d
of the complainant or prosecutor, the enmity of a whole confederacy.
Legal proceedings, had provision been made for such, were worse than
useless, for conviction was impossible: and the effort exasperated,
while the failure encouraged, the outlaw spirit.

An _alibi_ was the usual defence, and to those times may be referred the
general prejudice entertained among our people, even at the present day,
against that species of testimony. A jury of western men will hardly
credit an _alibi_, though established by unexceptionable witnesses; and
the announcement that the accused depends upon that for his defence,
will create a strong prejudice against him in advance. Injustice may
sometimes be done in this way, but it is a feeling of which our people
came honestly in possession. They established a habit, in early days, of
never believing an _alibi_, because, at that time, nine _alibis_ in ten
were false, and habits of thought, like legal customs, cling to men long
after their reason has ceased. It is right, too, that it should be so,
on the principle that we should not suspend the use of the remedy until
the disease be thoroughly conquered.

In a state of things, such as we have described, but one of two things
could be done: the citizens must either abandon all effort to assert the
supremacy of order, and give the country over to thieves and robbers,
or they must invent some new and irregular way of forcing men to live
honestly. They wisely chose the latter alternative. They consulted
together, and the institution of _Regulators_ was the result of their
deliberations.

These were small bodies of men, chosen by the people, or voluntarily
assuming the duty--men upon whom the citizens could depend for both
discretion and resolution. Their duties may be explained in a few words:
to ferret out and punish criminals, to drive out "suspicious
characters," and exercise a general supervision over the interests and
police of the settlements, from which they were chosen. Their
statute-book was the "code of Judge Lynch"--their order of trial was
similar to that of a "drum-head court-martial"--the principles of their
punishment was certainty, rapidity, and severity. They were judges,
juries, witnesses, and executioners.

They bound themselves by a regular compact (usually verbal, but
sometimes in writing[77]), to the people and to each other, to rid the
community of all thieves, robbers, plunderers, and villains of every
descripti