The Brookhaven leader., 1884-10-30
Lynch Law In Franklin.
MEANWHILE. Oct. u. 1884.

NEAbNAiifs Wv. AOcfs
DEAR LEADER IL promised in a for
mer article to discuss the mob outrages
in this county. and suggest some reasons
why the Grand Jury did not prefer bills
of indictment against any one, and why,
in my opinion, they never will. But be-
fore entering on this, wish to correct
paragraph l see going the rounds of the
papers, that another lynching had taken
place in Franklin county on NJ. G. John
sons place. This is mistake. No such
lynching has taken place in this county.
1t is reported here, that negro man was
hung on one of DIR. NJ. c. Johnson's places
in Adams county, for committing un out
rage on very old woman, which / sup
pose gave rise to the paragraph here
complained of. But il is with eommuni-
ties as with individuals; give q man a
bad name and start him down hill, and
every one he passes seems to be sud-
denly impressed with the imperative ne
cessity of going out of his way to give
him a kick to accelerate his downward
motion.
That there has been some lynching in
this county, and some that shocks the
sensibilities of all right thinking people,
shall not pretend to deny; but i do
most emphatically deny that the people
of Franklin county are in favor of mobs
and lynching, or give laid and comfort
to those who participate in it. An over
whelming majority of the citizens of
| this county, of all classes-white, black,
good, bad and inditferent-are at heart
opposed to it, and only au inconsiderate
| few whh engage in mobbing can be found
to uphold it. You will then ask why it
| is that no presentments are ever made
and no one ever indicted for it by the
Grand Juryf This is a pertinent ques-
ton, and one that should be answered
i'll order to sustain the position above
taken, that the people of Franklin coun-
several reasons why Grand Juries do not
fiud bills of indictment against mobs.
First, is the difficulty in select
ing Grand Jury without getting some
one on 1t who sympathizes with the mob.
There are some men who stand high in
the community where they live, who
would not, under any circumstances, en-
gage in mobbing, yet when placed OH the
Grand Jury, either from mistaken notions
of economy, or some other cause, they
fail to enter into the Investigation with
that earnestness and zeal that should act
uate every member, and thereby cast Il
damper ON the zeal of others. Another
reason is, that when men band together
for the purpose of violating the law, and
especially if that violation involves the
commission of heinous crime, the com
pact is of the most binding character that
their united brains can concOct, and ev-
cry avenue and channel through which it
is possible for Identification to be had is
carefully closed aud guarded, and if by
chance one of the mob should be identi-
fed, here are all the rest to prove an ali
hi. Another, and perhaps the most po
tent reason of all, is the fact that every
good man knows that if he informs
against one of the mob that he thereby
makes enemies of all the rest, and it is
not a pleasant reflection to know that
thirty or forty desperate characters-men
who can in cold blood take the life of
their fellow man-are your bitter enc
mics /; and they also know that if called
on the stand to testify, that it will be no
trouble for this mob to find plenty of wit
nesses to contradict him, and blacken and
damn his character, in OIder to break
down his testimony, and hence men who
are in possession of facts that would lead
to the detection of the mob, shrink from
the ordeal through which they would
have to pass and close their lips. For
these and other reasons that might be
mentioned, no bills have been found and,
in my opinion, never will be, unless the
ghosts of their victims, hanging around
their beds so haunt them that they make
a voluntary confession to appease the
ghosts, and quiet their own troubled
consciences.
| Dor.