The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1908. THE COLOR QUESTION IN THE, UNITED STATES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2343, 9 November 1908, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1908. THE COLOR QUESTION IN THE, UNITED STATES.

American exchanges to hand deal fully with the terrible riots and negro lynchings which took place in Springfield early in August. There are a ■number of cities of this name in the United States, but- that which was the scene of the riots is situated in the State of Illinois, far removed from what is generally described as the “lynching belt” of the Southern States. It has a population' of 35,000, of whom about 3000 are negroes. Tho outbreak originated as the result of ail assault by a negro upon a young married woman, and the incident aroused a burst of racial antagonism that has not been exceeded in intensity even in the South, where it is always more or lees in evidence. Tho .mob defied tho local police, and it was not until the Governor of tho Stale had sent a force of 5500 militia that order was restored in the town. Amongst the victims of tho mob’s violence was an old negro named George Donigau, eighty years of ago, who was onco a friend of Abraham Lincoln, and for more than fifty years a respected citizen of Springfield. The following paragraph, taken from a local account of tho lynching, throws a lurid light upon tho methods that prevail when race warfare is once started in an American town : Donigan, to-night's aged victim of tho rioters, was sitting in front of his home, within a block of tho riStatehouse, when a mob of 500 whites came along from the State arsenal, where they had been creating a disturbance because negro refugees were sheltered there. The mob halted in front of liis cottage. “Good evening, gentlemen, what can I do for you?” asked Donigan, as ho advanced toward the crowd on tho sidewalk. iHe was struck by a brick that knocked him- down. Half a dozen of the mob then jumped on him. “Get the rope,” shouted one of the rioters. \tSome one in tho crowd produced a piece of clothesline, and it was quickly adjusted about tho negro’s neck. He pleaded with them to spare his life, but his assailants only jeered and kicked him again. Three or four men grabbed tho rope, and tho poor old negro was dragged along tli© street to a tree. Tho end of the line was thrown, over a limb, and the dangling form of tho black man ehot up ten feet from ground.

“Have mercy, have mercy, boys,” the aged negro feebly cried as the rope tightened about his neck, but the reply was only jeers. iSomo ono reached uj) with a knifo and slashed at tho victim’s legs. His body was lifted up and down several times over tho limb, while the man’s family cowered within tho house, unable to give him any aid. The mob then applied the torch' to tho front and rear of ~the house in which tho members of Donigan’s family had taken refuge. The five brigade, which was summoned, was unable to reach the blaze because of the resistance made by the rioters. A number of arrests were made of those who took part in tho riots. Among these were naturally a number of those disorderly persons who seize upon disturbances of this kiiul to commit depredations; but, it is stated, a majority were undoubtedly stimulated to the rioting by tho bitterness the negroes had stirred up by their offensive manner and acts and by the crimes committed by persons of their race. There is little reason to doubt that the authorities, in order to placate the negroes, in view of the approaching Prcscdential election, will press the prosecution of tho rioters vigorously. The experience at other towns where similar race riots have occurred, does not give promise of many convictions, for public sentiment is unquestionably against the negroes. The loss by the riot is put at 170,000d015. - The calling out of tho militia will probably cost as much more, so that the expense that will have to be borne for this single negro crime will sum up a third or a half million ; and the worst of the entire incident is that it settles nothing, and that tho same trouble is liable to break out any day in any other Illinois town where the negroes are sufficiently numerous to be troublesome and to arouse prejudice by their acts, and where negro' crimes stir up violence against them. The suppression of the recent riots will not restore cordial relations between the races. This bitterness lias been growing with years as the negroes have increased in number in Central Illinois by immigration from the South. The immigrants have been mainly darkeys dissatisfied with conditions in the Southern States, or driven out because of their bad character or records, and with few exceptions undesirable additions to any population. They demanded social equality and recognition, and they have latterly been able to enforce these demands because of their political strength. They usually hold the balance of power and are thus able to insist on special consideration from the Republican officials and to get it. The fact that through this political influence negro criminals had latterly been able to slip through tho meshes of the law is said to bo one of the chief causes of tho Springfield outbreak.