The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-08-10
AS A PREVENTIVE OF CRIME,
NEGRO FIENDS MAKE LIFE a
PERIL ON FARMS.

PERIL ON FARMS.
Bill Arp Justines the LynchinG of
Men for Outragcs Upon Women
Every Parent and Husband is an
Avenger OF this Crime.
| had not intended to write anything
more upon lynch law, but recent utter.
ances from the press and the pulpit
provoke me to say that the people OF
Georgia do not deserve the cOndemna-
ton of friends or foes for their consent
to lynchings when the crime IL one that
Is nameless. Our people are as humane
and law-abiding to-day as they were
thirty, forty or fifty years ago, and the
records of the courts prove it. In 1861
there were PIG white convicts in the
penitentiary now there are but 1876,
and we have a greater population.
There Is so per cent less OF felonies in
New York or Massachusetts, according
TO population. OF course, | mean
among the whites. Now set that down.
An Ohio paper has reucctiy ~investi-
gated the record Of that nameless
crime for the past ten years in that
State n gives the figures which show
ia cases, and the regrO criminals out
number the whites six to one in pro-
| poi ~ POpuldpIOu. LII DGOTPld UDGv
outnumber the whites sixty to one and
1t is because Of our scattered and un-
protected population in the rural dis
tricts. Before the wal that crime was
unknown and almost unheard Of in the
South. | never heard Of q case in
north Georgia. In 1852 | had occasion
to visit Cedar Bluff in Alabama and nv
companion, Judge Underwood, topped
the horse to show me a pile of stones
that was heapcd up around u dead and
blasted tree. ''Those stones" said he.
mark the place where q negro brute
was burned two years & and also
mark the place where he committed
the crime and then murdered his vic
tim" That was the only case that
came to my knowledge. Daring the
war, when in hundreds OF families the
only protectors OF women and children
were negroes, not q deed of violence
or a betrayal OF trust was heard of from
the Potomac to the Rio Grande and
Genera Henry II. jackson elCquently
said Of them, they deserve q monu-
mont that would reach tho stars"
How Is 1t o !? Nearly 1900 colored
conVicts In the chaingangs and less
than 200 whites, aud the nameless
crime ID committed by negroes some
whore every day in the year. What is
ohc S"hoo VI WHO 6idI hlluR uCRSn9raCV
OF the negror / heard a preacher a
the other day that l%ynching for this
crime or any other was the evidence OF
a depraved and lawless public senti-
ment. He Is mistaken. 1t Ia rather
the evidence OF minds charged, per-
maps o~vercharged, with love and re-
spect for wives and daughters, and no
man who has neither is y fit Juror to
try the case. He Is incapable of un-
d~erstanding or approaching the COM
mon peril that, like a shadow, hangs
over the farmer's home, be 1t ever 80
humble. Parental love Is nearly ali
that these people have to give to their
children and they give that and cher
ish them and will defend them "a q
tigress defends her whelps. What is
the majesty OF the law worth to a man
whose child has fallen victim to q
brute : What is it to his neighbor who
oil these years has been from time to
time appreh"ndinG u similar vista
ton 7 Wh.t does a young man, wheth-
or preacher creditor or lawyer, know
about 1T? Jean Ingelow (God bless her
sweet memory makes the old fisher.
man to say: II feel for mariners on
stormy nights and feel for wives that
watch ashore Who knows tho perils
OF the deep like fisherman? Some OF
" iS"i JuueSo anu lawyers and
preachers OF Atlanta have given vent
to language that is bitter and malig-
nant against lynchings for any crime,
but 1T is to be- noted that they have
long lived In call Of the police by night
and by day and within brick walls and
with ~neighbOrs at hand on every side.
What can they know of the peril of the
farmer whose wife visits a neighbour, or
whose children have to go a mile away
to school.
Perhaps some 'nquiring mind Will
ask what do l know about 1t Twent
years ago moved from tho city to tie
country and farmed there for ten years,
and all that time THO app -nension
grew stronger and strorqe,, for there
were negroes iii around me on the
farms, and more negroes not far away
working In thu mines. L never ex-
pressed my fears, not wen to my wife
but when our Buys all left the farm for
other a%vocations, End | had to be away
most OF the time, my wife became
alarmed, and / Immediately left the
farm n moved to town for security,
So did every neighbor that I had, and
school was broken up and the whole
settlement abandoned and turned over
to negro tenants. The school house
WAS q mile away, and l used to look
with parental eagerness for the first
appearance OF the children's hats
as they rose into view over the distant
hill. Until then ] never realized the
common peril that environs the country
people. l have a poor opinion OF opin-
ION unless they come from those who
are competent to judge. Great mon
are not always wise," saith the Scrip
lures. n nearer the press is to the
people, the country people, the moro
ready 1T Ia to apologize, or even to JUS
ttfy, tn speedy execution OF this class
OF criminals. The preachers and the
press may illuminate and the governor
proclaim, but 1 cannot help rejoicing
at every capture and every execution,
The laws delay has nothing to do with