Judge Lynch, His First 100 Years

"TO HELL WITH THE LAW" LYNCHING has many legal definitions. It means one thing in Kentucky and North Carolina and another in Virginia or Minnesota. For the purpose of this work it is defined as the execution without process of the law, by a mob, of any individual suspected or convicted of a crime or accused of an offense against the prevailing social customs. The state of Minnesota clearly defines it as the killing of a human being by the act or procurement of a mob. In Kentucky and North Carolina the lynch-victim must have been in the hands of the law or there was no lynching. Virginia defines it simply as murder and ordains that every person composing the mob, upon conviction, shall be punished by death. There is more than the simple dictionary definition of lynching. Behind every lynching, beyond the destruction of the unfortunate victim, is the debasement of citizenship, the crucifixion of justice and democratic government, the prostitution of public officials, and the depraved behavior of the mob-members. FRANK SHAY, 1938