White Fiends on Trial
April 14, 1900
Summary
A young girl is “slashed” and has her “clothes on fire” by four white men because she has “Indian blood in her veins.”
Transcription
White Fiends on Trial
We have often wondered how men like Dr. P. B. Barringer of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Va., could have the audacity to criticize the weakness of any people or belittle their efforts to succeed along all lines of legitimate endeavor in the face of the scandalous record of their own people.
Four white men are now on trial at Chesterfield, near Columbia, South Carolina. They are known as John and Harvey Jackson and another brother, also Tom Skeen. Their crime is one of the most fiendish in the criminal history of this country. Their victim was Miss Cassie Boon, a beautiful young girl who had Indian blood in her veins. She was partial to Sam Woodward and this aroused the anger of the Jacksons, who shot at him while he in company with Tom Munn was walking with Miss Boon. The crime was committed about four weeks ago, and was of too horrible a nature to relate.
Suffice it to say that they kept her a prisoner in the woods for a day and a night, and then slashed her with knives set her clothes on fire, she ran for half a mile a veritable living torch. She ran until she was exhausted and only lived a short time after being found. This was the act of four white men, Dr. Barringer. Search your history, pull down from the archives of the University the record of the savage tribes of the world and show us a case which for devilish ingenuity and malignant atrocity will surpass the hellish crime in the southern part of Christian America.
This occurs too, Dr. Barringer in the states where you have just delivered your philippic against the barbarism of the Negro. Is there anything, sir, to equal the fiendishness of these white men?
Our greatest misfortune is the disposition of some of our people to practices the vices of the white man, rather than emulate his virtues.
If this crime had been committed by citizens of color, it would have been the subject for comment from Maine to Texas.
What will be done with these men? What has become of that fiery indignation which escapes every white man to grasp him rifle and cast his eye towards the rope.
There is no call for a sheriff’s posse to protect the prisoners. The Governor is not asked for troops. The story is soon told. The beautiful girl had Indian blood in her veins. This spirit of injustice and lack of fair-play can-not last forever, and the time will yet come when the blind will not only see, but the prejudiced will be made to obey the laws as laid down by our forefathers.
We have often wondered how men like Dr. P. B. Barringer of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Va., could have the audacity to criticize the weakness of any people or belittle their efforts to succeed along all lines of legitimate endeavor in the face of the scandalous record of their own people.
Four white men are now on trial at Chesterfield, near Columbia, South Carolina. They are known as John and Harvey Jackson and another brother, also Tom Skeen. Their crime is one of the most fiendish in the criminal history of this country. Their victim was Miss Cassie Boon, a beautiful young girl who had Indian blood in her veins. She was partial to Sam Woodward and this aroused the anger of the Jacksons, who shot at him while he in company with Tom Munn was walking with Miss Boon. The crime was committed about four weeks ago, and was of too horrible a nature to relate.
Suffice it to say that they kept her a prisoner in the woods for a day and a night, and then slashed her with knives set her clothes on fire, she ran for half a mile a veritable living torch. She ran until she was exhausted and only lived a short time after being found. This was the act of four white men, Dr. Barringer. Search your history, pull down from the archives of the University the record of the savage tribes of the world and show us a case which for devilish ingenuity and malignant atrocity will surpass the hellish crime in the southern part of Christian America.
This occurs too, Dr. Barringer in the states where you have just delivered your philippic against the barbarism of the Negro. Is there anything, sir, to equal the fiendishness of these white men?
Our greatest misfortune is the disposition of some of our people to practices the vices of the white man, rather than emulate his virtues.
If this crime had been committed by citizens of color, it would have been the subject for comment from Maine to Texas.
What will be done with these men? What has become of that fiery indignation which escapes every white man to grasp him rifle and cast his eye towards the rope.
There is no call for a sheriff’s posse to protect the prisoners. The Governor is not asked for troops. The story is soon told. The beautiful girl had Indian blood in her veins. This spirit of injustice and lack of fair-play can-not last forever, and the time will yet come when the blind will not only see, but the prejudiced will be made to obey the laws as laid down by our forefathers.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Elizabeth Lopez-Lopez
Citation
“White Fiends on Trial,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 23, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1234.