The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-05-10
Some Remarks on Lynching.

L L
the PEOPLES Adcocate of this weeks
issue full account Of the lynching of
the negro Hose at Newman, Ca, and
as the public demand to be educated
in that direction suppose that it is all
right. But the editor goes further, and
dilates on the "horrible savagcry and
the heart-sickening sight" He says
that ssthere is nothing in the history of
the country, not even in colonial days,
to equal it, Che has forgotten perhaps
of the burning Of negroes in the city Of
New York; as to the wild savage orgy
around the victim at the stake. Now
do not believe any such savage orgy
was INDUCED in by the good people of
Georgia-the one thousand or more
that composed the lynchins party. If
it was INDUCED in at all, it was a few
drunken desperadoes that infest every
country and only want an excuse to act
the savage. The editor should not be
so sweeping in his denunciation. In
one thousand it will not bca difficult
matter to find 4 few men who neither
care for Good, man nor the devil"
The editor goes OIL to say, after a dis
gusting recital of the demons crime,
that "there is another side to the mat
ter; where is all this leading to-? (why
did lie not say to lettering the criminal)
What of the moral effect on the people
themselves What is to be the out
come OF this overriding Of the law?
What is to be the effect upon the races!
Is it not deeping the animosity between
them, / will say yes, if one OF our
home papers only suggest the idea)
Does it not bring lis nearer a race war 2"
Il say no; even the negroes, backed
by the fanatics of the North and en-
couraged by the impotent rage of the
distinguished infidel, Ingersol, have
better sense than to declare in any
shape war, to protect the incendiary,
the rapist OF the midnightassassin, and
ends his lofty periods by asking eff we
are only civilized savages after all 2"
Now, Mr.. Editor, any idea Of a good,
clean paper is that it is the best educa-
tor and disseminator OF useful infor-
nation that we have. Sometimes,
however, there are some things that
had better, for the good OF our country,
be left unsaid.
Mr.. Russell did not state a fact that
is well known that the negro of our
country are as fairly treated as the
white man; that he receives the same
wages and has the same chance in the
pursuit of fortune as his white neigh
Dor. He is respected for his worth,
and he has respect for the white man.
In other words, they are our friends,
and we are theirs, and it can be proven
without fear Of truthful contradic-
tion. If the home is desecrated and
the husband, father or brother is left
alive to avenge the deed and does it
promptly, he is arranged before the
Court of justice and his innocent wife
or daughter has to tell her tale Of hui
initiating woe before a gaping audi
ence. If the criminal is tried before
the same Court The innocent sufferer
has the same to undergo, but the hus
bands friends, the friend of virtuous
woman and innc cent children come in
and lynch the brute, and if every hon.
est man everywhere does not endorse
it, am mistaken in my notion OF them.
AS for my neighbors and myself we all
say lynch them every time. l do not
propose to tight a man with his own
weapon if can help it, but Iihave
written this after the approval OF many
Of my neighbors, not to print, but to
suggest that some good paper (and the
INTELLIGENcER is fair sample) take
Mr.. Russell down a button hole.
The editorial last week on the Lake
City lynching, while South Carolinians
were being tried for the crime, was
rather severe and sweeping. The good
people Of Georgia are of the same lin
cage as the good people Of South Caro-
lima. They are surrounded by like
condition socially, &C., and what they
have done we would have done under
similar circumstances. Now, l believe
the report of the Newman lynching as
stated above to be false in the main,
but when Southern paper gives it
out as being true, that a thousand men
took Oft bones and burning flesh OF the
negro Hose, will be heralded as true.
Hamilton w. Maybe, L. L. B., Lit.
d., in his history, 'The Foot-Prints of
Four Centuries page sS1, says: "rhere
was Il series of laws forbidding negroes
meeting together. In the early years
OF the eighteenth century fears OF in
surrcction became prevalent. These
fears eliminated in 1741 in the episode
of the so-called negro plot. Very
briefly stated, this plot grew out of a
succession OF fires supposed to have
been the work of negro incendiaries.
The most astonishing contradictions
and sclf-inculpations are to be found
in the involved mass Of testimony
taken at different trials. tbs certain
th.t thn neriury and incOhoIent accr-