Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-06-16


Punishment fer contempt of court
appears to be the only penalty possible
In this case, and that may be made
heavy enough to deter a repetition of
the offense. Only when the statutes
Iof the United States are violated or
It's jurisdiction invaded can the United
states courts take cognizances of Of
lenses. Were there a federal statute
against lynching we should probably
hear CT few instances of lynch law.
owing to the existing constitutional
line OF demarcation between the ma
tlon and the states the suppression of
lynching must be left to state authori-
ties. In the fact that the United States
can protect an American citizen
against oppression abroad and is DOW
erless to shield him in his own state
against violent denial of his civic
rights lies in the suggestion that there
is gap in our federal laws that some
day must be filled by appropriate
Legislation.
The local grand jury summoned to
find indictments for murder against
these lynchers, failed to return any in
d1ctments at all. Whereupon the SUI
preme court did what it could to vim
dicate its authority, and is now re-
ceiving the commentators of an in
terested public. A widely expressed
wish OF the newspapers, in the words
of the Buffalo Express, is that the
punishment will be severe enough to
impress the members of the mob and
their friends and citizens generally
with the idea that an order of the
United States Supreme Court is not
| tO ha nj Cd ,t,,Nl,
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
any punishment at all for lynching
would be such novelty in this coun-
try that 1t would afford some relief to
ones sense of Justice" That it Is
high time for some check to be applied
to the lynch lawlessness is widely
agreed. 1T is the most appalling evil
in America today" laments the Wash
ington Star. and the Springfield Repub-
lican depreciates that public apathy
by which "our lynchers generally lose
no social satus by their performances"
and because of which "the punishment
of them by the local courts almost
never is brought about"
For the most salutary results, pros
ecution should be both speedy and sim
pie, in the opinion of the New York
Press. Says this paper:
ITO imprison lynchers for contempt
of court is much simpler and quicker
than to put them through the diff
ficult process of prosecution by SYM
pathetic district attorneys and convic-
tion by juries of their neighbors. Let
every court summon lynchers and pun
ish them just as If the prisoners were
taken out from under the nose of
the judge to the rope or torch, and the
lawless will think twice before they
outrage the process of law"
A southern view is seen in the face
tious comment of the Richmond and
Manchester News-Leader, which re-
marks upon the growth of the lynch
habit, "and incidentally assails the
public and the public's officers through
whose negligence such conditions ex-
list. 1t suggests that, owing to the ap-
parent popularity of the crime, ma
tional lynching association should be
formed. A general method of proce-
dure is outlined
This should include, as members of
the lynching teams, sheriffs and depu-
ties, with requirements defining at
what precise stage of the proceedings
they shall reluctantly hand over the
jail keys and scoot to the outskirts;
the judges and commemorative attor-
neys of the local courts the eminent
L