The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-24
One Excuse offered for Lynch Law

One Excuse offered for Lynch Law.
Since the depIorable lynchings in Jeffer-
son parish, Louisiana, and in Roanoke,
Virginia, there has been good deal Of
discussion in the public prints as 10 the
cause of lynchings. The main cause, it is
claimed is the slowness with which the
laws are enforced by the courts against
those charged with crime 1t is true that in
every part of the country there IS too
often extraordinary and, apparently,
unnecessary delay in criminal
proceedings in the courts; and de-
lay often results in the escape Of
criminal from the punishment
he richly deserves. Witnesses
for the prosecution either die
or leave Che Jurisdiction Of the court,
and, consequently, when the trial of
criminal does finally take place it is Of
ten impossible to secure a conviction, be-
cause the evidence necessary to make
out a case is not obtainable
Who is to blame for this condition of
affairs2 The courts are, to a great ex-
tent, and the laws, which give the courts
no discretion when proper showing for
a continuance is made. Lawyers are
hardly to blame for utilizing every ad-
vantage the law gives them to secure the
acquittal of their clients. The laws
ought to be so strict that the trial of a
criminal case could not be delayed ex-
ccpt upon a showing that a prompt trial
would do the accused great injustice.
Judges are altogether too easy-going.
From some of them it is an easy matter
TO get a continuance Of case from one
term TO another If the judges were
strict in allowing continuances in crimi-
nal cases, there would be much less lynch
ing than there is
A speedy trial is what person charged
with crime ought to have, Speedy trials
would lessen the number of lynchings,
diminish the number of criminals and
make the tax burden much lighter than it
is.
When man commits terrible crime
public sentiment, particularly in the
south, demands his punishment at once.
As general thing the criminal is not
promptly punished. The courts grant de-
lays without much urging, and when
criminals and their crimes are nearly
forgotten, and witnesses for the prosecu-
ton are beyond the reach of the courts, it
is comparatively easy matter to defeat
justice.
There ought to be remedy for this
condition of affairs. While it is safe to
permit great deal of discretion to some
judges it is not to all. 1t is a difficult
matter to compel the courts to try all
criminals speedily; still the laws might be
so amended that justice would not prac-
tically be defeated by delay in administer
ing the laws.
And there is another thing bout which
the people think great deal,
but of which they say little,
and that is the ease with which
influential criminals get pardons from
some of the governors. 1t not infre-
quently happens that criminal who has
been convicted at the cost of many thous-
ands of dollars is released even before
the doors of the penitentiary have closed
upon him, or the scaffold has been erected
for his execution.
The excuses for lynchings, however,
are not satisfactory ones. The thing to
do is to set about reforming the administra-
tion of justice. If the laws are not what
they should be, amend them, and if courts
and governors do not do their duty bring
such a force of public opinion to bear
upon them that they will do it. In COM
munities where there is all the legal ma
chinery for carrying out the laws lynch
law should not be tolerated, not only be-
cause innocent men become its victims,
but also because it opens the way to
greater and more intolerable evils than it
pretends to remedy.