The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-08-14
OF President Roosevelt on
LynChing.
Words Of Wisdom That Should
be POndered
BY Every American Citizen. White
and Black.

Oyster Bay, N. Y, Aug. l0.-In a
letter, the publication of which was
authorized, President Roosevelt com
mends Governor Durbin, of Indiana,
for the attitude he assumed recently
respecting lynching. The President
also embraces the opportunity to ex-
press his own views in reference to
lynching and mob violence generally,
pointing out that mob violence is
merely one form of anarchy, and that
anarchy is the forerunner of tyran-
ny. The president vigorously urges
that the penalty for that crime which
most frequently induces resort to
lynching shall be applied swiftly and
surely, but by due process of the
courts, SO that 1t may be demonstrate
ed shat the law is adequate to deal
with crime by freeing 1t from every
vestige of technicality and delay"
President Roosevelt's letter in full
to Governor Durbin follows:
''Oyster Bay, N. Y, Aug. 6, 1903.
"My Dear Governor Durbin:
"Permit me to thank you as a
American citizen for the admirable
way in which you have vindicated the
majesty of the law by your recent
action in reference to lynching.
feel. my dear sir, that you have made
all men your debtors who believe, az
all far-seeing men must, that the
well-being, indeed, the very existence,
of the republic depends upon that
spirit of orderly liberty under the Law
which is as incompatible with mot
violence as with any form of despot
ism. OF course, mob violence Ii
simply one form OF anarchy; and an
archy is now, as 1t always has been
the handmaiden and forerunner OF
Tyranny.
81 feel that you have not only re
hected honor upon the state which
for its good fortune has you as 1t.
chief executive, but upon the whole
nation. 1t is incumbent upon every
man throughout the country not only
to hold up your hands in the course
you have been following, but to show
his realization that the matter is ont
of vital concern to us all.
"All thoughtful men must feel the
Igravest alarm over the growth Of
lynching in this country, and espe
cially over the peculiarly hideoui
forms SO often taken by mob violencs
when colored men are the victims
on which occasions the mob seems t.
lay most weight not on the crime
but on the color of the criminal. In Z
certain proportion of these case tn,
man lynched has been guilty of {
crime SO horrible that, as far as b,
himself is concerned, he has forfeit
ed the right to any kind of sympath,
Whatsoever. The feeling of all good
|citizens that such a hfdeous Grim,
shall not be hideously punished b,
mob violence is due not in the leas'
to sympathy for the criminal, but tt
a very lively sense of the train O
|dreadful consequences which follow
1.-THE course taken by the mob in ex
Iacting inhuman vengeance for an in
human wrong. In such cases, more
lover, Il is well to remember that tn,
terminal not merely sins against hu
manity, but sins particularly agains
his own race, and does them a wronI
far greater than any white man ca
Ipossibly do them. Therefore, in sue
cases the colored people throughou
the land should in every possible wa
show their belief that they, NOR
than all others in the community
are Mortified at the commission G
. such a crime and are peculiarly cor
cerned in taking every possible meal
ure to prevent its recurrence and
bring the criminal to immediate ju
tice. The slightest lack of vigo
either in denunciation of the Grim
, or in bringing the criminal to justic
Is itself unpaI donable.
Moreover every effort should
| m ade under the law to expedite tn
: proceeding of justice in case of sue
8 an awful crime. But it cannot |
' necessary in order to accomplish tn
E to deprive any citizen of those fun
t amental rights to be heard in his ow
J. defense which are so dear to us a
J. land which lie at the root of our Ii
r erty. 1t certainly ought to be po
d sible by the proper administration (
}. the laws to secure swift vengean'
q upon the criminal; and the best al