The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-12
SAYS IT Is LAWLESSNESS
TROUBLE Is NOT IN LAW" HE
DECLARES WITH EMPHASIS.
A VIGOROUS DEFENSE OF THE COURTS
"lynchers do not Seek to indicate the Law
Because They Love it, But They Violate it
Because They do Not Love or
Respect It."
(Atlanta Journal.)


(Atlanta Journal)
To the Editor: At this time, when the
spirit of mob violence seems unusually
defiant and diabolical, and when it is be-
ing powerfully stimulated by so many
of our newspapers through their reckless
| ations--false arguments
the brave and manly stand you have
assumed and maintained in favor of law
and justice should not only challenge
unbounded admira ton, but should COM
| mand unqualified support.
In this article l shall not discuss or
refer to any particular case, but shall
endeavor to show where the real trouble
is. and where it is not. The trouble is
not in the law itself Like every thing
human, the law has its imperfections
but il is ''the condensed good sense of
civilized nations. the accumulated wis
dom of the ages" That il is still SuS-
ceptibe of Improvement, and always
will be as knowledge and experience
progress is to he assumed.
Much in our own times has been ac-
complished i'll the way of speeding Grim
inal causes by providing for the call OF
special terms of the Superior Courts at
any time by our judges for the trial OF
such causes. and by providing for an
almost immediate hearing in the Supreme
court. As IL rule criminal litiga ton is
now terminated more quickly than i'll
those days when there was less clamor
about delay.
Those who so much denounce the law
for its imperfections write and speak
of its "technicalities and quibbleS, ap-i
applying these terms alike to mere for
NAL matters that are causing none OF the
delay of which they complain, and TO
those constitutional and vital provisions
which in all enlightened communities are
deemed necessary to fair and sure
administration of punitive justice. When
they undertake to specify the supposed
defects in the law. their ignorance of the
entire subject with which they so reck-
lessly and yiciously deal becomes mani
fest. They vehemently proclaim that
| the law ought to provide for speedy trials
in the Superior and Supreme courts,
when the law has already done so; that
| the law ought to he that when a man
| has had one fair trial he should not
have another, when that is the law now
| and always has been. The delay COM
| planned of is not the real cause of real
discomfort. The schedule of an en-
| Eghtcned court cannot meet the de-
| mands of blood-thirsty mob that has
already declared guilt and decreed ven
geance.
Our Supreme court decides that a de-
| PENDANT has not had II fair trial. be-
cause the jury was not impartial, or
because the court below forced the de-
PENDANT to trial without vitality impOr-
tant witnesses, who were, on account OF
proyidential cause. unable to attend court,
or because the court below told the jury
| that such was the law on a material
point. when it was not the law. The
decision may be on all these grounds
and others besides, and all six of the
Justices may concur. \ new trial is
ordered, not on technicalities and qrib-
| bles, but in obedience TO positive law
and plain justice. The facts that the
judges of the Supreme court are among
our best citizens, that they are learned
i'll the law and sworn to administer it,
| that they are free from bias and preju-
dice, that with them duty and interest
are the same, that their work is pre-
served and published for all time, go
for naught These critics who are ut
terly ignorant of the real facts of the
| case, as well as of the law itself, not on
| ly assume that the Supreme court has
erred, but in their wrath make its
solemn decision both the provocation and
justification for ruthlessly numbering
an ironed and helpless prisoner, whom
they have condemned without proof, and
sometimes upon exaggerated and false
information that has been circulated for
malicious or sensational purposes.
Some changes in our law have recent
" been suggested for its Improvement.
but if all Of them are made we will
not have one lynching less ON that ac-
count in this State.
The truth Island all intelligent men
know it, and all honest men will confess
|it-lynch law has heretofore been almost
entirely limited to cases of rape by ne
gr0es upon white females. In no case of
this kind has any Georgia court ever
been derelict in its duty to the State or
the prosecution.
Lynching in such cases is VIGOROUSLY
placed on two general grounds:
/. Not upon the defects, uncertainties.
and delays OF the law, but because such
crimes are so enormous in their nature
and instant retribution so vital to the
white race, those who are accused and
are supposed to be guilty are not emit
tied to any trial at law.
L 2. Because in the event of legal trial
the vktuous and modest victims of
such outrages ought not to be dragged
into court as witnesses.
Thus the accused in such cases-the
guilty generally, l trust-the innocent,
tod, sometimes, fear-are outlawed and