The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-10-14
A FAR-FETCHED FxPIANATIOS.

We referred yesterday to tho determined
uprising OF the people in the vicinity OF
Omaha, Nebraska. which ended in the sum-
mary lynching of negro who had been
| guilty Of a frightful outrage which has hither-
| to been practically confined TO the blacks
of the Southern States, but which is becom-
ing not uncommon in the Northwest now
| that so many individuals of this race have
immigrated to that section. 1t seems only
natural TO suppose that the citizens who took
part in this lynching were actuated by the
same feelings which ordinarily govern a
Southern crowd under similar circumstances,
that is. an Indignation which overrides all the
commands of the law and sinks into oblivion
every suggestion of delay.
II is not difficult to comprehend how the
minds of a people might become so suddenly
in6amed by crime of this brutal character
that they would sternly refuse TO listen to the
ordinary dictates even OF humanity and pro-
coed 10 enforce their idea Of natural Justice
by such methods as would insure the great
est despatch. The impulse whether defensi-
bic or not. is a spontaneous and involuntary
one which seeks no justification in precedent
and gives little thought except to the pressing
business of the moment.
The Chicago inter-O Ocean, commenting on
the recent lynching at Omaha, does not take
this view of it, Tha. journal expresses itself
as if it were profoundly astonished that
such an interruption OF the course of law
should have occurred in Northern State,
and seems TO find il hard TO realize that the
report is correct. Acknowledging, however,
that there is no room for reasonable doubt.
it seeks with painful ingenuity to discover
plausible explanation Of this extraordinary
outbreak. which will save the people in the
vicinity of Omaha from the aspersion of
having yielded to lswless impulse without
any provocation stronger than what las its
root in the weakness of human nature.
The Inter Ocean passes by the real motive
which led to the uprising-that ia. the char
acter of tho ofiense. which was revolving TO
every instinct of the mind and heart and
which was well calculated to raise a storm Of
indignation. which reason could not restrain
nor regard for the law repress. II passes by
this which, however lamentable the conse
quences which flowed from it. was sufficient
in itself 10 constitute q full explanation of
this lynching, and attributes that outburst of
feeling, an Outburst characteristic neither of
the North nor of the South nor the East.
nor the West. to the influence Of the New
Orleans "butchery." That "butchery." ac-
cording 10 our Chicago contemporary. had
spread abroad an indifference to the legal
processes OF justice which had reached even
the quiet community 10 Nebraska where the
negro Coe was hanged by the angry citizens.
IL does not seem remarkable to the Inter
Ocean that this influence did not show itself
IN that community until crime had been
committed which is visited with summary
punishment everywhere. This is the first
lynching recorded in the local annals of the
vicinity of Omaha. Why should the inhu
ence Of the New Orleans episode have been
so slow in operating Why should it have
operated only in the instance of one spec al
crimey We would venture TO suggest 10 the
Inter Ocean that IN its next attempt 10 reflect
upon the South, it should not seek to employ
means as far-fetched as 1t has aimed 10 use in
this case. The explanation which it offers of
the Omaha lynching is not even plausible
enough to deceive the understanding of the
most bigoted radical in the Republican
marty