The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1907-03-06
A TINE FOR WISE HEADS, FIRM HANDS
AND RESOLUTE HEARTS.

at the city hall in the Masonic
Temple last night to consider The
very grave situation by which
this community is confronted
The incident Of last Sunday night
a week ago, followed by the one
of last Saturday, together with
other acts of a different character
which had occurred previously,
has given to this city a notoriety
far from enviable, and this and a
firm determination to protect the
virtue and good name of innocent
womanhood at any and all hazards,
brought the meeting together.
4 DR.. A. G. Enochs was called to
preside and J. M. WOOD elected
secretary. There was much sup
pressed feeling and excitement
when the meeting opened and al
most any kind of an extreme
speech or motion might have been
made by some one in the audience;
but some well-tempered and peril
nent remarks by the chairman on
assuming the chair, followed by a
motion of Dir. |. w. Cooper to
have committee of six appointed
to nominate a committee of SO
discreet, representative citizens of
the town, which committee of 36
was to have Jurisdiction Of and act
on all matters proper for the
meeting to consider, prevailed,
and the meeting took an orderly
and harmonious turn which pre-
vailed throughout.
The SO committeeman nominal
ed and chosen were as follows:
P. Z. Jones, D. Cohn, L. FL. Bag
gett, Il. ?. Jones, George II.
Thompson, James Herman, r. II.
Purser, q. LewenthaI, A. G.
Enochs, j. Fl. Johnson, j. W.
McGrath, f. f. Becker, l. w.
Cooper, A. E. Moroton, Max
Lewinthal, .. Newton, Jr., I.
Brady, Jr., G. L. Ripley, E. H.
Wentworth, j. 2. Hemby, w. f.
Parsons, II. Cassidy, S. Kohlman,
e. B. Perkins, S. P, Oliver. B.
F. Coca, Brooks West, j. I. But
ler, W. H. Seavey, H. Green
wood, L. P. Kees, j. NJ. Tedford,
F. H. Hartman, B. T. Hobbs, w.
Fl. Penn, w. E. Phifer.
When the meeting adjourned,
the above committee met at once
and organized by electing Rev. j.
z. Hemby chairman and j. M.
Wood, who had been added to the
committee, secretary. After pro-
Vlding a sub committee on resoIu-
tions and another to confer with
Judge Wilkinson, the committee
adjourned to meet at the City
Hall again tonight at $50 O'Clock.
There can be no sort of ques-
tion that the above committee, Sc
lected from among the very best
citizenship of Brookhayen, has,
in conjunction with all good citi-
zens of this city, an important
and serious responsibility resting
upon them. 1t is no time to give
wings or heed to merely sensation
al and unfounded rumors, without
foundation in fact. Neither is it
a time to hide any thing under
bushel which should properly
come to the light, or shirk any
proper responsibility or duty
through fear, favor or affection.
The trial of last Friday, which
degenerated into little less than
humillatlng farce, and which was
thrown wide open to boys of all
ages, by the court, though the
Constitution provides for holding
such trials behind closed doors,
has demonstrated that our statute
laws themselves are shamefully
inadequate for the proper protec-
tion of the Innocent girls and
women of our commonwealth.
This, followed so soon by another
similar case, where, even before
there is the form of legal inves-
tlgation, there is brazen attempt
to purchase immunity from pros
ecutlon and the penalty OF the
law, as if the insults to female
modesty and virtue had already
become a merchantable commodi-
ty in Brookhaven to ba measured
by dollars and cents, may well ex-
cite the resentment, Indignation
and alarm Of every right-thinklng,
father, husband and brother in
this community. The men Of
Brookhayen have sunk low indeed
in the scale Of human civilization
if they will silently condone or
tolerate an outrage on justice and
decency such as this. it matters