The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-13
Judoe Jones' Charue.

The charge of Judge Thomas G.
 Jones to the grand jury sitting at HuntsvAe constitutes an important public document, and if it's positions are correct-il they are sustained by the United States supreme court-a new era in the lynching business will
 have been opened,
 Judge Jones first shows that the fourteenth amendment does not touch private mobbers at all, because they are not the state. The fourteenth amendment says the state shall not deny to any person the equal protec- tion of it's laws, nor shall it deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. The state did nothing at Huntsville; the mob which is not the state was the ag- gressiye acting force.
 Judge Jones takes the position that the mob at Huntsville acted, not so much against Horace Naples person. ally, as it did on account of race preju- dice. If Naples had been a white nan, in other words, he would not have been disturbed by the mob at all. With murder as crime the United States cannot deal, it being state matter, but with conspiracy to deprive a man O. given race from the right of trial by jury presents federal question within the terms Of the thirteenth amendment, which says that neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime for which the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States" Judge Jones goes on to say:
 You may ask how are you to deter mine what motive induced the murder? The court can give you no more definite rule than to say, that the question must be determined by your common sense and consciences in the lght of all the circumstances. The particular prejudice or motive which controls the conduct of men In any given case cannot be seen by the eye. We are all conscious of power which moves the winds and the waves, but we cannot see that power. We judge of It's existence and force only by It's man. ifestations, and so of human passions. We see and realize their effect and trace the cause by our experience of human na- ture, its instincts and promptings under given circumstances. Whether or not particular motive influenced a man is an inference to be drawn from the whole transaction. Perhaps as good test as any other in arriving at a just conclu- sion is to ask yourselves, considering what g,As said as well as what was done by the mob, viewing the occurrence from It's inception to it's ending. in the light of all the facts and your experience and knowledge of human nature, would a white man, under the same circumstances, Wlli lne OlenSe upOn the same victim, have been attacked or murdered by this mob? If you are fairly satisfied that the the mob would not have murdered Naples if he had been white man, then every dictate of human- ity and justice demands that you return true bills againt the members of the mob"
 The last half of Judge Jones' charge Is taken up with characterizations of mob laws; it's dangers to the state, to individuals, to the white race. Hc appeals to all good citizens to do their part in stopping the sweep of Judge Lynch who considers all crimes within his jurisdiction. But the real gist of th charge is summed up in this ques- tion: Is mob action based on race prejudice punishable under the thir- teenth amendment? The question Is not easily answered, and even if it be answered in the affirmative, the pro- posed action Is not easily enforceable.
 If member of the Huntsville mob be arrested, tried Snd convicted, he can carry his case to the supreme court, and when that is done we will know what powers the general gov ernment has over lynching frolics, and we will not know a moment sooner. The subject is one of far-reaching i'm portance, and it is very probable that one of the Huntsville Iynchers will be the means of defining Tn the court of last resort this deeply interesting legal question.