Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-06-02
Under Which Judqe?

Good work is going forward In South
Carolina It is the work of public
opinion. It Is as strong as faith; 1t
will move mountains. In reply to a
little jab by the Lancaster Review,
THE YoRKvILLE ENQUIRER freely ad-
mits that when, some years ago, five
men were done to death In that town
by a mob 1t was absolutely silent.
Says THE ENQUIRER: Not only was
court in session at the time, but the
grand jury had not yet been dis
charged. When we note that these
sworn custodians of the law could only
muster up courage to say that we
take this opportunity to express our
of the growing practice
of lynching,' we are not surprised that
THE ENQUIRER had less to say on the
subject" That is a frank admission.
But the time has changed. II SIM
liar act of the lawlessness should now
occur, we believe THE ENQUIRER would
speak. whether the grand jury was
cowed into silence or even endorsed
the crime. The county press Of South
Carolina Is more outspoken now than
at any time in a quarter Of century,
and II can be certain Of one thing: The
bolder it is In behalf Of the right,
the greater will be its influence and
lne STelteI ils pioopS'i's'
State.
This community was in the hands
of a mob on the occasion under dis
cussion, and the power of the mob was
paramount to the power of the law.
AS to whether THE ENQUIRER should
have condemned this outrage was not
question of courage, for it was known
of all men that the then editor did not
lack courage. The paper certainly
had no less than it has now. We
know it to be fact that the former
editors reason for not condemning was
because he felt that condemnation
would result in no practical effect
He was a man who believed in results
rather than empty noise.
What THE ENQUIRER did do on that
occasion was to print accurate details
of the lynching in order that the peo-
pie and the authorities might know
the exact facts. 1t is our recollection
that one of the papers, the News ano
Courier, we believe it was, pointed ou'
to the governor that If he wanted evil
dence to convict the lynchers, he would
have only to look to the columns Of
THE ENQUIRER.
While this paper had nothing to say
editorially In condemnation or abuse
of the lynchers, it Is we'll to remember
also that it said nothing in approval ol
defense. 1t did not fail. however tt
print all the comments that were made
by other papers, and when people beg
ged the editor to reply to some OF
the burning comments that were made
on the subject, he positively declined.
AS to whether THE ENQUIRER vii
speak" in the event of another out
break of mob violence in York, we
have no promises to make. That vii
depend, as It did before. on what may
seem best. We promise, however. tina
no matter what may be the circum'
stances. we will not try to justify the
members of the mob. nor will we seel
to put any obstacle In the way Of the
authorities in the discharge Of theil
duty.
As we see it, while the Morrison
lynching was a most unjustifable out
rage on the law, in effect it was no
comparable to the subsequent efforts o.
the lynchers and their friends to throw
obstacles in the way of the solicitor
and put contempt on that official fol
his efforts to discharge his sworn duty
The first offense may be passed ovel
as a sudden outbreak of irresponsible
passion but the latter is only to b'
classed as deliberate conspiracy agains
regularly constituted law.
Until the law succeeds in vindicat'
ing itself i'm this particular case, i
will have to be assumed that Judge
| Lynch is paramount.
MERE-MENTlON.
Charles j. Bonaparte of Baltimore
I1....S. dan