The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-05-16
THE BEDFORD LYNOHING.

The outbreak Of mob violence at Bed
ford was a most deplorable affair and
adds another to the list of lawless acts
which have already married the reputa-
ton of the State. Lynch law is e.
justifiable or defensible in O community
chinery of justice is In operation. 1t can
only be justified in q community where
the courts have proved corrupt or pow
erless to enforce the law, or where crime
has become so rampant as to be beyond
the reach of legal methods of cure.
This condition of things does not exist
at Bedford, where the lynching occurred,
nor in the adjoining county of jackson,
from whence the lynching party m
The courts there are open N the ma
chinery exists for the enforcement of
law, and yet crime is not prosecuted
or punished there as it ought to be.
Why is this?
jackson and Lawrence counties lie in
what might be called a crime belt. For
many years past Daviess. Martin. Law
renee, Jackson and some adjoining coun-
ties have been the scene OF more or less
lawlessness. and have furnished an
amount of crime out of all proportion to
their population. Seymour was the
headquarters of the Reno gang, whose
feats of crime almost rivaled those of
the James brothers. Many murders and
froip rnhho-;oa ID-o 49, ,.oI ~
perpetrated there. Only a few days ago
the Journal contained an account of q
murder committed there beginning
with Another murder has been added
to the list of crimes which have, in past
days, stained the name of this city" In
that case the sheriff only averted a
lynchiDg by spiriting the murderer off
to jail in an adjoining town. And so it
has been for many years. until the name
of Seymour has become almost synony-
mou with UNPUBLISHED crime and acts
of violence. Other counties in the crime
belt have been not far behind. Some
of them have become notorious for
Wbite-capism. others for horse stealing
and others for arson. lncendiary fires
have become so frequent in some of
these counties that insurance companies
have ceased to take risks on farm build
ings. Some of these crimes have been
traced to the White Cappers, but the
officers of the law have shown no zeal
in prosecuting them. And right here
probably is the secret of the evil and
the main cause of the growth of crime
In tho counties that constitute the crime
belt. The laws have not been enforced
and crime has not been adequately pun
ished. The fault is with the courts,
judges, prosecutors and juries. In
other words, it is with the people. A
stream does not rise higher than its
source, and criminal laws are only rigid
ly enforced when the people demand
and insist upon it. They either create
q moral sentiment that brings about the
enforcement of law or they permit an
opposite sentiment to grow up and over
power the sense of justice that
ought TO reside in every COM
munity. Sometimes justice is de-
bauched and the law paralyzed by
and through party spirit. Year after
year u dominant party, controlled by
greed of Office, or by q gang of corrupt
courthouse politicians, elects to Office
men who are in sympathy with the
criminal classes-weak-kneed judges,
corrupt prosecutors and sheriffs, who
will aid in organizing juries to acquit.
We do not say this state of things exists
in all the counties named, but it GER
tainly has existed in some of them, and
it has contributed materially to the in
crease of crime.
The murder of conductor Price was
cold blooded, and the circumstances in
dictate that il was premeditated; yet, in
spite of the ~aggravating circumstances,
the justice of the peace at Bedford, be-
fore whom the murderer had a prelim-
mary hearing. fixed his bond ut 90. 800
This in itself shows that the justice
had no proper sense of justice and nc
conception of the criminality of crime.
He was, probably. a political or persona,
friend of the murderer's father, who
stood by with g. 800 in his pocket ready
To give the required bail. The justice
was only scared into doing his duty by
the threat of the railroad men present
thar, if he released the murderer OF
bail, they would hang him to the neares'
tree. Ii is such Dogberrys as this Bed
ford squire who pave the way foI
lynch law by trifIng with justice ant
pandering TO crime.
This shocking event. d~eplorable rs i
il, ia butt the natural elimination o
causes which have been operating fol
many years. Its lesson is hat the tim,
has come when the decent people of tn
counties in the crime belt must unit
for the enforcement of law and tho pun