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cause of the probability of agitators and radleal organizations intervening to prevent prompt Jlisffee. They realize the fact that the most efficient cifre for crime is prompt Justice and that often times justice delayed means a miscarriage of justice. With the results of the Yuel Lee case before them, and, in view' of the many delays that haye occurred in this case ,it is easy ' to-see* how persons who would be influenced by sensational head-lines and mis-. leading news articles would decide that there should be no -repetftion of the Yuel Lee case in the crime committed yesterday' afternoon in Salisbury. •
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More Misrepresentations
In an editorial carried by the Baltimore Sun Saturday morning as campaign of misrepresentation of the Eastern Shore of Maryland is-carried to the point of being insulting to every resident of this peninsula, although we do not ^appose this makes.any difference to the:'publish-ers of that paper. We republish the editorial on this page.
We deny emphatically that mob violence has existed on the Shore for four weeks as alleged by The Sun. The only time there has Deft imob violence was when Mr- Ades* was slightly mishandled at Snow Hill and on that occasion those composing 'thfe crowd liad no desire to seriously injure Mr. Ades but simply wanted him to understand .that the people of that section resented the methods which he. was employ ing in the Lee case. Of course if The Sun feels' impelled to defend, protect and nuture the organization that Mr. Ade* represents that is its own business.
The editorial Saturday states that the Court and the State's Attorney peitioncd Governor Ritchie for troops and police "armed for any emergency." That statement is like many of the others that have appeared in that paper in connection with the Lee case and has no foundation. The first the Court or the State's Attorney heard of troops and fXolice was when ' on November 13 Governor Ritchie sent letters to the Court and the State's Attorney advising that he had direced General Reckord to hold one or two companies of the Maryland National Guard in readiness for the Lee trial
to break down the bulwarks of jus-ice and liberty, to deliberately undermine the confidence of the people in their Courts, and the ultimate results of such action, if successful, would be to bring about that condition in the nation for which it is believed certain organizations have been established. Possibly, that, too may be the attitude of The Run.
Editorial Reprinted from The Evening Sun of last week
No Temporizing
Less than a month ago a mob formed down in Worcester county and made an effort to lynch a Negro accused of murder. Failing to find its intended victim, the members of the mob apprea^ed their blood lust,: to some extent at least, by beating up one of the lawyers appointed to defend the prisoner.
There was much excitement created Tiic Governor insisted that the Negro would be protected at any cost an.' announced his intention of catling out the "National Guard.
•That sounded fine, but that it was effectively in quelling the mob spirit we venture to doubt. For yesterday, in Kent county, another mob formed, marched on the Chestertown jail and hcVi through it wth the announced intention of lynching a Negro accused of attempted rape. The Negro had already been spirited away but so violent., were the would-be lynchers that ..tshey searched jails in four counties before giving up hope of shedding blood.
It (is clear that making the gesture of ''protecting the prisoner" is no1 enough. Mobs, as everyone knows are composed usually of t^e lowe.;t elements in the community which engenders them. Such people are riot impressed by appeals to their better nature, nor by the desire to preserve the reputation of the county and ccta monwealth in which they live. . But the preservation of the reputation of Maryland as a civilized State is important to all the/ rest of us. The only way that reputation can be preserved is by* skotching the mob spirit whenever it shews its ugly head.
If Governor Ritchie wants to do the best thing for the State he will no. longer temporize with the outbreaks I on the Eastern Shore. We want no epidemics Of this sort in Maryland.' One Mississippi in the country is'
iuppuaea uif liccuum w "in i....fe.«--
was permanent. It is not ijecessar:
to demonstrate to intelligent men an wemen that lynching is an a sauI iipcn the State, upon the law and up on civilization—or that in unloosing the violent, murderous imprl'e- o many men its i-e!'!ex upon the coim munity ranks it as the gravest o crimes. Our decent people know tha and it had net been supposed that' ir any old an:' seasoned community Oi this State, decent an'd intelligent people would throw wide tho gates to the mad and unreasoning and bid them take command. It was a false pride and a false security. The lowest ant least civilized elements did take command, and that remains true whether or not men of position participated in the Salisbury lynching or tacitly approved it.
There will be hope that this upsurge of barbarity will bring intelligent men on the Eastern Shore to their senses, and that they will take whatever steps need to be taken to assure respect for the law in the case of the two Ne-gros yet to be tried for serious crimes But there is a duty beyoni that. There is a duty upon the officials of Wicomico county and upon Governor Ritchie to seek out the members of the Salisbury mob and to punish them. J It must be admitted that there is no great hope that the county oflciaU will do so. The size of the mob and the manner in which the lynching was carried out point to official indifference and complacency. That, however, only makes it the more imperative that the Governor use the full powey of'-his office and that he per-i mit'no technicalities to stand in the way of ruthless prosecution.
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