The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-04
Lvuch,nRs North and South.

Lynchlngs North and South.
The hypocrisy that is apparent In the
utterances Of many northern editors and
| preachers in their references 60 lawlessness
and lynchings In the south is so conspicuous
/ as to be sickening. They would have the
country believe that blacks are lynched
only in the south for murder and rape, and
they never miss an opportunity TO
moralizs upon lynchings in the south and
regret in a Pecksniffian sort Of way that the
civilization Of the south is not quite as
! advanced as it is in the north. The
Philadelphia Press, for instance. a
day or two ago, In commenting
upon Bishop Fitzgerald's explanation
of southern lynchings, said "The lawless-
ness OF the south Is one wide curse, affecting
all classes, blighting all sections, and APP
parent in all the states from the Potomac
and Ohio to the gulf. The favorite southern
remedy for this crime is lynch law. For
three-quarters Of a century this Intellectual
cure has been applied. 1t has failed, utterly
and completely. 1t always will fail Law
less justice never suppressed lawless crime.
The south needs settled law aud ordered
justice more than it needs new capital or
material development Nothing will cure
its crime but inexorable law. A strong
constabulary, fearless judges, upright juries
and busy hangmen are the crying want OF
every southern state. Until these come,
crime will not DEPART
1t would be exceedingly interesting to
have the Press point out in what respect
the people of the south differ from those of
A.. De
true that there are more lynchings in the
south than in the north, but is not that be-
cause of the existence in the south Of a
larger proportion Of the class that commits
crimes for the punishment Of which there
is resort to lynch law?
In our dispatches Friday there was an
account of the lynching of negro named
Bob Jackson at Port Jervis, N. Y. for
feloniously sssaulting a white girl. The
negro was pursued and arrested. Did
the excited people Of Port Jervis insist
that he should DO given a fair and impartial
trials They did not. The criminal was
strung up by the neck TO tree in the pres
ence OF a bowling mob OF 1000 people, and
his body was permitted to hang there for
an hour or more.
What has the Press to say about this easel
Is there any difference between the action
Of the people of Port Jervis in this instance
and that of people In southern communities
who lynch black tends for similar crimesl
Perhaps Frederick Douglass who, In Chi
cago recently, talked about the southern
blacks becoming chemists If lynchings in the
south did not cease, can explain why 1t was
that the people Of Port Jervis did not let
the law take its course in the case of Bob
jackson.
Last week on the floor of congress Repre-
sentative Hooker. of Mississippi, called at
tention to a most barbarous lynching of a
black man In Henry county, Indiana. If
other examples were needed to show that
the people of the north are as quick as
those Of the south to resort to lynch law
they could be found easily. The truth is
there is no difference between the people Of
the two sections with respect to lynchings.
Northern people are as quick to take the
law into their own hands as the southern
people, and If the proportion of ignorant
and vicious blacks in the north were as
great as 1t is in the south the
lynchings in that section would be as numer-
GUS as they are in the south. Indeed it is
doubtful il the people OF the north would
pc as patient as those Of the
south are. II the northern press
and pulpit we're thoroughly sincere 1t
would not be continually asserting that the
people Of the north are more law.abiding
than those of the south. They would admit
that the civilization of one section is as adj
vanced as that of the other, but that the
south has conditions TO contend against
which do not exist at the north.