The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-08-16

The Kansas Oy StAl on the LgH~nlng
The INTELLIoENCER does not ap
prove Of lynching. 10 ORGANIZED
society men give up the right 0
private vengeance for the benefits o
social order aud peace. The law Il
slow in many instances, and clumsy
and sometimes 1t fails to effect IL
purpose; but law even poorly en- I orced
is better than the state in which
every man does what seems right ID
his own sight. In the Instance Of
Salyers and Gates it is believed that
their punishment under the law
would have been prompt aud adequate
A large majority Of those who know
the facts in this case most thoroughly,
deeply deplore the lynching or these
men aud would have lent their aid TO
the officers in any way to secure to
these undoubtedly guilty men a regu-
lar, legal punishment, If they had
thought that the prisoners were not
safe.
But even those who most deplOre
the deed Of Tuesday morning, are
justly indignant at the accou mt Of 1t
in the Kansas City Star, which was
UNANIMOUSLY false in some Of its most
important statements, and at the
editorial comment, which was still
more UNANIMOUSLY slanderous and
p%harisaical. %InaccuracY Ia the news
columns of a metropolitan daily Is In
a measure excusable, though in this
particular instance, since the Star
had a reporter on the ground by
S:l5 O'Clock the next morning, this
excusableness is reduced to the mini
mum. But violent editorial abuse Of
one OF the best communities in the
state, ignorant abuse, abuse in which
the specific charges do not agree
with the account in its news columns,
is a very different matter and justi-
fes a vigorous protest II the Star
does not like lynching, it is its right
to say so, If it does not like these
particular lynchers, there is no reason
why it should keep silent. But to
SANDER a good community and to do
it in hot insolence and with careless
ignorance of the facts in the case is
quite a different thing. Lynchlug is
bad, but there is no part of the
United States in which it does not
sometimes occur; and this might
have suggested to the Star some very
different and unobjectiona bile elec-
ton. The truth is, our law Is Roman
in spirit and u people are Saxon IL
blood. Our theory is that all men are
equal before the law, but we are
descended from a race am Ong whom
the murder of a 0iAeiN was punished
by a trifling fine; Of a freeman, by
heavy amercements; and OF King I
thane by instant death. George w
Johnson was every inch a King;
thane. and his murdererS were crap.
shooting, night-prowling CHECKER
thieves Of long standing. The time
may never come when people o.
Saxon blood, outraged by a crime il
which the moral differences between
the perpetrator aud the victim Il
infinite, will cease to take wild ven
geance, and throw to the winds VIVA
at such times seems to them mer,
theories and bubbles
1t is sometimes said that mob
never molest any but poor, frIendles
scalawags; and this is nearly true
But do jurles often capltally condemn
men Of wealth and family Standing
You can name them all on the finger
OF one hand and have fingers left
These things are not said in justifica
tion Of mobs. But Judges, jurles, ant
mobs are all Saxon alike, in spite 0
the theory of the law When W,
reflect that Kansas City is the cente
of high toned train 70 b bers and sill
stockinged bank thieves who go IN
convicted by the law it extOlS, it doe
seem that the Star might be bette
employed in missionary work in it
own parish rather than in hypocri tica
censure of our rude justice.
Shaming the Trusts.
A republican exchange with a lean
ing toward tariff reform says;