Lynch Law is a great example of both rhetoric of crisis and rhetoric of forward motion. The crisis in Lynch Law is the "unwritten law" allowing people to lynch "offenders" without trial. This law allows innocent people to be hanged for crimes they did not commit. With no investigation into the alleged crime, anyone could make up stories about anyone else and have them lynched. Such was the case between white women and black men. According to Wells-Barnett, if a white women said a black man disrespected her, even if it didn't happen, he would most likely be hanged.
Lynch Law also shares with its audience the story of lynching. Wells-Barnett tells her audience lynching's origins, out in the west, and why it began. She tells the readers about the hangings advance into the south and about its use by white supremacy groups such as the KKK. It takes us from the beginning to the end of lynching.
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