The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-06-14

two months over our article in
THE LEADER If April against
lynch law in Franklin, the summit
Times AID Intelligencer of June LIST,
comes out in the labored Defense
of Frankli lin county" which We pub
lisb in another column. Though
the T. and /. has been a long time
in rushing to the rescue OF the hon
orablc Iyl cheers of Franklin, We ar
very glad ii has done so, fer
it has only demonstrated more
clearly the fimsiness of the argu-
ments upon which the advocates OF
lynch law are now compelled to de-
pend for justification of their po-
sition.
Notwithstanding the T. and l. lays
such stress upon the quotation which
it copies from our article, we have
never seen any reason to change or
modify the language therein used ;
in fact, since the T. aud 1. has
thrown the headlight of it's genius
upon the subject, we see even less
reason for doing so. To deliberately
take human life, contrary to the
forms of law prescribed and in a
spirit OF revenge, is MURDER, legally
and morally, whether the act be
done in Franklin county, Brookha-
ven or Washington City. Law, both
civil and moral, is infexible, and
does not bend to SUIT the caprices,
prejudices orjpassions of. men. Hence,
an act which the law denominates
as murder is murder, and belongs In
the category Of murder, it matters
not by whom committed. That
there may be difference in degree
Of hcinou sness, according to circum
stances, we have never denied, but
readily admit; as we have also ad-
mitted las the !. and l. will find if
it will Ia ]lhe trouble to re-examine
our article), that here are circum-
stances under which there may be
more or less extenuation for lynch
ing; but it cannot be justified where
the law prevails. 1t is not our pur-
pose here to assume the position OF
defender" of those who were en-
gagged in he Brookhaven lynching;
but, since the T. and I. has intro
duced that affair, it serves our argu-
ment to say that there were material
extenuating circumstances attending
it of which the Franklin lynchings
and many Others, of recent date are to-
tally destitute. This extenuation con-
sisted chiefly in the fact that the out
was publicly confessed by the crimi-
nails and the main object for which
organized society and law exists
to-wit, a full and fair investigation
of the guilt OF the accused,-was rem
derei unnecessary by their confes-
sions of the crime. Again, that was
in 1871, II years ago, when carpet
bag rule was in the zenith Of
its power, and the negro, in
his ignorance, lorded 1t over
the whites and filled the jurics, and
when, too, the penalty for which
those fiendish criminals we're execu-
ted, was only a term in the
penitentiary instead of death, as now.
The people proceeded about the exc
cution in the right way, too it being,
as the I. and /. suggests, on the
public square, in broad day light,
and after due notice had been given.
But things are changed now, the
best men Of this State direct its af-
fairs, the courts may be trusted to do
their duty, and men of Intelligence
and reason should recognize this
fact and govern themselves accord
ingly. 1t will stand as a perpetual
honor to the American people and
the jurisprudence OF our country that
Guiteau was not lynched, but hung
in the legal way after having been
accorded every right guaranteed to
him under the Constitution; and that
Sergeant Mason, the would be assas-
sin of Guiteau, was tried and SEN
fenced to ten years, Imprisonment,
for his attempt upon the life of a
prisoner, albeit that prisoner was a
murderer. Legally and morally, the
lynchers of Franklin county stand
in Mason's shoes, with this difference
in Mason's favor-they accomplish
ed their object and he did not.
BY its wildly portraying the bra
tai nature of Tom Bailey's crime, the
T. and I. seems to think that the