Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-12-19

~ ~1P
slider the conduct of certain parties
| before and after his execution, with
reference to the officers of your
ty, Your officers we're insulted and
lntimidated, and | am told that your
Sheriff and Prosecuting Attorney were
threatened with personal violence for
attempting to faithfully discharge
their duty under the law, under their
oaths of office. The court itself was de-
fed; and the citizens OF Fulton we're
insulted by having his offensive and
disgusting body hung up to pubic gaze
in one of the most public streets OF the
town. Such conduct was abomlnable
and disgusting, a disgrace to the fair
name of our county and a standing
shame to the refined and Christian
sentiments of our people, and such as
every good citizen will deprecate and
denounce.
sTo show the force of example and
as a natural effect of such conduct on
the part of white men, there o fol-
lowed this occurrence the taking of
another prisoner, charged also with a
preyious offense, from the sheriff, by
an armed body of negroes, who Sc
vereIy whipped the prisoner and then
turned him loose upon the commun-
ity.
"And shortly after this,a citizen was
taken from his house and home at
night by disguised parties and grossly
mistreated and abused.
GAS unpleasant and delicate as it
may be, it is my sworn duty to call
YOUR special attention to these gross
and fragrant violations of the law.
81 dare not, and will not, from any
motives involving my own safety or
freedom from censure or criticism,
permit such open violations of the
law to pass unnoticed and uncon-
demned.
$50 long as occupy the place now
fill, bound by solemn oath to support
the law, 1 shall not yield an inch in
condemning mobs and denouncing
every phase of lawlessness, whoever
may be the perpetrators and what
ever may be the provocation.
"For, when the time shall come in
our history that courts of justice,
prompted either from timidity or
policy shall recognize or condone the
acts OF a mob, then we are fast drift
ing into the very worst stages of an
archy.
sit is not sympathy for the prisoner,
as thought by some, or for the pur-
pose of screening him from just pun
ishment for his crimes, that the officers
of the law are strenuous in their
efforts to protect him from the hands
of self-constituted avengers, but it is
for the purpose of maintaining the
supremacy of the law, and to secure
his punishment under the forms of law,
f KNOW rnat rnese uesperaUo ueous
of men that are being committed all
over the country are most exasperat-
ing to every good citizen, and cal
loudly for swift and severe punish
ment. Yet, as lovers of law and or
der, it is the duty OF every good citi-
izen to aid and assist the law in met
ing out that punishment, and not
leave it to the mob; the self-constitut-
ed body of avengers who organize
themselves without authority, and in
utter defiance of law. For the law
broken in one instance weakens it all
along the line.
"No man ever engaged in q mob
that he did not come out of it a more
lawless citizen and with I, greater
contempt for authority. 1t is a step
in criminality, naturally leading to
| that lawless state Of mind so often
eliminating in the chronic law break
err.
"We can hardly imagine the condi-
ton of a community where the law
abiding element is forced to surren-
der to law breakers the a%scendency
We can hardly imagine the deplora-
BILE condition of u people if we ha6
no Sheriff in the county, no Constables
in the townships and nc police in the
cities to arrest offenders and preserve
the public peace. With no magis.
trate or grand juries to indict, or
courts to try offenders, who of us il
| sucn a state of anarchy could lie dowr
at night and sleep in repose and safety
What citizen could leave his home il
the morning to engage in his daily
avocation and feel any security foI
his wife and children at home?
"These are serious questions, gen
tlemen, for our consideration. Ant
yet l am satisfied that when we reflec
upon them calmly and dispassionate'
ly, we must all come to the conclus
ion that the law, and the officer
whose duty it is to enforce the law
are our only safety. And if these
officers and the courts are to be de
throned by the lawless element of ths
frUffrrrisffrrsyy-
without security.
"Ours is a government of the peo
pie, and much depends upon the citi
zen himself for all the blessings o
good government. So that at last i
is with the people whether we shal
have law or anarchy.
"To the end, therefore, that Law
and order may prevail in our mids
| appeal to you as a Grand Jury ant
to citizens that we may wipe on
this stigma that rests upon US, ant
let it be said in the future that tn,
people of Galloway County are loya
to the cause of good government
and that they will execute the law a
all hazards and under all circum
stances"
IA Crosse Lumber Co.
Make Low Prices