Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/246

222 " All summed up, it was a heartless affair, and the law should have been permitted to take its course. No law, however, could bring justice too swift in such a case." Southerner's View of the Mob's Deed By John C. Calhoun, former President of the South- ern Society : — "I do not believe in mob violence in any form. I always believe in letting the law take its course, and in Northern States this can be done, for there are very few cases of attacks on women by negroes as compared with the Southern States. " I have read a great deal in the newspapers of the Wilmington tragedy, and I regret it deeply. " There are certain cases I can recall where lynching has been justified, for in doing this, men of the South have protected their women. If some lynchings did not take place, there would be more attacks on South- ern women than there are by negroes." The parents of the victim in this case were for the law taking its course, and were opposed to mob vio- lence. The father said : — " Let us not try to atone for one crime, no matter how hellish, by committing another." Mr. William Travers Jerome, the district-attorney for the City of New York, gave the following as his opinion : — " I think the condition of white people in the midst of a vast population of colored people of a low grade in certain parts of the South is a trying one. It is difhcult for us in the North to judge occurrences there altogether fairly. But these conditions do not exist in Delaware. " I can think of nothing to say in palliation of the horror of the deed done by presumably intelligent