The Brunswick daily news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1903-1906, 1904-08-18
THE sTATesBoRo HORROR

| III CDuinlon Win tnaL SASAASAb VI
Georgia citizenship who are Iaw-abid-
Ina and who believe that the great bull.
wark of liberty and Of free thought
and Of free action lies in the enforce
ment of that law we deeply deplors
the terrible occurrence at statesboro
Tuesday afternoon, full report Of
which appeared in our news columns
yesterday morning.
Nothing has happened since the
Sam Hose affair. in Georgia at least
quite as CHASTITY as was the putting
toe death of Cato and Reed IN the quiet
little town Tuesday or course there
vas not the slightest extenuating cir
cumstance connected with the helm
Gus, fiendish and diabolical crime Of
the two black brutes, who, after muir
dering the husband and rayishing the
wife, butchered the innocent children
and made grand pyre OF all OF the
bodies. The brutality of this act
would shock the toughest Of charac-
tiers and morality does not sink so
low in the human quagmire OF de-
bauchery but what it would revolt at
such an unspeakable crime as was
committed by these black brutes al
most within a gun shot Of the second
city in the state.
However, there is another chapter.
and to our mind, a more important one
I'm this horrible affair Has the death
OF the Hodges family been any better
or any more torcibly avenged than it
would have been had the law been
i allowed to take its course? Has not
the majesty of every inactment on
the statues Of the state been trampled
Iupder foot? and has not mob law and
violence hurled defiance into the very
teeth of our courts, our judiciary and
leyen our very laws2 This case differs
materially from most ones in which
| Judge lynch writes and executes the
law. A special session of the court
4 had been called, a grand jury, with
Iindlcting powers, had assembled, the
Iguity men had been speedily convict
"a and we're sentenced to be executed
a, the very earliest day consistent
with the law. Under all OF these cir
/, cumstanees does not this case sayol
, o. murder, pure and simple. and if So
then who it to blame?
There are 1--WE or six thousand yolun
teer soldiers in the state Of Georgia;
soldiers who are law-abiding. brave
and at all times at the call OF the
governor Of this state, who, in twelve
hours notice, could mobilize them al
any given point from Rabun Gap to
/ Tybee lights. Governor Terrell was
warned. and Governor Terrell knew
that these men were going to be put
to death unless a sufficient guard from
the state militia was detailed to pre-
vent it, Why did not the governor
do his duty, and exercise the great
Iprerogative vested with him and him
alone? Why were three hundred
itIoops detailed to Statesboro to arrive
only an hour after the commission oil
the crime? Indeed, it seems to us that
Iif murder has been committed that
the chief executive of the state OF
Georgia is most certainly partioeps
crminis with the lawless mob OF Bul
Il ch county people.
| If Governor Terrell had had the back
bone OF w. Y. Atkinson, and il Govern
Tor Terrell had not had an Unsuitable
ambition to do political stunts fol
political purposes the proud escuteh
con of Georgia would not again be
drenched and besmirched with human
Ib.uod, but, instead, the soldiery OF the
commonwealth would have enforced
tho law and its dignity would have
stood out in bold relief as against the
reyolting and bloodthirst. crime Of
tuesday
| We are not condoning the offense
OF these black hrutes. neither are we
to- severely criticising the men who
participated in the burning but we do
tLink that the very fullest measure
OF odium attaches to the executive Of
ice in Atlanta. and we think the man
who is holding that Office should be Sc,
yerely tried at the bar of pubic opin-
len
1 --%-ses-s---
/ .sOld man Davis was nptiund VeStpr.