The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-17
JUDGE LYNCH DENOUNCED.
MISSISSIPPI AROUSED III THE
KILLING or INNOCENT MES.
ngsct sf the IynchinE Of the Two Negroes at
Biloxt-W weakness Of the Evidence on which
Msbs Have Acted Growins sentimsnt IN
Favor Of Lettiag tho Law Take ITS Coarse.

Favor Of Lettlag the Law Take Its Coarse.
. NEW ORLEANS, june iS.--The lynching prob
hm Is rapidly reaching a solution in Mississippi,
end all tho Indications are that II will BE- tho
correct solution, and thatin another yAnr lynch
ing will be unknown In that State. The better
public sentiment OF the State has been reused
againstlynohlaw, and this sentiment Is strength
sned by recent Developments. particularly the
Mississippi City double lynohins. showing that
mob violence Is more apt TO be- wrong than
rxht and in the end utterly fails to accom-
pish what II aims Mt.
= There have been. IL is true. many set-backs
b thoss who want to barish Judge Lynch. but
evcn those set backs have disclosed the fact that
Sose who stll clirg 10 the mob idea Of Justice
ore no longer In a majority. but IN a decreasing
minority. Among these srt-backs may be
mentioned the failure OF the Legislature 10
follow the suggestion contained in the message
Of Gov. Longino 10 pass a law To discourage
knching by allowing the family of the victim
70 sue for damages the county where tho lynch
pg occurred. A sImilar. law was passed In
Ohio: and il was thought that II would have the
sfect OF bringing out the taxpayers and law
and order element to prevent a lynching' One
q the strongest arguments in favor OF lynch
ing In the back woods districts Is the financial
sae-that II Ia cheaper.
why should the county be- put TO the expense
q convicting q negro field hand Of murder or
S~utrage?" many of the farmers In the poorer
counties ask. when his guilt is clear. II will
cost several thousand dollars for witnesses. Juries.
feed of the prisoner in jail, erection of gallows.
&C., while a ten-cent rope will reach the same
result In shorter time. and hustle the nrgro out
OF the world"
This argument is met by the plan suggested
BY Gov. LONGING, If the taxpayers are COM
pellcd to pay In damages for a lynchinr, a legal
execution liz cheaper than a mob one. Another
setback WAS the refusal of the Grand Jury
In Amits City TO ndict the twelve white
mon who lynchcd a negro for an offence. strik-
ing a white man. for which l~ynohing had never
been resorted 10 before. A third setback was
The declaration OF the Coroner's jury impaneled
% pass on the lynching Of Ackew and Russ or
Saul at Mississippi City, that the lynching was
done by persons unknown" There was not
che slightest difficulty in ascertainine who the
ynchers were, II that were desired. The Sheriff
himself was at the lynching. as n witness, but
declared that he could not recognize the men
engaged in the crime. because OF the shadows
from the trees, These shadows are an incident
OF all lynchings just rs the dull thud" was of
cid In all hangings.
But although these several occurrences
may appear TO show that the movement against
ynching Is not yet strohg enough 10 suppress
such violence, the contrary Ia true. The fact Il
that there Is an unwillinrness In Mississippi
to prosecute and punish white men who have
been engaged in lynching negroes. They
re regarded a. men who have been misl"d.
and who do not realize the harm they are do
ing, men to be argued with, but not imprisoned
or Other wise punished. In all the cases where
lynching has occurred lately they have re-
ceived marked evidence that public sentiment
Is no longer with them but against them, they
have gone free, II is true, but not wholly free,
for they have been put TO some inconve-
nience, and have been threatened with indict-
ment and the State prison. indeed. II IL by no
means certain that those engaged in the Mis-
sissippi City affair will escape punishment.
fer the District Attorney has announced his
determination to prosecute vigorously II the
Governor insists on 1t and II indictments can
be found The lynchers have. however. found
themselves bitterly denounced instead OF be-
ing the heroes they were wont 10 he.
What has particularly impressed public
sentiment in Mississippi Is not SO much the
brutality. us the ignorance, Of Judge Lynch,
and the fact now brought clearly 10 light that
he Ia nearly always wrong. A few ears ago
the story Of a lynching was nearly always the
same. Tom Brown, or Bill johnson, a negro
was arrested for outrage, taken 10 the jail.
by n mob and lynched after he had
made a full confession OF his crime; but II Is
different to-day. The first case which at
tracted attention was that In central Mississippi
some months ago, where one negro was burned
10 death and another hanged Then the
planters Of the neighbor :OCd inierfered,
stopped the lynching. suppressed the l~ynchcrs
by force and demanded that there should be
no more Of that sort Of thing 10 their neighbour
hood. II developed that the mob had made
q serious mistake. had acted too precipitately
and had burned to death a negro who could
have told the story Of the murder: in other
words. had prevented the truth from coming
out and had allowed the guilty to escape.
The Amite l~ynchins has just been called to
the attention Of Gov. Longino by u letter from
the uncle of the murdered negro. Henry Rad
clire, so well written as to produce Il profound
sensation throughout Mississippi. The letter
n calm and dispassionate and IL ia difficult to
understand how an ~illiterate negro could get
80 well to the bottom of the ~lynching evil when
many white men have been led astray on it.
1t would be unjust TO his nephew. the old
negro writes. II he were allowed to rest in his
grave without some sort Of formal protest by
his relatives against ths manner of his taking
on. The negroes OF Mississippi and other
Southern States recognize that they are per-
fectly helpless in the matter Of stopping these
Enchings md that their sole chance Of protec-
tion lies with the white people Of the country.
II the white people fail 10 extend II to them,
there IA no recourse. Believing this. he says.
he had hoped that the firm stand taken by the
Governor on the subject Of lynching would
have awaited to bring the lynchers Of his
nephew to trial, especially rs he was killed
for AZ offence. not among those that usually
predicted that such indiscriminate lynchings
would result In the color line being finally
forgotten. and that white men, as well as ne
groes. would be lynched for trivial offences
In the mob rule that was encouraged.
But the greatest blow to lynch law has been
the Biloxi affair, for it has exposed all the fouics
and ignorance ~ Judge Lynch. on Saturday,
June 5. Christina Win,er,tcin, aged u, was as
saulted and murdered two miles from Biloxi
while goinC home from n school festival. The
crime was one 10 arouse Indignation and pro-
scnted ali the features Of a crime where Judge
Lynch Is supposed to be- most effective. II Is
said that in such cases instant and immediate
death. possibly with torture. has n deterrent
effect, and that n Ions legal trial during which
the negro acquires that prominence v hich is the
AaIlvkt Of tho t.,,rr.pt Jnrlr,K. IL moot lnp,nral