Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-04-27
TIE LYNCHlNG OF HOSE.


count Of tho lynching of Sam Uoso, near
Newman, Georgia, on Sunday last. 1t is
u horrible story. but horrible crimo
was meeting with u swift and horrible
punishment. Hoso had givon q gricvous
cause, and griovously did ho answer it.
Consider tho dark picture of his double
orimo-murder and rapc-in all it's bru-
tai details, and no punishment could he
too cruel or horrible, SO far as ho was
personally concerned.
And yet the occurrence is n sad specta-
ole to be presented to tho world It is q
sad commentary Oh Anglo-Saxon civil
zation and government, when such
crimes as those of which HOso was
guilty cannot be speedily punish he'd in a
quiet ard orderly manner in tho courts
Of justice. Tho moral effect of a legal
conviction and execution would be so
much more wholesome than that Of law
less punishment by mob. 1t is not SO
much on account of the victim that
lynching is to bo deplorcd, as tho de-
moralization of society under the reign
of mob violence. The moral lesion Of
tunatc tragedy must bo great. 1t smacks
too much Of medieval barbarism when
thousands of spectators gloat over tho
sufferings of the victim, and carry away
pieces of his bono and flesh to be trea-
sured up rs hideous momentoes Of his
awful fato. The injury thus wrought to
society is far-reaching and fearful to con-
loto Int; ,,f ;uil
ernment are undermined, the restraints
of law and order are SGT at naught, and
in the end we must be subjected to the
rule that might makes right.
Again, the brutal iniliction of the death
penalty by n mob fails in the accomplish
ment of the true purpose of all punish
mcnt, viz: The prevention of the ropoti
tion of tho offenso and the reformation
of society. Instead of tho reign Of lynch
law reforming tho moral sense of tho
pooplo and furnishing potent res traint
against tho commission of revolving
crimes, it seems that the flood-gatcs of
tho devilish passions of men arc thereby
looscd, until diaboical deeds arc multi
piled rather than diminished. AS an in
the almost daily porpctration of tho
crime of rape in sOme portion of the
land. Should punishment by tho mob
restrain tho evil, thcro would bo some
compensation for the injury inflicted
upon society, but when the evil is only
intensified, some other remedy should
be sought and enforced with strong
hand.
What shall tho remedy be ? We can
see mono except tho organization of an
emergency court, charged with the
speedy trial of accused, under the forms
of law. Take tho case of Hose as an
illustration. Suppose Immediately after
his arrest an emergency court had been
organized in Campbell county, and tho
prisoner had been given a full, fair and
impartial trial by court and jury, the
trial would have been noted by thou
sands of negroes who would have
watched tho proceedings with sense Of
awe. In this way his trial, conviction
and execution would havo appealed to
their sonsc of justice, and at the same
time have furnished n strong legal ro-
straint upon their future conduct. But
this wholesome OBJECT is lost by tho in.
Fiction of mob violence. 1t is not that
we plead for the guilty wretch, no pun
ishment can be too great for him, but VIC
do plead for tho purity Of Anglo-Saxon
civilization, and this can only bo main
tanned by tho orderly administration of
justice in legally constituted tribunals.