The justice of neighbors

Chicago Tribune, January 2, 1881. While the majority of Southern lynchings in this period were racially motivated, white ruralites could also get their coupons clipped if they played their cards wrong. This incident strikes me as a rough music that got out of hand: had the mob intended to kill Mr. Dove, the masks wouldn’t have been necessary. Wifebeaters and men who abused their children and horses were routinely targeted for this kind of correction back to colonial times, as was just about anyone widely regarded as an asshole in the surrounding community.