"With the silencing of the innocent, the mob devours the blameless as ropes tighten and whips crack." This scene portrays the power emotions can have on people's actions. When passion and emotions cloud reason, people act on gut feeling and this often ends in disaster. Walter Van Tilburg Clark illustrates this point in "The Ox-Bow Incident". When people set their minds on irrational emotions, they typically act in an unjust, irresponsible manner. .
The state of a man's mind is established by his emotions, which become his reality - whether it is fact or fiction. When people choose to follow their emotions, no matter the cost, they are willing to kill in order to support their decision. As stated in the "Ox-Bow Incident", one member of the mob states, "I'd string any son-of-a-bitchin' rustler like that.[even] If he was my own brother, I would""(41). The mob is blinded by their passion to kill; their only thought is to hang those rustlers, even if it means killing their own brother. Their obsession to kill has made them like animals. As Gerald was explaining, "You can't go hunting men like coyotes after rabbits and not feel anything about it. Not without being like any other animal. The worst animal"(100). The mob has gone to a point where they are like animals. Where their only instinct is to "hunt in packs like wolves""(100). It does not matter who is hunted, as long as some one is killed. .
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As faulty evidence accumulates in the minds of the mob, truth is twisted by emotion, holding no weight in the measurement of justice. Any amount of evidence that is presented will go unnoticed. As Martin is interrogated he says, "God, don't anybody here know I came into Pike's Hole?.I'm on Phil Baker's place; what they call the Phil Baker place, up at the north end.(153). .
In this scenario, Martin is a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Despite his testimony, the posse overlooks this, ignoring any truths that might interfere with the mob's justice.
