Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-08-30
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES
rHs Revival os BURNING Al 1He STAKE.

The REVIVAL OF BURNING AT THE STAKE
Not long ago a Connecticut CORES
pondent made the ominous suggestion
in letter to The Sun, that the tim,
might be at hand when in our own
neighborhood, ia the long-settled states
of the North and of New England, We
should be Mortified by reading in the
morning paper of d burning at the stake
in this very centre of American civiliz
alton. Nor is such an incident improb
able. The practice has been revived anc
is increasing at the South, is already
tending northward, and we may have ar
example of it here any day.
Three instances of savage mob ven.
geance against negroes were reported
yesterday. At Pierce City, a consider
able railroad town in southwestern
Missouri, 4 negro was hanged by mol
of hundreds of people on the wholly I'M
supported and seemingly false accusa-
ton of having murdered a white girl
Then the mob proceeded to violent as
sault on the negroes of the neighbour
hood generally, though it was not even
pretended that they had had anything to
do with the crime. The aged grand
killed. another negro was burned alive
in his house, and the houses of five
Others were fired, though no accusation
was made against them except that they
were negroes. In Alabama mob, in
the course of its pursuit of a suspected
negro assailant of a young white woman,
shot and killed another negro who had
fled in terror when called upon to halt.
At Sadler, in Texas, a negro accused of
numbering farmers wife was burned
at the stake. After the fire was lighted,
we are told, sit was suggested that the
man ought not to die too quickly" and
accordingly his tortures were prolonged
"while party went to Dexter, about
two miles distant, to procure coal oil,
which Twas thrown on the flames ard
the work completed" in the presence of a
mob of about three hundred men.
These are only single days happen
ings and the lynching of the negroes
and the burning of them at the stake go
on at an Increasing rate of frequency.
The more Of them there are the more
will be the instances of the mania which
leads to the crimes avenged, according
to the well known psychological law
of suggestion. The more horrible the
punishment the greater is the provOca-
ton to the crime in minds made diseased
by dwelling on its atrocity. The old
experience of cruel and unusual punish
ments is repeated. Witch burning Gre
ated more wltchcraft for the stake The
more witches burned the more witches
there were to burn. The more heretics
consumed at the stake, the more heresy
hourished. The very terror inspired
provokes the mahia so atrocously
punished.
Accordingly, it is inevitable that
burning at the stake should be more
and more frequent when once it has
been Introduced. II perverts the minds
OF the mob. of the negroes tortured.
and of the community generally in
which it takes place. 1t spreads saw
hgery and savage mania. In both pur-
surer and pursued arises an hysterical
thirst for blood and horrible atrocity
As our correspondent suggested, it is
pot improbable, therefore, that the
mania may be carried here. 1t travels
easily and rapidly by the motive force
Of suggestion, and when once it appears
I propagates itself in the new region.
Nor is the worst sufferer by it the victim
Of its mad ferocity, but the community
n which the fire is kindled.
This rage is now directed against
negroes, but there are other races
against which 1t may expand itself
ultimately if 1t is allowed TO continue.
Nor is there another country or region
the civilized world where alas the
hanger from it is 50 great as here, no
ther where burning at the stake has
become practice almost daily repeated.
The criminals to whom the swift and
Fevere punishment of law must be
neted out, if this atroclous mania is to
han the burned. Ii makes of men wild
beasts and kindles in them the ferocious
passion with which a taste of human
lood inlames the tlger.-New York
sun.
HE GOOD ROADS CONGREssAT BUFFALO.
The meeting of the International Good
Roads Congress next month at Buffalo,
office of which has been sent out by the
department. of agriculture, is likely to
ontribute one of the strongest appeals
or road Improvement ever heard In this
tate. The meeting is to be under the
uspices of the National Good Roads
ssoclation. Its mass meetings, conven-
ions and practical road building in sew
raj of the Southern and Middle states