New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-05
INSTINCTS or THE MOB.

The persecution of the Rev. DR.. Broughton, of
Atlanta. is having the good effect we expected
Of It. 1t has thrown great light for many on
the character of the rabies that indulge savage
passions in the name of chivalry. 1t has torn
away the pretence Of virtue in which they
masked themselves and revealed them as the
plain bushwhacking ruffians looking for an ex-
cuse to murder that they really are. When
they are thus denounced by the leading papers
of the South instead of seriously discussed and
made respectable as one Of the estates of the
government, the beginning of the end is at hand.
Lynching will persist-wth possible rare ex-
ceptions-only so long as lynchers, whether
praised or blamed, are regarded as rude instru-
ments of justice, and not as mere bloodthirsty
marauders Therefore 1t is with qualification
that we note how n sturdy Southern paper like
"Ihe Columbia State" drives home TO it's people
the realization Of the sort Of thing they have
tolerated in the name of Southern manhood. 1t
says
From torturing and tearing TO pieces negro
to desecrating the church OF preacher who de-
nounced that beasty vengeance is a very easy
and natural step. But this performance with
the companion act OF sending him bits OF the
negro's charred flesh will serve TO enlighten
those who have seen in the burning Of Sam Hose
merely a defence of white women. 1t will show
them the instincts which really guided the Great
ures who in their hideous deeds assumed 10
stand forth the pre-eminent champions OF
woman s purity.
That Is not the EXPIRE sson OF n Northern paper
or of some Southern Republican, but of thor
oughgolng Democrat, a champion of the South
against ell who msrepresent or misunderstood
her When Southern men free from the suspi-
cion of negro sympathies tell their neighbors
rlo Inc bav
long permitted to hide their own character and
motives and concentrate attention on the right
eousness o. unrighteousness Of the irregular
Justice they pretend 10 administer Whenever
they have INDUCED in n peculiarly atrocious
orgy they have entered the plea that only ter
rlbIe vengeance would teach the needed lesson
and insure public safety. That has had its eff
feet on many who were not quite so sure of the
propriety of such deeds. They were often per-
suaded. while condemning the deed of the
lynchers, TO excuse them as animated by high
and sincere IL over-volent emotion. And so the
savages preserved their responsibility and re-
NAMED in position to crafty at will their de-
sire for cutting up and killing negroes, either for
heinous crime or just on general principles.
How little real desire for justice even Of the
lynch-law sort animated these ruffians Is evil
dent from tnelr perfect lnuiheieHCe w 'hc sunni
of their convenient victims. In the case of
Hose they evidently had n wretch who deserved
death, but that was only the chance. Their ap-
petite for blood whetted, they went about ready
to kill any negro against whom they had even
suspicion of an excuse for andpathy. That Is
the regular procedure Of these mobs. They XIII
on general principles. The country is not quite
so lawless that they can go about burning and
cutting like Turks in an Armenian village,
though we believe even there it is generally
thought wise TO secure some excuse for murder
excursions which the Sultan can hand over TO
the Powers. The Georgia marauders wait till
some crime has been committed or suspected,
and then in the pretence of Furnishing II go of
and drink their fill OF blood. and at last the
people they have so long professed to champion
and really terrorzed begin TO perceive the in
stinct of slaughter which actually guides them.