The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-05-18
SAM HOSES CRIME
INrEREsTlNG CON LUsIoNs
"hrd to Condemn when on tho Spot

The New York Herald has sent Rev.
George If lIcpworth 10 Georgia 10 in
veetigatc the causes of the lyuching Of
: an Hose. I'm his first letter he tells
of the hideousness and brutality Of the
crime of Hose. and it's retribution lie
says that the rctrlbutiOn, terrible as II
was. was natural, and that he cannot
tell What he might have done If ne had
been there Then he follows this up in
a Judicial tone, showing that for the
good of the South and the whole land
some remedy for lynching should be
devised The letter Is in part as follows
The people Of Georgia are willing
TO bee Judged, provided tho judgment Is
Just, and are more ready to accuse
themselves than we are 10 accuse them
They take rs grave view Of the situa
tion as We Of the North do, and as earn
es,ly seek a remedy for existing evils
~ the spirit Of progress could desire.
"Thc case Of sam Hose alias Thomas
Wilkes, has one peculiarity ty-namely
that it cannot be duplicated in the his
tory Of this or any other country. His
crime was unique in its hideousness. It's
atrocity was simply unthinkable.
1.-The ncighborhood was reused.
There was vengeance in the air Re-
liglon, law, even civilization, was lost
sight o. The populace was frantic, for
no one could tell whose family might
next be devastated The hell of popular
passion broke loose The man was
chased by whites, by blacks, by blood
hound-at last caught. Was any torture
too great 2 They lost sight Of the fact
that some methods Of punishment de-
grade those who inhict it, and bring
them to the level Of the savage. They
were beside themselves with an un-
controlled thirst for revenge They
thought OF their own wives and daugh-
ters and their blood beat IN their veins
like a pent mp tide in tempest. God
pity them, God forgive them They
were not men; they were maniacs
Their fury knew no bounds
" The calm second thought has come.
/ can assure you that everybody con.
cerned regrets the part he took in that
tragedy There were, perhaps, five
thousand people Oh the scene, and ex-
cssses are easily resorted % by acrowd.
What a dozen men can do thousand
can. Numbers fan flame into con-
naeration. | have talked with all classes
Of the people here in Atlanta, learned
and illiterate, poor and rich, and not a
man has expressed any opinion save one
of regret.
4" We shall be greatly puzzled unless
we can fully grasp the social situation
here, which is very different from any
| thing 10 be found in the North | am
not AZ all sure that we should ourselves
have pursued any other course under tie
circumstances The cry which made the
welkin ring was we must protect our
wives and daughters, and that is the
key to the problem II my wife or
mother or sister had been outraged by a
doubled dyed william, | can't tell you
what [ would or would not do. When
the matter ia brought home to yourself
you recognize its horror. There are no
lengths to which you would not 90 in
the way of punishment. 1t is easy to
condemn a thousand miles away, but hard
to condemn when on the spot with like
fate staring you in the face neither
plead nor excuse; | simply say that l
also am human.
Ninety five per cent. OF the negroes
have the entire confidence Of their en-
ployers They are respected beca use
they are law-abiding citizens They
have property interests of their own to
guard and man who has few hun
dred dollars at stake is a conservative.
But the per cont of fellows who are
not only ignorant. but vicious, who
know no restraint and will commit any
crime without compunction, have ample
opportunity to perpetrate deeds Of dar-
ing deviltry, and as at present consti-
tuted the people of the region are
powerless to protect themselves, and
live i'm the continual consciousness Of
insecurity.
A woman dare not trust herself at
anv distance from her home after dark.
With nine men out of ten whom she
NAV meet she will be as safe as at her
own fireside. 1t is the unknown tenth
whom she fears. We can hardly con.
ceiye of this state Of affairs, but it is
the actual condition III many counties
in this State and in the other States Of
the South
The following editorial comment on
the recent lynchings in Georgia from
the current issue of Harper's Weekly is
also significant as indicating that the
people of the North are at last Begin
ming to understand the situation in the
South. Harper's Weekly says
Whatever any Northern reader may
feel about the burning Of the negro
Sam Hose and the lynching of the
negro preacher Strickland, in Georgia,
one :hing he should always bear in
| mind that thara ia no vital diffaranca
between the white man in the South