The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-11-26
GOV GOVERNOR fEtsit2SfRSOR aSAI FRS TO RID
 TEXAS OF LYNCHlNG HABIT

I has discussed 1t in every message to the legislature He himself has gone to the county seat when lynehing was ex- pected. He has ordered out troops when ever necessary and has upheld and sup ported the judges In their opposition to mobs.
 He did all in his power to secure acc tlon by the grand juries against lynch- CTS and has worked in every possible way to stop the disgrace. Yet he has at best saved four or five lives, while that horrible addition to lynching-burn- ing at the stalke-previously unknown in Mississippi, has finally invaded the state and was the feature of the recent Cor i inth lynching.
 Those who oppose lynching call atten- tion to the fact that it is progressive. go- ing though an evolution of horrors. When tho mob first began this work in Missis- sippi the lynchinC was done by a small body of men, well organized, masked and on horseback, who rode to the jail in the middle of the night and compelled the sheriff to surrender the prisoner He was taken to the nearest tree and hang ed.
 The next change, a needlessly brutal one, was after hanging the negro to have every member of the mob fire a rifle or postol at the body. This practice has been kept up since, with the result that the bodies of lynched negroes today at least those who have not been burn ed--are scarcely distlnguishable as those of human beings.
 Later all masks and disguises were discarded and the mob performed it's work in the open light of day in the very streets of the town, and generally in front of the court house, with no at- tempt at concealment or secrecy.
 Finally Las come the burning at the stake, when the lynching is made spec tacle in which a large part of the popula- ton joins. Invitations are sent out and even excursions are given for those who wish to witness these executions.
 At Corinth the only question was whether the victim should be burned or hanged. The more conservative citi- zens pleaded for "a plain hanging" and were regarded as milksops for so doing.
 No one. seemer to plead law and order for the trial and legal execution of the criminal. The mob even took possession of the telegraph station, refused to allow the sheriff to telegraph to the governor for troops. and refused to allow any word of the lynching to go out until the work was completed. It armed itself to resist any troops that might be sent to the scene to maintain the law.
 It has been found that when burning at the stake is once introduced as an incident to lynching, it Is generally kept up. The evil influence of the Corinth burning was well shown in the very next lynching in Mississippi at Darling, on All Saints Day, November l. when the negro victim was burned at the stake
 It will be seen, therefore, that lynch ings are going through an evolution which makes them worse. The increased boldness of the lynchers was well shown in the Hampstead affair, where, for the first time, a prisoner under trial was taken from the courthouse and lynched.
 Governor Savers is probably well aware of the fact that he is taclSling a difficult problem which may prove too much for the other southern governors.