The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-08-09
RIG AJEsTYofTH Law.

TliE AJESTY Or T4E Law.
&c have read with keen interest the
sr printed IN yesterdays Times from
oaei e. v. White, Of Leesburg. in re-
20 letter from Rev z. S. Kinks. OF
80 same town, concerning the iynching
me negro Craven.
-. Kinks had charged that the men
who mace tie assault upon the jail and
took the prisoner out anu lynched him
were In liquor and consequently blood
thirsty" and again. that had there been
ten or twelve men with the nerve and
stuff to stand for the law. the jail could
not have been entered He further de-
clared that Mr.. Charles HARRISON was
the only man who had the nerve TO do
what thirty or forty Leesburg citizens
on the ground did not do" In other
words, that IL the officers OF the law and
had done their duty. the States prisoner
would have been protected from the mob
end the lynchinG had not been.
Colonel White denies the charges made
by Mr.. Kinks He says that he went 10
the Mayor as soon as the mob had gath
cred and had the saloons closed and he
asserts that very few OF the members OF
the mob were under the influence Of
licuor and none Of the leaders. He also
asse.ts with some show Of indignation.
that the officers Of the law and the citi-
zens of Leesburg who were present did
everything in their. power, short of firing
upon the mob. to prevent the negro from
being lynched.
we know nothing Of these matters in
dispute between Mr.. Kinks and Colonel
White, but there is one statement in
Colonel Whites letter which we cannot
permit to go urchalenged. It is the fol-
lowing:
We could have shot into the crowd and
possibly killed a doZea or more men, but
the results would have been simply to
have added largely to the cemetery with
out saving the negro. What could
dozen or more men do, most OF them
without arms. in the face Of one hundred
we'll armed. determined men? Bravery
without prudence is q. dangerous COM
modify. j have known hundreds OF
brave noble soldiers to be killed by just
my senses ] will never. in the defense OF
a barn burner, robber, murderer-white
or black, law or no iaw-kill any man.
Here is a grave and fatal mistake
which many good men make in consid-
ering the question of lynchIng. OF course
no good citizen would feel called upoG
to shoot down another citizen or any
number of citizens to protect murderer
and barn-burner. but when the muir
dcrer and barn-burner is prisoner Of
the State and in the hands OF the officers
of the law, it then becomes a matter not
ST protecting a miserable scamp, but Of
upholding the majesty and dignity of the
law. In such a case, it is the plain duty
OF the Officers of the law to protect the
prisoner at all cost and to use every
means at their command to do SO. When
q mob makes an assault upon the Jail
and attempts to break into this institu-
ton of the State, it attempts to tranaple
the laws Of the State under foot. and the
officers of the law must in duty to the
government treat such a mob as it would
treat any foreign enemy of invasion.
When men join a mob of this character
they put themselves outside the protec-
ton of the law, they take their lives in
their own hands, and if they be shot
down in making such an assault, their
blood be upon their own heads.
The law is no respector of persons.
Suppose this prisoner in this jail had
been a prominent citizen OF Leesburg
and mob from the surrounding coun-
try had come to the city to- lynch him,
is 1t possible that the officers OF the law
would have permitted the mob to come
in and take me prisoner out and murder
him. without firing single shot in his
defence? But. as we have said, the law
is no respecter of persons. This negro in
the Lcesburg Jail was a prisoner of the
State, and 1t was the bounden duty of
the officers to protect him as far as they
were able, even to the last resort. We
again emphasize the fact that it was not
In the eyes of the State a negro criminal
to be protected, but the majesty and
dignity Of the law. The officers of the
Jaw are sworn to uphold the law, to pre-
serve the peace and to prevent all forms
OF lawlessness. and they must do 50
whenever there is an uprising. The per-
sonality Of the prisoner whom the mob
may be after has nothing to do with it.
When a mob rises and assaults jail it
assaults the government and the institu-
lions Of government, and must be treated
as a public enemy. no matter what the
occasion, no matter what man or what
sort OF man is involved.