Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1903-08-12

q.
process of the courts, so tlat il may
be demonstrated that the law is ade-
quate to deal with crime by freeing
il from every vestige of technically
and delay" President Roosevelt's let
ter IN full to Governor Dmbin fol
lows:
Oyster Bay. August 6. 1908
Governor Durbin: Permit me 20
thank you as an 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 mon your debtors who
believe as oil of the farsecing men
must. that the wCll-being. indeed. the
very existence Of the republic. dc
pcnds upon that spirit of orderly liher-
~ under the law which is az incom-
ratible with mob violence as with any
form of Gespotism OF course mob
violence is simply ono form OF an
archy. and anarchy is now. as il al
ways has been. the handmaiden and
fCrerunner o. tyranny.
Il feel that you have not only re-
hectod honor upon the State which
for its good fortune has you as it's
Chief Executive but upon the whole
nation. Ii is incumbent upon every
man throughout this country not only
70 hold up your hands in the course
you have been following. hut to show
his realization that the matter is one
Of vital concern to us all.
AN thoughtful men must feel the
sravest alarm over the growth OF
lvnchins in this country and especi-
ally over the peculiarly hidcous
forms so Cftcn taken by mob violence
wheu colofcd men are the victims,
on which occasions the mob seems
20 lay most weight. not on the crime.
but on the color of the criminal. In a
certain proportion OF these cases the
man lynched has been guilty of a
crime horrible beyond descrir- ion. n
crime so horrible that as far as he
himself is concerned he has for
feited the right 10 any kind of SYM
pathy whatsoever. The feeling of all
good citizens that such n hideous
crime shall not be hideously punish
ed by mob violence is due not in the
least to sympathy for the criminal
but to 2 lively sense OF the train of
dreadful consequences which follow
the course taken by the mob in exact
ing inhuman vengeance for an in
human wrong. In such cases. more
over. ii is we'll to remember that the
criminal not merely sins against hu-
manity in ineXplicable and unpar-
conable fashion. but sins particularly
against his own race, and does them
a wrong far greater than any white
man can possibly do TO them. There
fore, in such cases the colored people
throughout the land should in. every
possible way show their belief that
they. more than all others in the com
munity. are Mortified at the commits
sion of such a crime and are pc
culiarly concerned in taking every
possible measure to prevent its re-
currence and to bring the criminal TO
immediate justice. The slightest lack
Of vigor either in denunciation OF the
crime or in bringing the criminal to
justice is itself objectionable.
Moreover. every effort should be
made under the law to expedite the
proceedings OF justice in the case OF
such an awful crime. But 1t cannot
be necessary, in order TO accomplish
this. to deprive any citizen OF those
fundamental rights to be heard in his
own defense, which are SO dear to us
all and which lie at the root of our
liberty. 1t certainly ought to be possi-
bic by the proper administration of
the laws to secure swift vengeance
upon the criminal, and the best and
immediate efforts of all legislators.
judges and citizens should be ad
dressed to securing such reforms in
our legal procedure as to leave no
vestige of excuse for those misguided
n