The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, August 12, 1897, Image 3
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THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., AUGUST 12, 1897.
.T
i “FRESH FROM 1 GEORGY."
Tho of Rorliy Crook and tho
Boys.
Where I.ou WalNon Coiue .\ero«» the
llortier I.ine—A l.lttlo l-'an
lit Thu ’!• Sta
tion. *
Hit was 15 years ago by llie alma
nac when Lou Watson turned up at our
house all of a sutl-
der side of Butler’s mill, you will
notice the most loveliest country set
tlement that you would jxiss if you rid
on for three days. Kight there is
where Lou Watson and his folks now-
live.
ANTRIM’S CLOSE CALL
yy
dent like about
“lirst dusk sharp.’*
as Ulev Scroggins j
wei e w unt to say. 1
11c was right fresh
from somewheres
back in Georgy.
He was tkegoneby- i
est most hoagriest [
and lostcst lookiu I
boy that ever left
his tracks in the regions around llocky |
Creek—a stranger in a strange country
amongst strange people, and nothin but ’
a yearlin boy at that.
Onest upon a time I was a boy my own
individually self. From what they tell
me and from what I can recollect there
ain’t no earthly doubts about that.
Consequentially I love the boys. 1 love j
the boys better than any livin thing i
that cumbers the soil and breathes the
native air—exeeptin the girls. And !
when Jxm Watson come pikiu along the !
big road that evenin and sidled up to :
Hie front gate and said “hello” ruther
v iak and trembly like, the cnlyest j
thing for me to do was to go out there
and see who it was and what they 1
wanted.
Them Two Town Girin.
When Billy George Bogin come by our
house* on Saturday evenin before the
last third Sunday on his return back
home from a big picnic they had that
day over at Tankersly’s Station., I
couldn’t help from feelin sorry for the
boy slap down to the bottom of my
heart.
The few remaiuin clothes which
Billy George had on, the shape and
Nearly Hanged by Being Caught
Up by a Hayfork Rope.
8an|tenile<l Hitch In the Air, the Hope
UriMlunlly TI«htenlrar to Snffo-
cntlon—L'nnble to Make HI*
Com! it Ion Known.
Rimer Antrim, of Windsor avenue,
Hartford, Conn., had a narrow escape
from death that he w ill not soon forget.
He was assisting at haying, his duty at
the barn being to superintend the plac
ing of the hayfork and delivering its
load at the desired point on the mow.
color of his homely countenance, and a It may not be generally know n that
badly left and lonesome look in his hayforks—or perhaps hay unhu-.ieis,
eye give him all the general outward more properly are quite the thing, and
appeurments of a young man w ho had many of them are being purchased b^
swum the snaggy fork of Salt creek farmers to relieve some of tin* arduous
KNOCKS OUT A BEAR.
Fltz*lmi:i<»n» !!n* n Lively Mattie w ith
n .New Pet.
“I’ve luen in 50 fights,” exclaimed
Robert Fitzsimmons, “but I never had
such a close call as that.” Fitzsim
mons was out of breath and j.e was
bruised ail over and his clothes torn to
tatters. “Mo, Hob.” exclaimed his wife,
“you are right; you loot; far more ex
hausted than- the day you fought Cor-
b<tt.”
T!;.'* champion of the world had just
saved the life of his Great Dane dog
Yarrum. after an exciting and des
perate encounter with a large black
bmr. The light lasted over half an hour
and w;us witnessed by*half a hundred
ARP OX LYNCHING S.
Tho Southern Fhiloaopbor Writes
a Strong Letter.
Snya l!te People of Georttln Are !.a,v-
AbldlaB—I'nprotectcd Wives and
l>auKktcra in Itural
Dlatrlcta.
where the water was ragin high and
muddy.
“Where have you been, Billy
George?” said I; “where have you
been, charmin Billy?”
"There was two town girls come down
work of haying. They are capable of
! grappling almost any size of forkful,
from a 50-poun(t tumble up to a ton or
more, according to the wishes of the
manipulator. For the purpose of un-
1 loading a pulley is rigged in the barn
to the station and tended the picnic,” loft, through which the fork roue
r,nvs Billy George—which I had my ! passes. Another pulley is attached to
private opinions right then touehin the : the side of the barn over the mow, and
great gobs of fun the boy had that day. through this the rope also passes,
“And let me tell you. Uncle Rufus, they | thence obliquely out through the en-
v as pritty as red shoes and blue stock- trance back of the load, where u horse
in« but hot stuff and a heap of it. is attached to it, whose duty is to puil
“You must recollect 1 never have took the forkful up. A “run” leads across
tny stand and made my final rcstfnplace | toward the pulley over the mow. and
Wm
I had not intended to write anything
more upou lynch law, but recent utter
ances from the press and the pulpit
provoke me to say that the people ol
Georgia do not deserve the condem
nation of friends or fees for their con
sent to lynekings when the crime U
one that is nameless. Our people are
as humane and law-abiding to-day as
they were hO, -10 or 50 years ago, and t lie-
records of the courts prove i;. In IsGl
there were white convicts in. the
penitentiary; now- there are but 1%.
and we have a greater population.
There is 50 per cent, less of felorh s ii
Georgia than in New York or Massa
chusetts, according to population. Of
course, 1 mean among the w hites^ Nov.-
set that down.
An Ohio paper has recently investi
gated the record of that nameless crime
for the past ten years in that state and
gives the figures which show 524 cases, in September, and doubt less been speed-
crease in defiance of lynching* we can
not tell. It may be thntsince the war.
northern philanthropy, supplemented
by southern oflice seekers, have so ex
alted his consequence and his de-sire for
social equality that his fear of punish-,
ment has been allayed. But certain it ia
that the race has not yet been greatly
intimidated by lynchings, and they are
considered! martyrs by most of their,
preachers and teachers and editors.
How many more outrages there wouldi
be if these lynchings should stop we
can only conjecture. Bishop Turner
proposed a day of fasting and prayer,
lor the deliverance cf his people from
these horrible lynchings, but not a
word about the uuiiugcs that provoke
them.
But it is curious and somewhat
amusing to read the different counts
in this general bill of indiet-
ment against the people who
resort to violence. Some assert ve
hemently that there is a defect in
the law’s machinery, and some say not.
One preacher says that OS per cent, of
those indicted escape. One more would
come square up to Judge Dooly’s
estimate when he said: “Gentlemen of
the jury, I charge you that ninety-nine
guilty ones have already escaped.” One
learned lawyer says that Ryder would
certainly have been tried and convicted
He liiii] I'oinc to Stuy.
“Is this where a man by the name of
Sanders lives?” says the boy as he leant |
back and braced himself up agin the
horse rack.
“This is the place and this is the man,” j
says I. ’’Where did 3011 come from, j
where are you headin for. and what was
your name when you left-home?”
“My name was Lou Watson when I
left home,” says he. “My name is Lou
A Vat son till yet. I come from Georgy
nnd I ain’t goin nowhere in partichir
right now. 1 lowed to stop here and go
to work and live with you.”
“The eroj/s are laid by, fodder ain’t
ripe and cotton ain’t openin any to
speak of yet, and raley there ain’t a
blessed tiling around here for a boy
about your size to do.” says I.
“Don’t make a blame bit of differ
ence to me about the crops, mister,”
says the boy. “Work I want and work
I must have. I would ruther not steal,
nnd I’ll be essentially dadburned if I
don’t die before 1 will beg. But I can
work and do my share of anything that
comes to hand on the farm.”
“Tain’t no use in talkin, mister," the
Boy went on as he run his thumbs under
n pair of home-knit galluses ami pulled
his breeches up under his arms. “Ihave
come all the way from Georgy, conic
afoot and come to your house to git
around in the calico corner, but when
then two town girls conic and picked
me out for a native born idiot and put
in to have some fun they couldn’t set*
the snags ahead. The}' had their fun. I
reckon, but I hadn’t w ent off nowheres
and I got my share whilst the show was
goin on.
“One of them girls had fetched n
wheel, as she called it. and nothin would
do, but I must ride the blame thing.
I told her I had rid most anything from
a buekin mule to a long-horn steer, and
I would do mv level durndest to ride
when the forkful is lifted to the proper
height the man on the load pulls a cord,
w’hich runs the load across over the
mow. When it is properly located the
manipulator calls out “All right!” The
horse turns buck, the rope slackens, the
fork lets drop its load, and the operator
pulls it buek for another lift. To Hie
unsophisticated it is proper to that
the fork consists of a couple of hooks or
arms fastened at one end. By pressing
u stick at the point where the arms art
connected they are opened to their ut
most; then the tightening of the rope
£
BRUIN KNOCKED OUT.
5^'
nnvthing that anybody else had ever rid. ; closes them as far as the lead will ul-
In the main time I had saw the girl
mount her wheel and go spinnin and
iiyin around the picnic grounds as
smooth ami easy as fallin off of a wet
log—which I didn’t have no better sense
tiinn to think it was as easy ns it looked.
And it stood plum reasonable with me
that if a guy and gorgeous girl—with
all her frills rnd tixments and riggins
on-—could ride the thing so graceful like
nnd easy, it would be still more easier
for a boy like me, with on!} - a few plain
clothes on, to ‘make the mount and
scorch the wind,’ ns she called it.
“Ho consequentially I made the
mount. But I didn’t burn any wind to
speak of. The blame thing flew up be
hind and licfore at the same time, and
instid of scorehin-the native air I plowed
a hole three feet long in the fair besom
of the native earth with my own native
face. Them town girls made out like
they was tremendius sorry—which at
the same time they laughed ami cackled
and cackled and laughed till blamed if
low and—” up she goes.”
It was while attending to these mat
ters of adjustment that the accident
happened to Mr. Antrim. The fori; had
returned to the load, had been ad
justed for another lift, and he gave the
m
work to do and a place to stay. 1 j one of ’em didn't jest simply fall down
and wallow in it. Well, I jined in with
’em and laughed some at 1113’ fool self
and made out like it didn't hurl much.
haven't et a rale good square meal in
Aomethin better than three weeks.
There are wrinkles under the brow
band of my breeches right now as big
as your arm—(last if they ain’t. 1 do es
sentially believe I could take the slack
of my breadbasket and w ipe my nose
with it—da»t if I don’t. I must eat and
I must wear eiothes and 1 must work.
1 have come all the way from Georg3’.
I have come to Rocky Creek. I have
come to your house and I have come to
at ay.’’
A11-3 I.ou Ileuinlneil Over.
That night I went to bed and went
to sleep wonderin what in the. thunder-
ations I would do with that stray Amer
ican boy from Georg3’. Aceordin to the
Scripture# the earth In; 1 alread3’ been
replenished considerable right around
there, and so fur as 1 knew nobody
hadn’t forgot the multiplication table
jior burnt up 0113- cradles to s|H*ak of.
And if in spite of that the boys had put
in to coinin across the line from Georgy,
and coiniu to -stay, I didn’t know for
certain where the rush would stop.
But, anyhow, I put the Georgy
youngster out in the shed room that
night with the rest of the boys. B3-
the Hist crock of day next mornin he
was up and about. When I got out to
the lot he had. fed the horses and tend
ed to the stock. When I got to the
woodpile he had cut up stove, wood
enough to last two days. When I start
ed to the spring 1 met him comin up
tin* hill with three buckets of water— j
one in each hand and-the third uiuc on 1
his head. And then when mother went 1
down to the cow pen. bless heavens i'f
he want standin there at the lairs with 1
the calf rope in his hands ready wuitin. :
for a chance to turn off another job.
.Now. it had went through my head
the other night that I would ride over
to old man Jerry Rutherford’s the next
mornin to see if he wouldn't take the
Georgy bo3' to his house and make a !
place for him. Old man Jerry didn’t
have no bo3’s of his own so fur a/ any- I
I>od3’ knowed, and I lowed it nionght j
suit him to till out bln band with the
little straggler from Georgy. But be
fore breakfast that mornin, eeein what
I had saw, s.^-s I to myself, says I:
“Little man, your name nought be
Watson, or it nought be Smith—it
mought be that 3-011 come from Georgy,
or Reelfoot Luke, or Hubbenduim or
KaUamasoo. But I’ll be essential^'
dadburned if you ain’t right In re
gards to one thing—you have come to
stay.”
And so for seven long years Lou Wet-
son remained over at our honse and
tarried around In the Roek3’ Greek set
tlement. After that he took and got
niarritd and settled down. Be belt
his own from the jump and is now
ahead of the music in regards to this
world’s goods. And even till yet he
cun do more work In leu time nnd
clumber up around more country grub
than cuy one ntan that ever came
across the bolder lines of Georgy.
The nett time you go down the old
federal road across Wolf creek and
through the stump hills country—In a
big oak grove along the level on yon-
I» Die Grnpcvluo »wlunr.
“After that,” says Billy George with
an able-bodied twinkle in his 030, “I
didn’t have a blame thing to do but
hang around and let them town girl*
ride theirown wheel and-have their own
fun. Dadblame ’em, I knowed their
time was comin.
“First thing after dinner we went off
down C l th? cr?: 1 ; to the grapevin-
twiiig i...iier that '. ig beech tree. One
of the girls lowed she had read some
thin in a book onest upon a time about
ewingin in a grapevine swing and she
was most craz3- to see how it would feel.
The other one was more than willin
providin I would swing with ’em and
the* vino was plenty- strong to hold up
with three. Now as for m<* I had on my
(Sundayest eiothes. and I didn't have no
wiki romantic notions about how it
would feel to be swir.gin in a grapevine
swing back and forth across the widest
place in the creek. I was piuperfectly
sath fled that somethin would come to
paw with them two town girls before
the sun went down w ith a bobtail flush
behind the western hills, and I lowed
their time was comin now presently.
“But nothin else would do, and ruther
than bust up the show and spile the fun.
I went on across with the girls. By this
time I reckon they have got a slight
idea that Kwingin in a grapevine swing
ain't w hnt it use to hr. We swung across
back and iorth two or three times with
a smooth and steady- swish, and then
the old swing broke andt we all went
down into U>e creek with a mighty
swash.
“Now, if you remember. Uncle Rufe,
there Is a plum nest of grapevines nnd
ibamboo briar* along the banks of that
creek. We didn’t get drowned ’onuse
the water want deep enough for that,
but of nil the scnvmblin nnd scrramln
sind tpl&smn and hoggin you ever snw
or heard tell of or read about, me nnd
them two town girls we had it then and
there.
“And when finnl’y* at last we come
forth and got out on safe ground onest
more the^ want so tremendius much
prettier than me. and I had on jest
about as many-clothes as they did. Dod-
blnme cm, I knowed their tima was
comin somewhere* along the line nnd f
was willin to go-down, with cm if ithad
to come that way-.
“What next? Well, them two town
girls took their blamed old wheel and
went on back home, whilst I left the
dear, delightful old grapevine swing
flontln down the creek and went on my
way rojolcln.
Ifli llilll
rr
jilil
ill
i K
mil
If
HANGING BT HIS NECK.
signal “Go ahead!” As the strain came,
the pulley on the side of the barn gave
way. bounding to the load and striking
Antrim on the side of the head. The
rope was whirling when it struck An
trim, and in a twinkling it had caught
about his neck and he was being pulled
up—indeed it was a mere twinkling, a
moment, from the time he gave the or
der to go ahead when he was dangling
in midair. The horse had continued
along, his attendant not dreamiugof an
accident. When the rope tightened
about Antrim’s neck he instantly-
grasped it, and this undoubtedly- pre
vented his neck from being broken.
He could not speak or give any alarm
whatever. When tin? horse had reaehi d
1 the usual stopping place he rested,
I holding the loud till the attendant
should give the word to turn. Nothing
had been heard from Rimer since the
order to go ahead, and when more than
sufficient time had elapsed for running
the fork over to its position on the mow
his brother Kli stepped one side and
1 glanced up.
; There was Rimer hanging by his neck
a dozen feet above the h ad nnd. to all
appearances, dead! He almost screamed
I to the attendant to "Turn the horse!
j Turn the horse quick!" and the at
tendant made haste, still not himself
1 dreaming what the trouble was. Once
the rope relaxed, young Rimer fell
nearly unconscious upon the load. By
the time the men had scrambled upon
the load he had revived sutliclently to
1 let them know that he was alive. He
was assisted to the house, w here it was
found that the rope had onto nearly
through the flesh entirely around his
neck, and the strain was felt inside the
throat.
Next morning the soreness in the
vicinity of the roots ni the tongue was
intense, and h<- whs unable to take any-
' thing lint liquid nourishment. The
soreness responded to careful treat
ment and he was able to renew deliver-
lug on his milk route, but it will b>
some time before he will lie all right.
It is safe to say that he will never for
get the te.rrible moments when he was
' suspended In the air, the rope gradual
ly tightening to suffocation, and he un
able to make his condition known.
Where CoiirtMlily Is Eirltlnir.
- A Zulu youth cannot marry a girl
until he has whipped her brothers nnd
given her father u fall, if demanded, in
addition. This makes u courtship more
excursionists, who were spending the
day at Rye Beach, N. Y., where i-ilz-
siuimons has a cottage.
A few weeks ugj the pugilist's ad
mirers in Rye and Pori Flies ter gave
him a large bear called Jennie. The
bear has been kept ; ear the cottage in
a large cage. The other morning it at
tacked the pet dog- Yarrum, which
ventured too near the cage, and snap
ping its chain got loose on the beech.
The dog pursued the bear and- it took
to the woods and ran up a t ree, taking
refuge on a limb. Fitzsimmons climbed
the big oak after it and wen t out on a
limb. The bear gave a flen-e growl and
tried to cuff him off. Jit* grappled with
the enraged animal and- with a power
ful right hand' blow knocked it to the
ground 25 feet below. Many of the ex-
eurwioniistis had assembled neat'by and
as the animal fell among them men ran
and women, shrieked.
The dog was under the tree and
grappled with the bear w hen it struck
the ground in a heap. Bruin was get
ting tho best of the battle when Fitz
rushed in.
The animal tore a.-.vry from the deg
and raising on its rear legs threw* its
paws about Fitz’s neck arid tried, to
choke him todeath. In 'the struggle the
combination landed in a fence corner,
the bear’s head falling on a large rock.
The prizefighter freed himself and gave
his antagonist a terrific blow behind
the ear, knocking it senseless on- the
ground. The spectators rushed for a
rope and the pet was finally- tied about
the neck and dragged grow ling into the
sound until its chain and-cage could be
repaired.
Mrs. Fitzsimmons witnessed! the
fight from her cottage nnd said after
word that She was far more alarmed
than when her husband fought Cor
bett.
HE KICKED THE COW.
That’* Why n ChleaNto Woman Want*
mi Atisolatc Divorce.
When Charles Hnzzard grew angry at
his wife’s asking him to go lo church
he showed it by kicking a cow accord
ing to the story of Mary R. Hazzard, us
reported by the Chicago News.
Mrs. Hazzard, who is the daughter of
Rev. William A. Waterman, appeared
in court to tell Judge Horton w hy she
failed to live happily w ith her husband.
V,
rm yn 'J*'
('< *.1 }<3 '
"f.f J'A
’
I • • CM- .* U
•I i*'* • T • */>' /
“You oan tell all you know about i H»an chocolate caramel* and
gumdrops; hut the Zulu muidrn who
has four brothers weighing ISO pounds
each nnd measuring 50 Inches around
the waist generally dies un old nmid,
while the girl whose brothers are weak
•nd sickly and whose parent has broken
his leg at a primary is overrun wvlth pro
posals. It is a queer custom, and If It
were in vogue In this country a girl who
Is an only child and a half orphan on
her father'a side would be at a prcmltm.
how I rid the wheel. You enn tel! nil
you know about me and the girl* nnd
the grspevlne swing. But I would
ruther you don't eay nothin about the
■other boy that had took my pocket
knife nndelum up In the l>igber« h tiree
to turn thing* Joo*e In the due fullness
of time. The other boy wrs my side
partner. Brit Walton, and I love Brit
like a brother, 1 do."
Rirgi » r.A tDr.iui.
and the negro criminals outnumber the
whites six to one in proportion to popu
lation. In Georgia they outnumber the
wkites sixty to one and it is because of
cur scattered and unprotected popula
tion in the rural districts. Before the
war that crime was unknown and al
most unheard of In the south. I never
heard of a ease in north Georgia. In
1352 I liadi occasion to visit Cedar Bluff
in Alabama andi my companion. Judge
Underwood, stopped the horse to show
me a pile of stones that was heaped trp
around a dead sndiblasted'tree. “Those
stones.” said he, "mark the place w here
a negro brute was'burned two years ago
and also mark the place where lie com
mitted the crime and then murdered his
victim.” That was the only case that
came to my knowledge. During the
war, when in hundreds of families the
only protectors of women and) children
were negroes, not a deed of violence or
ily executed. Another says he would
: have been sent to the nsyluni as a
| lunatic. Judge Bleckley says the law
needs no reforming—that it is right
! now. The Bar association have resolved
| that it does need reforming. One
preacher quotes Scripture that says
"The land must not bo defiled with
blood." but does not give the context
that says “innocent blood,” and the fur
ther context that says: “Deliver him
unto the hand of the avenger of blood
that he may die, and thine eye shall not
pity him.” Life for life, hand for hand,
etc. “Let them stone him with stones,"
etc. It seems like a burlesque for any'
preacher to go to the old Mosaic law for
a text against summary punishment of
heinous crimes. The avenger of blood
was on the warpath all the time and
even the man who unwittingly kitted
his neighbor, not bating him before
hand. had to fly for his life to the city'
a betrayal of trust was heard of fr:un of refuge lest the avenger of blood over-
thc I’otomae to the Rio Grande; and
Gen. Henry R. Jackson eloquently-snid
of them: “They- deserve a monument
that would reach the stars,”
How is it now? Nearly 3,000 colored
convicts in the chain gangs and less
than 200 whites, and the nameless crime
is committed by negroes somewhere
every day in the year. What is the
cause of this alarming degeneracy of
take him, and, being hot. shall slay him. 1
Yes, being hot shall slay him. Those
avengers of blood must have been blood
thirsty fellows indeed. It was an awful
code of law, but the children of Israel-
were an awful race to deal with. I;
wonder what the boys of this genera
tion would say to a law like this: “If a'
man have a stubborn and rebellious
son who will not obey the voice of his
the negro? I heard a preacher say the 1 father or his mother, then shall his.
CAUSE FOB DIVORCE.
One. of the witnesses in Die ease was Dr.
Waterman. He said:
“1 have supportid the* girl ever since
j ben marriage, in IScfl). clothing tier and
i her child even when tuey were li' iag
ivith Hazzard. Bhe is residing with mo
now.” •
“What happened just prior to your
leaving your husband?” the complain
ant was asked.
"Well, we were living at his mother's
house,” said Mrs. Hazzard, “tihe told
me 1 had better go and get my board
where I got my cJothes. I asked my
h usbu nd to provide me u home. He said
he w‘is going to stand by his mother
—that sin* had the property. I went
home to my father and have been there
with him since."
“What happened In the summer of
“My hu»hund> was to have accom
panied my sister and me to church. I
inked b;m if he was ready to go. He
was •'■.frry and commenced to kick ths
oow. 1 told him I d’dn’t think he ought
to take out his anger on the brute and
he chased me ont of the boro.**
other day that lynching for this crime
or any other was the evidence of a de
praved and lawless public sentiment.
He is mistaken. It is rather the evidence
of minds charged, perhaps overcharged,
with love and respect for wives and
daughters, and no man who has neither
is a fit juror to try the ease. He is in
capable of understanding cr appreciat
ing the common peril that, like a
shadow, hangs over the fanner’s home,
be it ever so humble. Parental love is
nearly all that these people have to give
to their children and they give that and
cherish them and will defend them as
a tigress defends her whelps. What is
the majesty of the law worth to a man
whose child hasfiallen victim toa brute?
What is it to his neighbor who all these
years has been from time to time appre
hending a -similar visitation? What
does a young man, w hether preacher or
editor or lawyer, know about it? Jean
lugelow (God bless her sweet mem
ory!) ifiakes the old fisherman to say
“I feel for mariners of stormy nights
and fee! for wives that watch ashore.”
Who knows the perrls of the deep like
a fisherman? Rome of those learned*
judges and lawyers andi preachers of
Atlanta have given vent to language
that is bitter and malignant against
lynchings for any crime, but it is to be
noted that they have long livedi in call
of the police by night and by day and
within brick walls and with neighbors
at hand on every- side. What can they
know of the peril of the farmer w hose
wife visits a neighbor, or whose chil
dren have to go a mile away to school?
Perhaps some Inquiring mind will
ask what do I know about it? Twenty-
years ago I moved front the city to the
country and farmed there for ten years,
and all that time’the apprehension grew
stronger t.nd stronger, for there were
negroes a!! around, me on the farms and
more negroes not far away- working in
the mines. I never expressed my fears,
not even to my wife; but w hen our boy -
all left the farm for other avocations,
and I had)to be away most cf the time,
my wife became alarmed, and I immedi
ately left the farm and moved to town
for security. So did every neighbor
that I had-, and our school w ns broken
up and the wholeaettl-ement abandoned
and turned over to negro tenants. The
sehoolhouve was amile away, and I used
to look with parental eagerness for the
first appearance of the children’s hats
as they- rose Into view over the distant
hill. Until then I never realized the
common j>eril th*t environs the, coun
try people. I have a poor opinion of
opinions unless they come from those
who are competent to judge. ‘Great
men arc not always wise," saith the
Scriptures. The nearer the press is to
the people, the country peop!e, the
ynone ready hi is to apologize, cr even to
justify, the speedy execution of this,
class of criminals. The preachers and
the pres« may fulminate and the gov
ernor proclaim, but I cannot help re
joicing at every capture nnd every ex
ecution. The law's delay has nothingto
do with it. It is the spontaneous out
burst of emotions long felt and long
smothered, and those emotions an*
-based upon love—love for home nnd
wife nnd children, love and respect for
the wives and daughters of the neigh
bor*. Lynching negroes for this crime
Is no evidence of lawle»»nen»aniong our
people. The crime atasd# ont by Itself
as an atrocity for which- no law 1* ifd-
equate ami no remedy has yet been
foued. Why It should be on the. In-
father lay hold on him nnd bring him to
the elders and say: This, our son w-ill
i>ot obey our voice. And all the men of
the city- shall stone him with stones
that he die. And Israel shall hear and
•
fear.” What a horribledeath wasthat!
And yet it was a common and frequent-
punishment. If I was a preacher I
wouldn’t go to the Old Testament for a
text against lynching. I wouldn't even,
quote Cain, whom the Lord marked,'
for it seems very certain that if tho
Lord had not interfered the people
would have lynched him. Jcsenhua
says that the Lord protected him be
cause of his offering and because heen-
treated and said: “Is my sin too great
to l»e forgiven ?”
To my mind the sum of the whole
matter is that neither the law’s delay,
nor its uncertainty has anything to do
with the impulses and emotions thati
control men when they pursue and
overtake and identify and execute a,
negro for his crime against helpless in-,
noeenee. Every parent and husband,
ami brother in the neighborhood im-.
mediately becomes an avenger of blood.-
If the brute has already been caught by|
the officers of the law nnd securely;
placed in prison, then let him stay there,
and meet his doom according to law. I|
would not take any prisoner away from)
a faithftd and honest sheriff—unless;
perhaps the victim was cne of my* fam-.
ily, nor even then unless it could bo.
done without shedding the blood of of-'
fleers or friends.
For all other crimes the law s we havei
are good enough for nil good citizens,,
and I feel no great concern for the bad,,
I suppose that at least half the lawyers,
carry concealed weapons, but theydon’t
carry them for me. Certain it is I want
no advice on this subject from press or.
pulpit, from judges cr lawyers, and es
pecially- from young unmarried men or
those who live in roek-built cities. I had
rather hear and heed the %-oicc of this
women of this southern land, the
mothers and daughters who alone nr»?
the vic tims when, peril comes, if it.
comes at all. What do they say?—Bill
Arp, in Atlanta Constitution.
War I.cmn *>1 unleror».
The diminishing losses in battle prove
conclusively, says a writer in Cham
bers’ Journal, that war is no longer so.
murderous as it was. The alteration in>
tactics and in the formation of troops
attacking has counteracted, the supe-.
rior precision and range of modern flre-i
arms. The shell, though its moral ef
fect is greater, is not so destructive as!
the round shot, grape and canister off
the old days playing upon troops ad--
vanring in line or column. The mag-t
azine rifle, incalculably superior In ac-4
curacy and penetrating power to thei
old Brown Bess, is nett so deadly in it*i
effect; for, when it fails to kill outright,!
the wounds it inflicts with its tlfiy pro-|
jeetile are not nearly so ugly nrd crip
pling as those of the old spherical bul
let, which smashed where the other
glances off—Military- Gazette Chicago.)
A Perfect Picture.
“It is astonishing," said the major,
“how perfectly the artists of the pres
ent day succeed in imitating nature.**
“Yes. indeed,” replied Mrs. Cobb, who
had come out to witness the drill of the
battalion. "I was told, once, of an artist
who hod produced so perfect a picturo
jf a hen that when he put it on the
rounter of a down-town art gallery for
sale. It lay there, indefinitely.—3fiH
tarv Gazette. CMc&ro.