The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-25
THE ORIGIN OF LYxcHrNG.
A story From Ireland That Accounts
for the Nnme.

for the Name.
Lynchings appear to increase in fire.
quency every day. Every issue Of the
Morning News for the last several days
has contained accounts OF one or more
affairs of this kind, the offense in almost
every instance being the usual crime
With such a general prevalence of lynch
law. it may be Of interest to know the or
igin Of the term and the custom. Many
explanations have been offered of the or
igin Of the expression, some of them very
plausible. One Of the most commonly ac-
cepted is that there was a justice of the
peace named Lynch in the mountains Of
North Carolina in the revolutionary days
or shortly after. In the general disorderly
condition prevailing at the close of the
revolution lawlessness prevailed in that
section TO an unlimited extent Judges
were at distance, and courts We're sell
dom held. In this emergency Justice
Lynch took the law in his own hands, and,
without regard to the limitations of his
authority, sentenced and hung murderers,
horse thieves and highwaymen without
the fOrmality of jury trials, and with no
delays at request of counsel or appeal to
higher courts. Arrest conviction and ex-
ecutlon all took place on the same day.
This sort Of sudden Justice is said to have
given rise to the term lynch law. The
explanation is plausible but doubtful.
Sergt. }. B. killourhy, one of the veter-
ans or the police force, gives another ex-
PLANTATION of the origin of the term
Away back in the early part of the
sixteenth century," said Sergt. Killourhy
last night, there was a mayor of Gal
way, then one of the principal cities of
ireland, named Lynch. The mayor was
a very prosperous merchant doing bust
ness chiefly with Spain and Portugal and
Keeping a fleet of vessels employed in that
trade. In the conduct of his business he
occasionally visited the coast of Spain
and formed strong friendship with a
citizen of that country named Gomez, the
same name. you will observe, as that
or the insurgent leader in Cuba. On one
Of these trips Lynch brought back with
nm to Galway the son of his friend, Go.
mez, to spend a while and learn the ian
guage OF the country. The mayor or
warden, l forget which he was called, had
a son of the same age as the young man
Gomez and the two soon became fast
friends. Young Lynch acted as the in
structor In the language of Young Gomez.
They spoke the Irish language in Ireland
then Young Lynch was very much in
love with a young lady and aturaIly he
took his friend to see her. With frequent
visits of this kind the young Spaniard,
progressing rapidly in the language, he
soon fell very much in love. with the
sweetheart of his friend. She. it is pre-.
sumed. encouraged him. Beco ming more
proficient in the langu age. the
Spaniard one day decided to visit
visit the young lady alone ard did So
When young Lynch heard of thi 5 his heart
was filled with jealousy and he determined
to be revenged. Not many days after
ward, while taking walk vito the Span
lard upon the seashore, he plunged his
dagger into his heart and then cast the
body into the sea. terrible stern arose
and cast the body back upon the land.
Young Gomez being missed a Sc arch was
Instituted for him and his body was
found upon the seashore with tile dagger
of young Lynch thrust through his heart
The young man was arrested and confess
ed his crime. There was great excit8 nent
and indignation and the populace demand
ed an immediate trial. Instead OF grant
ing this the mayor took his son to his own
house. Taking him to an upstairs window
he placed a rope around his neck, tying
the other end to a beam, embraced and
kissed him and then threw him from the
window. The terrible deed created a pro-
found impression all throughout Ireland
and ever after such justice was known as
lynch law after the man who first prac-
tised 1t. The story can be authenticated
by historical records of Ireland. 1t is
given about as 1 have told 1t in a book
entitled Picturesque Ireland The term
was imported to this country and signifies
to-day exactly what it did when origina-
ted by the man whose name was given 1t,
swift and sudden Justice"
As Irish emigrants to this country were
as numerous in the seventeenth and elgh-
teenth centuries, proportionately, as they
have been In later years, 1t was the most
natural thing in the world that the term
should have been imported along with the
custom, which appears to have as firm
hold upon the people of this section to-
day as In the early history of the country.