ice all
persons who, being charged with the crime of murder, or assault with
intent to commit murder, or piracy, or arson, or robbery, or forgery,
or the utterance of forged paper, shall seek an asylum, or shall be
found within the territories of the other; provided that this shall
only be done upon such evidence of criminality as, according to the
laws of the place where the fugitive or person so charged shall be
found, would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial, if the
crime or offence had there been committed, etc."

A NEGRO SENATOR

Incredible as it may sound to the twentieth century reader, the
Commonwealth of Mississippi was for six years ably represented in the
United States Senate by a distinguished Negro Senator, the Honorable
B. K. Bruce. So inspiring is the story of Senator Bruce's efforts in
the defense of humanity that it ought not to be permitted to lie in
obscurity for want of a sympathetic pen. The present venture,
therefore, is an attempt, though belated, to recount some of the
achievements of this statesman whose public career looms up as a
monument to the American Negro's self-confidence, resolution, and
persistency.

Senator Bruce's career in the upper chamber of Congress began on March
5, 1875, at the special session of the Forty-fourth Congress, called
by President Grant. His name appears in the _Congressional Record_ of
that session as "Branch" K. Bruce, Floreyville, Mississippi. He was
assigned to the _Committee on Manufactures_ and to the _Committee on
Education and Labor_ and later to the _Committee on Pensions_ and the
_Committee on the Improvement of the Mississippi River and its
Tributaries_.[1]

Antedating his election to the United States Senate, Senator Bruce had
held positions of trust and honor in the State of Mississippi. He had
been Sheriff, Tax-Collector, Commissioner of the Levees Board, and
County Superintendent of Education. Moreover, he had served as
Sergeant-at-Arms of the first State Senate after the Reconstruction
Period, and Commissioner of Elections in a county that was reputed as
being the most lawless in the State. In all these positions, Senator
Bruce had displayed such integrity of purpose, sagacious
statesmanship, and tireless industry that his election to the United
States Senate followed as a logical and merited promotion.[2]

Senator Bruce's "maiden speech" in the Senate was delivered shortly
after he took his seat during the special sessi