CHAPTER XXIII
DIED FOR THE LAW
And thus was begun that historical lynching in the Tennessee Valley—a tragedy which well might have remained unwritten had it not fallen into the woof of this story.
A white man had been killed for a negro—that was enough.
It is true the man was attempting to commit murder in the face of the law of the land; and in attempting it had shot the representative of the law. It is true, also, that he had no grievance, being one of several hundred law-breakers bent on murder. This, too, made no difference; they neither thought nor cared;—for mobs, being headless, do not think; and being soulless, do not suffer.
They had failed only for lack of a leader.
But now they had a leader, and a mob with a leader is a dangerous thing.
That leader was Richard Travis.