The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1897-08-13
SOUTHERN LYNCHING.

The many lynchings of negroes in
the south of late years have aroused the
attention of the civilized world and cal
led forth from the newspaper press the
most scathing criticisms and severe
denunciatiOps of our southern neighbors
for their treatment of their brothers In
black. That these structures are just
from the critics view is undeniable.
Where there are courts of justice to
secure fair and reasonably prompt trial
of criminal cases, and where the law is
adequate or can be made adequate to the
crime, the processes of law should not
be interfered with and the authority Of
the courts should be maintained. That
the law is not permitted to take its
course in many instances in the
southern states is indicative of a cOndi
tiOn of things out of the ordinary for
civilized communities.
What is the trouble? Are these people
barbarians, nearly approaching sayages
in their instincts and TENDENCIES? On the
contrary, with slight differences, their
civilization is counterpart OF our own,
and, in some respects, it is even super
iOr. Their communities are usually
quiet and orderly. They have an unus-
ual respect for their organized courts
The percentage Of church attendance
is large. Their superior regard for
womankind, nowhere surpassed,
amounts almost to reverence. There
must be some season for these frequent
lynchings not due to the characteristics
of the white population and for which
it is not directly responsible. And that
is what the people of the north need to
understand in order that their judgment
of the southern people may be more
charitable. will endeayOr to make it
understood.
In three Of the southern states-SOuth
Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana
the negro population Outnumbers the
whites, and in those states in which the
white population is in the ascendency,
there are districts in which the blacks
largely predomicate. To keep this large
colOred population in subsection to law
is difficult task, and how to do it con-
stitutes problem not easy Of solution.
While many of the colOred people are
good citizens, orderly and well-behaved;
there is another and large class, and
utterly depraved, with instincts little
above the brutes, having no respect for
the law and seemingly no fear of its
penalties, and living only for the gratif-
cation of animal appetites. For an ex-
treme of depraved natures and ungovern-
ed passions, we have no corresponding
class here in the north to deal with.
There is nothing in the whole category
of vice and debauchery but that is COM
mon with them; no crime but that they
are ready to commit upon the slightest
prOvOcatiOn or temptation; and they
seem to be lacking in all the finer feel
ings Of human nature, with no REDEEM
ing qualities to offset their yiciOusness.
When their crime is against white
female it is usually accompanied with
the most hOrrid features and devilish
cruelties that their Internal imagina
tiOns can devise. No country home is
safe unguarded; no woman safe in any
lonely spot unprotected. The child of
the white citizen jOurneying alone to
school or to neighbOr'S house is liable
to be seized by one of these black iends
in human shape, subjected to the most
terrible outrages, and left dead with
mutiliatiOns of the body unspeakable,
after having suffered the most agoniz-
ing tOrtures that human sensibilities
are capable Of suffering. Why, the
whitecaped friend was merciful in COM
parisOnl And crimes of this kind are
frequent in the south, where negroes Of
this class are so many that they Utterly
abound, and constitute grave and per-
petual menace to to the public safety.
A residence Of twelve years in the
south has enabled me to become well
acquainted with the characteristics of
this class of the population so that in
speaking Of them it is with the assur-
ance of personal knowledge. The bad
negro is very bad. The southern whites
have him always with them, and they
are perplexed to know what to do with
him. The legal restraints, that among
the whites, however bad some of them
may be, are sufficient to conserve the
public safety, have scarcely any restrain
ing effect on the bad negro, whose bru-
tai nature may cOnstrain him at any
opportunity to commit the most brutal
crimes without regard for legal penal
Ties. He fears just about as the wolf
fears, and law has about as much effect
with him as it would with the wolf.
When without the slightest proyocatiOn
he can shoot into crowd Of psaceable
colored men and seriously wound one in
the thigh, just for the Fun Of seeing the
crowd jump; when he can shoot dead
another negro over claim Of FIVE cents
when there is no quarrel between the
two, one can form some opinion as tt
what sort Of person bad negro is
and what kind Of law is needed TO keey