The New York Age from New York, New York • Page 1

0 8J FIRST with NEWS Set IJay 11 17 For Observance Of Nafcaal AbM Poll Tax Teek BIRMINGHAM, Alt. (CNA) An appeal for tb observance of yzj 11 17 as national "Abolish the Poll Tax" Week, with the purpose? at directing public attention to the fact that ever 10,000,000 eligible American eftisen are voteless, was gde this week by the Southern Negro Youth Congress from its national headquarters in Binning aim. Ala. In announcing plans fbr "Abolish tw Poll Tax" Week. Edward E.

Strong, Executive Secretary of the youth group, pointed out that observance should receive wide support from civic organizations, labor, schools, end churches both In (be North and the South. "It is impossible," be stated, "for Southersjrs wbcj cannot vote be cause of accumulated poll tares sd prejudiced local registration officials to win this struggle by themselves. It ie up to eur brothers toe Northern states who have the vote to influence their Con iressmen to vote for anti poll tax legislation. The week's observance wOl serve to fscus national attention sot only trie poll tax but alto on the general discrimination against our people at the polls, such as the intimidation ef voters, unreasonable registration 'requirements and the holding ef lily white primaries. Want A rn Tax Bin The purpose jof fc.

national ob "fcjttc as announced by. Ihe youth group' are first, to mobilize ratiment igainst the poll tax and the dental of the vote, secondly to arouse a national demand for pas age of the Geyer Anti Poll Tax BilL' to raise funds and secure wider support for the campaign to win the right to vote in the Southern States. In addition to the question, of voting. Mr. Strong further stated, related issues would be emphasised the week's observance as, for Instance, the fact that civil liber, ties and the right of labor are continually endangered in a community where the majority of the people are voteless.

Police brutality peonage and Jim crow, he stated, will bo bit a severe blow by the abolition of restrictions en voting. Growing dissatisfaction has beea expressed throughout fee South in the last few years with existing poll tax laws, and a wide variety of organizations have cooperated in trying to secure passage of the Anti Poll Tax BuX Poll Taxes must be paid kn the states of Ala bams. Arkansas, Mississippi. Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, SouthxCa roiina, and Virginia before voting in any election. It has been estimated that tea million adults, six million of them white, have no voice in their government because ef these laws.

Tor the most interesting editorial page in the Negro Press, read The few York Age every week. tPltiltdilfellsflnlt! Rzce To Dsrcb On D. hi Prott "Let the Negro Masses speak" ays A. Philip Xandolph international president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters to a era nati attack aa the negligence of (hie federal government to tocor orstc the Kegro workers Into the National Defense plaa and pre tra. 'Negroes have a stake Jta fconai Defense, ho continues "tt is big stake.

It at a vital and important stake." "Nobody cares anything about OS. are being pushed around" be argues. With all the taxes, to provide the SMatey for this gigantic Program with which the coders of Workers of other races are filled, the Negre muet pay his share. That be is not reaping his share of opportunities to collect his pay ea lpc wbea the others do si the rgumnt. Ho as mewing aa abun "Ke of inoutte and is being ig wi whoa toba, some of which at eligible for, are being handed out Th' world war ertils and Aaer stbemo of Nattooal Defense arC tfeatil IMWrmutf mmt fL hols eceoomy ef oar couatr.

VOL.55. No. 42. Ssccessful Eun Eras. C.

Grfeg, One Of 6 Od Of 15C3 To fcss DafHrclt hm Publication of the Jist for Ad minJstrabVt AaaiswVPuWfcTtela Uons, by the Municipal CeyJa Sat vtct Commission revealed of the six persons who finally passed this extremely still examination one waa Ernest Grigg, a Harlem resident. Mr. Grigg's presence en this list Is regarded as an exceptional achievement when it waa disclosed that approximately 1500 persons originally competed in this exam for Junior and Administrative Assistant positions in the Department of Welfare. The specialty. Public Relations, on which Mr.

Grigg ap oeers together with the other spe cialties into which the examination had been divided, will be used to fill a large number of the remaining positions in the Department of Welfare which have not yet 'come under civil service. The official announcement of the position indicated an annual salary of 14.000. Mr. Grigg is a graduate ef John ion Smith University and has an M. A.

from New York Univer sity together with additional work toward the Ph. D. degree. He has also studied at the New York School of Social Work at which be was granted a Fellowship by the Temnorarr Emerfency Belief Administration of New York State. Mr.

Grigg is now a personnel Assistant the Department of Wel fare where be baa served in various capacities. Prior to his present assignment at Central Office he waa Administrative Supervisor of a Harlem Office. Sharp and permanent rearrange ments' and re adjustments in the entire industrial and work setups of. business industry and labor are hi the process of development If the Negro is shut out of these extensive and intensive changes la industry, labor and business, and the race will be set back over fifty years. Indeed, it is seriously doubtful that if the Negro warts until these economic, trade union and business transformations and Innovations, sow under wey.

under the sanction and guidance of the government, are erysUlllaed and set. ha may retrieve lost tyound or salvage rights saeri let the Negro Masses speak" he reseats, Let sham go to Washing ton, the capital of the country and do Jbe speaking By automobile, bus and other means ef transportation, even env foot, they must go and search down the streets fro tostina. thai Negro group ten thou caad strong. Mayhap Negroes can not: stop Aerrlmlnation but they can. he' concludes "tear the snack of hypocrisy from America's Dese ERNEST C.

GRIGG aar Ber 1, faByN Divine Escapes Jail Tcarariiy By Leave? $13,000 At Sbriff Office Pending Appeal The "Father's" powers are still intact for the very jaws of jail which have yawned wide aince Wednesday anticipation of accommodating ''God were snapped shut in disappointment on Friday, without him. Haled again before the law because ho defaulted the amount of 15948, a judgment won last year by one of Mrs. Ve rinda Brown, the Rev. Major J. Divine was slated for the City Jail by order of Supreme Court sJus lie Philip J.

McCook. However in Sheriff's office on Friday a temporary apneasement was submitted snd accepted. The sum of $13,000 is Father Divine's guarantee to the County ef New York that ho will not cross the county boundaries for the next six months. Ton nearest "The Father" came to jail was the hour and a half which he remained in the Sheriff's office until the signing of the tech nical papers releasing him from "body attachment" and the acceptance of the $13,000 in lieu. When he emerged from the Hall of Rec sFirst Tilt In Texas Priasuy feise 4 DALLAS.

Tex. The first skirmish Jn the legal battle dgainst the Democratic white Primary in Texan was won here March 5 when Judge Thomas M. Kennerly of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas set April 14 for a hearing on the merits of the case of Hasgett v. Werner, etaL This Is" the first time in the history of white primary cases where the court has ordered a hearing on the merits, which automatically permits the introduction of evidence. Attorneys for fhe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, heeded by Thurgood Marshall, special counsel from the New York office, regard this as an important step in the long fight against disfranchisement Judge Kennerly denied she defendant's motion to strike certain portions of the complaint filed by Hasgett and his NAACP attorneys and also denied the motion to die miss the complaint The court ruled "defendant's motion to dismiss brings forwsrd questions of law which should be decided on the evidence, not on the pleadings.

Ban Called TJnceastHaueaal In ail previous white primsry cases' the lower courts have dismissed the eases on pleadings and no evidence could be put in. The NAACP expects on April 14 to put in evidence to support the claim that Negroes are barred unconstitutionally from participating in elections in Txas. The fundamental theory upon which this attack is being made is that the primary is aa integral part of the election machinery of the Stats that the law governing primary elections in Texas is in most respects Identical with that governing general elections, and that those individual defendants were appointed pursuant to statutory authority with, powers and duties and to perform practically identical functions to those prescribed by statute for officals in general The action was brought by Sidney Hasgett a resident of Houston, Tex, who alleges in his complaint that be was denied the right to vote in the primary hi JulyLlM0. The case hi being carried forward by the Texas branches of the N. A.

A. P. and by the national office in New York. The entire South is watching the Texas case in the hope that it will deride the) white primary throughout Dixie the case poos to the United States supreme court end faf won, white primaries In the South IU ha wiped out and hundreds of SBOusands of Negroes will be able to vote to state and local eleetiona. The NAACP has carried up two previous, cases an.

voting to the highest court and won both. one In ltn and one in 1132. The third, which wee not handled by the association, hut by private Texas citiaens, was lost i a NEW YORK, N. ords, In which the Sheriff's Office is located within sight of the new jail, a small band of followers rushed from their vantage place across Chambers street and fell in behind bis august person in vie torious procession is his car, which had been parked at Broadway, a couple of blocks away. "I believe in the payment of all just debts, and teach my followers the same," Father Divine said, in a statement issued by his secretary.

John Lamb, to the persons assem bled. The statement continued, "But the judgment obtained against me by Verinda Brown is not a just debt It was obtained through deceit, perjured testimony and am glad I do not have any property or money, so they (meaning Mrs. Brown and her attorneys) cannot get any." It was before Justice Benedict D. Dineen last year that Mrs. Brown successfully argued that the money she said she gave to Father Divine was not a gift to further fair work but money which she had entrusted to his care.

The $3049 judgment was returned in her favor. lixaraff Froa F. Locals To Job Negro Union CHICAGO, IlLiCNA) Protesting against the formation of Jim crow auxiliary locale of the lily white Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, a number of AFL red cap federal locale located in California, Arizona, and Utah, withdrew from th AFL and entered the United Transport Service Employees of America, the union revealed this week. The wholesale transfer from the AFL to the USTEA involves red caps at San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Berkeley, Pasadena, Santa Barbara, San Jose, Fresno, Pklo Alto, Dsvis, San Mateo, and Wilmington. California; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; and Ogden, Utah.

They are covered by existing agreements with the Southern Pacific Railroad, Pacific Electric Railroad. Loo Angeles Union Terminsl Co, and the Ogden (Utah) Railway Depot Co. Having been delivered an ultimatum by she Jim crow Brotherhood of Railway Clerks to spply ft. sn auxiliary charter by March lit these locals under the leadership of general chairman John Hoskins of Ssa Francisco and President James A. Grey of Los Angeles, have been issued UTSEA charters and petitions are to be filed before the national Mediation Board for a series of elections to determine the bargaining agency for these employes.

Mr. Hoskins snd Mr. Grsy in a joint statement declared: "Our membership will never submit to the dictatorial policies outlined by the Executive Council of the AFL in conformity with a Jim crow conspiracy fomented by George M. Harrison of the Railway Clerks. Therefore la answer to this undemocratic ultimatum, our membership in a unanimous decision bsvt er tared the ranks of (he United Transport Service Employees of "America, where we nope to demonstrate our willing nes to serve the cause of democratic unionism in the railway industry." Two IzX Fad Al Edtczi Of Rhrcr Bed CHICAGO, Ul Tbe bodies of two pupils at the Coolidgc School ia Phoenix, adjourning Harvey in southern Cook County, were recovered test week from the Little Calumet River.

The victims, both years old. were Fred Year wood. 131374th avenue, and 'Reginald Bracier, 15114 4ta avenue. The two lads had beea missing since Feb ruary 13 when they were last playing on the trexen river. v.

0) i MM SATURDAY, MARCH 15, JUSTICE DEPT. AIDS TOIEIL Solicitor Geceral Upholds LegbktcrY fight For Kscrtzhatka Ban WASHINGTON, D. C. The now famous fight of Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell against the Jim crow regulation of Southern railroads gained official stamp of approval from the nation's Depart ment ef Justice last week.

In an opinion filed with the Supreme Court, Solicitor General CONGRESSMAN ARTHUR W. MITCHELL Francis Biddas stated that Negroes travelling from one State to another ought to receive accommodations equal to those provided for whites. Mitchell's campaign was begun when he was forcibly ejected from a Pullman car in Arkansas while travellini from Chicago to Hot Springs in 1937. Explaining that the Interstate Commerce Commission had dis missed Mr. Mitchell's petition for equal treatment with white per sons because of the "comparatively little colored traffic," Biddle added: "The majority of the commission considered thst it was dealing with a question of colored traffic.

It wm. however, faced with an issue of the basic liberties and priv ileges of citisens. Biddle noted that the Supreme Court had ruled that a railroad "without regard to the inter or in tra State character of the journey, had power by regu'ation to segre gstc white and colored passengers." He asserted however that "the separate accommodations must be of equal quality." 30 Hd Bate, 0re! At Tcjkejet list Dad TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, Ala Funeral services for Edmund Burke, comptroller of Tuskegee.In rtitute and secretary of the Board of Trustees who died here Friday morning, following a brief illness. were held in the Institute Chssel at I o'clock Saturday afternoon. Rev.

William Byrd Lee. rector, St Andrew's Mission of the Episcopal Church, waa in charge of the services. He wss ewirtrd by Chap Iain Harry V. Richardson, Rev. Charles W.

Kelly, pastor of the Greenwood Baptist Church; and Rev. T. R. pastor of Wsshiagton Chspel AME Church, both of the Institute Community. Mr.

Burke was bora on the Is Isod Of Montaerrst British West Indies, of an old and distinguished family and waa educated In the school of the bland at Martinque. He spent several years in the British government snd wss frequently commended for the high character of his work' ss well as for his loy slty to his superiors. Coming to this country in 1803, he secured employment in the New York subway system. Beceuse of his keen interest In his work and his willingness to serve in various capacities, he won rapid promotion and attracted the attention of LP. HfclUnder and Cycnpsny of Bos tea.

operaUnj one of the torge and ucrvsHiu ewpnnmetn stores ia New York City. Mr. Burke remain mJk WE. 1W v. and reae from Junior clerk to auditor, i 71 Jt" 4f it rx 1941 rc German Bomb Kills Negro Band Leader In Cafe de Paris LONDON, England When the Cafe de Paris was struck by a direct hit on the night of March 8, Ken (Snake Hips) Johnson orchestra leader, and a number of his men were among those killed out right It was one of the worst.

raids London haa had in recent weeks. Johnson was 27 years old and came to England in 1936 to make a name for himself with his dance band in night clubs and in broad casts. His nickname came from his habit of swaying rhythmically to his music The orchestra leader was' a na tive of British Guiana and the son of a physician. His band of IS mu sicians wss recruited in Barbados, British Guiana, Trinidad, Grenada and Jamaica, all of them were Bri tish subjects, although of the Ne gro race. Among others killed in the same raid waa Mart in us Poulsen, one of the owners of Cafe de Paris, Jersey Cly Ifea Is HeHByGrJtry JERSEY CITY.

N. J. Jsejl Hodge, 29, was indicted by the Grand Jury hero hist week? en a charge of attempted extortion. Ac cording to Assistant United States Attorney Thomas V. Arrowsmith, Hodge, now in Hudson County Jail, attempted to collect $90 last Jsnuary from.

Charles J. Hoff man of 218 Suydam avenue, oa threat of Injuring the letter's son. The accused had been employed for twelve years in the Baker Paint and Varniah Company, of which the is president Hoffman told authorities be received sn anonymous letter instructing him to pay the sender $50 under wrest of harm to Cbas. Hoffman, Jr. who also works in the factory.

Taking the letter to Captain Ed ward Gordon of the Communipaw avenue police station, Hoffman wss advised to mske a reply to a Grand street address mentioned in the letter, but to mail stripe ef paper instead of money. Sidney Singleton, 30, 348 Grand street, described by police as Hodges' dupe, stopped the mail man and asked for the letter. He waa arrested by police. Hodges sr rest then followed with Singleton booked as a material witness. Due to the fsct thst use of the mails was involved, the FBI wss called into the case.

The defendant allegedly told po lice he vras desperate for money due to his wife's illness. He bad contracted several debts be stated. 80 1 U. S. bhcts 372cd bf Ordrrs Ilea To Fort Dix FORT DIX Occupation of can ton men ts assigned to the 172nd In fsntry swsits only their arrival.

Lieutenant Colonel S. A. Bedlnger, F. Fort Dix Supply Officer, announced this week. The 372nd, composed of.

Negro troops from Massachusetts, Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland and the Dis trict of Columbia, vu inducted Monday, according to advices from the War Department They are scheduled to report at Fort Dix on March 18 or II. The 'strength of she 372nd. ac cording to War Department figures. will be II officers, one wcrrant officer and 1.280 enlisted men. A liaison officer ie already on and or 19 men in an advance cadre will report Thursdsy or Frl dsy of this week to heat the buildings and put thetn in order.

Arraigned before Magistrate Brumberger to Homicide Court Henry HUL 14 year old doorman al th Apollo Theatre was continued in the nssftdy ef hie Uwyer far bearing Friday. March list, on technical charge of homicide grow ing out of the death of Bishop James Walter Brown on Thursday night, February 27 u. Separated Frcai Mate A it 'T, ELLEN RAY FOUNTAIN Vell Knovm Swimmer Ad Husband Come To Partis Of Tie Way; Mrs. Ellen Ray Fountain, the only colored woman to ever quali fy for the world famed swimming contest across the English Chan nel was legally separated by agreement from her husband, Bernard Fountain, this after signing aa amicable "parting" in the pres ence of lawyera, representing the well known couple, it was revealed. I The Fountains were married for years.

Mrs. Fountain, winner of aquatic sam under the name of Ellen Ray, was represented by Saul Solomon. 119 West 44th street Her husband is a clerk in the Gen era! Post Office. As the country's best known col ored swimmer in 1927 and 78, she was picked along several white American stars to go to Lon don for the Channel swim, but a subwsy accident a few days be fore she was scheduled to sail stopped her Later, in a contest sponsored by William Wrigley's Catalina Island promotion, she wss mentioned sev eral times for a spot In the movies. Several montha afterward, she returned to New York to win first prise in a contest held at Pelhara Prior to her athletic activi ties, Mrs.

Fountain won 'top prize in a contest to determine this city's most, beautiful girt Accused Discovers Law's Lb Hichirj Ecbcj MOLINE, 111. After, be in. given lie detector testa in Chicago, Er neat Dobba, 28 year old Rock ls lander, waa returned last week to Molme where he confessed a $300 burglary. When, authorities told him that the machine Indicated he had lied five times, Dobbs replied: "Ain't that machine wonderful. That's exactly bow many lies told." Btjb Cctrcciica Oa Trcidad Naral Bases PORT OF SPAIN.

Trinidad Construction of the United States Naval base In Trinidad has been started. This Is one of the ba acquired from Britain in exchange for fifty over age destroyers. It is located on Trinidad's Northwest Peninsula. The establishment will be complete Itself, having fta own wa ter aupply, electric power plant hospital, repair shops and other planta. Ground ia being cleared for an army Chicago Grcrp Das Raced NtZrces 34 Cczpzdes CHICAGO, TIL For the first time to their, history thirty Aur arms, ere aow employing Negro workers as the result of a six month campaign by the Chicago Urban League, officials of the or ganisation reported last week.

Howard D. Could, director ef the devorkneat of industrial relations. caid that 431 Negroes had beea placed in jobs by the league at sn average salary weekly. Many were placed ta factories af ter they bed learned wrA projects, he said. Pay, More TWELVE PAGES eaeetaaasaaat' QJfi(SM PoHce ftobDedh Of Albany Wb5n; Meved A Suicide By 8HAMJE NORMAN and PETS VAN BUKElf ALBANY, N.

Y. Blanche Law yer ol tnu cy, pronuncni social ite and club woman, took, her own life in her home early Monday nsorning, slashing her throat' with straight razor. Summoned to the home, 181 Jefferson street po lice found her husband, Tracy, grief' atrkken. Questioning Mr. Lawyer, authe rifles learned that be had toft the house to shovel the snow oft the walk and returned to.

find his wife lying in a pool of bleed, her throat windpipe se vered. On a table in front of her were the suicide's insurance papers and a note' addressed to' her husband. Coroner Wands refuse to divulge the contents of sui i cide Investigating police wens, pat Doyle and Officer Dugan of Patrol Car No. 7. The coroner's: pay si clan, Dr.

John Pbelan, 737 Madi son avenue, pronounced we man dead upon bis arrival a few. minutes after police were sum, moned. While Mrs. Lawyer was, pro. nounced a suicide.

Chief of Police, Fitzpatrick has ssslgned Detectives. Patterson and Weaver to gate the death. It was toaroei that, the deceased had. been, under f.9 care ef Dr. Meckler atadix: avenue following a nervous break down.

Her brother, Alton, who ilv ed.at.the Jefferson streej address, said, she had made an xppoln'tment with, the doctor for two clock of the day her body was discovered. Born in Bescon, New York, Mrs. Lawyer had been an Albany resident for twenty years. In addition to her husband she leaves a moth er, three brothers, three sisters and a niece. seBeBsvawaanawau) Mrs.

Alice Simmons, Chb Caroline Hed, SbshedBy MM Mi. Alice Simmons, who for the past four years has been directress of the welt known Club Caroline at 262 West 127th street, wss rushed to Harlem Hospital Friday evening in a critical condi tion from multiple cuts and stab wounds of the head, body and arms, said to have been inflicted by one of the' residents. The assailant arrested by Dctee tive O'Connor of the 28th Squad, identified herself as Mary Hayes, 30, wsitress and said she had been living at the Club Caroline for th past seven months. When question ed by the detective for reasons for the assault the young woman said that "the directress sagged The argument began, ft is re ported, on Friday morning when Miss Hayes Is said to have aorused Mrs. 8immons of causing her to lose her.

job. Considering the in client closed, when she told Miss Hsyes that she did not oven knew her employer, Mrs. Simmons id said to have left the club and gone shopping with friends. In the Interim Miss Hayes la said to have visited the Community Service Society on West 123th street and threatened to kill, one of the workers, Alvin Martin. She returned to the club determined to "get even" with Mrs.

Simmons whom blamed for her plight and left word at the desk that she wanted to sec the directress. When Mrs. Simmons was admitted to her room the woman is said to have leaped upon her slashing her furiously until screams of the wounded directress brought' Constance Goedman, 2, 2179 Lexington avenue was burned to death shortly before I o'clock Monday afternoon, and bar mother and brother seriously burned la a fire of undetermined origin which swept the three family tenement at the Lexington avenue address. Mrs. Arline Ooodraen, th tot's Brother.

32, and her son. ftemuot 4, were 'removed to Harlem Hospital. Mrs. Goodman was transferred to Bcuevue Hospital tor Sr asmtion. I Hill.