The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-08-12
ROOSEVELT ON LYNCH|NG.
He Commends the Course Of Gov.
Durhin, Of Illinois.

He Comments the Course Of Gov.
! Durhin, Of Illinois.
He Says That the Law and the
Administration of the Law
Should be Such as to Insure
The Prompt Punishment of all Criminals
and Thus Take Away all Excuse for
Resort to Mob Law.
Oyster Bay, N. Y, Aug. 9.-In a
letter, the publication of which was
authorized today, President Roose-
velt commends Governor Durbin. of
Indiana, for the attitude he assumed
recently respecting lynching. The
President also embraces the opportuni-
ty to express his own. views in refer
ence to lynching and mob violence,
generally, pointing out that mob viol-
ence is merely one form of anarchy
and that anarchy is the forerunner Of
tyranny. The President vigorously
urges that the penalty for that crime
which most frequently induces resort
to lynching shall be applied swiftly
and surely, but by due process of the
Courts, SO that it may be demonstrat-
ed that the law is adequate to deal
with crime by freeing it from every
vestige of technicality and delay.''
President Roosevelt's letter in full
to Governor Durbin follows:
Oyster Bay, N. Y, Aug. 6. 1903.
Ny Dear Governor Durbin: Permit
me to thank you, as an American
citizen, for the admirable way in
which you have vindicated the majesty
of the law by your recent action In
reference to lynching. I 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-
pends upon that spirit of orderly iiber-
ty under the law which is as incom-
patible with mob violence as with any
form of despotism. Of course mob
violence is simply one form of anarchy
and anarchy is now, as it always has
been, the handmaiden and forerunner
of tyranny.
I feel that you have not only reflect
ed honor upon the State which for its
good fortune has you as its Chief Ex-
ecutive, but upon the whole nation.
It is incumbent upon every man
throughout this contry, not only to
hold up your hands, in the course you
have been following, but to show his
realization that the matter is one Of
vital concern to US all.
All thoughtful men must feel the
gravest alarm over the growth Of lynch
ing in this country and especially over
the peculiarly hideous forms SO often
taken by mob violence when colored
men are the victims-on which oc-
casions the mob seems to lay most
weight, not on the crime, but on the
color of the criminal. In certain
proportion Of these cases the man
lynched has been guilty of a crime
horrible beyond description, 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 cri-
minal, but to lively sense of the
train of dreadful consequences which
follow the course taken by the mob in
exacting inhuman vengeance for an
inhuman wrong. In such cases, more
over, it is we'll to remember that the
criminal not merely sins against
humanity in incapable and unpar-
donable fashion, but sins particularly
against his own 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 horriied at the commits
sion of such a crime, and men. who
have been guilty of a crime like rape
or murder should be visited with swift
and certain punishment, and the just
efforts made by the Courts to protect
them in their rights should under no
circumstances be perverted into per-
hitting any mere technicality to avert
or delay their punishment. The SUBJ
stantial rights OF the prisoner, to a
fair trial, of course, must be
guaranteed, as you have so justly
insisted that they should be, but, sub
iect to this guarantee, the law must
work swiftly and surely, and all 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 freeing it from every vestige
of technicality and delay.
But the fullest recognition OF the
horror of the crime and the most COM
plete lack of sympathy with the cri-
minal cannot in the least DIM .sh our
horror at the way il which it has be-
come customary to avenge these crimes
and at the consequences that are al
ready proceeding therefrom. 1t is,
of course, inevitable that where
vengeance is taken by a mob it should
frequently light on innocent people.
and the wrong done in such case of
the individual is one for which there
is no remedy. But even where the
real criminal is reached the wrong