valued in the census reports at $2.85 
 per acre and the farm lands of Lowdnes County 
 at $9.83 an acre. Yet the poor lands of Jones 
 County under intelligent cultivation produced near- 
 
158 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 ly twice as much per acre as the rich lands of 
 Lowdncs County when cultivated mostly by Ne 
 groes ... in every comparison made between a 
 white county and a black one the black was the 
 most fertile, yet the white was nearly twice as pro 
 ductive. & 
 
 Such a poor showing for the Negro almost per 
 suades one that he deserves to be supplanted by 
 whites in farm work and in farming, even if he 
 should not be. At present the South holds out un- 
 equalcd attractions in the way of climate, rich soil, 
 and cheap lands, to those of other sections of the 
 country who may be seeking farm homes. And 
 there can be little doubt that with the passing of 
 the free public lands the tide of immigration in 
 the near future will set in that direction, in spite 
 of the presence of the Negro. Then what will 
 become of the Negro when he shall have to com 
 pete with the thrifty hard-working Poles, Bohe 
 mians, and native Americans from the North and 
 the West? Will he be simply pushed aside and 
 left to gravitate to a still lower level? Nothing 
 will save him unless he soon wonderfully changes 
 in habits and disposition. So the Negro may as 
 well look forward to the time when he will be sup- 
 
 Quoted by A. H. Stone in "American Race Problem," pp. 177- 
 8, from J. C. Hardy, "The South s Supremacy in Cotton Grow 
 ing," p. 9. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 159 
 
 planted in these occupations to which he thinks 
 himself so well adapted and in which he thinks 
 himself so well fortified, those of farm laborer 
 and farmer. 
 
 Finally, may not the unquestioned physical de 
 terioration of the Negro since his emancipation as 
 shown by his susceptibility to disease together with 
 his high death rate portend the ultimate practical 
 extinction of the race in the United States? Dur 
 ing slavery times the Negro was fairly well fed 
 and usually worked according to set regulations. 
 Evidently such food and training had no little to 
 do with developing a sound body, and disciplined 
 his mind to some extent as well. 10 
 
 According to De Bow, the mortality of the free 
 Negroes before the War was a hundred per cent 
 greater than that of the slaves. It even appears 
 that the death of the Negroes in the South p.c that 
 time was less than that of the whites. In Charles 
 ton, S. C., the average death-rate from 1822 to 
 1 86 1 was 25.98 a thousand for whites and 24.05 
 
 10 "There were imported in the British West Indies 4,000,000 
 Negro slaves and -when they were manumitted there were Soo,- 
 ooo. Into the Southern States 400,000 were imported and there 
 were before the war 4,000,000; this decrease in the former 
 and increase in the latter are strong facts. The climate influ 
 ence was on the side of the West Indies. There must have 
 been a very different treatment." Charleston (S. C.) Mercury, 
 Nov. 23, 1863. Quoted by it from a London paper, written by 
 an Englishwoman who had spent a short time in the South. 
 
160 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 for Negroes. About the same was true of some 
 other cities. From 1865 to I 94) however, the 
 average death-rate at Charleston was 26.77 a 
 thousand for whites and 43.29 for Negroes. 11 No 
 doubt the slight increase of the death rate among 
 the whites was due to the rapid increase among 
 the Negroes as the whites necessarily came more 
 or less in contact with the Negroes. 
 
 Indeed, very significant in this connection, is 
 the statement made in the "Negro Year Book" 
 (1914-15) that an average of 450,000 Negroes in 
 the South are seriously ill all the time, and that 
 600,000 of the present population will die of tuber 
 culosis. 
 
 The Census shows that both pneumonia and 
 tuberculosis are diseases very fatal to Negroes. 
 And strange as it may now seem, in slavery times 
 Negroes were thought to be practically immune 
 from tuberculosis. Indeed, it is said that, about 
 1882-3, there was exhibited at a clinic in Charles 
 ton, S. C., what was supposed to have been the 
 second case of tuberculosis ever found among 
 Negroes. 12 This is very remarkable, if true. 
 
 In each city of the following list of twelve is 
 given the number of times more deaths that oc- 
 
 11 R. W. Wooiley, Pearson s Magazine, Feb., 1910, p. 210, quot 
 ing Drs. Scale, Harris and W. C. Woodward. 
 
 "Report of Board of Prison Inspectors of Alabama, Sept., 
 I9io-i9i4, p. 45. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 161 
 
 curred from tuberculosis among Negroes in 1910, 
 according to the Census, than among whites: 
 Providence, 1.82; Richmond, 2.05; Boston, 2.46; 
 Atlanta, 2.48; New York, 2.64; New Orleans, 
 2.70; Memphis, 2.80; Philadelphia 3.00; Balti 
 more, 3.14; Washington, 3.34; Charleston, S. C., 
 3.55. It may be noticed that more than three and 
 one-half times as many Negroes as whites died of 
 tuberculosis in Charleston. The comparative sta 
 tistics for pneumonia differ not very much from 
 those of tuberculosis. 
 
 However, the ratio of death-rate from com 
 bined causes is much lower than this. The aver 
 age death rate a thousand in eight Northern States 
 in 1910 was 21.9 for Negroes and 15.1 for whites ; 
 while the average for two Southern States was 
 23.7 for Negroes and 15.2 for whites. In ten 
 Northern cities it was 23.64 for Negroes and 
 15.99 f r whites; for the same number of cities 
 in the South it was 30.60 for Negroes and 17.22 
 for whites. 13 Again, in thirty-three Northern 
 cities the death rate among Negroes was 25.1 a 
 
 "Northern States: Me., Mass., Mich., N. J., N. Y., O., Pa., 
 and R. I.; Southern: Md. and N. C. These were the only 
 Southern States mentioned in this connection in the census. 
 Northern cities: New Haven, Boston, Detroit, Atlantic City, 
 Trenton, Cleveland, Springfield, Philadelphia, Chicago, and 
 Kansas City; Southern: Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, 
 N. C., Mobile, Atlanta, Savannah, New Orleans, Memphis, 
 Charleston, S. C., and Richmond. 
 
1 62 THE TRUTH ABOUT LYNCHING 
 
 thousand and 15.7 among whites, while in twenty- 
 four Southern cities the death-rate was 29.6 for 
 Negroes and 16.9 for whites. For the fifty-seven 
 cities together, 27.8 for Negroes and 15.9 for 
 whites. 14 Thus, it is seen that the death rate 
 among Negroes is not far from twice as great as 
 among whites, but contrary to the general impres 
 sion it is less in the North than in the South. 
 
 Moreover, statistics show that the Negro is not 
 increasing in this country as fast in proportion as 
 is the white man. Indeed, he seems to be falling 
 behind in his own percentage of increase. Be 
 tween 1890 and 1900 his increase was 1,345,318 
 but from 1900 to 1910 it was only 993,769. 
 Again, the percentage of Negroes in the popula 
 tion of the country decreased from 19.03 per cent 
 in 1810 to 10.69 per cent in 1910, and from 14.13 
 per cent in 1860 to 10.69 per cent in 1910. In 
 other words, while the whites increased nearly 
 three and one-half (3.4) times between 1860 and 
 1910, the Negro increased only two and two- 
 tenths (2.2) times. 
 
 That this difference between the increase of 
 the two races was not due to the immigration of 
 whites is shown by the" fact that from 1 800 to 1 840 
 when there was scarcely any immigration of whites 
 the population of the country increased more than 
 
 "Department of Commerce Bulletin 129, p. 44. 
 
AND THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH 163 
 
 three and a fifth (3.21) times, while from 1870 to 
 1910, an equal number of years, when immigra 
 tion was almost at its height, the increase was only 
 a little more than two and a third (2.38) times. 
 Again, during the fifty years, 1790 to 1840, it 
 increased four and a third (4.34) times; also, be 
 tween 1810 and 1860 it increased in the same ratio 
 (4.34); while for the fifty years from 1860 to 
 -1910 it increased only something more than two 
 and three-fourths (2.86) times. 
 
 Indeed, it is said that "the Southern States, 
 which have received practically no immigrants 
 since the Civil War, have increased their popula 
 tion as rapidly as the Northern States; that is, the 
 increase of population among the Southern whites 
 has been equal to the Northern increase assisted 
 by immigration." ir> 
 
 While these facts may not be sufficient evidence 
 that the Negro will finally become extinct in this 
 country, nevertheless, it is impossible for one to 
 escape the conclusion that as the years go by the 
 members of his race will become fewer and fewer 
 in proportion to the whole population. As this 
 comes about the Negro will gradually cease to be 
 such a problem, as at present. 
 
 15 C. A. Ellwood: "Sociology and Modern Social Problems," 
 p. 212. 
 
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