The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-08-22
The Depot incident a Precur-
sor of Brodie's Crime.
WHY HEWAS NOT LYNCHtD
HE ESCAPED ONLY BECAUSE oF'
UNEXPECTED CONDITIONS.
THE CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH
That Make it Necessary to Give Security 10
to the Homes of the People--0ur Civil
zation al Stake.

TO the Editor: The News ana W
server has seen fit to commend TINS
community for not enforcing the high-
est unwritten law of our civilization ana
promptly hanging the black brute VINO
outraged an innocent young white girl
at this place the moment his guilt was
established. If there was no wrong III
the commentator, there ought to nave
been. / assure you that the manhood
of this community most earnestly dep
recdte such praise.
Although | was absent when the
crime was committed and did not hear
of it till three days later, when l
reached Wilmington and saw the News
and Observer, / know that there were
men ready to execute justice on Brodle
as soon as his guilt was clearly estaO-
lished, and that only an accidental con-
currence of circumstances saved MN. L
also know that but for the presence OF
the military company, rendering the
Jail impregnable, Mamie Catlett $
wrongs would have been avenged last
Sunday night. A community, which with
Sherman's bummers, backed by sixty
thousand Federal bayonets near at
hand. had the manhood to rise as one
man, run down after a prolonged chase
Just such brute as Brodle
and put him to DEATH is not yet,
trust, so emasculated by modern isms as
to be incapable of doing the right thing
on similar occasion.
If such things as the waiting room
outrage are not the precursors and be-
getters of such crimes as Brodies then
negro character has not been read Alright
| ask pardon for this DEPRESSION and
will return to the subject in hand.
Anglo7SaXon civilization is founded on
respect for women.
| do not hesitate to say this of our
community despite the fact that three
of our business men virtually sustained
the negroes-the worst element among
our negroes-in the late waiting room
embroglio. That is, two of them whom
Hawkins cited by names as his refer
ences, refused to appear in print de-
nouncing his high handed proceedings.
The third, though he finally signed, had
publicly and within ear shot of Hawkins
counseled abject surrender, to the i'm
mense edifcation of the negroes, and the
strengthening of their position. / have
the very great satisfaction of knowing
that the only misunderstanding that
ever had with my fellowmen arose not
from any personal cause, but in dis
charge of what / believe to be high and
sacred duties-the upholding of prohibi-
ton, white supremacy.
And this has been the saving principle
Of our race. 1t has sublimated lust into
love. 1t has with us made immSality
and debauchery always the exception
and never the rule. 1t has raised woman
from a chattel to a helpmeet of man.
And I'M her purity has resided his
strength. That purity has conferred
upon the race not only a moral but
physical stamina, a vigor and force that
is making the world our own.
The bitterest foe to Southern civiliza-
don, while denying us the possession
Of nearly every other virtue, could not
deny that regard for woman is a more
vital and vitalizing principle here than
elsewhere. Maidenhood, wifehood, moth
erhood are nobler here because they find
here a more genial atmosphere. At
whatever cost, this atmosphere must be
saved from faint. Whatever betide we
cannot afford that one jot or one title
she fall from her high estate. When the
member, il she be a yirtuous and modest
woman, who has suffered q wrong great
er than all other wrongs combined, has
inflicted upon her second wrong only
less great in being forced under the keen
scrutiny of curious and often leering
eyes, to rehearse every detail of the
damned deed which has destroyed her,
when this is done a blow is struck at
the very essence of pure womanhood as
we conceive Of it.
/ am not advocating Lynch law. am
not advocating it for the simple reason
that there is no need to advocate it any
more than there is need to advocate tn,
law of gravitation, or any other law OF
the natural world. Every Southerner
worthy the name of man knows that 1t
is the inevitable and the only just pun
ishment for a crime which a man cab
not, and only a brute can, commit.
No l am not advocating it. / seek only
to explain to those whose natures ami
environment is other than ours its raj
son d'etre. 1t is not that we respect
law less, but that we respect women
more.
No other branch Of the race exists III
survives, such an environment as fate
and the malice of Northern reconstrud-
tionists forced upon us. For the crime
of slavery, of the presence of the negro
IN America, for which we are less re
sponsble than the North, we are made
the scapegoat.
We, who alone understood the negrb
and were in sympathy with him, and
whose very existence was at stake werI
not allowed to extricate ourselves from
the tolls in which his presence cast us
as our humanity and judgment dictated.
Every Northern man, aye, every North
ern woman, who sets foot on Southern,
soil, has, consciously or unconsciouslH
exerted on the negro an influence hostilb
to the native whites. As result thu
black man regards the white man as his
enemy, and the vicious negro regards
the white woman as his legitimate prey
Every observant white woman hae
long known that tie attitude OF thk
young generation of negroes towards heb
=, q, ,,ot that of the older negroes. Her finl
ii.u..iG;su -s,ssss.s. --a~- that forlness al
danger Turk behind haI al-.-uue. iAf
astounding increase Of crimes agHinssl'
her person proves that her intuition II
right.
1t is not to be doubted that thesf
crimes have not yet fairly begun. Thk
number of idle, depraved young negroeE +
is surely increasing as the influence an Z