New-York tribune., 1903-06-29
CALLS LYNCHERS MURDERERS.
DIR. BABBITT ARR4IGNS WILMINGTON OFFICIALS
FOR COWARDICE.
after Studying Mobs o the Ground He Says Er-Con1ic but
No Respectable Citaens We're in 1t.

was the Pass of Thermopyle. so to say, reduced
to stone and mortar. Every last man of that
mob. only a few hundreds, inside, could have
been controlled by those fifty armed men and
gradually introduced to the empty cages Of the
convicts and locked up. Why were they not1
Because those intruSted with life and property
failed in nerve, lost their heads, and many OF
them deliberately mingled with the rtotous
lynchers.
HOW THEY EXCUSE THEMSELVES.
How do they excuse themselves? Well Chief
Black told me he was doubtful of his legal right
to shoot. it was outside the city limits But
he and his men had been called by the county
authorities, and If he had no legal rights there.
why were he and his men there? We know that
Wellington, the great English commander, shook
in his knees morally brave he was, when
going into battle. 1t only his sense of duty,
he said, that carried him through. If weak
knees had only been supplemented by a sense
of duty. Wilmington and Delaware To-Day would
not be in the black ugly list of lynch1ng COM
nunitieS. But another reason frequently given
for not shooting at the riotous lynchers was
white men. But q principle and the honor OF
city. State, nation. are not to be measured
by such standards. That question was settled
when Chief Black, his men, Warden Meserve
and the Sheriff took their oaths OF office. Thelr
one duty was to uphold the law. irrespective or
the color Of mems skins. Here is a fatal weak
ness in our public authorities all over this land,
the weakness in the authorities begetting weak
ness in the people, and leading to all k1nds OF
rnobs VIZ men given a trust and sworn TO exc
cute it, by fear, self-interest or dislike of tenn
porary unpopularity, deliberately Violate thelr
OathS and betray the PUBIC interest CHieI
Black, Warden Meserve and the Sherln shoulo
be irnpeached on at least two counts-frst, cow
ardice. and second, neglect Of duty
Third-As to the nature Of that mob. 1t has
been said that 1t was made up Of representa-
tive respectable citizens" II was not l asked
an official at the workhouse If in the mob that
entered his building he single man that
looked like gentleman He said ne d!u not.
I asked if the leader semed to be a gentleman
He said he did not, but had vicious iook'
Furthermore he said there were several ex-
convicts in the mob, who had been in that very
workhouse. Representative; respectaDle eo cI.i7
Zens'' do not make up mobs, or preak !ilto
prisons or burn negroes and use their Vlctlnls
toes and hands souvenirs. The authorizes,
the police and the rioters themselves are trylns
10 make iailbreakers and murderers wear the
clothes, speak the words and use the 1nanieIs Is
oF .'renresentative respectable citizens IL
tbo+ crourG was Wilmington's representative,
respectable citizens the State and city ought
Immediately to enlarge their jails and peniten-
tiaries to care for most novel ana interesting
type of Delaware citizenship
THE "IYNCHING PARsON.'
uo,,-+b--And NOW as to the genesis and the
DEVELOPMENT of that lynching mob. The lynch-
ing parson'' is new type among us OF lne
clergy and a type to be discouraged. The VII
,oinS+on Ivnchers themselves were uniquely
ferocious, and in their monstrous violence ala
in their ghoulish enjoyments or burning hul1ii ,l
flesh and snatching anatomical souvenirs coulu
give nointers TO our Southern friends OF similar
nroclvities But believe II has been reserved
for Delaware to develop a clerical Iynchei,
Who with twenty-five hundred people before him
in an open lot the Lords Day IN Inc course
of his pulpit minfstratfons Win WHY Sa, Senos
tional methods lends the sanction OF the Gospei
to murder For let US call things by their reai
names Every one caught, tried and convicted
of Ivnchine is a murderer in the eye Of the law
and good morals. Every one not caught trleG
or convicted who lynches, is a murderer, ana
the scaner we punish rnurderers the better. If
this be. true what can be said In excuse or
CLERGYMAN who deliberately uses his pulpit to
incite raobbing lynching and murder? belleVe
31 tbe pulpit notwithstanding some old
granny notions. pointing its guns at definite definite
marks not shooting at the clouds; or sPiii!ts !t
its no,vrder on the ground. I believe IN the
timeliness. the appositeness Of pulpit ninistra-
tions when good morals are at stake. furlner-
more admit the fallibity and honest pulpit mus
takes of cIergymen, and their danger or pelns
rnisinterpreted But, granting all this, IN tne
wide range of the broadest charity, can Inere
he anv excuse for the Rev. Robert A El"oou;
of wilmington, saying to twenty-five hundred
,1eorIe under great excitement, with the words
et broadcast the next morning by the press.
that under certain contingency the citlzens OF
the State should arise in their might anu exc
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