New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-27
THE ExcEssEs OF LYNCH LAW.

oThis Is the law of the mob" says Mr.. 4. 5.
Baker in his study of lynching. in "McClures
Magazine" that it never stops with the thlhg
# sets out to do" The statement is almost ex-
sctIv accurate and it forms an indictment OF
the whols system of lynch law mob law. ana
all else outside the pale Of ordered law ana JUS
lice. We say 1t is almost exactly accurate. pc
cause there have probably been some Few MODS
that have done just what they set OUT 10 90 anu
nothing more. They. however. have not Deeh
stirred by the hot and brutal passions winch
generally animate the lyncher- SO far as the
Iynching mobs Of the South, of which Mr.. Baker
writes are concerned, his statement is quite
true. No writer could be more free from blind
Dreiudice than he seems to be. He appreciates
fully the provocation which Southern communi-
ties suffer. But he unhesitatingly pronounces
upon the mob system the condemnation which
we have quoted. "In all the cases have known
"about, not one single mob stopped when the
Immediate work was done, unless under COM
'pulslop."
WHY. indeed. should it? When once the sole
boundary between law and anarchy has been
transgressed, why should we expect the trans
gressors to set up some new boundary? They
are under neither logical compulsicn nor moral
suasion so to do. In first going beyond the law
they have set a precedent Of excess, and that
naturally leads to further exeesses. The burg.
lar who enters a bank vault does NOT confine
himself to taking any stipulated sum. He may
have thought when he broke in that he would
be satisfied with $4,000. But IL he finds $780,
600 lying there, he takes 1t all. Now, the pas
sion which is Unloosed in the lynching bee is
far more fierce and far more likely to go to ex-
tremes than the mere lust Of gold. Rhetorical
critics Of lynchings have Ikened It to the IN
claiming of tiger, nor is the smile overdrawn.
The tiger does not satisfy himself with the
blood of single victim, but Stays on through
sheer love Of staying When the human tiger is
let loose to take vengeance where the law
should exact Justice 1t does not stop with the
punishment Of the criminal. 1t "sees red" and
rushes on to the destruction Of innocent and
guilty alike and not intrequently, as the writer
we have quoted shows, to the destruction OF
evidence that would be Of value in the admins
tration Of justice, and TO the doing OF deeds
which Illustrate its own ostensibls purpose
1t Is thus as clear minded Southern Judge
has declared, that mob violedee begets crime
1t does SO both subjectiVely and effectively.
Mob violence itself is crime. It would be crime
even if it stopped where it meant to stop. "But
it did not stop there; 1t never does" and It's
excuses beyond intention are still more hideous
crimes. If it stopped where 1t meant to stop, It
might possibly act as deterrent But In going
beyond that point to unmeant extremes, It in
evftably provokes a spirit of defiant retaliation.
and thus leads straight to repetitions of the
very crime it sought to repress. This is
ground which even the most fanatical apologists
for lynchins should appreciate. The only posi-.
bic Justification Of lynching wouli be that II
was an effective means of checking crime. But
that justification does not exist. On the con-
trary, mob violence begets crime" and it does
SO largely because Of the impossibiIitY Of con-
ining lawlessness within lawful bounds. Tho
very proposition contains a contradiction in
terms. To expect mob to confne Itself to the
thing 1t sets out to do is to expect something
contrary to reason. That is why-though only
one OF many reasons why-it is unsafe for an
irresponsible mob ever to take the law .nto t.
own hands ~N -"