The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-11-06

NOTICE.
NOTICE.
A. A. Campbell Is tho only authorised travel
ing egent Of this paper.
THE Err,
GRIM ES AND LYNCHINGS.

In q readable article IN The Forum LOT
November Hon. l.. E. Bleckley, chief
Justice of Georgia, denounces the lynch
ings OF negroes, now almost q habit in
the south. He declares that lynchinR is
on a level with the crimes OF murder and
outrage, the two offenses most apt to
provoke it. "Lynching and provocation
stand each upon its wi footing. The
second is no excuse for the first, and the
first is no allowable remedy for the Sec
ond. Provocation ought to cease
whether lynching ceases or not; and
lynching should cease whether provocR-
ton ceases or not"
But the venerable jurist does not
make any practical suggestion as to the
way to effect a cessation Of the crimes
or the criminal punishments. The
peoplesof the south are confronted by
an alarming condition and they are
earnestly engaged in the attempt to i'm
prove it. So far they have not only not
improved it, but things are going from
bad to worse and bid fair to eliminate
in the not distant future in ouch terrible
scenes as good men shudder to think Of.
It is pointed out by another writer that
the colored mon most frequent in Of
Tense, and consequently most numerous
as victims OF mob violence, are young
men who know not slavery or its ira
ditions or 1t seems logical to
conclude that as these traditions and
manners are more and more forgotten
the o~ffenses will multiply and lynchings
increase, and race hatred will intensity.
Added to these crimes will be those that
must inevitably spring up among the
whites who participate in the crimes Of
lynching, for mobs can only generate a
spirit of lawlessness and disregard for
organized tribunals Of justice, and, they
will be prone to take the law into their
own hands in settlement Of all griev-
ances against, or disputes with, their
neighbours, white or black.
The remedy for the evils, to our way
of thinking, lies almost wholly with the
southern courts and peace officers. In
the south the colored man thinks courts
are for the protection Of the whites and
the conviction of the blacks. For the
same offense the colored man is moro
severely punished than the white man,
and colored men believe that one Of
their race will be convicted on the same
testimony that acquits a white man.
Furthermore, they know that white
men are never punished for lynching a
black man.
If there we're reasonable assurance
that crimes that provoke lynchlngs
would be promptly and certainly pun.
ished by the processes Of the courts mob
law would be less frequently applied
If there were reasonable assurance that
white men guilty OF murder, in the ma
ture OF lynchlngs, would be gwen then
just deserts, the spirit of retaliation
would die out and the spirit of race
hatred be unknown. There are hun
dreds Of honest, law-ablding ooloret
men in the south to one colored Grim.
inal, and there are hundreds of law
abiding whites to one who approves Q
mob violence. But because the whites
cannot depend upon their courts AM
peace officers to convict the one colore'
criminal they condone the mob; and be
. cause the law-abiding colored peopl
cannot depend upon the courts AM
peace officers to punish lynchers the,
shelter the criminals Of their own rae
and are moved to avenge his murder b.
the mob