The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-10-22
doNDAY. OCTOBER %. 1894
IN THE LINE OF DUTY.

Recently negro was convicted Oh rap
ing an aged white woman at Washington
Courthouse, Ohio, or rather, being |
charged with the crime, and fearing mob |
violence, he entered a plea of guilty so
that he could be sent to the penitentiary |
at once, and was sentenced for 20 years. |
The public feeling, however, had become
30 strong that mob undertook to lynch
him. The sheriff hearing that this
would be beattempted called out the militia,
and when the mob came, they were first
warned to keep away, and failing to do
so but making an attack on the Jail, the
militia freedom the mob, killing five and
wounding several. For this act the
militia has been pretty generally con-
demned.
It seems wrong that innocent citizens
should be shot down to protect the life
of self-confessed fend. but there is
another side of the case from which to
view it. When courts become corrupt,
and when criminals escape through the
connivance OF the officers of the law,
mob violence becomes admissible for the
reason that the entire people are greater
than the law, because they make it. In
this case there was no excuse for the
mob, for the criminal had been given the
greatest punishment the law permitted.
The officers of the law had done their
entire duty. The sheriff who had charge
of the prisoners had been elected by the
very people who attacked him to carry
out the law and one of his sworn duties
E, Io o1 hio oh
and deliver him to the prison authorities
at Columbus. The militia was formed
for the purpose of assisting in enforcing
the laws Of the state, when the usual
peace officers were unable to do SO.
They were at the Jail to protect the
prisoner and to uphold the law, and
were performing their sworn duty. The
mob knew they were there, knew that
the prisoner had been given the full
limit of the law, and yet desired to pun
ish still further the criminal for his vio-
lation of the law, by violating it them
selves. We cheerfullY admit that hang
ing is not sufficient punishment for the
crime the negro committed, but that the
penalty is not more severe than it is the
fault of the people themselves. AnG
again if the militia will not obey the
orders given it, or if it is permitted to de
its own thinking, to fire when it feels
like it, and to disobey orders when in it
opinion they are wrong, then the soone
the system is abandoned the better
The soldier who does not obey all Lawful
orders, becomes simply guerilla and
criminal. If the killing in Ohio vii
serve to deter other acts of mob violenc
the unfortunates will not have died il
vain. We might add that had tn
militia refused to fire, they would hav
been severely condemned by those VIII
now condemn them for obeying orders
California and Washington have eac
had case of the kind and the pun
ishment the militia received for re
fusal to obey orders and the geners
condemnation of the public for not doin
so, were sufficient to brace the nerves {
their brethren in Ohio.
The crime in question suggests its ow
punishment so prominently that tn
wonder is it has not been put upon th
statute books. There is no punishmeI
too severe, but whatever the law pre-
cribes must be sufficient, and if that
not satisfactory, change the law.