1892, a record was made in the line of lynching which should certainly
appeal to every humanitarian who has any regard for the sacredness of
human life. John Hughes, of Moberly, and Isaac Lincoln, of Fort Madison,
and Will Lewis in Tullahoma, Tenn., suffered death for no more serious
charge than that they "were saucy to white people." In the days of slavery
it was held to be a very serious matter for a colored person to fail to
yield the sidewalk at the demand of a white person, and it will not be
surprising to find some evidence of this intolerance existing in the days
of freedom. But the most that could be expected as a penalty for acting or
speaking saucily to a white person would be a slight physical chastisement
to make the Negro "know his place" or an arrest and fine. But Missouri,
Tennessee and South Carolina chose to make precedents in their cases and
as a result both men, after being charged with their offense and
apprehended, were taken by a mob and lynched. The civil authorities, who
in either case would have been very quick to satisfy the aggrieved white
people had they complained and brought the prisoners to court, by imposing
proper penalty upon them, did not feel it their duty to make any
investigation after the Negroes were killed. They were dead and out of the
way and as no one would be called upon to render an account for their
taking off, the matter was dismissed from the public mind.


LYNCHED FOR A QUARREL

One of the most notable instances of lynching for the year 1893, occurred
about the twentieth of September. It was notable for the fact that the
mayor of the city exerted every available power to protect the victim of
the lynching from the mob. In his splendid endeavor to uphold the law, the
mayor called out the troops, and the result was a deadly fight between the
militia and mob, nine of the mob being killed. The trouble occurred at