bring the people here to see the unparalleled punishment for an
unparalleled crime. When the news of the burning went over the country
like wildfire, at every country town anvils boomed forth the announcement.


SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN AN ASYLUM

It may not be amiss in connection with this awful affair, in proof of our
assertion that Smith was an imbecile, to give the testimony of a
well-known colored minister, who lived at Paris, Texas, at the time of the
lynching. He was a witness of the awful scenes there enacted, and
attempted, in the name of God and humanity, to interfere in the programme.
He barely escaped with his life, was driven out of the city and became an
exile because of his actions. Reverend King was in New York about the
middle of February, and he was there interviewed for a daily paper for
that city, and we quote his account as an eye witness of the affair. Said
he:

I was ridden out of Paris on a rail because I was the only man in Lamar
county to raise my voice against the lynching of Smith. I opposed the
illegal measures before the arrival of Henry Smith as a prisoner, and I
was warned that I might meet his fate if I was not careful; but the
sense of justice made me bold, and when I saw the poor wretch trembling
with fear, and got so near him that I could hear his teeth chatter, I
determined to stand by him to the last.

I hated him for his crime, but two crimes do not make a virtue; and in
the brief conversation I had with Smith I was more firmly convinced than
ever that he was irresponsible.