The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-12
AN uNpuN1sHEp CRIME.

They have way of doing things in Galesburg, H.. that we hope is peculiar to that section of our moral vineyard. The story, as told by The Chicago Inter Ocean. to put it briefly, is that a student in high school, while seeing a. young lady home from party. was waylaid by five other students of the same school and gagged, whipped, kicked and left bound in vacant lot" When found he was almost naked and badly bruised.
 The young ruffians who assailed him were Identified and suspended by the school superintendent. Then the school board met, endorsed the action of the superintendent. and call ed on the officers of the law to punish the offenders. Then the young men went before the board of trustees and apologized for their deed of ruffianism and that ended 1t. They were reinstated in their positions in the school, no punishment was administered and none will be. The incident is closed
 That, in brief, is a history of the affair as we find 1t stated We omit the debates and resolution as not essential to the merits of the case. The gist of the mat ter is that these five young outlaws, as act of cowardly brutality for which they richly deserve to wear stripes in the penitentiary. In making their apologies each gave some reason for his act, not one of which would have stood for a mo- ment Tn court of justice. The excuses given, even if they were true, were puerile [ and without force. The real cause of the outrage was that the victim had ''cut them out' with the young lady. This they resented and showed their resent ment in a way that savages would be ashamed of.
 Whether the matter will end there re- mains to be seen. The mother of the young man appeared before the board and demanded that some measure of repara- tion should be adopted by that body for the injury done her son. put, as The Inter Ocean intimates. "the fathers and mothers O. the five boys who assaulted him had to be considered" They were not present, 1t Is true, but their influence was, and evidently 1t was thought better to condone a cowardly outrage then 1t was to incur the opposition of the five influential fathers. And the facile board expressed hope of better, higher and nobler things for the boys in future"
 Such is a brief history of thoroughly discreditable affair, and We are bound to say that the school board deserves more censure than the offenders themselves. The latter may plead the unthoughted- ness and indiscretion of youth and the chagrin and resentment consequent on finding that the young lady had preferred the attentions of rival. These pleas do not compose a justification, but they offer some kind of excuse. The members of the school board can plead no such justification. They not only allowed a serious breach of discipline to go un- punished but were really guilty of con- donation of crime. The assault made by the five boys was not only cruel and brutal but was clearly criminal. They are left off with the hope that they will do better. Possibly they will. but the course adopted is more likely 10 make train robbers of them. And, finally, if the young man who was beaten is will ing to let it go at that we shall be in- clined to think he deserved what hs re- eeived.