The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-10-22
The Tragedy of Saturday.

The Tragedy of Saturday.
The details of the deplorable tragedy
which occurred in this place last Satur-
day are given in another column. They
comprise recital which it is painful to
contemplate, and which is so yiolative
of all the conservative influences of
law abiding community, that we can
scarcely realize the scenes were enacted
: in our midst. While the conduct of the
negroes excited by liquor were threaten
ening and offensive, and well calculated
to incite to anger and invoke resent
ment, when they had been placed in the
hands of the law and securely imprison-
ed, the law should have been permitted
to take its course, although its progress
might be tardy and aggravating. No
body of men in a civilized community,
have the right to take the law into their
own hands, and proceed to such ex-
tremes as to constitute themselves Judge
jury and executioner The law is the
bulwark behind which life, liberty and
property are entrenched. 1t is the in
stituted and recognized defence of all
our rights and interests, and to antici-
pate its processes and verdicts. is to as
sumo responsibility not warranted by
the code of any christian and civilized
people.
The action of the six negroes who
came into Clifton Forge, on Saturday
morning, armed with deadly weapons,
no
public streets, was such as to test the
forbearance of our citizens, it is true.
The effort to arrest them was the proper
exercise of legal authority, and in mak-
ing the attempt it was within the do
main of legal sanction to meet violence
with violence, to the end that the ma jes-
ty of the law might be asserted. After
the arrests had been effected, the males
ty of the law should again have been
invoked for their protection until the
legal forms of trial had been observed,
and the Judgment of the courts deliv-
cred That the six negroes engaged in
the melee were guilty of murder in the
killing of Brakeman Bowling, there is
no doubt. That those of them who
were executed would have been fairly
tried and the evidence fairly considered
and the law rigidly enforced, there can
be as little doubt: and that is the course
the case should have been allowed to
take. To take summary vengeance. to
wrest them from the hand of the law
and shoot and hang them, was murder,
deliberately planned and deliberately
executed. 1t was a terrible deed and
a terrible responsibility, which cannot
be contemplated without shudder, and
which does not have the sympathy and
approval of the great body of the citi-
zens of Clifton Forge
1t may be asked, why was not the
lynching prevented by the people of the
town? The answer is that the lynching
party was organized; was numerically
strong, numbering several hundred de-
termined men, and the citizens gene
rally were not organized, nor was there
any one who appeared as a leader to Or
ganize them thoroughly. The attempt
was made to guard the Jail. but
the guard did not number half dozen
men, and it would have been utterly flu
tile for this small force to have attempt
ed to resist the men that had planned
the attack, and were determined to take
the law in their own hand in the execu-
ton of the prisoners.
Charles Miller, the leader of the ne
groes, was deperate character. He
had been guilty of a number of offences;
and coming to Clifton Forge on Satur>
day heavily armed, and, as it was sta
ted by one of his party, for the purpose
of cleaning out the police, evidenced
that the motive which brought them
here was criminal. Their disorderly
conduct afterwards, the collision and
the murder of policeman Bowling fol-
lowed, for which Miller and his associ-
ates were responsible. Yet this did not
justify lynching. From every view that
can be taken of the facts and circum-
stances as developed, the summary ven>
geance visited upon the men, after they
had been arrested and incarcerated was
a violation of human and divine law,
which finds no paliation in the an
tecendent circumstances. Yet, notwith-
standing the facts of the case, we fear
the impression has gone abroad that
this is not aw>abiding community.
Judgment has been formed, it may be,
not from the exciting circumstances and
tragic events which aroused some to
frenzy, but from cold consideration of
the results enactedsin the midst of the
fI,.+ 81: -
is the duty of the officers of the law to
make, even at the peril of their lives,
as it is the duty of all men clothed with
official authority. But the citizens gen
orally condemn the lynching; deplore
the tragedy, and feel keenly the humili-
alton natural under such conditions and
circumstances.
Those who participated in the lynch
ing, when the excitement which moved
to the violent extremes resorted to
has passed away, will have very little to
comfort them in a retrospect of the
events. 1t is a fearful thing to. take hui
man life, and a yet more fearful thing
to bear the sting of conscience, stirred
by the reflection that the blood of a hu-
man being stains ones hands. Ven
geance is mine, saith the Lord, will re-
pay, and he who usurps this divine at
tribute assumes a responsibility that
carries with it a penalty of tremendous
import.
Jay Cook, whose financial firm went
under in 1878 or III, by the weight of the
obligations incurred in trying to build
the Northern Pacific railroad, has re-
Gently gone over the whole route to Sc
attic, Washington. After giving in de-
tail the plans formed and the endeavors
made to carry on the work, he says the
Franco russian war and the panic of
1878, settled the matter, and the scheme
had to be abandoned. Henry Willard,
some years afterwards, with German
capital to back him, completed the work
Il 10, ~ 4<,4 <x,,1