The Chicago whip. (Chicago, Ill.) 1919-19??, 1927-11-26
The Grist Mil
By
PATRICK B. PRESCOTT, JR.
HAIL The Alabama Baptists.
Mrs. Hagcnow, 81, Gets IA Years.
S.-Lothrop Stoddard Breaks Loose
Again.

Mrs. Hagcnow, 81, Gets Ia year:
3.-Lothrop Stoddard Breaks Looe
Again.
There seems to be an awakening ever
n Alabama. They thought that tn
Khan was a great thing down there a
long as it inflicted its lawlessneSs OF
colored citizens. But when the Klal
began tarring white men and tlogglnl
white girls that was too much for thu
best citizenry. They have arisen, no
only in protest but in o war OF exterml
nation. And it looks as i, right, afte1
Il, might triumph.
For aside from the vigorous proSecu'
tons of the attorney general nov
comes the flat-fooGed stand Of the Al
ALBANIA Baptist Convention, which
bravely denounced the evil of the mask
and lash in Alabama.
Thus far" says the resolution, which
was unanimously adpoted, ALABAMA
has kept her 1927 no-lynching record
unbroken. But it would be far better
If we could say that the state has been
free from mob violence in general. The
laShings are just as outrageous III their
Haunting Of personal rights and their
defiance of established justice as lynch
ings.
"We believe that the Christian men
and women of this state must repudiate
publicly all acts Of masked violence and
must openly uphold the delegated
peace officers among us. Punishment
outside the law is anarchy, a fragrant
denial Of all law"
1t will be remembered that the six
foo3e~ who led the masked marauderS
to the fogging Of the latest victim was
a Baptist minister 1t is mighty good
to see that his denomination has come
out openly and repudiated all sympathy
and support Of any such dastardly
crimes.
| But the curious thing is that the
people of Alabama are just waking up
to the fact that they were in for an
orgy Of crime. What is sauce for the
goose is also sauce for the gander Whip
black and it will be only matter of a
few days before they whip white. 1t
is an inevitable law.
breaking is habit It cannot
be directed against one set of people
| alone. 1t might start out with the
avoWed purpose of directing its activ-
| tiles against just certain people. But
as soon as it starts going good against
them, there develops a feeling Of gen
eraI lawlessneSs in the perpetrators.
F., They think that if they can dominate
an unprotected minority then they
| should be able to punish and control
anyone who offendS them. From one
thing to another it goes, always grow
ing. Finally it is turned against the
very people who started it.
The only way TO stop it is to stamp
it out at the roots. The action of the
Alabama Baptist Convention will &c
a, long way toward creating sentiment
toward that end. These people are to
be congratulated.
Mrs. Anna Hagencw was convicted Of
performing an illegal operation and was
sentenced to fourteen years in the pen
itentiary. She was eighty-two years
Old. Lefty Lewis, whom eight eye
witnesses sWore shot and killed Braver-
man, was acquitted. He is thirty-tW
years old.
Mrs. I-agcnow is one Of the few wo-
men in Cook County ever to be con-
| victed of murder Yet everybody
knows that she did not set out to kill
that girl. She set out crininaIly to
! violate the law. And in SO doing, size
| was guilty Of the consequences Of heI
deed.
But that even is somewhat different
| from deliberately setting out to kill
without mercy. Most of the recent
lady killers, it seems fall into this lat
ter class. But they all have been &C
quilted.
OF course, Mrs. Trepanier was found
guilty away back in the war period
A man had deliberately taken minia-
ture of hers to be reproduced 1t was
all she had of worth. He refused to
Gttve it back to her. There was no sex
question. She was old and sixty. The
jury gave her life.
| Mrs. NiJti was forty and ugly. They
sentenced her to death. The Supreme
Court gave her new trial and she was
acquitted. Grandma Nusbaum was
past seventy and while there were lurid
sex details, she was too old to reach
her jury. They gave her life. And she
| got it.
Mrs Cassler weighed over three hun
dred pounds. Not SO good for the de-
Tense. TIE jury gave her the rope. Now
comes Mrs. Hagenow. She gets four
Zen years. She'll be out in time to
| celebrate her ninetieth or SO birthday
she was convicted on the dying state
! 1-lent of the girl alone The girl named
! the doctor who tried to help her. But
| lie refused to name the man who was
| the cause of it ALL
The law should be enforced. But how
does it happen that only the bedrag-
/ gled women who come before iurieS get
/ their medicine? There is something
radically wrong alE 1T juries that pun
| ISL homely, old women and let pretty
Offenders with costly lawyers, 60 free.
| The law should be applied BY juries
/ to all alike. Some of The drastic re-
forr S advocated by Judge Kavanaugh
should be instituted to bring this alb out
! Lothrop Stoddard wrote THE Rising
F. Tide of Color" 1t created furore. Now
| he seeks to create another such furore
| by writing 1.-THE ImpasSe at the Color
Line" He gets al worried I'D because
I 1r. Alain Locke makes q simple and
| perfectly natural .ppea 1or racial fair
play.
4 Mr.. Stoddard says that there will be
no yielding Of the color line. He says
that Americans are willing to shed
their blood before they yield He says
that he speaks as a rock-ribbed New
Englander Of considerable background.
/ Well it only proves what was strongly
c1IcnaOf0d uIpY1 ho rrrOto HI fi,.ct ~,