"Lest he should think my attitude dictated by
any lingering sectional prejudice, I may tell him what
you all know--you people among whom I have lived
for thirty years--that I am a Northern man myself.
"The negro who was lynched to-day might never
have committed the crime he did had not the wild,
disturbing dream of equality been stirring in his
brain. Every speech, every look, every action
which encourages that idea is a crime. In this
county, where the blacks outnumber us, we must
either rule as masters or be submerged.
"This man is still believed by the negroes to
possess some miraculous power. He is therefore
doubly dangerous. As a sharp warning to them he
must die. His death will do more toward ending
the trouble he has prepared than the death of a
dozen negroes.
"And as God is my witness, I speak and act
not through passion, but from the dictates of
conscience."
He meant it, Grimes did. And when he set down
they was a hush. And then Will, the chairman,
begun to call the roll.
I never been much of a person to have bad dreams
or nightmares or things like that. But ever since
that night in that schoolhouse, if I do have a night-
mare, it takes the shape of that roll being called.
Every word was like a spade grating and gritting
in damp gravel when a grave is dug.
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