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BtMxa tUccli I Conscttwtotr VOL. i. SEDAUA, MISSOURI, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1903. NO 16 A. W. LLOYD, OF. ST. LOUIS, GRAND CHANCELLOR OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI. Nineteenth Annual Sosslon K. of P, Lodge ofMissourl, Convonod in Moborly, Mo., Wodnosdoy, Aug. 0. The Grain! Lodge of Missouri vras called toor'ler yesterday morn, sng by A. W. Lloyd, C C. The Grand Court of CalanUic or Pythian sisters met with the Ginnd Lodge in open session. Mayor Dingle was to have delivered the welcome ad dress, but being unable to attend in person, wai duly represented by Mr IT. f. Tfflrris. who extended a cordial welcomcto the Grand Lodge delegate in very fitting and friendly remarks, assuring assuring the vis itors that they were perfectly wcl. tome to the hospitalities of the good neonlc of Moberly. He commend ed the race for the nwked progacss which it has made during the past quarter of a century of freedom. The address was responded to by Prof1 D. E.Gordon, of St. Louis in 3 very appropriate speech. Addresses were made by several 'delegates ladies and gentlemen .Miss Arsania Williams, a delegate from St. Louis, made the address of the morning in her greetings from the -'Sisters." Music was furnished by a Pythi an Quartette from Paris. The G, C. appointed committee on creden tials and returns, and the time of meeting, after which the Grand Lodge adjourned until 7 o'clock v. 31. at which time the formal open ing took place. There are about 1 2 5 delegates and visitors in attendance, among whom are the leading educators and pro fessional men and women of the race in Missouri, The grand i.odge will be in session three days. cept G. M. at A. and G. I. G. whose places wercfilled by the (1. C. After formal ceremonies at opening the Grand Lodge degree was conferred on forty-one candidates by P. G. C, 1). J. Caruthcrs. The Grand Lodge was then called from labor to ease until 9 o'clock this morning. Night Sosslon. The night session yesterday open ed formally at 7 o'clock with a full delegation from the various subor dinate lodges thru out the state All the grand officers are present ex- To-day's Session. Promptly at 9 o'clock the Grand Lodge was called from ease to labor by A. W. Loyd, G. G. Journal of first day's proceedings read and ap proved. The grand Lodge took up routine busincs. Committee on Cre. dentials reported at the night ses sion seating one hundred delegates and Grand Lodge officers. The first busincs of the morning session was the reception of annual addresses and Grand Lodge officers' reports. G. C. Lloyd read his auuu al message, which was an able, ichol arly and comprehensive document; it was received and referred to the proper committee. Next followed thcreports of G. K. R. and S. and G. M. of Ex., show ing total receipts for the year to be $1,486.80; disbursements $370.7"; balance in hands of G, M. of Ex, Si, 106. 10. The secrotary-trcasur- erof endowment has received to date between $6,000 and $7,000, with a balance on hands of $5,000. The report of the Grand Lecturer was a very insructive and interest ing one and showed the subordinate lodges in excellent condition, the majority of them having good bank accounts and many of them owning their own halls. The report of committee on For eign Correspondence by the chair man, B. J. Caruthers, showed that the colored Knights ot Pythias is permanently founded in nearly ev 2ry state in the union, S- A , Europe Asia, Africa, Australia and the Ha wailan Islands and is destined to lead all other organizatines among the race. Missouri has had an in crease of 10000 members this year. The Grand Loi'ge of the ladies department of the order is also in sefsion here. The election of Grand officers will take place Thursday. Several of the present officers will be allowed to succeed themselves. -Moberly Democrat Roosevelt Strongly Denounces lynching. In a Letter tu dov. Durbin of Indiana the President Commends the oc tlon taken against the recent ont break of lawlessness. Ovsrr.K 13ay, N. Y., Aug. 9. In a letter, the publication of which was authorized to day, President Roose yalt commends Gov. Durbin of In dinna for the attitude he assumed recently respecting lynching. The President also embraces the oppor tnnity and mob violence generally pointing out that mob violence is merely one form of anarchy, and that anarchy is the forerunner o tyranny. The President vigorous ly urges that the penalty for crimes that induce a resort to lynching shall be applied swiftly and surely but by due process of the courts, so that it may be demonstrated "that the law is adequate to deal with crime by freeing it from every ves tige of technicality and delay,1' President Roosevelt's letter in full to Gov, Durbin follows: "Oyster Hay, N. Y., Aug. 0, '03 My Dear Governor Durbin Permit me to thank you as an A merican citizen for the admirable way in which you have vindicated the majesty of fhe law by your re cent action in reference to lynchings I feel, my dear sir, that you hav made all men jour debtors, who be lieve, as all farseJng men must that the well-being, indeed the very existence of the republic depend upon the that spirit of orderly lib, erty under the law, which incom patible with mob violence as with any form of despotism. Of course mob violence U simply one form ot anarchy, and anarchy as is now, as it lias always have been, the hand maiden and forerunner of tyranny. Reflect onor on State. "I feel that you have not only reflected honor upon the state, which for its good fortune, has you as its hief executive, but upon the whole nation. It is incumbent upon every man thruout this country not only to hold up your hands in the course on have been following, but to show his realization that the matter s one of vital concern tous all. 'Althoughtful men must feel the gravest alarm over the growth of lynching in this country, and espec ially over the peculiarly hideous forms so often taken by mob vio lence in which colored men arc the victims, on which occasions the mob seems to lay most weight, not on the crime, but on the color of the criminal. In a certain propor tion of these cases the lynched has been guilty of a crime beyond des criptiona crime so horrible that as far as he hinuelf is concerned he has forfieted the right to any kind of sympathy whatever. The feel ing of all good citizens that such a hideous crime shall not be hideous ly punished by mob violence is due not in the least to sympathy for the criminal, but to the very lively sense of the train of dreadful conse quences which follow t h e course taken by the mob. exacting inhu man vengeance for an inhuman wrong. In such cases, moreover, it is well to remember that the crimi nal not merely sins against the hu inanity in an inexpiable and unpar donablc fashion, but sins particular ly against his own race, and does them a wrong far greater than any white man can do them, Colored People Paatlculrly Concerned, "Therefore, in such cases, the colored people thruout th e land should, in every possible way, show their belief that they, more than all others in the community, are horri fied at the commission of such a crime, and are peculiarly concerned in taking every possible measure to prevent its recurrence and to bring the criminal to immediate justice. The slightest lack of vigor, cither in denunciation of the crime, or in bring the criminal to justice is itself unpardonable. "Moreover, every effort should be made, tinder the law, to expedite the proceedings of justice in the case of such nn awful crime. But it cannot be necessary in order to ac complish this to deprive any citizen of those fundamental rights to be heard in his own defense which are so dear to us all, and which lie at the root of our liberty. It certainly ought to be possible by the proper administration of tho laws, to secure swift vengeance upon the criminal; and the best and immediate efforts of all legislators, judges and citizens should bo addressed to securing such forms in our legal procedure as to leave no vestige of excuse for those misguided men who under take to reap vengeance thru violent methods. "Men who have been guilty of a crime like rape or murder, should be visited with swift and certain punishment, and the just effort made by the courts to protect them in their rights should uuder no cir cumstances be perverted into put ting any mere technicality to avert or thwart their punishment. The substantial rights of a prisoner to a fair trial must, of course, begauran teed, as you have so Justly Insisted that they should be; but, subject to this gaurantec, the law must work swiftly and surely, and all the agents of the law should realize the wrong they do when they permit justice to be delayed or thwarted for techni cal or insufficient reasons We must show that the law. is adequate to deal with crime by freeing- it from every vestige of technicality andde lay. Innocent Parties Suffor. "But the fullest recognition of the horror of the crime, and the most complete lack of sympathy with the criminal, can not in the least diminish our horror at the way in which it has become costumary to avenge these crimes, and at the consequence that arc already pro ceeding therefrom. It is, of courie inevitable that where vengeance is taken by a mob it eluuld frequent ly light on innocent poeple; and the wrong done in such n case to the individual is one for which there is no remedy. But even where the real criminal is reached, the wrong done by tho mob itself is well-nigh as great. Especially is t h i s t r u e where the lynching is accompauied with torture. There aro certain. hideous sights, which, when once seen, can never bo wholly erased from the mental retina. The mere fact of having seen them implies degredutiou. Thisis a thousandfold stronger when, instead of merely seeing the deed, the man has par ticipated in it. Whoever in any part of our country which has taken part in lawlessly putting to death a criminal by the dreadful torture of fire, the participant must forever after have the awful spectacle of his own hand work seared into his brain aud soul. He can never again be the same man. Torture a Prccedont that Spreads. "This matter of lynching would be a terrible ttiing, even if it stop ped with the lynching of men guil ty Of the inhuman and hideous crime 01 rape; but, as a matter of fact, lawlessness of this type never does stop, and never can stop, in such a fashion. Every violent man inthc community is encouraged by every case of lynching in which the lynchers go unpunished to take the law iuto his own hands whenever it suits his convenience. In tho same way, the use of torture by the mob in certain cases is sure to spread until it is applied more or less dis criminate in other cases. The spirit of lawlessness grows with what it feeds on. and when mobs with impunity lynch criminals for one cause, they are certain to begin to lynch real or alleged criminals for other causes. In the recent cases of lynching, over thee-fourths were not for rape at all, but for murder, attdmpted murder, and even less hcniousoffeu ces. Can Not Condono Mogul Offon ces, "Moreover, the history of these recent cases shows the awful fact that when the minds of men are habituated to the use of torture by lawless mobs to avenge crimes of a peculiarly revolting description, other lawless bodies will torture in order to punish crimes of any ordi nary type. "Surely, no patriot can fail to see the feariul brutalizatlou and debase ment which the indulgence of such a spirit and such practiies inevita bly portend, Surely, nil public men (Continued oi pige 4.)