The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-07-08
THE LYNCHISG.

Our Io-aI columns contain an account
of on al these awful affairs which have
been rare in Utah. but vet have oc-
CURED often enough TO cause decent,
law-abiling people to feel a sense Of
shame that such things can occur at all
within the borders of this Territory.
Utah Is FIRE from the disgrace Of
lynchings than any of the Territories
or Western States. Not more than
hal.-a dozen of these defiances of law
and authority have ever been COM
mitted here; 1t may be creditable that
the number is so few, but it is highly
discreditable that there has been any
1t shows that the community is in
more or less of a barbaric state;
that il has not reached degree of civil
ization where the people respect their
own laws and have a proper and safe
regard for the constituted authority.
In the times of the early settlement of
the West, lynchings were sometimes
absolutely essential to the public vel
fare and protection; they were occa-
sionslly justified by the circumstances
and conditions. The little communi-
ties were in an uuorgsnized, chaotic
state; they were ttout law and there
was no regularly constituted authority
for protecting the weak and peaceful
against the strong and vicious;
the better elements then had to
band together to make war
on the bad and brutal, and
there was no more effective way of
striking terror into the hearts OF the
wicked and reckless than by admins
tering summary punishment upon the
culprits Had it not been for the lynch
ers. had the peacefully disposed waited
for the assertion of tbs law before act
ing, there would have been long years
of crime before order and civilized gov
eminent were established in much of
the country west of the Missouri.
But here in Utah there has never
been more than a shadow of
excuse for the resort to mob
law. The courts have always been
open and have had power to enforce
their mandates; the element in favor of |
law ana order is so overwhelmingly in
the majority that popular uprising to
protect or punish is absolutely un-
necessary: if lawful authority cannot |
be upheld here, then ii can assert itself |
effectively in no part of the American |
continent. The only shadow of excuse
for deed ike that which was perpe
TT, ed at SILVER City on Tuesday night !
is the sometimes Uncertainty of the
law in reaching the guilty and the delay |
IN the enforcement Of the statute. The |
uncertainty and delay are both scan
dalously emphasized IN the case of the
murderer Hopt, who for years has been |
able to defy the courts and laugh ct
justice who is pursuiHz him with such |
halting step. However, that a criminal |
can drive back and defy the punish |
ment which his crime n erits, furnishes |
no warrant for a community to turn
lawless and set at defiance its courts
and its laws. Better the delay than
that the people themselves should turn
criminal.
The way to check or stop these horrible
of madness. desperation
and lawlessness is TO make an example
of some of the participants in these
crimes. Men must be taught that
while there are laws and power to en-
force them, the community will not
submit TO violations and defiances of
the statutes by the populsce with any
better grace and Cancellation than it
does to infractions of the law by indi-
viduals.