years. He was on the staff of Gov. W. P. Kellogg, with the rank of major, and was afterward promoted to be colonel, and was assigned to the command of the Louisiana State National Guards. He now occupies an important position in the Interior Department, to which he was appointed by Secretary Noble.
His life as an Afro-American journalist began while residing in Louisiana, where he edited at Delta, Madison Parish, The Madison Vindicator. Upon going to Washington, D. C., he edited The Baltimore Vindicator, then published at Baltimore, Md. He went to New Jersey in 1883, and established The Trumpet, of which he is now editor and proprietor. The Colonel is ably assisted in the management of his paper by his amiable wife, Mrs. Louisiana Murrell. His past success but predicts what a future there is in store for him, in regard to the ennobling work of journalism.
Rev. J. Alexander Holmes, Ex-Editor Central Methodist.
The life of Mr. Holmes began in the city of Lexington, Va., December 11, 1848. Having some love for books and letters, he took advantage of the early school training which was offered the negro; after which he matriculated at the Storer College, Harper's Ferry, where he graduated in 1872. For a while he taught school, subsequently entering the ministry in March, 1874. He steadily pursued his studies during his ministerial connection with the Washington Annual Conference of the M. E. Church, which seems to have been a course marked out with a successful end in view.
He has lived conspicuously, having held some of the best charges in that Conference, and has several times represented it in the General Conference. His editorial life of two years' duration began in 1887, when appointed editor of The
