[263]. By an act passed the 11th day of May, 1754, power was given the justice to postpone the trial to such time as he thought proper, owing to the frequent difficulty of procuring the justice and the freeholders and the witnesses to attend the trial within the three days.—“Statutes at Large of S. C.” (edited by D. J. McCord, 1840), VII, 426–427.
[264]. “Statutes at Large of South Carolina” (edited by D. J. McCord, 1840), VII, 400–402. It was also provided by this act, which was passed the 10th day of May, 1740, that an oath for the faithful discharge of duty be taken by the freeholders when they assembled with the justices for the trial of prisoners, that the evidence of slaves, without oath, be admitted against slaves, that for certain offenses certain penalties be imposed, that compensation be allowed the owners of slaves executed, that masters and other persons be compelled to give evidence, that the constables execute or punish slaves according to the judgments rendered, &c., &c.
[265]. The laws of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware have been cited above.
[266]. “Negro Outrage no Excuse for Lynching”—Forum, November, 1893 (16: 300).
[267]. Walter H. Page: “The Last Hold of the Southern Bully”—Forum, November, 1893 (16: 303).
[268]. “Lynching of Black People because they are Black”—Our Day, 13: 298 (1894).
[269]. The following passage is taken from an editorial in the Houston (Texas) Post of October 23, 1902: “From the same telegraph pole from which the two negroes were hanged at Hempstead on Tuesday, a rapist was hanged less than two months ago. The circumstances of the first execution were fully known to the victims of the second mob. This teaches very plainly that lynching does not deter.”
[270]. See “The Epidemic of Savagery,” Outlook, Sept. 7, 1901 (69: 9); also, “The Lynching of Negroes,” by Thomas Nelson Page, North American Review, January, 1904 (178: 33).
[271]. Compare the conclusion arrived at by a Georgia lawyer in an article in the Forum, October, 1893 (16: 176).
[272]. Even such a discriminating and estimable journal as the Nation still makes use of every possible occasion to preach the rights of man in general and of the negro in particular, utterly ignoring the question of capability and responsibility.