Perth Amboy evening news., 1903-08-10
LYNCHINC OUTRACES
President Roosevelt Com
mcnds Durbin's Action.
Law and ORDER MUST PREVAIL
Punishment of Murder and As
sauIt to he Sure and Swift,
but Mob Law Must BE
Crushed Out.

OYSTER BAY, N. Y, Aug. 10.-Pres-
Ident Roosevelt has written a letter to
Governor Durbin of Indiana commend
ing him for the attitude he assumed
recently respecting l%ynching. The pres
ident also embraces the opportunity to
express his OWL views in reference to
lynching and mob violence generally,
pointing out that mob violence is mere
Iy one form of anarchy and that an
archy is the f%orerunner of tyranny.
HAhe president vigorously urges that the
penalty for that crime which most fire.
quently induces a resort to lynching
shall be applied swiftly and surely, but
by due process of the courts, so that it
may be demonstrated that the law is
adequate to deal with crime by freeing
it from every vestige of technically
and delay"
President Roosevelt's letter says in
part:
Permit me to thank you as an Amer
lean citizen for the admirable way in
which you have ~vindicated the majes-
ty of the law by your recent action in
reference to l%ynching. l feel, my dear
sir, that you have made all men your
debtors who believe, as all %farseeing
men must, that the well being, indeed
the very existence of the republic, de-
ponds upon that spirit of orderly lib
erty under the law which is as incOm-
patible with mob violence as with any
form of despotism. OF curse mob vio-
lence is simply one form of anarchy,
and anarchy is now, as it always has
been, the handmaiden and forerunner
of tyranny.
"All thoughtful men must feel the
gravest alarm over the growth of
lynching in this country and especially
over the peculiarly hideous forms so
often taken by mob violence when col
ored men are the victims-On which
occasions the mob seems to lay most
weight not on the crime, but on the
color of the criminal. In a certain pro-
portion Of these cases the nan lynched
has been guilty of a crime horrible be-
lyond description, a crime so horrible
that as far as he himself is concerned
he has forfeited the right to any kind
of sympathy whatsoever. The feeling
of all good citizens that such a hideous
crime shall not be hideously punished
by mob violence is due not in the least
to sympathy for the criminal, but to a
very lively sense of the train Of dread
lful consequences which follow the
course taken by the mob in exacting in
human vengeance for an inhuman
wrong.
I'm such cases, moreover, it is well to
remember that the criminal not merely
| sins against humanity in ineXplicable
and objectionable fashion, but sins par
~ticularly against his w race and does
them a wrong far greater than any
white man can possibly do 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 commission
| of such a crime and are peculiarly con-
| cerned in taking every possible meas
| ure to prevent its recurrence and to
bring the criminal to immediate JUS
| tice. The slightest lack of vigor either
in denunciation of the crime or in bring
ing the criminal to justice is itself I'M
pardOnable.
Moreover, every effort should be
made under the law to expedite the
proceedings of justice in the case of
| such an awful crime. But it canno be
necessary in order to accomplish this
to deprive any citizen of those funda-
1000. -:<l,k. b. ~, IAn,1 =, III. o,ro
defense which are so dear to us all and
which lie at the root of Jul liberty. 1t
certainly ought to be possible by the
proper administration of the laws to
secure swift vengeance upon the GRIM
inal. and the best and immediate eff
forts of all legislators, judges and citi-
zens should be addressed to securing
such reforms in our local procedure as
to leave no vestige of excuse for those
misguided men who undertake to wreak
vengeance through violent methods.
Men who have been guilty of a crime
like rape or murder should be visited
with swift and certain punishment, and
the just effort made by the courts to
protect them in their rights should I'M
Z nv AlNND w 10 Z lVd IlllO
permitting any mere technicality to
avert or delay their punishment. The
substantial rights of the prisoner to a
fair trial must of course be guaranteed,
as you have so justly insisted that they
should be, but subject to this guaran-
tee-the law must work swiftly and
surely, and all the agents of the law
should realize the wrong they do when
they permit justice to be delayed or
thwarted for technical or insufficient
reasons. We must show that the law
Is adequate to deal with crime by free
ing it from every vestige of technical
ity and delay.
THE nation, like the individual, can
not commit a crime with impunity. If
we are guilty of lawlessness and brutal
violence, whether guilt consists in
active participation therein or in mere