The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-08-30
FROM MIR. RIVES.
Writes of Judge Parks Removal of
Jury Commissioners.

| man, Sllll more gently my olSCSl W.
man. To step aside is human. =
Burns. Judge not and We shall not
be judged. BY their fruits We shall
know them. Men do not gather
grapes of thorns nor figs OF this
ties. Christ. He that ruleth over
men must be just, fearing God. -
Samuel. 60 not with the multi
tude to do evil" The above consti-
tute the best axioms for guidance in
mems lives; at the same time they
differentiate justice from passion,
and substitute regular operation OF
law for sudden impulse. The popu-
larity of a thing grows by its con-
venience and its appeal to passion
more than to reason. At the end
of the civil war of 1876, when our
liberties and lives were in danger
and our state governments were IN
the hands OF disreputable whites and
irresponsible negroes, lynch law
seemed to be a necessity, but even
then there were ways around it. An
instance will illustrate. negro
was shot in a potato hill in west
Dougherty by Mr.. TOler. The kill
ing was reported to the bureau"
officer, and Toler was arrested and
brought to Albany. TOler, having
been a courier for Gen. Gabe Wright,
sent for him; as counsel Gen. Wright
demanded bail for his client and was
refused, but he stood his ground,
and when the provost was told a
writ of habeas corpus would be
taken out before Judge Erskine OF
Savannah he yielded. Toler was
bailed, his trial postponed and final
ly nolprosed. Later when the field
niger" felt his freedom, having
none of the affection of the house
niger" for his master nor for the
women of the family and being
taught that he was their equal
knowing nothing but the oVerseer' s
care and fearing nothing but his
lash, and with a desire to satiate
his vengeance on the overseer-he
began committing the nameless
crime on every defenseless white fe-
male he found; and the ku klux
was formed, and trees began to bear
black fruit with a rope for stem;
and later fires began to rear around
this fiend in human shape. But
while satiating a just vengeance on
black brutes the sense of the eXecut-
ing whites became brutaliZed and
the lynching mania grew, and now
when law has been restored and the
courts regularly established the pois-
on is still in the public blood and
nothing but the stern hand OF out
ragged law, welded by fearless
judges and carefully selected juries,
can bring the public conscience back
to healthy reverence for law and
obedience to it's just behests. For
this reason l am grieved to see the
structures on Judge Park by my
friend Tiff. Better a few errors by
conscientious Judge endeavoring
to do his duty than anarchy to
which a continued disregard OF law
by regularly constituted officers OF
the law is driving us. And, mark
YOU, judge Park does not charge
that the removed jury commissioners
have disregarded their oaths. lie
says Il quote from memory, have
been unable to secure a yenire that
will indict and convict Now, in
large and populous county it is
hardly possible that six of the best
men will know all men subject or
fit for Jury duty. | have served IN
my county for six years as chairman
of the board of registrars. Our sec
rotary, Mr.. Rish, is one of the best
posted men in the county, but even
he does not know one-thlrd or the
voters on whose qualifications for
duty we are called to pass. SO We
have hit upon this plan-we don
claim it is perfect, but it does place
the responsibility where it belongs,
on the responsible men of the coun-
tv: At our first meeting six years
since we issued summons for six or
the best known and most influential
men in each militia district in our
county and consulted with them,
and since then every meeting is pub
lished in the county press and eV-
cry man who wishes knows three
weeks previous to our meeting that
any challenge he wants to submit
under oath will be patiently consld-
cred and his name withheld from
the public, and the result is but few
undesirables register. With the
same method undesirable jurors
could be weeded out. Yours for
strict administration of law by the
constituted courts and prosecution
of every man belonging to mob in
Georgia, with the extreme penalty
for officers who violate their oaths
of office. "The time has come that
vengeance must begin at the church
of God. and if it first begin at us
where shall the ungodly and the sin
ner appear?" Substitute for the
church the court house and for the
ungodly and sinner the common law
breaker and mob leader and the
quotation will fit like a glove. Re-
spectfully, ANDREW P. RIVES.
Cuthbert, Ga, Aug. %, 1912.