The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-01-30
MONDAY, JANUARY 80, 1922
LAW

tives and is we'll on its way to be-
coming law by act of Congress. 1t
is the most p%retentious step yet
. taken to break up lawlessness. It is
the only remedy yet offered which
gives promise that the mob will be
punished and lynch law finally be
made p~unishable\
In brief the law provides:
First: That those taking part in
a lynching shall be tried in the
Federal Court and if found guilty
shall be severely punished;
Second: That the officers of q
county who are negligent in their
efforts to protect a man from being
lynched, or who wink at ~lynching,
shall he likewise tried, and suit
ably punished;
Third: That the county itself IN
which a lynching occur shall be
fined in the sum of ten thousand
dollars, the proceeds of the judg-
ment to go for the benefit of the
dependents of the man lynched.
The discussions which have been
going on while the bill was before
the lower house would seem to in
dicate to US that some of the PEG.
pie, who have Thought they were
against''lynching and who thought
they would like to see the practice
Of trying men by the mob and then
executing them, have been mistak-
en- about the matter.
Not one argument has been ad-
vanced against the proposed law
which has real foundation. OF
course when anything comes along
which the people do not really
want in the South it is an invasion
Of States Rights. It has frequently
occurred to US that the South has
had sufficient Of States Rights. But
what right of the state is invaded?
None so far as we can see except
that the persons who may be accus,
ed of murder of a particular brand
are tried in a court constituted by
the Federal Law rather than by
the state law. In South Carolina a
person accused under the proposed
law will be tried by a Judge and
jury who are Of his own state. The
trial of his case in the Federal
Court will insure that he be tried
by an impartial jury; at least the
jury will be drawn from several
counties, n Of the things which
those who have opposed lynching
have. been asking for a long time,
but which when it is to be had
seems not so desirable. No man will
be taken to a foreign jurisdiction
for trial. He will be tried in his
w state by citizens of his own
state and under the laws of the
common country.
The provision for trying and
Furnishing officers who cannot see,
and those who do see and are
afraid to act, and those. to who
rot only do not oppose the .c., Of
the mob but who in effect become
a part of it, appeals most to US.
There have been few lynchings,
where the man lynched has been
taken from the officers of the law,
which might not have been pre-
vented by q sheriff determined to
do his duty. Hereafter such sher-
ifs and officers may expect to take
their medicine and look through
the bars.
It seems hard, Of course, that a
whole community must be punished
by suffering a fine of ten thousand
dollars for acts which the COM
munity did not authorize, and
which in fact most people Of the
community condemn. But that oh.
lection applies more or less to all
punitive laws, And the fact that a
county must be so punished will
have the effect of making the citi-
zens Of the county more diligent
to see that law is not violated by
the mob. 1t will have the effect of