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EDITORIAL C<>MMKNT.
There will be I races of I lie dead
in the Conemaugh Valley for years
to corns.
Just tliink of it; 12,000 coffins
ordered in one day for the dead ot
Johnstown!
A human mass ot several thou
sand bodies biuued to charcoal in
the Johnstown ruins.
The Johnstown tragedy is the
greatest record on American histo
ry.
Johnstown was a place of 30,-
000 inhabitants—a manufacturing
town. Hie greater portion as la
borers.
New York in s subscribed over
$200,000 to the Johnstown suffer
ers, Now, if the sufferers will on
ly get the money.
The Journal a< knowledges a copy
of‘-The American Press, a month
ly journal published in Atlanta by
Frank J. Cohen. It is a neat sheet,
well edited and tastily gotten up.
The Mutual Life Insurance of
New York, and other companies
all summed up, will lose several
million dollars fiom the Johnston n
disaster of human life.
Birmingham, Ala., June 4, —
There may be a double lynching at
Gadsdens to-nigbt. Last Saturday
night two negroes, Grant Gann and
J >ha White, entered the residence
of Mrs. Jones, a respectable widow
lady, living near Gadsden, lhe
only persons in the house ware
Mrs. Jones, her eighteen-year-old
daughter and a son ten years old.
The negroes entered the room ol
the young la Iv and, after chloro
forming her, attempted to outrage
her. Her little brother heard the
noise, and with a pistol in his hand
drove the negroes away. John
White, one ot the negroes, was cap
tured Sunday and lodged in jail.
This morning Grant Gann was cap
tured in a box car m this city, hav
ing stolen a vine here on a freight
train, A Gadsden officer was in the
city looking for Gann and he lett
with the prisoner this afternoon.
Be said the crime had caused the
greatest excitement in Gadsden,
and lie thought an attempt to lynch
both prisoners would certainly be
made to-night.
The Hushing Waters —Carry Death
an <] Dost ru ct i on—J oh nst own.
lenn . Submerged—H,ooo lives
Destroyed,
Johsfown. Per.n., was a wealthy
nianv.faeturirigcity of 30,000 popu
lation. on the Baltimore & Ohio
railway, and near the Conemaugh
rive.*, east oi the Alleghany moun
tains A sudden freshet occurred
the 31st of May, causing an im
mense dam several miles above the
ei iv. on the North Fork, to burst
turn loose its waters in a rag
ing torrent 30 leet high, submerg
ing Johnstown and several smaller
towns and hamlets in the valley,
and destroys g thousands of lives,
it is impossible for language to por
tray the amount of human suffering
caused by this immense ireshei.
The daily rs since last Sal
urduv arc gw g with description
of it, but the half will never bo told.
Charles Read, the great novelist, a
few years ago described such a
scene in a book called “Put your
self in II is Place,” but it has never
been supposed that such an acci
dent could occur in the actual
course of human events. In this
jpp.tiling case truth surpasses fic
tion. It is even worse than the de
struction of Herculaneum and Pom
peii by volcanic eruption, so graph
ically described by JBuiwerLytlou.
Heartrending shrieks, sobs and
moans pierced the gloomy darkness
on that fatetul night. The prayers
and supplications ot the dying ming
led with the roaring waters. For
miles and miles along the valley,
where once stood the beautiful cit
ies, towns and manufactories there
remains not a single thing to mark
the ground except heaps of debris
and putrefying, dead bodies; here
and there the bodies are collected
together ami laid in rows for recog
nition. The mourners passing be
tween, are often unable to recogn
ize the laces or forms of dear ones,
so cruelly are they mangled and
lorn.
It is said that amid all this sor
row and suffering the worst side of
human nature is shown in those
human fiends who prowl among
the dead to rob and plunder, cut
ting off the fingers and ears to ob
tain jewelry. But at last account
organized plans of relief were in
action; clothing and food is being
transported to the suffering ones,
and everything is beingdone that
is possible to alleviate suffering.
It is supposed that at least 14,-
000 people were destroyed.
Charleston, S. C., June 3. —Dr. J.
S. Owen it Anderson, was killed by
bis step-son. lie was beatinghis wife.
sew York, June 3 —Mayor Qrant
sent out invitations to 250 gentlemen
to meet him in consultation about re
lief for Johnstown. Among the invi
tations sent oat was one to ex-Presi
ijeat Cleveland, which, gentleman, it is
believed, will be made chairman of
the cwnamittee. it took but a lew mo
ments for the committee to subscribe
nearly ,$55,000 for the sufferers hv the
flood in Gout tnangh '' alley.
The contributions by the Martime
exchange to-day were about 35,000
dollars. Isidore Wornaser announced
that the stock exchange had raised
15,003 dollars in a few moments to
day. Alexander E, Orr announced
that his exchange had 10,000 dollars
ready.
JUDGE LYNCH IN .PENNSYLVANIA.
Judge Lynch is not a southern
product. Once in awhile he makes
a # dash in this direction, but his
home is in the north, in one of the
raost conservative of states—in the
God-fearing commonwealth of
Pennsylvania—the community
founded by the peaceful Quakers
and Dutchmen, whose quiet influ
ences have blessed the republic
from file landing of Penn down io
the present time.
Perhaps Judge Lynch has been
misunderstood and unjustly abus
ed. Speaking frankly, and in a
general way, we aro against him.
And yet it must be admitted that
there are times when his methods
are the very salvation of society.
His work in the Conemaugh valley
during the past few days is the
most hopeful sign of promise that
has cheered the desolate survivors
of the food since their great disas
ter.
Let us group together the inci
dents of one day on the spot where
Johnstown stood less than a week
ago. When tiie wafers began to
recede, thousands of brutal radians,
the wildest scum ot creation, rush
ed in to plunder the living and the
dead. They stripped the bodies
of women and children, and hack
ed them with knives and hatchets.
Did the religious and law and
order loving people of Pennsyl
vania wait to have these wretches
arrrested, indicted, fried and con
victed? Not a bit ot it A happy
inspiration caused them to forget
fiat they were citizens, and to remcin
bpr only that they were men!
Trie good ffieu —the sturdy fathers
and husbands of Conemangh during
this red flurry of anarchy, have be
Coiao their own avengers, and the
lightning of their just judgment has
been as deadly as if is merciless. One
man was caught in the act of robbing
and mutilating corpses. There was
no time waited—the county was put
to no expense—the brute was simply
strung up to a telegraph pole. The
citizens fouud another gang of these
thieves and drove four of them ino
the raging river. where they were
drowned like so many rats. Five citi
zens with shot guns pursued two rob
bers, and found in the pocket of one
of them a baby’s finger with a lingon
it. The two were hanged to a tree and
left there. A Hungarian was teen
trying to blow up a hank safe. An
other iree was utilized as a gallows.
S;x thieves hacking and mangling
corpses were run down and bot dead,
ix-ilayor Dick saw a man robbing a
dead woman. Ho forgot the lessons
of his earner as a magistrate, and pull
ei out his pistol snd shot the fellow
through the heart. If Dick wants to
be mayor again he will get there by a
unanimous vote.
sothing could be more lurid or hor
rible than this brief chapter. But it is
all right. Desperate emergencies re
quire desperate remedies, and the law
of self preservation is the law of ne
cessity —the supreme human law.
These glorious Pennsylvanians have
bees made to feel, at least for once in
their lives, that there are rate and crit
ical moments when Judge Lynch with
a skat gun or a rope, is worth more to
a community than a dozen courts.
We are playing with tire when we
discuss this matter. But v e do not
fear the consequences. The people of
this countiy, with their strong, com
mon sense and love of justice, are able
to deal with these exceptional eases.
When the men who.resort to lyuch
law are clearly right, they will be up
held. When they are clearly wrong,
they will be punished. The lynchers
of Conemaugh wdl never stand behind
the bars or be seen in a prisoner’s
dock. —[Constitution.
The Journal does not indorse the
above on the grounds of carrying out
the laws of the iaad—trial by jury—-
neither can it be indorsed by the
Christian law. The robbers should
liaye pturedbeen ca and tried. The
people were dead. Must the wretches
be shot do7/a for the worth of a triak
det? Will good citizens and Christians
bear the responsibility of murder as
being justified in the stea ling of a trirrk
Ist? Certainly not. While it may
bo indereed by the laws of Pennsyl
vania as an exception, yet there is mo
provision in her laws, nor in the con
stitution of the United States, fora
crime of this sort. The divine law,
which neither the Constitution or any
other instrument under thasua, knows
nothin of its justice, has yet to speak.
The potter may have control cyer the
clay, bat the clay has not eontrcl over
the clay.
Philosophy is the bane of wisdom,
and die Atlanta Constitution’s editor
! is cot a philosopher, though 1)3 sits
! behind the throne of a much populated
1 city.
Buy Your Shoes
from
1.1. Smith. & Comp’ny
And Save Money, _ Athens
Consult Yonr Interests by Buying your
DRUGS AND MEDICINES
FROM—
Wade And Sledge,
ATHENS, C GEORGIA.
We sell at the lowest possible price, and gnrantee every article to be abso
lutely Pure. Orders by Mail will receive prompt, attention. Remember the
name and place.—WADE & SLEDGE, Druggists and Pharmacists.
Between Hodgson Bros., and Talmadge Bros,, Clayton Street. 10
A, *33 ta epixp
thens Music House,
112 Clayton Street, Next Door to Pestoffic 0 , Athens, Georgia.
Haselton & Dozier, Proprietors.
QvU/i
Violins, and all kinds of musical instru
ments on hand and for sale at greatly re
duced prices for cash, or on the install
ment. Special rates to churches and
schools. Picture frames on hand or made
.. .. to order at short notice. A fell and com*
cijfhbki 111 l Jete stock of Artists’ M.-teiial tor draw
ing and painting i'd oil and water colons.
D. P. Haselton, Tkos. H. Dozier.
MoneY SavcD!
We Sell Goods to Compete With Any House in the Country,
v QvVwQ* Vc? 0 wlv-J wv vh’VL
QAvl
Merchants Can Buy Blank Books, School Books, Paper Bags, Wrapping
Paper, Twine and Stationery of Every Description From us at N. Prices
MCGREGOR & ROBERTSON
(Burke’s Old Stand,) ATHENS, GEORGIA.
Stock Larger Than Ever!
Stoves! Stoves!
—Stoves Bought by Car-Loads: —
And Prices That are Bound to T AN’- V", - ''
Attract Jones’ Standa’d Tinware.
Tin Hoofing, Guttering and Job-Work. Call oi Write for Trices.
E, E. Jones, 209 B’oad St. ATHENS