The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1897-09-01
THE COPIAH SIGNAL AND Norr,u

LEADER asked the COpiah Signal, which
had nothing to say in disapproval of
the c. S. lynching, if it would presume
to say that the murderer of old man
Sanders would have escaped justice if
mob had not defied the constituted au-
thorities and usurped the function of
Judge Powell's court? and if the courts
OF Copiah are in the habit of making
an easy way of escape for negro mur.
derers? In its last issue, without cit
ing single instance where Copiah
court has set "scot free" negro mur.
derer, the Signal skirts around our
questions and intimates that money
would have been saved to Copiah
county and the ends of Justice better
subserved if the Case boys had been
lynched like the Crystal Springs negro,
instead of their punishment being left
to the due course of law. This mis-
chievous idea of invoking mob law on
the ground of economy, is not new
one, but we are surprised to see a Jour
nal of the Signals pretensions and in
telligence suggesting such PROPOSE
tion. The Signal should remember
that civilized and orderly government
has always cost its beneficiaries some
thing and always will, but it is inesti
mably better and cheaper for all that,
than mobocracy, anarchy or revolution
One of the Case boys has been convict
ed of murder by the Copiah Circuit
Court, and the.otheris held under bond
to appear for trial at the next term, so
they are very far yet from being 'scot
Free" even if mob didn't have it's
will in the premises. But whatever the
expense of their prosecution may be,
the Signal is reminded that the bill of
costs would have been considerably
less, if the mob spirit, which it seems
so ready to justify and excuse, had not
made it necessary for the Governor to
order out the State militia to uphold
the majesty of the law.
In answer to the Signals question,
we will say yes, the editor of THE LEAD
Err does believe there would be lynch
ings in Mississippi, even if every court
in the State did its duty to the utmost
It could not be otherwise, with so many
people believing mob violence is cheap
er than courts and so many newspa-
pers ready to advocate and condone
mob violence in certain cases, they
themselves being the judges. Yes, the
editor of THE LEADER dares say that 90
out of every 100 mobs in this State or
elsewhere, are inspired to greater or
less degree by spirit of revenge.
Nothing else could cause those who
compose some of them to forget they
are civilized, not to say Christian men,
and become instead. for the time be-
ing, savages and demons incarnate.
No, we are very far from believing
that if every newspaper in the country
had denounced the Crystal Springs
lynching, " it would have stopped fu-
ture lynchings for similar crimes. "
If vast body of men should spend 10
or 90 years in digging canal to change
the course of some mighty river, they
would scarcely be able to jump in with
their spades and shovels, dam it up
and turn it back into the old channel
in single day. Neither can the press
of this country, even by unanimous
voice, turn in day, or a year, or pos
sibly decade, the tide of mob violence
which years of pernicious teaching has
set in motion.
On the other hand, the Signal, if it is
candid, will be compelled to admit that
mob violence does not stop nor seem
to materially lessen the crimes it is in
tended to punish, while its brutalizlng
effect on those who practice it and the
general decentralization and contempt
for law and authority which it begets,
appear to be alarmingly on the in
crease Notwithstanding the awful ex-
ample of the Crystal Springs lynching,
in less than a month after its occur
renee, two negro highmaymen held up
one of the principal citizens of that
town on the streets one night and rob-
bed him of over 800.
Stripped of all unnecessary verblage
and circumlocution, the logic of the
| Signals contention is that the courts
are solely responsible for the alarming
prevalence of mob law, and that the
mob should continue to exercise Jurls-
diction until the courts are stimulated
by their example of prompt action to
reform. In certain cases, we infer
such as criminal assault, the courts
must never resume jurisdiction at all.
Though not expressed in these terms
this is clearly the logic of the Signals
words and meaning.
In another editorial than the one un-
der review the Signal says
"No single factor exerts the in
| f1uelCe UldU tuc press uooo wv.
lar and religious. Give me control oil
the press of the country and you may
have control of all the political con
ventions," etc.
If the editor of the Signal really be-
lieves that, he ought to not squirm OF
demur when we assert it as our deliber'
ately formed opinion that the newspa'
pers of the South, most of which Tor
over score of years have boldly advo-
Gated or been the ready apologists Tor
mobs. are more responsible FOR the
wide spread prevalence of lynch law
than cunningly framed technicalitles
ao,;nouent courts. cowardly officers
and all other causes combined.
The closing portion OF the Big nal
reply, which ends with stage hourlsn