Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-26
AGAINST LYNCHIN G.
SENTIMENT BECOMING MARKED
LIZ MANIFEST.
Two Great Remedies Present Them.
selves to the American People
to Wipe Out Practice.

ut cannot be doubted that the sentiment
| against lynchirg has been more markedly
i, manifest in the south during the past year
| than ever BEFORE" said A. T. Crawford Of
| New Orleans to a Star man this morning
| in an uptown hotel. There have been an
! unparalleled number Of legal hangings Of
! the perpetrators of the foul crimes which
| usually incite the passions of the people
in the communities where they are COM
| mitted
| The change of sentiment as shown by
allowing the law to take its course, is not
against the penalty, but the manner of its
| imposition. 1t is universally admitted that
a lynchfng has a very bad effect upon any
community in which it occurs it does not
| matter how deserving of immediate death
may nave been the criminal; a lynching
leaves bad taste in the mouth, as it were.
! for long time, and it does not necessarily
| prove a deterrent to the commission Of the
same crime by other men.
But where our communities have re-
pressed the feeling of passionate resent
| ment which sweeps over them upon the
knowledge of a foul crime becoming public
| and have brought the offender speedily to
| the bar OF justice, and to the scaffold
much better feeling, a more satisfactory
| one, prevails, and the spirit of self-control
then manifested Is apt to again assert Itself
upon future similar occasions; hence the
unusually large number of legal hangings
ut is my opinion that two great RENE
dies present themselves to the American
people to wipe out lynchings, which, as
the press accounts show. are far from being
confined exclusively to the southern states,
and they are these:
Remedies for Lynchings.
First, spirit of self-control should be
inculcated into the people by the positive
knowledge that upon the apprehension of
tl,o
death a speedy trial awaits him, and by
speedy trial I mean such. Special acts, If
necessary, should be passed whereby the
wheels of justice may be oiled SO that
person may be tried, convicted and executed
for the commission of a capital crime
within thirty days after it's commission.
Il am satisfied that if in southern COM
munities our people knew that such quick
and merited retribution would follow the
commission of a capital crime the de-
sire to lynch would be lessened so per cent
and that the number Of lynchings would
fall off within three years in like percent
age. 1t is the probabilities of legal delay
and the possibilities of defeating justice
that cause the people of any community
to largely take the execution of the law
into their own hands.
LAS a second great remedy for the proven
ton of lynchings I think that what may be
called the proposed Kansas plan will come
very near to filling the bill.
There have been several arrests, and
there are now number of men in the
southern states either in Jail or out on
bail for participating in lynchings, though
this number is, of course very small COM
pared with the number of men who have
participated in all of the lynchings during
the past year. That there have been any
arrested at all shows the change of feel
ing as regards this question.
THE Kansas plan proposes in effect life
sentence for the men who actually perform
ed the lynching and long penitentiary sem
tn,n 70 hos -hn f,, f1,1n h,,t
who did not actually and actively particle
pate in the hanging or the shooting the
burning of the culprit.
''One of the fundamental reasons why
lynchingS are so prevalent in the United
States is because those who take part :
therein are pretty sure to go unmolested.
Another reason is because law officers who
make no bona fide effort to prevent their
taking by the lynchers.
County Officials Largely Responsible.
'The Kansas plan, as I understand it,
| also contemplates the forfeiture of office ON
the part of any sheriff or law officer who
permits a crowd to take away from him,
and lynch. person in his custody County
officials are largely responsible for the
lynchings in this country. The accounts of
these affairs are monotenous in the rectal
of the weakened action of sher-
ifs and constables. Much of the
northern cenSCre which Is heaped
upon OUR people as to lynchings
should be bestowed upon sheriffs, Who
show in most cases a lamentable lack of
courage, which all but places them in the
same category with the lynchers.
THE forfeiture of office and the specific
penalty for lynchers is a plan that will
sooner or later be adopted in all of the
states, and until it is lynching will go on
more or less. 1t will be interesting to OBJ
serve whether the Kansas legislature will
pass the proposed act. and, when passed,
if the state officials will enforce 1t. If it is
enforced lynching bees in Kansas will be
conspicuous by their infrequence, and the
plan will be followed elsewhere to like ad-
vantage to the respective states.
Another change of southern sentiment is
observable in the Tilman-Gonzales trou-
bic, where bail was denied the former, a
precedent in this case being established
which has met with support by the press
and people of our community, yet practi-
cally up to now the accused in a similar
affair Of like prominence would have been