Arizona republican., 1903-04-18
Official Responsibility for Mobs.

The city of Joplin, Missouri, had complete object lesson in mob law, Wednesday night, and the local off, cers whose duty it was to maintain the peace feel proud Of the record they made, of course. A policeman attempt ing to make an arrest had been mur- dered by ruffian negroes. One of the negroes, in all probability the very one who had shot the policeman, had been promptly overtaken and lodged in jail. In the event of his guilt being estab- lished there was no question of his suffering the penalty of death at the hands of the law, for it cannot be charged that the courts or juries of that section are unduly friendly to the colored race To convict the negro it was not necessary to bring any woman into court, and there was, therefore, a lack Of the reasons which are urged so strongly-and with so much plausi- bility-in favor of lynch law in certain cases. In short. the Joplin mob had no excuse for assembling except it's own lawless spirit-the very spirit and example which had taught the less in telligent negroes to defy and murder officers of the law.
 The mob made an assault upon the jail. The dispatches state that every effort was made to prevent the en- trance of the mob, but without avail" but what line the effort" took does not appear. Certainly. the jailer and his assistants failed to withstand the mob. After the wretched negro had been dragged from jail and put to ~death the mob, intoxicated by the taste of blood, took possession of the town. ''The first act Of the mob,'' We are told, after the hanging of the negro was to demand the release from jail of a local character known as Hickory Bill who was under arrest for assaulting a negro. In the hope of appeasing the mob this man was set free" But this, as might have been expected, merely whetted the appetites of the rioters for more lawlessness. They swept the streets clear of negroes, and numerous houses belonging to respectable ne groes were burned. During all this time it appears that but one man, the city attorney-and his name, Decker, deserves to be rememberedLwas trying to bring the mob to it's senses. For aught that appears to the contrary the police and constabulary of the town hade gone in hiding.
 The responsibility for the whole mis- erable affair rests not with the Joplin mob. but with the Joplin officers. and this is the one fact which should have special emphasis. When an individual is performing an unjustifiable act he is invariably coward. A mob in the committing of such crimes as were en- acted at Joplin is even more cowardly without the supreme impulse-defense of woman's honor-which prompts men to disregard all forms and re- straints of law. To meet the emerG- ency Wednesday night it required, sim ply, a courageous sheriff. Had the their ground; had they shown that they were prepared to shoot, and to shoot to kill, the mob in all probability would have sneaked away. But un- doubtedly had the officers shot down the first rioter who dared to cross the threshold of the jail, the mob would have dispersed then and there. But the officers failed to do their duty. and all the ensuing crime is at their door,
 To check the deplorable growth of the mob spirit in the United States official integrity and firmness-official must be encouraged.