The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-10-31
JUDGE LYNCH.
When a Community Feels That
Legal PLnlshment does Not
Always Punish.
A Silent Body of Men With
frightened Lips and ClOse-Shut
Teeth and q Body Swing
ing To and Fro.

whirlpool. A shower of brick-b4t,
"a surge up and down broker
heads-a cry of "pOlice!" and YOU
crowd scatters like sheep, and SLIM
away Ike ours.
A mob sets out to resist the author
tiles. Nine out Of every ten men in
it re towards. They boast and brae
and encourage, but they keep theil
own bodies in the background,
They want to see some one hurt, they
know that law will triumph, and
they want tn be able to prove that
they were simply lockers on. One
brave man will walk into a mob and
defy and over-awe it.
y 4 x 4
A brutal outrage has been CON-
mitted. 1t Is an affair that stirs the
blood of sons and brothers and
brings a dangerous light to the eyes
of hus ,ands and fathers. There Ia
no bOasting OF shouting Knots of
men gather here and there, and they
speak with fierce earuqstness, but
in low voices. No mob surges up
and dewn-no wild yells rend the
air-no crowds furnish drink to ex-
cite yeung men to foolish deeds.
Lynch hint"
It is not shouted, but spoken in
whispers or read In each others eyes
Every man has ebeyed the laws
every man would peril his life in aid
ing to enforce them, but there is a
feeling that legal punishment does
not always punish sufficiently.
"Lynch him."
When men who never partake of
4 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
whisper it to each other, merchants
to mechanics. Lips tighten and
grow pale, teeth shut close, eyes fash
as you never saw them before.
The knots of men gather into
groups-the groups consolidate into
q crowd. The leader takes his place,
and instinctively the crowd realizes
that he is the proper person. Speech
es and OratiOns are not in order
ropes are!
See now! Teeth shut tighter as the
crowd moves. Not a man would
turn back from a loaded cannon. It
moves ahead, but it swirls and his
ses and gurgles like a river veAed by
rocks. 1t is the whispers, the quick
answers, the pale faces, which tell
you what danger turks in the crowd
a noisy crowd can be scattered. It
will fall to pieces itself. A silent
body of men will take your life if
eve"y 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. Que look
around him tells him that his life is
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
nothing. He is dazed ard awed by
the grim silence of the band.
"Halt!"
Nc voice commands, but here is
the tree. The whirlpool stands still
for a moment. Faces grow a little
whittier, but the eyes of every man
show a logged determination that
blaze into desperation if Op-
posed. The moose is rapidly adjusted,
there is a falling back, and with a
yroan of terror and despair trem-
bling on his lips the guilty wretch
swings in the air. The creak of a
limb, tue calls of a night bird, the
1eep breathing Ut men. are plainly
heard as the body swings to an fro or
.urns round and round as the death
'truggle goes n Il
1t is morning. Merchats are 0a-
hind their counters, mechanics at
he bench, sons at school. There is
sign that last night was not one
# tranquility and peace. Men speak
an d children laugh as they
walk around-the cyclone has passed.
The Jail doors are being repaired, the
rec no longer holds a corpse. and a
tranger would look upon this face
nd that aud whisper to himself:
What good nature l see IN every
OF their countenances! They are
bedient to law and enforce the best
f order"
Riots are the work of demagogues
nd boasters, Mobs are created by
owards. When men turn out with
whispered voices and shut teeth to
AXE the law into their own hands
I'D e Lynch has opened court and
.ntenced a man to die. --DetroH Free
Press.