The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-04-21
ESCAPED PUNISHMENT BY REA-
SON OF A BARBARIC LAW.


the crime charged against them in every
particular except the use o. ;orce, escap-
ed punishment for their base conduct
only because North carolina has q bar
barrie Law. The particulars q the crime
| charged against them h 4 fourteen year
OLD girl have been printed in these coll
unns. In our indignation that slea
base conduct could happen in the suburbs
CT the c.ty OF Raleigh. this paper thought
it TO he its high but unpleasant duty to
print the awful story. Written in great
haste after midnight, the story was too
full and contained expressions that
would not have been printed If there had
been time for re-reading. Frank
ness compeis Us TO state in print what
we feel and what our readers must
have felt was our indisc-etion. The first
news that came 70 the paper was the
story OF the young girl and her father.
supported in part by a soldier at the
Confederate Home. and The fact that a
warrant charging these men with the
| basost Of crimes had been issued by a
magistrate. Assuming that II was true.
this paper would have been d~ere!iet in
its duty if it had not printed enough
of her pitiful tale TO arous the ind.s-
| nation of good men. When a young
girl fourteen years old, without money
or friends, the daughter Of a man too
poor to hire a lawyer to prosecute the
men charged with her ruin, seeks the
protection OF the law, it is the duty Of
the press to make sU>- public scnti-
ment in her favor as the publication OF
the proper facts warrant. In such cases
the woman or the girl, il w~ronged, can
get no redress except through an aroused
public sentiment. Men accused Of such
crime always seek to blacken the rcputa-
ton Of the girl. If she is innocent, public
sentiment Will demand the condign pun
ishment Of her assailants if the papers,
with proper elimination, print her story
of the wrong done ter SO the people can
be informed. If the press covers it up,
under a mistaken sense that bad odors
can be stamped out by the application of
cologne, no wronged girl may ever hope
for justice. If the girl is poor, humble,
a mere child the public Will see that
those who wrong her are punished If
the law is sufficient to do SO. That was
the view of the case that caused the story
to be printed in these columns. Whether
right or wrong, in its execution, the mo-
tive was one that Will be approved by
all good men who are appalled, at the
growing immortality of the times.
1t was a disgrace to the city Of Raj
eigh that men-men who have sisters and
mothers-couiG stoop SO low yesterday
as to manifest the brute in them as was
manifested at the close Of the nauseat-
ing trial. The undeyeloped and wayward
girl of fourteen. a mere child with no
moral perceptions, ought to be placed in
Cued. Instead of pity that the a slip of
a girl was not what she should be, there
was a levity and a jeering and a leering
that made men ashamed to know that
sAiNJ Ot5 ~ 49, 1919 49, - 49,
men who by their conduct showed they
had fallen lower than the girl whose
character base men were blachening.
The whole scene was a pitiful exhibition
of moral degeneracy, caused by cigarette
smoking, whiskey drinking and vulgar
ity and lowness. The poor girl-not yet
a communicating in moral sense went
out of court after making admissions that
showed her extreme youth, lack Of sense.
and her waywardness. The men escaped
a trial for the worst crime in the cata-
logue of crimes because the victim of
their drunken debauchery was five
months older thar fourteen years Of age.
II she had been five months younger, the
men could not have escaped the severest
punishment. In this State the youthful
age of fourteen is the prescribed age Of
consent.
This crime-for it is nothing less than
a crime even if it goes unpunished-
ought TO stir the people of North Caro-
lima to the point where they Will de
mand of the next General Assembly that
the age OF consent be raised. 1t ought to
be eighteen years Of age-not a day less.
Young girls lacking in moral perceptions
ought not to be the prey of bad men.
The law ought to make men like those
OF trial yesterday answer for their
wrongs. There is but one way to do it
and that is to raise the age Of consent
SO that they will be estopped from set
ting UP the plea of consent when faced
with their Wrong-doing. Our present law
on this subject is a barbaric lava dis
grace to our civilization.
The people of Raleigh need to oui.
sprlnkling cologne and to remove the
foul blots that Disgrace the city. There
mas not been harmony in the city ad-
ministration for some time. With the