The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-01
An Awful Crime.

citement OF the moment.
An Awful Crime.
"A man leaves his home. He goes down
to the little town of Canton. to market, to
sell his crop. II is rumored in the neigh
borhood that he had brought money from
the market town the week before and that
it was in the house. That night six or
seven negro men break into that house.
ravish his daughter and wife and then
they manacle anu tie them together and
not only them. but the little children one
of them | believe four or five years Of age.
manacled them down in the centre Of that
house and set it on, fire and burned them
all up, hoping that fhe FIRE had done away
with all trace of the oiime. one of the
negroes happened ID haye peculiar foot.
which led TO tracking him. That led to
confession from him. 1t led to confess
sion from othersl Tie people arose
and iynched those. meu. and while they
were lynching them th-y burned one OF
them, voice conirg-freIn -ihe crowd thar
they ought 10 receive the punishment
themselves which had fonv 20 this help
less woman her helpless daughter. and her
helpless little children.
Now, my friends, / have no word of
justification for lynching OF for violation
of the law anywhere; but II the good God,
sitting in the chancel of heaven. possess
ing a wider observation than yCu and l,
fOrgiving, as believe he does these things
that are generally wrong but which under
particular circumstances are provoked 50
that human nature cannot resist, | be
lieve that the men who engaged in that
lynching are much more clear in the sight
OF God today. and are in the sight OF good
men everywhere, of any crime than any
man can possibly be who deuouncas lynch
ing without also denOuncing ~ the same
time the crime which has led to IT, Zap
plause.l
II have heard II said sometimes that
the differences between the South aud the
North upon the negro question was that in
the South the negro many times could not
vote and In the North there we're very few
things except voting that he was allowed
to do. Your trades unions do not let him
work with you In certain places. There
are certain pursuits that he is not even
allowed to carry on. Down there you will
find the black msn and the white man
working side by side and earning their
daily wage, whether as brick masons, or
carpenters. or what not
Mr. Linney-As n lawyer { trust your
legal intelligence. DO you believe that
that law that | read. which Is proposed to
be put upon us in North Carolina is con
stitutional:
Mr. Williams do not know what the
law is. But | say this 10 you that when
IL comes to a choice between an abstract
theory that all featherless bipcds ar. equal,
cOntradiciiug the common sense uf good
men, and some constitutional or legal
method OF preserving civilization itself
higher than Law even. because the law IS
but the exponent and the expression of it.
that every good man IN the United States
ought to be glad to see any Southern state
solve that question So rs to preserve ciyili-
Zation so as to preserve the gains at our
race that have been made through count
less ages of bitter struggle with hard ma
ture aud harder men.
When questions of this sort are brought
before the country aud before the House il
frequently happens. tho gentleman has
insinuated, that Southern men seem 10 fly
all 10 pieces at once. to become excited. and
/ have heard many people state that But
If you will consider Tor II moment the con
ditions down there. that their very life
itself social order. property rights. the
rights OF their women. all things are at
stake. they may be- excused for being some
what in earnest when this question is
touched upon. | believe thai many Of you
only regret one thing; THAI IN obedience to
a mere abstract theory YOU tried TO lesis-
late into equality twn races. one OF which
had had about TWO hundred years at the
furthest opportunity 20 make something
out of itself by evolution and ~ herelity.
aud the other Of which has had centuries |
of development and culture which became
a part Of the very life OF the individual