New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-12
1.-THE EVIL THAT MEN Do"

The lesson or UrDana is contagious. Scdrce Il
week has elapsed since that mUrderOus outbreak,
and already Maryland mob has repeated the
deed, with even less excuse. The Ohio lynchers,
however bloodthirsty they became in the end
and however much they made the affair revel
in brutality and morbidness by beating and mu-
tilating their victim and keeping relics Of their
deed, instead Of executing him in an orderly
Kramer. were impelled on the start, at least by
dissatisfaction that their own laws provided
only twenty years Imprisonment for crime
they thought worthy Of death. But the Mary
land rioters were actuated solely by Adesire to
kill somebody with their own hands. The negro
had been promptly brought to trial and SEN
fenced to death. There was no failure or justice
and no nadequacy Of punishment. III the rabDle
had kept quiet the law would have executed the
sentence decently and in order and with an
effect much more impressive than disorderly
removal II warning was needed for the
criminals race 1t could have been conveyed
much better by the firm, cold, just hand OF the
State than by the irregular force Of mob work
ing It's will with beating and brutality, which
must inevitably stir up resentment and sense
of injury among those negroes who detest tho
wretchs crime and would gladly have had him
legally executed.
There Is reason to suspect that the Maryland
carnival of violence is the direct result Of the
Ohio lynchlng 1t will be surprising II another
outbreak does not occur somewhere within
week, IL an opportunity offers. In fact, only
the side.tracking Of an Alabama train tired out
some lynchers there on Thursday. The morbid
tendency and the latent savagery OF the human
mind. and the habit of lawlessness which has
in tic
pared the way for murderous suggestions. Any
body who watches the sequence Of crimes and
notes how every new form Of criminal activity
fbds imtatOrs and every daring and uncommon
deed strs up quiescent offenders, how after
hanging in any neighbOrhood the children amuse
themselves with mock executions. Will not I'M
derestmate the force Of criminal suggestion.
A crowd does not act like single person, weigh
ing its impulses. Possessed OF an idea II PUSHES
hsadlong. In 1t passion increases in geometri-
cal ratio to numbers. An appeal to violence or
an evil suggestion finds ready acceptance even
though many units in the mass have silent mis-
glyines. Hence the necessity Of sternly re-
pressing riotous outbreaks, even If the indigna
ton of the mob have excuse, for every indul-
gence in disorder creates an appetite for more.
The whole history of lynch law has been
story of progressive evil. At one stage 1t was
the primitive execution Of justice in frontier
community where formal law was not to be had
At another 1t was the assertion in orderly man.
ner of the popular purpose to suppress crime
where tia courts were paralyzed. But the re-
cent lynchings have nothing in common with
the summary sternness Of the San Francisco
Viglants Even I'm Texas and Carolina, despite
the horrors Of burning and torture. the pas
sion for hunting the negro could be explained Oh
the ground of race prejudice and fear on the
Fart Of the whites Of the outnumbering colored
population But for the Northern debaucheries
of bloodshed there Is no such incentive If these
lynchings, as the apologists for them declare,
were the outcome Of the better sense OF the com
munity convinced that quicker and more severe
punishment was needed for some crimes than
the law provides they would not have been such
horrible examples OF shocking brutality. In
deed such savage Outbursts of passion rs
were manifested at Urbana and Princess
Anne can hardly fail to leave faint
in the blood Of the future respectable
citizens which will more than counteract
every possible good effect which any lyncher
could have dreamed of bringing about. Human
beings cannot play with the barbarian In their
own natures These communities have not only
been lawless and helped to break down that