Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-07-11
VOL. 3. mo. 2S6.
DAILY VIRGINIAN.
Origon of the Lynch Law.

From the old diary of the distinguished An
drew Ellitt, his grandson, j. G.. G. Kennedy,
Esq, OF this city, has copied the subioned ex-
tracts, giving an account of Capt. Lynch, of
Virginia, who appeers to have been the man who
introduced and gave namo to that wild ius-
tice' which is known in our country as Lunch
iair."
capt. Lynch just mentioned, was tho author
OF the lynch laws,so wol known and so frequent
iy carried into effect some years ago in the Uni
ted States in violation of every principle Of JUS
tice and Jurisprudence. Mr.. Lynch resided in
Pittsylvnnia, in the State of Virginia, when no
commenced legstor and carried his system into
onect. The "details had from himself, and are
nearly as follows:
"The Lynch men associated for the purpose
OF Furnishing crimes in summary way, without
the aid of the tedious and technical form of our
courts of justice. Upon complaint being made
10 my member of tbs association of n crime be.
ing committed within the vicinity of their iurs-
prudence, the person complnid of was Immediate
ly pursued and taken if possible. If apprehend-
ed ho was carried before some members of the
association and oxamined if his answers were
not satisfactory, he wns whipped until they were
80 Those extorted answers generally involved
others in the supposed crime, who in their turn
were punished in like manner. These punish
ments were sometimes severe and not unfrequent-
ly inflicted upon the innocent through spite, or
III consequence of answers extortod under the
smnrting # tho whip TO interrogatories put by
the members of tho association. Mr.. Lynch in
formed mo thnt he had never in any case given a
vote for the punishment of death some howey-
cr he acknowledged, had been actually hanged,
though not in tho common way a horse, in part,
became the executoner The manner was this,
the person who it was supposed ought to suffer
death, was pnced on n horse, with his hands
tied behind him and rope about his neck, which
was Fastened to the limb of n tree over his head
In this situation the person was left and when
the horse, in pursuit of food or any other cause,
moved from his position, the unfortunate person
was left suspnded by the neck. This was called
uidlng the civil authority. II seems almost in
cfcditable that such proceedings should be had in
civilized country governed by unknown laws /;
1t may nevertheless be relied on should not
have asserted il fact, had il not been related
10 mo by Mr.. Lynch himself, and neighbor, Mr.
| Lay. one of the original association, together
with several other Lynch men, they are called
! This self created tribunal was first organized in
the State of Virginia, about the year l776, from
whence it extended Southwark ns before observ-
| ed.
Mr.. Lynch has tho appearance of an ancient
! ahlo, and had he lived in the times of the oym-
| pic games, would probably have figured +" on the
| bloody arena lie possesses strong but un-
cultivated mind, is hospitnblo and generous TO. an
extreme; To which may be added great stickler
| for equality aud tho rights of man established
| by lnw So contradictory are tho ideas and oon-
duct of the only creatures supposed to be endow-
| ed with reason and Judgment in the universe. ~
| National Inteiiigencer.