The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-09-10
The Springfield Riots.
Fairbother's Everything.


Perhaps the niggpr question WAS
never more fully presented than III
Springfield, ILL.,, where II moh broke
loose and turned the whole city into
"a theatre OF lawlps>ness. IT was
worse than anything that ever hap
pened in the South; it WAS high
handed murder-fHr worse than the
Atlanta uprising OF a year ago.
A negro had outraged IL Woman
aud that set the :itr on fire. All
kinds OF people were out with guns,
many were killed outright ana many
wounded; il took scores OF soldiers
to main ain anything like order and
several days elapsed before the
blood thirsty could be controlled
And this was ut the WeSt-Out Ill
the home town OF Abraham Lincoln
out where the people are Repub'i-
cans AMI where they are not sup
posed 10 be rs hot bloOIed as .tie
people of The South. But it all shows
that the savage is Yet in man. 1t
shows that he has been subdued-
but if you get him excited and he
body, he still has the primal instinct
to enjoy the game. The laws of the
country mean nothing to ii mob;
and Il mob is as easily formed us fall
ING off IL log. Let n hall dozen men
| explain that some man has violated
IL law aud suggest going alter him
with ii gun and it takes but IL few
minutes to work Il whole community
into a frenZy-and when frenZied it
becomes lawless and murderous.
This fact has been proven time and
ayuill-prOven at the North, the
West and the SOuth-the same spirit
that covers Il bound negro at the
stake with kerosene and applies the
torch at the South is manifest in the
West or North if opportunity offers.
The race riots have ever been Oh
they are on among cannibals; they
are on among savage tribpS-tlll you
want to do is to suggest that Il
person belonging to another race
has done something unlawful and Il
thousand men seem willing to do
something a great deal more unlaW-
Jul ust like IL dog going into ii
fight. No matter how much you
have trained your dog; no matter
how much OF Il pet he Is. or what ii
perfect gentlemen you may think he
is ust let II general dog fight eusue
ana your beloved canine is going to
get in the iracas. That is dog ma
ture and when men do like dogs do
in that regard we call it human ma
ture instead of man nature.
The mob spirit has ever prevailed
1t breaks out some times in parties;
sometimes in societies; sometimes
without OrganiZatiOn-but is Il mob
spirit and uncomfortable desire to
Kill somebody, to do murder and it
is us strong in man today as it ever
was-prOvided you start him Off
| The Springfield riot of recent vintage
shows this to he true. When IL South
ern mob organizes and binds help
less nigger to IL tree and saturates
his trembling body with oil and APP
plies the fagots and burns him to IL
| crisp and then riddles the charred re-
mains with bullets, the papers at the
North say it is racial pre- udice-that
the SOutherner doesn't like the mig
ger because he was a slave down here
but what is it when the same spirit
and the same programme, only
worse, is carried out in Illinois.
the home of those who fought to
free the nigger? 1t is worth while to
think about the matter-because it
suggests that while the SOutherner
takes better care OF the nigger than
the North or West-at the same time
no community will allow another
race to go too far.
1t strikes us that the riots hap
pening over all the country aud
most of them about equal in violence
and brutality, suggest that the white
man is going TO run things here; it
suggests that the American is in the
saddle Oh this continent, and when-
ever any other race Of people, black
| or white. undertakes to do lawless
things YOU will find the American up
| and doing. That is about all there
is OF 1.-THE racial feeling is absolute.
| and woe be unto the nigger or for
eigner of any color who attempts to
| raise the ire OF the American citizen.
no matter which side of the line he
lives.
The Sprintield riot was the most
disgraceful happening for many
years, and the next one may be in
Maine or it may be in Mississippi
There is no telling where it breaks
out next-but it has been proven
that the dislike for the nigger
when he goes beyond the pale of law
is not sectional. 1t is American.
A Sure.Encugh knocker.