City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research New York City College of Technology 2017 A Lesson on Hatred from the Annals of Logan County History Aaron Barlow CUNY New York City College of Technology How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ny_pubs/194 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Wednesday, August 30, 2017 • BELLEFONTAINE EXAMINER • 5 eMail: [email protected] www.examiner.org Opinion & Editorial GUEST COLUMN A lesson on hatred from the annals of Logan County history ogan County Sheriff John Carmen Sullivan was a for the moment, was averted. disabled vet from World War I, gave a speech at an popular figure in the county during the 1890s. His During the evening, however, a vocal group, whose American Legion convention in Toledo in the mid- BELLEFONTAINE EXAMINER Stetson hat (covering a bald head) was widely description is a lot like that of the Ku Klux Klan, rallied 1920s, a speech against acceptance of the Klan into the L HUBBARD PUBLISHING CO. recognizable and his sense of humor the still-angry people, leading them Legion, something being pushed for at that time. His PO Box 40 • Bellefontaine, Ohio 43311 was appreciated even by his political back to the “calaboose” where Newlin specific argument against the Klan was based on the An independent daily newspaper enemies. was held. Unwilling to face the mob, the character of the Jewish soldiers he had served with Founded in 1891 He was my great-grandfather and guards retreated, at least one by force. overseas — for the Klan was then (and is now) as anti- by E.O. & H.K. Hubbard clippings about him from Bellefontaine Newlin was taken out and summarily Semitic as racist. Issued daily except Sunday at newspapers have come down to me. hanged. I wonder if he thought, as he stood for his beliefs, of 127 E. Chillicothe Ave. They include stories of the death of his My great-grandfather failed in his what had happened in Rushsylvania a generation earlier Member of the: mother-in-law, burned when her clothes duty that night, as later newspaper — certainly, he knew the story. Ohio Newspaper Association and caught fire in the kitchen and of my stories pointed out. Some of them also Certainly, he knew that our country can only move AARON BARLOW the Inland Daily Press Association • grandmother’s skip-rope playmate, who argued — and I agree — that he never forward if we stand against hatred and for the rule of The Associated Press • fell through the rotting wood over a well before my could have succeeded. Newlin was going to be killed no law. While we may never be the ones who can Ohio League of Home Dailies grandmother’s eyes. They include tales of Sheriff matter what the sheriff or anyone else could have tried individually stop the movements of anger, we only PUBLISHER: JON HUBBARD Sullivan’s practical jokes. to do to stop it. Anger had replaced the rule of law. encourage it when we stand by. This is the dilemma GENERAL MANAGER: T.J. HUBBARD And they include descriptions of the lynching he Logan County, of course, was not the only site on a that Sheriff Sullivan faced and his response was surely EDITOR: MIRIAM BAIER could not stop. lynching in Ohio — and there were many, many more one he spent the rest of his life regretting. It served, ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: BOB CHAPMAN On April 15, 1894, Seymour Newlin, was lynched in in other states, particularly across the south. But it is though, as an example for the next generation and the CIRCULATION MANAGER: JILL THOMAS Rushsylvania. Newlin, an African-American, was this one that I have a connection to. I think of Newlin next. My grandfather was determined not to repeat that accused of raping an elderly white woman: the local frequently, as I know my grandmother did, though the sort of failure, even on a much smaller scale. Neither SUBSCRIPTION RATES papers left little doubt — in their reporters’ minds, at lynching took place a few years before she was born. My was my father, who became, in a small way, a civil- Delivered by carrier, per week ..........$2.40 least — of his guilt. An angry crowd had gathered, larger great-grandfather, I suspect, reflected often on his own rights activist a generation later. By motor route, per week..................$2.40 than the entire population of the village, by the time role in Newlin’s death. It had to have generated a Neither am I, in our own time of renewed hatred and Price of single copy..............................50¢ Sheriff Sullivan arrived on the scene. He quickly sent for certain amount of guilt, and it surely changed the way a revitalized Klan. By mail R.F.D. in Logan and adjoining back-up, about a dozen young men from the local he viewed his Logan County fellows, though he never let Standing together against hatred, we can all defeat it. Counties, per year postpaid..........$125.40 National Guard unit. Even with them, however, he was that show. Aaron Barlow is a great-grandson of the late Logan By mail outside of Logan and in a ticklish situation. His men, though armed, likely Stories of lynchings, events of the American past, County Sheriff John Carmen Sullivan, a professor of surrounding counties.....................$147.40 had friends and relatives among the mob. They remain alive in all of us whose ancestors were involved, English at the New York City College of Technology ONLINE Edition certainly would not have willingly fired at them. be it as victims, perpetrators, or even law officers who, and faculty editor of Academe. He is author of the Five weeks .............................$9.50 Sheriff Sullivan negotiated with the crowd. They for one reason or another, stood aside. We can’t push books The Depression Era: A Historical Exploration of Thirteen weeks.....................$24.70 would disperse if he and his men returned to aside or ignore that history any more than we can bury Literature and Doughboys on the Western Front: Twenty six weeks .................$49.40 Bellefontaine, with a group of locals deputized to guard the other terrible legacies of slavery. Memories of American Soldiers in the Great War. Fifty two weeks-(1 year).......$98.80 Lesser periods by mail slightly more than proportionate the building where Newlin was held. Violence, at least My grandfather, Sheriff Sullivan’s son-in-law, a He can be reached at [email protected]. cost of yearly rate. Mail subscriptions will not be accept- ed from territories served by an Examiner newspaper courier or motor routes. 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