The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-15

and protection to life, liberty and
property, than other governments in
the history of mankind. 1t strikes a
deadly blow at our cherished ideal and
governmental theory of mans capac-
ity for government. The more
deadly because 1t touches all the peo-
pie, disarms the poor and the helpless
and turns them over to brute force
or depotism. Steadily pursued, 1t
means the death of liberty.
Mob law and anarchy delivered
Republican Greece to Philip of Mace
donia and to his son Alexander the
Great. Sullar and Marius made Cea-
sar possibility. Robespierre proceed
ed Napoleon the First, who became
Emperor because France was drunk
with blood shed by the mob, and sati-
ated with the slaughter of her best
people. The French Revolution is the
highest historic expression of mob
law. No wonder the people in the
throes of national agony chose one
tyrant in preference to the multitude.
Not "a Check on Crime.
"Third-Many well meaning people,
seem to believe that the vengeance of
the mob is a check upon crime and
that the effect is wholesome. Some
crimes are so unspeakably horrible, like
the one committed near Wilmington,
ragged human nature in the thrill of
horror, Is for a moment ready to APP
prove of almost any revenge. Still
the fendish vengeance executed by the
mob upon that brute was not the
work of good citizens.
In the light of experience mob vio-
lence does not prevent the repetition
of the crime so avenged. Such savage
punishment arouses the very spirit il
intended Tn tha lVYrf
light of the burning victim, others of
his class see him as a martyr. The
spirit of vengeance Is aroused in them,
with wild, fierce, unreasoning mad
ness they hasten to repeat his crime In
order to revenge him.
'The work of the mob in such case
not only brands the state and the ma
ton with indelible disgrace, but tends
to multiply crime, and If the question
of color or race happens to be in
VOWED, 1t provokes race hatred and
race war.
1.-The claim, that because courts in
any case refuse to railroad the GRIM
inal to the gallows is an excuse for
brutal lynching is not worthy of con-
sideration before intelligent people.
The murderers themselves, and blatent
demagogues who may have melted
them to murder, may seek such excuse
for their acts, but they, like the ostrich
fleeing for shelter, only bury their
heads in the sand and leave the body
of their sin exposed.
Courts Above MObs.
ANY court of justice that would lis
ten to the mob and suffer 1t to pre-
scribe Its methods, time and action
should be abolished as q mockery of
human justice. The very fact that the
people are mad and frenzied and that
the mob Is at the door calls for a cool
ing time, that reason may resume her
throne.
The effect, therefore, of mob rule
may be summarized as follows:
First. 1t brutalizes the individual
man.
Second. 1t destroy free government.
Third. 1t increases crime.
what Is the Cure.
What Is the remedy? What is the
cure for the mobs?
Most emphatically, we say, the rem
edy is not in hastily and feverish ac-
tion OF courts of justice against the
criminal whose offense Is the exciting
cause.
Law has its highest function in
throwing its shield OF protection be-
fore the ignorant, the weak and the
helpless; and was specially designed
as a barrier against temporary mad
ness. The more brutal the crime the
more Degraded and ignorant the Grim
mai, the more widespread and tense
tne pubic rage, the more imperative It
is that courts OF Justice should secure n
calm, just and fair hearing, and that
the guilt of the accused be established.
otherwise innocent men may be nun
1shed for crimes they did not commit as
U recent lynching OF a negro in the
south, where 1t was found after his
death that he had not been within
twenty miles of the scene of the out
rage.
Confessions Not Conclusive.
Even confessions of the accused are
not conclusive. Within a year a me-
gro was arrested in my state for the
murder OF Mrs. Ida Collins, the wife
of a farmer living near Laurel. De-
tectives extracted from him a confess
sion OF the crime in which he detailed
the circumstances of the murder In
vestigation proved that he had no part
IN the murder. 1t is impossible to saw
now many helpless victims Of mob
law who, through hope of favor.
have confessed to crimes of which thew
were not guilty when within the shad-
ow OF the gallows of or the circle OF
the fire.
when mob spirit rules. courts NJ
Justice should be unyielding in their
stand for fair dealing. Otherwise they
simply become the mob and executors
OF vengeance and not of justice.
We are receiving from the Old
World yearly large bodies of immi-
grants, some OF whom, unfortunately.
have the widest notions of the extent
of the American freedom to do as they
please. Anarchy turks under the plead
ing garb of liberty, and the assassin
clothes himself as a defender OF hu-
man rights. Lawlessness is our danger:
reverence for the law and obedience
to her mandates is our safety. A
strong and masterful sentiment of such
obedience to law Is a sure cure for
mobs. 1t cuts up the evil at the root
If furnishes a soil IN xxr1aiok - -