Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-02-01
By Bishop
Warren A..
Gambler

ings in the United States during tn,
year 49,. of which GO were com
mitted in the South, if Missouri ant
| Oklahoma be not reckoned amon
the Southern states, and 90 if thes
two states be classified as Southern
states. In 1914 there were % lynch
| ings in the whole country: U.s..
Among the Southern states onl.
West Virginia, Maryland and Nortl
Carolina come through the year 1918
with hands clean of such crimes.
A fact which is most humiliatini
TO all Tight-minded people in GeOrgii
is that one-fourth of all the lynch
ings committed in the United States
during the past year were in oul
state This is a disgraceful record
and the shame of it is that the new
year promises nothing better. In tn,
first month of the year 1916 there
have been one-thirC as many lynch
.ngs in Georgia as were committed
in the state during the entire year OF
1915.
These undeniable and awful facts
should move all good citizens TO rise
up in their strength and put GOWN
such lawlessness. Every executive
oHicer of the commonwealth, from
the Governor to the obscurest con
stable, should act vigorously and
speedily for the suppression of this
growing evil of mob rule.
No reasonable plea can be offered
for the justification of lynching. II
is more truly the lynching of the law
than it is the execution of its victims
Ii is in effect the subversion of or
DERBY government, a reversion from
civilization to barbarism. The law
less shedding of blood arouses the
brutal instincts in men, and thereby
easily becomes a contagion of crime
The more bloodshed a man sees The
less regard he has for human life.
There was a time when lynching'
in the South were defended on the
ground that they were directed Il
the protection of helpless womeI
against brutal assaults; but that pie;
can be offered no longer with justice
OF the 50 lynchings committed il
1915, only IL of those put to dealt
" mobs were charged with rape
There were II lynchings to aveng'
alleged murders; II for killing off
GERS of the law and for attacks
upon civil officials. Three persons
were lynched for poisoning mules
wo for stealing hogs; two for dis
regarding warnings of right riders
me for stealing cotton; one for steal
| ing a COW; and one for beating a wifi
and child.
The victims of the SO lynchings
committed during 1916, were not al
Of one race. OF the SO, there were
IA whites, two of whom were killed
for stealing hogs, and one of whom
vas lynched for beating his wife.
1t will be noted that these facts
and figures show, not only that lynch
ing is increasing in the land, bu
that il is beginning to be done FOL
the most trivial provocations. Mob'
form and in lawless heat take human
life for alleged offenses that are NJ
more than misdemeanors. Moreover
they not unfrequently kill innocen
PARTIES. II has been positively proved
that at least four Of the sixty-nin'
! persons Iynched IN 1915 were limo
cent Of the offenses for which the!
suffered death: Who now viii
lynch these -lynchers of the limo
cent? ~'~
What is the remedy for this rap
idly. spreading evil?
Some say, let the courts act more
speedily. The facts given do no
| indicate that this is the remedy
Most OF these So lynchings occur
red in communities in which the
criminal courts we're we'll organized
and quite capable of executing the
penal laws without fear or favour
Moreover. courts ought not to TT!
with indecent haste prisoner:
brought before them for trial, mol
sentence men to death to appeasC
the passions of mobs. Ii is to bC
feared that a few courts have tried
to beat mobs to prisoners charged
with crime. If there must be lynch
ings. God forbid that the courts
themselves, with judges and jurie!
and sheriffs should become lynchers
The administration of justice, es
pecially in dealing with offenses in
vOlving the penalty of death, should
be done with the utmost delibera
tion and care. The passionless ma,
jesty of the law is more effectual
for the suppression of crime than
any manifestation of frenzied ven.
geance by mobs OF mob-mastered
courts can accomplish. Even the
lynching of the human fiends who
have committed the foul crime oil
rape has achieved nothing for the
safeguarding of helpless women. Nc
woman has been made more secure
by these outbursts of lawless venge
ance; but the law, which is WON
ans best defense, has been dis
hOnored and broken down. Mobs
are not composed of knights, whose
gallant deeds are done for the de,
Tense of female virtue; they are
composed oftener of blood-thirsty
men who love violence
The remedy for the evil of lynch
ing is not the melting of courts tC
yield TO the mob by adopting pro-
cesses of indecent haste, but the
preaching of a crusade against mob
law Of every kind and moving the
people to reverence law and main
tain orderly government. Without
popular devotion to law and order
civilization is not possible; and
when civilization has persisted under
the ruins of government, only the
strong. who can, by money or other
means, protect themselves, will be
safe. Whose life is secure when the
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