Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-08-23
MURDhRs AND OUrHAGES.

local government, what do they expec
60 benefit by it? Do they not, in the Ian
guage Of the declaration Of inde
Pendence, expect to be assures
Of life, liberty and the pursui
Of happiness 4? For what else ale al
governments instituted among men
And when they fail of these objects
what recourse has the citizen who is in
dustrious, painstaking and honest
intent on the education of hi
children and the maintenance of hi
household Within the limits not only O
the written law, but of that unwrittel
code which all men of decency and VIII,
have a1y share in civilization recog
nlze, and which is best summed up il
the golden rule? What should they do
When the government they support fail
to secure them life, liberty and the pur
suit of happiness? When idle, vagrant
viuainous, red-handed murderers wall
in MONDAY, secure in the liberty they
abuse, and are recognized by the neigh
bOrs, whose laws they have violated
out of fear of them, what is tn,
next best thing to be done? In tn,
south since 1855 it has been the habit tC
call in United States troops and quarter
them. upon the innocent, and ruin the
places audproperty of the community SC
cursed; but out west, wnere there is but
one step between the people and the au-
Ehorities, they take that step and make
such a Tiddsnce as San Francisco made:
as was made in Montana when Slade
was hanged; as was made many years
ago in Natchez, when the town, which
was passed by travellers with
fear and shudderings, was for
ever Relieved of those who
had earned for it the brand of Cain.
These reflections arise within us as we
contemplate the news we publish this
morning, supplementing so well the hun
dred or more horrors with which our read
'ers have been regaled the past month
Trains are. stopped on western railroads
while running atRlght with almostlight-
nIng speed, and Che express, the safest of
al our commentaries, made least so
by robbery perpetrated without hope
OF redress. Near by, in a rail-
road town where six or eight
trains per day psss and repass, a federal
Official Is assassinated for no assignable
reason, save that in this free republic,
where every man is supposed to have
unresi rs.ned license within the law, he
Decs me a Radical and a federal office
no fder. In Kentucky so-caIled kuklux
meet and shoot white-h Tired men for
hiring negroes Who have been warned
10 leave the country; and women are
outraged without number, and all
this without redress. As the newspa-
per reporter usually phrases it, No
arrests" In Missouri We have a terri
bie deed by a Fulton mob, and in Perry
Vile, ArsADsas, the court of the county
Is as sunmarily adjourned by a bloody
handed ruffisn as was the long parlia-
ment oy the illustrious lord protector of
I'm, land. And yet "nO arrests" We
la cor, as editors Of newspapers, urging
peace and prosperity, inviting immi-
grants and capital, only to be confronted
10y these devilish deeds as a reason
why the colder regions of the inhospits-
blenorth are preferred to the sunny south
and southwest, and We feel that the
strength is taken from US and we have
no answer to make. Trade is leaving
our towns and cities, capitalists refuse
20 take our bonds or help us in the work
Of public improvement by stamping US
CTeditSble in the marts Of the world,
and good men are crying " How long o.!
Lord, how long," The authorities of the
states (our own happy exception are
50 busy with elections aud politics as to
be blind to this state Of facts and SEEM
ingly impotent to relieve them, and
the people are cowed by the thieves and
murderers into, as we have said, a
recognition Of them, as if they were as
righteous as Abraham. Surely, it is
not in human nature that this
can much longer be permitted to last.
If the authorities of Missouri, Kansas,
kentucky, Arkansas ara Mississippi do
not pursue and punish, they GER
tsinly cannot LOOK for any other than a
repetition Of the lynching scenes that yet
make California terrible word. All
power is inherent in the people, and it
Il their right, as it is their duty, when
those to whom they delegate the law
making and law-executing power, fail
in the discharge Of their duties, to recall
those powers so delegated, and proceed
with the summary justice that is the last,
and should always be the last resort Of
ireemen. But they have right to "iife,
liberty, and the pursuit Of happiness, 8"
aud some will say should secure it to each
other, peaceably If they can, fOrcibly if
they must Grant it, and grant also
that the reign of murder and outrage
demands summary redress, that viii not
justify the ''worser" of the two forms Of
evil, lynch law. What we want is a
stricter enforcement Of the law, and
that the people shall see to it that
their servants carry out the law in
letter and spirit. One form of vio-
lenre does not justify another, but
only makes bad worse. Our people are
80 in the habit OF summary processes,
growing out Of habits engendered by the
war, that they are apt to go off half
cooked, and to do that which upon re
Election their cooler judgment would
condemn. We, therefore, counsel pa
thence and thorough investigation in
every Gaze, no matter what its msgni-
tude. But once found guilty the GRIM
inal should not find leniency, and least
of al such recognition as he might con-
strde into a couutenancing Of his mis-
deeds. A thief or a murderer, known as
such, should be treated as such, and soci-
ETY. should bar all its approaches against
him under any and all pleas of family
or social ties. If we viii only reform
our ways in this respect and make crime
and criminals odious, we will have
taken the first step to make vigilance
committees and lynch law impossible.