The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-06-12

ueuC, 10 our mlnO6, TOO severe Tor the |
crime Of rape, except capital punish
ment. There is nothing that can be
said in his defense that would palliate
in the slightest degree his act. But
the fact that he was an Afro.American
had tendency to arouse the indigna-
ton Of the crowd to the proportions of
a mob determined to take the law into
its own hands, to q much greater ex-
tent than 1t would, had it's victim been
white and guilty of a like crime. This
fact, coupled with the treatment Afro.
Americans are accorded south of Mason
and Dixon's line, guilty, or alleged to
be guilty, of such crime, was the real
animus that melted the lyncbing which
resulted in the death of four men and
the serious wounding of number of
others. The sheriff is blamed by the
friends Of the dead men for calling upon
the militia for protection, although he
very promptly turned the keys of the
jail over to the mob when it demanded
them, and his life is threatened. The
outcome of all this trouble must result
ultimately in victory for law and order.
If the people of Ohio think their laws
are inadequate and not severe enough
for the punishment of certain crimes
they should make statutory amend
ments and make them more severe.
They are responsible for the present
laws governing their state and should
stand by them until they have been
amended or repealed as the case NAV
be. The law should be paramount.
obeved and respected by all classes of
citizens alike, if this is to be a govern
ment OF the people and by the people
and for the people. 1t will not endure
otherwise Too much censure cannot
be hesped upon the militia for its
cowardice, and Gov. BUSHNELL, should
order court martial for Investigation.
so that the guilty ones could be Justly
dealt with. It is a sad commentary
upon the fighting status OF the United
States, II the main stay the reserve
forces of our great army in case of |
actual war prove as futile and of 40
small consequence as the company in
question did in failing to dispense a
mob. The.crime, horrible as it is ia.
altogether too common one, Nor ia
The crime of rape confined altogether
TO the "deprayed" and brutal" Afro
American as is alleged. The deprayed
and bru al white man is equally az
guilty OF the same crime, only it does
not create as much of a sensation as
when committed by black man, when
the victim of his lust happens to be a
white woman. On the same day, when
the mob was engaged in its hellish
work at Urbana, white man was
ut Oshkosh, Wis.,, charged
With committing 8 fiendish outrage
upon four year old child. Yet the
people of that city and vicinity have
maintained their usual even tenor and
are willing to let tho law take its course.
Hundreds of degraded white men are
serving sentences in northern prisons
Tor the awful crime Ct incest. We
believe that when a man commits such
crime. his sanity is very much ques-
Toned and a mad-house is more apvro-
pirate for his incarceration than a
prison. It is either the work of a
mailman or else an arch fend incar-
nate. The Ohio trouble was primarily
caused by the color of Charles Mitchell's
skin as much, no doubt, as by the crime
ne committed. Caste prejudice was at
the bottom of it and Ohio, is in disgrace
as consequence.