The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-05-18
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1921
THANK GOD FOR DORSEY!

.r,I
Governor Hugh NJ. Dorsey is max
ing it hot for law-breakers, lynchers,
slave workers, sorry politicians and
thugs in the state of Georgia. In that
state as elsewhere there are those
who desire to administer the law for
themselves; and for their own pur-
poses; there are others who do: not
know that Abraham Lincoln ever
lived, nor that slavery died when Lee
surrendered; there are those who
think no more of whipping negroes
to death than they do of eating break
fast apparently; and there is as
there always is a swarm of sorry
politicians who are willing to con-
done any kind Of an offense if it will
promote their political fortunes.
Some little time ago there was an
awakening in Georgia. Evidence
showed that a white man had been
working negroes in slavery for years.
and when he was about to be turned
up, in order to suppress the truth,
and to save himself from just pun
ishment, he began wholesale
slaughter of innocent negroes-in-
nocent at least so far as giving any
offense to the man who first worked
them unlawfully and then killed
them with murderous intent. This
white man has been convicted in the
state courts, where he should have
been convicted. His conviction and
the activities of federal agents have
revealed that there is much more
lawlessness of similar kind in
Georgia. Governor Dorsey has taken
cognizance of the state of affairs,
and is going after the criminals in a
manner befitting the oath of office
which he took on assuming his high
office. He has shown up the bloody
record of = the state of Geor-
gia in the matter of lynch
ings and of other lawlessness
in booklet which he has gotten out,
and he demands of the officers of the
law in Georgia, of the executive and
peace officers and of the judiciary of
Georgia, that this stain be wiped
from the state so far as his state is
concerned.
\ OF course he had no sooner start
ed his campaign to remove this re-
proach to the people of his great
state than a few demagogical poll
ticians, some of them on the bench,
in his state began fight against him.
Of course he is accused Of indicting
the whole of the good people of the
state Of Georgia, and of making pub
lie that which might have gone on
for years and not have been exposed.
But Georgia is great state because
it has had some great men. 1t is
great because it has always had men
who dared to stand up for the right,
and to smite the lawless when oppor-
tunity offered. The good people of
Georgia are not concerned about be-
ing Indicated; they know they are
not indicted by the booklet of Gov
ernor Dorsey; the indictment against
them has been written by the men
who made crime in Georgia profita-
BILE and respectable, and not by the
man who is exposing the methods of
the lawless. They are. with Govern
or Dorsey in his fight. They know
thai the only way to rid the state of
the Williamses and of his clan is to
punish crime in Georgia and the only
way to punish it is to hold it up to
the pitiless publicity of an honest
people. For that reason they glory in
Hugh M. Dorsey, and they have a
right to do so. He has proved him
self a real man, and the kind of man
not only Georgia but every Southern
state needs as governor.
The politicians may think they
can satisfy civilization in this
matter by abusing Governor Dorsey,
but they are mistaken. They may
think to advance the cause of dema-
gogical politics in Georgia by ac-