The evening times., 1896-12-24
Violence Begets Violence.


The threatened race war in one, per-
haps in several, of the counties OF Ken
tucky, is the direct outgrowth of the lynch
ing of a negro. Thelawlessnesso of the mob
of white lynchers does not, of course, fur
nsh an excuse for still greater breach
of the law on he part OF the negroes Yet
one need not be surprised at an uprising of
this kind. because evidences of utter dis
respect of the law in the way of lynching
are of almost daily occurrence in Ken
tucky, and those that SOW the wind must
expect to reap the whirlwind. There is
not the least doubt that if the people OF
Mayfield had permitted the law to take its
would have received the scverest penalty
known to the statute, the law would have
been vindicated, justice had its dues, out
ragged public sentiment obtained satisfac-
tiOn, order and decency maintained, and
strife averted. When the old Greeks CON
cocted the fable of Medea sowing the
dragons teeth and thereby producing
crop Of armed men, they put in most forci-
bly, illustrative form the maxim that the
poison of passion and hate can have no
other results than spasms of violence and
riot nd bloodshed.
What needs to be done, not in Kentucky
alone but throughout the country, is preach
Ing tile gospel OF the ma jesty of law. State
governments can never act with proper
force and effect unless they are supported
by public sentiment. The river cannot rise
ubove its source; neither can order proceed
from a disposition to disorder. If the law
is to be properly enforced and justice duly
administered, the impulse must come from
The people. especially under a republican
form OF government, where the will of
tie people is crystallized in the law of the
ders of the District-no farther than our
own beautiful neighbor State of Mary
iand-to find that this is true Several
iynclIings have taken place there recently,
for none OF which there was the slightest
justification. Tie governor OF the State
offered rewards for the Identification of
the lawbreakers, and judges charged grand
juries to investigate the cases with a view
OF bringing the guilty parties to trial.
Neither the governor offer nor the judges
behests had any effect The grand juries
ignored the cases; in one instance expressed
thinly disguised appreciation of the action
OF the mob. These grand iurcs represented
tie public sentiment of their respective To-
caitics, and this sentiment approved Of the
rule of the mob and shielded the law
breakers.
The people OF communities where these
ebullitions of popular wrath are contem-
plated with complacency should turn their
eyes TO States where every violation of the
law is punished by the law, not in de-
fiance Of it. There Justice proceeds on her
course unobStructed and in orderly fashion,
her path being made smooth by public
sentiment, which holds that "order is the
first law of heaven" When a crime is
committed and the criminal apprehended
his punishment is none the less certain
because all processes of the law are duly
observed, and the dignity of the courts
and their Jurisdiction remain unassailed
by the rude hands of the mob. Order gives
birth to order, and violence begets yio-
lence, in obedience TO the inexorable law
Of cause and effect.