Lynch-law; an investigation into the history of lynching in the United StatesCutler, James Elbert
Philosophy
Lynch-law; an investigation into the history of lynching in the United States
Cutler, James Elbert
Lynching -- United States
Chart V really supplements Chart IV. In Chart IV, the 3,337 persons who
have been lynched during the twenty-two years are classified according
to race only. In Chart V the number of females in Chart IV is shown and
also the causes for which they were lynched. In the further
investigation sex will be disregarded and the whites, Indians, Mexicans,
and foreigners will be grouped together under the head of Whites and
Others, this making a classification into negroes and those not negroes.
Chart VI shows the percentages lynched for various causes by years,
1882–1903, for Whites and Others. The percentages lynched for the
various causes vary greatly from year to year. The percentage lynched
for Murder varies from 24 per cent to 70 per cent. The percentage
lynched for Theft varies from 3.9 per cent to 46.5 per cent. In the
three years 1898–1900, and in the year 1903, none were lynched for
Theft. The percentage lynched for Rape varies from 1.8 per cent to 20
per cent, none being lynched for that cause in 1902. Rape is not
particularly important as a cause. The chief value of Chart VI is seen
by contrasting it with Chart VII.
Chart VII shows the percentages lynched for various causes by years,
1882–1903, for Negroes. The percentage lynched for Murder does not vary
greatly from year to year, the extreme variation being from 28.2 per
cent in the year 1882 to 53 per cent in the year 1898. Rape appears as
an important cause, the percentage varying from 22.6 per cent in the
year 1901 to 56.5 per cent in the year 1882. The chart indicates in a
general way a decrease in the importance of Rape as a cause for the
lynching of Negroes since 1882. Minor Offenses, on the contrary, have
increased in importance as a cause for the lynching of Negroes. In the
later years, also, a larger percentage has been for Assault.
Comparing Charts VI and VII it appears that there is greater uniformity
in the percentages lynched for the different causes from year to year in
the case of the Negroes than in the case of the Whites and Others. A
smaller percentage is lynched for Murder and a much larger percentage is
lynched for Rape in the case of the Negroes than in the case of the
Whites and Others. For the Negroes, Theft is largely larceny and
burglary while for the Whites and Others it is stealing live stock.
Desperadism figures to a very limited extent as a cause for lynching
Negroes. Assault figures to a very limited extent as a cause for
lynching Whites and Others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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