Detroit tribune. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1933-1933, 1933-04-22
Editorial
THE TRAGEDY OF LYNCHING

An intensely thrilling book. "The Tragedy of Lynch
ing has just been published by the University of North
Carolina Press. The volume written by Mr. Arthur
Raper, Research Secretary of the Commission Inter
racial Cooperation For the past two years the Inter
racial Commission and the Commission the Study of
Lynching have been making careful scientific survey Of
ynching in the United States and the material embodied
in Mr.. Rapers Illuminating book was gathered through
these
Collaborating with Mr. Raper many other
pers of both racial of the chief investigators
of Morehouse College, Atlanta Ga The experts went
the ground thoroughly visiting the of numerous
nchings and gathering frsthand details and informa
ton.
Their Investigations show that during the past 43
years total of 3724 persons have been put to death by
mob violence in the United States ourfths of the vic
Tins have been Negroes and less than one-sxh of them
accused of The report also reveals that prac
cally all members of the mobs were native whites.
This record of mob violence should the people
is the only civilized land in the rdo-day in which hui
man beings are bmtaly strung up b" mobs, mutilated
burned at the stake, and tortured to death.
Is this exhibition of American brutality leftover
itself in the cultured Queen Eizabethan Age when motor
ious criminals were tortured to death in the public
square? notable example was the case of DR.. Leppo
the Queens physician and his two unfortunate compan-
ions, who were brutaly executed in public in much the
way that Negroes ynched in the South; the chief
difference being English victims killed by official
executioners while mob victims America murdered
illegally and without court trial Dr. Leppo and his
felow-vctims strung up the gallows, and cut
down while still alive and half unconscious from srangu
atOn They then castorated sight of the specta
tors their limbs severed from their bodies, and final
~ they disemboweled, while the street pavements
ran red with their blood.
Scenes very similar to this frequently occur in Amer-
to-day In Georgia for example the records show that
a helpless coored about to become mother
put to death by Infatuated mob She strung to
tree dsemboweed, and when her unborn child fell upon
the ground OF the lynchers crushed it with his heel
Another Negro victim in Florida taken to the tower of
a broadcasting station and lynched before the micro
phone in order that his agonzng cries might be carried
the air to the listening world Still other victims, after
having been murdered tied to automobiles and
dragged through the streets of communities where Negro
citizens reside Some Of the unfortunates roasted
alive the stake in much the that Joan Of
Arc met her tragic death at the hands Of enemies who
feared and hated her.
In the face of such bloody record how
country conscentously protest to Germany Russia or
Japan against the persecution of their Jewish popula
ons, against the injustice and alleged cruelty meted
out to helpless Chinese? No wonder Hitler laughs at
audacy No wonder the so-called "barbarious' Turks
mock America, when protest against their atrocous
treatment towards Armenians What about the defense
less Negroes you lynch and burn in the United States;
they retort.
The Detroit Tribune congratulaes Mr.. Raper and his
coworkers upon the fine service they have rendered the
nation by uncoveng and bringing into the light the truth
about ynchings.