Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-17
Beyond the Law.

There is virtually no difference in prin-
ciple between the mob murders at Spring
field. H.. and the tragedy Of private ven
geance enacted last Saturday near New
York. In each case individual men. acting
on their own initiative have taken the
law into their own hands. have Knocked
the statutes. have for the moment thrown
the social order into confusion. In each
case the barbaric spirit has dominated.
The man who appeals TO the ''unwrit-
ten law and appoints himself fts ad-
minstrator is no better than the skin
clad creature of the jungle who lays in
wait for his private enemy and Stays him
on sight. Indeed. he is the less excusable,
for he has a presumption of law sense
through many generations of social organ
ization. He has at his disposal the mech
anism of judicial punishment to apply
TO the object of his hatred. The savage
has only blood instinct, no moral re-
straint and no measures of orderly re-
prisal.
Civilization Is an evolution toward
social ideal of right living. One of its
highest developments Is an enlarging
sense of community responsibility. In
the degree that each man recognizes his
duty to his neishbor he becomes q good
u
organization Of police forces and courts
Is an acknowledgment that society re-
mains In q crude state. with the public
peace more or less at the mercy of few
individuals who have not learned to re-
strain their passions and whose lives are
q constant menace to all their brethren.
No reasonable man today looks for the
elimination Of courts through the evolu-
tfAn nfo 1T Dat, 10
conscience Of the people is aroused to a
point Of corrective reform there is dan
ger that in some quarters the law proc
esses will be supplanted In the initial
stages Of punitive processes by mobs and
private slayers.
In Springfield negro committed an out
rage upon q white woman. He deserved
death. But In esche wing the regularly
appointed methods of punishment and
taking upon itself the execution Of the
law the mob evoked the vilest passions
on both Sides aroused bitter race en-
nifty and exposed the community to evils
Infinitely worse than the original crime.
There can be no doubt Of the RESPONSE
bility for the murders, woundings and ar
son that have followed.
The Hams brothers slew a man whom
one had accused Of seducins his wife.
The wronged husband had already ap-
pealed to the courts for a, divorce. That
was his right-some will regard It as his
duty. But there his right and his duty
ended. Society does not In the large
today accept the doctrine that the offense
deserves the death penalty, else would
the statutes be amended. To slay the
offender. therefore. is q crims which
lacks even the slight justification Of the
mob murder. for 1t is true that men who
are affected to excitement by a COM
mon cause lose all individual balance and
arc driven to desperate deeds by the force
Of collective hysteria.
This latest instance Of private Staying
has all the elements of q carefully
planned crime. The scene and the hour
are deliberately chosen with an eye to the
melodramatic effect. The brothers act as
though they have rehearsed every move
They play the heroics Of family aven-
gers" to the limit Of the possibilities. They
deliberately bid for public sympathy on
the score Of the ''unwritten law" And
now they plan their defense and proclaim
their expectation of acQuittal.
1t Is all revolving to the law sense Of
the citizen who believes in government, in
order, In system. It causes him to look
anxiously toward the courts In hope of
seeing the statutes INDICATED and the
growing spirit Of private vengeance
checked through the administration of the
severest penalties. for If the courts fail
thus to vtndicate their own existence and
TO maintain the dignity and the power OF
the law no man can foretell the extent to
which the impulse of barbarism will
carry.