Brownsville Weekly News

a

undertaker had already been noti_ fied. she persuaded: the rest of the

- for ~them and also to cut the bill

Petty Motive
Blamed For Act

VED

~ >
Just how far-Dr. J. L. Leach; 3 member of a highly honorable
profession, will go to allay a personal grudge against a certain
young businessman in Flint, has been brought to light by an incidetent which occurred at Hurley Hospital, April 8, when Dr. J. L.

- Leach, it is reported, sensing that his patient was going to die, an
nounceq the imminence of it to the sister and the niece,;who were
at the bedside, early in the morning. At the same time, he opened,
the question of the selection of the undertaker. Upon being told
that Mr. Reynolds was the choice of the family, Dr. Leach so
strongly opposed their_selection that he even pretended a threat not
to sign th. certificate of death, when the patient shall have died.
He played his people ~cheap~ on this score, for one of them spoke
right up and made him change his approach..

Of course, he could not keep
from signing a certificate of death,
bécause it is a National Health
Law which demands of every practicing professional a certified report on all deaths. The Bureau
of Vital statistics must be furnished with that infomation ffor its
records. It is not the famil}*s concern about the signing of a death
certificate. It is, however, the doctor~s unbounden duty to sign the
death certificate. His refusal to
do so would put his right to practice in jeopardy and could cause
him to lose his license. He knows
this but he uses this ruse to bluff
those whom he thinks are ignorant
to this fact. Do not lét Dr. Leach
fool you on this point.

Furthermore, it is not the business of a doctor to interfere with
the selection of an undertaker
anyway. At the moment of death,
a doctor~s best exit from his lost
case is one of gracefully départing
and letting the family m their
unprejudiced selection of their
undertaker. They, and they only
have the right, the exclusive right
to say whom they want.~The doctor having made the veiled threat
of refusing to sign the death certificate, added,-we are told, that
he was not giving Mr. Reynolds
anything. Imaginé him considering your deceased relative his own
property.

The niece quickly spoke up here;
telling him he.was not giving. Mr.
Reynolds anything; that it was
her family~s choice, and- besides.
~my aunt is still alive, Dr. Leac figs
It is said, the doctor said; ~Well, if
you get Reynojds. F am. through
wi a alls _ ie he se ate i teh

i~ eee
wif

t-ahge episode. Finding

fhat all
family to cancel that unauthorized

call. In the ~meantime, Dr. Seach
hed left the room. It is revorted

~that very soon after the cancella-. tion of the other undertaker~s call,

Dr. Leach hurriedly returned and

_ reopened the argument on select-. ing an undertaker, and made a new

proposition, promising to get the
hospital authorities to cut the bill

aati iniephitinia

for the operation -if they would
eet his undertaker. Added to this |
last offer by this member of that |
Honorable Profession, was the belated statement that the deceased |
a certain under
ose policies are based on the old
Boss-McKeighan politics, and
these ruinuous tactics aré the

use whenever he wishes to destroy
somebody. Well, he does not have
to be successful in it; and I have
faith in that. He is cutting at my
Funeral Business sc I will be compelled to keep so busy earning
bread that I cannot bother about
the civic welfare of our people
here, Well, he has a bet on that
from me. I have come here to live
and die. We ull want to live in
peace, and that includes me.

Hitler is attemptirig to starve
England to her knees, and like
Hitler, Leach is trying to starve
me to my knegs. I was really
amused at him one day when I
stopped in his office and listened
to his jibe on varieus things. Wher
he had done, I remarked to him
the following statement:~ ~Doc. I
would be getting along fine if I
could get the wrinkles out of my
stomach.~ The doctor enjoyed that
f remark so much, T began to wonder why. It came to me that, that
was what he was trying. to do tc
me, that is, keep my stomach full
of wrinkles so my gdod work of
looking out for my fellow citizens
here against the ill winds of McKeichanism or Leachism, would be
effectively stopped..

Now. since our newspaper conducted a straw poll on the selection of our suvervisors, the doctor
vas directly annoved by it. As a
result, he has begun a his. intensified efforts to starve old Reynolds out.

none

sducation wa: ATION
~because kept~ too.
nusv feeding those. 15 children on
a poor Georgia farm to, help me
any. Thegonly gave their prayers
and advice. Mv mother kissed me
goodpye 21 years ago, with these
words: ~You are now going away;
stay out of bad commany, take your
rest, and pray.~ ThoSe are my
weapons today and ever will be.
God will do the rest for me.

I am for my people, the masses,
not the small group of so-called
~Rig Shots,~ who stand aloof and

do nothing good for the general |

folk. I am an Undertaker.. My
embalming science cannot be surpassed. and I have, had fourteen
vears of experience in the business,

means the doctor has learmed to.

- ~, ~+, 3M-then I shall not expect tod. much
I have never had a chance (0: aie Bla ee aegre
-aBy...cnoney n my fe. M3

S&S

~ ~Teach vs. Reynolds tactics of his. |

sition in anything

had - requested
taker.:

The doctor finally succeeded in
turning the funeral. Now, folks,
this will all seem silly to you for
~being in the newspaper, but silly
things are being done and silly
things must be reported. Dr.

~ Leach seems to have & mania for
' tonpishness and self-worship. His

desire for positioh is so strong until he would probably go to much
more extreme lengths to preserve
his unfruitful leadership in poli
tics,
This is the secret to all this

~Fis method is to try to starve his

Jonents- into submission to him
bv ~economic blockade~ such as
thai being used in the present war

~aver sees. His personal against

an individual] while the other is
international. But the effect is the
same in relation to scope and effect. That is what
_ go to me: and these ruses such as
this episode in Hurley Hospital is
~gust one of his special weapons

_ ggainst me.

hold any poage a ba sar this one,
undertaker here. But I do
want to see our people having @
better break in this city than they
heave been all these years ~til now.

- ~Jt is for you and it is for you and

am taking the thing
me, that I ford

ve come to Flint to
Well, I ha HERE. I
of a good min
| During these fourteen years I have
| learned that every ~Tom, Dick and
| Harry~ outside of the business
tries to dictate and control the patronage which an undertaker hopes
te receive. The undertaker is at
| the merey of certain uNscrupulous
fellows you will find in the way.
Just by heing good is not enough,
it has been my experience to find.

An undertaker, who is able to
get a bie volume of business must
under the circumstances be what
real christians would call 9 ~bad
mon,~ in order to make much
money. The ~badder~ the man,
the smoother he can lie, the bet| ter his business will be. That seems
i to be the way of the world. Well,
| for my part I don~t want that kind
| of monev. If that is what I have
| got to do to get more business,
~. VOLUME ~ NUMBER

FLINT, MICHIGAN, SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1941

NAACP SCORES FORD FOR
REAK ROUGE

Discrimination
In Defense Jobs
Hit By Hillman

WASHINGTON ~ (SNS) ~ Asserting that prejudice has prevented employment of Negroes in certain defense industries, Sidney
Hillman, director of the labor division of the Office of Promotional
Management, disclosed Saturday,that he has written all holders of
defense contracts urging them to
make use of available members of
the race,

Dr. Will W. Alexander, former
farm security administrator and
interracial] relations worker, was
named by Hillman as a special
consultant on employment and
training problems relating to all
minority groups. |

Hillman also appointed Dr. Robert C. Weaver head of a_ special
section in the OPM to deal with
the *problem of getting defense
jobs for members of the Negro
race, cca

~_~

business

itd pect W. at; Dr.
Leach already; bag
when the Voluntary ~Committee
started its straw poll in: this paper.
The ~results. seem ~to bear that: out;
for out of all the wrangling. over
it, ~the Mayor and his Commissionevs HAD to TAKE LEACH. This
is just what. I have been trying to

side fixing of things might be all
right,.if you, the public agreed

ly one way to really stop this
thing, and that is, next time the
Commissioners and what not come
io you for your vote, if they have
disobeyed your mandate during
their administration, place somehody else in office and go right in
bdfare the. takes, office, like Dr.
Leach did, and get YOUR MAN
on the PREFERRED LIST.

Your Political Clyb has _ that
right and should do this as a representation of the.members of that
club and your ~Yoters in the Community. This is what it is all
about.. This is what I am being
made to pay for through contin
of Dr. Leach. This is what he
hates me for~NOTHING ELSE.

Dr. Leach is smart enough to
cause this fight to seem like it is
just me he is angry with and just
me he is fighting. Well, he_ is
fighting a principle. That princivle is this: The people should have
good men who are especially in
(Continued on back page)

J. D.. Shook Elected

THE FLINT AMATUER GOLF
CLUB ELECTED OFFICERS at
its second meeting Sunday, April
6, in. Sportsmen~s Club. J. D.
Shook was elected President;,W.
Owens, Vice-President; Miss H.
Temple, Sec~y: Mrs. B. Owens,
Ass~t. Sec~y and Megnus - Clark,
Treas. Mrs. M. McClarin, Mr. G.
Friley, Mr. H. Brown and = Mr.
A. Myers were appointed on the
Moore, well known local goifre of
Flint ~was oppointed club Pro to
be assisted by J. D. Shook and
Abe Myers. Mr. Geo. L. Williams
Was appointed Sargt.-At-Arms so
we know everything will be allright.

New members to registe were

Head Of Flint Golfers

land.

Next meeting will be Monday,
April 20, 5 P. M. at the Sportmen~s Club, 1614 Clifford St. All
persons interested are asked to
come out. The golf rating of Flint
Golfers as of April 15, is as fol
NEGROES TO.

Strikers
Report |
Progress

Will Expand.;
Activities "Til *
Fight Is Won f

bent for jobs with the major
bus companies serving Harlem, crowded into the Golden
Gate casino last week and
heard their United Bus
Strike committee report that

but that the strikers ~intend
~to pic

make plain.to you folks. This in- |

with such doings. Now there is on- |

ual loss of funerals by the capers.

N@ib a)
MADE ASS

hy, Pease

zur 3
pale sah
ch ATICN Oe:

events had transpired and

past 14 days of the struggle.

Y. That John A. Ritchie, ~president of both the Fifth Avenue
Coach company and the New
~York Omnibus Corp. after a
steadfast refusal to acknowledge
the repeateti requests of the
committee for a cohference, called in the representatives and
admitted the mounting losses.
Because of this fact, he is willing
to employ 211 Negro busmen and
mechanics if the
Workers union can be appeasud: pga A

2. That conferences with the
_TWO officials succeeded~ in pairing a seniority list of 400 chauffeurs awaiting jobs to 94 men
wno have had part-time work in
the past two or three years; and
that as soon. as these men are
placed, the next 100 men would
have to be Negroes.

~3. That inasmuch as there is
no seniority or waiting list for
shop mechanics, 70 Negroes be
given immediate employment in
this category; and that 100 others be immediately selected and
placed into training as bus driverz, a process that requires from
four to six weeks.

4, That the agreement empodying these several terms shall
be continued in a cOntract signed by properly authorized representatives of the bus companies, the union and the committee and having the full weight

of law behind it.

5. That the word, ~permanent~

j shall preface the present name
of the United Bus Strike committee indicating thereby that
the group shall not be abandoned with the signing of the document but shall remain in existence, as required by law, to act
in court should at some time in

the future the contract is violated. ae

Recitation of these developments
by Rev. Powell brought wild and
enthusiastic cheering following
each item. It was topped off by @
general outburst when, in slow,
deliberate and driving phrasing, he
served notice that ~if by the middle of next week we do not get this
agreement, we shall start picketing

F

Not only that,
will be extended to

NEW YORK ~ (ANP)~|
Five thousand Negroes, hell- |
$3,000 in daily losses of rev-|';
enue have brought the opera-| |
tors to the negotiation table, |..

First Lady Tries Out

ket on this side until|
sin ia Ba ur pri, >
~of the three co-chairmen of}.

the committee, told the eager |
audience that the following|

~demands made during the).

Transport |

he said, picketing |
} the *

~Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt spent a day on the Inspector Charles A. Anderson, of Tuskegee, took
Tuskegee Institute campus recently and the pho-j off with the First Lady. The noted visitor had high
tographer happened along just as- Chief - Flighi praise for the ~Skegee airport.

Tuskegee Plane

i}

a

FORT BENNING, Ga.~(ANP)~
The fully clothed body of a Fort
Benning soldier found tied to a
rope and hanging from a tree, was
identified Saturday as being that
of Private Felix Hall, 19 year old
Montgomery, Ala., member of Company ~E,~ 24th infantry, who dispppeared from camp, Feb. 13.

Since ~his disappearance, his
family heard no. more~of him un-'
til two weeks ago, when a neighbor~s son from theiregiment told
them Felix~s body ad been found
hanging from a tree with a bullet
through the temple, in the woods
outside the camp.

Soldiers of the 20th Engineer

| regiment engaged in a field prob
lem came across the badly decom
Fingerprints Establish
Identity Of Hung Soldier

~Bullet Wound Later Found
In Man~s Trussed-up Body

posed| body March 28. Passing
~along a deeply eroded gulley in
wooded and little frequented area,
north of the 24th infantry swimming pool and stables, they noticed what they thought was another soldier on a small ledge
about) half way up one side of the
gully. pe

They notified. military police
who ~concluded that apparently the.
man had dropped himself, or had
been dropped, over the ledge of
the gully after one end of a rope
had been placed about his neck
and the other end had been tied
to a sapling. which was growing
a few feet.back from the top of
the gully. Medical officers stated

that he had been dead at least
four weeks, and that the manner

of death was by _ strangulation,
which could have been either honticide or suicide.

The body was positively identi
fied as that of the Montgomery |.
youth through fingerprints. LA.
Col. Herbert Laux announced that
in an attempted solution all clues
are being investigated by both the
provost marshal-and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.

James Hall, father of the soldier

g ~Faded She tattine % 2 Sy PRs te Bewigy epee
a 5eCeTI 7 SLed | as trongiy ini

who enlisted as a volunteer, says,that when he heard of his son~s!
Ceath through a neighbor~s son on;
April 2, he wert immediately ~to

Fort Benning where the only per- |
son whom he was able to contact

was Austin J: Doyle, special agent

of the F.B.I. Doyle showed thé |
father pictures of the body roped |
and wired hanging from the tree, |.

and told him it would be released
as soon as a report on information sent to Washington was returned. zi

NASHVILLE,. Tenn ~(SNS)~Meharry Medical Ccllege for Negrves
now engaged in a nationwide drive
toward endowment, has the com
mendahle habit of being first in

ical history, she is certainly the

discover anywhere in America.
The Meharry official pointed ou:

Meharry Will Graduate
Ist Woman Anesthetist

Honor Goes To
Miss Dandridge
Of Youngstown

that in the past Negro hospital

atid medical schocis have been forc- |'

ed to rely on the services of white
nurses as anesthetists. The most
remarkable thing about Miss Dandridge~s forthcoming graduation, he
said, is the extent of the traiping
she has received..

of her training at Meharry, Miss
Dandridge corapleted
registered nurse training cohrse.. ~A native of Youngstown, Ohio, she
claims Newcastle, Pénnsylvania, ar

NAACP Sec~y

Makes Plane -

Trip to Detroit ~i
DETROIT, Mich, ~ (SNS)

Ford Move

~Declaring that the use of: _

Negro workers~ in aq hired

~goon squad~ to. break the
strike called April 2 at the
hvge River Rouge plant of
the Ford Motor Company
was. ~dangerous,~ ~Walt

White, N.A.A.C.P., secretary,
issued a statement April 9
deploring: the action and. calling upon the~ Negroes in the. 2% 4

amr that a riot might be stag~

~The Ford strike,~ ~said Mr.
White~s statement, ~faces the -Ne
gro with the toughest decision he a
has ever had to make in the mat-_

ter of jobs and his relations with
his fellow workers and employers.
~Widespread discrimination by some
employers, even in national defense |
industries financed by ~taxation of:
Negroes as Wellas whites, has drivn the ~majority of Negro workers
to. the ragged edge of - existence.
Henry Ford has not only hired
more Negroes than any other Detruit employer but has given some

alter

ae

of them the chance to rise above |

menial ranks which contrasts
sharply with -Knudsen~s Gieneval
Motors.: ase;
CLUB OVER HEADS

~The attempt to use Negroes as
a club over the heads of those

who wish to organize themselves
in unions in the Ford plants, how- ~
ever, is a dangerous move in times ~
like these.It~ may make for increased racial tensions which would

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