Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-25

lug papers OF I1e NOEtu anu WeSI
every day for a week cOnsecutively, can
easily see for himself that the average
proportion of crime in those sections as
compared with this making, too, all
due allowances for difference of popula-
TOMS at least six to one. Yet, in spite
of this easily proven statement, the
Northern South-hatiug press magnifes
every unfortunate affray which occurs in
this section, and endeavors to create the
impression that we are little more than
half civilized people.
If these false attacks upon the South
were confined to stalwart Republican pa
pers alone, nothing would be thought of
them, as the aniRus of them would then
b. too apparent for harm. But this is
not the case. The self styled conserva-
tive Republican papers are also exceed
ingly fond of indulging in them, and in
one of these-the New York E0entng
PoS-there recently appeared one of the
most extravagant and malicious articles
of this character which has ever been
written. That paper deliberately states
that killing and murder in the South is
apt to follow Gny breach of friendly in
tercOurse as surely as the night the day.
1t declares that if one has a difficulty
with a neighbOr-One of the unavoida-
ole and constantly recurring differences
of civilized life-about land boundary,
prOmissOTy note, mortgage, or any
thing which might lead to a lawsuit,
murder is the almost inevitable result,
and that acquittal is a foregone con-
clusiOn. I'm fact" says that paper,
ga murder trial at the South, unless
committed for the purpose of robbery,
is very apt to take on the nature of
proceeding in bankruptcy. The de-
fendant shows that he committed it as a
necessary incident of his business. and
the jury then treat the death of the vic
tim as the equivalent of a surrender Of
all debtors assets. The murdered man
cannot be restored to life, and where is
he use of keeping the murderer in Jail ?
Moreover, several of the Jurors are
probably murderers themselves, and all
feel that they may have to murder any
day as condition of their resi-
dence in the locality. In fact, the curse
and shame of the South is the con-
slant presence in the minds of the males
If all classes, from childhood up, of
homicide as one Of the probable contin
gencies of ordinary social life. At the
North no man above the ruff1an class of
the cities thinks of it as anything but an
extremely remote and absolutely dread
iul possibility arising out of the necessity
of self defense against criminals. 1t is
in these parts unthinkable among decent
people as a probable social or commercial
contingency. Until the Southern mind
can rid itself of this damned spot
Southerners may rest assured rapid and
healthy progress at the South will be i'm
possible"
Now we are willing to leave it to any
unbiased and impartial mind in the
world if that is not the very quintessence
of malignity, misrepresentation and
ignorance. If half that is conveyed in
the above extract were true, how is it
that so many citizens of the North have |
already found happy and contented |
homes in the South, and how is it that |
50 many more are annually willing to |
risk their means and lives amongst us? |
How is it that our section is prospecting |
beyond any other portion of the cOun-
try, and specially how is it that |
Northern carpet-baggers land if the
stamping out of any plague was ever
justified the South would certainly have |
been justified in exterminating them)
were allowed, even in the demOralized
state of society prevalent in the recon
struction period just after the war, to
prey upon and despoil our people, and
yet could return to their homes with
their ill-gOtten gains in safety2
The Mabry- Conner affair was most
deplorable, and nowhere is, it more re-
GREETED than at the South. But until
the millennium comes, men will quarrel,
and murder, and hOmicides will take
place everywhere. The only difference
between bomicideS North and South is
that in the North when one man ''has
grudge" against another he gen.
orally waits for his victim in
dark alley, or endeavors in some way to
slay him unawares, so as to insure his
own safety and escape detection; while,
in the South, the rule is to meet and
fight it out openly like men. We depre-
cate all such affrays, and. believe that
stern justice should be melted out to those
who engage therein. Still, the South is
not the only spot where they occur, and
Dur Northern maligners would do well
10 pluck the beams out Of their own
eyes, before they presume to pull the
notes from the eyes of their fellOw:citi-
zens of this much abused and vilifed
region.