The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-21
LYNCH LAW AT THE NORTH.

!
AS the negro population in the North
| increases it is pretty certain that the
cases of assaults upon women by ne
gro men will increase in number. The
! impression seems to prevail in that
section that this will be the condition
| Of affairs and that the offenders will
become the victims of lynch law.
Recently, near Mount Holly. N.
J., the wife Of a farmer was as
saulted by three negroes. All Of
them were caught, and a few days
! ago one of them, the leader of the
| gang, was sentenced to the peniten-
| tiary for forty-nine years, and the
| others were given sentences almost as
severe. Even longer sentences would
have been inflicted if the law had per-
mitted, so wrought up was the COM
munity by the crime.
1t now develops that the farmers
of the neighbOrhood in which the crime
was committed held a secret meeting
with the purpose Of organizing to
lynch the criminals. There is no doubt
that the lynching would have taken
place if the trial had not been so
prompt.
Indeed, it is by no means certain
! that there would not have been a lynch
ing after the criminals had been SEN
fenced if their victim had been com
PEELED TO go on the witness stand and
testify against them, and had been
forced to give the details of the re-
voting crime.
The newspapers of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania are discussing the
necessity of a severer .pertaIty than is
now provided for assaults upon wom-
en-. 1t seems that in Philadelphia a
committee of lawyers has the matter
under advisement, and a bill covering
the subject will be presented to the
is probable that bill on the same
subject will be presented to the New
Jersey Legislature.
One reason why we call attention to
this matter is the admission that I'M
less the people are satisfied with the
punishment meted out to offenders of
this class, there are pretty certain to
be lynchings. The people of the North
are no more willing that the victims
of these horrible outrages shall go on
the witness stand and disclose the de-
tails of the assaults than are the people
of the South.
The Philadelphia Inquirer one OF
the leading Republican papers of
Philadelphia, in speaking of this mat
ter. says
1t is no secret that one of
the reasons why lynchings take place
IN the South is because Southern men
are not willing to see their women sub
Jected to the shame and humiliation
lnseparable from an appearance in
court under existing conditions, and
When the matter is brought home to
them Northern men feel the same. The
problem is to protect the woman and
TO spare her from public ignominv
without unduly exposing the man to
the. danger of a false accusation II
is a difficult one, but il cannot he
insoluble, and it will be the dutv of
tne Legislature to 'grappIe with il AT
the first opportunity and to handle if
IN way that shall respond to the feel
ing and the reasonable demand of tbe
community. The tendency of the legal
| nina is toward conservatism, but in
lnlS connection conservatism is ont Of
order. u
The foregoing shows that if the a.
saults i'm the North become as IRE.
quent as they are in the South lynch-
ings will be as common in that section
as they are in this.