The Mob Spirit at Statesboro
THE recent series of dreadful incidents at Statesboro, Ga., furnishes evidence that the mob spirit which is now so rampant in this country is in no degree directed by reason or justice. It has been said that the delays and uncertainties of the law furnish some justification for the lynching of men guilty of atrocious crimes; but in this case the men were lynched not to insure their punishment, but merely to give vent to the lynching spirit. The prisoners had been convicted in court, and were in charge of the legal authorities and under sentence of death. It was simply a question whether legal government or anarchy should prevail in their execution; and the community, or such part of it as the mob represented, showed its preference for anarchy. Scenes of anarchy are to be characteristic of the last days.