Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-04-12

Who think that such body could not
,e a mob, it was not mob.
But according to the idea of
he secluded and passionless dictionary
maker. it was mob. Webster says that
. mob Is "a collection of people for
'ome riotous and unlawful purpose"
de.e was indisputably "a collection of
people" And it was collected un6enia-
bly, for an unlawful purpose" 1t was
'riOtous moreover; for il set at naught |
he very rules. by which OF all rules 1t /
should have been restrained, namely, 1
the constitution and the laws. The SIM
PIE truth would Seem to be, tina. this col |
lection of people was a mob, of which |
the whole or a fraction of the Commit !
tee of Safety formed the most active |
and central part. The doincs Of that
dreadful day we're. as l estirnats them. |
the outburst Of popular rage, which re-
verbcrating from heart to heart had
reached most extravaeant heat. Dan
lei Webster says OF such popular fury.
that il is more forcible than lightning,
or tempest. Men quiet and
on all ordinary occasions
more so-were on that day es:ranged
from their own selves. They gave looss
rein to their emotions; they abandoned
their usual occupations; they permitted
themselves to be torn from their ordi-
nary attachments; they suffered them
selves to be dashed by common I'M
pulse along common course; they let
themselves be caught up like SO many
grains of sand and whirled into riotOus
excess by a. fierce sirocco of passion.
Our citizens are not ruffians. They did
no more than any Of us might have
done. had We been similarly moved. We
have all of Us done some insensate thing
or other some time in our lives. Sen,ei
iasanirinas ossnes. But they neverthe-
less broke the constitution and law.
Now our law-your law-says that
when. on great provocAtion, a man III
sudden transport Of passion. not having
had reasonable time to cool, unlawfuliy
kills another, he Is guilty of manslaush-
ter and not of any higher grade of
crime; but if he cooliv and deliberately,
conscious that what he ia doing Is
unlawful, purposaly and unlawfully
taxes another life, he Is guilty ot muir
der in the first degree.
Gentlemen, what shall be the end of
these things? Those later cases of
lynch law at Ironton, Ohio, Logansport,
Indiana, Franklin. kentncky. Del Norte
and Pueblo. Colorado, Prineville and
Linkville, Oregon, and Kansas City,
Kansas, havs any of them any causal
connection with the. transactions here,
or are we merely the first unfortunate
sufferers from general epidemic of a
political distemper which Is crime! How
about the three thousand young people
of our city, who are swiftly growing up
to fill places of trust and influence, and
to take here and elsewhere their. share
In all human concerns? They have
heard at their homes, on the streets, and
at their schools, by their playnates and
their elders. by strangers ard by friends.
by kinsfolk and by parents. the incl-
dents of the 18th of January, recounted
and discussed over and over again, and
With almost unanimous commentator.
They have many of them read the pub
llo prints. A lasting impression has
been made on them, and an irrsversible
bent given to their character rs men,
DerS of sOclet
How long will it be before Seattle
shall witness another outbreak! A
community that has once burst the bar
ness Of authority Is mo Q likely to do 1t
again. 1t is u team that has once run
away. 1t is herd that has once stan-
pedsd. Besides, there is turbulent
Joy in license, and especially i'll license
that is cruel. Man Is creature of APP
petite, whom blood either gratliies or
sickens. History shows that the plea
sure of homicide is so nearly akin to the
grOsser forms of animal indulgence that
1t can hardly be distinguished save by
the way it Is procured. l do not say
that any dear friend of yours or mine
has felt tho motion of that pleasure,
but you may be sure that some IN the
crowd around that gibbet did. Those
who once have enjoyed it are not likely
to fOregO it when safe opportunity
offers it to them again. Security against
such repetition is only to be had by an
Initiating the opportunities or by render
ing them in tho highest degree unsafe
a Republican form of Government be
annihilated, but they can be made ex-
tremely dangerous to embrace. Masses
of men can be kept in awe the same rs
can Individuals. Faithful and implac-
able enforcement of the law against
guilty ringleadsrs is adequate to do this
and naught else is. II the people in
their courts do Hot put forth the requis-
ite effort they will assuredly DO tor
mented by occurrences of disorder.
They will be- to creator or loss extent
prey to bandits and to mobs.
Woe betides the citizens of that COM
monwealth which has not strength and
will to be the only and ample redresser
of their wrongs. Laxness and spasm
are alterations of the same sickness.
Pitiable is the prospect of that racked
and demented community which sees
no resource for its peace but to fly al
ternately to a court whose hand Is
putty and mob whose food Is blood.
As for yourselves, gentlemen, you
cannot undo what of evil has been
done. But that current of sentiment
and feeling, which sets toward evil
yet to be, can be stemmsd, overtoppod,
overwhelmed and reversed. Here is
scope for individual virtue. We must
take our stand individually to compass
the welfare of the people and let them
come along who will. Individual fid-
city is at the bottom of all fidelity in
the aggregate. An instance Of singular
but unlocked for and unobstrusive iu-
tegrlty may be icI 49, cu...ii;I to light
but when revealed it appeals with
matchless power ~ - co..-c.e uce and
nightly moulds the attentive minds of
men.
The popular sentiment that iustifies
lynching has never been squareiy con
fronted in this community. Now is
the time for US individually to grapple
and overthrow it. 1t was no. on the
morning of the 18th of January that the
Constitution was most In peril. Is is
now whom the pressure is strong up II
You to approve the doiugs Of that dag.
Gentlemen, it is human To desire
popularity. l desire 1t and so do YOU
But the popularity We crave il. as Lord
Mansfield, himself one of tho braves,
aud most independent Of men, puts it
that which follows and not that which
is run after. 1t il that popularity which
sooner or later never fails to do Justice
to the pursuit of noble ends by noble
means"
y for a touch of Spartan. Roman
English virtue. q for the patriotism OF
l776 or 1861! Do We not know that, for
men of our stock, q country without a
constitution is no country at all; and
that To rupture the constitution is to ex-
pose the fireside; and that to desert the
constitution is all tho same as to desert
the flag?
A battle is impending between the
forces of good on the one side and the
forces of evil on the other. The field is