The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-10-03

temptation OF such deeds Of violence,
1t was simply and only temporary in
sanity. caused by contact with others in
crowd, and each acting and reacting
upon the other, each by his presence
furnishing fresh fuel for the inflamed
state of the mind of the other. What
one needed to overthrow mental balance
another provided, until 100 men, filled
with the excitement of the moment,
were ready for anything that might be
suggested, tending toward the over
throw of law and the maltreatmsnt of
civil rulers and authorities.
This was and ia the explanation of
the course events took. But there we're
thousands present upon the occasion
referred to upon both days. As to them,
not those of us who were insane and
those OF US looking on as bystanders-
II we did at the demand OF the author
tiles, Immediately and peaceably dis
perse; such is the language of the law,
we were at once liable to arrest and
imprisonment. Says the law itself:
(Sec 3,77O "If any person present on
being required to give mis- assistance or
to depart fail to obey he shall be deemed
rioter."
There is another section of the law of
Virginia which is not, think, very
we'll known by the people generally,
and which also has bearing upon the
events TO which / refer. / quote it YER
batum and almost in whole: (Sec.
1851 IF any person on being re-
CURED by any sheriff or other officer
refuse or neglect to assist him in the
execution Of his office in criminal
case or in the preservation of the peace
he shall be confined in Jail
not exceeding six months and be fined
not exceeding $780,"
Therefore, while 100 people, rostly
from without the limits of th Il CITY,
were actually disturbing tho reace in
our stree IS week before last, there we're
1000 more who were liable to i'm
pr.sonme emit and fine, as rioters and dis
turbers of the peace, who had no such
intention, and may have been ignorant
of the law governing the premises. AS
ignorance of the law is no defense, it is
far better to be acquainted with it, and
thus avoid even the appearance of evil.
refer to this subject tonight for a
double purpose. One Is to spread the
knowledge OF the fact, or to en- phasize
1T just now, that any sworn officer of
this commonwealth can call upon any
bystander to assist him in dispensing an
unlawful gathering Of the people, or IA
any other case in which he can
lawfully ask such assistance, and
such bystander or bystanders go
called upon are liable to fine OF
500 and to six months Imprisonment in
the jail if they do not immediately
obey. For do not think this law is
very generally known, or II known Is
too frequently forgotten. 1t should be
obeyed or else it should be wiped off the
face of the statute book of the laws of
this commonwealth.
But my main rersor for referring n
this manner to that which we would all
like to forget, is an entirely different
one Roanoke has served and is still
serving as the text for moral editorials
OF metropolitan journals, and of other
newspapers in the land not included
under that category, and for sermons in
cities thousand miles away.
Those editorials have been written.
Those sermons have been preached.
We hope they will do some good to their
readers and hearers. We ourselves will.
trust, profit by them.
But while Roanoke, as has been sug-
gested, is not allsVirginia Virginia
need not apologize for her hitherto
much loved and highly wondered at
Magic City. Her magic was not all dis
sipated during the "boom." She still
can lay claim to wonderful strength
of character. Her citizenship is not
only gathered from the four quarters of
this empire, and from portions of the
old world besides, but she has taken of
these foreign States their best.
Some OF our neighbors are mistaken
in Judging us to be largely population
OF eX-convicts escaped from the mining
contractors.
We are cosmopolitan community,
but only the best has found it's way up
the Shenandoah to the head Of this val
ley. And the proof lies in the events of
the afternoon Of Thursday, September
81, 1898.
shall mention no places by name, for
comparisons are odious. But what
place, dependent as we are upon shops
and factories for the greater part of our
could have furnished tho
object lesson soon on our streets that
Thursday afternoon, when at o'clock
all gatherings had dispersed, and dur
ing the succeeding night the people re-
NAMED in their homes, not an outrage
not resulting fire, not a
disturb ance of the peace, from that
time until this hour
a mob insanity? Such 1t was. But
that mob had the inherent power to
quell itself, to cure It's own disease.
Without in the least palliating wrong.
doing we can say and ask the world to
join with us in saying: All praise to
the Roanoke citizenship that had the
power OF self control so strong inner.
emily as to dissipate it's own riotous out
break in ten hours Of daylight and do it
by their own strength of character.
All praise to Roanoke that has so con.
proven that she need never
again see an exhibition of mob folly and
riotous wickedness within hor borders.
the event has justified the trust that
was put in tho citizens of Roanoke by
those into whose hands tho reins of gov