National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-08-28
JUDGE LYNCH IN TIE soUTE

IN winch the whites OF the South enjoyed
the sacred privilege Of walloping their
own niggers, there were but few occasions
for the interference Of Judge Lynch In the
support of that privilege. Those occasions,
it will be remembered, were invariably pro
voked by the appearance In the slavehOld
| ing sections of the country of so-called
meddling and incendiary sbolitionists, whose
presence was very generally accepted as the
forerunner of "war of races" "negrc
uprising" or an instruction ofthe blacks
and the massacre of the whites" They
occurred at time when free speech was
not tolerated, and when the circulation o.
abolition or anti Democratic newspapers in
those sections was prohibited, because Il
was necessary for the protection Of prop
erty in human beings that the power tC
control affairs should reside alone in the
hands of the slaveowners. But when the
war ended, and when the necessity for the
protection of this class of property was
brought to sudden end by the freedom
and enfranchisement of the slaves, the very
men who had previously upheld the doc
trine of lynch law agreed that the occasion
for its exercise had passed, and pied ed
themselves most solemnly that In the future
they would abide by the demands of our
governmental forms, and submit peacefully
to the changed condition of affairs, and,
accepting the amendments to the COnsti'
tuition resulting from the war, further
pledged themselves to demonstrate the GER
tainty that our people are capable Of pop
ulsr self-government. In the most formal
manner, after the Southern armies had been
paroled, every Southern State and com
munity, through duly-elected representa-
tives, reiterated these pledges, making 6
record in so doing which now serves to
illustrate as q miraculous revolution the
most prominent page In our history. A
the same time the Southern leaders, and
politicians Of every grade, as well as the
Southern women, were loud and blatant In
their declarations Of friendship toward theil
former slaves, and of their belief that thi!
friendship was reciprocal. Gradually &
change has come over the condition o.
affairs, and from the interval Of peace and
quiet which followed the close Of the war,
the Southern States have passed through
gradations of disturbance which have finally
developed into "war of races :" Judge
Lynch has been replaced in power, and
murders by day and night in bold defiance
of the regularly constituted authorities are
most alarmingly frequent. The victims Of
this war" and the prisoners sentenced to
be executed by Judge Lynch are either the
blacks, so much beloved In former days, OF
white Radicals, which is another name fol
the hated Abolitionists of fifteen years ago.
Notwithstanding the solemn pledges To
which we have referred, and in fragrant VIC.
lation Of their oaths to protect and support
the theory Of popular self-government these
Southern people stand to-day convicted by
their own acts of having revived the muir,
derOus hatred ofthe representatives Of North.
ern sentiment and feeling which did SC
much to bring about the sectional collision.
In palmer words, they have renewed the con,
fiict, in spasmOdiC way, which ended ten
years ago at AppOmattox.
1t is hardly possible to pick up aSouth.
ern newspaper without finding in its col
umns proof of these assertions, while the
telegraph almost daily informs US that some
Southern locality has been the scene of q
'war of races" the casualty lists Of the
engagement" showing that the war wa:
waged most successfully against the blacks.
Take the recent murder of negroes in Ten.
nessee for example. The dispatches inform
us that number Of negroes in Gibson
county threatened a riot last Saturday and
Sunday, on account of some supposed
" wrong done them, and manifested strong
desire to kill two or three citizens and fire
"and sack the town" Suppose every word
of this to be true-and we doubt the whole
story-the scenes which followed could only
find justification in the breasts Of savages.
Sixteen of the "ringleaders" were arrested
and put in jail. At one o'clock the follow
ing night seVenty-hve armed white men
overpowered u their jsileI, took possession
of the prisoners, land marched them off on
1.-the Huntington road about half a mile
from the town; six of them were then cut
"loose and ordered to escape, and as soon
Gas that command was gwen full volley
twas fired upon them. killing four and
wOunding the other two, one MORALLY.
THE remainder were carried up the river
1.-TWO miles and killed"
OF course the dispatch does not fail, com
ing from a source in sympathy with the
lynchers, to attempt to excuse this whole
sale butchery, and what is the excuse thai
is ofered2 Simply that white man at {
Internationally the place where a wal
of races, after an engagement with IN
stamped apple brandy, would be likely t
begin-got into quarrel with q colorei
man regarding the payment of fifty cents
This, then, is the supposed wrong" which
induced the negroes to make the ALLEGED
threats. But the dispatch continues in tn
sensational style of bulletins from the seen
of a great battle: 8 p. m. ARMED men ar
pouring in from the country to find al
quiet Scouts say they cannot find al
armed negro" 8 p. m. "Al quiet.
9 p. m. Citizens are resting on thei
arms" After this balderdash comes th
statement that one poor frightened blacl
confessed that some of his friends had OF
ganized for the purpose Of shooting Ku
"Klux, who they understood were raidin
Through the country to prosecute ne
"groes."
Now, It requires but little knowledge c
excitable human nature as it finds It
worst development in the character Of III
Southern rowdy to put this tale togethe
in its truthful form, without further infol
nation than the foregoing. 1t Is simpl
that white man quarreled with colore
man about the payment Of fifty cent
that the white man threatene
the black one; that the latter b
ing in the right, was sustaine
by his friends; and that the former wa
supported by his drunken companions
The result was the arrest and subsequen
murder Of sixteen human beings who's
only ofense was the fact that one of thei
number had sold something to drunke
white rowdy.
Thoughtful people, while rejoicing tbs
the Governor of the State has issued proc
lamation offering reward for the apprC