The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1922-02-08
COgressmdn Rankin on the Ant-Lynching Bill


by the family and the neighbors o
| his victim
i Already this bill is producing re
suits. Four assaults were committed
on white women by negro brutes dur
ing the first week of its consideration
by the House. One of them took place
III an apartment house in the city OF
Washington, right in the very shadow
Of the dome of the Capitol, another
occurred in the state of Maryland less
than so miles away. One occurred in
Pittsburgh, Pa, and another in Hat.
tiesburg, Miss, and how many Others
happened in other sections of the
country God only knows.
am not in favor of lynching, and
never have been. / wish it were in
my power to forever stamp it out.
But there is only one way in which
it can be done, and that is to remove
the cause, to stop the awful crimes
for which men are thus put to death.
For no matter what the Jaw is, so
long as those outrages continue society
will be continually shocked by out
breaks of mob violence. But this bill
is not designed to prevent the cause
OF lynching, nor have its supporters
uttered a single word against the
commission of those horrible crimes
of which lynching are the logical re-
suits.
Several years ago negro brute
entered home, not very far from
where live, in which there were only
two persons at the time, mother and
her daughter The mother knew the
moment she looked upon his savage
countenance what his hellish designs
were.
She rushed between him and his in
tended victim, met him at the door of
her daughters room, when he seized
her, drew a razor, and cut her throat
from ear to ear. She held the gaping
wound with her hands and shrieked
loud enough to warn her daughter TO
fee, and thereby save her from a more |
terrible fate. When the men of the
gathered and looked upon
he dead mother, who had laid down
ler life to save her daughter from
his demon in human form, do you
suppose they remained cool and col
ected and conducted themselves as
'ational men? 4
There has been something said in d
he course of this debate about the
negro that was put to death in Mem
'his, Tenn, two years ago. do not
NOW of any place where the negroes
lave been treated with more consid-
ration than they have in Memphis; ]
Tor do know of place where the I
Deople have done more to discount /
nance mob violence. Every news
'aper, every minister of the gospel, I
md practically every other citizen has !
iscouraged 'lynching m every pos
IDLE, way. Whether negro attaekefl ,
white woman or committed some |
Their horrible offense they said, "Let ,
he law take its course" Things
'ent from bad to worse, until one |
Forming the whole community was
hooked by one Of the most horrible S
rimes ever committed by a human t
eng. t
A beautiful little girl about IS or t
years of age, who lived just on the G
utskirts of Memphis, way waylaid e
n her way to school by a negro man I
-ho was more than so years old. He t
acluded himself at the only point on f
lie road where this child had to pass a
at of sight Of a dwelling house and g
hen she came along he seized her, Il
ragged her into a secluded spot, out
aged her, mutilated her body beyond
and then took an AK and
Popped her head off, hid her among p
,me bushes, and then threw her lit
G body into an old slough, and went p
! his way. When they captured him
: confessed to his crime and told his u
ptors where to find the remains. n
it reasonable to suppose that those 'CS
ople would remain cool under those 81
rcumstances?
In one town in the district which
I'VE the honor to represent, several 70
ars ago, little woman was stand ~
2 before the mirror combing her hair 90
len she saw in its reflection the II,
untenance of a black demon ap- n,
oaching steadily from the rear She 81
lew at once what he meant. She n
ached and got her husbands pistol. A
t she was too weak to pull the in
gger hard enough to make it fire m
= saw from her trembling hand that fr
e could not defend herself, and he no
ilked up, took the weapon from her Iii