Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/372

356 woman came into existence as a sequence. It occurred generally under most revolting and harrowing circumstances. It was in sparsely-settled districts where the crime was committed, in secluded paths and roads, when young girls were going to or returning from school, when wives were alone in their homes with children, their husbands being at work in the fields or otherwise engaged in the great struggle of breadwinning, and in communities generally where the blacks predominated in numbers. The feeling of utter lack of protection existed in places, and those who lived under such terrible facts, felt that the sanctity of their homes could only be protected by taking the law into their own hands and meting out punishment to the brutes. They did it just as they would turn out to kill a mad dog in a small town, or crush a rattlesnake under their feet, when beloved ones were in such peril. Women were afraid to go about without a guard. Life became unbearable; for the peace and security of home are gone when rape is committed. They felt that if the brute was not lynched, the Wretch might get loose and repeat the same crime.

These acts of lynching, of course, always shocked every law-abiding citizen. They struck terror to the negro. The law-abiding sentiment was weakened whenever a lynching occurred. The crime was indefensible; but those who condemn it must not forget the abnormal conditions. Those who engaged in lynching put themselves outside of the law, but at the same time those who committed rape put themselves also outside of the law. It would always be better to abide by the law, for human society and civilization are based on the principle that the individual gives up his right of protection of life and property to the State which must perform this duty. But in the isolated spots where the crime was generally committed, it was almost impossible in many cases to get this