, 1883-01-27
zhs Lesson n Lawlsssae,s.


The recent lynchings along the line Of
,ae Nat'her'' Pseife. aud mere especially
.: the ex;reme f,ont hss its iaoral. Fer
months pas. readers Of tie newspapers
haye been Mortified at accounts Of the
boldness and andaci,y osthe rufiians there
eongregased- Il appears as if the very
scum OF the earth were holding = carnival
Of blood, and no one dared TO say them
nay. The lesson teaches the same lesson
;nculcatei in stronger language and upon
a broader page by the increasing public
tendency TO seek extra legal means for
the punishment Of criminals The late
trial Of Owenby at Dayton is an instance
Of the difficulty experienced in proving
the guilt OF murderer Even during the
time Just when the jury, before whom he
xas tried for a most horrid and brutal
murder, had disagreed as to his guilt, he
confessed the crime.
The american people are not false to
thsir ancestry or to their civilization. In
every community and upon every occa-
sion, the public conscience approves legal
methods and abhors irregular and spon-
taneous acts for the punishment of crime.
The resort to mob violence in every
American community is proof patent Of a
distrust, well or i'll founded as it may be,
of the regular machinery provided for the
punishment of criminals and the preven
, ton OF crime. A community only takes
the law into its own hands when it has
I ost confidence in the strong arm Of the
isw The lynching of murderer with
the general consent OF the community, ex-
hibits a conviction in the public mind
that the murderer would escape an ads-
quate punishment through the regular
and legal instrumentalities. Such cen
vIction may arise from distrust Of the
law or distrust OF its executors, from
general feeling that the punishment pro-
vided by Law is not adequate to serve the
purpose of justice, which is, of course, to
deter other criminally disposed persons
| from committing the same oifense or a
lack OF confidence In the intentions or ca
paei.y of the officers appointed to execute
an adequate law The working and busi
ness men on the North Pacific lynched
| the murderers because it had seen them
throng in its midst, crime was common
aud human life cheap; they bore with
them until they almost appeared to the
OF the scOundreIs who were tl., re for no
other motive than robbery and murder.
At last they saw no safety for any one,
the murderers became emboldened BY be-
ing let alone until the people arose in
their might aud have given them lesson
that has not had its parallel since the
! V. C. sOrsal,ized in California under similar
circumstances, except that IN this
case these Northern Pacific men were
without the mere pretense Of the protect
ing band Of the law. The tendency to
execute lynch law Is growing all over the
United States, aud hardly day passes
/ but We read Of case where the prisoner
was taken away from the officers and
hanged without Ceremony. People are be-
ginning TO awake To the fact that no mat
ter how guilty man might b., so long as
ke can fee lawyer, legal technicalities
will be raised and he is almost sure to es-
cape his Just deserts. The logic Of expe-
renee is beginning TO teach the world
that humanity has not yet developed to
the stage where the deterring influence OF
he capital penalty for capital crimes can
be safely dispensed with.