New-York tribune., 1884-01-12
TILE LOWER LII.


Everybody understands Mr.. Stewards higher
law doctrine, but it seems to be becoming
necessary in these degenerate days to postuate
q lower law also, and this lower law is called
lynching. The growth of the tendency to push
aside the forms of law, and to execute, we will
not say summary justice, but summary capital
punishment. upon men who have undergone no
trial, has been gradual, but it has now attained
PROPORTIONS which are seriously disqueting. 1t
is not only at the outskirts OF civilization, or
among semi -baTbarOus Southern communities
that this tendency is manifested. 1t is becOm-
ing so general that when murderls committed
even in some quiet New-England village, and
some person is arrested on suspicion, some
times find it stated in the tclegraphic
report of the case that "There is some talk of
lynching," and it does not always stop at talk.
No doubt one cause of this disposition to dis
pense with the law is the frequency with which
grave crimes escape detection. Within the
past three months at least half dozen murders
have been committed with impunity. The
Rose Amber, Phoebe Paullin, Maybee and
other cases have balled the police completely.
Now it is natural that these numerous
failures should render the people angry
and impatient, but the remedy
is not to be found in lynching. 1t does not fol-
low because the police fail to find the murderer
of A. that the people ought TO take the chances
of hanging an innocent man for the murder of
B. But when, as sometimes happens, there is
little room doubt as to the guilt ola suspected
person, resort to lynching is even more un-
warrantable, since under such circumstances
the law can be safely trusted to administer the
penalty.
The most dangerous effect of the lynching
tendency, however, is its destructive influence
upon popular respect for the law 1t is in fact
a school Of anarchy, III which men learn TO
avenge their own real or fancied wrongs, and in
which they are taught to revert to thoroughly
barbarous lines of thought and action. If crime
too often escapes punishment il sthe duty Of
civilized community to improve its means Of
detection. If the process OF The law is unccr-
tain and caprciOus, it should be amended. The
means for the detection Of crime in this coun-
try are still crude. Outside the great cities they
can hardly be said to exist. The sheriff, the VII
lage constable and such officers are expected to
unravel mysteries which would tax the skill Of
the most highly trained and experienced de-
tective. And when the assistance OF trained de-
tectivesis calledin It's usually too late Prompt
ness in getting on the track of criminal is one
of the most indispensable requirements, BUTT is
seldom attained. Yet these drawbacks can be
removed. 1t is possible to provide skilled de-
tective force which shall be available at any part
of the State, and which can be put in motion
instantly by telegraph. And it is possible so to
amend the practice of the courts that it shall be
l.. Jof In fol
secure jury of imbeciles or worse.
These are the directions in which public
opinion should move, and not the direction of
lynching. That is always an attempt to offset
one wrong with another. 1t is balancing mob
murder against individual murder. 1t is on the
plane of violence and lawlessness, and not on