The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-03
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
POSTAGE PREPAID.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1897.
.LYNCHING CRIMINALS-A JUDGES
VIEW

From the number of arti-
Giles on lynching it is apparent that it b
by odds the uppermost topic now In
the public mind and no wonder. From
two to five rapes are reported weekly
In the south. 1t is not surprising to us
in the least degree that the whites are
greatly stirred, and that the sentiment
= grows that the persons Of the mothers.
sisters and daughters shall be sacred
from the cruel touch Of brutes n saw
ages. Human nature is the same ev-
erywhere, as has been iterated and re-
iterated in the public prints. The gov
ernors may issue opinions. the judges
may write legal essays on the great
crime Of violating law by lynchines.
the ablest divines may beat their pull
pit boards and burn their oil in pre-
pairing de~nunciations and warnings.
the public press may condemn mob
violence and fill columns with editO-
rails and communications in behalf
of legal trials and in fierce. sweeping
censure Of ly%nchings for rapes, and stil
the hit men Of this southland VIII
shoot and hang so long as their homes
offer no longer safe refuge and pro-
lection against ravening and beastiy
scoundrels for their mothers, wives.
daughters, and even their little chill
~dren.
We believe every mothers son OF the
classes referred to if the awful curse
and outrage were brought home to their
own hearth stones would be as swift
to take life as that other class who have
sworn in their wrath that raping white
women by black brutes shall be stamp
ed out, even stamped into hell"
Whenever society is marauded upon
and the government is unable to pro-
feet and the courts cannot deter Grim
inals and put an end to the most SATAN
5c crime against humanity next to muir
der, then society will unite for its own
protection. This will come to pass
again as it has come to pass severaa
times in localities in this country. I'm
fortunately the raping business in the
south is widely sweeping, limited to no
state. to no corner of a state, to no
county III IL SldlS. IL o"CSPS
= Gle and travels all about up and down
and across. 1t begins in Maryland and
stops not short of the Gulf of Mexico.
1t begins on the Atlantic and rushes
on it's carnival of lust and crime until
If reaches the Missouri and beyond.
oh. that the courts were powerful
enough to end the devilish work and
thus end with it the mob violence!
personal friend of the writer or
long standing and who wears the ermine
rIghteously and justly, writes us a let
ter about lynching and prison reform.
He says the penitentiaries OF the coun-
try are releasing by reason of expira-
ton Of their terms almost as many
criminals as are being committed To
chem. This is most serious, for criml-
nails turned out, with very few excep-
lions. continue their old course n 2re
indeed terrors to communities. Only
two or three days ago a worthy physi-
q clan, living near Danville, Va, Dr.. Ca
bell, of a prominent Virginian family
and man of wealth was murdered most
foully, knocked from his horse by an
~ex-convict armed with an axe, his body
beaten and stamped upon and without
a semblance of p~rovocation. DR.. Caben
was "a years of age and feeble. He had
kindly allowed the convict to live upon
one of his farms. The ~ex-cOnvicts are
often fellows of the most desperate
character. When thir terms do not ex-
pire fast enough, there are found VIII
ling governors like the three. Kentucky
ones mentioned by The Messenger. and
like some that North Carolina a had
TO turn them loose upon society.
Penitentiary life is clearly not oOndu-
civ to moral reform in any way. Fill
the penitentiaries with murderers, rap
lists and thieves and ninety-nine in the
one hundred will go out as bad r
worse than when they went in. Our
friend like a fair and upright jurist is
much opposed to lynching. All good
citizens are on general principles
against it, and are for upholding the
majesty of the law. 1t is only when
law fails to protect, fails to deter that
society becomes FESTIVE, deeply moved,
something chaotic. 1t takes on much
of the feeling that prevails in time of
war, of invasion. Every brave man
feels within him the STRINGS of an ag-
gressive and resolute manhood, and he
instinctively feels like ~shouldering his
breach-loader and going out to battle
for the home-sancturary and the dearly
loved ones. But let us quote from our
judicial friend:
81 am much opposed to it and have
always been. In addition to its being
a violation of law, an important In
quiry is as to what is the effect upon
the lynchers. I believe that a large per
cent. of the lynchers themselves be-
come reckless, and are never as good
citizens afterwards. I am satisfied
further, that lynching does not stop
-yrane. and I doubt if it even checks It. 7