New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-27
BLEASE DEFENDS
RULE OF THE MOB
One Time Executive of South
Carolina Stirs Governors
in Conference.
tBy Telegraph to The Tribune. ]

Boston, Aug. 26.-Defence Of South
ern lynchings and mob violence by ex-
Governor Cole |. Blease of South Caro-
lima brought prompt condemnation from
Governor Goldsborough of Maryland at
to-day's session Of the house of gov
ernorS.
The fiery Blease, who mixed a de-
fence of his wholesale pardoning of
prisoners with his tribute to mob vio-
lence, declared that when mobs were no
longer possible liberty would be dead.
Il come from a state which is the
gateway TO the Southland" declared
Governor Goldsborough in reply, land
| cannot sit here silently and permit to
go unanswered a statement that when
mob action is stopped liberty is dead.
The people of the South do not approve
OF such statement. 1t is un-American,
il is irreligious and it is un-Christian."
A wave of applause, led by Governor
Whitman of New York, swept the floor
and galleries. The Maryland Governor
advocated law TO make mob members
criminslly liable for damages TO the
family of any person killed as the re-
suit of its activities.
This third degree method" said ex-
Governor Blease, that is practised in
the North and the East and the West
less frequently, | am glad to say, in the
South-whether man be killed during
its administration, or whether he be
driven to commit suicide, or whether he
be tortured sometimes into confesslng
crimes of which he may be innocent, is
barbarity in a sneaking form under the
sanction of law.
Suffice it for me to say that in the
South the lynching of a man for the
unmentionable crime is protection 10
our civilization, while the practice of
this third degree violates the letter OF
our Constitution at its most vital point
and is a blow to the whole spirit of our
institutions.
an the South an aroused mob is an
outraged community which carries out
the law, but brushes aside with mighty
force the laws technicalities and de-
lays. There is no hypocritical, sancti-
monious violation of fundamental
rights under the cloak of law by those
sworn to uphold the law. The deed is
open, and civilization and justice are
indicated. And when MODS are no
longer possible liberty will be dead.
Il hear sometimes expressions from
as 10 the treatment Of negroes and
negro prisoners in the South. Let me
say that while was Governor of South
Carolina three-fourths, at least, of the
cases in which ! exercised clemency
were those involving negro prisoners.
The best friend the negro has ever had,
so long as the negro stays in his place,
is the Southern white man, and the
negro knows it. The South will work
out her own problem along this line,
and outside criticism and interference
can only retard the solution"
Governor Manning, Of South Caro-
lima, who was elected on an anti-Blease
platform, informed the conference that
in his state any county in which a
lynching occurred was liable to $4,000
damages, which must be Iaid to the
family of the murdered man.
More than 100000 persons lined the
city's central streets this afternoon
and cheered the Bay State militia as
it marched by arrayed in fighting
khaki and equipped for active service.
About 1000 men and more than 1000
horses were in line. 1t was the-great-
est military demonstration in the his
tory of the state, and was arranged
respectfully for the visiting Governors
at cost of $4,000.