The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-24
"JustinabIe killing"

/ cago Times-Herald. la which paper it APP
peared over an editorial article the pur-
pose Of which was 10 justify the lynching
ofI@tramp in a suburb of that city on
last Thursday Had the lynching. with
Identical details occurred in the south
The Tmes-Herald'e editorial upon the oe-
currence would PROBABLY have been head
ca something like this: "Lawlessuess
Run Mad" or "Lynchers Again Defy
Law"
The lynchng of the unknown tramp so
far as we are able to judge from the
taleeraphic reports and the accounts in the
Chicago papers, was as fragrant and out
Iage0us a violation Of the law as any that
has ever occurred IN the south The chi
caeo Chronicle not only calls it a lynch
ing. but says a second occurrence Of the
same kind nearly took place in another
suburb of the city TWO days later, when
excited citizens n the vicinity of Dun
INNS" chased August Hoffman, a farm
hand for two miles. but failed to catch
him. Hoffman. whose offense was rob
berry, narrowly escaped lynching," ac-
cor3lns to the Chronicle
The unfortunate tramp of Thursday,
who could not run so fast as Hoffman,
and therefore fell a victim to the mob,
was not accused of the usual crime" but
Of robbery ana beating a woman. His
o1ense was dastardly. it is true: but
his murder was not a "Justfable Killing"
as The Tmes-Herald asserts, any more
than the killing by a mob of a fugitive
negro rapist in the south is a "justihable
killing" Indeed. the preponderance Of
mitigating circumstances is in the latter
case The Chicago posse" was a mob,
pure and simple The members of it,
armed with shotguns and revolvers, and
lacking a warrant for the arrest of the
fugitive. pursued him, not with the in
tention Of making an arrest, but of do
ing precisely what was done-killng him.
Seeing the heavily armed mob In pursuit.
the fugitive made an attempt to defend
his life and was riddled with bullets.
Lynchng, therefore. is not only practic-
al i'm the north. but Is excused and iustined
by leading journals; and in the instance
under consideration 1t is excused and JUS
tilted by the leading newspaper friend
and supporter in Chicago of President
Mckinley In view OF the Urbana (OD
lynching of recent date it is most re-
markahle to contemplate how many Of
the Presidents friends have lately given
express or implied sanction to lynch law.
with regard to the Chicago lynching of
last Thursday, it is worthy of remark
how much care was taken to veil in the
news dispatches the character of the oc-
f..,
Associated Press made thirty-six lines.
1t said that the tramp had been shot to
death by the enraged husband and a
posse Of farmers" Not anywhere was
there a direct suggestion that the victim
had been lynched. The whole tenor of
the dispatch was toward the creation OF
the impression that few men, having
possibly a legal writ, had shot to death
fugitive from justice resisting arrest.
How differently would the story have
read had the lynching occurred in the
south The narrative would have been
featured" In the northern papers; all
the details of last prayers and dying
groans would have been worked in; it
would have been asserted that the mob
was made up OF leading" and most
prominent citizens" and that the com
munity approved the deed
Tt is TO be admitted-the greater is the
piy-that southern newspaper correspond
ents are often much TO blame for the
sensational and untrue lynching stories
printed in the northern papers. In their
eagerness to get Ia a good story" they
lose sight Of the facts and draw upon
their imaginations for the narrowing de-
tails which some of the northern papers
expressly state In their orders are de-
sired They sell the good name of their
state and section for the paltry space
rates paid by the newspapers that delight
to print horror stories from the south.
In the light Of recent events in Chicago,
At is hard TO tell what that section Of the
country is coming to. II is bad enough
when there are lynchings for the usual
crime" but when the point IS reached
at which assault and battery and theft
are punished with lynching, and inhuen-
tial journals justify the work of the mob,
evidently there is room for missionary
work