THE DULUTH RIP-SAW

John L. Morrison
Editor and Publisher
Suite No. 112, Manhattan Building, Duluth, Minnesota.

Entered at Postoffice at Duluth, Minn., as Second Class Matter.
Telephone: Melrose 818.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1884.

THE CITY'S SHAME.

One realizes the limitation of human language when he tries to express his feelings and sentiments concerning the recent lynching of three helpless colored men by a Duluth mob.

Duluth, the city of Destiny, certainly has had a stain put on her fair name that will require a generation to remove, No one ever believed that so cosmopolitan a city could turn outlaw In a few short hours.

Lynch law and mob rule are horrible enough when the victims are guilty beyond all human doubt, but when there is grave doubt of guilt and injustice seems to have been done, then matters become very serious, indeed.

No Matter how guilty those poor Negro boys may have been, they were American citizens, They were entitled to protection, a fair and impartial trial and then freedom or punishment, as the case might be, under the law.

The boundless universe Is controlled by law and when society casts aside law and order, it becomes as helpless and in as dangerous a condition as a ship without a rudder.

It was a sad sight, indeed, to see a police department, deserted by its head and leading officers, proven so ineffectual, if not incompetent, by letting a mob murder prisoners whom they were sworn to protect, even with their lives.

A little brain work, a bit of strategy and a determination to do a sworn duty, could and would have save the lives of the prisoners and saved the lives of the prisoners and drop of blood. Even the municipal courtroom, accessible through an inside entrance, would have made an undiscoverable retreat, beyond much doubt.

There was too much sympathy with the hoodlum lynchers on the part of the police. There was a grand exhibition of bonehead management of the twenty-five men available for police purpose.
What a different story would have been written had Chauncey Troyer been alive and at the head of the department. Could he know how his beloved police force proved recreant, he would turn over in his grave.

Let there be a thorough house-cleaning in the department and the elimination of every yellow member. Lives, property and order depend on that department. No unfit man should wear the star of authority. Incidentally, too, see to It that fit men are paid a proper salary not the present starvation wages.