Following the color line : $b An account of Negro citizenship in the American democracy
History
Following the color line : $b An account of Negro citizenship in the American democracy
African Americans; United States -- Race relations
The Negro arrested, one Joe Glenn, had been completely identified by Mrs.
Camp as her assailant. Although having no doubt of his guilt, the
attorneys went at the case thoroughly. The first thing they did was to
call in two members of the Negro committee, Mr. Davis and Mr. Carter.
These men went to the jail and talked with Glenn, and afterward they all
visited the scene of the crime. They found that Glenn, who was a man fifty
years old with grandchildren, bore an excellent reputation. He rented a
small farm about two miles from Mrs. Camp's home and had some property; he
was sober and industrious. After making a thorough examination and
getting all the evidence they could, they came back to Atlanta, persuaded,
in spite of the fact that the Negro had been positively identified by Mrs.
Camp--which in these cases is usually considered conclusive--that Glenn
was not guilty. It was a most dramatic trial; at first, when Mrs. Camp was
placed on the stand she failed to identify Glenn; afterward, reversing
herself she broke forth into a passionate denunciation of him. But after
the evidence was all in, the jury retired, and reported two minutes later
with a verdict "Not guilty." Remarkably enough, just before the trial was
over the police informed the court that another Negro, named Will Johnson,
answering Mrs. Camp's description, had been arrested, charged with the
crime. He was subsequently identified by Mrs. Camp.
Without this energetic defence, an innocent, industrious Negro would
certainly have been hanged--or if the mob had been ahead of the police, as
it usually is, he would have been lynched.
But what of Glenn afterward?
When the jury left the box Mr. Hopkins turned to Glenn and said:
"Well, Joe, what do you think of the case?"
He replied: "Boss I 'spec's they will hang me, for that lady said I was
the man, but they won't hang me, will they, 'fore I sees my wife and
chilluns again?"
He was kept in the tower that night and the following day for protection
against a possible lynching. Plans were made by his attorneys to send him
secretly out of the city to the home of a farmer in Alabama, whom they
could trust with the story. Glenn's wife was brought to visit the jail and
Glenn was told of the plans for his safety, and instructed to change his
name and keep quiet until the feeling of the community could be
ascertained.
A ticket was purchased by his attorneys, with a new suit of clothes, hat,
and shoes. He was taken out of jail about midnight under a strong guard,
and safely placed on the train. From that day to this he has never been
heard of. He did not go to Alabama. The poor creature, with the instinct
of a hunted animal, did not dare after all to trust the white men who had
befriended him. He is a fugitive, away from his family, not daring,
though innocent, to return to his home.
_Other Reconstruction Movements_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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