The Brookhaven leader., 1883-06-28
Mob Law.

yIcksbute Post:l A,
Nothing indicates'a higheTeiviliza-
ton or a more. beaatifnl .relineDent
/ than sacred reverep pee for hui man
life. 81 81
Tue peopleof Tie South pndouhtL
edly have their virtues aud noble
traits of character and gencrous i'm
pulses. but their love and reverence
for human life could be strengthened
and improved TO their own credit and
advantage.
4 : A 3egro In Kemper Cconpty, IQt
Chisolm massacre notoriety, was re-
| Gently assaSsinatet in his cell white
he lay asleep in his bed, BY a lot of
lawless wretches, organized for the
purpos ;, who shot him with a volley
| fired through the grated window of
his cell. lie had struck white man
senselt So with a hoe-handle. The
white man was not killed, but the
assault by the negro was without
justification. The law OF the land
properly enforced would have puq-
ished the negro by Imprisonment in
the PeniteRtiary for assault With in
tent to kill, or a term in the county
iail, as the facts, on a fair judicial
inquiry, would have warranted. But
Kemper county-or perhaps more
Justly expressed, the Kemper coun-
| ty lynchers-haye higher and more
elevated idea of the iniquity of the
crime of hitting a man with hoe
handle than the standard declared
by the laws of their State, and waiv-
ing the little irregularity of denying
free citizen the right oftrial accord
ing to the forms of law, they have
eimpIy substituted the death penalty
for imprisonment-that is all-"only
this and nothing more"
This thing il simply horrible. AS
matter of good taste, forbearing to
put it in astronger light, the criti-
cism can fairly be pronounced on
Kemper county that it might safely
have rested for a while on its former
laurels. .e E III .-.4
Right across the way, in Alabama,
quite recently another poor friend
less devil was taken out and hung
for an aggravated assault on some
body; and some highly respectable
citizens, it is said were engaged in
the hanging. May God save the
mark! "a nf s.. r.-. ....g I'd.
This is mnrder-wi.lful and ma
licious-and this sort of murder is
combined or openly advocated by
some newspapers not without infl-
ence in this State. We have. no
heart to name them OF. make any
formal criticisms. 1t is this law of
force, unreasoning, passionate, de-
structive Of law, and the greatest
curse Of the South, that we propose
to attack. .......
Ifthere are enough law abiding
citizens in Kemper county to make
their united voices heard, they should
condemn this sort OF thing. We do
believe there were numbers of good
people in that county who heartily
condemned the Chisolm horror, and
we most sincerely hope they will as
sert themselves in this LAST instance
of crime. .tH -. .a.= 81
Every man who participated in the
killing of the prisoner in the KEN
per Jail lisa murderer in the eye of the
law and an assassin in the estima-
ton of all law abiding and civilized
people, and they should be discover
ed, indicted, and brought to trial.
The newspapers and the good
citizens who oppose these perform
ances are not slanderers of the good
name of Mississippi, as some news
papers declare. But the real enc
mics of the State, the defamers of
her good name, are those who justify
or excuse these lawless exhibitions
and crimes against law and society.
But aside from the legal crimes
they commit, these MODS and lynch
ers are snch dastardly towards.
Who ever heard of them marching
in the cause of justice against a
powerful marauder and murderer
and breaker, with his pistol
hand free, and his friends to back
him.
1t is always the same old story OF
the poor, friendless, detenceless,
helpless fellow who is the victim.