The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 29, 1918, Page 4

In: the- f;i:!;ggest of ‘a square deal for the farmers lonpartis Th an Teader A magazine that dares to print the truth Oflicial Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League VOL. 6, NO. 17 A ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, APRIL 29, 1918 WHOLE NUMBER 136 A ROMAN HOLIDAY IN TEXAS HOUSANDS of farmers, after learning how the National Nonpartisan league had cleaned up North Dakota, urged the League to come to Texas. They wanted the machinery by which the common people could sweep out the inter- locking camorras composed of politicians and the servants of big business, who have plunder- ed the citizenry of that great state. - So undisputed had been this tyrannical sway in. the past that these politicians imagine they can stop the League and balk .the farmers by foul methods. Large-minded men in all lines of industry welcomed the League to Texas. They realized "that the-real prosperity of the state depends upon the prosperity ~of ‘the farmers. And no one realized the importance of the rise of Nonpartisanship more than did the vicious political machines which saw their power menaced. DOWN IN EAST TEXAS A CRIME HAS BEEN COM- MITTED. County officials, merchants, a banker and their servile hangers-on and clerks have hrutally assaulted three Leagueé speakers and organizers. ¥ In the town of Mineola, Texas, Thursday, April 4, the deputy sheriff arrested A. A. Cother, an organizer for the League. - The charge was vagrancy, although Mr. Cother had driven into town in his own motor car. A few minutes later, H. F. Hoover, a League worker, also was arrested on the same charge. Then H. L. Higdon, another organizer, was thrown into the same cell. He was taken from his home in Mineola and also charged with ‘vagrancy. ; ‘ When M. M.-Offut, a prominent Texas stock farmer, now state office manager of the Nonpartisan league, went to telephone headquarters at Waco of what was going on, he was seized by _about a dozen ruffians. He is a gray-bearded man who for 35 ' - years has been a member of the Methodist church and is a lay preacher at Tyler, Tex. He was dragged into a secluded room. There two men, one of whom he recognized, hacked off his silvery hair and whiskers. : » Small Bore Editor Gloats Over Atrocity - The full facts also have been laid-before the head of the United .BEEN 25 OR 3 ‘of the journey, they will go there in person to appear before the He was then kicked and dragged down the stairs and after further indignities, permitted to leave on the train. His three associates, meanwhile, were confined in the local jail. Shortly before midnight, a mob, composed in large part of those who consider themselves the leading citizens of Mineola, took them out of their cell and drove into the country, apparently with the connivance of the county authorities. b In the words of two of the organizers, this then happened: “THEY THEN MADE US LAY ON THE GROUND ON OUR STOMACHS AND STRIPPED THE CLOTHING FROM OUR BACKS AND BEAT US WITH A BLACKSNAKE WHIP. . I DID NOT CQUNT THE STROKES, BUT IT MUST HAVE EACH ONE. THEY DID NOT CEASE BEAT- ING US UNTIL SOME TIME AFTER WE BEGAN CALLING FOR ASSISTANCE. THEN THEY POURED SALT AND WATER ON THE STRIPES.” What is to be done about this violation of the rights of American citizens? . That is what the National Nonpartisan league is going to find out. The matter of this lynching will be taken to the gov- ernor of Texas and will also be taken direct to Washington. If the men who were abused recover enough to stand the strain attorney general and perhaps the president of the United States. States department of justice for Texas. Despite the fact that the newspaper accounts distorted the real story of this outrage, the case has aroused widespread in- terest all over eastern Texas. The prediction is made on all sides that it will prove one of the important factors in rescuing the Lone Star state from the grasp of the political spoilsmen, absentee landlords“and profitéering business. Below you mdy read the newspaper version of this affair. On the following ‘pages are the affidavits and statements of the men who suffered so horribly for their beliefs and for the cause of democracy and justice in America. Mistreatment of White Haired Old Man Especially Delighted Texas’ Newspaper—Here’s an Exact Copy of What Was Printed FROM THE GREENVILLE (TEXAS) BANNER 'HREE organizers of the “Nonpartisan league” were given a red-hot reception and got a taste of high - life at Mineola on Thursday afternoon and night, thanks to the loyalty of Mineolaites. - The three . aforesaid organizers, Offutt, Higdon and Cother, learned by bitter experience and to an extremely » not.go in Texas. Also, they will carry to their grave marks that will constantly remind them of a certain East Texas town, in Wood county, should they live to be older than Methusalem. 4 . It happened on this wise: Offutt, Higdon and Cother journeyed to Mineola to organize a “Nonpartisan league.” - Shortly after their appearance in the city, officers.got wise to their work and the trio was arraigned before the corporation court on a charge of vagrancy ; unable to make bond, they were placed in the city bastile for safe- keeping until the hour of trial.- - & : Word became circulated that three enemies of the gbvermfient painful degree|that pro-German propaganda-will - ~ had been arrested and in less time than is required to relate the story a crowd of Mineolans organized, armed themselves with the “necessary tools and marched in orderly form to where the trio was housed. Without ceremony doors were smashed and ‘the alleged . gro-Germans‘_ ordered to head the procession on its return to the: usiness district of Mineola, where it is said the real proceedings .started. e - .. Offutt, ‘s,tgi':e_ _orgah‘izer of the Nonpartisan league, was first. Saken i hind It ig said Offutt resembled Sampson of ancient Bible times, by reason of his long white beard and long shaggy hair, and the experience through which he went was similar in respect to that Samson had with Delilah. A pair of sheep shears were pro- vided and an anxious Mineolan proceeded to shear the chieftain. The Mineolan, in his over-zealous moments, was less careful than was Samson’s lady friend, and when Offutt was finished he re- sembled, it is said, a porcupine more than a human being. His silver locks and beard were boxed and expressed to Washington. As a further evidence that Americanism is not to be tampered with around Mineola, the citizens carried them to an adjacent wood- land where they were suspended between the heavens and the earth from trees by means of ropes. There was no monkey busi- ness about the performance as the three were actually hanged. After the ropes were securely tied, blacksnake whips, buggy tugs and rawhides were brought out and members of the crowd took regular turns at applying the whipping apparatus to the persons of the three. They were lashed from shoulder to heel, crisscross, back and forth, up and down and all around. When the leader said “enough” darkness had begun to settle and before the three were sure enough dead they were cut down and ordered to’ “b‘gat ) e - ‘Where Offutt went only he and his Lord know, ' Higdon and - Cother, however, managed to reach Golden, a small station north o .. PAGE THREE 'of Mineola, and Friday-morning they boarded the northbound pas- senger and came to this city. Chief of Police Sam Polk was noti- fied to take them from the train on its arrival and did so. Carried to police headquarters they related their experience in an open, _frank manner, confessing that they were “through with the Non- partisan league.” Higdon, a blacksmith of Fort Worth and former w SR A e 3 £ B e e L S L