The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-08-29

SOUln OdTOi1lla.
''Lynching is lynching, no matter
the circumstances. and lynching is
unlawfully depriving man of his
life, whether or 10 he is technically
in the custody Of the law. 1t has
become alarmingly frequent in the
South, not for one crime alone, but
for all capital crimes, and OCCASIONALLY
for those which are not. Nor can we
reasonably expect it to cease so long
as reputable newspapers defend and
justify it."
The above calls forth remarkable
editorial from the Richmond News
Leader, and as it is both interesting
and states the actual situation as it
confronts the people Of the South, the
Sar reproduces it. The News-Leade~
says:
Nobody has a more profound rev.
erence for law, a stronger concern
for good order or a higher regard for
the sanctity of human life than The
News-Leader. Yet we believe firmly
that in certain conditions the taking
of human life outside the operations
of the law is not only justifable, but
necessary for the weil-being and safe
ty of society,
s:When a criminal or accused per-
sn of any grade lis in the hands Of
the State, which is the people and the
law, the honor of the State is pledged
for his safe custody and fair trial,
and an attack on him is an attack
on the sovereignty Of the Common
wealth. So he is protected. In certain
and special and specified and easily
understood conditions we believe the
people of a community have the right
to- consider their own necessities be-
fore delivering a man known to have
done one certain crime to the custody
Of the law. 1t is just as we'll to do
little plain talking on this subject.
Before the war this crime was ul-
heard Of in the South. The white
men went into the army, leaving their
women in charge Of the negro slaves
without the faintest fear Of any wrong
worse than a little petty tilieving, re-
garded almost as the slaves privilege.
The habits Of submission to authority
and reverence for the white skin We're
so deeply implanted that they had
become nature. Since then conditions
have changed. Authority has been
overthrown and reverence destroyed,
and those negroes who are naturally
bad and malicious have been left ire
sponsible and ungoverned except by
fear. The great majority of these
people, justice requires Us to say, are
wonderfully good citizens, consider
ing their circumstances and opportu-
mites In every community and neigh
borhood Of the South, however, there
is a proportion of negro men who are
brutes made far more dangerous than
brutes by the possession Of some hu-
the South the white population is thin
or scattered, and the men cannot
stay at their homes They must be
away in the fields or at their business
and their women and girl children
are left nearly every day unprotected.
.sThe bad and brutal negro knows
nothing of the pangs Of shame or dis
grace Made the central figure of
capital trial, he becomes magnifled to
nero in his own eyes and his victim
must tell in open court the hideous
details which the law exacts. To his
limited intelligence the chances Of
escape seem many, and even when
condemned to death his emotional ma
ture is worked into a religious eesta-
cy Or frenzy, and he dies triumphant.
':These things are known to all
Southern people. The conditions are
peculiar and peculiarly horrible, the
class to be dealt with and its addition
to the crime to be dealt with are pc
culiar. All the conditions are beyond
and outside the contemplation Of any
written law Therefore remedies pc
culiarly swift and drastic and warn
ings peculiarly terrible are necessary
Negroes of the kind to which we refer
can be ruled anu deferred III one way
only, and that is by terror, by the
certainty of quick, unceremonious,
sure death if they take or attempt any
liberties with white women or chill
dren. That is grim and dreadful
fate, but it is fact, and must be
realized because it is present with us
and concerns the homes and lives and
honor of the majority of the Southe n