The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-09-15


whirlpool. A shower of brick-bats-a
surge up and down-a dozen broken
heads "a cry of ''policen' and your
crowd scatters like sheep and sinks
away like ours.
A mob sets out to resist the authori-
ties. 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.
1t 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 Boosting 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 yells 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 aiding to en-
force them, but there is feeling that
legal punishment does not always pun
ish sufficiently.
''Lynch him.
When men who never partake of q
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 tomechanics. 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 instinctively
the crowd realize that he is the proper
person. Speeches and orations are not
in order-ropes are!
See now! Teeth shut tighter as the
crowd moves. Not man would turn
back from loaded cannon. 1t moves
ahead, but it swirls and Kisses and
gurgles like a river veXed by rocks. 1t
is the indispensable 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.
"Halt!'
No voice commands, but here is the
tree. The whirlpool stands still for q
moment. Faces grow little whittier,
but the eyes of every man show dog.
', ged determination that would blaze in.
!, to desperation if opposed. The moose
is rapidly adjusted, there is falling
back, and with q groan of terror and
despair trembling on his lips the guilty
, wretch swings in the air. The creaE
, 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
2 struggle goes on.
; 1t is morning. Merchants are be
: hind their counters, mechanics at the
! bench, sons at school. There is nc
sign that last night was not one O
tranquility and peace. Men speak
again, women and children laugh as
they walk abroad-the cyclone ha;
passed. The jail doors are being re
paired-the tree no longer holds /
corpse and stranger would look upon
this face and that and whisper to him
self "What good nature see in every
line of their countenances They arc
obedent to law and enforce the best o.
order -
;; Riots are the work of demagogue:
and boosters. MODS are created by
towards When men turn out with
,, shut teeth and whispered voices to take
the law into their own hands, Judge
Lynch has opened court and sentenced
man to die.-DetrOH Free Press.