Editor Says Lynching May Meet Out Justice, But Is Demoralizing at Best, Jan. 8, 1920

From the editorial page of the Alamance Gleaner, Graham, N.C., January 8, 1920, J.D. Kernodle, editor. The name of the man who was lynched is spelled Greene on first reference and Green on second reference. I don’t know which is correct.

It has been two weeks since a negro named Greene shot and instantly killed R.M. Brown at Franklinton for being quietly asked not to smoke in the moving picture show. The community took the law into their own hands and Green was lynched in less than an hour afterward. Brown is said to have been a most exemplary citizen. The circumstances, doubtless, were most provoking, but it is always better to let law and order prevail. Mob law may meet out justice, but is demoralizing at best.