The broad ax. [volume], July 06, 1917, Image 1

About The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??

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CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS ;'COLOREDi-jPEOPEE AT EAST ST. LOUIS, ILL., -WILL BE
, . RECEIVED BY JULIUS F. TAYLOR. "
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HEW TO THE UENE; LET THE CHIPS FALL..WHERE THEY MAY
GHIGAGO, JULY 6, 1917
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Vel. XXII.
No. 42
, t
The Hpdra Or Hideous Headed Monster Race Prejudice, Anarchy, Bloody
Assassination, Mob and Lynch Law and The Most Revolting and Heart
Sickening Forms of Lawlessness, Heinous or Atrocious Crimes Ag
Society Law And Order And The Orderly Administration of Justice
Has Fpr The Past Week Reigned Supreme In East St. Louis, Illinois.
THE OUTBREAK OF THE MOB SUNDAY NIGHT SEEMINGLY WAS A WELL LAID PLAN ON THE PART OF
THE CITY OFFICIALS AND ITS RING LEADERS, FOR THE POLICE UNDER THE INSTRUCTIONS OF ITS
SPINELESS MAYOR, FRED W. MOLLMAN, DISARMED EVERY COLORED PERSON THAT THEY COULD
DISCOVER AND NO ATTEMPT WHATEVER WAS MADE BY THEM TO DISARM ONE SINGLE WHITE
GENTLEMAN.
KO ATTEMPT WAS MADE ON THE PART OF THE POLICE TO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER AND THEY
WERE HEARTILY IN SYMPATHY WITH THE HELLISH AND DAMNABLE ACTIONS OF THE BLOOD
THIRSTY MOB WHO WERE BENT UPON MURDERING INNOCENT LAW ABIDING COLORED MEN WO
MEN AND CHILDREN AND DESTROY$ING THEIR HOMES.
THE MEMBERS OF THE ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD WHO ARE NOTHING MORE THAN TIN HORN SOIr
DIERS WERE ALSO HEARTILY IN SYMPATHY WITH THE ACTIONS OF THE BLOOD THIRSTY HELL
HOUNDS, FOR THEY PERMITTED THEM TO TAKE THED3 GUNS FROM THFJR HANDS AND -TO USE
THEM IN SHOOTING DOWN POOR FLEEING COLORED PEOPLE.
COMPANY G. OF EFFINGHAM WAS SELECTED FOR GUARD DUTY IN THAT CITY AND NOT ONE COLORED
PERSON IS PERMITTED TO LIGHT OVER NIGHT IN ITS HOME TOWN. SO IT IS NOT HARD TO SEE
THAT THEY WOULD BE OF NO SERVICE WHATEVER IN ASSISTING TO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER.
WHITE LADIES WITH ALL OF THEIR SO-CALLED CULTURE AND REFINEMENT TRANSFORMED THEM
SELVES INTO THE MOST REVOLTING SPECTMF.NS OF HUMANITY AND LED OFF IN DRAGGING COL
ORED WOMEN FROM THE STREET CARS SO THAT THEY' COULD EASILY BECOME THE HELPLESS VIC
TIMS OF THE MOB.
COL. S. O. TRIPP, WHO IS AFFRAID OF HIS OWN SHADOW WAS IN COMMAND OF THE MOB SYMPATHIZ
ING SOLDIERS AND BY FAILING TO GRASP THE SITUATION THE ANARCHISTS AND CRTMTNALS COM
POSING THE MOB AND NOT GIVING THE ORDER TO SHOOT TO KILL IT GAINED FULL HEADWAY
RUNNING CLEAR OVER HE CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES EVEN KNOCKING COL. TRIPP IN THE
HEAD HMSELF. HIS SOLDIERS ONLY SHOT TWICE NOT AT THE RING LEADERS OF THE MOB BUT
AT TWO HELPLESS COLORED MEN KILLING THEM STONE DEAD.
THE BIG PACKING COMPANIES AND THE OTHER LARGE EMPLOYERS OF COLORED HELP MUST FROM
THIS ON FURNISH POLICE PROTECTION TO THEM FOR ONE THING IS CERTAIN THAT IS THAT THE
CIVIL AUTHORITIES ARE TOO COWARDLY TO DO SO.
NO ONE CAN EVER TELL THE EXACT NUMBER OF INNOCENT COLORED MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN
WHO WERE MASSACRED IN THE MOST HORRIBLE MANNER BY THE FIENDS OF HELL AT EAST ST.
LOUIS, ILL.
It was stated in these columns last
week, that "after all that is said and
done and with all of his education and
so-called refinement or civilization man
is still at heart half devil and half
savae, that it makes not the slightest
difference what the color of his skin
may be or what race he may be iden
tified with for under certain conditions
he is a ferocious wild beast or savage
just the same." Judging from the
actions of the vast majority of the
supposed best people of East St. Louis,
HI, the past week our rudely construct
ed statement has come true in that re
ject. Bight here it must be said that no
one regrets this terrible affair at East
St. Louis more than the writer for it is
too appalling and horrible to contem
plate for such occurrences tend to un
ttle the friendly relations which
should at all times exist between the
setter class of both races in this coun
ry, so that they at all times could be
n a position to join hands in a united
Tianly effort to control the vicious and
he criminal element existing in both
"aces for it is their actions which al
ways bring on tho racial conflicts and
tfl of its attending horrors and in
aany instances like unto the East St.
uis affair, the loss of several million
hilars worth of property, aside from
he complete stoppage or destruction of
1 kinds of business.
There is no question about it in our
aind but what there is plenty of room
& this country for the members of
Wh the White and the Colored race
dwell together in absolute peace and
harmony. Whenever the members of
th races make up their minds that
ey are ready and willing to show the
proper amount of respect or considera
Jon for each other then these racial
upheavals will come to an end.
On Sunday evening it is claimed by
police officers of East St. Loois,
d many times the police will shy
far away from the truth in order to
cany their point, that a large number
of Colored men had met in one of the
public squares in that city, that some
plain clothes men were ordered to drive
them away, that one of the plain clothes
men was shot to death by a Colored
man; the chances are if the truth is
ever known that the Colored people
were holding a meeting in one of their
churches, for they the Colored .people
had learned that a cold-blooded scheme
was being hatched up to murder them
or drive them from their homes that
very night and the next day and that
the police had wended their way there
to break it up; that in attempting to
do so one of the plain clothes men was
shot. Even if the Colored people were
engaged in holding their meeting in
the public square it does seem to a
reasonable human being that it was the
sworn duty of the police to display
their stars first, so that those whom they
seek could tell that they are real police
officers. There was no way for the Col
ored people holding that meeting to
tell that .fact for they were unable to
tell whether the plain clothes men were
friends or foes. Hence the shooting
on the part of some one and then in
the language of Mayor William Hale
Thompson "hell broke loose."
According to one account prior to
the plain clothes officers coming in con
tact with the Colored men in the pub
lic square, four or five menwho looked
like them rode through the Colored dis
trict in an auto and amused themselves
by loudly cussing and damning the
Colored people, shooting into their
homes, finally ending up by foully kill
ing one Colored woman and no pen or
tongue can ever describe the most ap
palling and heart rendering scenes that
were enacted in that hell-hole of crea
tion after that for in the twinkling of
an eye two or three thousand white
gentlemen appeared on the streets as
though they had sprang up out of the J
earth and without one moments hesita
tion they in the most cold-blooded and
savage manner began to shoot down
every Colored man, woman and child
that they could come in contact with,
some of them were eighty and ninety
years old and were not able to harm
anyone yet their lives were horribly
ended with glee on tho part of those
hellish murderers. While those terrible
brutish scenes were being enacted the
big, burly, brutal and cowardly police
of that city who are fully steeped in
race prejudice and cowardice. At the
first outbreaking of the mob one month
ago compelled all the Colored women
to expose their lower extremities while
they, the police officers, searched them
for concealed weapons, at that very
time every manly Colored man would
have been fully justified in taking a
dead sure shot at every police officer
who attempted to take such shameless
undue liberties with respectable Col
ored women, and on Sunday evening
these same police officers under the in
structions of Fred W. Mbllman the
spineless mayor of East St. Louis, in
vaded the homes of the Colored people
and completely disarmed every one of
them so that they would be absolutely
at the mercy of the mob, but no at
tempt whatever waB made by them to
disarm one single white gentleman and
not the slightest attempt was made on
the part of the would-be police to main
tain law and order which- and should
be Supreme all the time at any cost,
on the other hand, police from Chief
Ransome Payne on down to the lowest
man on the force were in hearty sym
pathy with the most hellish and damn
able actions of the bloodthirsty mob
who were hell-bent upon murdering in
cold blood innocent law abiding Col
ored men, women and little children
destroying their humble homes by set
ting them on fire, scattering their scant
the heavens and to become wanderers
on the face of the earth in order to
Eave their lives.
Many of those poor unhappy crea
tures had just escaped from the blood
hounds and the savage mobs of the
South and by coming to Illinois, the
home of Abraham Lincoln, they felt
that by working real hard in time that
they would be able to create new
homes for themselves and finally settle
down to a life of joy or happiness, but
after all they were simply dreaming
falsely for in a very short time they
were confronted with the same kind
of mob and lynch law with all of its
attending horrors right here in the
grand old State of Illinois which they
had left behind them in the rotten
Southland.
From forty to fifty white gentlemen
would tear out after one lone Colored
person -at one time armed to- the teeth
with guns, clubs, stones and other
deadly weapons and whenever they
would catch a new helpless victim they
would conduct themselves like unto
half drunken or maddened hellhounds
who had just stumbled across a new
or a fresh victim in tho bottomless
pits of an everlasting hell, there was
no way on earth that Colored people
could protect themselves under those
conditions no matter how brave they
might be unless they could have been
in a position to have snatched up a
death dealing bomb and paused long
enough to have hurled it into the midst
of the mob which would have caused
them to break and run in every direc
tion and one or two well directed
bombs would have put an end to their
savage and shameless conduct and for
ever stamped .out mob and lynch law
in that city.
The members of the Illinois National
Guards who are nothing more than tin
soldiers, like the police, proved them
selves heartily in sympathy with the
actions of the bloodthirsty hell-hounds,
for they stood around grinning and
showing their teeth like a pack of white
livered cowards and in tho most shame
faced manner they permitted the ring
leaders of the mob to walk up in front
of them and take th'eir guns from
their hands 'and use them to shoot
down the poor fleeing Colored people.
Company G. of Effingham was selected
for guard duty at East St. Louis, not
withstanding the fact that the race
prejudice ridden citizens of its home
town will not permit a Colored person
to light in it over night, so it is not
hard to figure out just to what extent
they were in favor of assisting to
maintain law and order.
Many white ladies with all of their
so-called culture and refinement ,with
the greatest of ease readily trans
formed themselves into the most re
volting specimens of humanity and
freely joined their blood stained hands
with those of the ring leaders of the
mob; they in the most edifying manner
led off in the highly laudable Christian
work of dragging Colored women from
the street cars, beating them over their
heads, with their shoes, clubs, brick
bats and so on, pulling out their hair
scratching and cutting them in the face
and in some- instances even the white
gentlemen assisted the fair white ladies
to eoraarit those most high-handed
crimes against society, law and order.
To the- everiastisg credit of one white
lady she bravely and bitterly protested
against arch' brutal treatment' of Col-
red women, by white gentlemen and
belongings in every direction and cans
ing them to flee to the four winds of she dedwed that if they were "truej
American citizens they would at once
further refrain from committing such
vicious acts of anarchy and lawless
ness," and the white gentlemen simply
jeered and sneered at her and some of
them had to be restrained from strik
ing her and if we would have been
present we would have endeavored to
have shot the first man clear through
his Law defying head who would have
attempted to harm one hair on her true
American head; for whoever she was,
and whatever her station in life might
be, she is one of the most queenly
women that has ever lived in any part
of the world.
Some of the white ladies who as
sisted to give full vent to the racial
spleen against the Colored women and
who were most active in dragging them
from the street cars, became so un
nerved with the excitement that they
fell down in dead faints right in the
middle of the streets, think of the
demoralizing effect of their brutish
conduct will continue to be cast back
upon the future generations of that
poorly governed town; that in connec
tion with the other heart-rendering and
sickening scenes which they greatly en
joyed as so much sport or fun will in
time drive them crazy or transform
them into raving maniacs. It is hor
rible to contemplate what the future
has in 'store for them and their off
springs. Col. S. 0. Tripp, who was in charge
or in command of the mob sympathiz
ing soldiers was seemingly afraid of
his own white shadow for he utterly
failed to grasp the true situation and
by falling down on his weak knees to
the red-handed' anarchists and black
hearted criminals composing the mob
and by failing at the proper time
to command his soldiers if they are
deserving to wear that highly honored
title to shoot to kill, for some cause
or other he permitted the lawless mob
to gain a full headway, thereby running
over and trampling under its feet the
duly constituted authorities at the
same ti .ie knocking Col. Tripp in the
head and only twice were shots fired
by his soldiers, not at the ring leaders
of the mob but the brave and gallanc
soldiers shot two helpless Colored men
killing them stone dead, which was
more than enough to cause the boss
devil of the infernal regions to extend
his sides with laughter at the bravery
of the tinhorn soldiers of Illinois.
It may not be out of place to state
right here that the big packing com
panies and the other large employers
of Colored labor must devise some plan
to furnish police protection to them
for the civil authorities are not in
clined to do so for tho most of them
are too cowardly for that.
No one can ever tell just how many
Colored men, women and little chil
dren met their deaths one or the other
at the hands of the mob and were
massacred in the most horrible man
ner. Any of the friends and readers of
this paper who feel like aiding the
Colored people at East St. Louis, HI.
can send their contributions to the
writer and the amount they give will
be published each week opposite their
names and in due time they will re
cive a detailed report just how the
money has been expended.
RACE RIOT WORSE THAN BEL
GIUM, SOCIALIST SAYS.
New York, July. "Swift and severe
punishment" for the East St. Louis
mobs was demanded by the Socialist
leader, William English Walling, in a
telegram to President Wilson today.
Such punishment is necessary, Mr.
Walling said, because "of the dan
gerous effect of race riots in America
on revolutionary Russia, South Amer
ica, and Japan."
Mr. Walling characterized the upris
ing as partly the result of German
agents' efforts to stir up a race war to
keep American troops at home and
partly the result of an attempt by the
southern states to keep the Negro un
der their thumb.
Speaking as a member of the exec
utive committee of the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People, Mr. Walling, in his telegram,
said:
"The international and military situ
ation calls for immediate action. There
must be swift and severe punishment
for the mob. But this will not suffice.
There should be an immediate presiden
tial proclamation in the present mili
tary exigency that the full military
power of the nation will be used in
defense of the lives and liberty of our
Colored fellow citizens."
BOMB IN NEGRO FLAT LAID TO
RACE TROUBLE.
Colored occupants of a three flat
building at 5320 Maryland avenue were
thrown into confusion last Sunday
night when a bomb was exploded in
the vestibule, wrecking it. There was
a rumor that race resentments were re
sponsible. No arrests were made.
The ground floor is occupied by the
family of the Rev. James Robinson,
pastor of the Antioch church at 5323
South State street. They were thrown
from their beds, plaster was ripped
from the walls, and the windows shat
tered. The third floor is occupied by S. T.
Motley, the owner of the building.
Motley estimated the loss at $12,000.
Rumors reached tho police that white
residents of the neighborhood resented
the sale of the building to Motley, who
is a Colored man.
MOTON IS GRIEVED.
Tuskegee, Ala., July, Special Maj.
R. R. Moton, head of the Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial institute, Booker
T. Washington's successor, gave out
the following statement tonight con
cerning the East St. Louis riots:
"I am pained, chagrined and dis
couraged that these riots on the eve
of the celebration of the Declaration
of Independence, should occur to bring
shame to our country, especially at a
time like this when we aro calling
upon Negroes, as well as white men,
to defend democracy and to stand for
a 'square deal' for weaker nations and
weaker peoples."
APPOINTED McADOO'S MESSENGER.
Washington, D. C. Harry M. Rey
nolds, Jr., has been appointed messen
ger boy in the Treasury Department by
Secretary McAdoo, through the exec
utive order of President Wilson. Rich
ard Green was largely responsible foe
the action taken.
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