The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-26

The LOwery Outlaws-The Lesson Of Thor
Existeuce-A Great Herald Enterprise.
In the face Of a civilization outraged and
trampled on we present to-day the story Of
our correspondents sojourn among the out
laws of North Carolina. That he has escaped
from their clutches is due to no other infu-
ences than the generosity of the outlaws
themselves and their reliance on the HERALD
to state their case to the world as they tell it.
Here is an anomaly that we tell the people
and government of the United States not to
underrate 1t presents in all its details, from
the swamp whence the outlaws mock their
hunters to the sanctum whence the swagger-
lug Robson editors send forth their safe and
cowardly defiance to those who would better
for sharp and sudden remedy. When the
outlaws of Sherwood forest held carnival
England was an Anglo-Saxon slave in Nor
man masters grasp; when Rob Roy lorded it
among the cattle thieves of the Scottish high
lands there was wreck of the Stuart pre-
tenders fortunes strewn over the land, and
his stand was a fierce scorn of submission to
those he deemed tyrants and invaders. With
the Robson outlaws these ideal thieves of
history have nothing in common save their
oItlawry. From the time when their dead
chief took to the swamps rather than serve
as digger of the rebel Notifications
at Wilmington down to the present day
we have the story Of murd ers in hate and
murders in revenge on one side or the other as
thickly as the darkest stories of the half
savage Corsican vendetta. When we turn
from the outlaws themselves to the people,
white and black, of the States surrounding, the
view is almost as discouragiug. A sullenness
that only changes from Its glowering to snap
and bark at any ray Of light that comes in
upon them-to curse it as CANNES bay the
moon-is the sole evidence of their vitality.
The clouds Of prejudice that so obscure
the Southern mind have made their
eyes unfit to see things as they are. They
cannot see the shame and disgrace that is in
their midst without enveloping it in party
colors. If it is bad, says the Edgefeld Ad-
vertiser, il is Grant. If it is shameful, retorts
the Raleigh Era, it is the Ku Klux Legisla-
ture Gentlemen, 1t is neither. 1t is the want
of manly energy, public spirit and the lapse
of social tone among you all that permits it.
We make this avowal not to increase bitter
ness, but to bid you fling away the used-up
shbboleths of party vindictiveness and 60 to
work like men. Clearing the outlaws from
the swamps would be a small thing if the
South would clear the cobwebs from its brains.
The escape of our correspondent from the
desperate band, with the history OF his ex-
periences among them, Is another victory in
enterprise for the HERALD to inscribe on its
banner, which 1t is our pride to carry forward
wherever on the wide world there is some
thing to be gained for civilization, for
humanity. The recital of facts will be found
to beggar the stories of romance, and few of
the scenes in Poe's "Tales Of Mystery" will
create more tentative horror In the mind Of
the reader than that of the correspondent led
blindfold by the armed murderers through their
Businesses of wood and swamp, with brutal
threats Kissed in his ears half fearful jest, half
demoniac earnest. But he has come safe out
of their hands, and we rejoice at it. May the
omen of his safe return be bright one for
our other heroic correspondent out, as this one
has been, beyond the bounds of civilization In
the service of the HERALD. The gentleman
who, if living, is searching In the.
wds of Africa for the great explorer, DR..
Livingstone, we hope sooa to hear, like the
correspondent among the Lowerys, has
achieved the object of his mission and returned
to reap the reward. Successful or unsuccess-
full, we glory in their feats, and in any case
keep our reserves ready for fresh trials and
triumphs in the broad field of journalistic
labor.
THE PROPHET Nor SENT TO PRIsoN.--The