"e;The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."e; In the books In the books Southern Horrors and Mob Rule in New Orleans, Ida documents the alarmingly high rates of lynching in the United States (which was at a peak from 1880 to 1930) and Robert Charles and his fight to death. The term lynch law refers to a self-constituted court that imposes sentence on a person without due process of law. Both terms are derived from the name of Charles Lynch (1736-96), a Virginia planter and justice of the peace who, during the American Revolution, headed an irregular court formed to punish loyalists.