The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-07-07
SOME SOLID TRUTHS.
ACOLORED BISHOP GIVES GOOD AD-
VICE TO HIS PEOPLE.

He Has n, Mau1din sympathy for Dast'
ardIy Outrsges and Advocates Speedy
Trial and Prompt Punishment foe the
Guilty.
The following recently appeared in
the Atlanta Constitution:
Editor constitutional leave early
this week for California and will be
gone for nearly three months. Our
church is growing on the Pacific slope,
and as bishop of that district, it is my
duty to look at err her interests in that
far off section of our country. There
are more negroes in the west than
many people suppose and We have
many Furnishing churches there.
Before I leave I would like to say
few things through the columns Of
your valuable and widely circulated
paper with reference to the question
OF lynch law. which, since the late
lgnching in Ohio, is a matter in which
the whole country is interested, and
not the southern section alone.
While 1 am nc apologist for mob
law under any circumstances, I am
free to admit that there r two sides.
to the question, and there is danger of
forgetting theenormity of the crime
in the stress and emphasis we put on
the observance of law.
Because colcred people have been 30
pronounced in their denuIciation Of
lynch law many have reached the
conclusion that they are in sympathy
with rapists and other fragrant crimi-
nails who are generally the victims Of
such law.
This is a great mistake. The batter
class of colored people all over the
south are unanimous IN their condem-
nation of the wretches who are guilty
of these unmentionable crimes. They
recognize the fact that the whole race
is suffering in the eyes of the world
through the conduct of the vile scoun-
drels who perpetrate these crimes.
And in many places the white people
regard a negro with d~etestation and
suspicion, believing him to be capable
of any criminal act where he is LETT
unrestrained.
From experience and observation !
know this to be true. I for n am
not willing to be thought in sympathy
with crime or criminals, and especial
ly with those of the character am
now considering. If the colored peo-
Pile as a race expect to gain the comb,
dence and respect OF their white
neigbbors, and to elevate themselves
in the scale of civilized life, they must
emphasiz, in no uncertain way their
detestation of the more brutal OF their
race who commit the horrible offences
of rape, arson and the like. There
must be no maudlin sympathy for
such characters who disgrace their
own race and bring the negro into
shame and contempt.
While I say these things, I would
not be understood as favoring lynch
law. Could the real criminal suffer it
would not be so bad, but when limo.
cent men r frequently the victims
OF excited and inturiated mobs who
take the law into their own hands the
necessity for legal conviction is appa,
rent. Lynch law, too, no matter how
justly administered, is bad in its ten.
dency, working a disregard for all
law, and edu eating the people in the
very lawlessness it is intended to pre-
vent.
Let the legislature provide for spec
dy trials in cases of this sort and let
the people understand that the guilty
must suffer. I am sure that the better
class of my people are in sympathy
with every legal method to Stop this
awful crime of rape. 1t is to their
interest to be SO. They cannot afford
to be in the attitude Of paIliating or
excusing or apologizing for this, blot
upon their people and upon their civ
ilization.
The white people of the south are
not alone in their lawlessness in deal-
ing with this class of criminals. The
recent lynching in Ohio shows that
sentiment everywhere in this country
is in favor of dealing out speedy and
terrible punishment to the despoiler
of women. A stop must be put to the
crime of rape, and he who commits it,
be he white or colored, must be made
to know that terrible retribution will
follow.
All our people ask is that justice be
done-that before the law the same
evidence be required to convict q ne
gro that is required to convict a white
man, and that the same punishment
be melted out to the one as to the other.
Wherever the proof is conclusive,
speaking for my people, let the guilty
suffer though the heavens fall.
Lynchipg, as another has said, Is
not q race question, but a national
question, and it is proven by the fact
that of 141 persons lynched IN 1886,
ifty-four were white men.
l have now in the printers hands q
book for publication entitled 1.-THE
Negro and the White Man, in which
1 discuss this and many other vital
questions touching the relations OF the
Two races. 1 hope, Mr.. Editor, in that
book TO help forward a better feeling
between the two races in this section
of our country. I recognize the fact !
that in the order of Providence we
must live together, and I would like
TO contribute my part toward incul'
in my people those great prln'
of righteousness, truth and re-
soect for law which are the founda.
upon which alone they can build
up a self.respecting manhood.
W. J. GAINES.
Bishop A. M. E. Church.
Atlanta, Ga, June 81, 1897.