The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-29
THE LAW MUsr nE REsprcrEp.

| n1 1Aw W MOST Dh AEsSTbChE
 From a recent issue of The Bessemer
 Weekly we copy this editorial:
 | It cannot fail to be a matter of pride l to citizens that Governor Cunningham l took so promptly and courageousiy IT
 punishment of those guilty of murder | ing the negro Naples at Huntsville g. l few days since.
 We can understand how a people
 that most heinous of ail crimes, the | special bent of the negro race, crim-
 inal assault upon white woman, ano
 promptly wreak their vengeance by a l resort to lynching. but how sane and | reputable people can for an ordinary | crime, even though committed by 8 | negro. resort to this extreme, thus ccm-
 nssrsss so slsster 1ss epprit i, almost in | comprehensible.
 Maples. the negro iynched. had sim | ply committed ordinary murder, under | no more atrocious circumstances than
 hundreds of white men do yearly. and Q. 1 majority of whom escape punishment. | Though under large guard and in the
 Huntsville jail, a mob formed, demand-
 militia and police put up no effective l resistance the jail was set on fire, the 1 prisoner caught and murdered.
 It was a disgrace to Alabama gov ernment and Justice. Gratitude and praise are due to Governor Cunning ham for his effort to retrieve the good name of the State. May those guilty be suitably punished.
 The Advertiser agrees with and en- dorses the words of its Bessemer con- | temporary. It is not yet known what will be the result of all the Huntsville trials. Several. however. have resulted in turning the accused loose. In Dallas the brave stand ta- ken by Judge Partridge went for noth- ing. His strong charge had no effect. and so far as the results go the lynch. ing of a negro in Dallas County, for any offense, is not a crime to be in- dicted by a grand jury.
 Whether the result in Huntsville will be more encouraging remains to be seen, but whether all the trials up there shall turn out to be a miscarriage of justice, or whether the majesty of the law is to be vindicated, a failure will not fin any degree change the fact that Governor Cunningham. Judge Speake | and Solicitor Pettus did their duty, loy- | ally and unfiinchingly. in the premises. No failure of the trial court can de- tract from the good work of the grand jury and those behind 1t.
 This is matter of more serious inn portance than some of our people seem | to think. A failure to indict and pun
 ish lynchers is to put brand of shame on the people and the laws of Ala
 bama. We have almost reached the | point and are fast moving towards it..
 when we must choose for ourselves | whether we are to have a government | of law and order in Alabama or wheth-
 CT anarchy Is to reign supreme. We cannot have civil government, legal l government, constitutional govern
 ment, unless those who wilfully trars- gress the laws are made to suffer by
 the law. This Is not academic discus
 sion; it is solid truth.
 We are told with much frequency that when a negro commits a certain crime he should be lynched. We shall
 not discuss that pomr now. for it Is not involved in the two cases in point '. Neither in the Madison nor Dallas case was that crime made the excuse Tor | lynching. In each case 1t was murder
 for which the criminal had been ar
 punished. The Usual crime" was not | involved or charged. Tn neither case
 could the perpetrators of mob law
 plead that a woman had been out
 ragged.
 Where is this dangerous tendency to
 find a stopping place? If the negro Is
 to be lynched for murder why not for robbery, theft, or any other offence ?
 When men get their consent to become law unto themselves are they likely to enter into an investigation to asccr- tain the degree of ones guilt? Are they not fast reaching a point where they will lynch a suspected negro and Inquire into his guilt afterwards? That is the road along which they are marching, as sure as the world stands What is the remedy and where does it lier Is the voice of the press pow erless? Are the thunders from the pulpit of no effect? Is the condemna- tion of good citizens no more than Q broken reed? Is the criminal code of Alabama a brutum fulmen in the esti- nation of lawless citizens? How long can this state of affairs continue be- fore good men and women from abroad will shun Alabama as they would shun plague spot? How can we ask for good immigrants if the impression goes abroad that our courts are ,,ower- less to punish criminals? In the name of decency and right and justice we beg the people of Alabama not to allow fur ther trampling on both the laws of God and of our great State.