Refuse to Surrender
March 28, 1903
Summary
"Lynching parties” are hunting Doc Smith in Mississippi. The white mob is treating this “chase with the same zest that they would experience in a bear hunt”.
Transcription
Refused to Surrender.
A report under date of March 24th states that while attempting to arrest Doc. Smith, colored, charged with the murder of a white man at Junnison, Miss., the Sunday previously, Officer Blackwell, white, was shot and instantly killed by Smith and his Deputy, Matthew Curry, white, perhaps fatally wounded. This is the logical outcome of the lynching of colored men in that section.
What else was Doc. Smith to do? To surrender was to die. He could not secure a fair trial even if he were to reach that stage of the proceedings. To have surrendered to the sheriff was to be lynched. The usual mode in vogue there is death at the stake. As the matter now stands, he has killed three men instead of one. Of course, we presume that the injured man will die.
Poses of white men are now in pursuit of the colored man. This is a polite way of saying that lynching parties have already been organized and they engage in the chase with the same zest that they would experience in a bear hunt. But this black man is much more dangerous than the ordinary bear. He should fight as long as strength remains and then wither end his own life or have them end it for him by the bullet route.
They may mutilate his lifeless body or carry it back to their homes in pieces, but what cares he?
When colored men exhibit this kind of courage, a change will ensue and a genuine respect for the Negro will take the place of contemptible loathing. Lynch-law must go!
A report under date of March 24th states that while attempting to arrest Doc. Smith, colored, charged with the murder of a white man at Junnison, Miss., the Sunday previously, Officer Blackwell, white, was shot and instantly killed by Smith and his Deputy, Matthew Curry, white, perhaps fatally wounded. This is the logical outcome of the lynching of colored men in that section.
What else was Doc. Smith to do? To surrender was to die. He could not secure a fair trial even if he were to reach that stage of the proceedings. To have surrendered to the sheriff was to be lynched. The usual mode in vogue there is death at the stake. As the matter now stands, he has killed three men instead of one. Of course, we presume that the injured man will die.
Poses of white men are now in pursuit of the colored man. This is a polite way of saying that lynching parties have already been organized and they engage in the chase with the same zest that they would experience in a bear hunt. But this black man is much more dangerous than the ordinary bear. He should fight as long as strength remains and then wither end his own life or have them end it for him by the bullet route.
They may mutilate his lifeless body or carry it back to their homes in pieces, but what cares he?
When colored men exhibit this kind of courage, a change will ensue and a genuine respect for the Negro will take the place of contemptible loathing. Lynch-law must go!
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Rose Williams
Citation
“Refuse to Surrender,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/630.