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Show NEGRO UPRISING ! IS INVESTIGATED Trouble Fostered by Negro Who Preyed on Their Superstition. DELIBERATE PLAN LAID Young Black Deceives Race' by Stories of Government Authority. HELENA. Ark . Oct. 6 A statement state-ment was made today on Iho recent riots by K M. Allen of the committee! of soven authorized by local officers and Gov Brougb to Inveeticate the trouble, charging that tho affair W&B an organized ngrn uprising, fostered by a nepro who preyed on 'the igno-ranee igno-ranee and Superstition of a race oi children for mastery gains " Mr Alton, who was one or 21 lead 4 Ing men marked fnr ileath. after hearing hear-ing confessions, examining circulars and other evidence procured by slate j and military Officers in connection with the work of the committee, li j eued the following statement to ex plain what ih committee had found i J to be the situation leading to the killing kill-ing of live while men ami Upwards I of a score of ne groes: j "The present trouble with the ne-frOSt ne-frOSt In Phillips countv Is not a race, riot. It Is a deliberately planned In l&UrreCtlon of the negroes ogains; the ' whiles directed b an organization . known as the 'Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America,' es ' tnblished for the purpose of banding' i negroes together for (h- killing of, j white people This union was started 'by Robert L Hill, a negro, tweivy six years of age of Winchester, Arkansas who saw In n an opportunity of Qlftk-I Ing easy money He had been n far-i mer all his life but lately had bem ' poking as a 'private detective doing work In this and all Toreign conn-j tries ' "He Btarted his first union work In i Anrll of this year He organised the 'Ratio League' in May of this year.' He told (he darkles thai he wss an agent of the government and beiau-'' the senators and representatives in! Washington yrere yvhitr men anil ill sympathj with the white men of the SOUtb, it was impossible for the nc sroes to get the rights thai had been promised ihem for erytre q the arm. and so the government had called into existence this organization Which would be supported by the government l in defense of ate negroes against the white people. He told ihem il was I necessary for all member- of Ihej j union to arm themsees in prepara- J tion for I he day when they should he j called upon to atinek rhMr while op-1 1 pressors. "The slogan of (he organization Is. I'WS battle for our rights.' The password pass-word of all negroes Wafl 'Wo have Just; begun.' I "He told Ibfiu that those membi I -who -re unable to buy ammunition ! would be supplied by the union from' ihe government storehouse at Win- i chesl c r. "Tho purely mercenary side of it de-I de-I elops as follows : "Negro men wore clinrged 31.30 entrance en-trance fees and negro women fin cents At the second or third ltt jlng. he would bring Hr. V E. Powell, of Winchester) with him, who purport j ed to be the examining physician U i the Kovernmenl in its work of reg istering the negroes in defense ot , their rights a certificate wae filled lout and signed by the doctor and given to each negro upon payment of fir. Icents. This certificate was supposed! jto be the registration document Those negroes yvho Were possessed of fund'; in amounts from $5 to $23 were enrolled' en-rolled' In an advance section of 'In-union 'In-union and upon payment of whatever sum he (Hill) could procure in excess of $5 a certificate yvas given entitling tho holder to attend the congresses of the union at Winchester and speak on he floor of the meeting regarding . n : questions brought up and to assist in ! keeping the constitution of the United States from being questioned 1 "Another form of extortion was to sell shares of ?10 each to the negroes In a proposed building to be erected i bj the union at Winchester Hill had ISO planned his campaign that any ne-, ne-, gro possessing from fifty cents to fifty fif-ty dollars yvas given an opportunity j to invest In something connected yynh1 the union- "He then advised the members that i 'he general attorney of the union In ( Little Kock would for an additional consideration represent all of th 1 ne-gross ne-gross in their settlement with landlords land-lords during tho ginning season. He) wont to several of the meetings with typewritten powers of attorney which : he had signed by the negroes collect-j ing amounts from $2t to $50 and pledg Ing payment of the balance of fifty j dollars each with the crop as security. securi-ty. "He further told the negrOCS that the plan of Secretary I,an to provide , homestead for the soldiers hud been carried out where the white soldiers were concerned, but th" UeglOeS bad' been refused participation In It. Wei found whore negro soldiers at Elaine1 'lied sold their discharge napers for! I sums ranging from $50 to $100 on the I theory that such discharge entitled the holder to 40 acres of government land He produced government maps j of state lands in the Elalno country, which ho said could be bought for $200. This amount was raised and naid to hlra The land was all described de-scribed and certain negroes had desig-'nated desig-'nated which parts of the variou j farms (all In cultivation) they desired I to take over for themseh en after tho white people had been driven off. "He urged alt lodges to decide upon i ulan of camDalgn when day cam to strike and designated the part to be j played by every man He told them i that the government yvas erecting at I Winchester three huge storehoui-os yvhere arms, ammunition and trained i soldiers would be ready for Instant is.- On Wednesday morning aftei tu first fight at Hoop Spur the negroes crossed the track and lay in the weeds all day waiting for Hill's army to materialize. ma-terialize. They yvere within easy range of automobiles goin to i nd from Hoop Spur all day nnd could easily have fired Into them but Unwished Un-wished to wait for Hill's army in order or-der to clean up In Jfc fell -woop. The. fiht St Hoop Spur WSJ unpie meditated as far as "he negrOt 1 er J concerned as they wro organizing th-ir forcc-p Wednf?da morning to (attack and capture Elaine, but when runners informed the leaden that White men were entering the woods al illoou Sour they decided to go up and ! wipe out the gang before entering up on the more serious tack oi capturing Elaine They under-estimated the lllC of the force from Helena and the ba( itle resulted. "Every negro who joined these loilc it yvas given to understand that Ultimately he would bo called upon 10 kill white people. Unquestionably the time for attack bad been set but plaun had not been entirely perfected and the shooting of the officers brought on the insurrection ahead of schedule- "Another schem used by HUI to obtain money was to appoint leading metroes or several of them in each lodge as 'private and foreign detet jtlves.' furnishing them yvith large nickel plated stars and a pair of nickel nick-el plated handcuffs for yvhhh they paid him $50 each ' 00 . |