The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1901-08-22
Summary Justice.

A"NiN was tlStuTDdnCe IN New
York not long ago. A starved, tired.
sick horse, was dragging a truck loaded
with coping stones along Broadway.
Its strength gave out and it dropped.
The driver belabored the wretched
animal with a heavy whip, jerked with
all his strength upon the reins and
finally pulled the horse up to its
knees. Then he renewed his beating.
This performance caused a crowd
to gather, and it was not long before
that crowd became warmer than even
the high temperature of an August
day would warrant The driver was
warned to stop, and threatening gest-
ures were made in his direction. but
he was a stubborn sort of person, and
the more the crowd talked the more
fiercely he thrashed the horse. He
finally succeeded in driving away, but
at the pace he was able to 90 the
crowd could easily keep up with him,
and did. When he began to beat the
horse once more the crowd closed in
on him, and policeman of the Broad
way squad arrived on the scene.
Then the crowd began to tell the po-
iiceman what to do. One well dressed
man said, "Arrest him, officer, and
I'll make complaint" The driver,
his temper now up as high as that of
the crowd, declined to get off his seat,
and there was general cry Of "Pull
him off that truck"
1t did not take long to do it. A
dozen people hustled the man off his
seat, and some more unhitched the
horse, and an elderly man gave the
prisoner cordial blow on the side of
the face. He did not need to follow
the Biblical injunction to turn the other
cheek, for there were people on the
other side of him ready to attend to
that cheek, and two or three chorus
girls hit HIM over the head with their
umbrellas. Altogether, he spent the
next few minutes being hustled about
and thrashed, while the horse rested
and looked on, and it is to be hoped
that the animal enjoyed 1t. AS soon
as the policeman could get through
the crowd he marched his prisoner off
to Jail.
OF course, it is not to be argued
that 1t is always best for the public to
take the law into its own hands, but
there are times when it seems to be
unavoidable. Ii the man had been
maltreatlng woman or a small boy
on Broadway at that time of day, or
at any time when there was a crowd
about, he would probably have been
made to suffer quite as severely, and
the spectators would not have waited
for the police The kind of rascal
who is given to pounding those who
are manlestly unable to defend them
selves against him knows perfectly
we'll that the public will not stand any
doings OF the sort in public. He,
therefore, confines that sort of bru.
tality to the privacy of his own home.
He has quite enough intelligence and
self control to do that. There is no
reason why he should not be made to
feel the same need OF selfrestraint IN
the case OF horse or any other
dumb animal. The trouble has been
hitherto that the public conscience
was not sufficiently awake to notice
whenever big, rough bully thrashed
a horse. 1t should be thus awakened.
1t is just as proper for crowd to
stop that sort of proceeding as for the
passers-by to interfere to stop any
other sort of misdemeanor until the
police arrive. One cannot feel sorry
for the individual who figures in this
case. He was big, sIrong and healthy,
and he suffered for a few minutes a
modified form of the misery he had
inflicted on wretched, sick, half
starved animal, whose he life had made
perpetual calvary