The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-03-30
THE LYNCHING AFFAIR.

THE LYNCHING AFFAIR.
The lynchins of the negro Harris
last Monday night places the citizens
of Hartford county in an exceedingly
unfortunate position in the eyes of
the people of this country. By this
time an account of it has been pub
lished in almost every newspaper in
the United States, and needless to
say, the story has lost nothing every
time it has been retold. The news
papers of this country are largely re-
sponsible for public opinion. and on
their statement OF facts we are judged
by the country at large. 1t is need
less for us to dwell upon the import
ance of reporters being truthful; for
no matter what they say their story
will be accepted. Fortunately the
Baltimore morning dailies have pub
lished fair accounts of the incident.
OF course many trifling details are in,
correct, but this must be expected
when we consider the hurried circum.
stances under which these reports
were prepared. We regret to say that
the same praise cannot be accorded to
the afternoon papers.
The article in the Eoening NeacS, oil
Tuesday, is one of the most outrag
eous canards that any supposedly
sane person has ever written. Pos
sibly it would be kindness to the
reporter who represented this excel
lent paper, for we regard the NesOS al
one of the best afternoon papers pub
lished, to attribute his wild utterances
az coming from the head and not from
the heart. If we are to judge by its
columns, the lynching of Harris was
a holiday fete prepared several days
in advance; to which the public had
received cordial invitation to be pres
ent and witness the bloody scenes
which were to be enacted in the arena
The good people who were holding g
temperance meeting in the Court
House. it would appear, had not the
good of the cause they were repre-
senting at heart, but had simply ar.
ranged this prelude for the more ex
citing scenes which were to follow
They did not wish the expectant
audience to tire while the scenery fol
the next act was being shifted. We
would like to inform our valued con-
temporary that services were also
being held in the churches of Bel Air,
and both the Masonic and Odd Eel,
lows Lodge Rooms were open. 1t
hardly seems fair to let the Temper
ance people carry off all the credit.
The cavalry charge of forty horsemen,
we imagine, must have been impress
ed on this scribe's distorted brain by
witnessing some melodrama like
"Old Sleuth" and the clatter of the
horses feet was simply similar noise
as that made by the property man in
one of the stage wings when the
heroine is rescued from burning
stake, or some other equally thrilling
incident. 1t was purely fiction OF
his imagination.
The reflection, by inuendo, that
Sheriff Kinhart did not do his full
duty is equally false. This brave
man and his equally courageous
deputy John H. Dever did all in their
power to save the wretch's life de-
spite the fact that they were imperil-
ing many valuable lives IS well as
their own, in their devotion to their
duty. No power at their command
could have stopped the mob. 1t was
well organized under a cool-headed
leader, whose word was law. To say
that the officers were unprepared, be-
cause they had not the slightest ink
ling of what was to happen, is but to
state the simple truth. 1t is true
there had been threats of lynching,
but they came from irresponsible
sources, and no one put the slightest
credence in the rumors. The repre-
sentative of one of the Morning dalies
who came up Monday evening, said
he had received his information from
Aberdeen and admitted that he fear
ed his trip was a wild goose chase.
Previous to the occuracce, he seemed
to regard himself as the laughing
stock of the town.
Last, but not least, was the NeaCS
reporters outrageous attempt to cast
the insinuation that the victim of the
assault had not, at first, told the truth
of the outrage. But this is too dis
gushing to further dwell upon.
AS to the lynching itself, we con-
fess, that much can be said On both
sides. 1t is indeed an unenviable
notriety that we have achieved. We
oppose lynching. 1t is wrong in
principle and the object which is
sought to be accomplished is often de-
feated. 1t serves to make a cheap
hero out of the miserable wretch who
has received his just deserts. At the
present time newspapers are crying
for vengeance to be wreaked upon all
who participated in the affair. Tho
of these very papers are
to make Harris hero and
G. martyr instead of the william and
scoundrel he was. When the assault
was committed no editorial demand
wac made that the negro should be
passing comment, and was simply
treated as an every day occurrence
which, indeed, it seems to have be-
come. When, however. determined
men take the punishment into their
own hands, then, the powers of the
press are directed against their heads
A According to some of our contem-
poraries the ravisher Harris has now
become martyr. His name has now
gone all over the country as another
example of lawlessness, and on the
heads of the mob is the odium cast.
There is another view which
our opposition to Judge !
Lynch. We must uphold the law, or
,lse what is the good of having any.
The highest order of citizenship re-
luires not only the observance of the
etter, but the spirit OF the law. For
his, Hartford county has long been
loted, except in the protection of her
Negro ravishers need ex-
'ect no mercy. Our women we hold
IS the highest and dearest of our
n rthlu nnssassinns and around aanh