Birmingham state herald., 1897-07-29
PREVALENCE IF LYNCH LAW LynchingS Exceed Legal fxecu-
 tions by 50 Per Cent. JUDGE E. B. WILKINSON. Suggests Legislation for Speedy Trial and the Exclusion of the Public From Court
 Rooms in Henous Cases

HEu1iOF lIIpS LNi@'f- 9ii esri.
 The growing prevalence of lynch law in 4he United States and the rapid fnereaEe in the number of lynchings is necessarily a cause of regret and alarm to all good citizens During the pass tn years the number of lynehings has exceeded the number of legal execul ions by 50 per cent. From 1886 to 1896 about 1.150 prisoners have been hung by due process or idW' whils nearly 1900 have met their deaeLs 1t the hands of an infuriated mob of theif fellow citizens. That this tendency 70 mob violence is !ncreasins is evidence by the fact tha. already during this year .ahe New York Herald llls the so'tn chargs q with over 300 lynchings.
 This is an appalling stale or anaifs ana demands our immediate attention. But It l.. useless to morali1s over or appeal 10 the lest element Jf the people to stop 1t, fer lht4 sin,nle ceason that the best ele- a,,aeni. sometimes has about as DiS Laaa in it as anybody else. It IS usel ass paes Ia WIS punishirg lynchers, for alfeaay they stand on he same footing before LII. PaM : .vilsh murderers Making '.he county m which the lyncning occurs ci%illy liable to the injured party has also proven lall7 nre, and punishment of the officers W.ioss neglect made he lyneh.ng possible has mds with no better success
 ne 1GnleQN must DC III ltiS Ah7'-NAt v preventa tive measure, and not e punish- meiH of the offenders and t' ee th's II must remove the incentives to mpD Vlor le-np-e; it must leave no excuse Tor lynch- -inPs.
 ern people. and for that matter the northern people too. will not allow the law to take it's course. The first is that we cannot. in the case of rape, stand the idea of the victims testifying in open court, before a multttuds Of people, as to the details of the commission of the or fense The si.cond lies in the lax and falsely merciful delay of the law. These are the causes which lead hitherto good men to take the law into their own hands, and administer rude. but prompt justice, while the rest of their fellow citizens re- fuse to interfere or eriSer protest. 1t would not be very easy to remedy the hrst of these two evils because it might pos- sibly require a change in the constitu-- ton, which provides that every one shall have a public trial but if this could be done so as to allow the legislature to law fully pass an act making it the duty ofs the presiding judge in a. case of rapesto exclude from the court room all except defendant, the counsel. the officers of the court ard the jury :wt1fle-ths victim is be ing examined this would d0 away With the first reason
 The second cause, the delay of the law; would also require heroic treatment, but we must give it, for nothing can be done to suppress lynching so long as the muT- derer or rapist who can scrape up a, lft- tie money to pay a lawyers fee can have his just punishment delayed to such ap interminea hle length that it becomes. a hallow mockery of justice. It is very rarely that the law enfor7es a sentence of capital punishment within reasonable time after the commission of the offense. The interval usually ratges from one to five years depsrtding somewhat up II the ability of the counsel for the deferd- ant. and the liability of the trial judge. It is almost impossible to punish pr son CT in our state who is well repreS Ssnted within year after his arrest even talk Ing it for granted that the trial court Commits TO reversible error. and when we rsmembsr that even the slightest error will entitle the defendant 10 a reversal by the supreme court which meets only once year, we can readily see that some times cause may be prolonged for years. s Our sister state, Georgia, realizing tlds has provided for an immediate trial in the case of murder and rape and yet. here law is barren of results because, I am informed, it does not decrease the delay of appeal-t to the supreme court. Only last year mob of enraged citizens lynched two negroes in the streets of Columbus, Ga, In open daylight, one of them being taken from jail where he had lain for a year after conviction for rape awaiting decision of the supreme court The other being dragged from behind the Judges bench in the court house where he had just been arraigned for a rape committed the week before.
 i. This week brings us an account of the s1ynching of Dr. Ryder, in Georgia, who was convicted last year of murder, ap- psaled to the supreme court, had new trial granted him, and whose case was centinued on account of his attorneys illness.
 5 sIt would be very easy for the next leg islature of Alabama to provide for a speedy trial in cases of rape and murder, and at the same time keep clear of the sdefects of the Georgia law. Let them pass an act providing that when per son is arrested upon charge of rape sor murder in the first degree 1t shall be the duty of the person making the arrest to immediately notify the judge of pro- bate of the county in which the offep ~~- is committed that the judge - probate shall notify the circuit judge, that the judge of probate within one day after he reeeives pJtice, in connection with the circuit clerk and sheriff, shall draw a special grand jury in the same manner that grand juries are now drawn except sthat the grand judy shall be summoned to meet within three days.
 That the circuit judge upon receipt of ooticz from the judge of probate shall proceed at once to ',he county site and in- struct the grand jury so drawn, remain 2ng anere untll they are through Wllii tlloir deiberntons That if the circuit judge cannot attend ehe sitting of she grand jury. the judge of probate shall notify the governor, who shall appoint some competen attorney to act as spe- cial judge. That if the grand jury shall find an indictment for rape or murder in 'the first degree IL shall be the duty of the judgs to Immediately open court and summons a jury by special venire to try sthe case: th;al. such court shall not ad- journ, except from day to day. nil the jury finds verdict and such court shall siiot adjourn, nor the case be continued on account of the absence of any attorney for the defendant; that the solicitor shall attend said court, or in his absence, some oomretent attorney shall b. appointed by the court to prosecute the case. That If the jury shall convict the defendant pnd he desires an appeal ,o the supreme eour, ths defendants attorney shall be allowed five days after the adjournment of court arl no more to submit and have eigned the bill of exceptions. That upon signing of phe bill of exceptions it shall ihe filed with The clerk within twenty-four hours That F shall be the duty of the