The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-02-19
RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE,

II Is unpleasant news that comes to w OF
the action of "a mob In Bolton In numerically
beating two unarmod, dofanceloss men, the
Dow brothers, MODS are always unmoWfnl
are always In tho wrong, are always more
criminal than the criminals they seek 10 pun
isl. There may be- times In the history Of II
communicated Ia to say county, when n
general uprising Of the law-abldlng people In
the open light Of day to yndicato the out
ragged law, TO yindicato society against the
lawless md brutal, may be right, BIT such
times are rare, and thay arc attended with
such circumstances that the right oC tho up
rising Is apparent upon It's very face For
instance, In u sparsely settled county where
the officers Of the Inv were unable or afraid
10 execute tho law, and turbulent men were
overriding all law and docency, and
Nil spirit Of right, and life and
property wore alike utterly un-
safe aud the State authorities powerlos' or
unwilling to give protection, then il the good
people of that county should come together
and openly and in their strength strike down
the evil doors, become themselves the law
and vindicate themselves, why then there II
reasonable excuse for such action, But can
there be- for the outrage OF the Bolton
mob Saturday morning N'r The only charge
made against the Dow brothers was
that thoy belonged TO n religious sect which
breaches sanctioaiion Of the soul and
teaches it, members that those who are not
sanctilled rs they are, ARE unworthy of their
association, and that II Is wicked and sinful to
recognize the uusuncli.icd and unwgcneratcd,
Because of the teachings of this sect, the
bend Of which in Bell county was
the two Dow brothers, it was nj
legged that many wives had left their
husbands and children, and husbands left
their wives and children, that they might
live with the saoctilcd and blcst. Therefore
amob of fifty or sixty men, welldisgui'cd,
went TO the house Of the Dow brothers, took
them oHt and beat them nearly to death with
quirts That the teachings Of this sect are
the veriest l6naticism there can be no question.
All Of its followers ARE suffering withmcntal
alteration We truly believe and fso, ought
insane people 10 be treated with violence
Ought not rather gentleness and kindness
to be melted out to Them The genius of
our Government is antngonistic to religious
intolerance. 1t is this spirit that has so long
permitted Mormo nism in Utah and
we may say that it is this spirit
that permits tho existence in this
country fthe various religious denominations.
Religious intolerance filled the prisons of the
lnquisition with martyrs, and found victims
without number, for its various machines of
torture. 1t erected the many scatlolds
where alleged in6dels were broken on the
wheel and the stakes where hcretics were
burned in the centuries that are dead.
1t drove the Puritans across the
Atlantic TO find that tolerance in
America which they afterwards denied to
others. If the Dow brothers and their fol-
lowers were preaching fanaticism that was
breaking up homes and filing tho land with
lot the majesty of the law be
invoked, and if any of its provisions had been
wilfully violated, lot them be punished. If
it could be made legally to APP
pear that they were insane, let
them be restrained rs the law directs. 'The
blood Of the martyrs Is the seed Of the
church." and the beating of those two men
until the blood ran down on the ground and
they were laid up in bed from the effects
thereof only creates sympathy for
them and arouses indignation for
the religious intolerance which led
to the assault upon them. Would
any community be endorsed which would
under cover of night take out two ministers
preaching Methodism, or Baptism, or Pres
byterianism, or Epscopa lanism, or Roman
Catholicism in its midst, and binding them
to trees, lacerate their naked bodies with
thongs and whips? If not, why then should
not this mob at Bolton be held up to the exc
Grafton of an enlightened world, and
be made to suffer the extreme
penalties of the laws These men
were not preaching of any new God, but were
preaching Christ and Him crucidcd, accord
ing to their understanding of His gospel.
We believe that some of their tenets, the
sanctication of the soul for instance, are
fanaticism, the result of an overstrained inn
agination, but we do not endorse in this are
of enlightment that intolerance which ends
in personal violence and outlaNry.
THE bale of cotton donated BY j. II.
q II 4.