The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-11-24
THAT CAIRO MOB
Nothward the Criminal Negro Problem
Makes Its Way"
CONTEMPT FOR THE LAW

Participation Of Women In The
Affair, a Thing That Has Never
Yet Occurred in the South and
Never Will.
In discussing that Cairo lynchine
in its editorial columns the Augusta
chronicle says apart from one novel
Il, hereafter TO be mentioned, the
rrcent ehullttion OF mob violence
Ia Illinois WAS the same old typical
...merican lynching. Same getting
!nad all together; same rush for the
prisoner; same slaughter Of the
shrieking wretch by hanging. shoot
ing and burning; same theatrica!
:~lurrying to the spot Of troops, who
never get there in time, and If by
some miracle they ever do 80, take
L vote not to shoot, as they did the
other day.
The only novelty was the active
participation of women in the affair
"a thing that has never yet occurred
in the South and never will.
The excuse for the lynchiag itself
,s the same old excuse-distrust OF
the law. But the real underlying
cause is-contempt for the law. The
mob itself Is. for the time being
q lawless aggregation Of madmen;
no matter hrw much each member
of It indivi iua!ly may, in his calmer
moments, pretend to respect the !a",
he Is an outlaw. pure and simple,
when he takes the law into his own
hands as was done in Cairo. And
this Is true whether it occurs in
In Illinois or in Georgia or Missls-
sippi.
And, yet. it would not be entirely
fair TO say that the courts. as q
whole, administer justice as certainly
and with as " a hand as they
should 1t has been contended more
than once, that In matters between
man and man, as the ownership OF
property for ~istance, Jul courts, gen.
orally are trustworthy, but that when
1t comes to crime, they are not alto
gether effective instruments for the
protection of the community. This
Is true only in a sense; and 1t Is,
generally speaking, true only in the
senee that juries sometimes fail to
do their duty.
We have seen something of this
In this very community within the
past few weeks. where more than
one prisoner, charged with a heinous
crime-and as guilty as any that ever
faced a court-were summarily turn
ed loose by the trial jury. But
surely, this fault can not be laid at
the door Of the court itself, when
1t is seen that it is with the people,
after all, that lies the right and
to enforce the law as 1t should
be enforced. Perhaps 1t is, in a
measure, tru that If they would
administer justice In the jury box
more often than they do, they would
not find 1t necessary, or, rather, pos
sible, to administer it as members
Of a wild, savage mob.
There Is still another thought
however, IN connection with this
Cairo lynching. 1t has again been
proved-as it was in the Springfield
riots-that human nature Is pretty
much the same there as in Georgia
or South Carolina or Mississippi.
1t only needs sufficient provocation
to assert itself. The influx of a GER
tain class of negroes into the North
We say a certain class Of negroes,
because we refuse to place all ne
groes In the category Of criminals
Is furnishing this provocation In
Illinois as 1t has furnished 1t in
the South since the war.
For some years past the negro
problem has been moving north
ward. Springfield and Cairo furnish
ed unmistakable mile-stones of its
progress. Unfortunately the negro
problem" carries with 1t the problem
Of coping with certain forms OF
crime, such as murder aud rape.
And 1t Is inevitable. perhaps-how-
ever inexcusable it may be-that the
method of dealing with such crimes
is the same in the North as In the
South.
Yet, we would sympathize with.
rather than condemn, the North 10:
the problem which confornts 1t. II
Is a problem not of It's WI making;
n more than the same problem wa
of the South's making. Therefore,
we refrain from referring to this
Cairo affair as another Northern
outrage" even though We have. sc
often, seen similar affairs in the
South referred to as another South
ern outrage" Perhaps our kindred
troubles are rapidly bringing US all
to a better understanding on this
point; certainly, neither section has
n cause to throw stones at the
other in connection with IT. They
are both, now, simply CONFRONTED
with a similar problem. or problems;
the criminal negro" problem-and
the problem of putting down MOB
violence, without respect to provo
cation or persons-and at any price.
-~