Killing Negroes

The Planet condemns the unreasonable and vicious killing of black people, declaring that nowadays “human life is too cheap and the violation of fundamental laws too common.”

“Let this be a warning to you niggers to let white people alone, or you will go the same way. Hugh Rogers better shut up or quit.” These were the words in a note pinned upon the body of one of the colored men lynched at Russellville, Kentucky, Saturday August 1, 1908 for the simple reason that they were alleged to have approved of the killing of James Cunningham, white by Rufus Browder, colored. The accused men were not even given an opportunity to pray and two of them were hanged in their night shirts. As a matter of fact, there is not statute in any state, under which these men, whose lives were taken could even have been convicted of a misdemeanor. As a matter of fact, there is no statute in any state, under which these men, whose lives were taken could even have been convicted of a misdemeanor. It is difficult to believe that in a land of civilization where the teaching of Jesus Christ are presumed to be accepted that men would be guilty of such a heinous crime as this. Human life is too cheap and the violation of fundamental laws too common. It is useless to ask if the lynchers will be punished. The opportunity was lost when the colored men were placed in jail. In some sections of the Southland there is nothing left for a colored man to do when he is charged with crime but to die fighting. In this connection, it may be well to note the following telegraphic report from Pittsburgh, Pa. “W.H. Hall, a youthful cowboy with long flowing hair, was watching the Allegheny River regatta yesterday on the wharf. Nearby was W.F. Thomas, a colored teamster of the Pittsburg Coal Company. The latter stepped up to the Texan and asked: “Say, it that your real hair?” The youthful Texan answered: “Down in Texas we shoot niggers for asking fool questions.” Soon the two clinched. They fell overboard and continued the fight. Policeman Tobin flashed them out of the mud and water and took them to a patrol box. “Before the wagon came the cowboy pleaded for a chance to get a shot at the Negro. He said: “This is a terrible disgrace to be arrested for fussing with a nigger when I should have plugged him. Down in Texas when a niggers asks a personal question we use a 44 and fill him full of holes and don’t get arrested for it either. Please send some one to the show and get me out of this quick.” “Before Judge Brady at central police station the cowboy again asked why he could not shoot the Negro as he would have done in Texas and teach him his place. Judge Brady fined both for fighting and made the cowboy promise that he would not use his gone.” This will give the average mind an opportunity to realize and understand the embarrassing conditions now existing in the Southland. It seems that there is no power to check these manifestations of the innate hatred of one of the kindliest races of people on the face of the globe. Liberal minded white men in all sections, both north and south seem to be doing their best in this direction, but the results are often gloomily disappointing.

“Killing Negroes,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/696.