Terror? Tumble-Bug?

The seat of Jefferson County is Louisville (pop. 1,650) which was the capital of Georgia from 1795 to 1805. In the centre of the town's old-fashioned Common still stands the roofed block on which until 70 years ago slaves were sold at auction. Above the block hangs the bell that summoned buyers and sellers of black flesh from the surrounding countryside. Last week, for the first time in years, proud little Louisville (pronounced Lewisville) found itself in the bright beam of national news.

The Interracial Commission, composed of leading white and Negro citizens of the South, issued a report on Jefferson County:

"Since the middle of November, three Negroes have been killed, two others have been severely beaten and a material witness to two of these affairs has been run out of town. The two who were beaten are now in jail, one of them under indictment for assault and battery.

"Meanwhile, though the identity of white participants in these affairs is well known, not one of them has been indicted, or even put under arrest."

Fortnight earlier Erskine Caldwell, Georgia-born author, who wrote Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre, novels dealing with the mudsills of Georgia's white society, started the rumpus by writing an article for the Communist New Masses, relating much the same facts, charging that a reign of terror for Negroes was afoot, and adding:

"The weekly newspapers of this county, in which are located the towns of Bartow, Louisville, Wadley and Wrens, have made no mention of the deaths of these men. The daily papers of the state have failed to report the actions of the mob, and the news-gathering agencies have made no effort to report the situation to their members in other states. No local correspondents for the dailies can be found who have made reports, perhaps because of a rule in the book of instructions sent to local correspondents by the daily newspapers of Georgia: If a white man is murdered, telegraph it in; if a Negro is murdered, mail it in."

As usual, these charges stirred Georgia to resentment against outside criticism of its race relations rather than to clean-up action. Said the Atlanta Constitution: "There are no better people in Georgia or in any other state than those . . . in Jefferson County. . . . There should be some way to protect such communities from the calumny of literary tumble-bugs. . . ."

Said Sheriff J. J. Smith of Jefferson County: "I will not confirm anything but I will say this: the affair looks powerful bad. . . . Somebody is trying to cover something up."

Said Louisville's Superior Judge R. N. Hardeman: "This is no racial disturbance. There never has been."

Said Georgia's Solicitor-General Marvin Gross, who refused to call a special grand jury to investigate: "I know Erskine Caldwell personally. He is just a fellow who likes to talk. . . . The killings which Caldwell has related are nothing out of the ordinary."

Meantime Florida did not take her own race problem so coolly. Near Tampa, Robert Johnson, a Negro, was arrested on suspicion of having attempted to attack a white woman and was charged with chicken stealing. The local constable picked the hour of 2 :30 a. m. to take Prisoner Johnson by automobile from the Tampa city jail to the county jail. On the way Johnson was snatched out of the car, carried off and shot.

Governor David Scholtz promptly wired the county sheriff: "I have just been informed of lynching of Robert Johnson, Negro, in your county today but have no report from you. We do not condone the crime of lynching in Florida." The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching wired the Governor: "Last Thursday you assured a committee . . . that while you are Governor of Florida, there would be no lynching if you had two hours to get troops to the scene. . . . At 3 o'clock this morning there was a lynching in Tampa."

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