The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-10-28

and unmade at the will of the majority
II there are unwise laws, the people can
repeal, If need for one the people can
| enact. Any organized effort to set at
naught our laws and punish crime with
| out and in defiance of the law is itself
criminal, It is worse than criminal. In
its very essence, it is treason against the
majority and against government.
In the discussion of lynching, let it be
clearly understood that it is not question
| as to whether or not those guilty of crime
shall be punished, but whether or not the
innocent shall escape. Not a question as
to whether the guilty shall be punished
| but whether or not the act of Furnishing
shall multiply criminals.
In free government like ours there is
no excuse for lynching. If there is evi.
dence to convict the courts will punish; If
there is not punishment should not be in
| flicted. The courts of our state can be
trusted to punish the guilty and protect
our property, our persons, and the honor
and virtue of our women.
am deeply concerned for remedy for
| this evil that we may save from guilt the
men who engage in it, and protect the in.
nocent, who are too often sacrificed.
TRIALBY MOB.
The mob is not a safe tribunal to justly
| determine any cause.
Not long since in this state 1t is said that
mob, which had gathered, failed to take
action because of division in their own
ranks, one portion wishing to hang a man
who had not been tried, and the other, to
hberate one who had been tried, heard in
| all the courts and sentenced to be hanged
| for murder.
The mob judges without n full and com
plete hearing from both sides. It's mem
bers are not the most capable of Judging
1t decides in passion and, too often, in
whisky. How can it fail to make mis-
10, o,H6 oo,,4Go fho Is 4 h.
cent?
l feel the more deeply upon this question
because from the best information | can
secure believe that during my admins
| tration there have been In this state sew
eral men lynched who were not guilty of
the crimes with which they were charged.
| How many, can never be known, for their
tongues are hushed and they are denied
an opportunity to prove their limo
cence l am informed that one man,
whom the mob believed to be guilty, was
shot down. A question then arose as to
| his identity anu hewaS sailed down like
hog, shipped to the location of the crime
and found to be the wrong man-an limo
| cent man.
| When an innocent man is lynched for q
crime it serves to protect the guilty. The
| members Of the mob, their friends and
| sympathizers seek to impress it upon the
community that the right one has been
punished and the guilty goes unsought
and unsupported. Even during this year
evidence has come to light showing that
| in several states victims of the mob have
been innocent men. During my term Of
| office one man, who was rescued from the
mob, was accorded a TRIAL which resulted
in showing that he was not guilty of the
| offense with which he was charged. An
| other fled from the mob to the executive
Office, and asked for protection, and a trial
by. jury. They were given him. and it de-
veloped that he was not guilty of the
charge for which the mob endeavored to
! take his life.
| To what extent this practice has been or
will be used for purposes other than the
alleged reason given to the public. will
never be known. In one instance. not
long ago it was stated and accredited that
| q man who had been charged with rape
came near being lynched. When the truth
became known it brought to light the
I fact that the purpose in preferring the
charge was to have him lynched in order
to suppress his evidence against parties
who had been violating the prohibition
| law. In another instance a man, charged
with an assault upon woman, escaped
| the mob, which was in pursuit, and estab-
| lished the fact that the charge was made
against him to defeat the collection of a
debt. Had the parties been lynched it is
| not probable that their guilt would have
| been questioned.
| These things serve to emphasize the i'm
! portance of adhering to law, and of your
SO legislating as to suppress this evil, and
| guarantee to every one charged with crime
| fair and impartial trial.
| Responsibility for the crime of lynching
| rests not only upon actors but upon the
| community which shuts its eyes to the
| crime and permits and tolerates it, and
| upon legislators who refuse to enact laws
| to suppress it..
1t can and will be stopped when the bet
| ter element who deprecate mob law ag-
| gressively condemn and determine to sup
press the practice.
1t is no excuse to say that the northern
people, who have less to provoke them to
| It, lynch. Let us not take them as a
standard, but rather show higher type
| of civilization in our state, and erect here
a standard to which they may aspire.
| LYNCH FOR WHAT CRIMES.
| Lynch law has not been restricted to
! cases where the charge was an outrage
upon female. In Texas a man was
| lynched simply to suppress his evidence;
| In Kentucky because he was Objectionable
to the neighborhood, and in Indiana five
men were lynched for burglary. In our
state, in the last three years. seven men
| have been lynched for murder, and one
man and one woman because they were
suspected of arson.
WHEN CHARGE IS RAPE.
Even had it been confined to offenses
committed upon females it could not be
| justified.
To adopt it, in these cases, is to put the
| life of every man in the power of any
woman who might for any reason desire
his death. When such crimes are charged
the passion of the people is more deeply
stirred than by any other, and the mob is
| quick to act.
Yet viewed from the standpoint of rea-
son and not of passion, there is less excuse
for lynching in such cases than in any
other. Delay cannot be given as reason,
nor fear that justice will be defeated.
At Monticello and Columbus the men
were taken out of the courtroom during
the trial and lynched. In most cases they
are taken fr I'm the custody of officers OF
the law, when they know that the court
will convince and give speedy trial. For
this offense above all others, the courts
are quick to try, and if guilty, the jurles
| certain to convict.
1t is not then that they fear delay or the
acquittal of the guilty, but it is a defiance
| of law. 1t is desire to substitute pas.
sion for evidence and vengeance for JUS
tice.
| There being no excuse to be found for
fear of either delay or failure of justice,
! but one reason is left, and that is the OBJ.
| lection to the outraged victim having to
| go into court and relate the horrible story.
| That this is terrible ordeal every one