The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-29
.REYERSION TO BARBARIsM
Rev. G.. L. Rollins Of Park Avenue
Congregational Church Discuss
es Negro Lynchings.

In his prelude to his sermon yesterday
morning. Rev. G. u. Rollins, pastor OF
Park Avenue Congregational church,
spoke upon the moral and ethical signih
canoe of the burning and lynching OF
negroes. He said in part:
while our country Is protesting TO
Russia against the wanton massacre Of
Jews we are lynching and burning men
without due process Of law. No one Tor
a moment palliates the awful crime which
the victims committed (the most horrible
in the human category of crime) but the
execution of a human being without trial
and without the sanction Of the legally
authorized process is evil and nothing but
evil. Several such murders have been
committed within a week, one OF them
accompanied by the most revolving de-
tails. The plain facts are that in a
Christian civilization, (?) in a republic,
law is overthrown, the courts ignored,
criminals are torn from the hands OF
lawfully constituted authorities, burnt and
hung by frenzied mobs who scramble over
the possession of fragments of the victim
as mementos. The press and the senti-
ment of the community blink at the deed.
We are told that a, minister of the gospel
anticipated this result In public dis
course, intimating that the courts are
slow and likely to miscarry and that,
therefore, the public would have to take
hands. In such case a minister or any
other man is as much guilty as the one
who lighted the fagot.
"There is not the shadow Of a justifca-
ton for such deed under government
like ours. It is barbaric. More than this,
lynching and burning does not check the
crime for which these men are hung
Rather does it seem to incite others. We
are told that the crime of assault is on
the increase. Why not under mob rule.
How can we condemn the anarchist
who shoots down president when citizens
forsake the orderly process of law and
hang and burn men without trial. Such
passionate disregard for law and the
courts breeds 1awlessness and contempt
for the courts.
I'm most of these instances race proju-
dice is the moving cause. No white man
has been burned by a mob for crime In
the last 100 years in the United States.
1.-THE most discouraging aspect of this
and other public evils in coun-
| try is the public indifference. The press
| dispatches tell us that the governor OF
Delaware published a protest, but the
| papers also report that the sentiment OF
| the community approves the burning, and
| that no active steps are being taken to
| punish the perpetrators. What is becom-
ing of the public conscience that it looks
on with indifference at this open violation
| Of law? The first thing to do Is to arouse
public sentiment. The church, the press.
! the bar and the bench ought to unite in
| vigorous and effective protest against mob
rule and lynching. How can we condemn
mob violence during labor strikes and 81
lently condone it, when it executes Grim
| inals?
what ought to be done? Hang by
deliberate processes Of law the ringleaders
of such mobs. Account officers of the
! law who make no resistance to such MODS
as participants in their deeds. Impeach
executives who countenance such deeds
If local authorities are unable to protect
criminals call out the state militia. If the
state cannot control the situation an6
check mob violence, then let the fedora
| government take a hand
IF we SOW to the wind we shall reaI
| destruction. These are strong words, bu
it is time for strong words, brave deeds
and the exhibition of righteous patriot
i ISM "'=>75 - Ss>S2s' = So t-' r. % y