We regret to learn that the trial of Mr. Sam
Lewis at Salisbury, Rhodesia, who was charged with shooting dead a native who had made insulting overtures to Miss Lewis, ended in a verdict of not guilty. At the first trial the jury could not agree. The facts were not in dispute. Most of the South African newspapers, it is satisfactory to know, condemn the verdict as a miscarriage of justice. We should be the last persons in the world to say anything which would condone the offences of black men against white women in districts where the whites are imperfectly protected or to deny the provocation under which Mr. Lewis acted. If the laws are not stringent enough by all means let them be made more effectual and more severe. But Mr. Lewis took the law into his own hands, and in fact executed the offender on his own authority. Such actions produce a state of no-law, and that is a disaster for any country. We earnestly .hope that such a state of things will always be guarded against and repudiated in any country which enjoys member- ship of the British Empire. What lynch law leads to even among communities which are apparently perfectly respect- able may be seen from the horrible brutalities perpetrated at Coatesville in Pennsylvania a few days ago. A negro had been arrested for shooting a policeman—not on any charge in relation to women be it noted—and a large mob dragged him from the hospital and burnt him in public. This happened in a district where lynching had been previously unknown.
Previous page
