The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-04
AGAINST MOB LAW VIOLENCE.
.. PTISTs DEFINE THEIR POSITION
ON THE QUESTION.

uchfucs Discussed-The Barriers
(which the Law InteFpOses Be
t,xecn the Punishment of the Gull
~ Ascribed as One of the Chief
causes of Mob Law-The Report
v1jscussed by Judge HiIlyer of At
,,utn-Nore Men Killed and
v.ounded in This Country Than
We're KILLED and Wounded During
the operations at Santiago and in
,,e philippines During the Same
periods of Time.
q,a committee appointed at the first
da,s. session of the State Baptist Con-
vention az the suggestion of Judge $ o.
ttlIver of Atlanta to consider the preva-
lence of lynch law and mob violence sub
r,itted its report 10 the convention yes
terday.
,r1is report is of special interest as out
u,ing the position on this question of the
RsnGst denomination, whose constituency
Includes about half the white population
Of the state.
The report is as follows:
"your committee are well advised that
,bis convention has no ecclesiastical jul
r+fiction or authority. We have no pow
.r ia instruct or order the churches and
what we say on this subject can nave no
other sanction than that of the moral or
s,suasive force attaching to declara-
NON bv the membership of the cohVen-
ton.
There is too much crime in the land,
and an increasing distrust of the law for
redressng promptly and effectually the
wrongs OF those who suffer by fraud or
violence 1t is a reproach to any govern
Il #
tim of a burglary, rape or murder, or
o,har crime, can justly allege that he and
b- neighbors and friends may not safely
trust the law and its ministers TO PUNISH
the crime and redress the wrong whist
such want of faith in the law cannot,
and from a Christian point of view, VIII
NOT Justify a mob or a lynching, yet the
fact that delay, uncertainty and defeat
Of Justice under legal forms is so often,
If not always made a plea leading the
unwary to take part in a mob, or to pal
late the report and the shame OF Iynch-
/ ing; it certainly adds to the other motives
of duty in the law making power the ur-
GENT necessity of so amending and improv
ing the forms of criminal procedure and
charging the powers of the courts as to
let ali men know that the law has become
both able and willing to do immediate and
thorough justice in every case.
Your committee is well aware that time
costing particular specific remedies, but
4 we are of opinion that the convention
\ may ana should declare that amendments
and reforms are needed in the criminal
law of such radical and effective nature
4 as will. so far as it lies in human wis
dom and conscience, effectuany punish and
stamp out crime leaving the law-making
power or appropriate authority to frame
and enact what is needed
Judge Hillyer stated that this was no
new subject with him. He had brought
the matter 10 the attention of the Bar
4 Association in 1890, when a report was
made upon the matter by two committees.
Has Become General Crime.
The evils named and the remedies needed
\ are confined to no part of the United
4 States. he said, but crime and lynchings
4 have become so general and so frequent
h in nearly all parts of our common coun-
try, as to make an appalling aggregate,
enough TO make any Christian shudder or
sadden the heart of a patriot The great
Baptist denomination of the state of Geor-
\ eia so strong in numbers and in influence,
4 deeply deplores the great and crying evil;
and this convention recommends that the
\ membership of the churches, in their own
good time and way, guided by Bible pre-
cept, and with prayers for the blessing
\ Of Almighty God, agitate for and insist
on reforms in the criminal law until both
fore him nothing but the inevitable DOOM
4 which the state will visit upon all who
trample on her majesty by violating her
laws
The report was signed by the members
OF the committee, Judge George Hnlyer,
4 7. p Bell John G. Mccall. DR. ]. H. Kill
4 patrick and DIR. r. B. Headden.
Amongst other things, Judge Hillyer
4 said, and therin quoted from a report made
70 the Bar Association of the State of
Georgia in 1894, that in many groups, or
say a score of counties in the United
States, there are more homicides annually
than in all Of Scotland, in all of England,
and even all of Prussia. That one reason
WAy lynchings occur Is because there is
distrust, and constantly growing dis
4 trust IN the promptness and efficiency of
Inc law; that justice is one of the innate
principles of the heart and public justice
VIII assert itself. You may fill your news
papers with proclama tons and crowd your
thoroughfares with sheriff officers and mi
htla, but you will never stop lynching until
tne public is given to understand that the
Judge and the jury have got the power to
execute sure and immediate justice. In a
/ thousand ways the evils here mentioned
are very great, the remedy for them re-
4 q"tes courage, as well as prudence, mod
Grafton and wisdom but like the evil the
remedy should be radical and complete.
10000 HOmicides Annually.
The speaker quoted further from the re-
port OF d similar committee made to the
| lar Association in 1896, and cited in sup
port OF the same statement, publications
1 maze from statistics compiled by the Chi
,aso Tribune and the New York World,
mat the total homicides in the United
states exceeded 10000 annually. This Is
5reater number than fell of both armies
@' me battle of Gettysburg. An easy call
'uation will show that the average is
l"enty-seyon per day The proportion of
wounded to killed in ordinary battles is
/ ave wounded TO ever one killed Now il
you VIII compare the figures you viii see
llHi during the twelve or fifteen days of
ne operations of our army In the series
battles at Santiago, cover
"- period of about fifteen
Gays more men were killed and wounded