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Wiuicnpp Cimpfpt in Vol 6. jluskogGQ, I, T., Thursday, jlciu 4. 1905. No. 50 DARING HOLD UP ON SECOND ST. Under Glaring Electric Lights and With Streets Crowded with people JONES' GANG ATTACKS A PROSPECTOR. About 10 oclock Wednesday night, with South Second street illuminated by the electric lights of its numerous stores, an at temp to rob was made by the Negro booster gang of despera does which has taken possession of that part of the city, The cry of ' ' murder, ' ' ' 'murder' ' ut tered in loud tones was the first announcement of an attempt to assault and rob Mr. Peter Perry, a Negro prospector who recently arrived in Muskogee from Ev ansville, Ind. Perry had been approached by three Negro foot pads, one of whom hit him with a club from the rear and anoth er struck him a hard blow in the face with brass knucks. fel ling him to his knees in the gutter. The cry of murder at tractod the attention of many people in the vicinity, and when they came up the boosters dis dained to run but cooly walked across the street and disappear ed in the gloom surrounding Elgin avenue and 3rd street. Bob Johnson, the head boos ter of the gang was taken into custody early Thursday morn ing and identified by Mrs. Perry as the man who struck him with brass knucks. This Bob Jones is leader of the boosteis who are kept up and clothed by certain well known prostitutes, and who are depreciating the value of prop erty on South Second and 3rd streets by their nightly assaults upon men made with assistance of thir women who lure stran gers into dangerous and dark places. Reporter. The crimes committed here by Negroes must be assigned to the worthless loafer transient element of Negroes who have recently come into town. It is this class of people that we have objected to and it is this class of people that- we Jiavo ob- to and this class that causes decent Negroes so much troubl. It's the, dude who has some woman making his lfving honestly or dishonestly, and the other transient cuss who robs anc plays the part of burglar, while his co-partner plies her trade. They are all transient people and should made move on; when they commit crimes they leave town and the inno cent Negro whoso home is here often bears the blame. We re iterate there are too m any worthless loafers black a n d white in town and they should be given an invitation to quit instantly. Ed. NEGRO vs UNIONISM We hope our people will ask the school board not to appoint the colored teachers (at least the subordinates) at this time, the next meeting in order that pro test of any may be heard and acted upon, this is not a hit at anv particulr person but only a request that justice may be done. We want no innocent person punished (by not being reappointed) and we want no guilty one to escape. Is not this a fair proposition The Cimeter makes this requesl now and if there is any other fellow fee's the same wap get in your request before Monday night, May 3. Money to loan on Furniture. ' Shakpe & Thompson, v 'Room 14, Jones Building. There is one republican on the school board that is worse (against the Negro) than any member on the Board, the Dem ocrats on the Board are in the main inclined to be fair and so are some of the republicans, but there is one cuss 'there that we fought for and thought was our friend, and yet. he is as dangerous to the Negro child's interest as hell to a powder magazine and the part we hate so bad is that we were bun comed into supporting the cuss and getting his nomination when even the white folks were fighting him at that ttme, had he gone down in defeat (and the Negroes saved him in conven tion; ne wouiu, in our opinion, stood forever disgraced in the estimation of the best white citizens of the town regardless or tneir political arnnation. A well known skilled Negro mechanic, who is member of a union, recently wrote from a city in the North to a friend and brother unionist in this city, and stated that "Unions were not worth a dime to Negro la borers in the North." As this message was written on a pos tal card, it is quite likely under more favorable circumstances the word "dam" would have been used instead of "dime." It is a plumb line on truth, when we say what is true in the North, so far as Negroes and labor unions are concerned, is more than true here in Muskogee- In fact, the trades coun cil and lobor unions of Musko gee, all boiled down, are not do ing a tinker's dam bit of good for the Negroes who have been deluded into joining its ranks. The white capitalist and the white labor unionist are work ing through different channels but toward the same end, and that is to eliminate the Negro as a faklov the moulding of the territorial and statehood fu ture. With the restrictions re moved from the Freedmen's lands, the white capitalists with their golden coated and se ductive wiles are seeking to oust tne ureeumon root and branch from their posessions. On the other hand, the walking delegates of the white white union organizations with hon eyed phraseology are persuad ing skilled Negro mecanics to enter the unions where the laws bind them with a bear like grip that prevents them from strik ing out for teemselves in a man ly straight forward effort to ac cumulate enough to establish homes and comforts for them selves and families. The instances of unfare deal ing with their Negro adherents by Muskogee labor organiza tions are too numerous to at tempt to outline them in these columns, The action of the labor unions in passing entirely over the five colored candidates on the Republican ticket, and the making up of a so called Union Labor ticket of alt white men, should be sufficient to show the blindness and most ignorant in Muskogee, that the unions are of, by and for white men only, first, last and all the time. Hard as whito unionists may labor to conceal it, it is well known t h a t discriminations against employment of Negro union men are made every day upon the building in process of erection all over Muskogee. Any old excuse is deemed to be satis factory enough to give the Ne gro unionist who has walked up and applied for work. If in the beginning the workmen on a job are white men, it is under stood at once "no Negro need apply." When, on the other hand, Negroes start off the job, the white men unwilling to work with Negroes are put on in preference to Negroes. l short, it is the opinion of many Negro unionists that many op portunities come to them only when it is absolutely impossi ble to get along without them. We believe we have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of all the purposes and aims of union organizations because the great majority of Negroes everywhere are louim in tne mooring class. Yet we can not in justice to ourselves and our race aquiesce in influences tending toward eliminating the Negro laborer from industrial "fields. Skilled union Negro men in various lines have been paid by local unions to seek employment elsewhere. It is the custom in Muskogee to restrict Negro la bor unioulsts to two or three days work in a week, perhaps bringing them one-third of the wages made for the week by their so called friends and allies the white union laborer. So long as Negroes meet all the re qvirements of the union in the paymeut of high priced en trance fees our monthly dues, they are entitled to a just and equitable distribution ' of all work conducted by union bosses This is not done, and it is the Continued on page 12. TO THE LADIES! Ladies you can't afford to miss this, tins week. We will sell nice long WIGS for $2.75; SWITCHES 25c to 50c; I TALE WIGS $1.25; PRIME FRIZZLES, 15c to 25c. , , Hair is a woman's gfIoru .cTeSS SHAFER &, ROBINSON. 217 South Second St.