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282    THE CRISIS

and torturing on Tuesday night Jib M'Ilheron, a Negro accused of murder. Thousands of colored men in your State and the nation now serving their country in the battle for democracy await Tennessee's answer to their appeal for justice at home.

"This Association, composed of representative citizens of both races, believes that such outrages as the one against which we protest are indefensible at any time but are particularly offensive and dangerous to the public welfare when the nation is engaged in a life and death struggle against autocratic powers. Such outrages as this, the third one to occur in your State within nine months, place America in an unenviable position when she seeks to protest, however rightfully, against Belgian atrocities committed by German soldiers. 

"Memphis, Dyersburg, and now Estill Springs! We ask, for the information of the newspapers receiving our press service, what the great State of Tennessee proposes to do in regard to the violators of her law. I am sure that it is your desire to put the best police and detective ability that can be secured on the trail of these violators of public order. Should lack of funds be an embarrassment to you, this Association offers to put at your disposal fund for this service.

February 25: The Governor of Tennessee, Tom C. Rye, to the Secretary:

"I beg to say that I deplore this murder as much as your Association or any other citizen of our common country, but I could not anticipate that local officers, who duty it is to take custody of prisoners would fail to accord protection, nor could any action upon my part be taken without being requested so to do by the local authorities or court officers. 

"I do not seek to shift any responsibility about this or any other case and your telegram was wholly unnecessary in order to impress me with the gravity of the offense committed against the laws of this State or to induce me to take steps whereby the perpetrators of the offense could be found and properly punished. 

"It would not be wise or prudent for me to detail what steps are being taken by local officials in regard to this case at this time. You may be assured that everything that can be done by me will be done to remove the ground for criticism arising in regard to this unfortunate disregard for law and order in Tennessee."

February 19: Letters to the Senators from Tennessee, the Congressman in whose district the lynching occurred, and to six Chambers of Commerce in Tennessee cities.

February 27: Acknowledgment of Secretary's telegram received from Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce in which we were informed that the Chamber had passed the following resolution:
 
"Be it Resolved, That we vigorously condemn the violation of our laws, and the defiance of our authorities by the mob at Estill Springs; and that we call upon the officials charged with the suppression of such acts, to comply with their obligations." 

A clipping from the Nashville Banner of February 18 containing an editorial from that paper condemning the burning was received in an envelope of the Commercial Club of Nashville, this apparently being their acknowledgement of our telegram. 

LOUISIANA LYNCHINGS.

FEBRUARY 6: Inquiry made of the Governor of Louisiana, as to lynching of Jim Hudson "accused of living with a white woman." 

March 4: Telegram to the Governor of Louisiana:

"Press dispatches in New York papers report that three Negroes whose names were given as Jim Lewis, Jim Jones, and Will Powell, were lynched near Delhi, La., Tuesday, February 26, as the outgrowth of trouble between whites and Negroes, the lynched colored men having been accused of stealing hogs. . . .Such acts as this mob lynching because of the alleged hog-stealing put the President and the United States in a most embarrassing and difficult position when the executive of the country seeks to protest, however rightfully, against outrages committed in Belgium or Armenia. 

"This is the second Louisiana lynching reported within thirty days by the press of the country. No reply has as yet been made by you to our inquiry of February 6 for information as to any action you might deem fitting to take in the circumstances of a Negro lynched on January 26. For the information of the newspapers of the country, which receive our regular press services, we inquire what action you as Governor propose to take to uphold the laws of Louisiana." 


N.A.A.C.P.      283

OTHER LYNCHING MOBS. 

ON February 25 a telegram was received from a member of the Executive Committee of the Memphis Branch stating that a colored man had murdered a policeman and dangerously wounded another and that the murderer was being pursued by a posse, and that lynching was feared. The National Office immediately telegraphed to Governor Rye and to the Mayor of Memphis urging that they take vigorous action to insure punishment according to law and to prevent a repetition of Estill Springs, Dyersburg and Memphis. The Governor was implored not to wait until a request for help came from local authorities as previous experience had shown that local Tennessee authorities could not be relied upon to safeguard Negro prisoners against mob violence.
 
Bud Cosby was lynched at Aberdeen, Ga., on February 16. He was accused of entering a house to commit robbery and of having kidnapped a young child who was later found near the house unharmed. They lynching, was investigated by the Association's investigator and will be reported in another issue. 

THE 24th INFANTRYMEN.

ON February 27 President Wilson granted a respite to the five colored infantrymen condemned to death by the second court martial for participation in the Houston affair. The President's order to the War Department announced that the respite was granted until the President had reviewed the trail record of these cases, of the forty-one who had been previously condemned to life imprisonment, and of the forty cases now being tried at San Antonio by a third court martial. This action was taken following the receipt of a large number of telegrams and letters asking for executive clemency. Perhaps the principal contributing factor in this result was the appearance before the President, by appointment, on February 19, of a delegation from the New York Branch of the Association, consisting of James Weldon Johnson, Field Secretary of the Association; Rev. George Frazier Miller, Rector of St. Augustine's Church, Brooklyn; Rev. Frank M. Hyder, Pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church, New York City, and Rev. F. A. Cullen, President of the New York Branch of the Association.  The delegation presented to the President a petition signed by twelve thousand New Yorkers. 

Mr. Johnson, the spokesman, said among other things:

"The hanging of thirteen men without the opportunity of appeal to the Secretary of War or to their Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States was a punishment so drastic and so unusual in the history of the nation that the execution of additional members of the Twenty-fourth Infantry would to the colored people of the country savor of vengeance rather than justice." 

EAST ST. LOUIS RIOT MATTERS.

MESSRS. BAXTER of counsel, retained by the St. Louis Branch in the case of The People vs. Bundy et al., and Judge Edward Osgood Brown, President of the Chicago Branch, appeared before the Supreme Court of Illinois at Springfield on February 19 and submitted oral arguments and briefs in connection with the appeal taken against the conviction of eleven colored men accused of complicity in the East St. Louis riots who had been sentenced to fourteen years each in the State Penitentiary. Judge Brown's collaboration with the St. Louis council was on behalf of the N. A. A. C. P. and the Chicago Branch and was without expense to the defense fund. Judge Brown is hopeful that a writ of error will be granted by the court at its session in April or June, but, of course, nothing positive can be predicted. 

THE EAST ST. LOUIS CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION.

ON February 29, the National Office wrote urgently to the Congressman Ben Johnson of Kentucky, Chairman of the Congressional Committee which investigated the East St. Louis mob riots, to each member of the Committee and to the Speaker of the House, insisting that the full testimony, findings and recommendations of the Committee be published by Congress. Requests were sent to the Branch secretaries that they take similar action. IF YOU WANT THIS REPORT PUBLISHED IN FULL AND NOT EMASCULATED TELEGRAPH, WRITE OR SEE YOUR CONGRESSMAN AT ONCE. 

THE JOHNSON CASE.

IN the January CRISIS an account was given of Governor McCall's refusal to accede to the request of Governor Cornwell of West Virginia, that John Johnson an