The Seattle Republican., 1900-11-23
CURRENT
COMMENT
During the Past Week of Men
and things-Man Burned
at the Stake in Col
orado = Notes.

Preston Porter, the Negro rapist
paid an awful penalty for the horribl,
crime he committed on the innocen
little 1O-year-old girl, when he wa
burned at the stake by an angry mol
in Lincoln county, Colo, one day
last week. It seems to us that ne
punishment too severe could have
been inflicted on a man guilty of 6
crime as heinous as that which POr.
ter himself confessed to have com
mitted on an innocent little girl, fol
rape In itself is enough to tempt any
parent to infict death on a monster
who had so mistreated a daughter
but when rape is combined with
murder, it becomes almost impossi-
bic for any parent to restrain him.
self from wreaking any kind
OF vengeance on so guilty a
wretch. However, it seems to us that
the men who participated in the
burning of Porter at the stake. com
mited worse crime against the
peace and civilization of the com
munity and state in which they live
than even that committed by Porter.
1t matters not how heinous is the
crime committed by man, the laws
of our land should be sufficient to
punish such. evil doors, and, if the
laws are not sufficient as they now
stand there should be laws enacted
that will reach any crime however
enormous it is.
The governor Of the state of Colo
RADIO, the sheriff of Lincoln county
and all of the citizens who partici-
pated in that awful tragedy Of burn
ing a man at the stake are guilty of
crime that should be punished by
the strong arm of the law Of the
United States. Porter was guilty,
confessed it, and deserved death in
the most excrutiating form, but it
should have been done by the law,
after a fair and impartial trial had
been given him.
It is rather remarkable that no
state in the United States has ever
as yet burned man at the stake un-
less snchstate was pverwAeilningly
Democratic. No state in the North
ever before so far forgot the civilized
code Of its country as to relapse into
barbarism sufficiently to permit it to
burn human being at the stake,
with the bare exception of Colorado,
which was done within the past
week. That both Gov. Thomas and
the sheriff of Lincoln county are
guilty of murder is shown from the
very fact that they said ere Porter
was taken back to Lincoln county he
would be lynched by the angry citi-
zens of that community if taken
back, but in spite of that he was
taken back, and on last Thursday he
was chained to an iron post and
burned, the pyre having been lighted
and applied by the father Of the
daughter he-so cruelty murdered.
The citizens Of Denver, Colo, met
at the Y. NJ. G. A. hall last Sunday
in large numbers and denounced in
scathing terms the lynching in Lin
coin county, proclaiming it to be a
blot upon the face of the state, and
such a blot as should not 60 unpun-
ished by the officials Of the state.
Gov. Thomas spoke at this meeting,
and declared that his hands were not
guilty Of the blood-stained act, and
that it rested wholly with the coun-
ty officials in whose charge and safe
keeping the Negro had been en-
trusted. The resolutions passed by
the enraged citizens Of Denver,
verged almost into riotousness them
selves, and it appears that had the
sheriff Of Lincoln county made his
appearance at that time the audience
would have torn him to pieces with
equal vengeance as did he encourage
the mob to destroy Porter. Resolu-
tions were passed denouncing the
burning by all the colored churches
in Chicago, Ill, and a gigantic peti-
ton was signed by both white and
black citizens of that state, praying
that the president of the United
States suggest some law or remedy
in his forthcoming annual message
whereby perpetrators Of such crimes
may be punished regardless of the
state laws in which they lived.