Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-08-04
WELL. DONE, SHERIFF wHlTLock.

Chicago Tribune: The sheriff of
Vermillion county-Whitlock by name
lis different kind of man from the
Sheriff OF st. Clair county, who made
no resistance when the Belleyille mob
TOOK the negro prisoner out of his Gus
tody and murdered him. A Danyille
mob. is quite as dangerous as Belle
vile one. but it ran up against deter
mined sheriff who had riot gun and
who was not afraid to use it. When
he and his deputies began pumping
bullets into the mob its ardor was
greatly cooled, and it withdrew from
the neighborhood of the Jail.
Sheriff Whitlock's courageous per-
Torrance of his duty is the only re-
deeming feature of the Danville affair.
While the mob did not succeed in
lynehing the negro who was confined
in jail, it did lynch another negro who
killed white man during street af-
fray The police arrested the murderer
and locked him up. The mob attack
ed the police station, and, after bat
tering at the door for half an hour,
broke in, captured the negro, kicked,
pounded and beat him, dragged the dy-
ing man to a telegraph pole, strung un
his body, riddled, it with bullets and
then burned it.
The police had weapons. They were
behind barred doors. They could have
shot to kill, if necessary, to protect
their prisoner. They could have taken
the heart out of the mob and prevent
ed the lynching and the subsequent at
tack on the jail, They hurt nobody
They were afraid to do their duty or
there was no one present who had the
courage to give the necessary orders.
The sheriff appears to have been the
only brave man in Danville,
The mob included no so-called ere
spectacle citizens" 1t consisted of
brutes, who showed by their acts that
they are little, if any, better than the
savages who once roamed over Illinois,
They are the kind of people who are
brave when unopposed and pack of
towards when determined men con-
front them. 1t is huniliating to learn
that the authorities and citizens of an
Illinois city will permit such a rabble
to disgrace them in the eyes of the
American people. If Vermillion coun-
ty wishes, to redeem itself it will try,
convict and hang some lynchers Judge
Thompson was called home and a spe-
cial grind jury will be impaneled to in.
vestigate and indict the guilty parties.
They should be brought to justice with
out delay. Lynching is murder, and
until some lynchers have been hanged
there will not be peace in the land.
There is matter which demands ex-
PLANTATION. Saturday evening Sheriff
Whitlock was sending dispatches to
the state authorities at Springfield,
asking for troops to put down the riot
ers. Nobody was there to give orders
The governor. the lieutenant governor,
the adjutant general, and the govern
or's private secretary were all absent.
Fortunately no harm was done. The
adjutant general was reached and a
Chicago militia regiment was hurried
off to Danville. Still one would like to
know whether 1t happens often that
there is no state officer at Springfield
to attend to urgent business. There
is no moment when it my not be ne
cessary for the executive department
to act. After what has happened at
Bellville and Danville, and what might
have happened at Peoria, there is no
telling when there will be need of or
ders from Springfield to the militia to
enforce the laws.