The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-03-09
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THE "NIJY- OF "nRN~ RIOTS.

TUE 'WHN" OF "nRN' RtoJS.
Mr. William Rose, No. 1873 e. Main street,
writes us letter in which he notes press
dispatch in this paper which narrates the
running amuck OF a man near Nathans Creek,
in Allegheny county, North Carolina. who
slipped a knife into another gentleman and.
order to prevent a Justly indignant mob from
taking summary vengeance"
Mt Rose processes to believe that this news
story must he an error. or else he and others
have been "mislead by your paper during the
recent Statewide campaign"
To further indicate how utterly he has mis-
construed all that this paper has been at the
greatest pains to explain, our correspondent
declares:
One would infer by reading The Nirginian
that all crime and drunkenness would ba
imme diatsly eliminated when State went
dry II Is my recollection that North Caro-
lina has been dry for several years Please say
how you account fer the crimes. for the
drunkard and also for the mob
We account for it on the ground. In this
case, that the man who was converted from a
restrained member OF society into unre
strained brute fired to his excess by
whiskey Such catastrophe may occur in
prohibition community as well as in any other.
Allegheny county. where the particular crime
under discussion occurred had been prohibit
ton territory for years before Statewide pro-
hibition came TO North Carolina. For years the
spirit OF utter freedom that prevailed in the
western counties OF both North Carolina and
.,i,,tu ,odn fhc mo- pGhi nar au11p
character. at war with both government and
State The fact that he outlaw meant
however, nothing moro than that he was fixed
with the conceit that thinks that law worthless
which does not make itself known. More lately
both State and government laws have become
more effective. The gentleman who ran amuck
probably got his whiskey from Virginia.
This paper has never claimed that prohibit
ton laws would do more than two things. For
one, they would put the habitual consumer Of
liquor to the necessity. If he got his liquor in
the state, OF making himself party to a Grim
inal proceeding in doing We think that
quite number of otherwise easy victims to
the liquor habit would halt at this extreme.
II would in addition, save many. who now &C
qure the liquor habit on account of the case
with which they are led and induced to first
step from doing a perfectly foolish thing at the
expense of much time and trouble. One OF
the most evident things in life is that any sort
of vice Is the product. not of search, but OF
solicitation. It grows from a yielding. never
from a capture.
AS to the mob bent on iynching, let us say
that there are several kinds Of drunkenness
The drunkenness of the mob is one that has
been recognized from the earliest history. Man
il animal lie has scent for blood. II needs
no whiskey TO make rabbe drunk. II needs
only the intoxication of elbows and passion to
turn a crowd of men into conglomerate brute
That whiskey furnishes the spark to such
confederation of evil In the breasts Of physi-
caly sober men adds but another to the crimes
Of whiskey--one which not we, but our CORES
pendent suggests.