From an Editorial in the Chicago Tribune.
Type of event: Lynchings
Location: Duluth; St. Louis County; Minnesota; United States
Citation:
Duluth Herald, June 19, 1920, page 8.
From an Editorial in the Chicago Tribune.
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The Duluth Lynching
Editorial in the Chicago Tribune
Duluth has now joined the American cities which have discovered how
easily the safeguards of civilized justice can be leaped. Suddenness is a
common factor of all such outbreaks and law finally reasserts itself, but after
lives are sacrificed and community’s good name is besmirched.
In Omaha,
it was said delays and failure of justice in cases of offenses against women had
inflamed public feeling. Pictures of the mob showed callousness and
irresponsibility rather than uncontrollable passion. The delay of justice
theory did not bear examination very well. In the Duluth lynching it seems to
have less validity if it has any.
The problem is deeper. At its base, of
course, is a very strong trait in American character which creates, in spite of
inconsistencies and exceptions, a special attitude toward women. In the Duluth
case the men charged with the offense were negroes, and undoubtedly this was an
important factor in the psychology of outbreak. But white men are sometimes
lynched for this offense when circumstances are aggravated. In the Duluth
lynching motives of sex protection and race instinct were combined.
We can
eradicate neither and we would eradicate neither. Both are useful, perhaps
necessary if properly controlled and directed. But they were not controlled in
Duluth, as they were not controlled in Chicago: in Omaha, in Springfield. The
authorities of Duluth permitted the leaders of the mob to go about in
automobiles gathering recruits for the lynching. This was a sign of
inefficiency, of lax police discipline, if not of connivance, which challenges
the self respect of Duluth and warns the responsible elements of its population
that the morale of its police protection is low. Prompt arrest of the mob
leaders would have saved a blot on the city’s scutcheon and perhaps the
lives of innocent men.
That is for Duluth to think about but all America has
in this new lynching a cause for the gravest reflection. The Duluth mob heard
appeals to let the law take its course. Its members did not need these appeals
because they themselves wanted to kill. We doubt if they were certain as to the
guilt of the men who died asserting their innocence; but they wanted victims to
assuage their lust for vengeance and victims they would have whether innocent or
guilty. We doubt if the uncertainty and tardiness of legal processes of justice
have much to do with lynch psychology, but we think it might be tempered by a
keener sense of responsibility to the law. Mobs, and even mob leaders are
seldom punished. Until they are there is little to check the lynching
evil.
We hope Duluth will do better than other cities in dealing with the men
who have brought stain to her good name. Duluth is a very proud city and may
set us all an example. We certainly need one. Mob violence is inexcusable in
civilized communities. The American lynching is a disgrace to us the world
over
Blood Should have been shed
Chicago Evening Post: They lynching at course. It’s members did
not need these appeals because they themselves wanted to kill. We doubt if they
were certain as to the guilt of the men who died asserting their innocence; but
they wanted victims to assuage their lust for vengeance and victims they would
have whether innocent or guilty. We doubt if the uncertainty and tardiness of
legal processes of justice have much to do with lynch psychology, but we think
it might be tempered by a keener sense of responsibility to the law. Mobs and
even mob leaders are seldom punished. Until they are there is little to check
the lynching evil.
Blood Should Have Been Shed
We hope Duluth will do better than other cities in dealing with the men
who have brought stain to her good name. Duluth is a very proud city and may
set us all an example. We certainly need one. Mob violence is inexcusable in
civilized communities. The American lynching is a disgrace to us the world
over.
Chicago Evening Post: The lynching at Duluth bears every mark of a
disgraceful failure of constituted authority to do its duty.
The lynchers
pursued the bold method of riding in automobiles through the streets of the city
and appealing to passers-by to join them in their lawless enterprise.
Apparently the mob inciters were allowed to carry out their program of enlisting
a hanging party without opposition.
When the mob reached the police station
it was met with no better resistance than a fire hose. No shots were fired; no
real effort was made to defend the unhappy wretches who were in the custody of
the law. Several policemen are said to have been slightly injured in a brief
skirmish which ended when the mob got possession of the fire hose. A moment
later it had the men whom the authorities were charged with protecting until
they could be given a fair trial. A mock trial was held in the station; three
of six negroes were condemned to death, and sentence was executed on the
city’s streets over the protest of a Catholic priest, who alone seems to
have had the courage to speak for law and order and human decency.
This is a
crime of a Northern state, as black and ugly as any that has brought the south
into disrepute. The Duluth authorities stand condemned in the eyes of the
nation. They cannot escape condemnation by the plea that an attempt at
effective resistance–and attempt involving the use of firearms–would
have resulted in bloodshed. Blood should have been shed before the mob was
permitted to trample law and justice under foot, before possibly innocent men
were surrendered to a summary and undiscriminating vengeance. Duluth’s
shame lies in the fact that it can report no fatalities among either the
assailants or the defenders of the law–only the death of men whose lives
were in its keeping.