The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-11-01
THE UNLYNCHABLE FACTS.
(The Clumbia State.)

P1ONVhSA W s<AS AhSe1A~ ~S~~~>
of the crime of assault and battery
on white man after he had quar-
relied with and cursed another white
man. Granting, by stretch Of imag-
nation and for the sake of the dis
cussion, that the killing of a negro
in these circumstances by a con-
course of white persons is an act not
to be harshly condemned, granting
that the laws of South Carolina are
not made for the protection of ne
groes, granting even that the murder
of a negro is not crime, thus
granting incidentally the absolution
of public opinion to the members of
a mob who raid Jail, oyerpower
sheriff and kill a negro, it may be OBJ
served, in passing, that Anthony
Crawford would not have been
lynched had he been white. Never
in the history of South Carolina in
such circumstances has a white
man been lynched. Had this man
been white, however, turbulent and
desperate, there would have been
two mobs, if one, in Abbeville
last, Saturday, the one of his
enemies and the other of his friends
and what turned out to be lyncking
would have been a battle between
the two parties-such a battle as
used to be fought between factions
i'm the rnountcins of Kentucky and
of West Virginia.
These things being indisputable, no
time or space need be wasted here
in strong adjectives condemning the
"lynching." but certain practical
suggestions may have weight with
the people of Abbeville and of South
Carolina in relation to it.
At this time, apprehension is felt
throughout the South on account of
a movement of negro labor to the
Northern. States. Remonstrance
against it is generally expressed in
this part of the country. While The
State believes that it will attain to
no great proportions, it is possible
that The State is mistaken. That
some thousands of negroes already
have migrated is certain and that,
temporarily, negroes are receiving
higher wages in the North than they
are offered in the South is beyond
doubt. By permitting a negro to be
lynched for assault and battery and
by declaring that a mob may kill a
negro for that offense, do white peo-
pie wish to accelerate this move
ment northward of the negro popu-
lation? Whenever the North resolves
to assist the negroes to leave the
South, not all the laws against
emigration agents that can be En-
acted will prevent it. In this age the
circulation of letters and posters is
too easy and railroad travel is too
cheap for the going even of negroes
to be stopped if they wish to 60.
Nearly 40 per cent, of the negroes
can read and write a little. Were
movement of negroes from South
Carolina to start lynching of persons
encouraging it, it would merely has
ten the exodus. The fight of the Is
raelites from Egypt still has its les
son.
The boil weevil will arrive in South
Carolina in year or two and it will
arrive in the Savannah river counties
first. 1t is within a hundred miles
or less of Abbeville now. The prin-
cipal danger that it threatens is
decentralization of labor. Under the
direction of intelligent and informed
farmers and land owners it can be
combated, but not without labor and
plenty of it. In brief, to keep the
labor on the farms of South Carolina
will be the complex and difficult
problem that the land owning farm
ers of Abbeviile and of all South
Carolina will have to grapple with in
the next two or three years.
In the Abbeville case no question
of attack on a woman arises. Shall
the right to a trial in the courts, by
white jury and a white Judge, be
denied to negro who has committed
an aggravated assault and battery
on white man? The Abbeville VIC
tip was land owner, "rich negro"
Shall the negroes be put on notice
that no matter what they do they
shall have no rights in the courts Of
justice-that courts of justice and
the protection of jails are not for
tham?
The State would prefer to deal