Thursday, January 16, 2020

Judge F.A. Daniels of Raleigh Speaks Out Against Lynching, Jan. 16,1920

From the Roanoke Rapids Herald, January 16, 1920

Judge Daniels Is Rough on Mob Law. . . Excuses Given by Some Are Convictions Are Uncertain and Pardons Come Easy. . . Only An Alibi of Cowards. . . County Officials Who Are Lukewarm About Law Enforcement Bring Down Reproach on Community

Raleigh—Opening the superior court here, Judge Frank A. Daniels, brother of Secretary Daniels, in his charge to the grand jury, scored mob law in no uncertain terms. Citing the Franklinton lynching as a distressing example of what an infuriated crowd can do, he said that when someone pleaded with the infuriated mob to desist the answer came back that if they let criminals go to courts the courts would not convict and if they did convict the governor would not let their sentence stand.

Judge Daniels denounced such an excuse as being only the alibi of cowards, but at the same time urged the grand jury to do its duty in such a manner as nobody would question its sincerity.

Judge Daniels, continuing his remarks, said that county officials who are lukewarm about law enforcement bring reproach on any community. There are communities, he said, in which a sheriff’s posse can be recruited at any time to chase a little negro for stealing a pig, while people guilty of graver offenses are allowed to go free.


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