The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-15
A NEW ADVOCATE OF LYNCHING.

What is the matter with the country ?
There was time when nobody openly de-
| Tended or advocated lynching, and men
practised it only in the case where a
brute had committed the crime of rape.
But now men publicly approve it, not
| only for the crime that is the worst in
the list of crimes, but for other crimes as
we'll
The latest prophet or apologist of lynch
tinguished Baltimore lawyer, who has
been employed by President Roosevelt to
prosecute the postal thieves at Washing
ton. Commenting on recent speech of
Mr.. Bonaparte's, the Washington Post
says:
''In an address delivered before a 'cul
tured New England AUDIENCES not that
the proper phrase?-he asserted that our
American lynching habit was really only
sharply accentuated expression of the
solidarity of our citizenship; that when
any rogue disturbs the social order with
us, it is not the Kings peace that he
violates, as in monarchical country but
the peoples peace, and, although the
prompt response of the people by dispens
ing with the ordinary processes of indict
ment, trial, and judgment have very seri
Gus drawbacks, on the whole he thought
it's advantages were generally underesti-
mated and its theory too often misun-
derstood. In primitive society," even with
an organization and forms for the admin
istration of justice, the fate of an offender
is very quickly decided and the sentence
at once carried into effect; but as the
social organism grows older and more dig
nified, and the state comes to mean rather
an abstract entity than you and me and
all of u.s. proceeding against a criminal
is converted from a vindication of the au-
thority of the community into mere
trial of skill between the governments
legal representatives and those hired by
the accused to save his neck The ques-
ton at issues causes to be, Did this man
commit this crime?' and becomes, Can we,
with the testimony we have collected, and
in defiance of the hampering rules of evil
dence and procedure, manage to make this
jury convict the prisoner, and so hedge
about the conviction that some higher
court shall not rip it to pieces?' 1t is
then that mans primal instinct of justice
comes into play, and an element of our
citizenship normally law-abiding lays hold
of a rope and puts a premature end to
what threatens to be too tedious a farce.
1--WE do not assume to quote Mr.. Bona
parties words with absolute accuracy, but
we think he will give us the credit of hav-
ing caught their spirit and intent pretty
well. We do recall very distinctly,
moreover, one passage in his address,
which was so striking that we filed it for
future reference:
"a few defaulting State treasurers
or doodle aldermen, even one or two
United States Senators who know
more about the operation of trusts
than they can find it convenient to
tell, hanging untried to lamp-posts,
would not be wholly edifying spec
tacle; but it would have more whole
some effect on public officials than a
long series of quashed indictments,
disagreeng juries, forfeited straw re-
cognizances, and varying phases of
legal immunity for prosperous scoun-
drelism
when the operation of the criminal
law has been so amended that a muir
derer or criminal of even blacker
guilt shall be usually tried within a
fortnight and executed within a month
after his arrest, I predict that Judge
Lynch will adjourn his court sine die.
That this court is now open is, how
ever, symptom ALSO and not wholly
regrettable symptom, of the same self
helpfulness to which Americans owe
their orderly freedom"