The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-10-11
fudge Lynch.

That is simply the outer circles of a
whirlpool. A shower of briek-bats-a
surge up and down-a dozen broken
heads-a cry of ''policep' and your
crowd scatters like sheep and sinks
away like ours.
A mob sets out to resist the aSthori-
lies. Nine out of every ten men in it
are towards. They boast and brag and
encourage, but they keep their own
bodies in the back ground They want
to see some one hurt but they know that
the law will triumph and they want to
be able to prove that they were simply
lookerS-on. One brave man will walk
into mob and defy and over-awe it.
A brutal outrage has been committed
It is an affair that stirs the blood of
sons and brothers and brings danger
GUS light to the eyes of husbands and
fathers. There is no boasting or shout
ing. Knots of men gather here and
there and they speak with fierce earnest
ness, but in low voices. Nomob surges
up and down-no wild wells rend the
air-no towards furnish drink to excite
young men to foolish deeds.
'Lynch him!''
1t is not shouted, but spoken in
whispers or read in each others eyes.
Every man has obeyed the laws every
man would peril his life in aidingto to en-
force them, but there is a feeling that
legal punishment does not always pun
ish sufficiently.
t'Lyneh him!'
When men who never partake of a
meal without bowling the head in prayer
whisper those words, look out! The
| heart burns and thrills. For the time
| being law is nothing. Fathers whisper
it to sons, brothers to each other, mer-
| chants tomeehanics. Lips tighten and
| grow pale, teeth shut close, eyes flash
as you never saw them before.
The knots of men swell into groups
the groups consolidate into crowd. The
leader takes his place, and instinctiyely
the crowd realize that he is the proper
person. Speeches and oratlons are not
| in order--ropes arei
See nowi Teeth shut tighter as the
crowd moves. Not man would turn
back from loaded cannon. 1t moves
gurgles like river yexed by rocks. II
is the whispers-the quick answers
the pale faces-which tell you what
danger turks in the crowd. A noisy
crowd can be scattered. 1t will fall to
pieces of ITSELF A silent body of men
will take your life if every man has to
peril his own.
1t is the jail. Key or no key, the
prisoner must come out. The crowd
| would have him if score of grated
doors had to be battered down. He
does not plead for mercy. One look
around him tells him that his life is
hungered for with such intensity that
prayers would be mockery. He may
look up at the harvest moon and the
star-studded heavens, but he sees moth.
ing. He is dazed and awed by the grim
silence of the band.
''Haltr'
No voice commands, but here is tht
tree. The whirlpool stands still for &
moment. Faces grow little whittier
but the eyes of every man show a dog
ged determination that would blaze in
to desperation if opposed. The moose
is rapidly adjusted, there is falling
back, and with groan of terror ant
despair trembling on his lips the guilty
wretch swings in the air. The creal
of the limb-the calls of night bird
the deep breathing of men-are plainly
heard as the body swings to and fro o.
turns round and round as the deatl
struggle goes on.
It is morning. Merchants are be
hind their counters, mechanics at th'
bench, sons at school. There is NJ
sign that last night was not one o
tranquility and peace. Men speal
again, women and children laugh a
thoy walk abroad-the cyclone ha
passed. The jail doors are being re
paired-the tree no longer holds
corpse and a stranger would look upoI
:. this face and that and whisper to him
self: ''What good nature see in ever.
line of their countenances They ar
obedient to law and enforce the best Q
order"
Riots are the work of demagogue
and boasters Mobs are created b
towards When men turn out wit
shut teeth and whispered voices to tax
the law into their own hands, Judg
Lynch has opened court and sentence
q man to die.-Detroit Free Press.