The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-24
MONDAY, APRIL "a, 1899.
TWELVE PAGES,
~ HE story that comes from New
nan, Ga, taxes human credulity.

nan, Ca, taxes human credulity.
1t seems incredible that Amer
lean citizens could have been canable
of such savagery. The fortunes inf1ict-
ed on their victims by the most cruel
and bloodthirsty Indians were paral-
leled, If not eclipsed. 1t is horrible
enough to lynch man by hanging or
shooting him, but such a lynching is
an act of love and charity by the side
OF yesterdays occurrence in Georgia,
To chain man to a tree; to cut off
his ears and nose and fneers and pass
them around among the crowd: to pile
firewood around him, drench him with
kerosene and set the bloody, hideous
thing blazins-human ingenuity with
the facilities at hand. could go no far
Their in devsing agonizng torment.
The Atlanta Constitution in an ed
ltor1al sent over the associated press
wires last night asks people at a dis
lance from the scene "to temper the
judgment they may render" The Con-
stitution pictures in graphic language
the CRIME that Hose had committed
TO contemplate it sickens the reason
But what is accomplished by torturing
the beast to death? Does it deter other
beasts from committing similar crimes
when opportunity offers? Some South
erners contend that it does They are
honest men, many of Them their opin-
lon is entitled to respect. We are told
that here in the North we have no con-
ception of the terror under which white
women live in sections of the South
where the negro population is large.
We are assured that the fear of being
lynched is the only deterrent influence
that can be exercised upon the blacks.
But is a brute capable of committing
such a crime ever deferred by any con-
siderations whatever" If lynching OPP
Grated as a deterrent the crime would
be less frequently committed, and the
number of lynchings would decrease.
But of late years lynchings have been
increasing out of all proportion to the
increase in population. They have be-
come of almost daily occurrence. You
cannot pick up a newspaper without
reading of one somewhere. And as a
matter of statistics, comparat lively few
of the lynchings in the South are per-
formed as punishment for the crime
against women. Five to one more mur-
derers are lynched than any other class
of criminals.
The fact is, the race hatred in the
South amounts to a passion. 1t de-
thrones mems reason. The Atlanta
Constitution asks people to bear in
mind the appalling crime that Hose
had committed. They will. But they
also remember that night at Lake City,
S. c., when an organized crowd of white
men marched to the house of a negro
whose only offense consisted in his hav-
ing received an appointment as post
master. They remember how that
crowd set fire to the negro's house and
shot and killed him, his wife and his
children as they tried to escape from
the flames. Does the Constitution want
people ''to temper their judgment" in
this case, too?
Apparently, the passions of both
whites and blacks in the South are very
easily aroused and, when aroused very
thoroughly glutted. And in spite of
everything that may be said, all the
sermons that may be preached, and ali
the editorials that may be written, this
unfortunate condition will remain as
long as whites and any considerable
number of blacks dwell together in the
same community. 1t may safely be
predicted that burning at the stake vii
grow In poDularity. Lynching by hang
ing or shooting will soon be too tame