Not long ago, it was OK to hang the town drunk from the nearest oak tree -- for the "public good." . . . Vicky Heller North Oaks and Cedar-Riverside
I recently read "Legacy of Violence: Lynchings and Executions in Minnesota" by U of M Professor John D. Bessler (available in the Minneapolis public library). It had a list of all the lynchings & executions in Minnesota from the 1800's until the voters abolished capitol punishment in the 1920's.
There were absolutely no cases of a "town drunk' being lynched. (Several of the legally-executed people had been drinking at the time they committed their crimes, but that was not what they were tried & executed for.)
In fact, I remember the 'town drunk' being treated with rather affectionate ridicule. Think of the drunk in the Andy Griffith TV shows. Or in Thornton Wilder' s play "Our Town". Back then, small town town cops would give the 'town drunk' a ride home -- far more mild treatment than the current no tolerance/felony DWI status.
Does Vicky have an actual citation of a "town drunk" ever being lynched in Minneapolis, or anywhere in Minnesota for that matter? Or is this just an 'exaggeration' she's made for her argument? *
Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish-Ericsson
* (Also rather trivializing the actual lynchings that did take place. See http://www.americanlynching.com/photos-old.htm)
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