New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-08-13
Judge Lynch In Massachusetts

." hot oitSh tudC lllc sacred TlOnt Oh
self-preservation is so promptly and terribly
indicated as in an occurrence that lately
happened in Eastern Massachusetts,. Two
men and two women, living by themselves
in cottage at Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vine
yard, offended the villagers BY their manner
OF life. 1t is said that the relations of these
four people were immoral, whereat their
neighbOrs were scandalized, and it was Qui-
city resolved that the nuisance should be
removed. This was in Massachusetts,, an
old State, where law has had fair trial for
more than two centuries. One might sur
pose that the people knew what was lawful
and what was not what was to be hoped
from just administration of local law, and
what the law could not reach. They organ
lied just such court as might have been
summoned in the wilds of Arizona or Idaho,
presided over by Judge Lynch. A party ofmen,
in the darkness Of night, went to the domi-
Gle OF the offenders, provided with wagon
containing tar, feathers, and other iustru-
ments of punishment well known to those
who have "assisted'' at a Lynch tribunal
One of the Objectionable men was at home
Failing to entice him out of doors, his house
no longer his castle-was broken open, and
he was dragged out, handcuffed, and thrust
into the wagon, along with the materials for
his intended garments. In the scuffie, the
iesiStiuS NiNIuu SoI ouI piStol, IIrcu at ran-
dom among his tOrmentOrs, and killed one
of them. The comedy of justice became
tragedy. The self-appointed ministers of
popular law were smitten with the weapon
they had drawn. The right of a man to de-
fend himself against illegal attack was blood
lily indicated. Lynch law collapsed, and a
cOrOner's jury, summoned under the statutes
of the ancient Commonwealth of Massachu-
sets, decreed that the homicide was COM
mtted in selfdefense. There is some natu.
raj regret at the untimely end of the lyncher,
who is described as ian inoifensive citizen !"
but the verdict of impartial people will be
that he justly met his death while engaged
in felOniOus and unlawful expedition.
If there is any reasonable excuse for the
execution Of Lynch law anywhere, it is in
the sparsely settled regions of the Republic
where the administration of justice is uncer-
tain, iails are insecure, and lawless criminals
have powerful cOnfederates ready to rescue
them. Under such circumstances it must be
noticed the sentence of the accused man is
always death. Men have been hanged by
Judge Lynch 70: theft, arson, malicious mis-
chief, and petty larceny. The sacred right
of human life once invaded, it is easy and
natural for popular vengeance always to take
that fatal shape. But it is safe to say that
in no spot of the American Union is the
execution of Lynch law ever or under any
circumstances justifable. All civilized com
munities recognize the sanctity of human life
by inflcting upon the murderer the most
awful of human punishments, and by sur
rounding the accused with every possible
safeguard against an UNI ust condemnation
and execution. A popular outburst that
takes the execution Of law out of the hands
Of those responsible for its administration is
a crime against society more deadly than any
so-called legal Otfense can possibly be. 1t
were better that great wrong should be
endured-if the law cannot cure it-than law
and order should be subverted in a mad at
tempt to substitute a burlesque for vital
principle. Even the great popular uprising
by which San Francisco, in troublous times,
drove organized crime out of the country, has
not always been accepted as the best solution
of the perilous difficulty that besets young
community. And even the Vigilance Com
mittee of San Francisco was the result of a
revolution, not of sudden burst of passion.
The outbreak st Martha's Vineyard is
significant, because it shows how it is posi-
BILE for the mob spirit to ferment in old-settled
communities We should scarcely look for
such demonstration of lawlessness in staid
old Massachusetts,, and it is quite likely that
the traglcal termination of this affair will not
only sober the principal actors therein, but
will rebuke the temper of mOb-inclined people
everywhere. When it is understood that
threatened man is prepared to defend his life
and person by all desperate means, there
may be less inclination to execute upon him
summary and popular judgment: If the
Martha's Vineyard people were moved by
the tradition of 'Floyd IresOn, who, for his
hard heart, was tared and feathered and
CARED in a cart by the women of Marble
head" they have found to their cost that in
these later times, when men are quick to
resent any illegal invasion of their rights,
the law of self.defense holds good against all
popular violence. Civilized society is put in
jeopardy by open lawlessness oftener than
by any possible form of immortality. The
self-appointed executioners of young Kelsey
did more fragrant wrong than he could have
committed in lifetime of shame and scan
dial. Anarchy has come again when we are
bereft of the right of liberty protected by
law.-NeU York Times.