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SALISBURY FOLKS AREJMICIZED
The People * 0/ Salisbury Have Been Criticized For Their Attitude During And After The Lynching Of Matihew Williams, In A Report Prepared By Professor Broadus Mitchell.
Baltimore, Jan. 25 W)~The people of Salisbury were, criticized for their altitude during and after the lynching Lectmber 4 of Matthew Williams i'-8'», i" a report prepared lor ule i'c^eial Uouncu Clinches oi Canst m Amend by Professor Broadus Mic-cuell of tne Department ox foht.cai economy at Johns riopkins Umversay Williams was taken iram tne fea-insula General iio.>p,i,ai and uangee and his body burned alter he hau kiU-ed his wmte emplover. Proiessor Mitchell at the request of the Federations commission on race relations to make a report on the affair. Two weeks aiter tne lynching Professor Mitchell went to .Salisbury and remain id there from a Friday to the follow-i~g Sunday.
"The most sorrowful reflection" the report said, "is not that some ig-r.ortant countrymen ana townsmen gave way to violence but that no one from among the intelligent fair-mind ed citizens exerted himself with spirit to stop the lynching."
"Credit should be given to two who oposed the mob; one who tried to stop the lynching and one who attempted to prevent the barbarism of the burning." Professor Mitchell refused to reveal the names of the persons to whom he referred.
"The Chesapeake Bay in a sense contributed lo the lynching in Salisbury. That is, the Eastern Shore is isolated geographically and has become backwards in its spiritual and mental development" Professor Mitchell asserted-.
Again attacking the attitude of the citizens of Salisbury he said: "two weeks alter the lynching the place was rife with excuses for the hanging, if not, indeed, full of justification of it."
"This attitude of self-defense was stimulated by the criticism of Salisbury that came from other parts of the state. The sectional feeling was -creased when a .local newspaper stated that the Eastern Shore, on 'hich Salisbury is located, feels 'that ill*! tic-aiei pa.t of the vespur.r>:.,v!:*y for it (the lynching) results from the interference of Baltimore Citv in the affairs of the Shore. The sec tional feeling lan so high that several merchants in Salisbury even cancelled orders with Baltimore's firms."
Continuing with the events leading up to the lynching the report of the Johns Hopkins professor said "if it be said that it occurred too quickly, it is to be answered that there was probably knowledge in the town an hour or more before hand that trouble was brewing. And if private citizens arc to be excused the officers of the law1 have no excuse. It may fairly be con eluded that the chief of police, his thiee patrolmen who were on duty r^d the sheriff and his deputies offered no resistance fo the lynching.
"The impression was received by the innuirer that the nublic spirit of Salisbury is far below what is desirable. Those whom one would expect to ho leaders in a" crisis decided to fall in with the ignorant, the prejudiced, the frightened the sullenly boastful. "Salisbury has given proof of its Isck of civic morality—not only in the lynching and burning and even more pointedly in the childish defense offered for the lynching afterward One feels that the business organizations stand for nothing better than for mere town boosting, the chu"cheg l"-n-0 noglfv+eH the application of religion to life."
"The town of Salisbury needs an active local interracial committee," the report concluded.
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