The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-08-15
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: The Innocent Rapist
and
; The Georgia Burning

near Savannah, Ga,
QUESTION Saturday night, for
WITH TWO outraging white
SIDES TO 1T. woman If one judg-
ed only by the hys-
terical comments made in some OF THESE
shallow imprints he would be led to pc
lleve that some innocent, milk-pure negro
had been wantonly sacrificed on a pyre
OF pine billets and kerosene oil. III such
were the case there could be but one
opinion, North or South. But such is not
the case, and in judging of results one
must ever keep his eye upon the cause;
and while remembering the punishment,
recall the crime.
The deed was the most heinous known
and the negro was positively identified by
his victin-these circumstances sealed
his fate. Such as he must die; what mat
ters it, from the standpoint of pity for
the criminal, what the method? Be it by
halter, bullet. knife or brand, the re-
suits the same
If you must draw pictures of this swart
Caliban, fire. eaten, Juggling at his chain
| amid the flames; keep also before you the
picture of that poor woman, his victim,
| who must go racked and horse whipped of
memory through every awful day of her
existence, and if he be brought to trial
tell her shame before listening world in
a crowded court house.
+! And there's another thing to know:
| The object of punishment is to deter.
The dangerous
THE OBJECT among the ignorant
| OF are impressed only
| PUNISHMENT. by lessons writ in
unmistakable char
/ acters. Arrest try and then delay your
punishment by legal technicalities-
what is the result? Witness in answer
recent events in this State:
| negro outrages a respectable white
woman in Cumberland county. He is
positively identified by her. There a.e
other corroborating circumstances and
he is convicted and sentenced. Then
begin the work of milk and cider SEN
timent. Appeal after appeal is taken
until the judiciary is exhausted; then
the executive vein is struck and work
ed out. From that, recourse is taken
to a judge who, to save the negro, over
rules all precedent set by the courts.
| That is one side of the picture; now
look upon the other.
While all this sentiment has been
stopping over Council what has been
happening? In Greene and Wayne
counties negroes arrested-for attempts
to assault white women. In Chatham
and Durham counties negroes arrested
found by white women in their rooms
at night. In Lenoir and Johnston coun-i
ties negroes lynched-for rape of white
women. In Mecklenburg county, az
married woman and little girl, botha
white, outraged by negroes. 2
This is the awful record of the last
few months. Has it any connection
with the dilly-dalying in the Council
case?
Let justice be done but let it be done
quickly. Is there delay, they get the
news" and there is no estimating it's
effect on their conduct. Is there
burning or lynching, they also get
the news" and in the stark, swinging
body or in the flare and glare of the
flames each miscreant reads his fate.
Such incidents prevent not one, but
many Outrages of similar kind. saw
ing the honor and life of more than
one pure woman who would otherwise
go shame dashed and sorrow haunted
to her grave.
If you see it in the Sun it's not always
so; it may be joke. The New York
Sun recently view
A WOMAN ed with alarm 1.-The
DEFENDS great growth of the
HER SEX. lynch law sentiment
in the South" and a
Mrs. Melusina Fay Pierce, of New York
city, took up the gauntlet in behalf OF
her sex, and incidentally of the South.
In a letter printed in the Sun on July
9th Mrs. Pierce used this language con.
corning the Southern lynching of me-
groes accused of assault on women:
For my part, l thank God every
time l read that Southern manhood has
avenged and by so avenging continues
to protect Southern womanhood. 1
blush for the decadent Europeanism of
the Northern press and pulpit which in
sists that these revolving tragedies
must be settled in court land despise
as the most utter towards and traitors
in the country the Southern Governors
and sheriffs who, to win the approval
of this decadent Northern manhood,
shoot down the avengers who are try
ing to uphold the standards of the white
American race If Southern woman
HOoO udO tie proper spirit Ill IIllS Hldl-
ter it would hold mass meetings and
boycott the families Of such Governors
and sheriffs until they were compelled
to move to the North
Having given expression to these Wig
orous sentiments Mrs. Peirce stood pat,
and the Sun drawing in it's claws crept
away into more pleasant fields of COM
ment
Then a rapist was burned near Sa-
Vannah, Ca, and the next day the fol-
lowing letter, dated
WHAT SHALL New York city, Au-
WE Do gust 10TH appear.
WITH HIM? ed in the Sun Ove1
Mrs Peirces name:
1T goes without saying that l thor
Oughly approve of the burning OF
that black beast at the stake in my
Southland, the land of chivalry, the
other day. If anything was needed to
show the value and educational advan-
tage of these burnings, it is the fact
that a large number of colored persons
gave a helping hand in the glorious
work of vengeance