The Sins of the Father

he rising tide of Anglo-Saxon fury. But the hope was faint. There was no assurance in its warmth. Every leader he had arrested without warrant and held

mountains to the sea. The orators of th

maddening effects. The state treasury was empty, the school funds had been squandered,

also knew that an ignorant negro majority would as

is best friend, every negro now held his bitterest foe. He would consult his old master about any subject under the sun and take his advice against the world except in politi

t if it was against the white man of the South. The few Sca

r knew his solid black constituency would vote like s

s by the enraged leaders of the white race were inflaming the minds of the people beyond the bounds of all reason. These leaders had sworn t

tly and ended their parades by lining their horsemen in cavalry formation, galloping

preservation of the sanctity of the ballot. His spee

were disfranchised and hundreds of thousands of negroes, with the instincts of the savage and the intelligence of the child, had been given the ballot. Never

a constitution on a piece of paper. Freedom is inside. A ballot is only a symbol. That symbol stands for physical force directed by the highest intelligence. The ballot, therefore, is force-physical force. Back of every ballot is a bayonet and the red blood of the man who holds it. Theref

despair. Since sunrise his office had been flooded with messages from every quarter of the state begging t

give an inch of room to the long line of panic-stricken negroes who looked on helplessly. At five o'clock in

father, and now called himself Andy Norton. Andy had been a house-servant, was exactly the major's age and they had been playmates before the war. He was endowed with a stentorian voice and a passion

county. Under ordinary conditions, he would have done it. But before the hurricane of fury that swe

s who hadn't been able to vote. The Governor sent him an urgent

d the approach to the boxes. Since sunrise this space had been packed solid with a living wall of white men. Occasionally

ually he was moved up to the tables on which the boxes rested, voted, and slow

olling place was held throughout the day by the same men-twenty or thirty big, stoli

successful assault. He picked out twenty of his strongest buck negroes, moved them quietly to a good position near the polls, formed the

had forced a dozen negroes into the ranks when to his surprise the whit

fore the negroes found out exactly what it was. They didn't see i

white wall suddenly leaped into the air with a yell of terror. The white line opened quickly and t

g full and clear

ghty, wha

, man!" scre

er line had each been armed with a little piece of shining steel three inches long, fixed in a handle-a plain shoemake

with a single idea, how to save his particular skin and do it quickest. All esprit de corps was gone. It was each for himself

e the polls closed at sundown he appeared at the office of the Eagle

oom bowing and scraping,

ghed and q

l, A

oun' ter kinder facilitate y

ike the tide is

hit's gotter be a purty quick ti

es

ght up by de Nortons, sah, I'se always bin a gemman, an' I can't afford to smut my hands wid de crowd dat I been 'sociating wid. I'se glad you winnin' dis 'lection, sa

represent all the people, An

chairs! I knowed it quick as I feel dat thing pop fro my backbone des now! Yassah, I done resigned, an' I th

itor s

ut possibly I can find a p

wants me. I'll des pick up er few odd jobs

'll re

wages now, I kin cheer myself up ter-night wid er good dinner

nd "advanced" his rival for

ed to th

s lemme know, sah. You'll fin' me

ndy, I may ne

e door. "Dey gotter get up soon in de mornin', sah,

ame from every direction-north, south, east and west-each bringing the same magic word-victory! victory! A state

in the densest of the black counties. The white majorities would be unprecedented. The e

re it had been used the resulting terror had cleared the place of every negro. In not a single case where this novel weapon had been suddenly and mysteriously thrust into a black skin was there an attem

e little Scalawag to