The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1883-07-05
Lynch Law

upon JulS SUBJECT the M emDQls
Appeal of the 1st has an editori a
which we copy below. While there
are crimes so hideous as perhaps to
justify summary punishment still
this warning against the growing
inclination to interfere with the adj
ministration Of the laws of the
country is worthy of consideration.
The Appeal says:
s'Any concession to lawlessness is
an invitation to another When it
was too late the trees of the forest
who had sacrificed the ash to fur
nish the helve for the woodman' 5
AK, saw that their first concession
was the cause of their destruction,
and when it is too late the Ameri-
can people will be forced to con-
TESS that the first concession to law
lessness brought upon them many
woes. Were it not an indictable
ofense we would quote Pope's
hackneyed lines, in which he shows
that however hideous vice may be
it is pitied, endured and finally en-
braced if seen too often. Lawless-
ness is approaching the bulwarks
which protect our civilization by
the same insidious methods. Lynch
law used to be the exception, but is
rapidly becoming the rule. Fa-
miliarity with it has Invested it of
much of its hideousness, and unless
it be checked the rule of the mob
will take the place of law and or
der. Revolutions are inspired by
the mob, and a government and a
people which tolerates any viola
ton of law are sowing the dragons
teeth, the seeds for a prolific crop
of evils. The south is charged
with lawlessness, but strange to say
the first attempt to put down lynch
law, mobs and the instigators and
leaders, hasr been made by the
southern people. A special dis
patch to the Appeal few days
since announced that flames Ev-
ans, q leader of the mob which
hung Granville Warden, colored, in
Monroe county, Ark, on the night
of the 10Th instant, was arraigned
at Clarendon and bound over with
out bail to await the action of the
grand jury" This is a hopeful
sign, for Evans in the eyes Of the
law is a cold, deliberate murder
er, and should be punished. The
outlaws who recently lynched the
Baker boys did not disguise them
selves. They were known to the
grand juries, the judges and the
conservators of law; but they have
not been indicted or arrested. 1t
has been reserved to Arkansas,
whose people are stigmatized by
the pharisees of other states as
semieivilized, to arrest the leader
of mob of lynchers, and thus set
an example to those who are con
stantly prating about their obedi-
ence to the law and congratulating
themselves that they are more
righteous than their neighbor. All
praise to the people of Arkansas for
the brave stand they have taken
against mob-law. One concession
to its rule invites another, and in
the course of time the mob will be-
come the judge, jury and hangman
and the country which boasts of its
civilization, law and order will
lapse back into barbarism. The
executive, legislative and judicial
departments of state governments
are utterly powerless to execute the
laws for the preservation of the pub
lie order and the punishment of
crime unless the people respect and
demand a faithful obedience to the
law. Lynch law encourages the
socialists and communists who are
biding their time to incite the mob
to lynch men for the crime of being
rich. Unless the people arise in
their majesty and extirpate the
lawlessness of the mob and punish
lynchers, we will soon have a con-
test between anarchy and order.
There are many dangers threaten
ing the stability of the republic and
prominent among these is that
growing spirit which excites the
mob to. lynch law. Trial by jury is
tho only safety for our;institutions
and our civilization. Trial and
lynching by the mob will supplant
both by anarchy and the rule of the
communists.