Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1854-05-18
From the Washington Sentinel.
The Louisville Mob,


r who are connected with it,. Ii is a sort
n inqui,ition that takes cognizance of ever,
J. thing. 1t claims and exercises univers
: jurisdiction. Not itself legal tribunal, NJ
( possessed Of legal functions, it yet claims
surveillance and general supervisory .powe
over the acts and. .doings of all legal tribr
nails. Its proper Influence is seriously III
, jured by journalists, wEo, however loos
their own ideas'in law, politics, morals, an
religion, and however abandeped and COZ
rupt in their ewn conduct, Yet set themsclve
up to regulate the conduct of others, andt
censure the slightest errors Of Judgment an,
the smallest deviations from the most strin
gent rules when committed by others.
None value and none would more pertina
ciously insist on the rights, privileges, ant
freedom of the press than ourselves; bu
none more disapprove and condemn the i'm
prudence and the officiousness of some con
nected with it.
We are induced to make these remark:
by the course pursued by some OF the jour
nails Of the country in relation to the acquit
tai of young Ward, by whose hands an un
fortunate man of the name of Butler fell
This case, as all our reader perhaps know
occurred in Kentucky. The responsibility
and social and political prominence Of some
of the parties to it created from the first an
unusual degree Of interest in the public mind
At length the day fixed for Wards trial
arrived. A crowd assembled to witness it.
A jury was impannelled The trial was
conducted according to the forms of law.
After hearing the testimony and the speech.
es Of counsel, the jury brought in a ver-
dict Of acquittal.
We do not profess to be familiar with the
facts of The case. We do not know the
elements that entered into it; but this we
know that the verdict, as soon as made
known, was condemned by some Of the
more prominent freesoil and abolition pres
ses of the North. 1t was declared IN out
rage. The jury was pronounced to be a
perjured and Infamous parcel of men. The
lawyers who defended the accused were
held up to the community as the aiders and
abettors of rufIins and murderers. The feel.
ings of the people ware sought to be excited
by passionate appeals. The wealth (which
perhaps consisted in part Of slaves) of the
of the accused and his family was brought
to bear on the subject. The feelings
OF classes were appealed 10. Excite
ment spread like an infectious pestilence.
A mob, great frantic, furious, howling
blasphemous, burning, destructive mob.
sprang up. 1t took the case from the court
into its own hands. 1t condemned the court,
the jury, the accused, and his family and
friends. 1t struck terror into the hearts Of
the sober law-abidng citizens of Louisville.
According 10 the Louisville Journal, it
then proceeded to the elegant building oc-
cupied by the father of Ward, which was
set fire to. The costly furniture in the bull.
ding itself was only saved from complete
destruction by the brave and persevering
efforts Of the firemen, who, it is said, were
several times fired on.
Now, we know but little about the Wards
We know but little about the merits of the
case decided on by respectable jury. Ward
may be innocent-that is, he may have
killed Butler in selfdefence On the other
hand, he may be blood stained murderer
of the deepest die. But, whether innocent
or guilty, a regularly organized legal tribunal,
after hearing the testimony, on their oaths,
pronounced his acquittal. That is enoungh
for us.
TO raise bowling mob, to threaten vo-
lence, to do violence, to burn, plunder, and
shoot, WAS certainy no way to repair the
outrage, if outrage had been committed.
The most covardIy of all things is mob.
Each member of it, afraid of personal res.
seeks license to indulge his bru-
tai passions, and exemption from punishment
for the indulgence, in the protecting force
of reckless multitude in which individual.
ty is lost.
Nothing more gratifes the New York
and its kindred sheets, than to find
some wrong or outrage committed in a
Southern State. 1t seizes on any such op-
to pour out its serpent venom.
We believe that is hatred of law, and of
everything regular and settled, and its loose !.
and pernicious ideas, disseminated by means I
Of its large circulation all over the country,
nave done more to engender in the commun-
ty spirit of lawless INSTRUMENTATION than
any other one cause.