The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-05-02
EV|L DAYS N STORE
John J. ingalls, Predicts an
Awful Race War.
GEORGIA LYNCHING CASE
Stirs Him to Discuss the
Whole Negro Problem.
GEORGIA LYNCHING CASE

New York, May John ]. ingalls, writes
to the Journal as follows:
1t is evident that the abolition of slavery
has not settled the negro question.
Lincoln's emancipation did not free the
slave. He wears heavier chain in liberty
than those he wore in servitude. Enfran-
chisement was one of those political blum
ders that is worse than a crime. 1t has
/ been a course instead of a blessing, and,
/ after thirty years Of bloody tumult the
race problem remains the most preten-
| tous menace Of our civilization.
The horrible tragedy at Newman shocks
| the conscience Of mankind, but up to a
| certain point the action of the mob is in
| telHgible. There are some crimes for
which, statutory penalties, the verdicts of
juries, the sentence of judges, are made
quate
The violation of women is one of them.
It is worse than murder, because the
victim is condemned to lowing death.
It destroys the family and the home,
which are the foundation of the state
er, the seducer, he ravisher; but public
opinion condemns him to death. If the
husband, the father, the brother, stays
the invader of the home, though it is
Theoretically murder, the jury acquits and
the people say amen" Whoever shot Sex
ton in Canton, the public verdict is that
he received his deserts.
This is the Unwritten law Of the Anglo
Saxon race, TO which we belong. Lo
Rochefoucauld, the French moralist, says.
with equal truth and cynicism, that 1t Is
easy to endure the misfortunes of our
friends with fortitude.
We condemn the faults and sins Of 9TH
crs with the same equanimity and COM
posture.
1t is not difficult to denounce the butch
cry Of Sam Hose as a hideous crime
against humanity, a bloodthirsty and
sickening atrocity, a disgrace to human
civilization.
No condemnation can be too severe. But
no judgement of the people Of Georgia
is just that neglects to confess that there
are many Northern communities where
similar crimes have been and would be
similarly avenged, less the barbaric de-
tails. or that omits 10 take into consid-
Grafton the environment, or which for
gets that Massachusetts and New York
are equally responsible with Georgia and
South Carolina for the presence of the
African race and the existencbe of human
slavery on this continent.
Lynch law, from the humanitarian point
Of view, which admits neither of defence
nor apology, but civilization is largely TO
blame for it's DEGREES. Justice is tardy In
1896 there were 1868 homicides in the
United States, and I'D legal executions.
Communities became fatigued with crime
triumphant through the laws delay, the
obstacles interposed by knavish attorneys,
the escape Of notorious felons by trivial
technicalities. Then society becomes eIe-
mental and mobs and vigilance committees
enact the rude equity Of the moose, the
bullet, the fagot and the stake.
Thus Califrnia, Montana and other re-
gions have taken the law into their own
hands and executed rufians, malefactors,
gamblers and murderers who threaten So
cial disorder.
Tt is instinct of self-preservation, which
is natures first law. Mobs seldom make
mistakes. They generally burn or hang
the right man. That Sam Hose, having
split the head Of his employer with an
ak, ravished the ife by the side Of her
dying husband, should be killed by the
neighbors in a sudden frenzy for revenge, |
is ehbrutal, fiendish turbulence and fe- |
rocity Of the incident; the mutilation Of |
the wretched victim and the partition Of |
the carcass into treasured souvenirs. Nor |
thern and Southern notions about curios, |
hric-a-brac and bijouterie materially diff |
fer. But after all, there is room for the |
suspicion that with the best of US civil |
lization is superfcial-like beauty only
skin deep.
Napoleon said that if the epidermis of a
Russian was scratched. underneath was a
Tartar. So, somewhere beneath the cuti-
Gle of the scholar and the gentleman will
he found the impulses and passions OF
the savage and the brute-the tigers claws
and the beak of the vulture.
The killing of Hose seems like retribu-
ton. For centuries the miserable victims
Of slavery were subjected 10 the passions
of their masters. The hour of vengence
has come. It is an illustration Of inevor-
able law Of nature and of morals that
whatsoever man soweth that also SHAH
he reap.
Deplorable as are the murders and lynsh-
ings Of the blacks in the South. they bring
lls face TO face with the facts that there
is no future for the negro in this country
except political subsection and social os-
trscism.
Booker T. Washington, one Of the ablest
of his blood. writes that the cure for these
des7laUon conditions is education. This
Is patent medicine not the prescription
OF physician. Fred Douglass Who was
great because he had white father rath-
er than because he had a black mother
believed that the races would ultimately
blend and coalesce, and that thus the con-
f-et would disappear.
This impossible remedy would be worse
than the disease, for the strong race M
parts TO the weaker only its defects and
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