February 24, 1919.

Hon. Thomas W. Bickett, Governor,
Raleigh, N. C.

Dear Sir:

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People wishes to commend in the highest terms the action taken by your state and the authorities of Surry County in convicting and sentencing to terms ranging from fourteen months to six years on the county roads, fifteen of the sixteen men who attempted to lynch Russell High, a colored man, at Winston Salem on November 17.

The precedent which North Carolina has set is one which all law-abiding and justice loving people will commend. The method which you have inaugurated of causing lynching to be as dangerous for the lynchers as for the victims is one of, if not the most potent means by which the practice of lynching and mob violence will be stamped out.

The action which you and the authorities of your state have taken is especially gratifying when it is noted that the men punished were not guilty of lynching but rather of an attempt to lynch. The result of the trials of these men is in sharp contrast to that of the trials of eighteen men indicted and tried for lynching recently in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in which case the men indicted, although clearly guilty of participation in the mob that lynched a Negro in November of last year, were freed after a trial which was little more than a farce.

The state of North Carolina has set an example which may well be emulated by other states in this country in which mob violence prevails.

Very truly yours,

[unsigned]
Secretary.¹

WFW/HP

1. The secretary of the NAACP at this time was John R. Shillady.