The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-06-19
LYNCH LAW.

confined in Annapolis Jail, on the charge
of rape, was taken ont at an early hour on
Monday morning by body of lynchers
from Odenton and vicinity and hanged.
The tiendish and brutal crime with which
Simms was charged was committed on last
Saturday week, and the victim was Miss
Addie Jf ckson, aged eighteen. She is the
daughter of John Jackson, farmer, resid-
ing in the vicinity of Odenton, on the Bal
timore & Potomac railroad, eighteen miles
from Annapolis. The particulars of the
crime, and the subsequent pursuit and
capture of Simms have already been pub
lished. He would have been lynched on
the day of his capture. but for the inter-
position of Governor Groome in ordering
the conductor of a train which had alread V
started from Odenton to return and take
on board the accused.
secret meeting was held by the lynchers
to prepare for the work, and every one was
placed under the most solemn obligations
not to divulge the names of those partiei-
pating in the meeting, nor the design for
which it was called. Some half dozen
speeches were delivered, advocating the
carrying out of the most extreme measures.
Resolutions were passed intended to present
the reasons which justified the act Of tax
ing the law in their own hands. The third
and last resolution, which is the most
plausible of the three is as follows:
"Thirdly. We are not willing that his
victim shall be dragged into court to tell
over and over again the story of her terrible
wrongs, or that her name shall be entered
upon the records of our criminal iurspru-
dence for future reference
The lynching party to the number of
about thirty assembled at Odenton on Sun
day night, armed with guns and pistols.
They started for Annapolis, some in carri-
ages and on horseback, and others Oh hand
cars which they mustered into the service
These were joined on the way by others,
all having their faces BACKED, and when
they arrived at Annapolis the company
numbered between fifty and sixty.
They proceeded at once to the Jail, aud
after failing, by a ruse, to get the Warden
to come out, the entrance to the Jail yard
was forced open by using an iron axletree.
When the Warden found the crowd had
made an entrance he called for assistance,
but at o'clock in the morning help was
not readily obtained. He threw the keys
out of window and secreted himself, but
the keys were soon found by the lynching
party, and the Warden also brought from
his hiding place. The cell was quickly
placed upon one of the hand cars and
carried about mile and ahalf from the
city, where he WAS hung to a limb of a red
oak tree on n. E. Berry's farm, at point
near the junction of the public road with
the railroad.
While the gallows was being arranged,
Simms was asked by one whom all the other
lynchers addressed as Captain if he had
anything to say. Simms then acknowl-
edged having committed the act for which
he was about to suffer death. He said that
he was quite certain, when arrested, that
his life was forfeited, and he didn't sup
pose it made any difference whether he
was executed according to forms of law or
by those now about to take his life. He
claimed that the raping of Miss Jackson
had been his first offence, when some one
in the crowd significantly remarked that it
would certainly be his last. While en-
deavoring to give some palliating reasons
for his crime, the Captain said, THAT
will do; we don't want any reasons, and
it's getting late" SImms then implored
his executioners to give him Gas much
drop as possible" The horse on which he
was seated was given cut with whip
and started, and the victim fell suspended
by the neck. The executioners stayed by
the victim till life was extinct, when they
retired as hastily as possible, leaving the
criminal suspended by the neck from the
limb.
The customary ceremony of holding an
inquest was gone through with as soon as
the Coroner could summon jury the fol
lowing morning. No evidence was had to
identify any of the lynchers. Everybody,
it is said, in the neshborhood of Odenton,
a ha nd lou
the two men who captured Simms.
1t is none the less an outrage for which
there was no shadow of excuse, except a
thirst for savage revenge. The law had
the culprit safely in custody; special
session of the court had been ordered to
try the case, and there is scarcely posi-
bility that the criminal would not have
suffered the extreme penalty for his dia-
bolical crime, while the ma esty of the law
would have been sustained in place OF
being brought into contempt, and violence
given countenance to by the lawless pro.
ceedings of the mob. Such course will
not he more effective in lettering evil doors,
than the law carried out in all its solemn
and imposing dignity, while it fosters a
disposition to resort to violence and over
ride law, a spirit which always brings in
its train disgrace and bemish TO public
morals. Brutishness and ignorance are the
primary cause of the original outrage, and
mob violence is the very worst means pos.
sible to elevate the public morals. Educa-
ton and culture in self-reSpect are far more
potent in preventing crime than the terror
inspired by a mob, which, while destroying
the immediate object of its revenge, is
sowing crop of moral weeds, that may
produce in the future many crimes as le-
voting as the one it seeks to punish.