A Little Talk About Mobs

A tall gentleman from the West was having a conversation with a New Yorker about the peculiar mobs of Manhattan. He explained how crowds often shouted, “Lynch him!” when someone was blamed for an accident or wrongdoing, but their threats were not always as dangerous as they sounded. To prove his point, he told the story of a streetcar motorman who was surrounded by an angry crowd after nearly hitting a boy. The mob loudly demanded to lynch him, yet the motorman knew there was little to fear. Why did the crowd threaten to lynch the motorman if they did not really intend to harm him? What did the tall gentleman mean by saying, “Divided you stand, united you fall”? And what surprising truth would the New Yorker discover about the behavior of mobs? Read the story to find out!