Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-01-03

The New York Tribune has the following to
say in an article headed "Lynching in the
Capital, treating upon the late excitement
here:
"Lynching on the frontiers and i'm newly set
tied territory has been more frequent than a
people anxious for the good reputation of the
country could comfortably consider: but lynch
ing I'm Washington. the seat OF the government,
and under the very noses Of Senators and Rep
reSentatiyeS, would I've a shameful scandal.
Notifying things enough have already hap
pCned IN Neutrality-suspicious.. assaults and
batteries under the great dome Itself and jus
tice has not always been promptly and SUI
fciently melted out To law breakers: but real,
regular and methOdical lynching on one of the
trees Of Pennsylvania avenue. especially II the
wrong man happened To be hanged. would
cTelte not a little excitement of an intensely
diSagTecahlr kind, even in foreign lands.
whenever IL has been proposed to establish
the seat Of government i'm some one of our
pOpulOu> cities. the cry OF danger from popu-
lar violence To the cOngrPgaied wisdom has
been raised. In the same spirit. some may
now ask whether Washington Is not itself
somewhat too big for its business. Especially
II the galleries should grow more riOtOuS, or
the sacred person Of some honorable member
should lie outraged by mob, or the delibera-
- tons of the House BE- manife>ily affected by
pressure from the outside. Washington might
land. and IOrthe credit of the ilhIStTiOuS name
which il bears, il should be such. As the larg
est property owner there. the United States
should do its share toward making the capital
law-abiding; il others interested will not co
operate. they must take the consequences"
This style of treating the matter is not only
fippant, hut shows an astonishing amount of
ignorance in regard to the character of the
citizens of Washington. There is not a more
orderly. law-abidng people in the world than
the resident population of this District. When
the bloody labor riots swept over the country
last year Washington was exceptional among
cities of its size for the orderly bearing of its
people; and this has been its character
throughout its history. The people have
maintained this character under prOvOcatiOns
that would have melted mob law in almost
any other community. Burdened with the
support of the thrOng of tramps, paupers and
impeeuniouS office seekers continually cOmipe
to the national capital, and of the Idle and vi
cious element of the cOntraband population,
brought here 10y the war, our people have had
to suffer from this vicious class of outsiders a
continuous series Of depredations. rObberies.
and murders. eliminating in the devliSh
outrageS (wOTSe than murderl upon re-
spectacle Young ladies. That the people
have stood all these injuries without
taking the law into their own hands when they
have seemed. as in the outrage eases, to have
no other redress or protection, is pretty good
evidence of their orderly character. The citi-
zenS of the neighborhoOd where these nightly
Outrages upon their own daughters were Oc-
curing would have been something less than
human had they not been wrought upt the
mood for desperate action in defence of those
dear 10 them when no other remedy appeared
within reach: but the fact that they stayed
their hands short of violence. in respect for
the law, shows an exceptional degree of self
restraint. Ii is not possible that our cOmmu-
nifty can ever have a greater prOvocatiOn for
lynch law than on this occasion. and as it has
happily passed without a resort to such deplOr-
able remedy, it is safe to say that there will be
no ~Lynehing in the Capital" Anyhow, it does
not seem TO be the mission of New York pa
per TO lecture our people upon lynch law, i'm
view of the wholesale hanging of negroes TO
lamp posts in that city a few years ago. with
out prOyOeatiOn on the part of the victims.