, 1888-12-27
LYNCH LAW.
The Story Of How the Term Re-
ceived its Origin.
1t Was First Used by Charles
Z Lynch, a Southerner.
The Descendants Of the Revolutionary
.,. Leader who Took the Law Into
20 Ills own Hands. ..

The following Communication, which
appeared In the Chicago Inter Ocean, gives
the origin Of the. term lynch and lynch
law: as st g NA
C,scrssArr, o., Dec. 10.-To the Edi.
tor: A name or term often takes hold on
the popular imagination; and when. by
general or continued use II 10 admitted to
hold a place in the language, its origin
has certain interest, and is. at least, en-
titled TO historic fairness in its investiga..
tiop. Of such is the term Lynch law,
now constantly heard wherever the EDK-
lish language is sspoken. The modern die'
tionaries have accepted 1t. giving II q dem
milton and even local origin, and some
of the encyclopaedia have treated u as en-.
titled to notice. Possibly its birth ought
10 be well known; but there seems to be q
lack of exact infor rmation on the subject.
An article from your columns, partly de-
voted to Lynch Law" is going the
rounds of the newspapers; and IT may
serve me with an excuse for intrudinR on
you with an attempt to state the facts.
Your contributor wrote from Lynchburg,
Va, and ascribed the source u the term
TO one John Lynch. whom he represented
as having owned ferry at the site OF
Lynchburg; as having got commission
as Justice OF the peace; as having summar'
lily tried horse thieves; and us having.
after conviction. sent the criminals OIL In
the custody of constables, with the under
standing that they should be hung to the
frat convenient tree. when fairly out of
sight of the court This account IL not
correct as TO the person whose name will
70 down to ,posterity in this connection,
nor as to the manner of procedure.
John Lynch inherited from his father
the site Of Lynchburg. then ferry cross.
ing Of James river, and in 1856 founded
the present city, where he lived till 1921.
wb on he died, respected and beloved by all
who knew him. Instead of being man
likely to use such bloody methods of pun
ish ment, as are attributed to him, he was
an exem plary member OF the society OF
Friends, whose fundamental teaching was
"Glory TO God in the highest, and ON earth
peace, good will toward men" and which.
under all circumstances, held human life
sacred. He
LIVED AND DIED A QUAKER.
A gentle. hu mble man of peace. guileless
of the blood of any human being.
None of the earlier English lexicoRraph.
ers such as Johnson, Walker. Richardson
and Boag. give the term Lynch law or
cester define both; whilst Crag. Edinburg
edition of 1859 has Ito lynch" and char.
acterizes II as an Americanism. Webster's
definition OF Lynch law" ia the practice
of furnishing men by ''private, unauthor-
ized persons, without legal trial." add
ing, "the term 10 said to be derived from
Virginia farmer named Lynch, who thus
took the law into his own hands" Wor-
cester has the same, while Nuttall, London
edition, falls into the error of naming the
Virginia farmer John Lynch.
FROM the time Cain slew Abel, men
have, without the forms of law, taken
punishment into their own unauthorized
hands. dealing it to others az whim or
passion or revenge or imagined necessity
may have suggested. Often these out
bursts have been organized efforts, pos
sessing a certain judicial character and
sometimes they have protected society
when official action has failed, as in the
punishment OF gamblers at Natchez and
San Francisco; and when burst of pa
triotic fury resulted in emptyinR British
tea into Boston harbor. the spirit of LID.
erty was aroused throughout the colonies.
But such organizations as the kuklux,
Mollie Maguires aud the White Caps have
the result of combinations to terrorize or
drive out the weak and unprotected.
A designation Of this method of illegal
action, other than that of mob law has
seldom been used. In a part of England
many centuries ago, it was called "Lyd.
ford Law" but that never became more
than local term. A DevOnshire poet
wrote of it:
II oft have heard of Lydford Law,
How in the morn they hang and draw,
And sit in judgment alter" .
A castle on the hill was mentioned,
where accused persons were imprisoned
till trial, which does not seem to have
been an inviting place to sojourn.
TO lie therein one night. 'tis guessed,
'Twere better to he stoned and pressed,
Or hanged now choose you whether" :"
Some people preferred Ito hang out of the
way tlan tarry for q trial" "Lydford
law" by this. appearst to have been u boon,
accepted, il not administered, az q merci-
ful shortening of suffering. 1t was, pro-
vincial and failed to be recognized at the
hands of the photographers; whilst
Lynch law" though originally provincial,
has been accepted of all men.
The Encyclopedias Britannica alludes to
the claim that the term originated from
the deeds Of Virginia farmer; but in-
Inmates that it may be traced back to the
act of raft e
JAMES FITzsTEpHEN LYNCH,
mayor Of Galway, Ireland, in 1493, "who
10 said to have hanged his own son ont of
the window for defrauding and killing
strangers, without martial or common law,
to show good example to 'posterity." The
most authentic account of this event IL to
be found in Hardiman's History Of Galway
and in Haverty's Irish. American Almanac;
and it ignores the theory Of illegal punish
ment Had the term originated then and
there it would naturally have appeared in
IN M vl ~ mi q - u an N
The facts given by Hardiman are in sub.
stance as follows:
The mayor was visited at his home in
Galway by the son of gentleman whose
hnsnitality he had enioYed in SpRin His