101. Boston Gazette, Sept. 25, 1769 (No. 755, p. 3).
102. Boston Gazette, Oct. 16, 1769 (No. 758, p. 2).
103. No. 140, II, 351.
104. Boston Gazette, Jan. 1, 1770 (No. 769, p. 1); June 11, 1770 (No. 792, p. 2); July 2, 1770 (No. 795, p. 2); August 20, 1770 (No. 802, p. 1); Boston-Gazette Supplement July 30, 1770 (No. 799, p. 2); Aug. 6, 1770 (No. 800, p. 2); Boston News-Letter, June 21, 1770 (No. 3480, p. 3); Essex Gazette, June 19–26, 1770, II, p. 191; June 26–July 3, 1770, II, p. 195; Aug. 7–14, 1770, III, p. 11; London Gazetteer, Nov. 17, 1770 (No. 13016, p. 2); “The Letters of James Murray, Loyalist,” edited by Nina Moore Tiffany (1901), pp. 165, 175–178.
105. Boston Gazette, Nov. 1, 1773 (No. 969, pp. 1, 3). See also Boston News-Letter, Jan. 27, 1774 (No. 3669, p. 2).
106. Boston Gazette, Nov. 15, 1773 (No. 971, p. 3).
107. Boston News-Letter, Jan. 27, 1774 (No. 3669, p. 2); Feb. 3, 1774 (No. 3670, p. 2); Massachusetts Spy, Jan. 27, 1774 (No. 156, p. 3).
108. Boston Gazette, Jan, 31. 1774 (No. 982, p. 3); Massachusetts Spy, Feb. 3, 1774 (No. 157, p. 2).
On January 17 a handbill signed in the same way had been distributed, giving notice that any “Tea Consignees” who should come to reside again in Boston would be given “such a Reception as such vile Ingrates deserve.”—Boston Gazette, Jan. 17, 1774 (No. 980, p. 3); Boston Evening Transcript, Feb. 27, 1903, p. 14.
109. No. 976, p. 3.
110. Boston News-Letter, Nov. 18, 1773 (No. 3659, p. 2).
111. “History of Rhode Island” (1878), II, 308–309.
112. No. 761, p. 3.
113. Boston News-Letter, Jan. 27, 1774 (No. 3669, p. 2); Massachusetts Spy, Jan. 27, 1774 (No. 156, p. 2); Essex Gazette, Jan. 25–Feb. 1, 1774 (No. 288, VI, p. 107); March 1–8, 1774 (No. 293, VI, p. 127); Boston Gazette, Feb. 28, 1774 (No. 986, p. 2); March 14, 1774 (No. 988, p. 1). For a brief account of the whole affair see S. Roads, Jr.: “History and Traditions of Marblehead” (1880), pp. 91–94.
114. For an account of the doings of mobs in Massachusetts see Frank Moore: “Diary of the American Revolution” (1875), pp. 37–42.
115. John Drayton: “Memoirs of the American Revolution” (1821), I, 273–274. Frank Moore: “Diary of the Revolution” (1875), pp. 90–91. Edward McCrady: “South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775–1780” (1901), p. 24.
116. John Drayton: “Memoirs of the American Revolution” (1821), II, 17.
117. Frank Moore: “Diary of the Revolution” (1875), p. 138.
118. Ibid., p. 178.
119. Frank Moore: “Diary of the Revolution” (1875), p. 359.
120. W. M. Sloane: “The French War and the Revolution” (1893), p. 239.
121. “Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry” (1818), pp. 232–233.
122. Hening’s “Statutes at Large,” X, 195.
For an account of the measures taken which were not strictly warranted by law, see L. C. Draper: “King’s Mountain and its Heroes” (1881), pp. 384–387.
“An act to indemnify Thomas Nelson, Junior, esquire, late governor of this commonwealth, and to legalize certain acts of his administration,” was passed in 1781.—Hening’s “Statutes at Large,” X, 478.
123. Southern Literary Messenger, II, 389 (May, 1836).
This reference comes to the present writer through Mr. J. P. Lamberton of Philadelphia, Mr. Edward Ingle, the author of “Southern Sidelights” (See pp. 191–193), and Mr. Albert Matthews.
124. The name of one of the younger sons of John Lynch, the founder of Lynchburg, was William, and Mrs. Cabell says that he was a “Colonel in the late war.” This William Lynch, however, married in early life and made his home in the city of Lynchburg. See Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell: “Sketches and Recollections of Lynchburg” (1858), p. 20.
A writer in Harper’s Magazine for May, 1859 (p. 794) refers to a “Mr. Lynch” who “was for many years the senior and presiding Justice of the County Court of Pittsylvania.” This writer also says that Lynchburg was named for this Mr. Lynch, and that his advanced age prevented him from taking the field during the War of Independence. This, however, is an account from memory of a story heard when a mere boy from an old man, and, as there are inaccuracies in several particulars, it cannot be regarded as reliable.
125. Hening’s “Statutes at Large,” XI, 373.
126. “Memorable Days in America” (London, 1823), pp. 304, 305.
128. W. N. Blane: “An Excursion through the United States and Canada, 1822–1823” (London, 1824), pp. 233–236.
129. See pp. 291–292 for this extract. The letters which compose Judge Hall’s book were mostly printed in The Port Folio between 1821 and 1825, but the letter in which he speaks of lynch-law first appeared in the printed volume of 1828. (M.)
130. This expression is used in the Illinois agreement of 1820 (see below), and that document, if genuine, furnishes the earliest instance of its use known to the present writer.
131. This statement is made on the authority of McConnel (see below), but compare C. J. Latrobe: “Ramble in America,” (N. Y., 1836, 2d ed.), Let. VII, I, 96.
132. J. L. McConnel: “Western Characters or Types of Border Life in the Western States” (1853), pp. 244–245. (M.) This extract is copied verbatim, the names of the twelve men being omitted by McConnel. Of the genuineness of the document McConnel says: “I am not sure that I can vouch for its authenticity, but all who are familiar with the history of those times, will recognise, in its peculiarities, the characteristics of the people who then inhabited this country. The affectation of legal form in such a document as this would be rather amusing, were it not quite too significant; at all events, it is entirely ‘in keeping’ with the constitution of a race who had some regard for law and its vindication, even in their most high-handed acts. The technical phraseology, used so strangely, is easily traceable to the little ‘Justice’s Form Book,’ which was then almost the only law document in the country; and though the words are rather awkwardly combined, they no doubt gave solemnity to the act in the eyes of its sturdy signers.”
133. J. L. McConnel: “Western Characters,” &c., p. 176.
134. Niles’ Register, July 19, 1834 (46: 352).
135. The Liberator, Nov. 5, 1831 (1: 180).
The publication of this paper was begun in Boston in 1831, by William Lloyd Garrison, the enthusiastic agitator of the anti-slavery cause. His efforts to make his lists of “Southern Atrocities” as large as possible render his paper a valuable source of information on the subject of lynch-law, particularly lynch-law as applied to negroes prior to the Civil War.
136. Liberator, Oct. 29, 1831 (1: 174).
137. Ibid., Oct. 1, 1831 (1: 157).
138. Ibid., Dec. 3, 1831 (1: 194).
139. For the fullest and, on the whole, most trustworthy account of this insurrection, see W. S. Drewry: “Slave Insurrections in Virginia” (1900). This book has been very largely drawn upon for what is here said on the subject.
See also, Liberator, Oct. 1, 1831 (1: 159); Dec 10, 1831 (1: 198); Dec. 17, 1831 (1: 202); Dec. 24, 1831 (1: 206).
See also, Niles’ Register, Aug. 27, 1831 (40: 455); Sept. 3, 1831 (41: 4); Sept. 10, 1831 (41: 19); Sept. 17, 1831 (41: 35); Jan. 7, 1832 (41: 350).
140. See p. 84 in Drewry’s book.
141. The slavery question was the subject of prolonged debate at the next session of the Virginia House of Delegates. See Niles’ Register, Jan. 28, 1832 (41: 393).
In a speech made during the course of this debate, William H. Broadnax said: “I have certainly heard, if incorrectly, the gentleman from Southampton will put me right, that of the large cargo of emigrants lately transported from that county to Liberia, all of whom professed to be willing to go, were rendered so by some such severe ministrations as these I have described. A lynch club—a committee of vigilance—could easily exercise a kind of inquisitorial surveillance over any neighborhood, and convert any desired number, I have no doubt, at any time, into a willingness to be removed.” See W. L. Garrison: “Thoughts on African Colonization” (1832), p. 74. This reference comes to the present writer through Mr. W. P. Garrison and Mr. Albert Matthews.
142. See Niles’ Register for the year 1834.
143. Liberator, Oct. 18, 1834 (4: 168).
The New England Magazine, November, 1834 (7: 409), gives some comments on the times under the heading “The March of Anarchy.”
144. Liberator, Sept. 27, 1834 (4: 153).
145. Conditions were apparently much like those which existed recently in Memphis, Tennessee, when a Committee of Public Safety was organized and a crusade started against gambling. See New York Times, July 14, 1904; July 17, 1904.
146. See Niles’ Register, July 25, 1835 (48: 363); Aug. 1, 1835 (48: 381). Also Liberator, Aug. 8,1835 (5: 126–7).
147. For a brief account of the conspiracy led by Murrell, see Niles’ Register, Aug. 8, 1835 (48: 403–4). A complete account may be found in the American Whig Review, November, 1850 (12: 494); March, 1851 (13: 213).
148. See Liberator, Aug. 8, 1835 (5: 126–7).
149. The “South-West,” II, p. 185–7. In Mississippi, at this time, eleven crimes were punishable by death.
150. See Liberator, Aug. 1, 1835 (5: 123).
151. Boston Advertiser, Sept. 12, p. 2.
152. Similar punishments have been inflicted upon Mormons. Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon were tarred and feathered on the night of March 25, 1832.—See W. A. Linn: “The Story of the Mormons” (1902), pp. 133–137.
153. Issue of Aug. 22, 1835 (48: 439).
154. Issue of Sept. 5, 1835 (49: 1).
155. See also Harriet Martineau “Society in America” (1837), I, 120, 121, 122.
156. Niles’ Register, Oct. 3, 1835 (49: 65).
For a caustic satire on the “proceedings of Judge Lynch,” see “The Enemies of the Constitution Discovered,” &c., by Defensor (N. Y., 1835), pp 48–52.
157. Liberator, Nov. 21, 1835 (5: 188).
158. See Liberator, June 8, 1838 (8: 89), for an editorial from the Philadelphia Daily Focus.
159. Liberator, April 16, 1836 (6: 63).
160. Leisure Hour, Nov. 24, 1877, p. 750.
161. This was Garrison’s view of the matter. See Liberator, Aug. 10, 1838 (8: 127).
162. Woodrow Wilson: “Division and Reunion” (Edition of 1898), pp. 115, 117.
163. W. G. Sumner: “Andrew Jackson” (1882), pp. 364–365; pp. 428–429, in edition of 1899 in American Statesmen series.
164. Liberator, July 4, 1835 (5: 108).
165. See Niles’ Register, June 4, 1836 (50: 234).
Also Liberator, May 14, 1836 (6: 79), and May 21, 1836 (6: 83).
A negro slave was burned to death in a similar way in Arkansas in November, 1836, for murdering his master and several negroes. See extract from the Arkansas Gazette in Niles’ Register, Dec. 31, 1836 (51: 275).
166. Liberator, June 25, 1836 (6: 102).
167. “Abraham Lincoln, Works,” I, pp. 9–10.
168. F. J. Grund: “The Americans in their moral, social, and political relations” (London, 1837), I, 323. (M.)
169. “Diary in America” (1839), III, 232–233.
170. Harriet Martineau: “Retrospect of Western Travel” (1838), I, 236–237. Marryat: “Diary in America” (1839), II, 201. Liberator, Aug. 24, 1838 (8: 135), &c.
171. See Chapter II.
172. Liberator, Oct. 27, 1837 (7: 174).
173. Niles’ Register, June 15, 1839 (56: 256).
174. Liberator, Sept. 14, 1838 (8: 146).
175. Liberator, March 16, 1838 (8: 44).
176. Liberator, Feb. 9, 1838 (8: 24).
177. This is not wholly in accord with the opinion expressed by Mr. Albert Matthews in the Nation, Dec. 4, 1902 (75: 441), but in a private letter to the writer Mr. Matthews has accepted this modification.
178. See Liberator, Dec. 19, 1835 (5: 204).
179. Philip Hone: “Diary 1828–1851” (1889), I, 150. (M.)
180. See Niles’ Register, Oct. 25, 1845 (69: 115).
181. Sir Charles Lyell, who was in Macon, Georgia, a short time after this occurred, gives an account of it in his book, “A Second Visit to the United States of America” (1850), II, 31–32.
182. Liberator, Oct. 19, 1855 (25: 168).
183. During the period 1830–1860 the word “slick” was occasionally used at places in the Mississippi Valley, in the same sense as “lynch.” See Liberator, Oct. 3, 1835 (5: 157), and compare Niles’ Register, Oct. 5, 1833 (45: 87).
184. Liberator, Sept. 14, 1860 (30: 146).
185. See Liberator, Oct. 2, 1857 (27: 160).
186. See Liberator, Aug. 24, 1860 (30: 160).
187. See Liberator, Jan. 18, 1856 (26: 12).
188. Liberator, Oct. 16, 1857 (27: 167).
189. Liberator, Sept. 24, 1858 (28: 155).
190. Liberator, April 3, 1857 (27: 56).
191. See Liberator, Dec. 19, 1856 (26: 204). It is possibly to this case that F. L. Olmsted refers in “A Journey in the Back Country” (N. Y., 1860), pp. 442–443. He says a negro killed his master “a few months since in Georgia or Alabama”; and “was roasted, at a slow fire, on the spot of the murder, in the presence of many thousand slaves, driven to the ground from all the adjoining counties.”
192. See H. H Bancroft: “Popular Tribunals” (1887), I, 749. In his two volumes on “Popular Tribunals” this author presents very forcibly the arguments and the conditions urged in justification of the acts of these “Tribunals.” He also exhibits the methods and inner workings of these organizations. In “Literary Industries” (1890), pp. 655–663, he tells how he obtained his knowledge of what went on behind the scenes.
For a somewhat different view of the Vigilance Committee movement in California, see Josiah Royce: “California” (1886), Chapters IV and V.
See also, John S. Hittell: “History of the City of San Francisco.”
193. Quoted from Bancroft: “Popular Tribunals” (1887), II, 666.
194. New York Tribune, June 7, 1858, p. 3.
195. In a message written by Governor Clarke of Mississippi in 1865, this passage occurs: “The terrible contest through which the country has just passed has aroused in every section the fiercest passions of the human heart. Lawlessness seems to have culminated in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln.”—Quoted in J. W. Garner’s “Reconstruction in Mississippi” (1901), p. 59. The message is printed in the New York Times of June 11, 1865.
196. See “Report on the Condition of the South,” No. 261 of Reports of Committees of House of Representatives for 2d Sess., 43d Cong., 1874–75.
See, also, article on “The Southern Question” by Charles Gayarré in North American Review, November and December, 1877 (125: 472).
For a comprehensive view, briefly stated, of the great social changes begun in the South during the reconstruction period, see editorial “The Way Out,” in Outlook, Dec. 26, 1903 (75: 984).
197. See Reports of Committees of House of Representatives for 2d Sess., 42d Cong., 1871–72.
198. The best apparently reliable source for information as to the character and purpose of this organization is a little book entitled “The Ku-Klux Klan,” written by J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson, and published at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1884. See also, article “The Ku-Klux Klan,” signed D. L. Wilson, published in the Century Magazine, July, 1884 (6: 398).
A less valuable but an interesting book is “K. K. K. Sketches,” by J. M. Beard, published at Philadelphia in 1877.
Many writers make incidental reference to the Ku-Klux Klan; for example, Charles Stearns: “The Black Man of the South and the Rebels” (1872), Chap. 39; James Bryce: “The American Commonwealth,” II, 479.
An account of “The Ku-Klux Movement” is given in W. G. Brown’s “Lower South in American History” (1902).
Some of the characteristic, possibly exaggerated, features of the “Ku-Klux Movement” have been presented in fiction. See, for example, A. Conan Doyle: “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Five Orange Pips” (1902), p. 104; Thomas Nelson Page: “Red Rock, a chronicle of Reconstruction” (1898).
199. The committee appointed to select a name reported among others the name “Kukloi,” from the Greek word kuklos, meaning a band or circle. At mention of this some one cried out: “Call it ‘Ku Klux.’” The word “Klan” at once suggested itself, and was added to complete the alliteration. It has been said that the society was named in imitation of the click heard in cocking the rifle, but this seems to be without foundation in fact.
200. See, for example, Nation, March 23, 1871 (12: 192); New York Times, Feb. 15, 1871; New York Times, Aug. 26, 1873; New York Tribune, July 31, 1878.
201. For a list of the “Molly Maguire” outrages in the mining region of Pennsylvania, and for an exposition of the origin, growth, and character of that organization, see F. P. Dewees: “The Molly Maguires” (1877).
202. No claim for completeness is made in regard to these statistics. Particularly in the case of lynchings in the West they are doubtless incomplete.
203. Outlook, Dec. 26, 1903 (75: 984).
204. Compare the opinion expressed in the Nation, Sept. 7, 1876 (23: 145) on the subject of “intimidation” at the South. In the year 1879, a “Negro exodus from the Southern States” took place, which, on account of its size and character, attracted considerable attention. Numerous reasons were assigned as the cause. See F. L. Hoffman: “Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro.”—Publications of the American Economic Association, August, 1896 (11: 1); Nation, April 10, 1879 (28: 239, 242); Report and Testimony of the Select Committee of the U. S. Senate to investigate the causes of the removal of the negroes from the Southern States to the Northern States, 2d Sess., 46th Cong. (Washington, 1880).
205. It is of interest to note that the Sons of Liberty of the period 1765–1775 seem to have had a regular organization and that in their use of disguises and in their methods they were not wholly unlike the Ku-Klux.
206. “Lynching and Mobs,” American Journal of Social Science, No. 32, p. 67 (November, 1894).
207. Edward Leigh Pell, writing on “Prevention of Lynch-law Epidemics,” in the Review of Reviews, March, 1898 (17: 321), questions the accuracy of the Tribune figures for Alabama, Florida, and Virginia in the year 1897. It is to be noted, however, that he refers to lynchings and seems to have regarded number of lynchings as synonymous with number of persons lynched.
208. In a recent article, entitled “The Facts about Lynching,” written by George P. Upton, who for a number of years has been associate-editor of the Tribune, a similar table may be found. [See the Independent, Sept. 29, 1904 (57: 719)]. In this table, however, there are numerous inaccuracies, and the fact that Mr. Upton does not discriminate between number of lynchings and number of persons lynched detracts materially from the value of all of his statistical summaries on the subject.
210. The negro had escaped from the mob and gone to a neighboring county where he gave himself up to the authorities for protection. Later, according to a letter received by the writer from the mayor of the town where he sought protection, he was taken back by the sheriff and brought before a justice for a preliminary hearing. The evidence was considered insufficient to bind him over to the grand jury and he was released.
211. Principally New York City and New Haven, Conn., papers.
212. To be strictly accurate the number of lynchings should be taken rather than the number of persons lynched, but for the purpose of comparison from year to year the latter may be considered sufficiently exact. See p. 185.
213. Henry M. Boies has shown from the Tribune record of murders that there has been, within the last twenty years, “an alarming increase of homicides, accompanied by a proportionate decrease of executions by law and lynching.”—“Science of Penology” (1901), p. 120.
214. See W. S. Drewry: “Slave Insurrections in Virginia” (1900), pp. 22–25.
215. The liberty has been taken of coining this word to designate the cause for lynching the class of individuals known as desperadoes. No other word seems to express the idea so clearly. The word “brigandage” is too narrow in meaning and too nearly obsolete; the word “outlawry” is not sufficiently inclusive and is generally used only in its technical sense.
216. “Statistics and Sociology” (1900), p. 271.
217. This may be taken as an indication of the trustworthiness of the Tribune record of lynchings as a basis for statistical investigation.
219. See the daily issues from July 23 to July 27, 1886.
220. These figures are taken from the Twelfth Census, where the term “illiterates” is used to designate all persons ten years of age and over who can neither read nor write, or who can read but cannot write.
221. The figures given by the Twelfth Census were used. The figures of the Eleventh Census would be more nearly typical for the period under consideration than those of the Twelfth Census, but a difficulty was met with in an attempt to use them, owing to the fact that new counties have been formed since 1890. It was found that counties in which lynchings have occurred did not appear at all in the Eleventh Census, and that for the sake of completeness it was necessary to use the Twelfth Census.
222. Alfred Holt Stone, In a paper read before the American Economic Association in December, 1901, attributed the amicable relations existing between the whites and the negroes in the Yazoo-Mississippi delta to the absence of a white laboring class, particularly of field laborers. In his opinion one of the gravest causes of trouble between the two races is contact on a common industrial plane.—“Publications of the American Economic Association,” February, 1902 (3d Ser., Vol. III, No. 1, p. 235).
224. Liberator, April 19, 1839 (9: 63).
225. Liberator, April 30, 1836 (6: 72).
226. “Diary in America” (1839), III, 226–230.
For a description of the beginnings of legal procedure in isolated settlements on the frontier, see “Narrative of the Life of David Crockett,” written by himself (1843), pp. 132–135. (M.)
227. British and Foreign Review, 14: 29 (1843).
228. Cora Montgomery (Jane M. Cazneau): “Eagle Pass; or Life on the Border” (1852), pp. 153, 164–167.
Compare the justification of the frontier type of lynch-law given by Owen Wister in his recent novel, “The Virginian.” After describing the lynching of some Wyoming cattle-thieves, and emphasizing the fact that “many an act that man does is right or wrong according to the time and place which form, so to speak, its context,” the author puts into the mouth of “Judge Henry” these words: “They (the ordinary citizens) are where the law comes from, you see. For they chose the delegates who made the Constitution that provided for the courts. There’s your machinery. These are the hands into which ordinary citizens have put the law. So you see, at best, when they lynch they only take back what they once gave.... We are in a very bad way, and we are trying to make that way a little better until civilization can reach us. At present we lie beyond its pale. The courts, or rather the juries, into whose hands we have put the law, are not dealing the law. They are withered hands, or rather they are imitation hands made for show, with no life in them, no grip. They cannot hold a cattle-thief. And so when your ordinary citizen sees this, and sees that he has placed justice in a dead hand, he must take justice back into his own hands where it was once at the beginning of all things. Call this primitive, if you will, but so far from being a defiance of the law, it is an assertion of it—the fundamental assertion of self-governing men, upon whom our whole social fabric is based.”—pp. 435–436.