The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-20
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<~ -<&&$0A<1&VV8 EA0Ok1eSk<<A As 4. We copy entire the following edi- toriai from The Hartford lconn.) Times. because 1t points significant moral:
 Judge Sherfnan of the Massachusetta courts in Boston yesterday had occa- sion to sentence a young negro who had been convicted. on i've counts. of saults on little girls. Before announc- ing the negro's fate the judge called attention to the shocking character of the evidence presented against the of- | fender, Cyrus Walker by name. He took pains to read the law concerning criminal assault. and said that under it the prisoner could be sent to State
 asS m for s eS .a sRy sH 9Ss s drel q sentence under which he may get out of the State prison at Charies- town in. twelve years. We take leave comes near to being ss checking ss the crime to which he thus called at- tention. If Massachusetts courts have nothing worse than a few years of Charlestown to administer as a penalty for negro ravishers. the people of Massachusetts must moderate their criticisms of the people of the South and West who resort to summary meth- ods of dealing with such criminals, be- cause they say that court processes do not result In swift and appropriate pun ishment.
 The conclusion arrived at by The Times is appropriate and fitting. The exact age of the young brute Is not given. but the language of the editorial leads to the conclusion that. even If he the judge. he will come out of the prison in the prime of life. with all his physical faculties unimpaired and with his brutish instincts intensified. He seems to be wholly depraved. as the evidence shows, and when he is freed, will as surely return to his devilish practices as the hog win return to the mire.
 We do not hesitate to afirm that such a sentence for such villain Is not only trifing with justice. but is trining with the honor and the lives of the women of Massachusetts. If other black brutes follow his example in view of his light sentence. can any one be surprised? If. when this one has served his sentence. he again em- barks on what seems to be mania with him, who Is to blame? Is it not perfectly fair to say that the judge Is entitled to all the blame for a repeti- ton of these crimes. whether com mitted by this brute or by those who follow his example, encouraged by his light punishmentf It was a grave rs- sponsibility which rested on this judge and he failed to meet it as e man should have done.
 What The Times says in the close of its editorial is to the point. One of the arguments used by lynchers of these, brutes is that the courts are either uncertain or dilatory. While this cannot justify lynching, 1t Is the excuse often brought forward in justi- fication by those who join in mob law. If like causes produce like effects, can the people of Massachusetts feel any surprise if the next black brute who outrages a white girl is lynched? We | admit that the people of Massachusetts differ somewhat from those of the South, yet there is not a great differ. ence in human nature, after all, and if the fathers. brothers and other rela- tives of the white girls of that State get the idea firmly fixed that their loved ones are not safe because the courts will not punish the criminals who assault them. then look out for lynching bees in the very shadow of Plymouth Rock. On one occasion the Savior said to his disciples: Tt Is i'm possible but that offences will come; but woe unto him through whom they comev
 We say to the people of Massachu- setts that these offences are liable to come wherever there are black brutes and unprotected white women, and ''woe unto him through whom they come" If he is one who has been set up to do justice. to punish crime, to protect the helpless, it seems to us that double woe must come to him if his mistaken leniency causes the outrage of helpless woman. and if that causes another outrage on the laws of the old Bay State. This judge has not only set bad. but 8 dangerous. precedent, and one that may cause some of his people to reap the whirlwind.