The taking of the law into hand by an individual citizen is bad business, still there are few who will condemn the aged grandfather of the young girl victim who went to the Elizabeth City jail and shot the man accused of making the attack on her.
Of course the K.K.K., mobs and others cannot be consistently condemned for taking the law into their hands without condemning the grandfather in this case, but there will be many who will say that the old man, whose affections were centered upon his young granddaughter, did anything more than the average man would have done under similar circumstances. Two wrongs do not make a right, it is said, but sometimes there are exceptions. Men who take advantage of young women should be informed that they shall not be permitted to escape suitable punishment. If the law in the case herein cited had been more prompt and vigorous in its working the shooting probably would not have occurred. But, as the case dragged along several months, and the charge changed to a smaller offense, with possibility of the assailant getting off lightly while the victim spends the remainder of her life suffering, caused the old man to decide to take the law into his hands and administer a punishment he believed to be suitable to the crime. The best way to prevent reoccurrences of the Elizabeth City jail affair and to keep down K.K.K. raids and mob violence is for the law to act vigorously and promptly.
From the editorial page of the Durham Morning Herald, Aug. 23, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020730/1924-08-23/ed-1/seq-4/#words=AUGUST+23%2C+1924
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