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THE SUN PAPERS AND MENCKEN
When a newspaper like the Sun is called upon to apologize for something it printed in its editorial columns, which it believed was a public duty to print, it does not apologize, but when the Sun is shown that its editorial utterances were based on news sent to it and other papers, which it and they believed to be true, but have since learned were not true, that is another matter, and there is nothing left for them, as newspapers which have the confidence of the people of Maryland, except to say they regret they were misled and misinformed.
The Messenger informs the Sun that correspondents for it, and other papers, made it appear that mobs endeavored to lynch Yuel Lee, when there were no mobs. One correspondent, we are told. sent a message that 2500 people surrounded the Court House at Snow Hill, with the purpose of lynching Yuel Lee. We are informed that an investigation at the time showed there were just nineteen people on the Court House Square and five of these were State policemen.
It seems that all of the trouble on the Eastern Shore came from reports sent in by correspondents who colored their stories to thrill the readers and get from the newspapers more money for their articles than they were entitled to get, if the news had been given as it should have been given.
Of course the Editor of The Sun did not know this at the time, and the reports sent to him gave him great concern for the fair name of the State.
He did not know that Bernard Ades took a gunwoman with hinv to Snow Hill as a protector, when no threats had ever been made against him.
He did not know that the man indicted for the murder of the Davis family was carried, unmolested, before the Court in Snow Hill, and at the conclusion of his arraignment left unmolested, with no demonstrations from the orderly crowd gathered in and around the Court House.
When Mr. Ades appeared in Court at another hearing in the case, as stated before, accompanied by a woman, Miss Mays, the people who came to court learned that during the day she and Ades had some kind of trouble with some of the citizens of the town. They were told to leave.
The Sun did not know that the woman had virtually threatened a citizen with her gun, and that she was placed under bond and the gun taken away from her.
The Sun did not know that the Mays woman sat in open Court with a loaded gun on her person, in contempt of Court, and in violation of the laws of Maryland, with the knowledge of Bernard Ades, an attorney.
The Sun did not know the people were indignant, and looked upon Ades as the principal back of the woman. They gathered around him and pummeled him. They remembered that in Baltimore he claimed that the jurors who were to try Lee must be negroes, as well as whites, and that he could not get a fair trial outside of Baltimore. At that time he was not even recognized by the Court as the attorney for Yuel Lee. Therefore the people repudiated him. If Mr. Upshur or Mr. Wailes, appointed by the Court to defend Lee had remained in charge of the case the man could have received a fair trial anywhere in the district, and would not have been molested, as they have the reputation of being honest and competent lawyers.
When the lynching occurred at Salisbury The Sun condemned it, as did every other newspaper, but the Sun should not hold the people of the Eastern Shore of Maryland in contempt, as did H. L. Mencken in the Evening Sun. Mencken has had it in for the Eastern Shore ever since the days of the great war, when the Eastern Shore labeled him as a traitor—an undesirable, and they now believe him to be a Communist who has influenced The Sun to give unnecessary publicity and encouragement to the activities of Communists.
The Sun knows that all the wisdom, all the virtues, and all the good qualities of the human race are not possessed by city people. The Sun knows that the inhabitants of the Eastern Shore of Maryland are an enterprising, intelligent people, and a prosperous people, and the Sun should not hold them in contempt, as does Mr. Mencken.
The Sun should realize that it is foolish to condemn an entire section for something done by a few people. We might as well condemn all the people of Baltimore for the man lynched there. We repeat, that all the trouble between the Sun and the people of the Eastern Shore is the result of the activities of correspondents who misrepresented the facts, and as a newspaper wishing to give the truth at all times, we are sure that in the light of this truthful explanation the Sun will do the graceful thing, and say to the Eastern Shore: "We do not entertain the same opinion of you as Mencken does, and there will be no more of his insults to you in this paper,' :'.'M*»r:^>^ |
