Norwich bulletin., 1920-08-28

man mind can frame And. where the mob rules, there Is no law. In that dis honored grave where an innocent fnur- dered man lies, honor, justice and law lie also And the mob murdered them and put them there. Will the sovereign state of North Carolina permit them to remain there?
 '.We have had mob in Gfeeneville within, the past few days. Perhaps the man they sought was gailty of the crime charged. The mob was soflvinced that he was If so, he deserves the fate the mob sought to infiict. But not at the hands of the mob. Killing without due process of law is murder. The honor of the state and the majesty of the law are at stake in the punishment of the criminal. If the mob sets aside govern ment and law administering justice by orderly process, it has done more and worse than kill aman. It has laid violent murderous hands on honor, law and jug tice.
 "Lynching must be abolished. Mob rule means quadruple murder"
 Every official who does not uphold the law as against the mob, even of in do- ing so it becomes necessary to close his own life in the protection of the crim- inal, or of shooting into the mob with bullets, violates his oath of office and
 
 country Naturally people hold their hands up in horror when in defense of the criminal men in a mob are killed but every man in the mob is himself criminal and the very fact that he is a part of the mob indicates his criminaIity. He is trying to eornInit murder, and if he insists upon committing murder it is the duty of the state to prevent his do- ing so by all the force at it's command -E of any county who does not go to the very limit of protection of the criminal from mob violence, regardless of how many men in the mob may have to be shot is helping to feed the fires of the mob spirit and thus helping to destroy civilization itself
 The News is correct in the position which it takes that the iaw-abiding men in the community who do not uphold the hands of authorities in their fight against the mob spirit are themselves responsi- ble for these conditions. It is the duty of law-abiding men to stand with the state and county authorities to the ut- most limit, not that the life of the par ticular terminal may be saved, but that the law may be saved from lynching and the sovereignty of the state be protect ed
 We are fast developing in this country d Wllu, TeCkleSS QlSTeBarU TOT human life a spirit of homicide and murder which are seriously endangering our civ ilfzation, and the failure of county or state authorities to prevent the lynching of the law and the lynching of the sov- ereignty of the community by the lynch ing of criminal will necessarily compel the federal government, for the safety of civilization and the government itself to assume the responsibility of prevent ing lynching and of punishing the lynch CTS.
 It has long been a wonder that some bill has not been passed in congress look ing to this end, and when such a bill is passed federal agents and federal grand juries will have to see that every crim- inal is protected and that every member of every mob is punished to the extreme
 Unless we save this country from the mob spirit which at times lynches the innocent. as in the case mentioned by the Greenville News, as well as lynehing the criminal, we shall see a steady down grade of civilization and a rottenness of society matching the worst that we hear of Russia.