The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-12
THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT
Applicable If Murder WaS.Be-
 cause of Race.
If Prejudice Against the Negro Im- pelled the Mob to Do Its Work, Indictments May
 Be Found.

Federal Constitution as governing the United States Courts authority to pun ish members that lynch negroes for crimes that would not impel the mop to lynch a white man for the same crime, Judge Thomas G. Jones, Of the United States Court, charged the grand jury today to make full investigation of the iynching of Horace Naples Tn this city September ', and indict all parties who engaged In the lynching as well as those who took part in firing the jail and endangertng the lives or United States prisoners confined there in.
 The charge was delivered at noon Immediately after the organization of the grand jury Judge Jones appoint ed Samuel M. Thompson as foreman of the fury, and announced that because of the unusual importance of matters to be brought to the attention of the grand jury he had written his charge. He read the charge from printed pamphlet. The reading consumed near ly two hours. The charge was one of the most exhaustive ever delivered to a grand jury in this city. The purport. construing as it did the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution giving the United States Court a right to take a hand in the lynching of a negro, was received with a considerable measure of surprise and many of the leading at torneys of Huntsville believe that the Thirteenth Amendment does not go so far as this. A prominent member of the bar believes that if this is the in tention of the amendment. the, United States Court could interfere in so small cases as assault and battery between a white man and a negro, where race prejudice was shown to exist as the basis of the bill: also that the Govern ment could interfere with the contracts between colored servants and their employees, provided the negro was not paid the same wages as a white per son.
 Congressman William Richardson. by request, sat on the bench for a time while Judge Jones was delivering the charge. The grand jury began it's in vestigations during the afternoon. There is hardly a doubt that somebody will be indicted for the lynching of Naples and the opinion is that they will be in more serious trouble than those who were indicted for murder and arr son in thesState's court. It is believed this matterSwil go up to the Supreme Court of the United States before it Is finally settled if any of the alleged lynchers are convicted.
 Judge Joness', charge in full follows:
 Gentlemen of ithe Grand Jury:-You are clothed. for the time being, with .he majesty of a great people, to aid In the administration of their jus .ice. Men are so accustomed to wit ness the workings of the courts, that they seldom pause to reflect upon the yolemnity and significance of the duty. pr from whence comes the power.
 In the beginning, when the Creator made the earth and placed man upon 1t, He was mans only kaw-maker and fn the end of time the only law-giver and judge of the children of men. He did not so choose. He wrote in the heart of every human being the in. stinct between right and wrong, and then, for some wise purpose of his own, instead of Himself, directly gov erning man, committed to man tie awful power of government. which, In so many and different ways makes and unmakes the destinies and happi- ness of races and individuals. Thus he made us keepers of our fellowman, and entrusted to us His divine pow CT. The duty and power are none the less divine, because they have been delegated to man. In this sense. 1t Is true that the powers that be are or aaIned of God. However humble or unworthy we may be, our office en- nobies us when we rightly and fear lcssly administer justice. The power from which our office comes and the tremendous consequences for good or i'll which wait upon the work of jus lice, bid us always remember. when we minister at its altars, the warn Ing of the Lord to the prophets of old, put of thy shoes from of thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest Is holy ground" Let us not pollute Gods altar by coming here with any unworthy purpose, or stain the white ness of our souls by unmanly faltering in the pathway of duty.
 The Acts of the Mob.
 Lately, as the court knows from common knowledge, as well s.s from reports of It's officers, a mob gathered in a stones throw of this room. and in insolent defiance of the judges and laws of our State. and with studied insult and contempt for its civil and military power which sought to pro- tect the Huntsville jail, assaulted the assembled forces of the law at their post of duty there. It broke down the doors of the jail, set 1t on fire, resis- ~ ted efforts to put out the flames. and obstructed officers of the United States In their endeavors to remove the Uni ted States prisoners from their cells to place of safety. This frenzied and savage work was done that Hor- ace Naples, a negro, a citizen of Ala bama. and of the United States. who was there confined to be safely kept to answer the laws of the State of Alabama upon a charge of murder, should not be so kept and disposed of according to law but instead, should be delivered to the mob and lawless- ly put to death. from the same sour ces of information, the court Is ad- vised that there were utterances of members of this mob, and speeches made to incite 1t to its crime. and other things done, which go to show that the mob composed wholly of white men, was finally stirred to it's purpose rather from prejudice against Mapless race at his door. and that because of that race prejudice the mob did its murder ous work to prevent Naples, who was accused of crime upon a white man. from enjoying the right belonging to every freeman to be set free, if fnno- cent or to be condemned and punish ed. if guilty. by the constituted tribu- naIs of the land.
 Intent upon its murderous work this mob carried off the keys to the cells. little recking whether the helpless hu- man beings confined there were rescued or roasted, and left the riddled body ot Naples dangling from a halter in the light of the flames of the burning jail.
 There, in the shadow of the cluster ing churches court houses, schools and homes of this beautiful city. 1t remain ed until cut down, a mute but horrid witness to a crime which mocked at all the teachings of religion, civilization and law Every normally constituted The question comes unhidden to your