Golden Age, August 11, 1937
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The Golden Age
A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE
in this issue
INQUISITION AT LAGRANGE
EXPOSED
(K)
A PLEA FOR TOLERANCE
AND COMMON SENSE
"RELIGIOUS EDUCATION"
HERE AND ABROAD
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WEDNESDAY
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Canada & Foreign 1.25
Vol. XVIII - No. 467
August 11, 1937 CONTENTS
LABOR AND ECONOMICS
Labor Spy Service 723
9,116,000 Unemployed Have Jobs 723
Cowardly Use of Gas Bombs 723
Strikebreakers Not Used Abroad 723
$7.15—One Week's "Wages" 723
Checking Up in Newark, N. J. 723
SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL
THE INQUISITION AT LAGRANGE EXPOSED (K) 707, 721
"FIRE IN THE ANDES" 722
Goebbels Hints at Vengeance 722
Sample of "Natural Affection" 724
How Davenport Got His Story 724
Robbing an 80-Year-Old Widow 724
AMERICAN JOURNALISM 725
Why Hearst Is for Inflation 725
A PLEA FOR TOLERANCE AND COMMON SENSE 728
"Religious Education" Here and Abroad 731
FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION
Changes in Automobile Design 726
An Imported Joke 726
Tin Can Tourists of the World 726
A Sermon to Drinking Auto Drivers 726
Odle Objects 726
Automobile Riders Safe in Thunderstorms 726
One Million Living in Trailers 726
Marvelous Air Service to Pacific 727
Imperial Airways' Flying Boats 727
Newark Airport Tops Them All 727
Speed-Distance Mark for Planes 727
Tours by Air 727
POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
La Follette's Tribute to Chowderhead 720
Sheriff Robt. A. Lee, of Alabama 720
Steel Surrender Smells of Fascism 720
Paid $200,000 for Nothing 720
AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY
Seal Pleading for Death 730
6,083 Silver Fox Farms in Canada 730
As Many Pigs as Possible 730
HOME AND HEALTH
Those Who Drank Radio-Active Water 725
His Trip Home Cost $50,000 725
Death Comes when Oxygen Leaves Brain 725
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
WORKING PROTESTANTISM AS A RACKET 717
Do They Know? Do They Care? 717
Bishop Admits His Chances Are Slim 718
Holmes Should Learn to Milk Cows 718
One Less Candidate for Armageddon 718
Sit-Down Strike on Reverend Dennis 718
Pastor Got His Wires Crossed 718
Knows All About Him Now 718
Searching a Reason for Life 718
Protestantism Has Ceased to Exist 719
A Kentucky Preacher's Wife 719
Spiritism Rampant 719
Published every other Wednesday by
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The Golden Age
Volume XVIII Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday, August 11, 1937 Number 467
The Inquisition at Lagrange, Georgia
DID Bishop G. P. O’Hara of Savannah, Georgia, initiate the persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses at Lagrange, Georgia? Has the Roman Hierarchy, through this high prelate or its Jesuit agents, reached out into this Protestant area and pulled off an inquisition equal to that of the Dark Ages?
Whatever may be the answer to these questions, the damning evidence shows that the intolerant spirit of Roman Catholicism is busily at work in this supposedly Protestant city, and the name of Lagrange has become a byword among decent and respectable people because of the unbelievable treatment it has accorded Christian men and women. And this treatment is directly chargeable to the clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, who not only have refrained from objecting to this intolerance but have been the chief instigators of it.
The story that follows will fill with indignation the heart of fair-minded Americans. Hearts will be wrung with pain when notice is taken of the viciousness of the tools of clerical bigotry toward innocent men and women in the now besmirched "Empire State of the South".
There were 56 of Jehovah’s witnesses involved; sworn statements are at hand from 30; they agree, to the minutest detail. The most comprehensive statement is that of H. L. Rogers. It is in three installments, sent out from the dunghill on June 12, 13 and 21. For convenience these three are merged into a single account. Where statements of others supply additional information, reference is made to such; but where they are only corroborative they are not published.
"Smoke of the incense"
And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.—Revelation 8:4
To Whom It May Concern:
In the case the City of Lagrange vs. Jehovah's witnesses. Jehovah’s witnesses have been accused of being Reds, seditionists, Communists and anarchists bent on tearing down law and order.
Refuting that charge with facts, the following is submitted as evidence that the officials of Lagrange are un-American, trampling over the rights of citizens, viciously ignoring Constitutional barriers, punishing those who adhere to their legal rights, and by their actions have proved themselves to be lawless and truly tearing down duly constituted law and order:
Lagrange Officials Are Anarchists
1. Seventy-six prisoners were transferred from the city of Lagrange to the Troup County stockade without commitment papers as provided by law.
2. In transport of prisoners, officers drove through the city at the speed of sixty-five miles per hour for no cause whatsoever.
3. The ordinance under which we were held is clearly illegal and any jackleg lawyer knows that it is wholly unconstitutional in its application to our work.
4. Lagrange officials permit all other persons to violate this ordinance, excepting Jehovah's witnesses.
5. A permit to solicit orders for hosiery was granted by the chief on condition that this Jehovah's witness distribute no Bible literature. As soon as he started work he was arrested and fined for doing the very thing they gave him a permit to do.
6. At the time of signing some legal documents for Jehovah's witnesses, the judge of the Superior Court of the county was so intoxicated that it was with great difficulty he was aroused to affix his signature. Other drunks are sent to jail and fined.
7. The county judge on a writ of habeas corpus ordered Chief Matthews to produce each and every one of the fifty-six prisoners before his court. Only one was produced. All the others were worked on the streets. This plain case of contempt of court was passed unnoticed.
Despisers of the Law
8. The law requires that city clerk approve bond on appeal by certiorari. Thomason, the official anarchist of the city, ordered the city clerk not to sign this bond as required by law. This illegal trick caused us the loss of our appeal rights.
9. Officers arrested and locked up persons who were circulating lawful petitions for the redress of grievances, which right is expressly guaranteed in the United States Constitution.
10. The city attorney, Mr. Thomason, led a mob which forcibly compelled all petitioners to leave city, with dire threats of personal injury in case of return.
11. The same Thomason personally attacked G. C. Powell, who only escaped by raising car window and starting car before this mob could interfere. Powell carried bruises and scratches as mute evidence of this vicious attack. Thomason again personally assaulted W. P. Hilldring, beating him in the face and on the head, causing severe bruises.
12. Powell swore out a warrant for the arrest of Thomason on a charge of assault and battery; no official either in Lagrange or in Troup County would make the arrest.
The City's Official Perjurer
13. Powell then took the matter before the grand jury, seeking an indictment. At this hearing Thomason stated under oath that he had not attacked Powell, but that Powell had attacked him. This lie passed and no indictment was made.
14. Plain-clothes inexperienced deputies, without badges and riding in taxicabs, arrested Jehovah's witnesses and manhandled them when they asked for proof that they were officers.
15. Chief Matthews stated that if Jehovah's witnesses ever returned to the city again he would leave town after turning them over to a mob, thus encouraging mob violence and denying Jehovah's witnesses police protection.
16. City officials took $25 security from T. J. Morris, violating their agreement with him, paid his fine with it against his will, and dismissed his case.
17. Dr. Jas. A. Edwards, who pleaded "not guilty", was sentenced before his trial was completed and was rushed off to join other prisoners.
18. Most of the 76 "convictions" were entirely without evidence or even identification by officers. Being a Jehovah's witness was sufficient cause for arrest, and being arrested was sufficient cause for conviction.
Early History of the Case
On May 17, 1936, the writer and companions, following the example of Jesus and the early apostles, visited the city of Lagrange for the purpose of calling the attention of the people to God's kingdom as taught in the Bible, to present to them the many evidences that the time has arrived for Jehovah, the true God and Creator, to establish this kingdom on earth, and that this kingdom is the only hope for the relief and blessing of the people.
This work was systematically arranged so that every house would be visited and opportunity offered to secure literature dealing with the subject. This literature was placed with the people on small contributions insufficient to cover cost of printing, but taken as a token of interest in the subject and an evidence of good will. In case of poverty the literature was left free. The expense of this work was borne by ourselves personally.
To prevent any interruption of our work a committee called upon the Police Department, giving them full information as to the Christian work in which we were engaged, explaining that it violated no law or ordinance pertaining to commercial work, that we preached the Gospel in this way just as Jesus did, for no selfish motive, but for the welfare of the people, and asked their co-operation. A list of the names and addresses of the workers in our party was furnished them for proper identification and to assure them of our good intentions and responsibility.
No sooner had we started work than the police started arresting our people and carrying them off to jail. We found that an ordinance had been framed for the very purpose of preventing our message's reaching the citizens of Lagrange. This ordinance seeks to prevent the distribution of all printed matter, no matter of what nature. As applied to us, the handing of a Bible free to a citizen would be an offense subject to arrest and fine. Presenting a social calling card or business card to another would violate this ordinance.
Law-Breaking Deliberately Ignored
We found, however, that in practice it is applied only to our work. Citizens have testified that all other printed matter is freely distributed in Lagrange without hindrance. While working on the streets we have seen such literature distributed from door to door and the city officials all know it. In this we are denied the equal protection of the law.
Disregarding the arrests because we knew we were doing injury to no one and were fully protected in such work by the fundamental law of the land which guarantees to all the right of freedom of worship and practice of Christian beliefs, we continued our work. The city officials were lawless in framing such an ordinance, as it has no constitutional right to exist.
A colored woman warned the writer of the arrests being made and invited him in so she could hide him from the police. She said, "Dese here police am bad. Lagrange is de dirtiest hole in de whole United States." We have learned by experience that this is true.
One hundred seventy-six workers were arrested and imprisoned for several hours, male and female together (which is forbidden by law), and confined for several hours in a small courtroom insufficiently ventilated, without toilet facilities and where the heat became oppressive. Most of these arrests were made without the slightest proof of any law violation. The writer was arrested with a party of four others as they were getting into a car.
The police had no evidence that anyone in our party had called at any door or had offered literature to anyone. Yet in the so-called "trial" we were all "found guilty" and sentenced to $25 fine or thirty days at hard labor. In this all principles of justice or legal procedure were violated by city officials.
The following day the women were ordered out of jail and released. Troup County officials refused to accept women at the Stockade; hence their release. The men, seventy-six in number, were loaded in cars and trucks like cattle and hauled to the Troup County Prison and Stockade, four miles from the city. The turning of these city prisoners over to the county without commitment was another illegal act of Lagrange officials.
"Expressing a preference"
"Worst Prison in the Worst State"
This Troup County prison is nationally known as the worst prison in the worst county in the worst state of the United States, and was made famous as the prison from which the escape was made dramatized in the motion picture "I'm a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang".
We were turned loose in the "Bull Pen" enclosed by a very high wire fence and containing possibly an acre of ground. The prison stands in the center of this enclosure. All regular prisoners are worked at hard labor on the roads from sun-up until sun-down. Even in the longest days these poor prisoners must rise and eat breakfast before daylight and load up in trucks to go to their work before sunrise. They return at dusk, after which they eat supper, take a bath and go to bed. That continued treatment breaks the health of the best men.
In the dining room we saw the "stocks", one of the most brutal methods of punishment ever invented. Just outside we saw bundles of hickory switches, each of them large enough to kill a man in the hands of a brutal guard. These are used to discipline prisoners.
Near by are the kennels of bloodhounds, kept for the purpose of running down escaped prisoners; and escapes are common, due to brutal treatment. Prisoners prefer escape and possible death to such a life of torture.
Pistol shots are heard from time to time, day or night, and empty pistol shells are to be found on the ground in the "Bull Pen". Probably most of this is to impress upon the prisoners the fact that these guns will shoot. A prisoner escaped the morning following our arrival. Soon sirens were going, men were running with rifles, the bloodhounds were loosed, cars were racing on the roads and the pursuit was in full swing. The prisoner was not found until months afterward.
No Provision for Rest
We found we could have our choice of beds, either on the ground, on the dining-room benches or tables, under the trees or in the trucks. Some preferred the tables. There was enough sticky syrup left on them to hold one from falling off in case he dropped to sleep.
Some had no coats and no protection whatever from the chilly nights, which made sleep almost impossible. After several nights of this exposure, fifty-nine single blankets were issued to seventy-six men. No provisions for beds were ever made during the ten nights spent in the stockade.
At the end of this period we were brought back to the city. Shirts and overalls were issued to us and we were put to work on the streets and public works of the city. After five days' work we were released on bond with agreement that one case would be appealed, letting that one case stand for all the others.
Inefficiency on the part of our attorneys so muddled our case legally that after a year of legal procedure and expense it was necessary that we all return on the 28th day of May, 1937, to complete our sentence.
During the first five days of our labor on the streets in 1936 six of our brethren were so broken in health that they were released and sent home. Sickness on the part of others made the payment of fine necessary, the city refusing to accept written statements from hospital and physicians as proof of illness. Fifty-seven returned to complete sentence and they were again returned to work on the streets.
At that time the city attorney, Mr. Thomason, was asked that we be released again on the same bond until a fair hearing of our case could be had in the courts. He flatly refused and made the bond conditions impossible. The venom and hatred of this man is beyond comparison. His keen mind is wholly devoted to our oppression and violent persecution. He gives all evidence of being controlled by demons.
Thomason Reflects on His Parents
Six days after our return a writ of habeas corpus was heard in the Superior Court of Troup County and denied by Judge Wyatt. An appeal was taken and an effort made to have prisoners released on bond pending decision of higher court. Thomason again flatly refused bond and stated that he was leaving the city on a fishing trip. On this occasion he became enraged and stated, "I'll work every one of the damned sons of b——s to the full end of their time."
You may ask why we were compelled to serve this time if in the right and after a year of legal procedure.
We answer, our Constitutional rights and the validity of the Lagrange ordinance had never been heard in the courts prior to the last hearing.
All court action prior to that time was concerning a technical point involving our right of appeal. In this we were the victims of legal jockeying by crooked lawyers. Hence we must bear the full measure of our punishment before the courts decide whether we have committed a wrongful act.
The details of the cruel, unjust and unusual treatment inflicted on us is explained more in detail in the accompanying sworn statement of facts:
On June 1, 1936, the day after our release on bond, we again visited the city of Lagrange with a petition addressed to the city council of Lagrange, setting forth the facts in the case and asking that they so amend their ordinance as to clearly exempt Christian educational work on behalf of the citizens of Lagrange.
This work was a proper petition, courteously and politely worded and done under the Constitutional provision that the right of peaceable assembly and the right of petition for the redress of grievances shall not be denied any citizen of the United States.
We had a grievance and we chose the lawful way of seeking relief. But constitutional law seems to be a thing unknown in Lagrange. At our first attempt to present this petition to the residents of Lagrange for their approval or disapproval, a mob already organized, and led by Thomason, fell upon us and forcibly drove us from the city with dire threats in case we should return.
Those who dared question the authority were assaulted and beaten. The police department aided this mob in their lawlessness and made several arrests. Seeing that not a shadow of a charge could be lodged against them, these prisoners were finally released.
The Boast of the Anarchist
On this occasion Chief Matthews stated that if Jehovah's witnesses ever returned to the city, "I'll turn you over to a mob and leave the city."
Our work has been done in Lagrange without trouble for years. No opposition was ever encountered until a few weeks after Bishop O'Hara, of Savannah, came to Lagrange and dedicated a Catholic church. Then this ordinance was framed and our arrests began.
Not a minister of Lagrange ever lifted his voice in protest against this lawlessness toward us. One minister appeared as a witness against us and was caught in a false statement on the witness stand, as the record of the testimony will show.
Citizens report that other ministers were active in causing our arrests. What excuse can they offer before the great bar of Divine Justice for such persecution of Christians who tell the people the truths of the Bible, upon which truths they themselves are strangely silent?
Jehovah will see that all these unlawful actions of Lagrange officials are dragged out into the open and exposed to the view of all persons of good will. The clergy undertook in a violent, underhanded and illegal way to hide themselves from public view by keeping from the citizens of Lagrange our literature which exposes all hypocrisy in this day of judgment.
As in the case of Jesus, these religionists and politicians concluded that it would be better that a few of Jehovah's witnesses be made to suffer rather than that their racket be dragged out into the open and exposed to public view. They overlooked the fact that it is God’s Word making the exposure. They have miserably failed in their attempt to suppress the Truth.
Good Citizens Learning the Truth
The citizens of Lagrange are learning the truth. Many good people here are indignant at the treatment accorded Jehovah’s witnesses. They ask for literature and are getting it. Even our guards are kindly toward us. Some police officials have shown their good will toward us. We get much front-page publicity in the public press, space which could not be bought with money [but which these faithful men have obtained by their blood and sweat of face.—Ed.]. Thus our message and work are being brought before the people.
We sought to get the message of the Lord’s kingdom as taught in the Bible before the people of Lagrange. In this we have succeeded far beyond our expectations. Our enemies have helped us do it!
The public press quoted the chief as saying that “the literature of Jehovah’s witnesses borders on the rankest kind of Communism”. [What “church” is ranting about Communism?] Later our Brother Morris called his bluff on this statement and offered to post $25 to be paid to him if he could produce one single legal proof of that statement. The chief hung his head and has not yet produced any evidence. The offer still holds good to him or anyone else.
The fabulous lies which have been circulated about us, that we are anarchists, Reds, Communists and seditionists, all originate with the Catholic Hierarchy and are passed on to the people by their agents, allies and dupes for the sole purpose of frightening the people and preventing them from getting the simple Bible truths which we bring to them for their welfare and protection.
When the final chapter in the history of Lagrange is written, it will not be written by Thomason and his cohorts. Time will expose them in their true light, and their memory will be held in contempt by all honest persons.
And, be it remembered, that only honest persons will be found living in God’s kingdom of righteousness which is now being established. All others will come to a bad end.
HIERARCHY
CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
LAGRANGE OFFICIALS
Sad story of a “raw” country bumpkin taken in by an ancient bawd
Violated Own Health Ordinance
Enclosed is a copy of poster published by the city of Lagrange forbidding cowpens (or pigpens) within 100 yards of any private residence. Yet the city quarters 56 of Jehovah’s witnesses in a small lot with a cow, mules, chickens and a horse for a close neighbor.
Mattresses upon which these men had to sleep were so close to the cowpen that urine splashed on their mattresses, and even on the men lying upon them. Drainage from this cowpen passed down a ditch between the mattresses, not more than three feet away on either side.
That we were so quartered is freely acknowledged by officials and postal authorities, as is shown by the delivery of a letter to the writer addressed to him at the “City Stock Yards”. The address on this letter is enclosed. It was mailed at Atlanta, Georgia, June 15, 1937, 11:30 p.m., addressed “Mr. H. L. Rogers, Jehovah’s witness, City Stock Yards, c/o City Hall, Lagrange, Georgia”.
Advertising Official Manure
Manure from these animals was piled in a huge pile at the opposite end of our “barracks” and not over ten feet from our mattresses. This unsanitary and filthy condition was reported to the State authorities, and on June 18 a State inspector investigated our quarters.
He stated that such conditions were a gross violation of State laws, and promised action against the city.* However, if any action is taken it will be too late, for
* Details of this action immediately follow Mr. Rogers’ explicit readable and valuable contribution to the history of America’s wallowing at the feet of Rome’s official inquisitors in Lagrange, Georgia, in 1937.
we are to be released today, after having endured this condition for twenty-five days.
A Rome-Controlled City
About June 14 we were offered a parole by the chief of police, Mr. Matthews, provided we would agree not to return to the city again soon. When made known to the brethren by a brother whom the chief had asked to convey the offer to us, it was unanimously agreed that the offer would not even be dignified by an answer, and it was ignored. Innocent people do not accept paroles.
About June 16 we were informed through guards that we were to be released at noon on Saturday, June 19. The chief was asked to confirm the report, as many wished to make arrangements with friends outside for their transportation home. He replied that he was planning for our release on that date. Later, our attorney confirmed this statement from the chief.
Cars came from far-distant points on Saturday, but at noon Saturday the chief announced that we were to be held until Monday evening, June 21. We explain this reversal of orders as follows:
We prepared a letter to the mayor and city councilmen, and this was mailed, the original to the mayor, R. S. O'Neal, on June 16, and copies to the councilmen on June 18. This letter was courteous, clearly stating our position, the reason for our imprisonment, the filthy conditions under which we were quartered, and laid the responsibility clearly in their laps.
It seems certain that this letter angered Mr. O'Neal, and that is the reason why our release on Saturday was canceled, for O'Neal was overheard to say that we must be held until Monday. Mr. Thomason, the city attorney, had agreed with the chief for our release on Saturday. This shows that O'Neal wields the supreme power here against us.
O'Hara's Place in the Shame
When Bishop G. P. O'Hara, of Savannah, dedicated the new Catholic church here in Lagrange, a few months before arrests started here, Mayor O'Neal had a prominent part in the dedication. This connects O'Neal with the Hierarchy, and reveals the source of our persecution. Thus the serpent's trail leads to Vatican City—as usual.
Our letter to O'Neal got the immediate response of increased persecution; hence this letter made a bull's-eye hit. It revealed the head inquisitor, O'Neal, as the tool of the Hierarchy. We were lacking that proof.
The chief said we were held because we had ridiculed his parole offer: if we would show no co-operation we would get none in return. That statement could not be true; for he knew we were not accepting his parole offer when he assured us of our release on Saturday.* He made that statement to cover the fact that his boss had made the change and he had to protect his boss or lose his job.
Unless the "cat" chooses to further play with the "mouse" we shall be released this evening. The brethren have shown a fine spirit here, and, so far as we know, everyone leaves here more determined than ever to remain steadfast until the end, and to continue the warfare against our common enemy.
We hope the little hardships here will more fully prepare us to meet the hardships of Armageddon and that which must precede that great battle. Praise to Jehovah!
The Official Dunghill
What is to be thought of the administration of a city that in this supposedly (but not actually) enlightened and civilized era imprisons Christian men in a dunghill, and does it because they are Christians? Let the following communication, issued from the midst of Lagrange's official dunghill, speak for itself:
(Copy to each member of Council; the Lagrange News; Fuller E. Callaway, Jr., and the Atlanta Georgian)
City Stables, Lagrange, Ga.,
June 16, 1937.
To the Hon. R. S. O'Neal, Mayor,
and to the City Council of Lagrange, Georgia:
We, the undersigned, a committee, representing the fifty-six witnesses of Jehovah God, now incarcerated in the city stables of your city, present this statement of facts, not in the hope of any relief, but that you may be truthfully informed in regard to the cause of our presence here.
First, we came to Lagrange to preach the gospel of God's kingdom as commanded by the Lord. In answer to the question as to when Satan's world would end (Matthew 24:3), Jesus said, among other things, that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come". (Matthew 24:14) Those who do this are therefore God's witnesses.
Our method of preaching is by the printed page, which is the quickest and most effective way of reaching the people. The books and booklets we distribute and place with the people on a small contribution of far less than the cost of manufacture and distribution.
When we came to your city for the above-stated purpose, on May 17, 1936, we were arrested and charged with violating an anti-soliciting ordinance, which could not possibly apply to our work of preaching from door to door as Jesus and the apostles did. (Matthew 10th chapter; Acts 20:20) Many were arrested for driving along the streets or for sitting in a cold-drink stand, yet each of us was convicted regardless of the testimony in the case.
* It has already been clearly established in this communication that nothing that the Lagrange city attorney or chief of police may say on any subject whatever could have the slightest reliability, even when made under oath to Almighty God to tell the truth.—Ed.
--To all this injustice we willingly submitted because the Lord has forewarned us through the Scriptures. Read Mark 13: 1-9. We were willing to suffer the persecution because the Lord said it would come and we wanted to carry the matter before the courts to test the constitutionality of the ordinance.
Each of you should know, and, no doubt, does know, that the Constitution of Georgia and of the United States gives a man the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. Our conscience dictates to us that we must carry this message to the people even at the cost of our lives.
But we failed to get the matter before the higher courts, for the reason that your city attorney tricked us and our lawyers did not find it out in time. When we made bonds on May 31, it was necessary that the city clerk approve said bonds and the city attorney told the city clerk not to sign them. This act invalidated our bonds as far as appeal was concerned, and after a test of the validity of those bonds, we were notified to return, which we did on May 28, 1937.
On this date we filed a habeas corpus before Judge Wyatt and got an adverse ruling and then offered to appeal on the merits of the case and post bond and go our way, but your Honorable City Attorney positively refused to accept the bond offered, which was the identical security that returned us here on May 28.
Then we elected to serve our sentence on the streets, and are here at this writing (June 16) sleeping on old, dirty, secondhand mattresses placed on boards under the barn shed, among the flies, fleas and filth. Jesus laid down the rule that what is done to one of His disciples is done unto Him. (Matthew 25th chapter)
And let it be known unto you that we have been falsely charged through the public press and otherwise as being anarchists and of circulating literature that is Communistic. These charges we most emphatically deny, and challenge any man to prove the same. Such charges are malicious in that they not only are untrue, but are calculated to becloud the issue before the people.
Be it further known unto you that the time for the Kingdom of God to be set up in full power is now at hand and all who refuse to obey that message shall be destroyed shortly in the battle of the great day of God Almighty. (Acts 3: 23; Revelation 16: 11-13) For these reasons we most solemnly admonish every person of good will and honest heart to seek the favor of the great Jehovah God, that they may be hid in the day of God’s anger which is near at hand.— Zephaniah 2: 3; Matthew 24: 21, 22.
Respectfully submitted,
DR. JAS. A. EDWARDS,
S. J. RICHARDSON,
H. L. ROGERS,
LIFUS L. COTTON,
Committee of
Jehovah’s witnesses.
CITY OF LAGRANGE
SANITARY OFFICE'S NOTICE
TO OWNERS OF HOGS AND COWS
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT HEREAFTER A STRICT ENFORCEMENT TO THE SANITARY LAWS OF THE CITY WILL BE ENFORCED REGARDING THE KEEPING OF HOGS AND COWS.
The following City Ordinance does apply to Cow-Pens, in so far as being kept in a Sanitary and Clean Manner:
Sec. 339. Hog Pens within 100 yards of any private resident in the City, or the confinement by stake or otherwise of hogs within 100 yards of any resident are declared a nuisance and unlawful.
Where hogs are confined beyond 100 yards of a private resident of the City, the pen shall contain not less than 500 square feet and be kept dry and clean, and free from odor.
Your co-operation will aid us, and will be greatly appreciated.
CITY OF LAGRANGE,
F. W. WHITE,
Sanitary Officer.
Lagrange officials willfully violated this ordinance
Scathing Denunciation from the State
The foregoing complaint in due time reached the State Department of Public Welfare. An investigation was made and a report was issued, copies of which were sent to the city council, police, mayor, jailer, and commissioner of the board of health.
Mr. Cleveland then pointed out the mule barn where the fifty men were living. The barn is about forty-five yards northeast of the rear of the jail. The visitor walked down to the barn, through it, and observed the situation before talking with the spokesman of the group. The conditions were so obviously unsanitary, unhealthy and deplorable to such a community that there was little need for the spokesman to point out the difficulties.
The men were sleeping on mattresses which were strewn about on an improvised flooring on the outside of the barn. There was slight protection from rain and sun in the form of a slanting roof which ran the length of the barn and ran out about twenty feet to the side of the barn. The flooring was of about the same width. Just beyond one end of the flooring was a cowpen with a cow enclosed. About ten feet from the other end of the flooring where the men slept was a huge pile of manure. No human [creature], regardless of race, creed or sex, should be allowed or forced to live under such conditions. The lavatories which the Negro men, working for the city, use, was the lavatory used by the white men.
There is very little that could be done at such a late date, as the group was to be released at noon the following day, However, if it should be necessary to confine again more prisoners than the jail will accommodate, other arrangements should be made for housing the prisoners.
Shameless Injustice
Mrs. Boatner and Mrs. De Berry, fined for preaching the gospel in Lagrange, from house to house, as Jesus and the apostles did, testify:
While we were waiting in the courtroom for trial, a man was tried and fined but $2.50 for reckless driving and endangering the lives of the people. Another man was tried for peddling without a license and was fined but $5.00. Our case was heard next and we were fined $25 or thirty days in jail for "distributing literature and circulars"—which same is carried on regularly without hindrance by the merchants of Lagrange, but was not done by us.
Mike Caryk, imprisoned for preaching the gospel in Lagrange, testified:
While working on the chain gang with the cemetery crew, my physical condition and resistance became weaker each day. Finally, on the fourth day, I became so weak and feeble it was impossible for me to continue to work. For the first four nights I had to sleep in my clothes, without a blanket. One blanket was then given for two of us. At night it was cold, and when it rained the roof leaked.
I became ill from the diet of beans, corn bread and wormy cabbage, and the police got me a doctor. He told the city officials my food must be changed to rice, milk and other soft foods, but after twelve days no change was made. He prescribed liquid medicine and pills: I got the liquid, but not the pills. After two and a half days I was sent back to work.
Conditions Similar to Cesspool Germany
Spencer Coleman's statement is exceedingly readable. Summarizing it briefly it appears that the stockade keepers in Lagrange are on the same low moral and intellectual level as in Germany, the cesspool of the world. When asked for bedding these Hitler-aping creatures responded in true Nazi style, "Let Jehovah warm you with the light of the stars." Here, in his statement, Coleman quoted Psalm 22:7, 8, A.R.V., and it is right to the point:
"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, Commit thyself unto Jehovah; let him deliver him: let him rescue him, seeing he delighteth in him."
Some smart Alecks in this world have never yet learned the great lesson that the last laugh is always the best: the way to obliteration, eternal extinction, is paved with those that thought it a huge joke that anybody should really love God or try to honor His name. They won’t be so gay when the Lord takes vengeance on them.—2 Thessalonians 1:6-9.
Coleman discloses that, besides the sprinkling of prisoners with cow urine while they were trying to sleep on indescribably filthy mattresses in close proximity to the city's official manure pile, there were other features worthy of notice:
The garbage trucks, with bits of rubbish and decayed food clinging to them, present still another menace to our health. We are allowed the use of only two toilets, which before our arrival were used only by colored convicts, and which are in an unimaginable state of filthiness: something not to be described, but seen.
The tools furnished us were very much in need of repairs and of sharpening, and no means of sharpening them was provided for several days, during which time our work was much harder than necessary.
One crew had no water furnished at first, and only on protest was this done. The others have water, but it is unpleasantly warm, and we all have to buy our own ice if we have cool water. On the job, we have no toilet facilities of any kind.
We were forced to work on Saturday afternoon, the first instance in the history of Georgia on which convicts worked on Saturday afternoon.
We were fed only on wormy peas for several days, until so many of us complained about them that they substituted butterbeans. Much of the food is cooked in aluminum, causing several to be on the sick list every day from dysentery, vomiting and other reactions.
We are aroused at four-thirty, breakfast is at five-thirty, and by six-thirty we are on the streets for our day of toil.
On some days it was necessary to get up at 3:30 or earlier and walk around to keep warm. After almost a week one blanket was furnished for each two men.
Not Where to Lay His Head
H. L. Connor bears witness that on several occasions, like his Master, he had not where to lay his head, and one night, after a hard day's labor in the burning sun, he had no mattress and crawled into an automobile to get what rest was possible in that way. Afterwards, for several nights, he slept in the hay in the barn, without mattress or blanket, working every day.
Robert L. Dawson testifies that when the chief of police was notified that the cowpeas had many worms in them, his heartless, devilish reply was: "You have to have meat with your peas, for seasoning." Asked for clean clothes at the end of a very hard week shoveling dirt in the streets, he told the men to wash their clothes over Sunday and put them back on.
Cruelty to the Ill
W. B. Crabb, so it happens, was standing beside his car at the time he was arrested, but on the perjured testimony of a lying police officer he got the same treatment as the other victims, though an invalid. He says that the flies and the eats were terrible.
Robert Derrickson is a diabetic, and though he pleaded for his medicine, it was denied him. His first day toiling in the streets brought him to a state of collapse, but the Lord strengthened him so that he was able to hold out for the full term along with the rest. The food caused him much suffering.
Taunting this sick man, the inexpressibly evil city attorney refused to allow him to be tried by his own attorney, because he wanted to go fishing, and in the judicial chambers said to him, "I would like to have you alone in a room for ten minutes: I'll bet you would stop this work." These are the words of one who has the spirit of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.
Dr. James A. Edwards adds an item about the city's official dung pile where the Lord's people were allowed to sleep in the open, on dirty mattresses laid on planks, when, mentioning the cow, he says that "just on the inside, in the end of the barn, are two very congenial mules".
Dr. Edwards had the rare distinction of first being tried and justly pronounced innocent, as he was originally arrested for coming to the police headquarters to inquire as to the fate of others of his brethren. But, on second thought he was tried again, or, at any rate, "found guilty" without a trial, and given thirty days in the chain gang for the same identical "offense". He says:
I might mention that about 15 of us were placed on a hard street with picks and shovels and had to pick up dirt almost as hard as brick. They evidently thought this would bring forth the cash. The guard suggested that we did not have to do it: we could pay off and leave. After they saw that none of us would pay off, they brought in machinery and tore up the hard dirt so we could shovel it with more ease. Fifty-six of us remain faithful and rejoice, even in the filth and under the hot rays of the sun. Many people of the neighborhood where we work come by and tell us they are for us, and if they could have their way we would not be there.
It seems Lagrange officials are fond of shoe polish
Cruelty to Others
Mattie Glass, colored, was required to rise at 3:00 each morning and to work in the kitchen until 7:00 p.m.
John Galfas relates that some days the squad of 24 in which he worked had to walk six miles to work and six miles back; that chickens had the run of the official dung pile where he was allowed to sleep; that his feet became so sore from inability to give them proper rest and care that, on the physician's orders, he served out his time barefoot.
Walter F. Hilldring, with many others of the prisoners, refers to the "ever increasing fly population" of what will doubtless be known in history as the "City of Dung".
Hilldring goes on to explain the meanness that required men whose only fault is that they love God to destroy their own good shoes, hats and underwear in hard labor on the streets, to which, of course, none were accustomed. After sixteen days only one pair of city shoes had been furnished to the 56 men: the city would not even repair the good shoes of their owners, scuffed, cut and worn by gravel, roots, stumps, tools and glass. It was necessary for the men also to buy their own working gloves and straw hats.
G. C. Leoles, of Atlanta, who lost his business because of the cowardly un-American tactics of the nightshirt patriots commonly known as the “Ku Klux Klan”, was put at work loading sand, which work made him ill, as his whole life has been spent in indoor work. He tells of the Atlanta Constitution descending to sending down a reporter, trying to get his picture, hoping to add to his sorrows. The reporter was urged to take a picture of Lagrange’s official dunghill and sleeping quarters in the “Stock Yards”, which was done, but the paper lacked the moral courage to publish it.
Contemptible Official Trickery
T. J. Morris, when arrested, posted a $50 personal check as cash bond. Contrary to his wishes, and without consulting him, Lagrange’s high-minded city officials cashed his check, sent him the balance of $25, and wrote him that his case had been settled. His protest over this trickery was in vain.
S. J. Richardson has the following to say of one of the meanest men that ever disgraced God’s footstool:
Brother Clay, of Macon, Georgia, was released on bond, and his case appealed. When the city attorney found that the rest of the friends had decided to work out the few days that remained rather than to go to the expense and trouble that the city attorney was seeking to put them to, he went up in the air and said, “I will work hell out of these sons of b—s.”
C. E. Sillaway reports 16 cases of sickness in which the prisoners were unable to work. One of the witnesses had to be carried from his work. The poor quality of the prison fare led to much hardship. Many, unused to the hard labor, the impossible sleeping accommodations and the wretched food, actually went to work in the morning with nothing in their stomachs.
Peter Stribling, colored, was told to keep away from Lagrange, because, if Jehovah’s witnesses ever come there again, “it is going to be hell for them, as they are going to put chains on their legs.” This is to be expected in a Rome-controlled town.
Wormy Food Finally Given to Chickens
Robert Tyson, referring to the wretched food, which was also mentioned by nearly every one who made a statement, said:
I have never had to eat as sorry food in my whole life as the city of Lagrange gives us. One day the peas were found to be cooked with worms. When reported to the foreman of the job by several, he came and inspected the food; he said it was only the pops in the peas, and not worms, but the next day a barrel of peas was carried out of the kitchen to be used for chicken feed.
Victor Valss says, as do others, “At times we have been pushed hard by our bosses while we are at work. This was evidently done to force us to pay fines.”
Throwing Christians to the lions in Lagrange
Albion B. Wright gives a pen picture of the conditions provided for those who dare preach the truth in Rome-controlled Lagrange. He says:
On the east side was a big pile of wood with oil pumps, and parked trucks. On the north was a cowpen with it stinking everyone out. On the west was a mule stable, and up against this were put our beds. On the south is a dung heap, and the wind blows from the south most of the time.
The following is a brief summary from the pen of Richard Arrington, arrested six times in the state of Georgia for preaching the gospel of God’s kingdom, the one and only hope of the world: Jehovah’s witnesses in Lagrange have been subjected to wicked persecution. Their sleeping quarters are hardly fit for animals, let alone human creatures. Mattresses laid on old planks on the bare ground under an old shed built to a horse stable is where they rest at night. Mules, cows and horses are in their stalls behind them, and, June weather, you can imagine how it would be to breathe this foul air all night, not to mention the flies.
In their ranks are college professors and doctors, picking and shoveling in the streets with the temperature above 90 degrees. All are joyous for the privilege of suffering for Christ’s sake. Their diet consists mostly of starches, such as corn bread, and peas cooked with fat salt pork; this, of course, made some of them sick. The “coffee” is cooked in aluminum, and hence is as poisonous as it is unpalatable.
Working Protestantism as a Racket
ANNA GILLESPIE, a Kansas pioneer, sends in a batch of good clippings every two weeks. With the last batch, she pans The Golden Age as follows:
As I go about in the pioneer service I find the women folks of the churches busy quilting, and working their fool selves to death in various ways, helping to raise the pastor’s salary, so I really think you owe an apology to the chicken-yard roosters for calling the preachers roosters.
Who ever saw or heard tell of a hen’s scratching for a rooster. On the other hand, when a rooster finds a nice worm, or a tempting bug, he calls the handiest hen and gives the treat to her, and doesn’t gobble up the tempting morsel himself.
Within the confines of the churchyard, how different! When a supper is being served, the older women are out in the kitchen doing the work that has to be done behind the scenes, and the young girls are fluttering around in the dining room. The preacher is present, to be seen, and likely heard, smiling benignly. The hens in the kitchen dig his worms.
After it is all over, the ladies tell me how much they took in at the supper. Usually they prepare the eats at their homes, and make the coffee after they get to the church basement.
Yours in the interest of fairness in Golden Age comparisons.
Lagrange is in a pitiable condition. There are some well-disposed people in the city, but obviously none among the clergy, NOT ONE. Had there been they could not have remained silent while anyone, not to mention honest Christians, was being treated as were Jehovah’s witnesses.
Working the Racket at Trooper, Norristown, Pa.
Do They Know? Do They Care?
THE Presbyterian General Assembly, meeting at Columbus in May, 1937, passed a resolution that:
The church in Germany is facing extinction. The church which cradled the Reformation is today carrying the cross. We dare not stand aside and let our brethren fight the battle alone. If we do, and the battle is lost, the time will come when we, too, will fight the battle alone.
That is interesting. And Jehovah’s people, knowing that His very own in Germany are the most persecuted of all the peoples in that land (and this is admitted by all, for the mere fact that one is known to be one of Jehovah’s witnesses is sufficient to lead to his incarceration), wonder if the Presbyterians really know who represent God in Germany, and if they really care.
Bishop Admits His Chances Are Slim
DR. HENRY WILSON, bishop of Chelmsford, England, admits that his chances of winning the divine approval are rather slim. He says that if a man has an income of less than 50s. ($12.50) a week he cannot be a Christian, because he is too worried about how he will get on in this life, and that if a man has more than £1,000 ($5,000) a year he is in danger of being too rich to enter the kingdom of Christ. As his own income is £3,000 a year, with a fine episcopal palace thrown into the bargain, he admits that he is out of luck. At least, this is logically admitted for him.
The bishop has his good points. He said, among other things:
Instead of our civilization and education turning the world into a paradise, we are rapidly making it into a hell. Undoubtedly the worst feature of this nightmare is that we are all getting hardened to cruelty, and human nature is become brutalized. All the decency and chivalry have departed from life, and our civilization has become bankrupt.
Holmes Should Learn to Milk Cows
REVEREND JOHN HAYNES HOLMES indicates that in The Community Church of New York, of which he is the pastor, 77 percent of the members are not paying, and as a consequence the 23 percent who are paying anything toward getting to heaven by his route are in a fair way to lose their investment, because, forsooth, as John himself says, "No church, or other organization for that matter, can do its work, or even survive, with more than three members out of four subscribing nothing at all for its support!" That's right, John. The jig is up. Take it from an old friend; learn to milk cows. By that means you might get to live for a while longer. At least that is what Zechariah 13:5 seems to say.
One Less Candidate for Armageddon
IN Hull, Quebec, there is one less candidate for Armageddon. A leading evangelist, "Reverend" Omer Girard, was executed for the murder of two aged men the year previous. What is it about "Reverends" that make them tackle the weak and aged and helpless in a fight, and never a man of their own age, weight and strength? It is the silly "eternal-torture" or "purgatory-torture" theology they profess to believe and that nobody believes. It takes all the manhood out of any man to try to believe such an unmanly, dishonorable falsehood.
Sit-Down Strike on Reverend Dennis
AT McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, the name of "Reverend" Dennis Kulmatyski, pastor of St. Mary's Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, seems to be Dennis both ways. The members of the church concluded the pastor was mismanaging their affairs, organized a sit-down strike, locked the "Reverend" Dennis out of the parish house, and took his name off the church rolls. Just a friendly tip to the "Reverend": Now would be a good time to look up prices and qualities on overalls and alarm clocks. By the way, even the cigar stores now sell alarm clocks. After a while the preachers and priests will be able to get them anywhere.
Pastor Got His Wires Crossed
AT Ashtabula, Ohio, the pastor of the Nazarene church thought to stir up a little enthusiasm for the Chicago radio station of that denomination, gave what he thought was the right way to get the station, and advised the flock to tune in and report. They did. One of the flock made such a fine report, and the pastor was so pleased with it, that it was sent on to the Nazarene headquarters. Headquarters wrote back that the address was one of Judge Rutherford's; and now the lady that made it has all of the judge's books and is having the best time in her life.
Knows All About Him Now
A GOOD story from Britain is that the 72-year-old archbishop of Canterbury sought the privilege of a walk with the little Princess Elizabeth, heiress to the throne of England. She explained to him that she would not mind walking with him, but made one condition: "If you are going to talk to me about God, you need not bother, because I know all about Him already." That pretty well illustrates the attitude of most grown-ups on the same subject.
Searching a Reason for Life
IN AN address to 500 young people in New York city, Reverend Dr. Robert Wyckoff Searle, general secretary of the Greater New York Federation of Churches, made the significant admission:
The church is a mere shell that has little vibrant life in it. Men and women about us are seeking, groping, searching a reason for life. We are dwellers among lost souls in a lost world.
Protestantism Has Ceased to Exist
JUDGE RUTHERFORD makes the statement that Protestantism has ceased to exist. An interesting confirmation of this comes from Albion Ross, Berlin correspondent of the New York Times. He says:
All strife between Catholics and Protestants in the so-called "diaspora", or mixed dioceses, has ceased, although differences were previously a common matter. There even exists a system of liaison officers between the Catholic Hierarchy and the Protestant synods for the exchange of information.
No More Church Members Wanted
ON A piece of property owned by a Negro church in Texas, oil was struck. The dividends the first month came to $400. Of this amount $35 went to the minister as his share, and the balance was distributed among the 24 members, at the rate of about $15 a member. One of the members solemnly made the motion that they take no more members into the church.
Demonism Rampant
"Seized by a Spirit of Evil"
ON THE threshold of a great truth, the Reverend Dr. Edward Gordon Selwyn, dean of Winchester Cathedral, England, made the following statement:
No one who knows the Italians will deny they are by nature a kindly and unwarlike people. Their record of savagery in Ethiopia, Libya and Spain, a record which recalls the atrocities of which the Armenians were victims a generation ago, can only be explained by the view that they have been seized by a spirit of evil of a superhuman nature.
"Gods Many and Lords Many"
A GENERATION ago there were some that feared there would be, in this day, impostors claiming to be the Lord Jesus Christ at His second advent, but surely nobody foresaw such conditions as exist in Harlem, where a Negro, who admitted in court that he is not God, and even said, "Suppose we say I am the Devil," is nevertheless worshiped by many as God himself. In his paper, World-Herald, is a transposition of the 23d Psalm, indicating this man as the great Over-Shepherd, which it could hardly be supposed that any creature in heaven or in earth would dare to dedicate to himself. This poor Negro, demonized, of course, is said to have a very pleasing personality, with a strange power over those in contact with him that only those who know something of the powers of the evil spirits could readily understand. One verse of the revised Psalm reads, "He stilleth my conscious mentality." That's just about what happens to those who come under his influence. They don't know what they are doing.
A Kentucky Preacher's Wife
ONE of Jehovah's people witnessed to a preacher and his wife in a Kentucky hamlet. The preacher knew it all, and was not interested except to find fault; his wife showed real interest but was not permitted to obtain the booklets. She contrived, however, to elude her husband; she contributed 25c and asked that the booklets be left next door, where she could obtain them at her convenience. "The Lord knoweth them that are his," and how to feed them, too.
Buy Your Overalls Now, John
JOHN W. PRICE, pastor of Moran (Texas) Methodist church, makes the following remarks, which lead one to urge that he would better buy his overalls right now:
Did you realize that in the Moran Methodist Church the pastor can depend on about seven people to carry on the church's work? You know that it is a shame in a church carrying 142 on the roll. Let's either do something that will bring credit to God's kingdom or close the doors.
Misuse of the Name Jehovah
THE papers have had considerable about Jackson Whitlow, Stooping Oak, Tennessee, who fasted 51 days, declaring Jehovah told him to do it. He made a great play with the word "Jehovah"; declaring that "Jehovah, who ordered me to stop eating, is all powerful. Jehovah can make me well again". Jehovah had nothing to do with it. The man was and is irrational, misled by demons. His misuse of Jehovah's name is a dishonor to the Creator.
Estonia Nazifies Its Youth
ESTONIA has adopted government control of all youth leagues, and no other youth leagues will be allowed.
Big Business
La Follette’s Tribute to Chowderhead
LA FOLLETTE’S Senate sub-committee on education and labor made a partial report on its investigation of the Pinkerton Detective Agency’s zeal in spending $240,000 of employers’ money in the first seven months of 1936 for corrupting men to sell out their fellow workers. That’s quite a nice business to be in. Lovely! The committee describes one of the shining examples of the type of men selected for such work. It is quite touching, and makes a real American feel, oh, so proud of such a national institution as Pinkerton’s:
Drawn from the underworld, a large number of strikebreakers have criminal records. An interesting example is Sam Cohen, alias Sam Goldberg, alias Chowderhead Cohen, alias Charles Harris, who testified before the committee. His preparatory work in industrial relations included a term in Atlanta for conspiracy, four years in State’s prison and four years in Sing Sing for burglaries, and detention as material witness in a notorious murder case.
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