The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-11-30
the INDTANA LYNcHINGs.

Indiana is earning reputation for
violence equal to that which is for
party purposes given to poor South
Carolina. Within a week we have
had two decided cases of mob law
there-one the lynching Of Henryville
of the supposed negro murdcrers of
the Park family, and the other an un-
successful attempt to lynch an alleged
murderer at Brookville. These in
stances bring to mind the Reno case,
and lead US 10 suppose that there must
be some general degree of lawlessness
throughout the State. Taking it for
granted that the courts are what they
should be, there is no excuse for such
resorts to lynch law. Indiana has no
robber State government tormenting
her from within, and does not suffer
from the despotic violence of the adj
ministration from without. In her
interior economy and in her relations
with the general government there is
every guarantee of peace, and unless
the local administration OF Justice he
actually corrupt or SO loose and mel
ficient as to be about as bad, there
seems no apology for the lyncnings OF
which we hear. Having this much
confidence, however, in the general
goodness of human nature as not 10
believe that whole communities will
WantOnly take life. we arc inclined TO
think that the Indiana courts arc not
what they should be- So long as pun
ishment is certain, even if slow, peo-
pie will wait the course of the law and
sustain its officers if necessary against
molestation but il the conviction
once gain ground that the community
is tampered with in its right to pro-
lection, it will not be long before the
unfai.hful guardians of public safety
will be thrust aside and punishment
meted ont in summary manner ac-
cording to the popular idea of what
is right. Technically, of course, all
this is wrong but practically it
amounts to this: that if the courts do
not punish, mobs will. This is par
ticularlv seen to be the case South
That is almost purely agricultural
country, and thus peculiarly exposed
to theft. 1t is so easy for the idle ne
gro to steal hog or COW, that the
farmer is constantly missing his stock.
AT length he lies in wait for and de-
tects the thief. The proof is so clear
that even partisan judges and negro
juries send the pilferer to the peniten-
tiary. In few days he is out, par
doned by the Radical Governor whose
local mainstay he is, and back again at
his cow-killing and hog-stealing trade.
The farmer misses another fine porker
or perhaps the finest of his mich cows.
1t is beyond question that his old de-
spoiler has carried off the one, or ta-
ken quarter frem the other, and left
the carcass in the woods. What is the
man to do? Must he sell out and
move of, or bring up the thief for an
other trial and another pardon, or
must he resort to first principles and
defend himself? Evidently he thinks
the latter. The thief is visited at night
and receives q tremendous ffogging.
In revenge he burns the farmers house
or barn, and then he is hanged. 1t is
sad case of wrong and retaliation,
but what are men without public pro-
lection to do? Governor Bullock, of
Georgia, is recorded to have pardoned
one criminal every other day, Sundays
and all, for his entire term of three
years. Governor Scott, of South Car
olina, pardoned 205 out of the 486 con-
vlcts sent to the penitentiary, setting
loose upon the community two out of
every five. The crimes pardoned range
from murder, rape, and arson to hog
stealing, and where the rardons were
thickest there the so-called Ku-Klux
outrages occurred. The same prem
ises were made to exist as we fancy
now exist in Indiana, and the same
bloody conclusions ensue. 1t is idle
to localize that which is really general
Ito make people think that it is Ku-
Klux in one State which is mere mob
law and lynching in another. The
cases of Indiana and South Carolina,
of Nevada and Georgia, are identical.
Even in this city of New York we had
rumors of vigilance committees at the
time of the Tammany frauds. 1t was
property and not politics which was
made the basis of those rumors; and
in the same way personal safety alone
is at the bottom of the Indiana lynch
ings. and property and personal safety
alone at the bottom of the so-called
Southern Ku-KluX outrages. A de-
fective administration of the laws
brings with it anywhere anda any
time in this country resort to what
Bacon calls the wild justice of revenge.
Even SO wise a man does not call it
caprice but justice; and justice it is,
though irregular in its manifestations
and demoralizing in its ultimate effects
-World