Your communication of the 7th inst. in reply to my letter received.
We appreciate the consideration shown and interest manifested, but
earnestly petition your Honor for a fair and impartial investigation.
We condemn in unqualified terms lawlessness among our people, and by no
means condone the crime of Harris, nor his associates; but this crime,
as black as it may be, does not justify the policemen in their savage
and indiscriminate attack upon innocent and helpless people.
We ask for no money consideration, and our counsel, Hon. Frank
Moss, has been so advised. We are not responsible for what private
individuals may do--the rights of citizenship we value above money.
We ask for the conviction, and removal from the force of those officers
whom we are able to prove guilty.
We appeal to you, sir, as chief magistrate of this city, to give this
matter special personal attention.
If the guilty are shielded it will encourage the mob to repeat the
same offense, the officers to commit the same deeds, and our people to
prepare for self-defense in spite of law or gospel. This can have no
other termination than bloodshed and butchery.
This, I believe, may all be avoided by a course of simple justice.
The color of a man's skin must not be made the index of his character
or ability. From the many ugly threatening letters I have received I
feel that my own life is not safe, but I am unwilling to purchase it
by silence at the expense of my unfortunate race. We feel keenly our
position, and again appeal to you for common justice.