The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-22
WHY NEGROES ARE BURNED.
Views of n Man Who Witnessed One
of the Horrors.

WI NJ hOEEOEs
J. 2. Mowbray. in New York Post.
so far as / have observed" said the
practical man. things seem TO average up
pretty well if you give them time"
"Where?' asked the judge. Are you
thinking OF New York city, or Georgia, or
Kansas? Perhaps you have got your eye
on McKeesport?"
Things appear TO be working out all
right. 1 don't see anything to discourage
a man."
Don't you? Why, politically. New York
has reverted TO the Middle Ages and pre-
fers a feudal chief to an intelligent ruler:
and Georgia. not TO be ~behindhand, has
put the auto da fe of Torquemada on "A
self-sustaining basis"
Before the Judge could reach Kansas the
practical man interrupted him, without the
least heat. but with an easy return 10 ac-
by the way he said. Il have just come
from Georgia and was fortunate enough 10
see one of their nigger-burnings.'
He said this with the conscious superior
ity of the man who places facts far above
mere deductions. Perhaps his composure
annoyed the judge, who stopped walking
and said:
Did you enjoy it?'
We'll sir replied practical complacency.
Il am glad | saw it-there is so much mis-
apprehension among the people OF the
North who never saw it,"
1t uS uODts Sdlu lie JuGSt, AndA thtS
will always have the same excuse for mis-
apprehension"
Il think you mistake the motive of the
people VINO burn nlggers. You THINK IL Is
In some way an unbridled vengeance
Yes said the Judge; Il think that would
be our stimat of it,"
We'll, sir, there YOU would make a mis-
take. | did not observe any riotous sense
of Justice. at least not to any large ex-
tent"
Well, what in heavens name did you
observer"
Il observed that most of the men en-
desire for sensation. 1t was a kind of ex-
citing amusement. / think you do them
too much honor By attributing any idea OF
The judge, who had started in With his
walk, stepped suddenly again and stared
at me. / must have stared back, The
practical man had opened a depth that had
not occurred 10 either of us. The Judge
pushed the library door shut softly. as If
1t We're well not TO let anything permeate
the house. The practical man proceeded:
Il was In a scattered community in
Georgia when a lynching was proposed.
shanty boarding house in the district where
was prospecting some pine lands, and L
had the opportunity to see how the lynch
ing proposition worked. Well. gentlemen,
it worked a good ceal like an approaching
circus with a brass band, spotted horses.
and a fairy rope walker. The men didn't
wanted to know where the show was. and
they wanted front seats. They dropped
their tools and gave UP their jobs and got
kind of excitement that their dull. i'm
bruted natures could thrill at. It's a fact,
s women felt N the thrill hnn e of it, w ana t IRe
years before, when / was in Texas. and a
lynching was In progress, proof came from
been made in the man, but rather than dis
appoint the crowd, they burned the wrong
niger first, and then started in to catch
the right one. Now, / don't think that the
kind of animals I saw ever wasted as
much time in defending the honor of their
And they enjoyed the fun. Yes. Sir. l
don't discount that word. They enjoyed 1t,
and they let the children see it" s,., t,o
country is all right while it permits such
atrocities"
why. the country will correct the whole
business in time. They will either burn all
the niggers or the present race of Tar-heels
and Clay-eaters will die out for want of
amusement"
You have touched upon a feature of this
abomination that il not at all new" i said.
1T is the oldest infamy and the most ap-
palling mystery of man himself, that agony
in others may become a source of enjoy
| ment to him. The whole effort of civiliza-
ton is to keep man from betraying the de-
mon that resides in him. Cruelty was lifted
to an aesthetic delight in ancient Rome.
and the most exciting amusement that
could be offered to perverted human nature
was the slow burning alive of human vic
Tins, so that the pampered hataerae turned
up their dainty noses If the play bill did
not promise them a smell of burning flesh.
The burnings of Torquemada furnished fes-
tas to Seville, and the Spanish maidens
came in from their vineyards, gaudily at
tired. to enjoy the agony of the here
tics"
when was that?" asked the practical
man.
TT was in the fifteenth century," 1 re
piled. Spain burned thirty-two thousand
persons before she got through"
Gentlemen" said the practical man, II
don't think that our statistics can compete
with theirs"
"Oh. give the country time. give her
time" said the Judge.