The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-09-22
GOV, RUSSELL'S REPLY.
He Does not Mince Matters In Re-
ferrlng to the Deeds of Black Brutes
to a Philadelphia Fellow Whose
Blood Boils When one Is Lynched
for the 'NameIess Crime"

Blood BoiIs When one Is Lynched
for the shameless Crime.''
State of North Carolina,
Executive Department,
Raleigh, N. G., Aug. %. '9S
Phillip c. Garrett, Esq. Philadelphia,
Pa.
Sir: Your letter was laid aside for
attention, and in the press of other
matters has been overlooked. On
reading it over at this moment it oc-
ours to me that it may be as we'll to
answer it.
You say that you have an account
Of two horrible murders by mob
near Concord, N. c.. that there seems
to be ''not the slightest evidence that
the victims of these crimes were
guilty of the atrocious act for which
they have been siezed and assassi-
nated;" that it makes your blood
boil to think of the absolute un-
certainty of life to those whose black
skins seem to be warrant to any
crowd Of villains to seize them upon
any pretext and hang them to the
nearest tree" that you, with thous-
ands of others, feel that these ter
rible deeds are an indelible blot upon
the civilization Of your country" and
you seem to think that North Caro-
lima has been eternally disgraced by
these lynchings. You say that "the
onl y way to put an end to this evil is
to search for the guilty parties, and
to procure their >ndictment and
punishment for murder.'
1t seems that two negroes were
killed by mob in this State. My
best Information is that they were
guilty Of a most atrOcious rape and
murder and that they deserved what
they got. The provocation was so
great that the act Of killing these
brutes, although not permissible in
law, was almost excusable in morals
and in justice; but you do not think
so.
Now suppose that some good
woman close and dear to you, should
be by a black brute assaulted, ravish-
ed and murdered. You hunt him
down. You are satisfied that he is
the guilty one, and he is so in fact.
You shoot him dead. You seem to
think that for this homicide you
ough: to be hanged. Well, don't;
and if you lived in North Carolina
you would not be hanged if | were
Governor; you would get pardon or
something close akin to it.
Now there is but little difference
between the actual case of lynching
which you SO bitterly denounce, and
the case supposed above. The only
difference is that in the supposed
case the perpetrator Of the lynching
is avenging the wrongs of his i'm
mediate family, while in the other
case the lynchers are doing the same
| thing for the wives, daughters and
| sisters of the men of their neighbor-
| hood.
| | regret this occurrence | believe
that it is infinitely better for COM
munities thus outraged to resort to
the law. | have told them time and
time again that in such cases there
shall be none of the laws delay. In
| every case that has occurred since |
have been Governor the conviction
has been speedy and the punishment
complete. | say that these lynchings
ought to be stopped. There can be
but one satisfactory excuse for them,
and that is the insuflciency of legal
remedies. This excuse does not exist
in North Carolina.
Yours very truly,
DANIEL l.. RUSSELL,
| Governor.