Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1922-03-30

abuse and beating of his children,
and in his savage fights with knives
and razors. Out of these two traits
has come the crime which has been
the prolific source Of the lynching
evil. Understand, | do not say the
crime for which the greatest num-
ber of lynchings now occur.s Yet
southern men know that the foul
source from which the foul stream
of mob violence flows-in our sec
tion-is the crime of rape. But for
this crime the stream would never
have reached it's large proportions.
And with the same proportion of
black population and the same num-
ber of assaults on white women in
any other section, much the same
conditions would flow.
With a feeling of horror and re-
vulSlon, but with very serious
purpose, | refer to one of these un-
speakable crimes, the account of
which l received from young man
who had lived in my own home, and
! from other sources. The young wo-
man assaulted and murdered was of
family bearing most honored
name. One man of the family has
been chief justice OF the supreme
court of his State, one has been
State superintendent of education,
and one has been president of great
college, another president of large
national bank and another pastor OF
great church. The young woman
was found dead in her home. She lay
on the floor with her head thrown
back, her white marblelike face, in
horrid contrast with the pool OF red
blood which clotted her hair and in
which her head and body lay. The
blood had flowed from two great
razor wounds, one of which half
severed her neck, close up to her
chin, and the other, as ghastly and
deep down next to her collar bone.
Her skirts were torn to shreds by
the brutal rage of the author of the
crime.
Through the agency of Negro
woman the guilty man was detected.
He made full confession, outlining
the gruesome details of the crime.
He told how he went into her home
to assault the lady, after seeing her
husband leave for his days work.
How she fled into the back yard,
where he caught her, choked her
senseless, and then dragged her back
into the house and there committed
the nameless deed while his victim
was seemingly dead. Then he had
gone through the house to see what
he could steal. Finding a razor in
dresser drawer he decided he
would best be sure she was really
dead, lest she might recover and
identify him. So he went back and
inflicted the two razor wounds, and
after that committed the nameless
crime again, which accounted for
| the blood on his clothing, through
which he had been detected.
l hesitated, and l beg pardon for
| Iafflicting human ears with an ac-
count so horrible. But | want Mem
bers to realize just what we are ex-
posed to. This occurred in the coun-
| ty adjoining that in which l live; l
have known other cases equally as
horrible. want to say that / do
not approve of mob violence under
any conditions. 1t is known through
my State that for 20 years have
spoken out against it and in many
instances have taken issue with pa
pers and public men who spoke in
approval Of it. l do not speak in de-
fense of the devil in human form
who commits a crime like this. No
penalty given him in this world could
approach adequacy. But l do speak
for the men and boys who come to-
gether in a mob to execute on him
the tortures of a death even less
excruciating than he has inflicted
on his innocent victim and less ex
|cruciating than his guilt deserves.
do not believe that they can witness
or take part in such proceedings
without having their consciences and
their ideals somewhat debased or
without coming away little nearer
capable of taking human life than
they were before. | at least do not
want my boy to have anv part in it,
and it can not be done without some-
body's boys taking part So am
opposed to it's being done at all. 1t
is bad for individuals, bad for pub
lie morals, and bad for the cause of
law, order, and good government.
Yet l can not find in my heart to
abuse a community that under the
shock of crime like this loses con-
troll and resorts to almost any mea-
sure. And | can not vote for Fed
eral law to punish the officers of
State or county with dismissal and
the whole people with heavy fine
because the people of one communi-
ty did thus demonstrate an indigna-
ton which was in itself righteous.
Ard +hof toO xuA,on IN MANY cacaS
the bulk of the fine would be paid by
people who knew nothing OF the
lynching till it was over and who
were as innocent of it as one of you
gentlemen in your home thousand
miles away. What knid of justice
do you call that? / call it both ira
vesty and infamy.
do not believe that a Federal
law to penalize the county or State,
even if it were constitutional and in