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Ritchie Faces k Lynching
Gov Ritchie's devotion to states' rights wouldT compel him to veto, as President, a bill granting jurisdiction over casew of lynching to the federal authorities and courts. The state of Maryland will attend to its own lynchings. It was to the governor's credit, therefore, that when he heard of the lynching at Salisbury, Md., on Friday, he cut short | a visit in New York and took the next train for home.
That the governor should do something is obvious; that he will do something effective is to be hoped. The prisoner, a Negro, was in jail when his place of confinement, provided by the state of Maryland, was lawlessly invaded by a mob, which did thereupon outrage the sovereign power of the commonwealth by putting the prisoner to death without the authority of the courts and with contempt for the prisoner's constitutional rights. This wanton encroachment upon the jurisdiction of Maryland was not committed by the federal government. The state's sovereignty in this case was undermined by a group of its own citizens arrogating to themselves certain legal functions in such a way as temporarily to establish on Maryland soil a state of insurrection or anarchy. Here is an opportunity for Gov Ritchie to fortify states' rights by standing that mob on its head. Its members for the most part must be known.
When a lynching mob challenges and flouts the authority of a state, an exceptional opportunity is presented to vindicate the majesty of its laws and justify its claim to exclusive jurisdiction in the defense. of the civil rights of its popul
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