A statement from Governor Hugh M. Dorsey as to the Negro in Georgia

_ROM

Governor Hugh M. Dorsey
AS TO
The ~~groin Georgia
I

Atlanta, Ga., April 22, 1921.
TO THE CONFERENCE OF CITIZENS
CALLED TO MEET THIS DAY AT ATLANTA:
A. The negro Lynched-
B. The negro held in peonage-
C. The negro driven out by organized lawessness-
D. The negro subject to individual acts of cruelty-
Under these four headings, in the following pages I have grouped 135 examples of the alleged mistreatment of negroes in Georgia in the last two years. Without design, or the knowledge of each other, Georgians, with one exception, have called these cases to my attention as Governor of Georgia. The exception noted was the appeal of two negroes to Washington for protection. Their appeal was forwarded to me, as Governor, with the request that I should act if I could do so without adding to the danger in which the negroes stood.
No effort has been made to collect cases. If such an effort were made, I believe the number could be multiplied.
In some counties the negro is being driven out as though he were a wild beast. In others he is being held as a slave. In others, no negroes remain.
In only two of the 135 cases cited is the "usual crime" against white women involved.

As Governor of Georgia, I have asked you, as citizens having the best interests of the State at heart, to meet here today to confer with me as to the best course to be taken. To me it seems that we stand indicted as a people before the world. If the conditions indicated by these charges should continue, both God and man would justly condemn Georgia more severely than man and God have condemned Belgium and Leopold for the Congo atrocities. But worse than that condemnation would be the destruction of our civilization by the continued toleration of such cruelties in Georgia.
I place the charges before you, as they have come unsolicited to me. I have withheld the names of counties and individuals, because I do not desire to give harmful publicity to those counties, when I am convinced that, even in the counties where these outrages are said to have occurred, the better element regret them, and I believe, furthermore, that the better element in these counties and the whole State, who constitute the majority of our people, will condemn such conditions and take the steps necessary to correct them, when they see and realize the staggering sum total of such cases, which, while seemingly confined to a small minority of our counties, yet bring disgrace and obloquy upon the State as a whole, and upon the entire Southern people.
The investigation and the suggestion of a remedy should come from Georgians, and not from outsiders. For these reasons, I call to your attention the following charges together with a suggested remedy, which you will find at the end of the recital of cases.
HUGH M. DORSEY,
Governor.

A

THE NEGRO LYNCHED

COUNTY No.1
1. July, 1919, two white men, drunk, went to the negro section of a town in this county at night. An elderly negro, got his gun and went into the streets, it is claimed, to protect the women of his race. In the shooting, which followed, one of the white men was killed.
The negro was placed in the jail. The sheriff left him there, with no guard, to go to another place to get a prisoner. A county commissioner hearing that a mob was coming went to the jail to remove the prisoner, but could find no key to unlock the door. The mob had the key. They lynched the negro.

Case No.1

COUNTY No.2
2. In October, 1919, a negro was taken from the sheriff, who was carrying him from one county to another for safe keeping and lynched. The negro was a preacher and teacher. Schools and churches were closed on account of influenza and the negro went to work for a farmer.
In a dispute about extra work, the farmer attacked the negro with an axe. The negro raised his gun. The farmer turned and received a load of bird shot in the back. The negro fled, but was brought back.
The sheriff heard of a mob threatening and removed the negro to another County. The sheriff of this County hearing of a coming mob started with the negro to another County but was overtaken as described above.
The man shot by the negro is alive.

Case No.2

COUNTY No.3
3. A negro charged with assault upon a white girl, was tied to a tree and shot to death in January, 1921. No indictment has ever been found, no arrest made.

Case No.3

Case No. 4 Case No.5

COUNTIES Nos. 4 and 5
4. A negro murdered a farmer, who had ordered the negro not to hunt upon his farm. The negro fled but was arrested and brought back. A mob took the negro from the train at a station, put him in an automobile, and carried him back to the scene of his crime, where his bullet-riddled body was found hanging in a tree.
COUNTY No.6
5. A negro was suspected of the murder of a white woman. He was arrested. The same day he was taken from the jail. In the midst of a mob of 3,000 people, he was burned to death by a "slow fire," the torture being prolonged as much as possible.

j

B

THE NEGRO HELD IN PEONAGE

COUNTY No.7
1. (a) In 1920 a negro on the place of a white farmer in this County made a crop of 21!2 bales of cotton and two 2-horse wagon loads of corn. The crop was turned over to the white farmer, who claimed that the negro still owed him $118.00. In September the negro ran away to Atlanta, where he was arrested and carried back and put in jail. A brother of the complaining farmer, made the man's bond and carried him to his farm, where the negro worked a week. He escaped and walked to Atlanta, where he was arrested again the day that he arrived, February 13, and carried back again. In his presence, the negro charges, the farmer offered to sell him to another man, if the man would pay him $55.00.
The whites deny this, but one admits that the other said something about paying him for the expense of his Atlanta trip. He says that he settled with the negro in December, 1920, when the negro agreed to work through 1921 for $12.50 a month and his board, the farmer agreeing to cancel the debt of $118.00. On this new trade, the farmer advanced the negro $5.00 and bought goods for him amounting to $8.00. The negro the same day ran away. It was on account of this $5.00 in cash and tlie goods, that the warrant for cheating and swindling was sworn out.
The wife of the negro, mother of a girl of nine, and a boy eight years old, confirms her husband's story with the additional information that the farmer knifed her husband while they were killing hogs, for some trivial infraction of the farmer's orders.
(b) Another negro worked for the same farmer in 1920. The farmer claims to have paid him $15.00 a month and board, and that December 12, the negro agreed to work during 1921, when he, the farmer, advanced $5.00 to pay for a pair of shoes for him. That night the negro ran away. A warrant for cheating and swindling was sworn

Case No.6
Offer to Sell Knifed Case No.7

Cause for Running Away
Case No.8
Arrested and Whipped Case No.9 Fear of Death

out and the negro brought back. The farmer made a bond of $50.00 for the negro, who agreed to work for him for seven months at $12.50 per month and board.
The negro claims that last year he was to receive $25.00 a month, but received nothing but a suit or two of overalls, some work shirts and shoes. He has received no settlement for last year, he says. He admits the shoes being purchased for him, but says he paid back $2.00 before leaving. Threatened with the chain gang, he went to work for the last man, but ran away because the farmer struck him in the face with his fist, and threatened him.
Cases 6 and 7 were reported to the Governor by white officials.
2. (a) A negro worked for a farmer in County No. 7 for the last six or seven years. The contract called for a certain wage, but the employer would pay him what he chose. The negro left three or four times, but was always brought back.
The year 1920, he was to receive $25.00 a month and board. At Christmas, the negro asked his employer how much the employer owed him. The man told him $65.00 and paid him $10.00. The negro left and came to Atlanta where he was arrested and carried back January 26, 1921. From Christmas Eve until that date, the negro was at his brother's home in Atlanta.
The warrant for his arrest, charged him with assault with intent to murder, committed December 27, 1920. He was released, when the Grand Jury returned "no bill" against him. The warrant was sworn out by the employer.
(b) The negro described above states that another negro, now working on the same place, ran away in August last. He was arrested and brought back, severely whipped and put to work.
(c) A negro woman working on the same place has been there for four years. She states that she ran away and reached Florida, but was brought back. Both the negro and this woman state that the man would kill them, if he found that they had talked with anyone.
Cases 8 and 9 reported to the Governor by white officials.

(d) Two negroes owed a man, on whose place they were working, $1,800.00, the indebtedness representing food and supplies advanced to them during the past 12 years. In December, 1919, the two negroes moved to another plantation.
The owner of the place from which the negroes moved and his brother came and carried the negroes back. The negroes made affidavit before the Solicitor General that they left of their own account. They are located on the place of the brother, who has paid his brother $500.00 on this account.
The man from whose place the negroes were taken believes that fear of violence caused them to make the affidavit and that the negroes are held in a state of peonage.
(e) A negro was sentenced to 30 days in the Fulton County Chain Gang for vagrancy. When he had served enough of his time to. pay his fine excepting $5.00, the son of a farmer in this County paid him out.
With ten other negroes he was carried to the man's farm, where they were locked up for the night. They were guarded by two armed negroes, by day and locked up every night.
The man stayed from February 1 until SePtember 1st when he and another negro ran away. They were caught, brought back, and whipped. The other negro begged to be killed. The white owner shot him. A weight was put upon him. His body was put in a nearby pond back of the owner's home.
Fifteen negroes were working on the place. They were frequently beaten.
(f) Another negro was arrested in Atlanta and fined $25.00 for keeping late hours. The same white man paid the fine in April, 1920, and carried the negro to the farm to work upon a promise of $40.00 per month, board and lodging. Three other negroes were carried there at the same time. He remained for four months, when he escaped. He was caught and carried back, severely whiPped and locked up.
He was whipped twice. He claims to have seen another negro beaten and then shot by a negro for running away, and at the instance of the white.

Case No. 10
Case No. 11 Cas, No. 12 Case No IS. PeonSeesMardea Case No. U.

Cases 15-23
Wholesale Murder

Since the investigation, the owner of one of these places has been indicted for killing eleven negroes on his place. He was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life in one of these cases, April 8, 1921.
His three sons were on April 11th indicted for murdering negroes.
His sons are fugitives.
The murders are alleged to have been committed to conceal the crime of peonage.

Qlse No. 24

COUNTY No.8
3. (a) A negro, in February wrote to a man in Washington:
"I am writing you to help me. I am in Trouble. I am asking You to Please give my case to the State official for me. Now this my trouble is I work a farm on shers with a man name Mr.
---------and now he is holden all I has made and yet claims to hold me still I det to him now want me to work for $1.00 a day and board my Self out of it and I has four in family and I haster feed six mules three times a day and dont get eny Pay for it and he put me out the last of the fall to make my living after taking all I made whe cotton was 30 & 25 per Pound he would not let me sel after it to 18-17 cent Per Pound then he wanted me to sell then wanted me to sell when I could for paid by Debts and when I got in it would not covy my Debts then I will sell and will you Please report this for me.

Plea for Silence

Please don't coat my name if you Public this

Please dont call my name untill It come to trial"

Case No. 25

(b) February 16, 1921, another negro wrote the same party-

One Dollar a Day
for Seven

"Dear Sir, i am ritting yo to get yo to Help me i am Having troubal please give my cas to the State official for me now Hear is my trouburl i .das wo:r'k a farm on sHears with a man name ____________________and he Has taken all that i Has made
and now are Holding me cliaming i am still in dept to Him and now Wants me to work for $1.00 a day and board my self out of it and i Has seven in family and i Hasto milk His cows and dont get any pay for it and he put me out the of the fall to make my living after taking all that i

Made When cotton was 30 and 25 cents per pound. He wood not let me sell and it went to 18 and 17 cent per pound then he wanted me to Sell when i could has paid by depts i could not get Him to Sell but when it got to Heir it would not pay me out then I could sell and yo please report this for me to the law and in the Spring this man goes to town and gets low graid of flour for a low price and Sold it to me for $4 a sack that wars $16 a barl and taken 10 per cent intres on it and i starded my accont the 9 day of February. and i stop it the first of november. and he charge me time price and 10 per cent intres for the full year.
"And please let me Hear from yo soon and tell me what to do i cant tell gest all but this is the way this Hold country is standing and you please send this in to the White House for me and please dont call my name if you public this and dont call my name untell this goes to trial."
"Dear Sir Hear is some more that happen this even Jest at Sun Set Mr.______________________drue some
thing on me I can't say but he made at me with His Hand in His pocket but i ran and he comanded me to stop and I stopted and He told me if i did not get His money He was gonto get a mob and Kill me and it all stared becausse we faild to work for one dollar a day' me and to others. and i am looking to hear from yo right away askin yo to save my life if yo can ack in time it is a mob crowd out today after a man and they said that
tshaeisy HisegiosngtoonhtaonHg ahviemmtoenaignhdt___a__n__d___M____r_.___-_-_-_-_-_-_-k--i-l--l-e--d-
and i am looking for yo to Help me by putting my case in the united State court and then yo Have thim to let me go in gail untill this is settle an that man that is to be hung to night they claime that He killed a white woman"

Appeal to White House
Haste Needed to Save Life

Newspapers confirm the fact that the negro
referred to in the last letter was lynched that night.

c

THE NEGRO DRIVEN OUT BY ORGANIZED LAWLESSNESS

COUNTY No.9

Case 26

1. A white man in this County received the

White Threatened following notice in January, 1921:

''Notice
"To Mr. ..............................you. had better keep negroes out of this house of yours if you dont everything you have got will be burned down to the ground.
"beWare and take notice
"NITE Rider. X"

COUNTY No. 10

Cue No. 27

2. Negroes were being worked on a railroad

Terrorizing Bailroad Laborers

in this County. A small mob visited the camp in February, 1921. They notified the white fore-
man and the negroes that if they continued to

work, while white men wanted jobs, they would

be mobbed. A number of the negroes were fright-

ened away. The sheriff of the county protests

that there was no danger. This occurred Janu- i

ary, 1921.

l

Cases Nos. 28 and 29 Beating
and Coflins

1

COUNTY No. 11

1

i
3. December 31, 1920, a negro living in this

County was taken from his home and badly

beaten.

The same month, small coffins gruesomely paint-

ed, one marked with a skull and cross bones, were

left on the porches of two negro homes.

Cases Nos. 30-60 Ka Klux Klan

COUNTY No. 12
4. Jauary, 1921, negroes in one district of this County were notified that no negroes would be permitted to remain in that district.

At 2 A. M., January 12, a negro living in this district was called from his bed by unknown parties. They asked him if he had made threats against the Ku Klux Klan. He answered "no." He was informed that he would be given until Saturday night to leave the district; that if he did not leave, there would probably be war against him. They asked him if he had seen the notice posted on the nearby negro school house and said that notice meant all negroes must leave, and that they had notified thirty negro families that night. No negroes were to be permitted to remain in the district. Firing two shots in the air, the parties left.
The notice reads:
"Notice to the Colored people of........................ if you halvent got a job you had better get one at once. If you are not done gathering your crop you had better finish and settle your accounts. If you or disposing of your crop you had better be at home by dark If you havent got a lawful excuse for being out.
''WIDTE CAPS"
The same night, the home of another negro farmer was fired into, the shot striking the ceiling just above the head of the bed. The negro was out of the house at the time.
The Governor sent the Sheriff of the county a wire calling attention to the charges against the Ku Klux Klan and saying: "Negroes have been called from their homes, shots fired, threats made to do them physical injury, if they had not left by night. I have four affidavits of negroes who have never been in court and some of whom own their own homes. This is an outrage and I beg that you will go into this district this afternoon and tonight with ample force not only to protect these negroes, but for the purpose of making such a display as will deter these worthless white people from continuing their campaign of terror."
January 17, the sheriff replied by letter: "Pursuant to your telegram, I have gone to the place directed by you and have made an investigation

Negroes Must Leave
Case No 61

of the trouble credited to the Ku Klux Klan, and
I find it is the general belief that it is not the
Ku Klux Klan, but some lawless element in the community there causing the trouBle.

"As best I can find out, the Ku Klux Klan is also conducting an investigation for the purpose of ascertaining who the parties are in order that the law may be vindicated.

"I shall keep in touch with the matter and cooperate with the citizens of the community affected, and shall do all within my power to protect
the citizens."

Ku Klux Klan Seal The sheriff's letter bears the seal of the Ku Klux

on Letter of Public Klan and this endorsement-"Endorsed by Came-

Official

ron Klan-No. 17-Realm of Georgia."

COUNTY No. 13
5. A negro was killed without excuse, it is said, by a deputy officer in this County in the latter part of 1920. A negro minister in preaching the funeral said that some line of protection for the lives and property of negroes should be formed. As a result, leading negroes were ordered to leave the place, or suffer the consequences. Most of them left.. Some armed themselves and remained. The better element of whites protected them.

Town Acts

A Georgia newspaper commenting said:
"The city of -------------------------------- has redeemed itself in the eyes of the people. The decision of the officers there brought relief to the bewildered blacks who had committed no crime at all except that it is criminal to the lawless set of any community that a negro show the slightest inclination to protect himself.
"All of these outbreaks, we believe, are the echoes from the discordant notes of the Ku Klux Klan, though they may be contrary to the intents, as advertised of that mysterious and useless organization."

Case No. 62 Dynamite

COUNTY No. 14
6. (a) A negro lodge room was dynamited in this County in February or March, 1921. In response to the Governor's proposal to offer a reward, the sheriff advises, "As yet, no arrests have

been made, nor has any evidence been brought out which points to the guilty parties; however, I have been and am following up any leads that I get in this connection, and I believe that the best results could be had in bringing the guilty parties to justice by working quietly and I know that local conditions will not be improved by an offer of reward at this time."
(b) The Grand Master of Negro Masons, for Georgia, March 9, 1921, wrote:
"I am very sorry to learn of the uncalled for trouble in your community, as to the burning of halls, etc. I know it is hard, yet I would advise the brothers to put their trust in God, and hold their meetings in the day time, and attend to their business in a quiet and brotherly way. Do not hold long meetings and attend only to Masonic matters, which I know you always do, and nothing else.
"I do not think that the white people in your community object to the colored Masons meeting to prepare, in their humble way, to care for the sick and bury the dead. I know that our people in the rural districts are having a hard time, which, I hope, God in His good judgment will adjust."
COUNTY No. 15
7. (a) January, 1920, the negroes living in one district of this County, were threatened. Their churches, school houses and homes were burned. Several families were driven out of the community. A reward was offered by the county commissioners and the sheriff was instructed to get the guilty parties. None were caught and convicted but the trouble subsided.
In January, 1921, conditions in this County were worse than ever. Houses occupied by negroes, some of whom own their farms, were posted with threatening notices. Letters ordering them to leave were sent them through the mails. In a week, fifty-one negroes, men, women and children fled to a nearby town, where they had to be supported by charity. The notice stated that no negro would be allowed to live from the river north of the town to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Whites Cannot Object
Case No. 63
Wholesale Drive Cases Nos. 64 to 114

Case No. 115

In September, a negro received through the mails a notice saying: "A few words is easy un-
derstood you gather up your crop and leave this country there is plenty of places will sute you
beter than here, if you dont we will see after you later i will pass there again."

Case No. 116

Another negro found in his mail box a notice saying: "We only give you all nigers 15 days to get from here."

Case No. 117

One received a notice which read: "get away and get on you and old........................get away I dont give a dam what........................says you Beter get-! going to blow up old..............god dam you."

Another negro received this:

Case No. 118

''We have agreed to give you just 10 days to leave in and if you dont get out in 10 days we wont give you no further warning."

Another notice read:

Case No. 119

"Well the Dam Negro better get away from here and get away in a hurry you better away you dam negro you and old......................al the dam Negro is going to i am going to danimite you all up i dont care what........................say-you .tell old..................and .................. to get out-after the first of April no dam negro must not be seen this
side of the river old..................and ............ --------! dont care what.................. says he can have all the guns he wants I dont fere him and no other dam man they' are all men just like me."

White Courage

A white man, a leading citizen, on whose plantation a number of the negroes worked, had prom-
ised them protection. He gave them arms. He went to the man, whom he suspected to be at the bottom of the trouble and warned him that if a negro on his place were harmed, he would neither
eat, nor sleep until he had treated that man as he would treat a rattle snake. None of his negroes
were actually harmed, but most of the negroes later left his place.

Arson Threatened Another white farmer, living in this County, stated publicly that he would protect the negroes on his place. A letter threatening to burn his home and cotton gin was received by him.

(c) The name of the man commonly reported to be the leader in this lawlessness in this County is known.
COUNTY No. 16
8. (a) Negroes working in a plant in this County were ordered to leave. An effort was made to dynamite their sleeping quarters at the company's camp. Armed guards were stationed there. One fired at the gang who attempted to light the fuse to the dynamite under the quarters. The company procured guns and ammunition for the protection of their hands.
(b) In this County, a man and his brother are commonly reported to be the leaders in lawlessness.
COUNTY No. 17
9. The gang which attacked the Company Camp in County No. 16 came from this County, where one man is reported to be the leader.
COUNTY No. 18
10. No negroes remain in this County.
COUNTY No. 20
11. The negroes have gone from this County.

Leaders Known Case No. 120
Negroes Gone

D

THE NEGRO SUBJECT TO INDIVIDUAL ACTS OF CRUELTY

COUNTY No. 21

Cases Nos. 121 to 123
A Thrifty Negro

1. Near a small town in this County a negro was born fifty-eight or sixty years ago. By work, he accumulated a little money with which, ten years ago, he bought a farm of 140 acres, where
he lived with his wife and twelve children. Three of his daughters were educated. They were
school teachers.

A three-room house was on the farm. The farm was well stocked, the negro owning in 1919 outright five mules, and having made pay-
ments on the purchase of a horse, a cow and thirty-five hogs.

War Work

During the war with Germany, this negro family bought approximately $1,000 worth of liberty bonds and thrift stamps. The negro headed an organization of negroes, who raised between $10,7 000 and $11,000 for liberty bonds. His work was highly praised by newspapers at the time.

A white man, who can neither read nor write, owns a farm adjoining the farm of the negro.
When the articles praising the man for his war
work appeared, the white man remarked: "........ 's getting too damned prosperous and biggity for a nigger." Trouble began.

A Line Dispute

The white man had his land processioned. The negro had no representative present. The processioners ran the man's line twenty-five feet over the negro's line, across a terrace which had been
there since the negro was a child working for the family, from whom he bought the land. The deed given to him covered the land to this terrace.

The white man crossed the terrace, drove stakes along the new line and warned the negro not to

cross the line. The negro disregarded the warning and continued to plow to the terrace, as he had been doing since boyhood.
Blacks and whites from the country crowd the town Saturday afternoons. One Saturday, the fall of 1919, the negro with his three daughters and son came to town. The town marshall approached the negro in the street and said: "I have a warrant for you."
The negro answered: "Mr.____________________, what
have I done? Read your warrant."
The marshall replied with an oath that he would rather kill the negro than read the warrant.
Here the evidence varies. The negro had a stick in his hand. Some say that the marshall, who is large and powerful, grabbed, the stick and struck the negro in the face with a pistol, knocking him down. Others state that the negro, raising his stick, backed away, when the marshall rushed in and struck him to the ground with his pistol. Several other white men rushed upon him and began to choke and beat him.
Two of his daughters started to him. A man kicked one girl in the stomach. The other reached her father and began to wipe the blood from his face. The three were quickly overpowered. The third daughter and the son were caught. All were locked in jail. The girl who was kicked was menstruating. The blow made her deathly sick. She lay in jail moaning and begging that something be done for her, and her father, who was bleeding badly from his wounds. The sheriff locked them in and left them without medical attention and ignorant of the charge against them.
Next morning the negro learned that his neighbor had sworn out a warrant against him for trespass. The sheriff refused to tell him what the charge was against his son and daughters. The negro employed a lawyer. Then he found that he and his daughters were charged with resisting an officer in the discharge of his duty, his son with carrying a pistol. Only one witness claimed to have seen the pistol. This was the white neighbor who said that he had seen the son

Arrested Daughters Suffer

put the pistol in the buggy, while the crowd was on his father. The buggy was searched. The pistol was not found.

Lynching Threatened

Talk of lynching the negro and his family
caused their removal to another county. A committee of citizens waited upon the judge of the corcuit, who informed them, it is charged, that he would put the negro in the chain gang, when the case should come up for trial.

The man, his daughters and son were tried in the Superior Court. The father was sentenced to serve twelve months in the chain gang and pay a fine of $250.00. The girls were fined $50.00 each. The son was fined $100.00. The negro
paid the fines of his children.

The man's smaller children and his wife were in his home, while he was in jail. A mob led by the town marshal went to the house, kicked the door and demanded admittance, then shot up the house and went away. This was night.

Woman and Children Terrorized.

Next morning, the woman with her children, fled from her home, never to return.
A friend went by night and removed the live stock belonging to the family, and sold it for them at a great sacrifice. Their crop was a total loss. They will be lynched, it is said, if any of them ever return to their home.

Reputable merchants and bankers in this county unite in giving the negro and his family a good character. The son has been offered a loan of $450.00 by a leading farmer to pay a
note, the holder of which threatened suit during these troubles. A leading merchant gave the
father a line of credit running from $800.00 to $1500.00 a year. One of the best citizens of the county signed his bond.

Thrift Sole Offense

The education of his children and the success of his thrift seem to be the sole offense of the negro.

COUNTY NO 22.

Case No. 124 Army Service Penalized

2. A white citizen of this County had a negro boy arrested for failing to comply with his contract to work for him. The boy's defense was-

He was drafted for service in our army, where he
served fifteen months. This service caused him to break the contract.

A successful negro farmer came to the court house of the County to sign the boy's bond. The accuser was there. When the negro was signing the bond, which the sheriff said he would accept, the white, declaring "No Nigger shall help another nigger to beat me out of my money", shot the negro twice.
No effort was made to arrest the white man, and the first grand jury refused to indict him. Subsequently he was arrested, indicted and convicted in April, 1920, of "shooting at another." His sentence was 12 months and 6 months in jail or a fine of $300.00. The negro recovered.

The character of the white is shown by his conviction of rape upon a negro woman under circum-
stances so vile that a white jury convicted him and sentenced him to twelve months in the penitentiary in January, 1920.

COUNTY NO. 23.

3. In November, 1920, a negro preacher was forced at the point of a pistol to enter a motor car. He was carried three miles into the country, stripped, tied to a log and beaten. He was left unconscious. When he recovered consciousness, he left the County. He knows the names of those who beat him, but dares not tell for fear of death. The sheriff of the County writes the Governor:

"I understand this negro has been trying to

organize the negro women at

not to

__wash or cook for the white people only for a cer-

tain price is the reason he was whipped. I also

don't think it would do any good to offer a re-

ward, because we won't be able to convict any-

body unless the negro that got whipped will

swear to the parties."

COUNTY NO. 24.

4. In this County,
(a) Two negro women and a man, the nephew of one of the women, lived together. Whites

Negro Bondsman Shot
A White Character
Accused of Organizing Wash Women and Beaten
Case No. 126 Crimes Against Women

Case No. 127
Case No. 128
Fear Rules Case No. 129 Dynamite Case No. 130 Case No. 131

drove the man away and debauched the women. The men were prosecuted and made to pay a small fine.
(b) A poor white family, the father suffering from tuberculosis, lived near the negroes. The negroes helped the whites. Two girls were in the white family. It was charged that the negro, who was helping them, was going to their home for immoral purposes. The negro was lured from his home at night and shot to death.
(c) A doctor called, found a negro with his brain laid bare by the blunt end of an axe. The doctor informed the man's employer, the owner of a large saw-mill, that he was afraid to handle the case without assistance. The employer replied "That is my best nigger, get your other doctor and save him and send the bill to me."
When the negro had barely recovered, the doctor asked him the name of his assailant.
The negro answered: "Why, Boss, I can't tell you."
(d) The owner of a gin had several negro tenants on farms owned by him. One of the negroes was whipped and taken away. The owner of the gin protested. He was warned that all of his negroes would have to leave. He organized a guard and outwitted the plotters. His gin was dynamited and destroyed.
(e) At the same time the home of another man, who had given evidence that led to the discovery of a still and the conviction of its owner. was blown up with dynamite. Witnesses who appeared against these outlaws were warned to leave the country.
(f) A negro complained in a peonage case. At the trial in Atlanta, he appeared as a witness. Fearing to return to the County, he went elsewhere to live. The son of his former employer discovered where he was living, secured a warrant for his arrest and brought him back. He disappeared.

A boy fishing, found a skull in the stream. Search was made. A body was unearthed. In a pocket was found a card identifying the corpse as that of the missing negro.
COUNTY No. 25
5. (a) March 28, a negro was whipped and left almost dead upon the ground by a white man, it is charged. The negro had disputed the word of the man's bookkeeper in his saw-mill. The negro has disappeared.
(b) March 30th, a negro, said to have been held in peonage, appealed to a justice of the peace. In the presence of the justice, a Marshal is reported to have beaten the negro with an axe handle. Nothing has been done to the Marshal.
(c) December, 1920, a white man is reported to have killed a negro for trying to leave his place. The white has not been arrested.
COUNTY No. 26
6. The sheriff of this County with two other men were in an automobile on the road to the County site. They were drinking. The sheriff asked a negro in the road to get him a drink of water. The negro answered that he was not at his own home, but that he supposed there would be no objection to getting him a drink of water.
The sheriff left the car and struck the negro twice with a pistol. The man brought the water. The sheriff made him get in the car, carried him 300 yards, and made him leave the car and go into the woods, where he beat him over the head with a pistol and stick. The bleeding negro was forced into the car again and made to lie down. He was carried ten miles, the sheriff kicking him in the body and head. One eye was virtually knocked out. There the sheriff made him get out. He was beaten again on his naked body. The sheriff stopped to cut another stick, when one of his companions advised the negro to run if he wished to live.
This he did, hiding in the woods until later a passerby carried him into town. The sheriff was indicted for assault with intent to murder. He was acquitted.
The negro beaten, has the reputation of being a peaceable, law abiding, hard working man. He was threatened with death, if he testified against the sheriff.

Gruesome Find Case No. 132 Case No. 133 Case No. 134 Case No. 135 Cruelty of Drunken Sheriff
Threat of Death

THE REMEDY

Publicity
The Social Gospel
Compulsory Education Committees on Race Relations
Repeal Certain Laws

To end these conditions I would suggest
1. Publicity, namely, the careful gathering and investigation by Georgians, and not by outsiders, of facts as to the treatment of the negro throughout the State and the publication of these facts to the people of Georgia.
2. An organized campaign by the Churches to place in every section of Georgia a sufficient number of Sunday Schools and Churches, where in their separate places of worship, the young and old of both races will learn from suitable teachers the gospel of justice, mercy and mutual forbearance for all.
3. Compulsory education for both races.
4. The organization of State Committees on race relations, one Committee composed of leading white citizens, another of leaders among the negroes, and local committees made up in the same manner in each ~ounty of the State, the committees to confer together when necessary concerning matters vital to the welfare of both races.
5. The repeal of Code Section 716, which together with 715 reads:
"715. Procuring money on contract for services fraudulently. If any person shall contract with another to perform for him services of any kind, with intent to procure money or other thing of value thereby, and not to perform the service contracted for, to the loss and damage of the hirer, or, after having so contracted, shall procure from the hirer money, or other thing of value, with intent not to perform such service, to the loss and damage of the hirer, he shall be deemed a common cheat and swindler, and upon conviction shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.
"716. Proof of intent to defraud. Satisfactory proof of the contract, the procuring thereon of money or other thing of value, the failure to perform the services so contracted for, or failure to return the money so advanced with interest thereon at the time said labor was to be performed, without good and sufficient cause, and loss or

damage to the hirer, shall be deemed presumptive evidence of the intent referred to in the preceding section."
6. The enactment of laws-
(a) Establishing a state constabulary under proper safeguards and authorizing the Governor, upon his own motion, to send members of such force into any County of the State to quell disorder or to protect the life and property of any citizen.
(b) Imposing a financial penalty upon any County in which a lynching may occur, when the officials of that county have failed in their duty.
(c) Authorizing the Governor of the State to appoint at any time any three judges of the Superior Court to act as a commission to investigate any lynching occurring in any County of the State and empowering the Governor to remove from office any public official found by such commission to have failed to enforce or uphold the law.
(d) Giving the Governor the discretion and power in any case of mob violence or lynching to authorize and direct any judge of the Superior Court to draw grand and petit juries from the State at large for the consideration and trial of such cases, and authorizing the Governor to designate the place at which the trial or trials shall be held.

State Constabulary
Penalty on County Investigation of Lynchings
Juries Drawn from State

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY CONFERENCE AT ATLANTA
APRIL 22, 1921

WHEREAS, Governor Hugh M. Dorsey in the foregoing statement has called to our attention specific charges made to him as Governor with reference to the treatment of the negro in Georgia, and has suggested certain steps to remedy the conditions shown by said charges:-

BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the undersigned, endorse the statement made by the Governor and give our unqualified approval to the remedy suggested by him.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we do hereby accept the appointment as members of the white State Committee on Race Relations tendered to us as individuals by Governor Dorsey.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chairman of this meeting be made permanent Chairman of the Committee on Race Relations with authority to appoint an Executive Committee of seven or more members who shall at once inaugurate a campaign to carry forward the organization of local committees on race relations and the consideration by them and by all other organized groups of citizens in our State of the facts and remedies submitted by the Governor.

Andrew J. Cobb, Athens, Ga. Bishop H. J. Mikell, Atlanta, Ga. Jas. P. Faulkner, Atlanta, Ga. Nath Thompson, Norcross, Ga. Burr Blackburn, Atlanta, Ga. M. C. Greene, Gray, Ga. M. Ashby Jones, Atlanta, Ga. John A. Manget, Atlanta, Ga. G. R. Glenn, Dahlonega, Ga. Mrs. Z. I. Fitzpatrick, Madison, Ga. Marion M. Jackson, Atlanta, Ga. George W. Andrews, Atlanta, Ga. L. D. Newton, Atlanta, Ga. E. Marvin Underwood, Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. Archibald Davis, Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. J. N. McEachern, Atlanta, Ga. J. Bailey Gordon, Rome, Ga. David Marx, Atlanta, Ga. Wm. H. Barrett, Athens, Ga.

Plato Durham, Atlanta, Ga. S. L. Morris, Atlanta, Ga. Harry Curtis, Macon, Ga. H. A. Etheridge, Atlanta, Ga. Thomas Johnson, Atlanta, Ga. James Morton, Atlanta, Ga. W. Woods White, Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. Luke Johnson, Griffin, Ga. James B. Nevin, Atlanta, Ga. John D. Moss, Athens, Ga. Homer L. Grice, Washington, Ga. John J. Eagan, Atlanta, Ga. W. B. Hill, Atlanta, Ga. Wm. Bradford, Atlanta, Ga. D. Turner Quillian, Gainesville, Ga. W. W. Alexander, Atlanta, Ga. C. B. Wilmer, Atlanta, Ga. M. L. Brittain, Atlanta, Ga. M. S. Hodgson, Athens, Ga. W. W. Orr, Atlanta, Ga.