April 23, 1899: Sam Hose, continued

The lynching of Sam Hose caught the attention of many people. There were differing opinions across the country and many papers shared those opinions. 

I'm starting The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) which asked for people's opinions on the lynching. The first article comes from the May 7, 1899 edition:

My Dear Press Leaguers—Our dear editor has many times asked to write and give our opinions on some subject which is at that time occupying or attracting the attention of the general public, and particularly the attention of our bright Press league cousins. Now, dear leaguers, I do not wish to write a long lecturing letter, and stir up a big fight "with pens for swords" among us, but I wish to give my opinion of the lynching of Sam Hose, at Newnan, Ga. I have heard people talk about the horrors of the Inquisition, of the terrors and tortures of the Bastile, and then thank heaven we have no such places or tortures. I have heard people, public speakers and ministers, praise our nineteenth century civilization, but where was our Christianity, where was our civilization, where our justice in the case of Sam Hose? Think of the terrible agony of that unfortunate negro, when, according to newspaper reports, they chained him to a tree, his ears cut from his head, his fingers cut off one by one. Each cut was accompanied by a scream of agony from the wretched prisoner. Think of the terrible agony he suffered when the match was applied and the flames encircled his wretched, bleeding, maimed body body. Think of when he placed his maimed hands against the tree and broke the chain, and how he was kicked back into the flames. Is this civilization? When the mob took Hose if they had hung him to the first tree, instead of torturing him, I would have said they did right. But when it comes to torturing a man, whether he be white or black, as cruelly as Indians ever did the whites, or as the lowest creature on earth, I object. I respect a good, honest, law-abiding colored citizen, but Sam Sam [sic] Hose deserved no such cruel treatment as he received at the hands of the infuriated mob. I do not say that he did not deserve death. Oh, no! But why do it in such a brutal, unchristian manner. This lynching, or murder, as I should call it, has cast a blot of shame on the history of our sister state. But after his death came the most shameful part of it all. Think of the body being cut to pieces, and people fighting for those pieces for souvenirs. One man proudly shows to his acquaintances a piece of heart, which he is keeping as a relic! What a ghastly, grewsome [sic] relic it must be! I say the law should have been allowed to take it socourse [sic]and justice meted out in the proper manner. What should be done to prevent these southern outrages I leave to old and wiser heads than mine, so will say nothing about them, except that they should be stopped. Leaguers, this is a new subject, and not a very pleasant one, but I hope you will all give your views, so that we may learn where the great Press league stands in this question.                                                   Klondike

The next edition with the Press League was published the following Sunday, May 14, 1899:

AROUND THE LEAGUE TABLE.

Siamese Twin—Klondike, in your last letter I saw where you would like to hear the leaguers' opinions in regard to the case of Sam Hose. Well, I think they were a trifle hard on him, although I think he deserved lynching and shot full of holes; but I do not think they should have cut him up in pieces. This is rather a grewsome subject to talk on, and I would sooner talk about the ball game. . .American Star, Ford City—. . . Klondike, my opinion in regard to the lynching of Sam Hose is this:  I do not believe in torturing any negro, but any man who commits a crime like he did should be lynched. Should such a diabolical crime be committed in Pittsburg or Allegheny I, for one, would feel like helping to pull the rope. . .

PRESS LEAGUE MAIL POUCH

Dear Editor and Leaguers—I am quite sure you will all agree with me when I say Klondike Al's opinion of the recent lynching of Sam Hose, at Newman [sic], Ga., was an excellent one and expressed in the most concise and able manner. It was the most outrageous crime ever committed in the history of civilization. It has not only cast a blot of shame on the state of Georgia, but on the United States and the entire civilised world. They would not have been contented to end his  miserable existence as soon as possible. Oh no; they had to torture him in the most cruel and brutal manner before they applied the match to his clothing, after it became saturated with kerosene oil. Just imagine him standing there, chained to a tree, with his ears and fingers cut off and the flames licking his bleeding body. Picture the mob standing about, gloating over their unfortunate and helpless victim. Oh, what terrible agony he must have suffered in those brief moments! His agony was so great that he broke the chains that encircled his body in his death struggles. Words are inadequate to describe such a scene. Do you call that Christianity? Do you call that justice?Do you call that civilization? He undoubtedly deserved death, for he committed an awful crime, but not in that terrible manner. If they had hung him to the nearest tree they would have done an act of humanity. But why should justice not be meted out to the mob who participated in the affair? They deserve punishment, perhaps more so than their victim. Klondike Al, you need have no fear of stirring up a fight, for no right-thinking and law-abiding people could find any justification for such brutalities as were committed at Newman [sic], Ga. Yours in the league.                      Chick. City

Editor and Cousins:—Although I do not feel in the humor for writing, I cannot help answering our Cousin Klondike's letter in regards to the lynching of Sam Hose in Georgia. My dear Klondike, you must not wax so indignant at the so-called outrage. Human (?) [sic] beings like that criminal cannot be called men; they are not even on a par with the yellow cur. Your pictures of the sufferings of that cur is certainly harrowing, but could I, or could anybody, describe the terrible agony of his victim?No, indeed, such sufferings could not be pictured in words. Let us go on a little further and say, what would you do if one of your family should be the victim of such a criminal? Would you lift your eyes to heaven and say, May God forgive him as I do? No, my dear cousin, you would become enraged, your blood would boil with a righteous fury and had you the power you would have inflicted on him the most terrible tortures your mind could invent. But, in the south that feeling extends farther. those who did not know the victim would be filled with the same wrath, and the assailant would be powerless in the hands of these self-appointed judges. Lynch law certainly does make mistakes, but never so often as does the regular law, with its red tape and ofttimes crookedness. Would you speak a word against the torturing of an animal in human form, who, after committing the most horrible atrocities, did on the very eve of his justifiable execution, and with his last breath implicated another of his race, who was entirely innocent and had no knowledge of the crime any more than did the president of the United States? We are taught that when, as we are passing to the Great Beyond, we look for forgiveness for our earthly sins and forgive others as we would hope to be forgiven by the Almighty. Think of that creature Hose, who, when, according to scripture, he would have known that nothing could save him, and that he was doomed to die, adding such a crime to his already horrible list. Could you consider such a creature a man? I have always held that not all men are created equal, and if you could see those southern negroes you would share my belief, and such atrocities as the one of which I speak only tend to uphold my views. Believe me, those crimes are much more numerous in the south than we hear of through the papers. Those we hear of, are only those, the committers of which come to a just end at the hands of an impromptu court.

Jollier.

City.

Dear Friend:—. . . The recent burning of Sam Hose is a rather delicate subject to discuss from any other than a northern point of view. I have a strain of southern blood in my veins and have always looked at the southern lynchings from a southerner's, as well as a northerner's point. Personally, I am warm blooded and it pains me to see anything,no matter how small, needlessly hurt, yet, without wishing to convey the impression that I delight in cruelty, I believe that Sam Hose and many others of his stamp received no more than they deserved. Place yourself in a southern man's position, imagine yourself in the home of the murdered farmer at the time of the crime, imagine yourself married and in constant dread of some similar crime being repeated on you and your family, and then you will be able to understand why the southern people get so wild. Sam Hose committed the crime of a devil (pardon the word) and he deserved a devil's fate. A more fiendish crime it would be hard to imagine. I will not go into details, you are all perfectly familiar with them, but remember that you look at the crimes of lynchers principally from a northerner's point of view. You forget that such crimes are very rare in the north, populated as it is more densely, you forget that every southern man, especially in the thinly populated districts, is in constant fear of some such crime, you forget that the law is too lenient with such fiends as Hose. Remember all this—place yourself in a southerner's position and I believe you will concur with me that Sam Hose got all he deserved. He was not a human, he would disgrace the name of beast. Reason the question out logically and give your honest opinion, writing nothing that you do not fully believe. If you believe that fiends like Hose should be allowed to continue their work unrestricted, say so, give your honest opinion, nothing more. Trusting that you are all in good health and wishing the league renewed prosperity, I am

Yours in the league,

Ruth Spring Garden.

The conversation about the lynching continued in the next edition with the Press League, May 21, 1899:

CHAT WITH CONTRIBUTORS.

Dough Nuts—. . . Klondike, I think Sam Hose deserved all he got and more, too, for such a crime as he did. If they had let the law take its course he might have been hung and he might not,for the jury might have said he was insane and let him go. . .

OUR PRESS LEAGUE MAIL POUCH.

.Dear Leaguers—. . . Leaguers, the discussion of the lynching of Sam Hose is rather a deep one for us. Yet we may all express our opinion, and mine, I fear, will hardly be read, after so many are on the field before me. Yet I can not agree with Ruth Spring Garden or others who favor this wholesale butchery. Sam Hose was deserving of death, but not the tortures that he had to undergo to expiate his crime. We are told by Him who will one day judge all men, that vengeance is His and He will repay. Again we are told to "judge not, lest you be judged." But I think when that day dawns, when we must account for our lives, I would rather be in Sam Hose's place than in the place of those who by the strength of their arms gave back to God the life he gave in such a horrible manner. . .Vale           Allegheny

Dear Editor and Cousins—Our page was very interesting last Sunday. I was glad to see Ruth Spring Garden's name at the end of a letter again. I was afraid he had left us. . . In regard to the Sam Hose debate, I say, put yourself in the injured one's place. Look at the ones you love dearly and think what could you do with the person who would harm them as he did. . .Lauretta                City

My Dear Cousins—I see by the league page before me that several of our best writers have accepted my invitation and in a concise way express their opinion on the subject of lynching. I am glad to read all their letters, whether they agreed with me or not, and now Jollier, a word with you. I was very much pleased to make your acquaintance at the last P. L. S. C. meeting, also you, Ruth Spring Garden, for although we disagree in many things, we can be friends for all that. And say, Ruth, I don't believe my knees trembled one bit when I met you. Now Jollier, when you ask what would I do if it were one of my relatives whom Sam Hose had killed, you ask a question which is easily answered.

I would have shot him down. I would not stop to get a crowd and treat him like a dog. I would shoot him down in his tracks and if they had done so to Sam Hose I would have said they did just right. You say if I "could see those southern negroes." Why, you didn't know I was born in the south; that my own father, who is dead and gone, was a confederate soldier and a slaveholder. This may surprise you, but it is true, and I believe I have as much of that prided southern blood as any one, and yes, I know that for every five lynchings in the south one reaches the newspapers. Now Jollier, you are approaching dangerous ground when you say that you believe all men were not created equal, and that is another subject to debate, I will say nothing about it in my letter. no I do not believe such fiends as Hose should go unrestricted, but if the southern people want to lynch, let them do it in a little civilised manner. Yes, American Star, if they had hung him without any of the terrible tortures they used I would have been glad to have pulled on the rope. . . Klondike.

Dear Aunt Patience and Cousins—I write this especially to answer Ruth Spring Garden's letter about Sam Hose. I do not agree with him at all. He say "the southern people would live in dread of being murdered." There would have been no possibility of that at all, if Sam Hose had been hanged like civilized people would have hanged him, because he then would have been dead. Now if it had been I, you or Ruth Spring Garden or any other white person who had committed that crime, they wouldn't have cut him in pieces like that. Do you think so? I don't They would have given him a fair trial and perhaps then his friends would have tried to make him out to be insane. I think the southerners are quite as bad or worse, in fact, than the Spaniards with their bull fights.They like to lynch a negro on the least provocation and experience, or seem to, a savage joy in cutting him to pieces. I truly believe they want to get revenge on the negro for being free. The Duke of Ulverford     

Rochester, Pa.

Also found in the May 7 edition  was a small bit in a section titled "AFRO-AMERICAN NOTES":

AFRO-AMERICAN NOTES

News and Comment of Special Interest to Colored Readers.

The outspoken opposition of Rev. A. D. Carlile to the passage of a resolution offered before the Pittsburg presbytery last Monday denouncing southern lynchings has been a very fruitful topic of comment among all classes of citizens during the week. What the reverend gentleman is credited with having said at the meeting, and what he has since given publicity to in the interviews and published statements, makes plain the fact that he is in no sense of the word friendly to the colored race in this country, unless they are of the "uncle" and "aunty" variety of before the war. Sam Hose, the negro who was lynched at Palmetto, was, by his own confession, guilty of murder. The assault charge is generally discredited even in Georgia. For the crime of murder, whether in Georgia or in any other state, Hose would have been found guilty by the usual process of the law, and would have expiated his crime on the gallows. One week before his victim, Cranfeld [sic], was killed, it is charged, and no attempt at denial has been made, that Cranfeld [sic] was one of a party of white men which shot to death six colored men cooped up in a warehouse near Palmetto, Ga. It is also conceded that Strickland, the poor old colored preacher, was innocent of any wrong-doing. But his life paid the forfeit to the barbarous frenzy of the mob, and a Christian minister, apprised of all the facts in the case, so far forgets his mission among men as to defend, with great warmth of language, the deeds of the mob. One of the "new negroes" whom he decries is the moderator of the presbytery to which he belongs. Probably this fact had something to do with the indignant vehemence of Rev. Carlile's opposition to the resolutions..

Nowhere in the south does the law move on leaden feet when the accused is a negro, whether he is charged with stealing a loaf of bread or held for a more serious offense. Nor is the benefit of a doubt ever accorded him. The presumption is "guilty as charged" from the start. Nor is there for him any minimum—the extreme penalty of the law. Knowing this, as every southern white man must  of necessity know it, there remains no peg on which to hang justification for lynch law. The sporadic outbreaks of it in the north are but the results of that which is too common at the south. So far the barbarous phrases of it are indigenous to the south, which, unless a halt is soon called, will one day do full penance for the woes it was brought down on its own head. "As ye sow,so shall ye reap.". . .

At a meeting of the Francis Ellen Harper league of Pittsburg and Allegheny, held the past week, Mrs. Rebecca Aldridge presented the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

Whereas, A wife has been made a widow and five children are fatherless by the lynching of Sam Hose and Rev. Strickland, of Newman [sic], Ga., Sunday, April 23; and, whereas, Rev. Dr. Broughton, of the Tabernacle Baptist church, Atlanta, Ga., spoke out without fear or favor at the inhuman outrage. Therefore be it

Resolved, That we, the members of this league denounce the awful and barbarous acts of the mob as exceeding even savages in its cruelty, and we regard it as one of the most diabolical crimes against law and order, peace and prosperity, ever perpetrated in a civilized country, on a human being. Be it further resolved that we extend to Rev. Dr. Broughton a vote of thanks for his manly stand for justice, the law, and the right. . .

The colored citizens of Finleyville held a large and enthusiastic meeting Thursday night to protest against the inhuman lynchings in Georgia.They appointed a committee to draft resolutions suitable to the occasion and they decided to organize a league to petition congress to urge such action as will prevent a repetition of such lawlessness. . .

One of the issues after a lynching were, believe it or not, people claiming to be relatives of the lynched person. An article about such a man was printed in the May 6, 1899 edition of The Times (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania):

NOT A SON OF MOB'S VICTIM

Man Masquerading as John Hose an Impostor.

HE HAS PROBABLY FLED

Church Members Found Out He Was a Fraud and Would Not Let Him Speak.

He Fooled Many.

The man who came to this city yesterday claiming to be the son of Samuel Hose, who was burned to death by a mob at Newman [sic], Ga., a week ago, was discovered last night to be an impostor. John Hose is the name he gave, and he was promptly housed upon his arrival by a member of the congregation of Cherry Street Baptist Church.

It was arranged that he was to speak at the church last evening, but when he was closely questioned as to how he had reached this city, he told so many conflicting stories that suspicion was aroused in the minds of the church officials. He frequently contradicted himself and many of the tales he told his hearers knew to be untrue.

Has Taken to His Heels.

According to his story his escape from Georgia was but little short of the miraculous. Upon reaching Washington, D. C., he said he went to work at his trade of tailoring and earned enough money to get to this city, where he had heard a famous school teacher lived. It was to the school teacher's family that he applied for help, and as he succeeded in taking them in they took him in.

When asked about his mother he said she was in Albany. He wanted to interest friends in her case, he said, and desired enough money to pay his fare to that place so that he might visit her. He evidently became suspicious last night, for he left the house of his would-be benefactors and at a late hour had not returned.

The next day's edition continued about the impostor:

"HOSE" HAS NOT RETURNED

The Fake Son of the Mob's Victim Keeps Out of the Way.

Told a Straight Story, But His Appearance Did Not Bear it Out—Suspicion Soon Aroused.

Further investigation shows that but two persons in this city saw anything of the lad who said he was John Hose, the young colored man who posed as the son of Sam Hose, the negro who was burned at Newnan, Georgia, last week, and came to this city last Thursday from Washington en route for Albany, N. Y. He came to Philadelphia Thursday afternoon and wended his way to a residence on Bainbridge street, above Sixteenth street, the home of a family whose acquaintance he claimed to have formed at Beaufort, South Carolina, some years ago.

He is described as being apparently 20 years of age, height little less than 5 feet, rather dark complexioned, with large flat nose, and altogether a typical Southern negro, with an expression of intelligence. But he gave no evidence whatever of being a man in hard luck or a refugee. He was faultless in his attire. He wore a black suit, black derby hat, white shirt, collar and cuffs.

Told a Good Story.

When he called the husband, whom young Hose claimed as his former teacher in the South, was not at home. He was told by the wife to call at 6 o'clock that evening. Young Hose, however, made known his errand to the wife and her mother.

Said he:  "I have just arrived in the city, and am the son of Sam Hose, the man who was murdered and burned about ten days ago. I arrived in Washington, D. C., Wednesday. I am a tailor by trade, and was, as has already been stated through the papers, assisted through to Philadelphia by the police authorities of Washington, to whom I made known my wish to come to the north in search of my mother, whom I understand has been living in Albany, N. Y., where she managed to arrive in safety after the burning of my father. During my stay in Washington I earned a little money by making pantaloons. I received part of my education in the South, and the attended Lincoln University."

Suspected Him at Once.

Strange to say, said the wife, he could rehearse the names of all the professors of the institution for several years past. He said he attended the Colored Methodist Church at his home.

The husband claimed no knowledge of a family in Beaufort, South Carolina, by the name of Hose. He taught school for a number of years where this young imposter claims to have gone to school. "My impression," said she, "after the interview with hose was that he was an imposter, and I went so far as to intimate the same to him, which may have accounted for his not returning to the house yesterday, as he promised to do.Since Friday morning he has not been seen or heard of."

I am going to end this post here. I have 28 more articles to read through and choose which to post. With so many articles about the lynching, I will be doing a third post for Sam Hose.

As always, I hope we leave you with something to ponder.