Semi-weekly herald., 1912-12-30
DECREASE IN MOB VIOLENCE
SHOWN IN 1912-COLORADO
HAS A CLEAN SLATE

btSoilu dbuptt btNbiitb III viz cbit'' I
States in the year now closing. In
previous years the number has been
much larger, 100 having been re-
corded in 1894 and 10 in the year
following. The past ten years the
number has been steadily decreasing.
Only one year, however, produced a
less number of lynchings than 1912.
In 1907 the record shows fifty-one
lynchings, one less than this year.
In some of the southern states there
were fewer lynchings in 1912 than
in almost any previous year. The de-
crease is attributed largely to the eff
forts made by governors and promi-
nent citizens to prevent mob violence.
Many of the governors have acted
promptly and energetically to prevent
lynchings, with the declared policy of
giving the law free opportunity for
the punishment of all alleged offend
ers, white or black.
Again, as in the record of former
years, more lynchings occurred in
Georgia than in any other state. Lou
isiana and Florida come next in the
list. South Carolina, whose governor
has gone on record as unopposed to
lynchings in certain cases, had six
cases of summary execution this year
as against only one in the year 1911.
Kentucky, with eight lynchings in
1911, had clean slate this year.
Oklahoma is another state with a
clean record for the past twelve
months. The figures for Texas, Ten
| nessee, Florida and Arkansas show
fewer lynchings than in 1911. In
Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana
the number slightly exceeded that of
last year.
The states outside of the south
where lynchings occurred in 1912 were
West Virginia, Wyoming, Montana,
North Dakota and California. By
states the record is as follows: Geor-
gia, 10; Louisina, s; South Carolina,
s; Florida, 5; Alabama, 4, Arkansas,
3; Texas, 3; Mississippi, 3; Tennessee,
1 Wyoming, j; West Virginia, L; Mon
| tana, /; California, /, and North Da-
kota, /.
If the fifty-two lynchings the vic
Tins of all but two were negroes.
| Three negresses were included in the
list. Alleged crimes against women
or girls and the murder of white per-
sons account for practically all of
the cases.
A singular feature is found in the
lynching of the two white men, both
of which occurred in the far north.
In each case the victim was accused
of murder. In the town of Joppa, a
short distance from Rosebud, Mont,
Harry Heffner, alleged slayer of Mrs.
William Merrill, was taken from the
county Jail by a crowd of masked
men and hanged, despite the efforts
of the sheriff and his deputy. The
second lynching occurred at Steele, S.
d., where George Baker, charged with
the murder of his wife and father
in-law, was taken from the jail and
hanged by mob. The lynching was
the first recorded in North Dakota
in more than a decade.
The lynching in Wyoming was one
of the most sensational of the year.
Frank Wigfall, negro who confessed |
to having made a criminal attack on
Mrs. Esther Higgins, an aged woman
known as the prisoners friend" was
lynched by the convicts of the state
penitentiary at Rawlins.
In the West Virginia lynching the |
victim was Walter Johnston, a negro |
accused of assaulting young white !
girl in Mercer county.
California's one lynching was out |
of the ordinary. 1t occurred on the
desert, some thirty miles from the
town of Mojave. The victim was an
unknown negro accused of having at
tackled 6year-old child. He was
hanged by men alleged to be employ
ed on the Los Angeles aqueduct.
The three negresses who fell vic
TINS to mob violence were Ann Bos-
ton, who murdered the wife of a
planter at Pinehurst, Ga; Mary Jack
son, who was lynched in Panola coun-
ty, Texas, for alleged completely in
the murder of white man, and an
unknown negress who, together with
three negroes, was hanged by mob
in Harris county, Georgia, for the
murder of farmer.
Tyler, Tex, furnished the only in
stance of the year where the victim
was burned at the stage. On May 25
Dan Davis, negro who had con-
fessed to criminal attack on a young
white woman, was burned at the stakeI
IN one of the main streets of Tylerl
in the presence of crowd of two
thousand persons.
The foregoing record does not COM
prise cases of plain murder or cases
where the victim was killed by posse
while resisting capture
WAR TALK HAS DEMORALIZED
BuSlNESS-BULGARIA PRE-