Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1898-02-02

enough to try to stand Oft Il Whitman
county mob; why sir, if they ever come
they will clean out the Jail or they
will blow the courthouse to atoms; oh
no, l don't approve of it. would not
take any hand in it, but it will go all
the same and if should get a tip that
| had better be at home about cer-
tain time, you can bet your boots I'd
be there" What sort of encourage
ment is that kind of talk from lead
ing men at the county seat? Pretty
fair for the mob, but poor for the offic-
ers and it would take man of iron
to come out in the face of such senti
ment and say, Gentlemen l don't
care what the people think or say, I'll
protect this jaiLat any cost" 1t is all
well enough for people who never
looked down into the muzzle of six
shooter to say what they would have
done had they been in the Guard Con-
tonwine's place or Deputy Treff's place
on that night, or what the sheriff's
plain duty was on that occasion. 1t is
not the intention of this article to
discuss that matter particularly.
Conditions would probably have been
different if Mr.. Sims had declined to
leave the jaiEat the request of Mr..
Matthews and instead have put a
stronger force around the Jail. If Treff
instead of going conveniently to bed
had gone to the front door little
ahead of the mob and instead of get
ting the keys had gotten winchester;
Or if after that did not happen; if the
guard Mr.. Cantonwine from his place
of comparative safety had concluded
that he would gain some little notori-
ETY. us II man hard for mob to get
along with, instead of opening up at
the request of Mr.. Treff, had trained
his guns on that door and said, "Gen-
tlemen if you want anything out of
here help yourselves-at your peril"
We say if these things had happened
conditions might now possibly have
been different, but they might not
have been better. We believe they
would, and wesbelieve that the people
at large are more to blame than the
officers that it is not so. Instead of
advocating the theory that resistance
is useless, that it is madness, that it is
rashness for sheriff to try to defend
his Jail in the face of n mob, encour-
age them.
The people of Whitman county can
see now that it would have been dead
easy to have saved the life of Marshall
and to have prevented the lynching
at Colfax that night, but they never
thought of it before hand. And it is
so everywhere; there is too much
of the sentiment that is useless to
resist mobs, and the effect of it
is that mohs! become holder, and if
another one Or two such light weight
MODS take men out of Jail it will come
to pass that people will believe half
dozen men tan take anyone out, for
the purpose of violence or escape; but
they are liable to run up against the
wrong man q some day and mob
will be surprised to find itself wiped
off the face of the earth. The people
will then say: "Of course an officer
can defend his Jail if he wants to-"
Everyone will be down at the Jail to offer
their services when trouble could posi-
bly, be expected, all eager to be ON the
side of victory and in the swim. Mobs
will then be discouraged and go out of
fashion, and just because public
opinion has changed and the tale
they will tell will he altogether differ
ent one.
Rulbs and p1npts OrIor o,rlv