after a
certain time, the dose would be repeated. By these means they rid the
community of a bad subject, and the morals of the junior branches were
not contaminated. Such was in its origin the practice of Lynch law.

A circumstance occurred within these few years in which Lynch law was
duly administered. At Dubuque, in the Ioway district, a murder was
committed. The people of Dubuque first applied to the authorities of
the state of Michigan, but they discovered that the district of Ioway
was not within the jurisdiction of that State; and, in fact, although on
the opposite side of the river there was law and justice, they had
neither to appeal to. They would not allow the murderer to escape; they
consequently met, selected among themselves a judge and a jury, tried
the man, and, upon their own responsibility, hanged him.

There was another instance which occurred a short time since at Snakes'
Hollow, on the western side of the Mississippi, not far from the town of
Dubuque. A band of miscreants, with a view of obtaining possession of
some valuable diggings (lead mines,) which were in the possession of a
grocer who lived in that place, murdered him in the open day. The
parties were well known, but they held together and would none of them
give evidence. As there were no hopes of their conviction, the people
of Snakes' Hollow armed themselves, seized the parties engaged in the
transaction, and ordered them to quit the territory on pain of having a
rifle-bullet through their heads immediately. The scoundrels crossed
the river in a canoe, and were never after heard of.

I have collected these facts to show that Lynch law has been forced upon
the American settlers in the western states by _circumstances_; that it
has been acted upon in support of morality and virtue, and that its
awards have been regulated by strict justice. But I must now notice
this practice with a view to show how dangerous it is that any law
should be meted out by the majority, and that what was commenced from a
sense of justice and necessity, has now changed into a defiance of law,
where law and justice can be readily obtained. The Lynch law of the
present day, as practised in the states of the west and south, may be
divided into two different heads: the first is, the administration of it
in cases in which the laws of the states are considered by the majority
as not having awarded a punishment adequate, in their opinion, to the
offence comm