The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-08-14
TWO OPINIONS ABOUT LYNCHlNG.

bonds Of the officers of the law, con-
cludes a remarkably able editorial with
! these words:
"Rut. after all, what of the crime IT.
self of which this lynching is pro-
test? Must the wives and daughters of
citizens who live in thinly settled com
munities 60 armed as if in a barbar-
ian country infested with savages? Can
thev not trust themselves to the high
ways even to go to and from religious
Worship or to visit neighbors without
running this terrible risk! 1t is only
when we reflect on these features of the
situation, as indicated in the case under
consideration, that we realize the gravity
of the problem and begin to appreciate
the feelings of the friends and neigh
bors of the victim. Be they boys or
men, prominent or otherwise, any CEN
sure of them that abstract views of
right and wrong would suggest must
be tempered with recognition in full of
the provocation, and we can only judge
OF them as we would be judged under
similar circumstances. In this last anal
ysis of the present case, then, we can
only regret that the lynching that closed
the dark chapter yesterday in the histO-
ry of the county should not have occurr-
ed two days earlier than it did, or, fail
ing that, that the law was not allowed
to take its course, once it was called into
the case at ALL
The Atlanta Journal contains an in
terview with Mrs. w. H. FELTON,, wife
of the ex-Congressman, and a woman
of ability, in which she says that the
farmers daughters need protection from
the assaulter, and that instead of so
much money being expended for foreign
missions it might be used to even better
advantage in educating the heather at
home, even in Georgia.
II hear much Of the millions sent
abroad to Japan, China, India, Brazil
and Mexico, but / feel that the heather
at home are so close at hand and need
so much that l must make strong eff
fort to stop lynching, by keeping closer
watch over the poor white girls on the
secluded farms; and il these poor mai
dens are destroyed in a land that their
fathers died to save from the invaders
foot, / say the shame lies with the
survivors who fail to be protectors for
the children of their dead comrades.
II do not discount foreign missions. /
simply say the heather are at your
door, when our young maidens are de-
stroyed in sight of your opulence and
magnifcence, and when your temples of
justice are put to shame by the lynchers'
rope. If your court houses are shams
and frauds and the laws delay is the
Williams bulwark, then / say let judg-
ment begin at the house of God and re-
deem this country from the cloud Of
shame that rests upon it!
when there is not enough religion
in the pulpit to organize in the court
gainst sin; nor justice in the court
house to promptly punish crime; nor
manhood enough in the nation to put a
sheltering arm about innocence and vir-
tue-if it needs lynching to protect wo-
mans dearest possession from the raw
ening human beasts-then / say lynch;
a thousand times week if necessary.
'The poor girl would choose any death
in preference to such ignominy and out
rage and quick death is mercy to the
rapist compared to the suffering OF inno-
cence and modesty in a land of Bibles
and churches, where violence is becom-
ing omnipotent except with the rich and
powerful before the law.
"The crying need of woman on the
farms is security in their lives, in their
homes. Strong, able-bodied men have
told me they stopped farming and moved
to town because their women folks were
scared to death if left alone.
81 say it is a disgrace in free coun-
try when such things are a public re-
proach and the best part Of Gods crea-
ton are trembling and crying Cor pro-
lection in their own homes. And say,
with due respect to all who listen to me,
that so long as your politics takes the
colored man into your embraces on cleo
ton day to control his vote; and so long
as the politicians use liquor to befuddle
his understanding and make him think
he is a man and a brother; when they
propose to defeat the opposition by hon.
ey-snuggling him at the polls, and so
long as he is made familiar with their
dirty tricks in politics, SO long will lynch
ings prevail because the causes of it
grow and increase"
In view of the outrage in Durham
county yesterday, and the closing SEN
tence Of Mrs. Feltons remarks, we re-
peat what we said few days ago:
"The time is at hand when the
good people of North Carolina are
ready to say to the Republican politi-
clans and others who affiliate with
them: "You find means to control
the negro vote to degrade the State
and put yourselves in office. You
must find means to stop the crime
that invites lynching by the ignorant
and malicious of your supporters,
or you cannot escape responsibility
for their actions. You have encour-
aged the ignorant negroes in think
ing that the success of the party OF
which his race composes nine-tenths
insures him against the just penalty
of his wrong-doing. You have told
him that the whites were his enemies.