The Iola register., 1891-04-10
THE SITUATION.
Statement of the Legal and Moral A.
pect of the Complication with Italy.

J. anu ODculenCe 10 the laws Oh tne lanU
: that is the key stone of our system {
government. This, and the other cal
: dinal principle that the majority shal
rule, are the very bases of our govern
:. mental superstructure. Destroy eithe
and we become mob. We may iudi
vidually question the righteousness of
verdict, may impute motives not consis
tent with correct ideas of justice to tn
jury, its finding, yet we abide the re
suit. Many of us may curse the system
but from the days of Magma Charta, tn
ingenuity of the legal profession has no
! been able to substitute any system, il
, any country, that would be accepted i
lieu of it. The fellow who wins praise
the system, the man who loses curses il
The situation, briefly, in New Orlean
is this: For the assassination of Chic
Bennesy number of Italians were ar
rested, tried before a jury, nat
urally imbued with all tn,
local prejldices against th'
foreigner, and the jury returned YER
dict mot guilty., as to part of then, ant
disagreed as to the remainder.
A mob, alleged by the New Orleans
papers to be composed of the ''best citi
zens," after this verdict had been re
corded, but before the prisoners had
been formally discharged from the Gus.
tody of the law, assembled. was led by
the best citizens where the prisoners
were confined, and necessarily helpless,
and shot them down like dogs in a
pound. While every fair-minded man
regrets the fact that in this law-abiding
country, such unwelcome guests, as the
majority of the Italian immigrants
prove themselves to be, are allowed
to live with us at all, yet, this same
fair-minded man must admit that this
action of the "best citizens" is not in
consonance with the American idea of
abiding by the decisions of our courts.
To even palliate the offence of the New
Orleans mob we must assume that
either the officers of the law in charge
OF the prosecutions did not do their
duty, or that the jury was venal
and false to their oaths. In
assuming either of these propositions
we insult the courts of our country from
an international standpoint, and of
Louisiana from a national.
There isn't man in this country who
believes for an instant that any one of
its "best citizens" connected with that
mob will ever be punished A mob
never is punished in southern court.
They are shrewd and fertile in finding
excuses 10 avoid it. Judge Lawless OF
st. Louis echoed the southern sentiment
when charging grand jury. He said
mob was sometimes hurried on to
deeds of violence by some mysterious,
metaphysical and almost electric
frenzy" which absolved them flom
guilt and made them not proper sub
jects of punishment. ''If you find such
to be the fact in any case, act not at all
in the matter; the case then transcends
your jurisdiction; it is beyond the
reach of human law" But even this |
excuse is better than the hackneyed |
excuse for mob violence, that it is COM
posed of the ''best element" or of ''our |
best citizens" The same best citizens |
the ku klux, were engaged |!
in the slaughter of negroes ever since
they have attempted to vote, intimidat-
ing republican voters, and maintaining |
that sink of iniquity, the Louisiana lot
terry, Had these Italians that were
slain been negroes or white republicans
peaceable citizens of the United States
very little would have been said about |
it and the ''beSt citizen would not
have obtained the international motor
iety he has. The following extract
gives an instance of the practical and
logical appreciation of this idea of the
rule of the "best citizens:"
when the train reached Parkdale a
negro, accompanied by his
wife and three children, boarded the
rain. The planter told the negro that
ne was under contract to work for him
Turing the year, and that unless he re-
.urned at once to the plantation he
would kill him. The negro replied that
his was free country and that he was
gong to Oklahoma. With an oath the
planter drew a revolver and shot the ne
gro through the head killing him in
;tantly. The planter then walked out
If the train, and after assuring the
many spectators present on the plat
orm that that was the only way to
1reak up 1.-The d-n negro stampede to
Oklahoma" returned to his home in
louisiana. The name of the planter is
lot known"
This situation of affairs is as well
Known to the officers of the italian gov
as it is to our people, and re-
olving all doubts in their own favor
lave done the only thing they could do
md maintain the honor of their gov
Let the apologists OF the
mob reverse the situation and suppose
IN Italian mob in Rome had murdered
/ number of our citizens after they had
,een acquitted by the Italian courts,
would Secretary Blaine be asked to in
-estigate the local causes which
orought about their acquittal and the
eaSons for the action of the mob?
That's absurd. In our majesty we would
Use and say: ''The fact is our citizens,
declared innocent of any crime, have
,een slaughtered. We demand that :
eparation due under the international :
aw from the government of Italy. not
rom the municipality of Rome: you
ettle that between yourselves. This is
matter between the national govern :
nent of the United States and Italy,
{ it was not done then there is net an !
American on the continent so dead to
II sense of national honor but would
pplaud the bombardment of Rome,
ven with orr acknowledged inferior :
avy We would vindicate the honor
f our countrymen, although We knew I.
re would be blown out of the sea. Ac- ,,
ord to the Italian government the
ame sense of right. The officers. in
iscussing the matter, as reported in
he dispatches, have the true idea of
his matter from their standpoint.
In discussing this matter the person
el of the foreigners must be omitted. I.
here is nothing attractive about the
verage dago. There are no more re- !
ulsive people that land on our shores !
han these. They possess all the bad !
ualities ofthe universe but are utterly '
evoid of any of his good ones. 1t is
My in the cities where one can form
nv idea of their crime, filth, selfish i
ess and corruption. They can only op- L
rate in the large aggregations of peo- v
l. I Il. L