In some sections an unaccompanied white woman dislikes to walk through an unlighted village street at night; she hesitates to drive along a lonely country road in broad daylight without a pistol near her hand; and she does not dare to walk through the woods alone.

The rural districts are poorly policed and the ears of the farmer working in the field are always alert for the sound of the bell or the horn calling for help, perhaps from his own home.
Occasionally, in spite of all precautions some human animal, inflamed by brooding upon the unattainable, leaves a victim outraged and dead, or worse than dead.

Granted that such a crime occurs in a district only once in ten, or even in twenty years; that is enough.

Rural folks have long memories, and in the back of their minds persists an uncontrollable morbid dread.

The news of another victim sometimes turns men into fiends who not only take life but even inflict torture beforehand.