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THAT COLORED POLICEMAN
A colored policeman in Seattle is the
newest thing on tap and for some reason
the most of the colored citizesn of the city
are proud 1o see him strut around in his
blue uniform, not that the position in
Seattle is of any special honor, but because
colored men have not very often been per
mitted to hold such jobs and it is a weak
ness of the human family to always want
the things that are denied it, which re
minds us of the Dutchman that heard that
the bank in which he had some money de
posited, was about to break, and not want
ing to lose his mone yhe rushed into the
bank and demanded "all of my money right
now" of the paying teller, and he suspect
ing the cause of the Dutchman's excitement,
grabbed up a roll of bills and threw them
down in the window with "there's your
money." With eyes bulged out the Dutch
man looked at the roll at length and finally
exclaimed, "Oh, then you have got my
money. Well, if you have my money, I do
not want it, but if you haven't got my
money then I want it right now." Its no
honor to be a Seattle policeman on a beat
south of Yesler Way, but "I want it be
cause you do not want me to have it."
Seattle has had few colored policemen
despite the fact she has, for the most part of
her latter day history, had, for a western
town, a rather large colored population. The
natural antipathy of white men to colored
men holding positions that will permit them
to command white men is largely responsible
for no more colored men hvaing served on
the police force than there have, but there
is still another cause and it eminates in the
bosoms of the white policemen, who not
only objected to acknowledging a colored
man a brother officer, but objected to a
colored man getting a bunch of easy money
as so many of the white officers have done.
In order to head the colored men off under
civil service rules many subterfuges have
been resorted to, even to invoking the aid
of the civil service commissioners them
selves, who adopted a rule that no man with
a certain shape of foot was eligible to act
as a policeman of Seattle. In spite of
opposition, however, periodically a colored
man would break into the police circles and
though they did not last long they stayed
for a while as will hereinafter be seen.
It was in 1890 when the first colored po
liceman made his debut in Seattle in the
person of Isaac Evans, who served as turn
key at the city jail. Politics ran the city
in those days and Evans got his police job
from his political pull. He was a rather
fine looking fellow and had the requisite
size to make a first class officer, and, yea,
verily, as long as he lasted, he did make an
ideal cop, but the white policemen tolerated
him just so long, when they set about to
devise ways and means to get him off the
force. They used a couple of down town
thugs to turn the trick, and after they had
thoroughly instructed them the thugs were
sent to the headquarters in the patrol wagon.
The desk man turned the mover to the jail
er who started away with his men. The trio
had almost reached the jail door when the
two thugs turned loose a string of vulgar
abuse on Evans that would have made the
hair on the head of an Indian statute stand
straight up, whereupon Evans forgot his of
ficial capacity and endeavored to whip them
both at one and the sam etime, but found he
had a big job. The fight was fast and fur
ious, but finally Evans went to the mat and
the thugs left the room unmolested. A long
story short, Evans was immediately officially
beheaded. Mr. Evans has long since died,
but regertted his mistake to his dying day.
Under the Ronald mayoralty administra
tion, two years after the unfortunate Evans
escapade at the police headquarters, Pleas
ant Ford was given the position of driver
of the police patrol wagon, which position
he held for a number of months, when the
force as a whole sickened of having a col
ored man about, even though he was not
in uniform, and through political pull, for
be it remembered both the police and the
fire departments were subject to partisan
changes at that time, Ford was let out. He
was much chagrinned at being let out be
cause he had told his colored friends that
the Democrats would never treat him as did
the Republicans Ike Evans and he moved
to British Columbia where he subsequently
died.
It was some fifteen years thereafter when
J. Samuel Peoples ran the gauntlet of the
civil service board and was assigned to duty.
His first day out was with a day police
man, whose beat was up Second avenue.
The sight of a colored policeman in uniform
on Second avenue attracted as much atten
tion as did Sells Brothers first automobile
on the streets of Seattle. Though a man of
iron nerve, yet by the time he was ordered
in he felt as though he had been charging
a riot mob all day or had been sent through
a threshing machine. Sam Peoples was a
policeman born and he soon won the con
fidence of his superior officers and was as
signed to many difficult details. He was
finally assigned to the Capitol Hill district,
where he remained by petition of the resi
dents of that section of the city, for many
months. He went from Capitol Hill to the
district about Smith Cove where he met his
Waterloo. By this time his brother officers
had tired of his presence on the force and
fixed up a cat hop to get him off and Sam
fell for it and was immediately dismissed,
though he was forced to dismiss him the
chief said, "he has made a splendid officer."
Ten years or more after Peoples w ras dis
missed Giles Graves passed a splendid exam
ination and is assigned to duty as a city
blue coat. Graves is of a splendid family
and if he lives up to his parental teachings
he will never go wrong, but if he tries to
pattern after some of the get rich quick
policemen of Seattle he will go to hell in
a hand basket, vulgarly speaking, before
he can say Jack Robinson. He was sent to
one of the tough districts of the city, on
which to be initiated and if he does not
fall before he gets started it will be no fault
of those who always seek to trap colored
policemen. Graves has lived in Seattle the
most of his life and he has the reputation
of being a splendid fellow. He has a wife
and two children, a mother, sister and a
host of friends in the city, who wish him
well.
At the Grace Presbyterian church Mon
day evening, April 28th, the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People will hold a mass meeting for the
purpose of devising ways and means to send
a delegate to the tenth anniversary of the
parent body, which will be held in Cleve
land, Ohio, the latter part of next June. The
Northwest has never been represented at any
of the anniversary gatherings and the Se
attle branch should see to it that a delegate
from Seattle be in attendance at the next
regular anniversary. Cayton's Weekly is
going to take advantage of this opportunity
and suggest to the Seattle branch that one
of its most talented members be chosen as
a delegate that the northwest may be well
represented if it is to be represented at all.
At those anniversary meets some brainy
men (white and black) of this country are
present and the problems of this country are
discussed pro and con and for our delegate
to participate in those discussions he or she
must be'of superior intelligence.
EDITORIAL PARAGRAPHS
Keep in mind Officer Graves that your
real enemies are dressed just like you..
"Stay wet" may be the caper in Chi
cago, but it don't go in Michigan, while
has just voted to "stay dry."
Butte went Republican hell bent for elec
tion. When thieves fall out honest men
conic into their own.
Europe All Nerves, says a headline. Is
thasso? We thought it was all skin and
bones.
If Seattle is enjoying spring weather at
present we would regret to see her at this
time enjoy a dash of winter weather.
Public sentiment seems to be unanimously
in favor of everybody doing it—paying their
car fares.
A heavy snow fall is reported in Texas.
Between the snow falling and hell raising,
Texas will soon be not worth a damn.
And now the waterfront is on another
rampage. The spring showers seem to al
ways keep the waterfront in a seething,
surging condition.
In the death of Bishop C. T. Shaffer, the
African M. E. church in particular and the
church in general loses an able and con
sistent worker.
A majority of the daily papers of the
United States favor the League of Nations
propaganda, according to the Literary Di
gest, but even at that we most emphatically
say no.
If President Wilson brings a copy of the
peace pact back with him we suggest that
he hold a boat in readiness to send the
pieces thereof back after the U. S. senate
finishes dissecting it.
If Col. Theodore Roosevelt, the second,
is successful in perfecting his contemplated
soldier organization, he will be in a posi
tion to say to his party convention, "See
me or I'll see you."
Evidently the League of Nations is to be
the paramount issue of the next presidential
campaign, and on it Woodrow Wilson hopes
to capture a third term, but if he does he
sho will have to come some.
It strikes us that some of the members
of the Young Men's Republican Club must
have found the fabled fountain of immortal
youth and partaken of its waters, which has
enabled them to continue as young as they
used to be.
In Salt Lake City the club women are
boycotting good butter. Wonder what they
are doing to bad butter?
Acocrding to the Seattle Daliy Times, Se
attle is cleaning up, painting up and turn
ing up in general, all of which may be true,
but search as diligently as we may we have
been unable to find any such good work
going on.
If it be true that Europe is being split
in two hostile camps then the wise thing
for Uncle Sam to do is to get out of there
immediately if not sooner, or he will not
only get cut in the fracas, but also get cut
above the fracas..
Perhaps the wish was father to the
thought, but it does seem to us that the
street cars run smoother since they have be
come the property of the municipality than
they did when they belonegd to the greedy
capitalists of Boston.
Chop suey seems to have had a fighting
effect on a triumirate of 'fro-Americans in
a Chinese chop suey joint in the Seattle
tenderloin district one day this week. The
stuff had doubtless been waiting for that
bunch so long that it got a kick in it.
When Ole Hanson lands in Seattle some
cop may immediately shoot him and claim
self defence. The self defence would lie
