The Case of Jim Parker

     Now that the Czolgosz case is over, the public is inquiring as to what has become of Jim Parker—Jim Parker, colored—Jim Parker, the athlete.
     One of the most prominent features connected with the late tragedy in Buffalo was the forwardness of this colored man. Republican newspapers devoted columns to his achievements; children of abolition strain felt that all prophecies about the coming high type of Ethiopian had been fulfilled; people with prejudices to maintain asked Jim to the clubs, he exchanged his coat buttons for ten-dollar bills, and poured into the ear of Senator Hanna the valuable description for which Africa is so famous. Colored people took up the sensation, and churches and social gatherings of the race extolled the heroism of the mighty Parker.
     When the roll of witnesses was called in the Buffalo courtroom the “hero’s” name was not there. When the witnesses on the stand were questioned, they had no knowledge of the gallant colored man. In fact, he was not in it at any stage of the game. White men claimed all the credit, and only the names of white men were remembered. Was this a conspiracy on the part of the white people of Buffalo against the colored man, or had they been slickly duped by “the colored citizen from the south,” who had not forgotten the arts of flattery by which he extracted chance dimes from his white neighbors?
     The only sure-enough thing about Jim is that he registers from Atlanta.