Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-12-31

FRIDAY EVENING. DEC. 81, 1890.
That LynchfI &.
District Attorney Ans EFT, of North
ampton county, finds him elf very much
embarrassed in the discha &c of the duty
upon him to bring to justice the lynchers
OF the murderer Snyder. He declares
that he is the only man in his
county who wants to punish them,
and lets it appear plainly enough
that he only desires to do so be.
cause he recognizes it as his sworn duty.
Mr.. Anstett does not attempt to shirk
his duty, but if public sentiment is as he
says, his position is certainly an unenvi-
ble one. Yet if he is a strong man he will
find his account in it. It is the place for a
strong man. The duty imposed upon
him is as plain as the public sentiment
that fails to support him in it. OF
course, it is very disgraceful to the
people that they should so unanimously
defy the law. 1t proves that they are
not acting under !: calm judgment. The
course which they urge upon Mr.. .Anstett
now is one which will work his con-
demnation, even in their own eyes, but
little while hence. If he does as they
would have him, they will despise him
then rs heartily as they would applaud
him now. There is absolutely no course
for Il public officer to pursue, to maintain
his good name and establish his fame,
but to firmly and fearlessly discharge his
duty under all circumstances; and the
greater the obstacles put in his way the
greater the credit which must come to
him in overcoming them.
Mr.. Ahstett's fellow citizens are mad.
He admits that he lost his head when
he looked upon the brutal work of the
murdere rs and asked the crowd why they
had not put !. pile OF laths, that he saw
lying near by, under the suspended MUIR
derer and so burned him to death. We
cannot wonder that district attorney,
who was SO excited as to make
such suggestion, should find himself
embarrassed in prosecuting his neghbors
and friends, who in a similar transport,
had taken Snyder's life especially when
among those :tbetting the crime by his
presence was the district attorneys own
father. To prosecute him would re-
quire a Roman virtue, which it is fair
to admit that most men would not dis
play. To bring TO the bar Of justice
relatives and friends, and to defy
existing public sentiment in doing
it, calls for Il strength which very few
law officers would display. Yet we hope
to 81: Mr.. Anstett equal to the occasion.
We trust that he will not let the people
Of his county escape the responsibility
of dealing with this awful crime. Ii
lynching is to be sanctioned and con-
donel in Northampton, let it be COM
mitted t" its grand jury to say so. The
prosecuting officers duty is so plainly to
bring it to their judgment, that he can
not defend himself in failing to do SO.
Judging from the tone of the Easton
papers, the people of Northampton are
not in 4 sound mind. They really un-
dertake to claim that the lyncling is suf-
ficiently defended by the fact that Laros
escaped the gal!ows on tho ground Of in-
sanity and that Bortree is imprisoned
twelve years siEstead of being hung.
Their ple;: amounts To Il declaration
that they cannot trust the juries of their
county to do justice to i murderer
and therefore it is right TO lynch him.
Men who can deliberately make such Il
declaration are evidently not in Il frame
of mind to be governed 10y reason. The
Argr, even assails the INTELLIGENCER
for suggesting ;i:a possibility that the
wretch Snyder WAS insane rs though
it WAS wicked thing to suspect
the possibility that Il causeless murder
might have been an act of insanity. To
4 reasonable mind it will certainly
clearly appear, Oh the contrary: that the
question Of the sanity of an offender is
one to be considered first in every crime
for the law and good sense declare that
one who is insane cannot be Il criminal.
1t seemingly appears to the present mind
of the Northampton people that
insanity is 4 crime degree or
two worse than murder itself. They
refuse 10 consider it ut ali as defense.
Whether Snyder was sane or insane it
was due to justice to nave determined be-
fore he was punished for the killing
which he confessed that he had done. No
reasonable man outsideof Northampton
County will deny that what that remark
able people won't deny it is impossible to
say. They say and .lo strange things, and
think nothing of them: they take board
ers, for instance, into their houses, and
permit them to crimina!iy assail their
daughters and don't put them out, be-
cause they owe a board bill.