The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-01-22

I cause ne wanted TO protect MS prop
4 erty from their depTedatiOns- They
went about this murder with the
| devilish elaboration of savages tor
turing a captive, and the crime was
/ so atrOcioUS and the criminals so nu-
merous and welI-OrganiZed that the
nation was shocked.
Governor Patterson filed the coun-
! ". with troops and their vigorous
work resulted in the arrest or large
batch of the scOundreIs. The cOnvic-
ton of eight Of them by a jury made
up of citizens of the county, after a
fair trial in which guilt was fully
proved, is triumph of law over law
leSsness of the most formidable char
acteT which brings a deep sense of
relief to decent people all over west
Tennessee.
But tn significance of this verdict
is by no means limited to Tennessee.
1t is rift in the black cloud of
crime which, finding it's origin in the
night-riding iniqUity of Tennessee and
Kentucky, spread rapidly through
several southern states and is creating
most Ominous and distressing condi-
| lions in large areas of the country
! districts Burning property, posting
threats, whipping helpless people in
their homes, and in some instances
torture and murder by vicious, cow
ardly degenerates armed and banded
I for the purpose are typical crimes
under these new and fearful condi-
tiOns. Their perpetrators, living amid
! a weak enforcement of the law and
seeing the abOTtions of justice so
frequently resulting from the trial of
criminal cases in the court house
came to despise the law as a thing
evidently weak and worthless, and so
took it upon themselves to avenge
their own wrongs, real or fancied.
crafty their grudges against neigh
bOrs, coerce them in the disposition
OF their crops and feed the FevengefuI
passions of their ignorant, primitive
natures in any direction their laWless
caprice might point. All this presaged
the reign of conditions in the South
worse than those of the civil war, for
then the line was broadly drawn, We
knew friend from foe and had an open
enemy to fight under the rules of civ
ilized WaT-nOt masked assassins rid
ing TO their foul work sheltered by
darkness and OUtraging and shooting
down their very neighbOrs to crafty
their brutal passions. The dispatches
for weeks past have told us of the
spread of this night riding form of
crime like a moral pestilence, crop
ping out in unexpected spots, and like
ulOSI l0tU5S evil, EdDluiN embracing
within its scope vicious and ignorant
elements already depraved at heart,
reckless of the rights of others. and
wanting only the prospect of immun
ity from punishment to join the Grim
fnal ranks and inaUgurate Teigns of
terror in every neighbOrhOOd infested
by them.
A lesson was needed, one too plain,
sharp and decisive to be mistaken,
and it comes in this verdict from
Tennessee which bids all the law
abiding South brace up and be of good
cheer, for at last a jury has been
found not to be hoodwinked or ca
ioled by the .pleadings of the lawyers
or external influences of any kind
and that dared to do right in a grave
crisis when the very civilization of
their state was one of the issues OF
the trial. The news of that verdict,
and its example, too, will spread
through all those regions cursed by
the lawless spirit of the night-rider,
carrying hope to the oppressed and
dismay to the OppTessor, for a'fTne in
stance at the right moment may in
spirit a whole people land send the
elixir of its saving grace through all
the currents of their life.