Page:Journal of Religion and Society Volume 24.pdf/1



Julia Fleming, Creighton University

Abstract

Introduction

On December 9, 1881, Fr. Francis Hillman, SJ, set out from Omaha on a mission trip to Sydney, Nebraska. A report on Jesuit missionary activities in the state, including Hillman’s visit to Sydney, later described the town as “the last place of any note” along the tracks of Nebraska’s Union Pacific Railway. After outlining the various accomplishments of Hillman’s mission, the report’s anonymous Jesuit author added: “The people of Sydney think they are making rapid progress in civilization and good manners; for during the preceding year only one man was lynched and only four murders were committed, quite an improvement on former records” (CDRSI 14:479; WL 1882, 175–76).

The mindsets that the Jesuit writer ascribes to the people of Sydney reflect an influential narrative about American lynching. This trope associated the practice of lynching with the Western frontier, interpreting vigilantism as a regrettable, yet temporary, substitute for

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