The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-10-08


the national house Of representatives
Congressnan Murray. negro from South
Carolina. made an eloquent plea for equal
civil justice 10 his race a. the South.
Congressman RusseIi, of Georgia, IN reply
answered with brutal sneer that lit was
fitting that the requiem of the Republican
party should be spoken by q son Of Ham "
This answer recalled the crack of the slave
drivers whip, the brutal plantation
manners" which were illustrated before
the war by the beating Of Charles Sumner
At his desk In the senate by Preston :.
Brooks. congressman from South Caro-
lima This answer voiced the brutal.
savage spirit which makes lynching so
easy at the South that ii grows fat daily
on the crimes that feed it.
Lynching Is but part OF the oppression
ana injustice inflicted upon the negro.
He is iynched if he organizes and under
takes to cast his vote; he is iynched If he
goes on a labor strike;" he is iynched
whether be is guilty of crime or only ac-
cused of crime; he IL Iynched If he re-
fuses to tell the hiding place of his rela-
tives who are fugitives from justice: he
is sometimes tortured frightfully before
death: he Is burned to death, not
simply for rape but for murder; the
funeral pyre is already built and
awaiting the arrest of the Louisi-
ana negro who recently shot and
killed parish judge near New Orleans;
the three brothers of this fugitive have
already been lynehed because they were
suspected OF knowing the hiding place of
the fugitive criminal. The negro is
lynehed at the South at every opportunity
just as Christians were once maltreated
and murdered in Mohammedan countries;
Just as Jews are Iynched in Morocco to-
day by the Moors.
Tyranny and injustice grow by what
they feed on: wrong breeds wrong;
cruelty becomes habit. and the infiuen-
tiai public opinion North as we'll as South
is responsible for the steady increase of
that reversion 10 barbarism We call lynch
law. When the French Revolution began
executions were few and mob law was held
in check by the authorities of the repub-
lie. Then began the reign of mob law the
prisons we're burst open and their helpless
inmates were murdered. and before 1.-The
reign OF terror" ended in August, 1874,
men. women and young children were
shot to death by scores; we're drowned by
hundreds and the crnelties of the Middle
Ages were outdone. The answer of Car
rier. who drowned children by scores at
Nantes. was that young wolves breed
wolves" The practice of cruelty had bred
an insane passion for cruelty, and that is
what lynch Law does in every land where
il goes unrebuked; it breeds a passion, a
primitive rights of every accused man to a
fair trial by the constituted authorities OF
public justice.
There is not the slightest palliation for
this lynching Of negroes at the South. A
Southern negro never gets lighter pun
ishment than he deserves; his legal pun
ishment is sure and rigorous: there is no
risk in leaving him to the hands OF the
courts; 1t is not desire for justice, but q
rage for cruelty; IL is barbarism, sayagery
pure and simple, that prompts these
wanton acts of mob law and horrible
cruelty. The mayor of Roanoke, Va, who
defended its jail against mob. was gal
liant ex-C Confederate soldier who had been
desperately wounded leading Pickett's ia
nous charge at Gettysburg. and yet this
| gallant man and the captain of his militia
had to so into hiding for days 10 escape
| lynehing. and when the mob had finally
| lynehed their victim they were with diffi-
| Guilty prevented from burying him in the
faithful magistrates yard.
| OF course, We all know the kind OF
creatures that largely compose the lynch
/ ing parties. they are fellows TO whom
/ hunting down negro criminals aud shoot.
/ ing. hanging and torturing them is a
sport like the buil-baiting. bear batting
and badger-drawing of old England To
/ illustrate: Suppose the hoodlums of Cali
/ fornia, Oregon aud Washington though.
| that they could safely chase, lynch aud
/ torture a Chinese murderer or criminal
/ before death. would there be any lack OF
/ material 10 make a mobg The creatures
who 'passionately love cruel sports. like
/ psixefghting, coekGghting and the dog
I pit would delight 90 run down
Chinese murderer or other crimi-
nal and cruelty kill him. This
/ hoodum class exists in greater or
less numbers in every state. and is only
| kept in subsection by law and public
/ opinion. bat wherever law is lax and pub.
lic opinion loose or indifferent your reck.
less, barharoas hoodlnm becomes a
| lyneher at the first opportunity: not be-
/ cause be has any respect Tor Law OF horror
| Of crime. but because be enjoys man
hunt aud murder. just as he enjoys q
bloody pEiEsfisht or cruel cooking main.
The best public opinion at the south has
| allowed lynch law 20 80 on with impunity
so long that u is rapidly barbArixing the
| youth Of that region, Iyuching at the
| Solth serves no purpose ba, the gratiaca-
| ton Of the brutal love of cruelty for its own
| sake. The ATTEST journals in the South.
with the exception Of the Richmond IVA.
/ psspafcA, condemn mob law as brutal
T eowaraly and useless for good results, and
{ as sn utter failure as solvent Of the race
I problem. and an meter Of the negroes 10
retaliatoyy acts of lswlessneSs aud vio-
I lencs.
Bishop Walters. Of the African Metho-
/ dist Episcopal church. said st its confer.
/ ence at Indianapolis that If a negro com.
/ mitted murder or outrage he ought to -
/ eNeerses~s $50 a..