| Reverse of postcard (plate 74). ink inscription
on reverse reads:"I bought this in Hopkinsville 15ยข each. They are not on
sale openly. I forgot to send it until just now I ran across it. I read
an account of the night riders affairs where it says these men were hung
without any apparent cause or reason whatever. A law was passed forbidding
these to be sent thru the mail or to be sold anymore." Lynchings reported in the northern and foreign presses were damaging to southern political and economic interests. The author of the above message documented one of the earliest efforts by local or state governments to contain the damage done to its public image by outlawing the sale and distribution of lynching images. This inscription is dated only a few months after the May 27, 1908, amendment to U. S. Postal laws and Regulations forbidding the mailing of "matter of a character tending to incite arson, murder or assassination." |