Note 24 — Chapter X
Reading edition
Extract from The Statesman, Denver, after the departure of the 25th Infantry, and the arrival of the 34th:
Two policemen killed, the murderer at large and his comrades of the 34th Regiment busy boasting of their sympathy for him, and extolling his deed to the skies, yet not a single petition has been prepared to have the regiment removed. The 25th Infantry, with its honor undimmed by any such wanton crime, with a record unexcelled by any regiment in the service, was the target for all sorts of criticism and persecution as soon as it arrived. The one is a white regiment, composed of the scum of the earth, the other a black regiment composed of men who have yet to do one thing of which they should be ashamed. Yet Denver welcomes the one with open arms and salutes with marked favor, while she barely suffered the other to remain.
Had it been a negro soldier who committed the dastardly deed of Saturday night the War Department would have been deluged with complaints and requests for removal, but not a word has been said against the 34th. Prejudice and hatred blacker than the wings of night has so envenomed the breasts of the people that fairness is out of the question. Be he black, no matter how noble and good, a man must be despised. Be he white, he may commit the foulest of crimes and yet have his crimes condoned.