Indeed, a country occupied by two races so widely apart in origin, characteristics, and development as the whites and the Negroes of the Southern States—one race of the highest mental endowments and culture, the other of the lowest—one having a civilization that reaches back hundreds, if not thousands, of years, the other in the early dawn of civilization—might reasonably have two codes of law suited, as nearly as possible, to each race, respectively.
A mode of punishment that would be out of place as to the white man may be well suited to the Negro. Small-pox is not to be treated as chicken-pox. Barbarous criminals require barbarous laws. The innocent and law-abiding citizens of a State have rights as well as the criminals—at least, the right to protection from the criminals. But let some crafty scoundrel finally get in jail, and he will be flooded with letters of consolation and sympathy from sentimental women and soft-headed men.[59:6] And let some Negro brute, guilty of rape, suffer the punishment he so richly deserved at the hands of an outraged community, and one would think, if he considered the bitter censure from distant quarters, that the foundations of the government were being undermined, or that a poor lamb was set upon by a pack of howling wolves, thirsting for its blood, but not a word of commiseration for the family, or the victim, of the fiendish Negro’s unbridled bestiality.
Moreover, instead of a Negro’s being over-awed by the solemn deliberations of a court, rather, as he is the center of interest, he all but
enjoys it. For once in his life he finds himself in a position of prominence. It would be contrary to the Negro nature if he were not somewhat elated at being the object of so much attention. Even were this not the case, he has no such appreciation of his degradation as the white man feels under similar circumstances. Indeed, it would sometimes appear as almost a triumphal procession for him from the time he gets in jail until he reaches the gallows. The two quotations below may help to justify this idea:
“Joe Clark, colored, . . . was hanged at this place on Friday forenoon, in the presence of about 3,000 persons, mostly Negroes. Clark spoke about fifteen minutes, giving a detailed account of the murder and fully confessing the crime. He advised all present to live an upright life. . . . After he had shaken hands with his friends the trap was sprung, and thus the sentence of the court was duly executed. Clark’s last request was that the black cap be kept off, so that all might see how easy he could meet death.”[60:7]
The second one is taken from accounts of the execution at Denton, Md., of “Wish” Shepperd, colored, for the outrage of a fifteen-year-old white girl:[60:8]
“He told his spiritual advisers that he had a message for the public: ‘Tell all the young men to avoid the fate that awaits me by joining the church and attending its services.’ [Evidently inspired by his preacher advisers] . . . He slumbered soundly, the guards noticed, and awoke early this morning apparently indifferent to his doom. . . . With a firm step he accompanied the officers and his spiritual advisers to the scaffold which was erected near the Choptank River. Passing undismayed through the throng which had gathered along the way from the prison to the gallows. His gaze passed fearlessly around surveying the people.” . . .
Again, in connection with the lynching of Negroes in the South, one must not lose sight of the conditions that are peculiar to that section. The greater the number of Negroes in proportion to the whites in any State or community the easier it is for the Negro to commit crime and escape. And the Negro criminal does often escape. Seldom is it found that the Negro will aid in the detection of the Negro criminal, rather otherwise. Even the hope of escape is a wonderful encouragement to the criminally inclined.
Now, before the War, as is well known, the South was almost entirely an agricultural section.