History 590-Trying New Things!!

Well, this is my poor attempt at a blog. Hopefully I will get better as I gain more experience. Tonight's assignment in class is to post something "substantial" that we found from our research over the week. One thing that I found interesting was from the newspaper itself. I am looking for crime stories from the 'Walla Walla Statesman', and more especially for stories that have a vigilante response to crime. I came across a story from the 27 April 1866 paper that gave a report of a couple of bodies that were found hanging with tags on them. These tags identified the individuals and also their alleged crimes. As I read further, I was surprised to find out that the 'Statesman' actually approved of the vigilante activity! It says: "The Idaho 'World' condemns the course of the vigilantes in the severest terms, whilst the 'Statesman' just as decidedly approves of all that has been done." It goes on to say, somewhat matter-of-factly, "In the moral as well as in the natural world, storms are somtimes necessary to purify the atmosphere..." I was really surprised to see the paper come out and say that. That says something about the society of Old Walla Walla.