AN APPEAL to the Conscience of the Civilized World V Published by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the ADVANCEMENT of COLORED PEOPLE 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City FEBRUARY, 1920 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/appealtoconscienOOnati HE Directors of the National Associa- tion for the Advancement of Colored People, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City, feel constrained to publish to the world certain facts with regard to the -treatment of Negroes in the United States. Despite appeals to civil authorities and public opinion, barbarous excesses continue to be practised against colored Americans. In the year 1919, eighty-four persons were mur- dered by mobs or “lynched,” of whom seventy- eight were Negroes, and eleven were publicly burned alive. In the thirty years, 1889-1918, lynching mobs murdered 3,224 persons in the United States, of whom 2,522 were Negroes and 702 were white persons. Of the Negro victims fifty were women. The following record, it is hoped, will make its appeal to those persons everywhere, to whom civilization is something more than a name. Part I LYNCHING BURNED ALIVE IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1919 NAME DATE PL.TCE Bragg, Williams .. Januarv 20 ... Hillsboro, Te.xas Bud Johnson March 14 Pace, Florida Lloyd Clay Mav 14 \'icksburg, ^Mississippi Frank Livingston May 21 Eldorado, Arkansas John Hatfield June 26 .Ellisville, Mississippi Obe Cox September 10 . Oglethorpe Co., Georgia Will Brown September 28 Omaha, Nebraska Jack Gordon ...October 7 Lincolnton, Georgia Will Brown October 7 Lincolnton, Georgia Paul Jones November 3 Macon, Georgia JORD.\N J.VMESON ...November 11 Alagnolia, Arkansas 4 TWO BURNINGS 1 The Burning of William Brown, Omaha, Nebraska, September 28, 1919 2 Press Headline Reproduced from Pholgraphic Copy 3,P00JlflLL BURN NEGRO Kaiser Under Stronger Guard Following Escape Of Crown Prince NEW ORLEANS STATES VOL 39. NO 1" "'.‘JTA’ NEW OELEANS, LA TgUEEDAY. JUNE 26, IBI9 5 Lynching in the United States in 1919 BY STATES Alabama . . . . (1 white) 8 Nebraska. Arkansas 10 North Carolina. Colorado. (Mexicans) 2 South Carolina. ... . . .. Florida . . 5 Tennessee... .. Georgia 22 Texas. Kansas... (white) 1 Washington ... .... ..(white) Louisiana 8 West Virginia Mississippi 12 Total... klissouri .(1 white) 2 (78 Colored, 6 Whites) THE MANNER OF LYNCHING WAS AS FOLLOWS Burned 14 Cut to pieces (11 Before Death, 3 After Death) Drowned. Shot .. 31 Manner unknown Hanged 24 Beaten to death 2 Total THE ALLEGED CAUSES WERE AS FOLLOWS '\liirrler .AciRpiilt. on white woman .. . Attempted assault on white woman . ■ ■ Insulting white woman Intimacy with white woman..,.. Attempting to pull white woman from horse.... Shooting white man.. Assault on white man... . Altercation with white man Beating and robbing white man . . .. Found under bed in white man’s house Not turning out of road for white boy in auto. . .. Misleading mob. . . . . Insulting white man... ... Boastful remarks re killing of sheriff . . Result of race riot . . Talking of Chicago Riot Expressing himself too freely re lynching of Negro Leader among Negroes Circulating incendiary literature . Member of Non Partisan League Trouble between white and colored cotton mill workers. Abetting riot Causes unknown Total 1 4 2 . 1 . 3 ) 1 . 2 . 84 1 . 1 . 11 .. 84 27 14 5 o 2 1 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 4 . 84 6 The Lyn'ching in Lee County, Ga., January 20, 1916 {From an actual photograph) 7 COLORED MEN WHO SERVED IN THE WORLD WAR LYNCHED DURING 1919 March 14 Pace, Fla.: BUD JOHNSON, taken from officers and burned to death by mob. Said to have confessed to attack on white woman. Pickens, Miss.: , said to have admitted he had hired a woman to write an insulting note to a white woman. Eldorado, Ark.: FIU\NK LIVINGSTON, charged with killing his em- ployer and the latter’s wife, burned to death by mob of about 1-50. Tulv 15 Louise, Miss.: ROBERT TRUETT, said to have made indecent proposals to a white woman. Hanged. Aug. • — Fayette County, Ga. : CHARLES KELLY, shot to death by white man because he did not turn out of the road soon enough. Aug. 14 Pope City, Ga. : JIM GRANT, alleged to have shot a white man and his son. Hanged. Sept. 29 Montgomery, Ala.: ROBERT CROSKEY, charged with having assaulted a white woman. Shot. Sept. 3 Star City, Ark.: FLINTON BRIGGS, accused of having insulted white woman. Shot. Dec. 21 Smithville, Ga. : CHARLES WEST, accused of murder of white man. Shot. Sept. 10 Clarksdale, Miss.: L. B. REED, accused of intimacy with white woman. POLICE AUTHORITIES FAIL TO PROTECT PRISONERS During 1919, victims of mobs were taken from officers and jails, and l3Tiched in thirtjMour instances as follows; Alabama 3 Nebraska 1 Arkansas 2 North Carolina . 2 Colorado 2 Tennessee . 1 Florida 4 Texas .. 3 Georgia 5 Washington . 1 Louisiana 3 West Virginia . 2 Mississippi .. 3 — Missouri 2 34 April 9 May 21 Chattanooga Dai ly Times, Feb. 13, 1918 ^shville Banner, Feb. 18, 1918 TORTURED AND THEN BURNED Estil I Springs Scene of Blood- curdling Lynciung. JIM M’lLHERRON, NEGRO, EXECUTED BY MASKED MEN Thousands of Men, Women and Chil- dren Witness Proceedings, Many <^rying for the Negro’s Biood Slayer of J?odgers and Tigert Captured Tuesday. Chiltauco^'i Tvves 8'e. inl ESTTLL SPRINGS, Temi, Feb. 12. — Jiin McJlherron. the negro A' ho .sTiot and killed Pierce Rod- Chattanooga D aily Times, Feb. 11, 1918 MOB KILLS PREACHER Negro Minister Shot When He Resists Arrest. PURSUERS OF M’lLHERRON ON TRAIL OF MURDERER | Victim of Alob Was Accused of Har- boring and Aiding Fleeing Black to Escape — Expect Capture Within Few Hours. Cli’itluitooga Times Special. NASH VII/ LE, Feb. 10.— G. W. Lynch, a negro preacher, was shot to death when he resisted arrest Sunday afternoon at 3:30 at his home in Prairie Springs, a negro settlement twelve miles S hreveport Journal, March 1, 1918 FIVEEACKS are! SAID TO BE DEAD! IN LYNCHING BEEi ( j i j Report Killing Near Delhi Has Been Terribly Revenged. I DETAILS OF AFFAIR NOT OBTAINABLE NOW Negroes Said to Have Been Dragged With Ropes Be- fore Ljmching. Special to The Journal. MONROE, La., March 1— Tele- phone reports from Rayville are to the effect that three negroes, named Jim Lewis, Jim Jones and Will Powell were lynched near Washington Da i ly Times, Feb. 13, 1918 Today A Man Burned Alive — Not in Prussia — Here, in America, And a Lady Applauds. Excuse the orhissioa of any reference to “Prussian brutality” from this column for just one day. We Americans in the proud and' civilized State of Tennessee have just burned a negro to death. De- tails of this interesting perform- ance should take our mind off Prussian cruelty for a while. The negro was not accused of “the usual crime,” an attack on woman supposed to explain any brutality. He had shot two mien and wounded a third. When they got him they tied him to a tree and burned him for a while with hot irons to make him confess something — which is going some distance back in the history of justice. DEATH AT STAKE FOB M’ltHERBON Estill Springs Mob Metes 0u‘ Awful Vengeance to Ne- gro Murderer. SEIZED ON HIS ARRiVAl Hot Iron Applied to Make Hin Confess — Others of His Race Marched to Scene. MASKED MEN TAKE CHARGE Special to the Banner. Estill Springs, Tenn., Feb. 13. —This place Is quiet again to-day, following .the burning Tuesday night of Jim Mc- llherron, the Fegro who shot and killed. Pierce Rogers and Jesse Tigert and - wounded Frank Tigert last Fridab. 1 i-'cllowing his capture four and a halfJ Chattanoog a D aily T imes, Feb. 14 , 1918 charrTdb^dy^ TO RELATIVES Victim of Mob Taken From Tree by Negroes. COMMUNITY NOW QUIET; NO ONE MENTIONS NAMES Remains of Mcllherron Hung to Hickory All Night and Part of Day as Negroes — Story of Burning Told. (i) ® Rye Regrets Lynching. Chattanooga Times Special-. NASHVILLE, Feb. 13.— ‘"The lynching at Estill. Springs as ei’’en in the morning papers. 9 NUMBER OF WHITE AND COLORED PERSONS LYNCHED IN UNITED STATES, 1889-1919* Years Total White Colored 1SS9 - 175 80 95 1890 91 3 88 1891 194 67 127 1892 226 71 155 1893 153 39 114 1894 182 54 128 1895 178 68 no 1890 : 125 46 79 1897... 162 38 124 1898 . 127 24 103 1899 - . 109 22 87 1900.. 101 12 89 1901-. -. 135 27 108 1902.. 94 10 84 1903 104 17 87 1904 86 7 79 1905 65 5 60 1906 68 4 64 1907 62 3 59 1908 100 8 92 1909 89 14 75 1910 90 10 80 1911 71 8 63 1912 64 3 61 1913... . . 48 1 47 1914 - 54 5 49 1915. 96 43 53 1916 ... .. 58 7 51 1917 50 2 48 1918 67 4 63 1919 84 6 78 3,308 708 2,600 ♦Victims of race riots have been excluded from this table. WOMEN AND GIRLS LYNCHED , BY STATES, 1889-1919 Total White Colored UNITED STATES 62 11 51 Alabama 7 Arkansas 5 Florida 2 Georgia 5 Kentucky 1 3 Louisiana 1 4 Mississippi 1 12 Nebraska 1 North Carolina 1 Oklahoma 2 South Carolina 4 Tennessee 2 1 Texas 3 6 Virginia 1 10 From the Jackson, Miss., Daily Neivs, Thursday, June 26, 1919. 27th YEAR JOHN HARTHELD WILL BE LYNCHED BY ELLISVILLE MOB AT 5 OUOCK THIS ARERNOON Governor Bilbo Says He Is Powerless to Prevent It — Thousands of People Ai*e Flocking Into Ellisville to Attend the Evenr — Sheriff and Authorities Are Power- less to Prevent It. HATTIESBURG, June 26. alleged to have' assaulted an been taken to Ellisville and i» j of Ur. Carter in that eit>. He not seriously. The oft'icers ha tlie people of the city at 4 o’c expected he will he burned. 1 a jtartial confession. ;OV. BILBO KAYS tiK IS POWERLESS. When Gov. Bilbo was shown the ©bove dispatch and asked what action, if any, he intended to take to prevent the affair, he said: 1 am powerless to i)revent it. 'We have guns for state militia, but no nien. It is imimssible to send troops to the scene for the obvious reason that we have no troops. ~Sev< r.al n^vs '‘•'‘•''■natine' — John Harttield, the negro Ellisville, young woman, has ;uarded by officers in the Oft'k'c is wounded in the shoulder but ve agreed to turn him over to lock this afternoon when it is he negro is said to have made for the lynching has now been fixed for five p. m. A committee of Ellisville citizens has been appointed to make the necessary arrangements for the event, and the mob is pledged to act in conformity with these arrangements. Rev. L. G. Gates, pastor of the First Baptist church of Laurel, left here at one o’clock for 'Ellisville to entreat the mob to use discretion. THOL.SaXDS f-.r-' r- t,... — la 11 From Memphis Nesvs Scimitar January 21, 1919 From the Chattanooga (Tennessee), Times, February 13, 1918 TEXANS, FEARING DELAT IN APPEAL, INCINEM NEGRO Itasca Citizens Proceed in Orderly Manner at Hillsboro and in Broad Daylight to Summary Justice. HILLSBORO. Tex., Jan. 21.— Bragg .-Wilian". c negro, under death sentence for murder of Mrs. George Wells and child, at Itasca, was taken from "'it county jail here at noon yesterday by a mob and burned at the stake. The crowd was orderly and there was little excitement. Notice of appeal from the sentence was filed by Williams' attor- neys Monday, and this action is said to have led the mob to taking the case into its own hands Mrs, Wells and Mr Child were foVjnd murdered in their home near Itasca on Dec. 2, 1918. Wil- liams was arrested on the day of the murder and spirited away to avoid threatened violence. The negro was convicted of the mur- ders here last week and taken to DaD las for safe keeping. Texas rangers Vho guarded the courtroom durii.g the trial bfought Williams back from Dal- las Sunday night and lodged him in jail, after which -the rangers left Hills- boro. Yesterday morning Wiliams was ta- ken before Judge Horton Porter arid sentenced to be hanged on Feb. 21. Attorneys for the defendant immediate- ly filed notice of appeal. This is said to have enraged residents of the Itasca neighborhood present, who numbered several score. A mob was organized and took the law into its own hmid§.. County at- tornhvs attempted to. control the crowd, but It proceeded, quietly to cut down a ‘< 5 T 6 phbne pole v,hlch was used as a battering ram 'with which the door was brokeni\n. The the iail were then rusheo, the negro, seized and taken to the public square, where he w’as tied to r. post. Boxes barrels and other fuel matter, ovet ^ich oil had been scattered. fUrnisne '^'’Between 300 and 400 persons, inclu inK dozens of women, looked on aa tlr negro burned. The body was entirely confeumed in Ab6ut 40 rninutes, after which the crow^l quietly dispersed. “Jim Mcllherron, the Negro who shot and killed Pierce Rodgers and Jesse Tigert, two w'hite men, at Estill Springs, last Friday, and wounded Frank Tigert, was tortured with a red-hot crowbar and then burned to death here tonight at 7:40, by twelve masked men. A crowd of approximately 2,000 persons, among whom were women and children wit- nessed the burning. “Mcllherron, who was badly wounded and unable to walk, was carried to the scene of the murder, where preparation for a funeral pyre was begun. “The captors proceeded to a spot about a quarter of a mile from the railroad station and prepared the death fire. The crowd followed and remained throughout the horrible proceedings. The Negro was led to a hickory tree, to which thej’' chained him. After securing him to the tree a fire was laid. A short distance awaj’ another fire was kindled, and into it W’as put an iron bar to heat. “When the bar became red hot a mem- ber of the mob jabbed it toward the Negro’s body. Crazed with fright, the black grabbed hold of it, and as it was pulled through his hands the atmos- phere was filled with the odor of burning flesh. This was the first time the mur- derer gave evidence of his will being broken. Scream after scream rent the air. As the hot iron was applied to various parts of his body his yells and cries for mercy could be heard in the town. “After torturing the Negro several minutes one of the masked men poured coal oil on his feet and trousers and ap- plied a match to the pyre. As the flames rose, enveloping the black’s body he begged that he be shot. Yells of derision greeted his request. The angry flames consumed his clothing and little blue blazes shot upward from his burning hair before he lost consciousness.” 12 From the Memphis {Tennessee) Press May 22, 1919 “They burned the ax fiend to death this morning. “Fifteen thousand of them — men, women, even little children, and in their midst the black- clothed figure of Antoinette Rap- pal’s mother cheered as they poured the gasoline on him and struck the match. “They fought and screamed and crowded to get a glimpse of him, and the mob closed in and strug- gled around the fire as the flames flared high and the smoke rolled over their heads. “Two of them hacked off his ears as he burned; another tried to cut off a toe but they stopped him. “They crowded in and crowded out, so that all might see the burn- ing body. And they were still surging around it when the flesh had been burned from the bones and the withered frame of what was once a human being lay crackling in the flames.” The Burning of Lloyd Clay in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on May f, 1919, as described on the first page of the Vicksburg {Miss.) Evening Post. “The mob fell upon the Negro, snatching away his clothes and beating him. He was dragged further toward First North. ‘Shall we do it?’ asked a big man of the crowd. The answer came in long continued cheers of approval. . . . The Negro was hauled up five feet but slipped back. The sight of the nude body rising above the crowd increased the excitement. . . . ‘Shoot him,’ someone called. ‘No, no,’ came the answer, ‘let him die slow.’ The Negro, with head twisted, dangled limply from the line. Seeing that Clay was merely suffering discomfort, men below be- gan to jerk his legs. Others smeared kerosene upon the body, while others prepared a bonfire below, saturating the material with gasoline. . . . The flesh on the body began to crinkle and blister. The face of the Negro became hor- ribly distorted with pain. He as- sumed an attitude of prayer, raising his hands, palms together. . . . The legs of the corpse curled back- ward grewsomely. . . . The grizzly form was allowed to dangle for an hour and a half in the moonlight. . . . Men of all classes, women and even children witnessed the scene. The whole affair had been witnessed by many ladies who followed the mob from the jail and others who joined the crowd on the terraces nearby. . . . When the body fell to the gutter there was a great rush for bits of rope as souvenirs.” Part II RACE RIOTS Washington, D. C.: “Nation’s Capital At Mercy of The Mob.” Headline on page one of ]]\js/iiiigioii Post, Tuesday, July 22, 1910. Rioting in main streets of the National Capital was unchecked during four nights, from Saturday, July 19, until Wednesday, July 23. Six jiersons were killed outright, fifty seriously injured, and hundreds more or less se^'erely wounded. Chicago, Ilk: At least thirty-six persons were killed outright, by official report, hun- dreds according to unofficial reports, in race rioting which lasted from Sunday, July 27. to Friday, August 1. Houses were wrecked and burned, mobs roamed the streets, and it was necessary to put seven regiments of state militia under anns. Omaha, Neb.: Federal troojjs commanded by General Leonard Wood were sent to maintain order in Omaha, after a mob on Sunday, September 28, had lynched a Negro, hanged the Ma^mr of Omaha until he was at the point of death, burned the county courthouse, wrecked and looted shops and seriously injured fifty or more citizens. Three persons were killed outright in the rioting. Knoxville, Tenn.: On August 30, a mob of white persons stormed the Kno.x County Jail, firing on officers of the law, liberating sixteen white prisoners of whom several were convicted murderers, looting the house of the sheriff, stealing stocks of con- fiscated whiskey. The mob then wrecked and looted shops and invaded the colored residence district. At least seven persons were killed and twenty or more injured. A despatch to the Xew York Siai, of September 5, reported the mob’s motive to be robbery, not lynching, as at first stated. Longview, Texas: Four or more men killed outright in a riot on the night of July 10, when a mob of white men invaded the Negro residence district, shooting and burning houses. Norfolk, Va. : Receptions of home-coming Negro troops had to be susjjended because of riots July 21, in which six persons were shot necessitating the calling out of marines and sailors to assist the police. Philadelphia, Pa.: A riot call was sent to all West Philadelphia stations July 7, eight arrests were made, and one man was taken to the hospital in consequence of a race riot at a carnival. Charleston, S. C.: One or more men were killed and scores were shot or beaten in a race riot led by U. .S. sailors May 10, the city being placed under martial law. Bisbee, Ariz.: Clashes occurred on July 3, between local police and members of the Tenth United States Cavalry (colored), whose commander, Lieut. -Col. F. S. Snyder charged that local officials had fleliberatcly sought to aggravate the Negro troopers. Five jjersons were shot. 14 Part III JUSTICE (From the New York World, January 30, 1919) Whip Dissenting Juror He Refuses to Agree to Verdict of Murder and is Plunged in Mud Monroe, La., Jan. 29. — Because a jurjnnan failed to agree to a verdict of guilty in the case of Alvin Calhoun, negro, alleged confessed slayer of N. E. Arnold, a young white farmer, a mob publicly whipped the recalcitrant juror and then dipped him in a mud-hole, said reports reaching here to-night from Tallulah, where the trial was held. After his chastisement, the report said, the mud-covered juror returned to the jury room and agreed to a verdict of murder in the first degree. He then was ordered to leave town by a delegation of citizens. 15 “I therefore very earnestly and solemnly beg that the governors of all the states, the law officers of every community, and above all, the men and women of every community in the United States, all who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or re- proach, will co-operate, not passively merely, but actively and watchfully to make an end of this disgraceful evil. It cannot live where the community does not countenance it.” July 26, 1918 WOODROW WILSON