Two Chinamen Arrested on Suspicion of Murder

Two or three Chinamen murdered two men and a woman at Rocklin, California, last Sunday, for which two Chinamen were arrested on suspicion, and it was with difficulty that the sheriff and posse prevented them being lynched. All the Chinese in the neighborhood were compelled to leave, being allowed only a few hours to prepare for their exodus, and their property was destroyed. And yet the writer of the report gives the citizens great credit for their moderation, because they did not murder all the Chinese indiscriminately.

We cannot comprehend the moderation or sense displayed in holding an entire race of people responsible for a crime committed by one of their number. What would these same people think of the white people of this country if they were to drive all the negroes out of a parish because two or three negroes had murdered two or three white people? Would they praise us for our moderation because we did not massacre the whole of them? Hardly. But we imagine they would call such an act a terrible Ku Klux outrage.