Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-12-19
LET LYNCH LAW CEASE.

says that two hundred persons
were put to death Illegally
''lynched," as the phrase is
last year in this country, and
that ten times that number have
been similarly dealt with in the
past IL years. Scarcely a week
passes without a CHASTITY story of
some such atrocity, not only in
the South and West where they
are most common, but also in
sections which profess to be
more law-abiding. The horrible
roasting-alive Of two negroes in
Texas is familiar to all the world,
and, while the crime which the
wretches expatiated SO terribly
was the most atrocious of all
crimes, one can but shudder to
think of the effect of such a pun
ishment on the minds of the peo-
pie gathered to witness it.
It is easy to understand the
feelings of a father, brother or
husband driven to madness by
the sight of woman or child made
the victim of the greatest wrong
that a human fend could perpe-
trate; but mark the conseqences
of letting any man usurp the
prerogative of the law. A few
years ago, when mob law began
to take the place of judicial law
in certain communities, there
was but one nameless crime to
which the crude justice" Of the
mob was directed. Very soon it
was followed by the ruder injus~
tice of the "White Caps" of ms
diana, who. constituting them
selves censors Of the public NOR
ais, began their cowardly cru
SADIE against everybody whom
public Indignation or private
spite might select as a victim.
Lynch law is evil, in root and
branch. There was an excuse
for it in the wild early days of
California and other territories
when, the machinery Of law hav-
ing fallen into corrupt hands,
good men were compelled to
unite for self-preservation and
the safety of society, in wiping
out the scoundrels who had re-
duced the social fabric to a stale
of anarchy. The very name
Lynch Law, if tradition be true,
was born of an incident as dra-
matically tragic as any of the old
Roman sacrifices to duty. The
original Judge" Lynch was not
a judge, but a mayor Of Galway,
whose son had committed a pes
culiarly base murder. The Grim
inal was tried and acquitted in
the face of overwhelming proof
of his guilt, and returned to his
fathers roof. Thither focked
the citizens also, either to con-
graduate him or at the call of
the upright parent. Whatever
the reason, they we're there in
force when the infexible magis-
trate appeared before them at a
window of his house and har-
angued them briefly, saying:
"Men of Galway, you have rem
dered an unjust verdict, in favor
of a murderer; but the justice
you have denied I will grant,"
and Herewith he hanged the
culprit with his own hands.
Another story says that the
original Judge Lynch, whose
baleful court has been held too
often on own soil. was a YER
liable judge of Virginia in the
last century. No matter whence
the commission of Judge Lynch
has been derived, it is time that
his jurisdiction should cease in
any and every community pres
tending to civilization. If the
judicial scandals which prevailed
in frontier territories still
existed, there might be some
palliation for the outrages which
disgrace even our oldest commu>
ties to-day. If negroes, who are
the chief victims of those outs
RACES, were SO influential that
they could defeat the ends
of justice, there might be some
reason for invoking the rude
justice of a higher law for their
punishment; but there is not a
child in all the land who does
not know that no such condition
prevails in any part of the coun-
try, North or South, East or
West. We ourselves make the
laws, or, which is the same thing,
elect the men who make and adj
minister them. If our agents
prove to be corrupt or inefficient,
upon US and US alone rests the
responsibility.
Mr. Edward Atkinson wants
to form a new political party for
the purpose Of putting down