Richmond planet., 1926-08-28

Great Crowd Of EIks at Cleveland, O., Convention
A. DARK DISGRACE
TO VIRGINIA

the Negroes head was beaten in
To pulp and, his body was dragged
nine miles behind an automobile to
the scene of his alleged crime, where
it was hung to a tree and riddled
with bullets.**e*s
1.-The Negro was hurled to the
floor and shot several times in the
head. *"*t*
sWytheville. according to advfces
here, seems Indisturbed over the
affair The identity of the mob is
shrouded in mystery. Some were
dressed as women, others were
clothed IN various ways, and all
we're masked. The jailer claims
that about fifty men composed the
death party. He claims he Jared bad
ly at their hands.
'' Not the least excitement fol-
lowed the arrival in town of the
mob, it is stated No one seems to
know from which direction 1t first
appeared. The lynching was perfect
is planned and executed.
HAS Virginia known in forty years
a mora humiIiating story than that
set eth in these extracts from the
Associated Press account of the
WytheviIle lynching. as telegraphed
from Roanoke?
A drunken mob Of savages on a
South Sea island could not have
been more brutal Russian reds in
me maddest frenzy of their irreli-
rious revolution would have hesitat-
&c at such crujlty Done in the
rame of white supremacy this
crime disgraces commonwealth
rI.~ t,< H. a. L
OF its justice.
Right feeling Virginians will be
the more outraged by this atrocity
f't cause lv1Chings have been increas-
J: g n the olc Dominion at the very
t'r'e thev were decreasing in other
States For almost a generation the
people of this State were quick to
assert that they respected the law,
no matter how gross the offense Tt.
was not the Virginia way to put on
masks, to hide individual identity
in mob, to hang some wretch in
the dark of the moon, and then to
.Sljnk away in blood guiltiness.
For sixteen years the name of Vir-
ginia was not connected with q sin
lie lynching. The State became a
model to the whole South. Then i'm
1913. Negro was 1ynched in Cu1-
Daper. Two years later a man was
taken off train in Wise county and
Cas hanged before the authorities
could intervene The next year,
October 10, 1923, Negro was shot
and killed by mob I'm King and
Queen On March 20, 1925, Grim
jnal was taken from jail. 1ynched and
burned at Waverly.
''In eight years Virginia has had
four lynchings. not to count two
coses in which men barricaded them
selves and were shot by posses.
Meantime the total number of
lvnchings in the country has de-
creased from 81 in 1922 to 16 in
1925-and one OF the 16 occurred
in the oldest and presumably the
} 'ost Law abiding of States,
There is only one way to stop mob
violence. and that is to resist the
mob at everv stage of its attempted
violence, and to keep on the trail of
lvnchers until some OF them are ap4
pretended and convicted. That is
what haDpened in Wise county A
crowd tried to storm the Jail. The
sheriff refused to show the white
feather He told the mob to keep
off, and when 1t refused to heed his
warn 'ngs. he ard his deputies dio
what all Iawofficers should do in
like circumstances-they fred on the
men who were tryirg to break down
the door. One of the attacking par
ty was killed and several we're
wounded The mob abandoned its
attempt
Latc-, VIXEN the prisoner was be