The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1909-06-09
CIRCULATION 1926.
The State Again.

SQe StSLe 1Sa40a
? The Columbia State says that we
s.fail to note the main point in its
comment concerning the record for
lawlessness in this county" and adds
that it was "but pointing the way
whereby Lexington might escape an
undesirable reputation" The State
says "The Dispatch felt aggrieved be-
cause prisoner was brought for safe
keeping to the penitentiary." The
Dispatch felt nothing of the kind, and
said nothing of the kind, We merely
stated that "Bynum could have been
placed in the Lexington jail with as
much safety and would have received
just as much protection as IN the
State peniteptiary." We have never
for q moment felt aggrieved because
he was carried to the penitentlary,
but what we were driving at was to
save Lexington the extra and needless
expense of military trial. We felt
then, and feel now, that there is ab-
solutely no danger of the negro being
lynched. In answer to this, our es-
teemed and learned friend throws off
on Lexington by recalling lynching
which took place in this county some
twenty years ago, and it was to this
that we took exception. There Can
be no shadow of comparison between
the lynchings which The State recalls
and the present case. In the TWO
cases cited by The State, q woman
fair woman-had been robbed OF her
virtue by black brute. In the case
of Bynum shooting the sheriff ls an
entirely different matter; and while
we are still of the opinion that he
would have been killed soon after the
crime was committed, there was never
any great danger Of lynching. He
would have been killed because it
was generally understood that he was
heavily armed and the men in the
party would have taken no chances.
The State says that no one was pun
ished for ''butchering'' the negro in
his cell in the Lexington jail twenty
years ago, and adds that ''as no other
county has that record it is incum-
bent on Lexington to take especial
measures to rehabilitate herself"
We here and now call upon The State
to mention a single case in South Car
olina where man has been punished
for being in a lynching party where
white woman had been assaulted.
We contend that Lexington is no
worse than any Of the other counties
in the State in this particular. We're
any of those parties punished" who
lynched negro almost in sight of
Governor Hayward few years agos
We're all of the parties unknown to
the officers? Is Lexington worse than
the county where this lynching took
place? If our recollection serves US
Alright this lynching occurred in
"broad daylight -.
We do not mention these .oc-
currences in a sense of defend
ing lynching in any form' but
for the purpose of convincing our
contemporary, if possible, that all
over this South land of ours human
nature is the same, and that when
negro assaults white woman he is
lynched, if it is within the power OF
the mob to get in possession of the
guilty party.
We commend The States zeal in
condemning lawlessness; we COM
mend it's attitude toward the lawless
in it's own town, "South Carolina and
the South,'' and believe that it has
been a strong factor in moulding pub
lie opinion against lawlessness. In
it's efforts along this line The State
will always find The Dispatch cooper
atine, whether the case applies to
Lexington, Richland or any other
county.