[55]. There are two errors here. Lynchburg was not named for him but for his brother, John Lynch, and the plan was started later than “some seventy or eighty years ago.” Mr. Matthews disagrees with the writer in saying that this account is entirely independent of what Wirt had written on the subject. It seems to the writer, however, that these two inaccuracies indicate that Martin was drawing wholly from his own sources of information. He was, apparently, merely writing down what was considered a matter of common knowledge among the older men in that section of the country, many of whom were emigrants from Virginia.
[56]. “Publications of the Southern Historical Association,” November, 1900, (4: 463).
[57]. Charles Augustus Murray, in his “Travels in North America during the years 1834, 1835, and 1836” (2 vol., N. Y., 1839), gives a traditional account of the origin of the term “lynch-law,” such a one as might be given around a camp-fire. He also describes the operation of lynch-law at that time in the Mississippi Valley. See Vol II, p. 79. G. W. Featherstonhaugh, in his “Excursion through the Slave States” (N. Y., 1844), gives “An account of the first Judge Lynch, and the state of Legal Practice in his Court,” pp. 89–90. He speaks of a certain Judge Lynch in Arkansas and of “a famous Virginia ancestor of his.” He says that “this ancestor, the first Judge Lynch, was a miller and a justice of the peace in the back woods,” and then gives a traditional account of his methods of inflicting punishment. See also David Schenck: “North Carolina, 1780–81” (1889), pp. 309–310. L. P. Summers: “History of Southwest Virginia and Washington County” (1903), p. 243.
[58]. Mr. Matthews holds a somewhat different view. See article, “The Term Lynch Law,” Modern Philology, Vol. II, No. 2, October, 1904. This article should be consulted by any one desiring to investigate this matter further.
[59]. In the Salem Gazette, July 17, 1812, p. 3, the rise and domination of mobs in a community was characterized as “Mob Law.” (M.)
[60]. Jan. 9, 1819 (15: 384). (M.)
[61]. July 24, 1819 (16: 368). (M.)
[62]. June 1, 1822 (22: 224). (M.)
[63]. “Memorable Days in America” (1823), p. 304.
[64]. Ibid., p. 318.