, the fact that these
two accused persons were women would have pleaded in their favor for
protection and fair play, but that had no weight with the Mississippi
Christians nor the further fact that a jury of white men had declared them
innocent. The hanging of one victim on an unproven charge did not begin to
satisfy the mob in its bloodthirsty demands and the result was that even
after the women had been discharged, they were at once taken in charge by
a mob, which hung them by the neck until they were dead.

Still the mob was not satisfied. During the coroner's investigation the
name of a fourth person, Rufus Bigley, was mentioned. He was acquainted
with the Jacksons and that fact, together with some testimony adduced at
the inquest, prompted the mob to decide that he should die also. Search
was at once made for him and the next day he was apprehended. He was not
given over into the hands of the civil authorities for trial nor did the
coroner's inquest find that he was guilty, but the mob was quite
sufficient in itself. After finding Bigley, he was strung up to a tree and
his body left hanging, where it was found next day. It may be remarked
here in passing that this instance of the moral degradation of the people
of Mississippi did not excite any interest in the public at large.
American Christianity heard of this awful affair and read of its details
and neither press nor pulpit gave the matter more than a passing comment.
Had it occurred in the wilds of interior Africa, there would have been an
outcry from the humane people of this country against the savagery which
would so mercilessly put men and women to death. But it was an evidence of
American civilization to be passed by unnoticed, to be denied or condoned
as the requirements of any future emergency might determine.

LYNCHED FOR AN ATTEMPTED ASSAULT

With only a little more aggravation than that of Smith who quarreled at
Roanoke with the market woman, was the assault which operated as the
incentive to a most brutal lynching in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis is one of
the queen cities of the south, with a population of about seventy thousand
souls--easily one of the twenty largest, most progressive and wealthiest
cities of the United States. And yet in its streets there occurred a scene
of shocking savagery which would have disgraced the Congo. No woman was
harmed, no serious indignity suffered. Two women driving to town in a
wagon, were suddenly accosted by Lee Wal