The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-10-01
What Manner of Critic Is Thisp

No reprobation can be too strong
for the man OF the newspaper which
INDUCES i'm wholesale denunciation OF
any class of people. or OF the wnole
people Of any country.
We have had in the United states
so much OF this conduct. on part OF
those who should know better, that IL
has come to be matter of course. and
denunciation IS accepted rs is show
er OF rain or n freshenlng OF the breeze.
The special object of this course OF
criticism has Leen the people OF the
southern states. who have borne it
with the Indifference which il merlted.
Years ago The Constitution discour-
aged reprisal and steadily looking for
ward. urged the people TO overlook
Temporary fanaticism for the better
time coming when common sense ana
. spirit OF Justice might take its place.
One Of the newspapers which was
most persistent in the slandering OF a
whole people was the old Cincinnati
Commercial. Its spirit is today repre-
scented in The Commercial-Tribune' in
which we find the following para
graph:
Before denounclng the negro indiS-
! criminatelv. as too many white people
are apt 10 DO. it is but fair To- rememoer
! that the white race has taught him very
I many of his own vices. The negro Is
initiative. WHEN HE SEES HIS ONE
I TIME LORD AND MASTER GLORY
ING ~ THE SHAME or LOA1liSOME
/ VICES II is no wonder that ne should nj
I tines Saysfv himself and the world That
he too. l. a free man, free 10 do the
/ evil THINGS in which his white fellow ci;i-
/ zen seems 50 often to revei. We have
| done more wrong 10 the negro by wicked
I example than 10y two centuries and
l half OF slavery.
We confess that il is with some
difficulty that such a vicious and vim
dictive statement can be met, the utter
falsehOcd of which is proven by the
wholesale recklessness with which the
people OF an entire section of our cOun-
try are assailed. The reference is not 10
the criminal class. which as class is
. almost unknown in the south, but is
Z distinctly aimed at those who have
won reputation FOR high-minded Chris
tian virtue and answering Loyalty 10
chivalric principle. Such 4 Islander can
not be digniled by arsumentative an
swer. for no man, not even the writer
of tho article. really believes it.
When we come across such an as
sault uPOn the character of whole
neople. we naturally inquire: What OF
. the ANGNHNA- " 40 - Afs W nat II AlAa
daily walk and demeanor? Turning 20
the main news page Of the same paper
/ which contains this Islander. spread
across three columns in black type. We
. find this:
BOWIE ELDERS TARRED BY 4
MANSFIELD MOB.
Citizens Daubed Them from Kettle
Prepared in Advance.
] NFunsf. Eve n1naH-apa1 for Offer
ing Resistance To the Rioters.
VICTIMS MARCHED THROUGH
TEE STREETS.
Conducted TO the Meeting Place Of the
Zionists and Forced 10 Hold Mock
Services and Deliver a Prayer
Amid the Ieers 81 the NOD
/ Where did this outrage ocfur? In
I Ohio. I'm Mansfield. the home OF John
7 sherman. committed by men who
make up the support Of The CONNER
/ cial-Tribune,
Not only are the elders personally
I fi-treated. tarred and abused. but as
/ an early Sabbath day diversion they
were forced 10 conduct religious ser
/ vice. Interrupted by ribald jokes and
T blaspherlOus jeers'
/ Such a scene was not witnessed even
\ in China during the past few months,
and Il is doubtful II il was ever en-
acted in any previous age. In the days
I Of the coliseum, the life of the mar
I tyr was all that the pagan multiuudes
/ howIed fOr-thcy did not require the
/ dissertation Of 4 religious service.
I Even this outrage. IL K was the work
I Of an irresponsible mob. might be con-
doned so far as Mansfield society goes,
were II not for the fact that il has
been going on for months. that there
| had been abundant time in which the
I majesty OF the law could have been
asserted and in which the mob could
have been definitely disarmed by the
better citizens. Instead of all this what
are the facts? For a conservative state
ment OF them we will confne ourselves
10 the news story of The Commercial
Tribune itself.
The two Dowie elders were taken by
mob. tarred and paraded over the
city. Although il had been announced
from Chicago that two or more Off
cials OF the church would be here to-
day. FOR WHOM PROTECTION HAD
/ INAVAILINGLI BEEN ASKED by
Overseer Piper of the governor,
through the sending Of state troops.
the local authorities had not been ad-
vised OF the time of the arrival OF the
visiting elders. and No ARRANGE
MEN1' HAD BEEN MADE for their
reception or protection" This negli-
gence 10 afford protection was all the
more marked because elders had been
"FORCIBLY DEP0RTED" On pre-
vious occasion. and not voice had
been raised against the outrage.
Although the authorities claim that
they did not know upon which train
the elders would arrive, the MOB DID,
and
When the elders alighted from the train
I .ln,,t nifty men were congreGated around
Z M, depot The elders walked toward 4
Z al nut when the ringleaders of the moo
I ,tIod 20 the driver not 10 accept the
{ men as messengers. he refused TO carry
Z ,ba,,, and they started TO walk uptown
/ ,~r@thcr They were followed by con-
/ staptly increasing crowd. ana when they
I ma zone about half a mile and were
Z ,,-ifhin n few rods Of the center of the
I ritv they were seized by the mob and
| buried of To the Richland Buggy Works,
! = half mile from the union depot. where
/ n large kettle OF tar. evidently prepared
| ness The elders were handled roughly on
/ the trim 10 the buggy factory. and Elder
I Moot who IS said 10 have offered soEle
| r-.sfsfauce 10 the fndigniticS offered him.
| was struck n cruel blow over the eye.
! which closed il 3nd discolorcd the flesh
Arrived n the factory. the elders were