It is not the pure rain that falls from the heavens, but the stagnant waters of the pool, that breed disease and death.

The corruption of the ballot by white men of the South is more pernicious than the misuse of it by black men; the perversion of the law in the apprehension and punishment of criminals, by being wielded almost exclusively against colored men, not only brings law into contempt of colored men but encourages crime among white men.

Thus the entire society is corrupted.

Mob law is the most forcible expression of an abnormal public opinion; it shows that society is rotten to the core.

When men find that laws are purposely framed to oppress and defraud them they become desperate and reckless; and mob law, by usurping the rightful functions of the judiciary, makes criminals of honest men.