The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-12-04
@THE PLAIN TRUTH"


"The mob that lynched a negro and
his wife near Byhala, Miss, on sus-
picion of burning a planters barn,
was actuated, we are quite sure, sole
" by desire to protect the honor OF
Southern women. Northern people
may wonder what barn burning has
to do with criminal assaults, but it
is none the less the usual crime where
negro is concerned, just as insult
ing a white man or striking a po-
liceman or any offense perpetrated by
negro is the usual crime for pur-l
poses of immediate and condign pun
ishment at the hands of the mob.
sIn saying this the World is well
aware that it will be reminded by for
ty or more Southern newspapers that
it is slandering the South and that
it is utterly ignorant of the condl-
lions of racial relationship which ne
cessitates the use of the rope or burn
| ing at the stake to safeguard woman
hood. New York World.
The plain truth is, as the Courier
Journal has often explained for the
benefit of foolish persons who see in
| lynching a serious effort to prevent
crime, that in all mob murders the ell
ement of excitement-th pursuit OF
entertainments dominant. Mobs are
not composed of men who are con-
cerned about the solution of the prob
! lem of lawlessness. They are not COM
posed of men who are habitually con-
cerned about the protection of wo-
men. Drunken riff -raff, rai.sying to
indulge in a lynching, represent
| nothing more than the desire for
amusement which promotes fox hunt
ing, cock fighting and racing -sports
| differing, of course, one from another
and akin to man hunting only In that
they offer excitement.
The fatuous fellow who spouts
about lynch law for criminal assault is
| dangerous to the peace of the commu-
nifty because his Endorsement of mob
murders encourages the ruffians who
make up lynching parties. The man
who is willing to join the mob is
merely cowardly brute who likes
| the excitement of man-baiting where
there is little prospect of interference
at the scene of the contemplated
crime or indictment afterward for
participation. One determined off,
Ger who is willing to shoot to kill can
/ turn back a mob of 100 determined
Ecitizens." That is because lynching
is merely a country frolic, enjoyable
A
that anyone save the prisoner will
be hurt.
The Courier-Journal agrees with
the World as to lynching being al
ways indefensible, but does not be-
lieve that there are forty Southern
newspapers of any Importance In
whose opinion lynching is a Southern
institution worthy of defense. There
may be forty, or more, ready to
point out that in proportion to the op-
portunities provided by the presence
of a mixed population lynching oc.
ours as often in the North as In the
South, and that it is punished nc
more readily in Pennsylvania than II
Mississippi. But credit should be Civ,
: en- to several states which have tax
en- preventive measures by enactins
automatic removal lawsv under
which an officer without being al
i lowed to raise the question of wheth
ere he was at fault. Automatic re
moval laws are in force in only a few
states. Every state should have
such law, and because the South
ern states, with their greater ne
. gro population, stand more In neet
of them and have exhibited little in
terest in adopting them they can b
} ed the right degree of militanc,
! against mob murder. Kentucky i
, among the states that have neglect
ed to enact the automatic remova
law. Its enactment is regularly rec
t commended by the Courier-Journa
q when Legislatures convene. Posi-
: bly, persistency may in time be re
warded.-Courier-Jo
The Star prints the foregoing a
!, the request of friend who is entire
: ly versed in the letter and devoted t
the spirit of the law, but whose calr
judicial temperament, we fear, some
! what sets him aside from full ur
derstanding of human nature.
a The Worlds sheer at the Sout
proceeded from the. mind and pen {
5 a narrow-minded fool. No man WI
Il knows anything about the Souther
a people believes that they countenanc
;e the lynching of negroes or allow
Is except for the one crime that sets {
i. fire the blood of any but a whit
~ livered coward.
,r In the outbreak in Atlanta son
e. years ago, when several innocent n
groes lost their lives, the outrag
Id were committed by a hoodlum ell
lg ment imported from the north. HUI
e. dreds of frightened negroes fed f
refuge to ''their white folks" al
r. were protected by them, and it w
s. that class of people who restor
TIC order in the citv
ms The World claims to be great n
do tional newspaper, but in the foreg
to ing it shows vast ignorance n
oy only of the South but of the comm
hit spirit of the American people.
Northern women might be than