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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
15
“STOP LYNCHING”
Bishop Keiley’s invective against the great crime
of lynching has found responsive echo in many places.
The Association sent out several thousand reprints
of his letter to The Atlanta Constitution and that
paper’s editorial about it. Some excellent letters
were received and a number of newspapers have com
mented upon it. Some of these follow:
International Sunday School Association,
Office of H. C. Lyman, D. D.,
79 East Mitchell Street,
Atlanta, Ga., April 6, 1920.
At the suggestion of Bishop Keiley, of Savannah,
I am writing to ask you to do me the kindness to
send me a few copies of the Bishop s letter printed
in The Atlanta Constitution relative to lynching. I
wrote to thank him for his brave words. Our col
ored people are not getting the square deal that they
should have. It is a disgrace upon our great State
that it should stand first in this horrible crime.
I am sending letters constantly to the negro schools
through the Southland and I am sure that many ne
groes will appreciate seeing the strong statement
from the Bishop.
Thanking you kindly, I am glad to be yours faith
fully, (Signed) H. C. LYMAN, D. D.
Stop Lynching Negroes!
To the Editor:
Bishop Keiley, of Savannah, Ga., with the help of
a devoted band of Catholic laymen is making a tre
mendous effort to stop the barbarous practice of
lynching, burning, and quartering negroes. May God
help him to succeed in stamping out this disgrace,
not only in his own State, but throughout the coun
try. Our conscience must be very callous, indeed,
seeing that that pagan, merry-making practice hardly
evokes a mild protest. How honorable, how Chris
tian, how democratic it would be if the whole Ameri
can people were of one mind on this subject with
the heroic Bishop of Georgia. The Catholic press,
and likewise the clean secular press, should rally to
his aid.
The Fortnightly Review, I know, will do its duty,
as it always does.
Yours for justice and charity,
(Rev.) Raymond Vernimont, in Fortnightly
Review.
Bishop Pleads for Negroes.
As drastic an arraignment as we have ever read of
lynching, of the public sentiment which condones it,
and of the judicial courts that fail to punish it is
contained in a letter written by Bishop Keiley, of Sa
vannah, to The Atlanta Constitution. The prelate’s
words are all the more forcible as coming from one
whose devotion to the South can not be called in ques
tion. We quote a few of his most forceful sentences:
“I have lived to see in Georgia an appeal made to
the highest authority in the State for protection of
the lives of colored men, women and children, an
swered by the statement that the negro should not
commit crimes I The people of Georgia vest in cer
tain officials the execution of justice. Yet no lyncher
has ever been punished here, and I regret to state
that public sentiment seems to justify the conduct
of the officials.
“Injustice and disregard of law and the lawful con
duct of affairs are the sure forerunners of anarchy
and the loss of otir liberty, and we are drifting in that
direction. I have pleaded for justice to the negro be
cause it is his due and his right.” From The Tribune,
Dubuque, la.
Charge Against Mob Violence Commended.
Athens, Ga. A recent report on justice to the poor
in America charges discrimination against them in
most of our petty courts without regard to section or
race. The judges of New York’s minor courts claim
that special modern provisions in that city now clear
it of this general charge; and there are many indi
cations of a demand in the South for a better justice
for the poor, and especially for the negroes, who con
stitute the bulk of that class.
The charge of Judge Cobb, of Athens, in the trial
following an outbreak of mob violence in Clark Coun
ty, elicited emphatic indorsement throughout the
South. People as far apart ecclesiastically as the
Catholic Bishop of Savannah and the Protestant min
isters of Atlanta, are publicly calling for law enforce
ment in Georgia courts without regard to race. In a
number of States grand juries have recently found
true bills against whites accused of injustice to ne
groes; and a Mississippi judge has recently imposed a
sentence of fines and imprisonment on white men
convicted of such offenses.
Right-thinking people everywhere have always
stood for such justice, but in the South, as elsewhere,
there is discernible a new coherence among the units
of this class which promises it a full power of con
trol.—From Greenville (S. C.) Piedmont.
CONTRACT AWARDED FOR NEW CATHOLIC
CHURCH.
Savannah, Ga.—The contract has been let for the
erection of a new Roman Catholic Church in Savan
nah. It will be known as the Church of the Blessed
Sacrament Parish. The contract has been awarded
to W. T. Hussey who will begin work soon. The
church will be of concrete block, the first church in
Savannah to be constructed of that material.
It is with deep regret that we note the death of
Rev. J. A. Dahlent, of Macon. He will be greatly
missed in the publicity office where his helpful coun
sel was often appreciated. He was one of that heroic
band laboring among the colored people, one of the
zealous followers of the Saviour who died for all
men. May his soul rest in peace.