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NO HALFWAY MEASURES
Governor Ritchie has done well in instructing Attorney-General Lane to assist it the investigation of the Salisbury mob and in the prosecution of its members. The news from Salisbury that State's Attorney Bailey has stated that he will prosecute is gratifying. But the State, which has been disgraced by a lynching of incredible bestiality, cannot leave prosecution solely in the hands of local authorities. It must throw the whole of its weight and power into this investigation and demonstrate once and for all that in Maryland mobs shall not with impunity appease their filthy and ferocious appetites.
The Governor has done equally well in announcing flatly that he will protect the Negro Yuel Lee and his counsel, Bernard Ades. There will be a respite in this dangerous matter for a week or more. Petitions and records in the case have been sent to the Court of Appeals, and action is not expected until next week. Perhaps in some manner the proceedings before the Appellate Court may result in transfer of the case to a jurisdiction where no violence need be feared. If, however, it is necessary under the law to send the case back to the court of the First Judicial Circuit the dangers will be revived. That court followed a hazardous course when it ordered the second time that Lee be tried in Cambridge. The outburst of barbarism in Salisbury must add to apprehension of disaster in the event the Lee case finally goes back to Cambridge for trial. Governor Ritchie can do no less than guard abundantly against the worst.
If Lge is guilty of the atrocious crime with which he is charged, there is not the remotest chance that any court in Maryland will permit him to escape the prescribed punishment—as there is not the slightest doubt that any court in Maryland would have imposed the death penalty upon the Negro who murdered Mr. Elliott. And Yuel Lee's fate must be determined by the courts though it tax the last resource of the State. That is the right of the civilized people of this State who support a civilized government.
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