PAGE TWO
Tuskegee Reports 13 Lynchings in 1931; A.N.P Says 15
discrepancy id
FIGURES IS
EXPLAINED
BYA.N.P.
CHICAGO. Dec., 30 — (ANP)
‘According to the report of the de
partment of records and research
at Tuskegee institute, there were
13 lynchings in the United States
during the year 1931 or eight less
than for 1930, for which 21 were
reported.
, The number 13 is two less than
that of 15 reported by the Asso
ciated Negro Press. Dr. Monroe
Work, director of the records and
research department at Tuskegee,
who is in this city studying for his
doctorate at the University of
Chicago, in an interview regarding
this difference, stated that it was
,his policy to understate rather than,
to overstate in respect to lynchings
and that his department never set
up as a lynching any occurrence
which it could not defend. There
were bound to be differences of
opinion, he added as to what con
stitutes a lynching, and scarcely
any two agencies would agree.
The National Association for' the
Advancement of Colored People
explained Dr. Work. annually
broadcasts a list of the lynchings
which varies from the Tuskegee
’’■list, but the N. A. A. C. P always
advises with Tuskegee before issu
•!ing its roll.
The differences between the Tus
-kegee list and the roll of the As~ v
■ciated Negro Press concern two
■'deaths, one in Arkansas and the
other in Alabama.
In the Arkansas case, John Park
er. a colored man had been arrest
„Vd for killing a man. A white far
yner and a colored employe set out
to track Parker down. They en
countered him on a road in the
custody of officers. The white far
mer and his colored employe took
Parker from the officers, carried
ijum away and shot him to death.
The exception taken by Dr.
Work in this case was that the
■ white farmer and the Negro em
ploye. just two persons, did not
constitute a mob.
hi the Alabama case. Wess Skip
per, a white man. was killed by
six other white men. Skipper had
been accused of mistreating his
wife. The six white men went to
his home to punish him. Skipper
was killed in the fight which en
;,sued.
Dr. Work did not have informa
tion regarding these occurrences at
.his disposal.
Free Husband
(continued from page one)
her beneath the house intoxicated.
Undertakers declined to give any
comment one way or other but
■admitted that both Mrs. Andrews
and her husband were middle aged
folk.
The ambulance driver for the
Hanley Company. Pete Turner,
who has been retained as a witness
by police, claimed that when he
arrived the woman was lying on
the floor of the front room with
the shotgun nearby. Turner de
clined to give any other statement
save that Andrews was from his
home town. Norwood. Ga . and had
always been of good character He
claimed that he saw no burns from
the discharge of the gun but that
tiie entire volley of shots had been
poured into the wound, showing
that it must have been fired at
close range.
Hayes, Darrow
(Continued from Page 1)
this motion had been acted upon.
Hollowing their sentence at the
Scottsboro trial, which was heavily
guarded by National Guardsmen,
the youngsters were brought here
for safety, later being transferred
to Kilby Prison for safekeeping up
on an order signed by Judge Haw
kins.
That the actio nos the defense
may not be ended by the refusal
of the Supreme Court to grant a
neW trial was intimated by Mr
Hayes. Only matter brought out in
the original trial will be considered
in the arguments at Montgomery
while new' evidence that is being
secured will be used in further
steps that may be taken if a new
trial is denied or in the next trial
in the event that the motion is
granted. At the time that the bill
of exceptions was heard at Mont
gomery recently, that, offered by
the I. L. D. w’as rejected.
Protests from all parts of Ameri
ca by individuals and organizations
have swamped Gov. Miller ever
since the boys were sentenced. Mes
sages have been received from a
number of foreign countries includ
ing Switzerland, Germany. Cuba.
Russia, France, Canada. England,
and lesser European and South A
merican domains.
and Mrs. Hayes left for a va
cat&n in Mexico City> Mexico,
while Mr Darrow returned to his
home in Chicago upon (he comple
tion of their work here
A.N.P. SURVEY OF EVENTS IN 1931
Action, action, action —that is the
chief impression to be gained by a
perusal of the Illes of The Associat
ed Negro Press for 1931. If progress
is not discerning, there is no sign
of retreat In the battle for exist
ence throughout the world, black
men are seen holding their grotm i
In the face of a world-wide depre;
sion exerting an almost resistless
social and economic pressure. Ne
groes are seen not to be even think
ing that there is a force extant
which threatens their status, a men
ace to the gains already won. Cease
less activity on all fronts dm mg
the past year indicates that the yeat
1931 has been a sort of Verdun m
which the men and women of th.
race have repulsed all the di '
five and devitalizing infiu<m<
created by the depression ms' Li •
waited hopefully for the th t
of a chance to begin a new forward
march.
I Foreign
In 1930. Ethiopia and Hm" ' ■>mc
under the spotlight of international
affairs. But during the past year,
there was a decrease of a "vi';. in
Abyssinia that wold n 'ch the
world reader and Libcri.. was forc
ed to the front to share the cal
cium glare with the perennially
interesting Haiti. For several
months unofficial reports had been .
coming out of Monrovia of the ex
istence of slavery in the West Afri
ca republic. These reports were con
firmed early in the year by the
publication of the report of the In
ternational Commission which was
sent to Liberia to study that con
dition.
Further investigation was made by
George Schuyler. His observations
on slavery in the republic and oth
r conditions, published serially in
the white and colored press, were,
in the main uncomplimentary. Re
percussions of the slavery disclos
ures were felt in the United States,
at Geneva and in the Liberian elec
tions in May. The government of
Liberia received a "warning" from
the American government: the Lea
gue of nations appointed anoher
commission to help set Liberia a
right. and in the elections. Theo-i
dore Faulkner war defeated by Ed-|
win Barclay. Faulkner was said to
have been the people’s choice. In
the reports on slavery. Barclay had
been indicted as a beneficiary of
the slave system existing. Post elec
tion charges were made that Bar
clay’s victory was bought.
Uncle Sam might be expected to
comment confidentially that those
Haitians just, will not keep still.
With the orderly election of a leg
islature and a new president. Stenio
Vincent, in 1930. a period of some
thing like amity between the Hai
tian and American government was
anticipated But the events of the
year just past show that the rela
tions of the two governments have
been anything but pacific and trust
ing. The Haitians seem actually to
have bcl ■wed that when they elec
ted Stem । Vincent, he was to be an
executive who would exercise the
prerogatives of his office with au
thority superior to anyone else in
the republic an dindifferent to the
overt or covert influence of the
United States. Early in the year,
a violent, flareup occurred when
Perceval Thoby. former president
of the Patriotic Union, and minister
of the interior, disagreed on mat
ters of policy with the United States
naval officers who supervised the
department of public works. Fail
ure of Thoby to obtain a vote of
confidence from the Haitian legis
lature led him and the other mem
bers of the cabinet to resign. A new
cabinet was appointed. President
Vincent himself ran Into these nav
al officers later when he sought to
give commissions to Haitian tech
nical workers in the depart merit or
public works. Up until that time,
all commissions had been authoriz
ed by the naval heads and restrict
ed to Americans. Despite the stiff
arm of the American minister. Dan i
Munro, Vincent won the skirmish.
More serious, however, was the
apprehensions caused when the
American Financial Advisor sought,
ih the course of national budget
trimming, to reduce the salaries of
Haitian officials. including the
president. The Haitians stuck their
tongues in their cheeks and told
the advisor that they would sub
mit. to a reduction if Americans,
earning bonuses in the Haitian
service, would agree to decrease
them. After the flying of much fur.
the Americans agreeably agreed
and a cause of war averted.
Evidence of a new policy on the
part of the American government
toward Haiti is apparent. Until this
year. Americans had practicaly do
minated five spheres of official ac
tivity in the republic; the depart
ment of finance, the gendarmerie,
the health department, education
and agriculture, and the department
of public works. At the end of the
summer, the United States, by trea
ty, relinquished control of health,
except in special cases, public works
education and agriculture. We still
retain our hold on the Haitian gour
des and th esoldier boys of the re
public.
Dantes Bellegarde. leading Hai
tian statesman, was appointed
United States minister. He drew
the tire of Major General Smedley
D Butler, former commander of
the marines in Haiti .when he told
reporters that he and many other
Haitians knew nothing of a Fort
Riviere, for the capture of which
Gencai Butler had received the
distinguished service cross. Butler
demanded an apology which Belle
garde did not give, but concluded
a supplementary statement with the
observation that th- fort might
have existed although he. a Haitian
historian, and other Haitians were
ignorant of it. The effect of the in
terchange between the two mtn
was to create the impression that
if Fort Riviere did exist, it could
not have been much of a fort and
that in its capture. Bu’lcr did not
perform much of a feat
Haiti, playing no favorites, also
made a diplomatic protest to Great
Briti: n when a British captain, an
chormv n Haitian waters, failed
to observe the proper courtesies.
Perha; ' the outstanding position
attained i ; any Negro during the
year was that of Blaise Diagne.
Senes .f member of the French
chamber of deputies, who was ap
pointed to the cabinet of Premier
Pierre 1.:.' al as under secretary of
ya'e for ID colonies.
I ■ flu Colonial Exposition held
later in tl e year outside Paris, Jo
■ephme F ixer, an American Negro
gr! v. i chosen queen of the colon
ies aiM during the period of the
cxposibon. exhibits from the black
< i 'i.i of France were among the
chief attractions for visitors to the
exposition.
Unusual Domestic
Happenings
Doubtless the most significant!
event of the year is what has come
to be known as "The Scottsboro;
Affair." It became noteworthy or
notorious, as you will, first because
of the scarcity of evidence against*
those accused and because of the
sevet ity of punishment meted. Eight
boys, ranging in age from 14 to 20'
years, were sentenced to deatn at
Scottsboro, Ala., for an alleged at-,
tack on two white girl hoboes.
The Scottsboro Affair attracted
wide public attention to communist j
activities among Negroes and!
brought the liberal Negro groups'
and the communists. The Inter
national Labor Defense, a commu- ’
nist arm. injected itself early into'
a fight to save the lives of the boys I
at Scottsboro. Machinery was set'
in operation to raise funds among'
Negroes for defense At the samel
time, the National Association for'
the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple swung into action. It sought
funds for the same purpose. So far
as the public knows, no effort was
made by these two groups to unite
in defense of the boys. Each orga
nization was suspicious of the met
hods of the other. The N.A.A.C.P..
many of whose officers had been
suspected of being tainted with
radicalism up until that time, was
found to be too conservative by
the communists, and Walter White,
dynamic secretary of the N.A.A.C.P.
alarmed at 1.700 threatening mes-
sages sent the governor of Alabama
described the communists as "in
temperate" and charged moreover, i
that they were not interested in
the lives of the condemned boys.
"The boys may be executed, so
far as they care," stated Mr. White
in effect, “if the communists can use]
their case to help build an orga- ■
nization among Negroes who suffer |
from persecution in the United
States."
Neither side would yield a point.
Negroes and whites contributed to
two defense funds, some organiza-,
tions contributing to both. Matters i
came to such a pass finally that j
Comrade (?) Dubois. Comrade (?) '
White. Comrade (?) Pickens, Com
rade (?) Schuyler .and other elastic
reasoners in the name of breadth,
lifted their skirts and went the
way of the old-time socialist. It
became apparent that except for
Eugene Gordon and a few o hers,
our suspected communists were
certainly not of the I. L. D. type,
and possibly not of the Revolution-!
ary Age.
As the year comes to an end.
both groups appear to have gained.
World-wide attention was focussed
on the fate of the Scottsboro vic
tims as a result of the communist
activity — American consulates in i
Germany were attacked, and im
portant men from Mexico to Ru>
sia spoke out publicly against the
atrocity. The number of Negro com
munists in the United States, under,
the spur of the depression, has.
grown. The N.A.A.C.P. appears toj
have the inside track in the de
fense of the Scottsboro victims and
the best chance of saving their'
lives. Responsible Negro leadership j
and opinion has become a bit war,
of communist methods and ruspic-1
ious of communist sincerity. Con-■
fidence in the N. A. A. C. P. at
tacked by' the communists. 'S un-1
shaken among the Negroes it reach-1
es. although there remains a dis-'
position to see what, if anything. ।
can be obtained by giving favorable'
ear to communist inducements.
A by-product of communist ac
tivity in bamn. predicted by the;
N.A.A.C.P.. was an outbreak at
Camp Hill in which one Negro was
arrested, several wounded and near
ly two score arrested. The trouble
occurred when officers broke in on
Negroes meeting in a church. It j
was believed that they were being I
organized bv communists. Some j
communist literature was reported;
found. The leaders among these!
sharecroppers, if there were any.
escaped. No action was taken a
gainst the slayer of the Negro, who i
was shot as he lay wounded, and,
several ofthose arreste.i disappear-j
ed mysteriously
In August, two of three white '
girls in Birmingham. Ala. who were
out riding in an automobile, were :
kidnapped and killed. The surviv- i
ing girl charged that a Negro was i
the abductor : nd slayer After sove-1
ral weeks' investigation. Willie!
Peterson was seen on the streets I
of Birmingham and identified. He
was arrested and, later, while still;
in prison, was shot five times by al
brother of one of the slain girls He
was tried in November. A jury of
twelve men was out more than,
ofrty-four hour without being able
to reach a verdict and the judge
ordered a mistrial.
At Norfolk. Va . William Har-!
per. who had been convicted of ,r
attack on a white woman and sen
tenced to die. was retried and ac
quitted on the grounds that tests-'
mony against him in the fir-t trial
had been perjured. Two of the wit-:
THE ATLANTA WORLD, ATLANTA. CA.
. nesses. alleged to have perjured.
! were white women. Dorothy Skagg:
I the victim of the alleged at tack and
Katherine Ketchum both married
1 After Harper's acquittal. Mrs
■Skaggs was tried and convicted of
perjury Mrs Ketchum was indict
ed on a charge of perjury. At a
second trial Mrs Skaggs was v’
quitted and the charge against Mi.
I Ketchum was then nolle press. <1
Six Negroes were electrocuted at
1 Columbia S. C They had been i
, mb d of the murder of two white
' men
Eleven Negro convicts were
roasted alive in a North Carolina
I prison lire
Will Manier. a white man. was
given a sentence of 21 years in j..ii:
at Gainesboro. Tenn . for killing a
Negro.
The Nashville Banner. white
daily, was sued by a white man
i because he was identified as a Ne
i gro in a news story The story con
. cerned a crime to which the white
I man was a party. The court held
' the newspaper guiltless because no l
harm had been done by calling the
white man. a thief, a Negro.
C. Eubanks Tucker, a New Born.
A'. C.. went to court to have him-
I self recognized as a white man. The
ftidge entered an order on Saturday
♦ > that effect. On Sunday, the judge
by special order i o-: inded the first
one, and left Tucker part white.;
part black and part red.
The appointment of William 11.
Carter, treasurer of Tuskegee n ti
tute. as recoil, for the Knights of
Pvthias of that . ! ■'!■. wa reported
las the first position of that kind
bv a Negro m 'hat stat ■
Wilfred Brunder. West Indian
i Negro, living in New Xork. was
■ found to have banked more than
' a million dollars out ■ I the "num
■ bers r.-uket without paying
. tax He fled from governmi nt
i agents, hut later returned and paid
i £45.000 back tax order to e op ( .
. a jail term. The United States to 'l
|cd him by taking his money end
rewarding him with a nine-months
sentence.
■ At Elberton, Ga.. John Downer
| was convicted of an attack on a
| white girl, while her escort looked;
<-n, after a jury had deliberated
I only six minutes, and sentenced to
! die, the evidence against him was
a pair of shoes found in his house
' which seemed to make track.; like
I those found nead the scone of the
i crime. White and colored lawyers
l Announcing - II -
u A OI’ENiNC OF
aMI want DEPARTMENT ■
■ ATLANTA WORLII ■
H « ev - S- Ralph Wilson B
Bl MANAGER IB
i H^b
|w™ CALL WA. 1459
f ° r qii(k results
II YOL WANT TO SELL ANYTHING,
IKS 188 B M B
; । h Y(n want T ° bi v anyt,hng >
I WW" 11 Y ° l v AVI T() RENT anyth ini;.
H UH WANT A ,0B I)Of NG ANYTHIN!;.
'VSf/ n V 0( WANT WORKERS OF ANY SORT,
11 11 Yor WANT 10 eea se YOUR PROPERTY.
° R W,,ATEVER EESE YOV want TO
Bill S E LL, RENT, O R IH A —
WBr REMEMBER
mk To Call WA 1459
j . --,-.l u ,ui etior'i to ..bt.iin a new
■ point ■ । wmi v. hen the
I Jnitc 1 St des Circuit court of ap
। . ..: Sew Orii ■ granted the
plea ■ the ground ■ that the jury
might ao been influenced by the
.wtio, ■' a large r b inside and
out de of the eon:'room.
>h Kennedy a West In
dian V i. living u. Boston, won
$150.01'9 ,ith a ticket he held in
;,ti v. sweep takes race. He
non ri’ ■ nod to the West Indies.
A . in Tampa Fla . acquitted
Da\id law of a murder charge.
Law I i killed a white man, Al
bert G Bond, who came in the night
lim ' ' collect a. small debt with a
j > i s i ■ > i.
i l " Hereon murder case, involv
■ '... murder of Edward D Pier-
. >ri er auditor for the Nation-
. BawLt C intention, was brought
to a close With the dismissal of
ch'igc; against those indicted: the
Hev. A M. Townsend, the Rev. B
F J. Westbrooks ,and one George
Washington.
1 . S'i.’- t white Texan, was given
■ hie sentence for killing Richard
tohnson. a Negro.
C. C. Spaulding, president of the
X-wth Carolina Mutual Life Insur
io ’o c anpany. was beaten up by a
white drug clerk in Raleigh. N. C..
i when Mr. Spaulding started to
wink a bottle of soda water at the
fountain. The clerk was later fined
Sl5 and c: sts for the offense. The
i drug 'ore in which the incident
■ m-w wi ed w is part of a Negro es
tate.
A white woman in Mississippi
■ it a Negro to purchase some poi
son. She gave that poison to her
baby The Negro was convicted of
murde'. He said he did not know
what lie was buying, nor for what
it was to be used
Ir, Kansas City. Mo.. Albert Silk,
i- .''■■ merchant, wh > took a colored
।mployc out in his automobile and
murdered him. was let off with a
twenty-year sentence.
Lynchings
There have been two distinct
aspects of lynching activity this
'year which have had special signi
ficance. One was the organization
:<>f a group of prominent southerns
white and colored, into a commis
'■Hin to investigate the lynchings of
the year before. This commission
fini; hed its study and reported on
each act of lynching. The report
showed that there w> only ' small
percentage of rape charged, that in
most instances there was mu '
evidence to indicate that the vic
tim was not guilty of me
made and that in other v < \ ■
groes had been lynched on very
flimsy pretexts. The report was r<
ceived favorably by the white and
colored press, north and south. O 1
equal significance with the work
of this commission was the attempt
in several states, north and soum.
to force the passage of anti-lynch
ing bills. For several years the em
phasis had been placed on a na
tional anti-lynching, law, but this
year there were legislators in the
several states prepared to go limit
in protecting their stalest against
the outrage of mob murder. Mis
souri, the first state to have a !
lynching in 1931. was the first to
consider an anti-lynching measure.
The bill passed both houses of the
legislature and was '-ent to the '
governor. He voted it because he
said, it lacked teeth. Anti-lynching
measures were placed before the i
legislature in Tennessee twice dur
ing the year. A bill presented in
February failed to become law.
Another bill was introduced in
December b y Representative
George Chamlee. He is the son of
Attorney George Chamlee. Chatta- :
nooga lawyer employed by the In
ternational Labor Defense, comm
unist organization, in behalf of the
Scottsboro victims. Early in tiie
year, as a result of N. A. A. C. P.
activity following lynchings at
Marion. Ind . the legislature of that
state enacted into law an anti
lynching which Governor Leslie
signed. Anti-lynching measures
were also introduced into the New
York legislature and that of North
Carolina. In South Carolina, a bill
was introduced to repeal the anti
lvnching law of that state which
requires the county to pay the
family of a lynch victim $2,000. The
i effort to repeal was not successful.
Computing the number of lyn -h
-ings is a matter of definition. What
' is a lynching? The Associated Ne
l gro Press has chosen to regard as
■ lynching the deaths of men or wo
men which have occurred at the
। hands of mobs i two or more per
sons) which have sot out after the
victims with punitive indent. The
! record of 15 for the yar stand.'; to
'the discredit a f th'- f ilbiwiim
states:
I
! Mississippi 3
Alabama . .... 2
1 Florida 2
Wc t Virginia 2
' lissouri 1
North Dakota 1
Tennessee 1
Louisiana 1
Arkansas 1
Mary land .... 1
Total 16
MISSISSIPPI George Spann a
tenant farmer, who shot a 11 d
wounded his white landlord at
Clarksburg, was tracked by blood
hounds and killed by a mob in
February. Eli Johnson was lynch
ed by a mob in March at Re’dwood.
Miss, for an alleged attack on a
white woman. In the same month
was reported the lynching of Steve
Wiley on the city limits of Inver
ness for an alleged attack on the
wife of a mercantile dealer. Cole
man Franks was hanged by a
group of unmasked white men out
iide of Columbus. Miss., in Nov
ember because ho had shot Clyde
Bell, a white farmer.
ALABAMA Wess Skipper. ;;
white man living outside Doth n.
Ala., was lynched by six white
men in February who went to hi:
home to punish him for his treat
ment of his wife when he defied
them. On unnamed Negro boy, 16
years old, and accused of attempt
ed rape on an 11-year-old white
girl, was lynched at Sandy Ridge,
Ala., by .1 mob of citizens who shot
him thirty-two times.
Southern women, gathered at
Atlanta. Georgia, issued a protest
against the observance of Lincoln's
birthday as a holiday.
Colored citizens of Los Angele,
were incensed because they were
excluded from exercises celebrat
ing the 15()th anniversary of the
founding of the city. They product ■
ed historical records to prove that
Negroes formed a large percentage
of the first settlers of the r 'ty.
FLORIDA Richard Smi ke and
Charles Smoko wore ]ync icd out
of Blountstown in August by a
mob of masked citizens. The father
and son had been accused of at
tacking Frizier Williams, whit'
forest ranger, and were out on
bond furnished by their employer.
WEST VIRGINIA Tom Jackson
and George Banks were taken
from the county jail at Lewisburg
early in December and lynched.
They had been arrested in con
net lion with the death of two
white men.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30. 1931
MISSOURI — Raymond Gunn
: was lymhed by a mob .it Mary
ville in January for an attack on
a white teacher.
NOR T H DAKOTA Charles 1
I Bannon, white farm hand, was
lynched by a mob at Schafer. N
1 D. He . nd his father had been ac
cused of murdering a wealthy far-
1 mer.
TENNESSEE George Smith, ae-^|
cured of attempted rape on a^F
while girl, was taken from jail and
hanged to a tree in the courthouse
yard at Union City. Tenn , in April.
LOUISIANA A mob at Ponte-a
charged with an assault upon a
-la-Hache. took Oscar Livingstone,
white girl, from L. T Fontenelle,
jailer, in August, and riddled his
body with buckshot.
ARKANSAS John Parker, ac
cused of killing another man of his
race, was taken from officers out
sidi' Dewilt by O C. Lumsden,
'white farmer, and John Brooks, ,m
employe, and shot to death on the
ri ad in August.
MARYLAND Matthew V/illiams,
accused of killing his white em
ployer. was taken from a hospital
at Salisbury, hanged, shot and burn
ed by an unmasked mob
There have been numerous in
stances in the south where while
officers have exercised courage c
nough in the face of mobs to save
their prisoners. At Huntington.
Tenn., a sheriff's wife challenged a
mob and saved her prisoner. She
was awarded a medal for her ,
bravery. At Elberton, Ga., a whitejH
preacher had the courage to haran-"
guc the mob in favor of law and
order after John Downer had been
arrested.
The use of the term "legal lynch
, ing" has won increased currency
during the year The term is used
to describe trials with the life of
J a Negro defendant at stake in which j
little attempt to discover his in- i
nocence is made.
(<'<>nt In tied on Page Four)
CUT BY UNKNOWN
Will Favors, 552 Lyons Alley,
said that lie was attacked by »i
'knifer just a he was leaving his
home shortly after 8 p m. Sunday
night. He received a deep cut in
the abdomen, which doctors say is
Clangorous. Favors declared that he
■would not know his attacker as
lie was unable to sec his face. He
'could think of no cause for the at
tack.
