Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-03-30
THE LYNCHING OF DAVID JONES.


No one is surprised that the Radical poi
iticians a7e attempting TO make political
capital out of the killing Of David Jones by
the mob on the night Of the 18th. This
Jones, Republican in politics, notorious
burglar, on the night Of the 29d burglarious-
ly entered the store Of Mr.. Henry Murray,
an old and esteemed citizen, also aRepubli-
can. After robbing Mr.. Murray, Jones
shot and killed him. For this Jones richly
deserved death. He was arrested and i'm
prisoned in the county jail. The Sheriff Of
the county is Republican; the Jailor is
Republican, and their subordinates are Re
licans.
The facts connected with the lynching of
Jones are fully sci forth in the communi-
cations of Mayor Morris, Sheriff Donaldson
and JaiIor Shelton, which we publish this
morning.
The Radical organ In this city, the Ten
laeSsee Tribune, devotes nearly two columns
so a political tirads on tllis ossject, Enslnh of
which is Misrepresentation, TO be used for
political effect, frat in the pending Conpec-
ticut election and subsequently as occasion
may require. The Tribune says it was
known all day Monday "to the people of
the city" that there was imminent
danger Of mob violence. If this was known
to the people, it must have been known to
the Tribune, and it is passing strange that
this spasmodic champion Of law and order
did not convey or cause this knowledge to
be conveyed to the Republican sheriff and
iailer who had the prisoner under their
charge. Was the Tribune silent because it
was ignorant Of what it alleges "the
people of the city" knew, or was it be-
cause it was willing to have Jones murdered
by the mob that it might thereby have an
argument for a further continuance of
bayonet rule in the South?
The Tribune says "the mob began col
lecting in front of the Maxwell House
where the Governor resides; "their purpose
was openly declared. No concealment
seems to have been attempted" If all this
be true, it is wonderful that no one but the
Tribune should be informed Of it. 1t is
astonishing that some one of the guests or
visitors of the Maxwell that night did not
hear anything of this. The Tribune pro
ceeds: 'Not even the eloquent editor Of
the UNION AND AMERICAN under whose
windows the maddened crowd had gathered
had anything to say dissuading them from
the terrible crime" We have only to say
that we never had any information Of 'the
msddened crowd" which, according to the
Tribune, had gathered under our window,
and never heard an intimation or suspicion
of mob violence until the alarm bell was
rung.
Within ten minutes after that, informa-
ton was brought by our telegraph messen-
ger that the negro who killed old man
Murray had been taken from the jail and
hung to lamp post. If we favored mob
law under any circumstances, party policy
would have caused us to bitterly oppose
this exhibition Of it. There is no doubt
that Jones, so far as he is concerned, richly
deserved the punishment he received. Still
that is no justification for the action Of the
mob. TIE offence which they committed
was not against Jones, but against The ma
iesty Of the law without the strict preserva-
ton of which the innocent are equally in
danger with the guilty. They have brought
gloom and sorrow to a whole community
by their violence. They have done wrong
to society which is ireparable. But their
crime is not greater than that of tie Tribune
in its attempt to officially Ku-Klux a whole
people who revere the law as the only pro-
lection for the rights of the citizens.