Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-07-23

would be folly 70 conceal 10 oneself the
fact that this spirit Is a danger to our
Institutions Not an immediate dan
ger. but none the less real An these
outbreaks are the symptoms Of that
anarchy which, If not treated properly
win be death to liberty. The danger is
Of neelectlng the disease tlll 1t Is too
late TO effect cure.
Az ologlsts for mob law still tell US
that the remedy Is in more swift ex-
ecutlon Of "iuglice' They reason. that
If the officers Of the law do the killing
before the mob has time to do It, there
win be no lynvhings That is Of course,
true. but nothing would be gained by
any process which ignores the ordinary
procedures Of law.
The plain fact is that as Justice
Brewer expressed It, every person who
participates in a lynching Is a murder
en- pure and simple. When the an.
thorItles deal with that class Of muir
derers 9s with other murderers lynch
ing will stop. but not before then,
Great Britain is pointed to as fur
nlshlng evidence for the proposition
that when justice Is speedily meted out,
there is no lynchinss A recent case
Is related Last April q murderer was
uncovered who had succeeded IN elud-
ing Justice for four years. June g.
at the Chelmsford assizes, he was con-
yicted and sentenced to die Three
weeks later Tuesday July "A, he
perlshej on the scanold His wealth,
secured from his victim, was OF no
avail in the English courts where Grim
inal lawyers are not permitted to bam-
booale judges into granting delays on
the limsIest pretexts
This is 3rue. our courts need re-
form But more than all, It is neces-
tary to create a public sentiment, that
lynching Is murder and that each one
who takes mart in It is murderer, on
~ then viii the murder mania In this
country be cured,
one contemporary takes up the old,
exploded argument that mob murders
are cue. 10 an an powerful sense Of
Justice There is that paper says,
"a mighty wave Of feeling for the inno-
cent and helpless girls and women
whom these brutas have condemned
to fate worse than death. II is this
which makes every woman In the coun-
try Of one mind, and which brings every
man to their side, The press the pulpit
and the platform, powerful as they
ere. never can turn this mighty tide Of
sympathy from the Innocent victims
and never can alter the heart deap
conviction that the women must be
defended against such awful fate, even
though the land be soaked with the
blood Of raylshers'
This sophistrY would be eXcusable If
Il had not been proved, tim, ard again,
that only a small per cent Of mob muir
dera are for the crime here referred TO.
Only a few days ago case occurred at
Ky There raving
mob took white prisoner convicted OF
homicide. from 1ail and killed him. Was
there any excuse Tor that murder
When mob justice" obtains it cannot
be restricted TO one class Of crimes, or
to one race. Soon It will run wild. Let
the mob follow It's unbridled passion.
and 1t will murder, very much for the
same reason that leads had children TO
Kin fiies and toads. And one act OF
lawlessness leads to others. That Is the
plain truth Of the American situation
today. And unless remedy Is found, |
we VIII soon earn the reputation Of be-
ing the most lawess people on earth