The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-10
PISTOL rOTER AND LYNCHER.
A Southern Judge On Two Dangerous
Social Pests.


.y.doe Bsnry C.. Hammond 10 the Aiken County,
s. c., Law and order League. Julv =.
NV fellow countryman. looki Who II to
right and to left OF your Your friends. ana
your neighhors, your mother, sister. wiie'
sweetheart, the men old and young Win
whom, shoulder to shoulder. you must woIk
out the destiny of this fair land whioh tho
Lord your God has given you. Would you
murder them would you shoot them 10 theu
death with that si1-chambered. hanmerless'
four-inch barrel, self-cocking. 80 callber
Smith & wesson pistol that you at this blessed
moment have in your right-hand hip pocket!
Then, In Heavens name. why did you bring
1t here2
For protection, did you say? Protection
against whom? highwayman? Nom
sense There has not been 'hold-up IN
Aiken county In twenty years The pohtica1
and social conditions do not warrant, or sue-
gest, your turning yourself into walking
arsenal. Be pistol toter' II you please.
but don't DO an Ananias, too. Say to your
self what you know to be the truth: i brought
this pistol here to shoot and to kill my Fellow
human beings when. in my Judgment, 1t be-
comes proper to do so. 1t is true that wheh
Iuse it my judgment will not be cool; ~ VIII De
inflamed. Though the wrong done me may be
overlooked entirely without Compromising
my honor. though 1t may be righted py worus'
or by blow with the hand, Will not rely
upon or be content with any OF these milo
measures; for my pistol will cry to mo from
my irresistibly convenient hip pocket: 1
am here, take me in your right hand. draw
me. aim me, pull the trigger. Will DO the
rest"
have no word OF comfort for the piston
toter" or the pistol shooter; but II we want
the truth that the facts afford we must often
look beyond the actual facts themselves MY
study and observation Of ten years compel
the belief that in this country nine out OF ten
killings Of men by men are pistol Killings
and that at least nine out Of ten pistol Killings
are done in hot blood. and are manslaughter.
and not murder. II not technically 80. they
are in the eyes OF the average jury.
Often, very often. a mans passion woulo
be appensed by fist battery. but the ever
present hip pocket pistol" makes him
manslayer. But the moment We look De-
yond the actual encounter we shall inquire
yainly for q good reason on the part OF the
man slayer for taking from the 1nantelpiece
or top bureau drawer tho pistol which, In
violation Of law, he slipped, concealed. dnto
his hip pocket when starting to town or to
church or to a social gathering like this. Here
was the deliberate unlawful act which leads
70 n,anslaying. to social disorder and to
national disgrace.
The concealed pistol is strictly an Ameri-
canism. While perhaps in no State more
than in South Carolina is this vicious prac-
tise INDUCED, STILL be it said TO her credit
that Of late she has gone further than any
other State In the enactment OF laws to re-
strain It, The constitutional right to bear
arms was a right given TO carry mint ana
steel musket to resist despotio ruler; 1t has
come to signify sanction OF the practise OF
carrying Colts pistol with which to Shoot
your nsighbor. What does the situation
e oS the sne manafacture a. and sale Of Or
ANY 9h sp IA ts Of sneh aw
me1t on the subject The pistol is not i'm in,
But ifaa man M" with pistoi--who would choose
it for target Of saae ca We r
gard this vile manslaying weapon with any
other feeling than that Of horror , and dis s.
Visited upon the man who carries one?
Lynchins is peculiarly an American crime.
Is St tsa ssa
Chief &c cause for lynchine them. And true It
iynch hi iGA on this ground condemn it on all
others.
are credited With. murder, IS; criminal as
sanlt, "a; minor offenses. 70; arson, s; theft.
T. III Il must be admitted that for every negro
lynchcd for criminal assault two are lynched
% Hh only oone Of thsf Of
the ground that they were done in punish
merrt OF criminal assault.
wish to call your attention to ono charac;
teristic Of the lyncher. So deeply s he moved
Cannot cf MOTIVE Wait day nor an hour for orderly
armed armed to The e teeth he and his numerous fel-
lows 60 forth to shoot, hang or burn. The
typical wants to be in the
question, the killing Of the offender, but he
himself wants to lay hands on him-the true
scores of others to do the bloody work. it must
be his ons the ne dIass his b;
Is jerksd up over the lii, limb H., He must help
faRots and sets. of the pile. lie emptiisss, the
six chambers Of his hip pocket nss pistol" into
is content to return to his peaceful home
only when he has in his trousers pocket an
ny re ssfF 'Hs i11 natraS sns My
II this man would do so much without the law
what will he not do within the law? II he
will gleefully dip his own hands into the blood
and filth of an inhuman execution. it will not
give him an instants pause. as a juror, TO
sssed p gS Of in s the osa9s NY Se sn
The iynohsr, as pncher. is roaring lion;
as a Juror, he ia a jellyhsh. And 40 it hap
peens that bloody ly1ehi1ss and u9coqqsscioh.
want a miscarriage of Justice. give me Jury
Of wea klinRs, men who fail at everything,
men without substance or standing, men who
boy, but who would still mako f1rst-class
lynchers.., 1T is. dead easy thing to be
lynch"r; it is often hard to keep from being
you must pick man of nerve and character.
Don't let's turn the administration of law
him the more he will want to use in his bust
ness. The man who assails the law or those
selected to administer it, gssails you. Modify
but do not permit your law and your repre-
scntatives to be trampled under foot. dciled.
outraged by mobi