The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1904-08-24

/ lltc 3 FatlOu uOplC ldheS us W
! the roasting of the negroes lass week
at Statesboro, Ga. The mob over
powered the militia aud took Will Cato
and Paul Reed, already condemned to
be hung on September, 8, for murder
ing Henry Hodges, his wife and three
children and burning his house, and
burned the negroes ut the stake. THE
ADVERTISER has never failed to con-
denim lynching. The burning OF these
negroes in Georgia was a pitiable af-
fair. We 6cubt if the negroes suffered
q great deal more than if they had been
hung.
Having never seen a man who was
either hanged Or burned at the stake
and lived to tell the tale it is impossi-
bile to say which "hurts the most" The
only thing reasonably sure is hat hang
ing yields a more presentable corpse.
The white mon who participated in
the burning suffered. Their instincts
we're brutalized. When men act like
beasts OF the field their natures are
lowered perm anently. They suffer de-
basement. No man who helped to
those negroes will escape from
its etlect upon his soul and mind in the
coming years. He il not as puro and
clean Il man today as he was before ne
descended to the methods OF Indian
savagcry and he has in part corrupted
and poisoned his nature and his life. If
he is not wholly u beast the remainder
If his days will be weighted with the
shame he must feel. Men may excuse
themselves as lynchers but they cannot
excuse themselves us BarbariauS and
h~ycnas.
we condemn all lynching. Neverthc-
'esS we know that in the South where
there are ho:dos Of british negroes,
Ignorant savages when aroused I'VE are
not alluding by any means to all ne
groosl, when u family is murdered and
the home and bodies burned and il de,
velopS that u negro reCret society or
gaDiz3d for murder purposes is re-
sponsib'e for it,, there Is going to be IL
a lynching. So far as direct and i'm
niedi ttc effect Is concerned, the news
paper which condemns 1t would as well
condemn a storm for blowing through
q town and laying PROSTATE the court
house and the church. 10 speak of
laws when men feel hat they are face
TO face with % problem where laws
sfail, whore they feel that they are at
war with 81 EuVuup fnn in.t iIn;. a..
cestors felt when they were guarding
their lite settlements against the
night assaults OF red Indians bent ON
'scalps, fire and massacre, does not pro-
ducc instantly sccable and ~touchable
results. Condemning lynchjng calls
attention to law and in a century or
TWO when the cause Of lynching may
v disappeared in part at least, men
viii remember that the laws are at
hand and may respect them. 1t is
well therefore TO call attention. The
Evolutionary knowledge OF the laws may
hn p 'cseryed. The burners Of the ne
groes, however, are the miserable vic
tims of their W folly and passion. The
S~tatesDpro ~ nchers would have accom-
plished the same ends by hanging and
would have saved their souls from the
deeper pollution. We Coz denim lynch
ing. We prophesy at the same time
that I'm this and surrounding counties
in the Southern part of Georgia NO
more men and women and children for
many and many q long year will be
murdered and burned by 'Beforo-
day cietyY A lesson has been taught.
But what has this to do with immi-
grafton? Why, just SO long as millions
Of negroes remain in the South, here
and there the Statesboro horror will
be repeated, in one form or another.
The evil sayagery Of the negro vii
crop out and the still fercer and more
terrible eavagery of the white man
will burst out and conquer l.. Mean
while the white mans nature suffers
deterioration. Learning the taste for
blood ard absorbing a contempt for
human Vie he turns upon and rends
his white brother. So the time of the