The record-union., 1895-08-28
THE YREKA LYNCHING.

The State has been disgraoed again,
this time by lynching party at Yreka.
The northern part of the State would ap-
pear to have more than its share of these
outrages. Shasta County was the last be-
fore the Yreka incident to smirch Cali
fornia by an unlawful hanging. There is
but one thing from which we can draw
any consolation in this whole shameful
affair, and that is that several other States
have been suffering like disgrace from
like causes.
1t does not appear that there has been
any failure of Justice in Siskiyou County.
any defeat of the courts, or any weakness
on the part Of juries, that would serve in
some degree to excuse the rising Of the
people and the usurpation of the func-
tions of the law by them. It does not
appear that the chosen officers Of the
people in Siskiyou have been derelict of
duty, contemptuous of their obligations
or in connivance with offenders. The
entire machinery of the law in that sec
ton appears to be in good working order
and to have suffered no abnormal
wrenches
The lynching therefore must be at
tributed to some other cause. since the
people have had no reason to complain Of
the diligence of their officials. In search
ing for such a cause. in order to fathom
this new disgrace, we can fall upon but
one, and that is the laws delay. The
people must have feared that the trials
30 the final judgment of the men they
hanged, would be 80 long spun out that
the community would become dulled to
the enormity of the crimes with which
the men were charged. And this delay
is not, be it noted, chargeable to court
officials or officers Of the law of any other
grade, but to the system which makes it
not only possible but altogether likely
that q man charged with murder Will,
however guilty, have respite from pun
ishment of from one to three years after
Enc oom MISSION OF the crime.
This long delay involves the possible
death of the witnesses against the
criminal; it increases the liability OF the
courts TO commit error for which new
trials will be awarded; it blunts the edge
of public horror and renders the COM
munities of the State more or less callous
to the enormity of the crime; it gives to
the offender opportunity and chances OF
escape from the punishment that is his
due, not enjoyed in any other land.
In England the average length OF time
between the commission of a murder and
six months. rarely does it exceed nine,
and in many cases the man is put beyond
this world inside of two months. In
France the average of time is below
thirty days. and seldom exceeds sixty.
In Belgium it is about one month, and in
Germany it has not extended to a year in
one case in hundred. Yet it is probable
that in these countries no more innocent
men are punished than in this, and that
Justice is as well if not better admins
tered than with Us.
Nearly all the delays of the criminal
law in California are due TO the exceeding
mercifulness of the Penal Code. There is
slowness in making the accusation, un-
necessary delay in getting to trial. much
laxity in securing continuances, Alto
gether useless and unnecessary extension
of time possible under the statute in
moving for new trials and hearing ap-
peals. and finally, there is too much time
allotted the criminal after sentence in
which to prepare for eternity.
All these delays it is within the province
and the easy ability Of the people to
remedy, since they make the statutes and
may change them at will. But when all
this is said. it cannot and does not excuse
the people of Siskiyou for the disgrace
they have put upon the State. Their act
was that of unlawfulness precisely as
were the acts of the victims Of their
anger. By usurping the office of the law
and hanging these men, the lynchers OF
Yreka confessed that they are incapable
of self-government; that having the